19774: erzilidanto: ARIAS FOUNDATION FOR PEACE/HAITI EVENTS (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Erzilidanto@aol.com

The Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress was founded by Dr. Oscar
Arias, President of Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
in 1987.   The mission of the Foundation is to promote just and peaceful
societies in Central America and other regions.  The Foundation, and Dr. Arias
have paid particualr attention to the demobilzation of the Haitian Army.  The
website is http://www.arias.or.cr/Eindice.htm.
-----------------------------------

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE ARIAS FOUNDATION FOR PEACE AND HUMAN PROGRESS
REGARDING THE RECENT GRAVE EVENTS IN HAITI

CONSIDERING THAT:

1.  During the last week of February, rebel forces headed by criminals and
known members of the FRAPH (a paramilitary organization affiliated with the
ex-dictator Cedras,) took control by force of the entire territory of Haiti, with
the exception of Port-au-Prince;

2. These actions, causing death and destruction, brought the country to a
state of chaos;

3. The civil opposition did not accept any of the negotiation proposals
planted by the CARICOM, the European Union or the United States;

4. President Aristide, who accepted all the conditions of negotiation,
refused to abandon his elected post;

5. At dawn on Sunday, February 29, under conditions which remain unclear,
President Aristide was removed from the country;

6. On Monday March 1 it became known that President Aristide had taken refuge
in the Central African Republic;

AND TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THAT:

1. The insurgent forces, anticipating the arrival of United Nations forces,
overtook the city of Port-au-Prince;

2. In this period, the magistrate Boniface Alexandre, president of the Court
of Annulments, was sworn in as President of Haiti;

3. The political constitution of Haiti establishes that, in such cases, the
Parliament is obliged to ratify a new presidency;

4. Currently, Haiti has no Parliament;

THE ARIAS FOUNDATION FOR PEACE AND HUMAN PROGRESS STATES BEFORE THE
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY:

1. Our great concern over the break in constitutional order, which has
created a deadly power vacuum in the country;

2. Our regret over the lack of support for the CARICOM peace proposal, which
was the only proposed lawful and democratic solution to the crisis;

3. That the current situation proves that the road chosen by the Haitian
opposition, far from resolving the crisis, has accentuated it;

4. That the leaders of the insurgent forces now comprising the irregular army
of Haiti have been tied to the disbanded paramilitary forces, to violations
of human rights and to previous coup attempts;

5. That these insurgent forces plan to reinstate the Haitian army, which was
constitutionally abolished in 1994;

6. That military forces have historically brought poverty and oppression to
the Latin American people;

WE URGE

For Haitian political and civil society, along with the international
community, to respect the lives of all Haitians, and to seek to return to the rule of
law, thereby permitting the reestablishment of peace and order and respecting
the constitutional abolition of the Haitian army.

SAN JOSÉ, COSTA RICA
MARCH 3, 2004.