19068: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Rebels (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PAISLEY DODDS

   CAP-HAITIEN, Feb 23 (AP) -- Sitting poolside and fingering assault
rifles, rebels bent on ousting Haiti's president said Monday his big
mistake was sending them home with their guns. All three have a vendetta
against Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   "We don't want any more bloodshed. We just want Aristide to leave," Guy
Philippe told The Associated Press in an interview Monday. He used to be
the police chief in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second-largest city of 500,000
that rebels seized with little resistance on Sunday, the biggest prize in
their 18-day revolt.
   "I think Cap-Haitien was fairly easy to take," Philippe said. "No one
wants to fight for Aristide anymore. We want the people to take advantage
of their freedom."
   Philippe has relied on guerrilla tactics, following a strategy crafted
by ancestors who launched Haiti's revolution to halt slavery from this city
two centuries ago.
   The rebels, whose size has tripled with new recruits added in each town
they seize, have systematically driven enemies out, won over the population
and moved onto the next target. They effectively control the north now and
the central Artibonite District where more than 1 million people live.
   The triumvirate of leaders that has emerged to command a 300-strong
rebel force has a vendetta against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who in
1995 disbanded the army that had ousted him.
   "He made a big mistake sending us home with our guns" said Remissainthe
Ravix. "There's no such thing as the former Haitian army now. We have the
weapons and the expertise to take the country. Nothing can stop us."
   The commanders are Philippe, an Ecuadorian-trained army officer who
listens to Motown music, plays ping-pong and is a self-proclaimed ladies'
man; Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a leader of a former army death squad accused
of killing thousands who has a penchant for gold-rimmed aviator glasses;
and Ravix, a muscle-bound ex-army corporal trained in guerrilla tactics.
   Their next target is Port-au-Prince, the real prize for the commandoes
who plan on arresting Aristide and say Haitian history has taught them how
to do it.
   It was in the forests outside Cap-Haitien that a former slave named
Boukman in 1791 began and uprising that spread throughout the country until
the French were driven away 12 years later, their plantations left in
smoking ruin. On Monday, smoke billowed from the colonial mansion of Mayor
Wilmar Innocent, police stations, the courthouse and other government
buildings torched by rebels and residents.
   "We have the same blood running through our veins as Boukman, who was
fighting for his freedom and fighting for his country's freedom," said the
slight and fresh-faced Philippe, 35, reclining on lounge chair at the
poolside.
   Using the hillside Mont Joli Hotel as their temporary command center,
the rank-and-file rebels are told to stay sharp and steer clear of alcohol.
The commanders, however, take breaks to sip Prestige, Haiti's national
beer, and coordinate their assaults.
   Philippe says he hopes to take Port-au-Prince by Sunday, his 36th
birthday.
   "We don't want any more bloodshed," he said. "We just want Aristide to
leave."
   Some rebels are using the submachine guns, assault rifles and pistols
they had in the army. Others have new weapons, some confiscated from police
stations, others donated by secret backers.
   "We cannot be outgunned," says Chamblain, switching from Creole to
Spanish he learned in neighboring Dominican Republic. Some rebels are
Haitian-Dominicans. Philippe fled there in 2000 when he was accused of
coup-plotting. Chamblain has lived there for eight years. Haiti had
convicted him in absentia for his role in a 1994 massacre and the 1993
assassination of Aristide financier Antoine Izmery and sentenced him to
life imprisonment.
   The rebels have asked for volunteers to keep government services running
until they oust Aristide. After that, they want to hold presidential and
legislative elections, and say they will not fall back into Haiti's
historic pattern of military dictatorships.
   "We're not plotting a coup," Chamblain says. "We're plotting to liberate
the people."
   Many in this city of 500,000 have cheered in support of the rebellion --
a sharp contrast to three years ago when the city was an Aristide
stronghold.
   Some, however, say they rebels are no better than Aristide or any other
leader that Haitians have suffered through 32 coups d'etat the 29-year
Duvalier family dictatorship.
   "It's all the same," said Solomon Ronel, 25. "It's all terrible."