19256: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald- U.S. intercepts freighter from Haiti; report says ship (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

U.S. intercepts freighter from Haiti; report says ship was hijacked

By Tal Abbady, Noaki Schwartz and Thomas Monnay
Staff Writers
Posted February 26 2004

A group of Haitian nationals reportedly hijacked a Panamanian freighter at
gunpoint and steered it toward Florida, where Coast Guard officials
intercepted the vessel Wednesday.

Coast Guard and immigration agents deployed in a cutter, high-speed boats
and helicopters swarmed around the freighter, the Margot, and boarded it
after the group surrendered its weapons. There were 28 people on board, the
Coast Guard said. Seven were thought to be crewmembers and 21 Haitian
nationals.

The incident highlighted the fears of some U.S. and Haitian-American leaders
that the escalating violence surrounding the rule of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide would spur panicked Haitians to take to the high seas.

Late Wednesday, the 200-foot coastal freighter was 10 miles off Government
Cut in Miami as Coast Guard, immigration and customs enforcement agents
conducted an investigation.

Coast Guard officials did not confirm that the migrants hijacked the vessel,
but radio messages picked up by a towboat captain indicated the Margot was
taken by force.

Larry Acheson, of Towboat U.S. in Fort Lauderdale, said he acted as an
intermediary between the Coast Guard and the Margot's captain. In broken
English, the captain told Acheson that he and his crew were brought to Miami
at gunpoint. The 17 hostage takers are Haitian government officials and
police and had a stash of weapons that included three shotguns, the captain
told Acheson.

"It takes days to make this crossing, so I imagine it must be a little
uncomfortable," he said.

Once the Coast Guard caught up with the ship, the men were told to wrap the
weapons in a bag and lower them off the side of the ship, Acheson said.
Everyone was also asked to line up on the starboard side of the ship and had
their hands behind their heads.

Acheson said the crew and hijackers were cooperative.

At a news conference Wednesday night, Coast Guard officials said they
responded to a distress call at about 4:10 p.m. and sent several boats to
the freighter, which came within five miles of Miami. Officials boarded the
freighter at 7:15 p.m., by which time the Haitians had slung their weapons
over the side.

On board were seven crewmembers thought to be from the Philippines, four
passengers thought to be from Haiti and 17 other people also thought be be
Haitians, said James Maes, commander of Coast Guard Group Miami.

According to Jesus Torres, special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the ICE were
sent to the vessel to conduct interviews. Torres confirmed that the captain,
who speaks English, Spanish and Haitian Creole, said the freighter had been
hijacked off the coast of Haiti. But the Coast Guard is still investigating
the incident and trying to determine what happened.

Torres said the Haitians were not in police uniform and could not confirm if
they were police or government officials.

Maes said the Coast Guard has not determined when the vessel departed Haiti.
Its last port of call was thought to be Gonaïves, where the anti-Aristide
rebellion that has swept through the island and claimed dozens of lives
began on Feb. 5.

Coast Guard personnel confiscated one handgun and three shotguns, and the
incident ended without violence.

Maes said Coast Guard personnel knew something was amiss once the freighter
neared Miami because boats are supposed to file a notification of arrival
four days before they approach the coast. When the boat approached without
having done so, the Coast Guard knew to stop it, he said.

The matter will be presented to the U.S. Attorney's Office, officials said.

The freighter remained off shore Thursday morning. The passengers and crew
were still on board under guard.

Bush administration officials Wednesday reiterated the government's policy
of repatriating all Haitian migrants, and President Bush urged Haitians not
to flee for U.S. shores.

"Anyone interdicted will be returned to the country from which they
departed," said Bill Strassberger, spokesman for the Department of Homeland
Security.

As South Florida steels itself for a possible influx of refugees, the
Margot's arrival drew stern reactions.

Marlene Bastien, of the Haitian Women of Miami, was with Coast Guard
officials discussing Bush's Haiti policy when she learned of the incident.
She requested to see the migrants but was turned down.

"I was told it was too premature," Bastien said. "My concern is that their
rights are protected. ... It seems that Mr. Bush is making every effort to
keep Haitians out."

David Abraham, who teaches immigration and international law at the
University of Miami, said the migrants would most likely be returned to
Haiti without facing prosecution in federal court, in contrast with Cuban
hijackers who have been treated as political refugees and occasionally
prosecuted.

"The U.S. will want merely to get rid of them and will not view prosecution
as a deterrent given the situation on the island," Abraham said. "This
country is unprepared for chaos and mass exodus from Haiti," he added.
"What's going to happen when the numbers explode?"

While many echoed Abraham's concerns, not all think the violence in Haiti
will result in a mass exodus similar to the one in 1991, when Aristide was
deposed in a bloody military coup.

During the ensuing dictatorship between 1991 and 1994, more than 65,000
Haitians were intercepted at sea by the Coast Guard. U.S. troops reinstated
Aristide in 1994.

But activists remain critical of the government's refusal to halt the
deportations of detainees and said the Margot may be the first of an
onslaught of migrations.

"Given the current political situation in Haiti, we could be returning
people to their death," said Cheryl Little, who heads the Florida
Immigration Advocacy Center.

In Fort Lauderdale, Claude Louissaint, a member of the Haitian-American
Democratic Club, said he could not imagine repatriating Haitians to a
country marred by killings.

"If there is a time in Haiti when refugees qualify for political asylum, it
is now," he said. "The whole world is watching."

Staff Writer Rafael Lorente contributed to this report.

Tal Abbady can be reached at tabbady@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6624.
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AUDIO
AUDIO: Foreign Correspondent Tim Collie's dispatch on what could be ahead
for Haiti. (sun-sentinel.com/Rick Stone)
Feb 24, 2004



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