19021: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-President's supporters brace for attack (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Mon, Feb. 23, 2004


PORT-AU-PRINCE
President's supporters brace for attack
Armed Aristide backers build barricades in the capital to block a possible
attack from rebels, while the Carnival continues.
BY TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@herald.com

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Armed government supporters threw up makeshift barricades
on the northern limits of the Haitian capital Sunday, fearing an attack by
rebels fighting to topple President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

In working-class neighborhoods like Butte Boyer, where Aristide still enjoys
popular support, dozens of men in their 20s and 30s -- some carrying
shotguns -- guarded barricades made from concrete pipes, parked trucks and
boulders.

The barricades started going up after rebels on Sunday seized Cap Haitien,
Haiti's second-largest city. The rebels have vowed that they will soon
attack the National Palace, the seat of government in downtown
Port-au-Prince.

The capital is believed to hold the bulk of the country's 4,000-strong
police force, including a SWAT-like tactical team and a more heavily armed
special forces unit, though they number fewer than 100 agents each.

A senior Western diplomat in the capital said he did not expect the rebels
to attack Port-au-Prince right away but rather to use a ''psychological
strategy'' to scare the police and government supporters into running away.

Police have melted away throughout central and northern Haiti at mere
speculation about approaching rebels.

While the police presence on the outskirts of the capital was light, it was
relatively heavy in downtown sectors as the Lenten Carnival continued amid
dozens of heavily armed riot police, some of them riding on trucks.

''Port-au-Prince is very complicated right now,'' said Ariel Henry, a
physician and member of the opposition Democratic Convergence.

''I've come for the pleasure, enthusiasm, to see beautiful people, the
music, the food,'' said Jonathan Kirkpatrick, 34, an English grammar teacher
from Knoxville, Tenn., as he watched the costumed carnival partygoers stroll
by.

Kirkpatrick, one U.S. citizen who decided to stay despite State Department
warnings last week advising Americans to leave, said he wouldn't stay out
long into the night because of the carnival's violent reputation and the
prevailing political tension.

``Anytime, there could be shooting, stabbings. I came to look, but I'm not
going to stay when it gets hot.''

Herald staff writer Jacqueline Charles contributed to this report.

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