18939: (Hermantin) Miami-Herald-U.S. urged to help out Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sat, Feb. 21, 2004


HAITI IN CRISIS


U.S. urged to help out Haiti

South Florida Haitian activists say the United States should help restore
security in Haiti and halt deportations to the country.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

jcharles@herald.com


As a team of high-ranking international diplomats arrived in Haiti on Friday
in yet another attempt to pressure Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
and the opposition to come to an agreement, South Florida Haitian-American
community leaders said they were fed up with the talks and want action --
now.

The leaders -- some of whom support Aristide and others who do not -- say
restoring security in Haiti should be a top priority. In recent weeks, armed
rebels have seized more than a dozen towns in the latest rebellion against
Aristide.

''We have a war in progress,'' said Farah Juste, a well-known Haitian singer
and longtime Aristide supporter. ``People are dying.''

Juste was among more than 30 Haitian community leaders and advocates who
attended a meeting Friday at U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek's North Dade office.
Meek, a Miami Democrat, wanted to hear the community's concerns and to send
a clear message to Washington that his constituents want more U.S.
involvement in the crisis, which has taken at least 60 lives in the past two
weeks.

''We want an offensive strategy rather than a defensive strategy,'' said
Meek. He said he does not want a repeat of the 1990s when countless Haitians
lost their lives at sea, attempting to reach U.S. shores. Meek and the group
renewed calls for a U.S. moratorium on all deportations back to Haiti, and
to provide all Haitians living here illegally with temporary protected
status. Both Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami,
and immigration attorney Cheryl Little said they have taken statements from
45 Haitian female detainees in Broward who say they are afraid of going back
to Haiti, where some have lost family members in the recent uprisings.

Immigration officials say they are monitoring the situation, but there are
no plans to halt deportations or provide special status to illegal Haitians.
''These people here, who's going to receive them? Who's going to house them?
. . . Who's going to protect their rights?'' state Rep. Phillip Brutus,
D-North Miami, asked during the meeting.

Brutus posed the question to Ladd Connell, a Haiti Desk Officer for the U.S.
State Department in Washington. Connell, at the request of Meek, called the
meeting to update the community on the United States' position and to give
information about Friday's diplomatic mission.

Only after a political agreement is reached will Haiti be offered an
international police or military force, Connell said, echoing statements
made by Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday.

That is unacceptable, said many Haitian-American leaders and their
supporters.

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