19346: (Chamberlain) Aristide loyalists vow fight for Haiti, democracy (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Rallying around a simple cry,
"Five Years," the poor, angry young men who make up Jean-Bertrand
Aristide's first line of defense say they will fight for the Haitian
president and their shaky democracy.
     "They have declared war on the poor masses and we are ready for that
war because we have nothing to lose," said Johnny Bellance, an Aristide
loyalist among the dozens in the streets around the National Palace in
Port-au-Prince on Friday.
     Facing a band of rebels that threatens to attack Haiti's capital any
moment, the president's supporters in the city's shantytowns say they are
ready to defend the former Roman Catholic priest whose fiery rhetoric from
the pulpit helped expel the Duvalier dictatorship 18 years ago.
     They are fiercely loyal to the frail-looking, bespectacled president,
who has vowed to stay in power for the full five years of his term, until
2006. Aristide became Haiti's first freely elected leader in 1991.
     Aristide's political foes accuse him of human rights violations and
corruption.
     His supporters say the rebel assault that has thrown their nation into
chaos is an affront to their teetering democracy as the poorest country in
the Americas tries to throw off decades of dictatorship and brutal military
rule.
     "We don't have houses, we don't have cars, we don't have factories, we
don't have money," Bellance said. "All we have is our right to vote."
     The more militant and ruthless among them have come to be known as
chimeres, translated as "fire-breathing monsters," "ghosts," or "angry
young men." Aristide's opponents have accused the government of supplying
them with weapons.
     Armed with rifles, pistols and machetes, hundreds of young men roamed
Port-au-Prince in recent nights and choked streets with flaming barricades
fueled by old tires, and the charred wreckage of cars, buses and
refrigerators.
     Some masked, many clad in black, others jumpy and on edge, they
question passersby and search cars, watching for signs of trouble.
     "President Aristide is not going anywhere. If he has to leave, we all
would have to leave too, because he is the one defending our interests,"
said Sony Joseph, "Black Sony" on the street. He was surrounded by young
toughs bearing arms.
     "After the coup," he said, referring to the military rebellion that
sent Aristide into a three-year exile shortly after his first term in
office began in 1991, "we faced the criminal army which also had heavy
weapons."
     "We resisted, but that time we had no weapons. Now, believe me, we are
in better position to fight back because this time we are not coming at
them empty-handed."
     No one seems sure how many supporters Aristide has, or how effective
they will be in fending off the gang members and ex-Haitian army soldiers
who control more than half of Haiti. But Aristide's supporters are not
confined to the capital.
     This week near Petit Goave, southwest of Port-au-Prince, young men
guarded two roadblocks. One group called itself "Base Cobra." Some wore
black helmets or masks. Many were armed.
     "We are out here to see that Aristide is in power until 2006," said a
member of one group who refused to give his name. "Everyone must respect
five years."

  (Additional reporting by Amy Bracken)