19655: Fwd: Maxine Waters' press release on Haiti 3-1-04 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Randall White <raw@haitiaction.org>

March 1, 2004
CONTACT: Ron Dungee (323) 757-8900

Congresswoman Maxine Waters' Statement on
Kidnapping of Haitian President Aristide

"I spoke to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by
telephone this morning and he told me that did
not resign. He said he was kidnapped by American
military and U.S. diplomats and military
officials and was being held in the Central
African Republic.

"Mr. Aristide said that Luis G. Moreno, deputy
chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in
Port-au-Prince, came to his home in the wee hours
of the morning with other diplomats and with U.S.
Marines. He said he was told to leave and leave
now or he and many Haitians would be killed.

"He told me, 'The world must know it was a coup.
I was kidnapped. I was forced out. That's what
happened. I did not resign. I did not go
willingly. I was forced to go.'

  "Mr. Aristide told me he was being held under
guard in Central Africa's Palace of the
Renaissance and felt like he was in jail.

  "I also spoke with President Aristide's wife,
Mildred. The first thing Mildred said was, 'The
coup d'état is complete. It has been completed.'

"I talked to the president and his wife for about
15 minutes. He was anxious to get the word out
that he did not leave voluntarily, that he was
kidnapped, that he was forced out.

"President Aristide told me he had not been
abused, but he sounded angry, stressed,
determined; really anxious that people know he
was kidnapped, that he did not go willingly, that
he was forced out.


"I am deeply saddened that the United States
government appears to be complicit in the
overthrow of President Jean Bertrand Aristide.
The Bush Administration refused to lead an
international peacekeeping force to end the
violence in Haiti and allow President Aristide to
finish his term in office; then the
Administration forced him out of the country in
the dark of night.

"Last Thursday, the Congressional Black Caucus
had an emergency meeting with President Bush,
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and
Secretary of State Colin Powell. We laid out a
very clear case for intervention and asked the
president to lead an international effort to keep
the peace, stabilize the volatile situation and
preserve the government of Haiti's first
democratically elected president.

"I have visited Haiti three times since the first
of the year and was able to provide first hand
information about what was going on in that
country. I explained that the so-called
opposition was a conglomeration of former
supporters of the dictatorial Duvalier regime.
Andre Apaid, an American citizen in charge of the
Group of 184 started this coup three weeks ago.
Guy Philippe, who was exiled to the Dominican
Republic after he tried to stage a coup in 2002
was leading a band of exiled military criminals,
thugs and murderers-some convicted in absentia
for killings they committed in ousting Aristide
from office when he was first elected. These were
the people pursuing a coup d'état to return Haiti
to the corrupt dictatorial rule of the past.

"The CBC asked the president to intervene
immediately to stop the bloodshed in Haiti.
Scores of Haitian people had been killed and
thousands of others held hostage as Philippe and
his army of thugs seized town after town as they
advanced toward Port-au-Prince. We pointed out
that the obstacle to a peaceful solution was not
Aristide. I was in Haiti when Aristide signed off
on a peace proposal worked out by CARICOM (the
Caribbean Community) and others in the
international community. It was the opposition
that rejected the proposal and refused to
negotiate a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

"However, we did not go to the White House to ask
for help in Haiti solely for humanitarian
reasons. We went there because the United States
government was actively involved in the creation
of this crisis and had an obligation to do
something about it. For several years, the United
States blocked $145.9 million in development
loans to Haiti by the Inter-American Development
Bank. These loans were supposed to fund health,
basic education, rural road development, potable
water and sanitation programs. Blocking those
loans further impoverished the poorest nation in
the Western Hemisphere. Our government prevented
the money from going to Haiti until the
Congressional Black Caucus intervened last year.

"We tried to impress upon the president that the
situation of Haiti was extremely critical and
immediate action was needed. We did not need a
massive military presence in Haiti and it did not
need to be a lengthy occupation. All we asked was
that the United States and other countries
provide immediate assistance to Haiti to
strengthen the Haitian police so that they could
restore law and order. We could have been in and
out in a short period of time, but the president
asked for more time to think about it. He was
holding out for a political solution to the
crisis.

"Now we know the political solution for which he was holding out.

"The thugs and military criminals have
accomplished their mission of deposing Aristide
with the overt approval and support of the Bush
Administration. Now, other members of the
Aristide Administration are seeking asylum in
other countries.

"This should have been prevented and could have
been prevented if the Bush Administration had
acted to help stabilize the situation in Haiti.

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