18841: Burnham: Globe and Mail:Face-to-face with defiant Aristide (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: thor burnham <thorald_mb@hotmail.com>

By PAUL KNOX
Thursday, February 19, 2004 - Page A1

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- The eyes are large and intense, and they never shift.

Not when President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is talking about rebellion and
racism and all the other ills of the desperately poor country he leads. And
certainly not when the diminutive former priest is vowing to serve out his
remaining two years in office, despite the uprising that threatens to cut
off half his country and the clamour of opponents demanding that he step
down.

Fixing his gaze on a visitor at the National Palace in Port-au-Prince
yesterday, Mr. Aristide rejected the idea that the man who helped rescue
Haitians from dictatorship has himself become hooked on power.

He denied the accusation, widespread in Haiti, that he funnels weapons to
loyalists to allow them to intimidate or even kill dissidents. And he
asserted that even his non-violent opponents are trying to engineer a coup
d'état against him.

"They are all saying yes to violence, and for me they are all terrorists,"
the soft-spoken 50-year-old President, who studied psychology and theology
at the University of Montreal from 1982 to 1985, told The Globe and Mail.

As he spoke, insurgents kept a grip on the port city of Gonaïves and towns
in northern Haiti.

They were threatening an attack on Cap-Haïtien, the country's second-largest
city, and there appeared to be little chance that the government could
reassert control in the near future.

More than 50 people, including several police officers, have died in the
rebellion. Foreign governments have reacted coolly to Mr. Aristide's pleas
for help to boost the Haitian National Police, whose detachments have been
overrun or fled their posts.

But the President, already the victim of one coup, said his government will
not be toppled.

Seated in front of a portrait of independence hero Toussaint L'Ouverture, he
said that Haitians will block the rebel bands from seizing power.

"We will not lose control," he said.

"We may lose lives . . . I know my country, I know my people, I know how
strong they are."

Mr. Aristide said popular resistance will be non-violent, but Associated
Press reported that his supporters in Cap-Haïtien claimed to be arming
themselves with machetes and guns to fight the rebels.

The insurgents are led by Gonaïves gang leaders formerly loyal to Mr.
Aristide, as well as former members of the disbanded Haitian army -- some
implicated in atrocities committed by paramilitary death squads.

All but eclipsed as the rebellion spreads are the businessmen, opposition
politicians, academics and students who have been demonstrating against Mr.
Aristide in Port-au-Prince since 2000.

The opposition leaders said last week they did not agree with the northern
rebels' tactics, but refused to condemn them outright.

That means they are effectively condoning the uprising, Mr. Aristide said:
"I cannot distinguish one from the other."

Haiti has been without a parliament since Jan. 12. Opposition leaders are
refusing to negotiate the terms of stalled legislative elections with Mr.
Aristide, whom they say they cannot trust.

The dark-skinned President accused the protest leaders, some of whom belong
to Haiti's lighter-skinned business and land-owning elite, of scorning
democracy out of racism.

"They don't care about it because they don't think we are all equal," he
said.

Reminded that international watchdog groups have accused his supporters, as
well as his opponents, of violating human rights, Mr. Aristide blamed
infiltrators for the abuses.

He denied the Gonaïves rebels' assertion that their automatic rifles and
other weapons were originally supplied by the government.

"That's one way to accuse the government -- trying to hide one forest with
one tree, which is impossible," he said.

But he appealed to all Haitians, including his own supporters, to refrain
from violent attacks.

Assigned to a slum parish in Port-au-Prince after he returned from Canada,
Mr. Aristide quickly became known for his courage and fiery oratory.

He was a leader of the religious movement known as Ti Legliz ("little
church" in Haitian Creole) -- a key part of the resistance to dictator
Jean-Claude Duvalier.

After Mr. Duvalier fled in 1986 in the face of widespread protests, Mr.
Aristide was among those who pushed for a quick transition to civilian rule.

In 1988, as he was saying mass, his church was invaded by thugs with guns
and machetes who killed 13 parishioners and wounded more than 70.

Mr. Aristide began his first term as president in 1991, but was overthrown
eight months later by the army and went into exile.

He returned to power in 1994, backed by a U.S.-led invasion, and served a
final year in office before being succeeded by a political ally, René
Préval.

He ran and won again in 2000.

His opponents say he has failed to improve the lot of poor Haitians -- the
vast majority of the country's eight million people.

But yesterday, Mr. Aristide ticked off a list of schools, literacy projects
and health-care achievements that he said prove he is capable of much more
than clinging to power.

Mr. Aristide said he hopes to revisit Canada "before or after" his term's
scheduled finish on Feb. 7, 2006.

"I learned a lot through the Canadian people," he said.

Canada, the United States, France and Caribbean countries have said they
would consider sending police to help the beleaguered Haitian force, but
only if the government and opposition reach a political deal.

Asked whether he was disappointed they have not moved more quickly, Mr.
Aristide replied: "No, I'm patient."

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