18877: Loveayiti :Coalition of Americas march calls for more active U.S. role (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: love haiti <loveayiti@hotmail.com>

  Coalition of Americas march calls for more active U.S. role

BY TAL ABBADY AND SANDRA HERNANDEZ

South Florida Sun-Sentinel


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - (KRT) - Overcoming the cultural, racial and economic
barriers that often keep immigrant groups in separate enclaves, a fledgling
alliance of Haitians, Cubans, Venezuelans and Peruvians will hit the streets of
Miami Saturday to protest what it calls the spread of despotic rule in the
Americas.

The recently formed Coalition of the Americas hopes to rally thousands of
pro-democracy marchers at the Bayfront Park Amphitheater to call for a more
active U.S. role in restoring order to the region.

The march coincides with escalating civil unrest in Haiti and Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez' ongoing battle with opposition members who are calling
for a referendum vote.

Haitian activists hope to use the long-established lobbying power and media
presence of Cuban-American groups to spread their anti-Aristide message, just
as Venezuelans have gained policymakers' ears in Washington, D.C., and
organized marches against the pro-Castro Chavez by partnering with
Cuban-American exiles.

"What we're all searching for is liberty. Our countries have dictators in
different ways. In Venezuela and Haiti, they are dictators using the shield of
democracy," said Samir Mourra, an organizer who heads the group Patri, which is
Creole for "country."

"Haitians here have kept themselves isolated. But now, timidly, they're opening
up," he said of the community's gradual political education and involvement in
grassroots activity. "The Cubans have welcomed us with open arms."

Gonzalo Salazar, a developer who lives in Weston and is a member of the
coalition, said he hopes to draw attention to the situation in Peru, where
President Alejandro Toledo's government, riddled with corruption scandals, has
had little success at improving the economy.

Salazar refuted those who say that the Venezuelan, Haitian and Peruvian leaders
are legitimate.

"Just because a government was democratically elected does not give it the
right to trample the constitution, " he said.

Among the Venezuelan organizers is Luis Pina, a former Chavez supporter who now
opposes the embattled leader.

"You have never had so many different communities join together to ask for
democracy. We want to alert people that in the Americas, democracy is at risk.
In Venezuela, there isn't democracy. In Haiti, you have a civil war, and in
Cuba you have a case where for 45 years they have been deprived of their
freedoms," Pina said.

The coalition reflects, some experts say, a broadening of the political scope
of Cuban Americans to include the plight of other groups, even if the
anti-Castro message is never far from sight.

"Cubans have often complained about the lack of support from other countries,"
said Uva de Aragon, associate director of the Cuban Research Institute at
Florida International University. "But I don't think they've been actively
supportive of other people in need... They have a large population, and they
can help the Haitians and Venezuelans lobby the way they've learned to. ...
What all these people have in common is that they cannot live in their
countries."

Analysts also say there is good reason for the broad coalition's concerns.

"Polls across the region show enormous disenchantment," said Adam Isacson of
the Center for International Policy, a research group in Washington, D.C. "This
level of instability is as high as it has been in the region."

---

© 2004 South Florida Sun-Sentinel


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