19196: Esser: Rebellion poses 'mortal threat'; Elections best way to proceed (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

 From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Atlanta Journal Constitution
http://www.ajc.com

BACKGROUNDER: HAITI ON THE BRINK
Q&A / Henry E. Carey, Haiti Democracy Project

Rebellion poses 'mortal threat'
Elections best way to proceed

Published on: 02/25/04

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is locked in a violent standoff with
opposition groups in Haiti. The United States is scrambling to
mediate the crisis amid fears that the chaos could spark an exodus of
Haitians fleeing for U.S. shores.
 
Henry F. Carey is a political science professor at Georgia State
University and a member of the board of the Washington-based Haiti
Democracy Project. He is also co-chairman of the Haiti and Dominican
Republic section of the Latin American Studies Association. He spoke
with Journal-Constitution reporter Shelia M. Poole on Monday about
the crisis in the Caribbean. Here are excerpts from the interview.
 
Q: Why should Atlantans — and Americans — care about what happens in
Haiti?
 
A: The general reasons we should care about Haiti [are] the reasons
we should care about any suffering in the world. . . . But there are
reasons specific to the United States and Atlanta. The United States
has a two-century history of racism toward the island. . . . Why
should Atlantans care? First, we have something like 3,000 to 7,000
Haitians in the Atlanta area [community leaders say the number is as
high as 30,000] and they include political refugees. . . . Atlanta is
at the center of Martin Luther King's movement. I think it is
important for Haitian-Americans and Atlantans to call attention to
the fact that the United States, while not responsible for the human
rights violation of any individual leader of Haiti, should recognize
that the U.S. government has supported violent dictators in varying
degrees and at different times [in Haiti]. . . .
 
Q: The rebels have taken Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second-largest city,
and have pledged to move on to Port-au-Prince. How much of a threat
is this rebellion?
 
A: It's a mortal threat to Haiti. . . . It's worse even potentially
than the 1991-1994 post-coup government because they would be taking
power by force with a mass base. The 1991-1994 government was
basically a coalition of people who had no mass base. But you can see
that this group up north has developed a strong following. Now, I
don't think they're the majority. I think they're a minority and what
they are doing is totally wrong. It's a terrible threat. But the fact
that they have some support among the population up there suggests
that they can bring that support with them and reign terror on the
population. . . .
 
Q: What is your view of Aristide?
 
A: I was supportive of him when he was elected although I worried
that he was a leader who believed in his own charisma. . . . I also
worried at the time that he said different things to different
people. For example, at his press conference when I was an election
observer with the OAS [Organization of American States] in December
1990 . . . he spoke at four press conferences in four languages —
French, Spanish, Creole and English. And he said completely different
types of things to the audiences in different languages.
 
Q: But at the same time you have argued that Aristide should stay in
power.
 
A: It would be preferable that he stay in power because Haiti needs
to change governments peacefully and legally and not through
intimidation.
 
Q: The U.S. has balked at sending more troops to keep Aristide in
power. Is that a mistake?
 
A: I don't think that's necessarily true. I think it's changing every
single day. [Secretary of State] Colin Powell's initial statement was
that we're not going to send in any troops. Well, you already see 50
troops going into the embassy who were trained in counterinsurgency.
These aren't the normal Marine guards for the embassies. . . . It's
one of the elite battalions. They probably have Aristide in a safe
house, but if they haven't — if he's in the palace — they probably
have these guys on the roof. . . .
 
Q: If the situation continues to deteriorate in Haiti, it could have
serious ramifications for immigration officials here. How will that
test immigration policy as it relates to Haitian immigrants? Do you
think the U.S. could experience a flood of Haitians trying to come to
the U.S?
 
A: It could happen. It's happened before. This is a little bit
different in that the boat people phenomenon started in the late
1980s and it happened particularly in the period between [former
presidents Francois "Papa Doc" and Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier]
and Aristide taking over the presidency on Feb. 7, 2001. That's when
you had — except during the coup period — the most Haitian boat
people. . . . But that was like a steady erosion over the countryside
where people had like months to plan and save up money to pay someone
to build them a boat. Here you have this sudden crisis. . . .
 .