19877: (Chamberlain) No surge in Haitians at sea, U.S. ``wall'' angers many (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Patricia Zengerle

    MIAMI, March 5 (Reuters) - A "floating Berlin Wall" of U.S. Coast Guard
ships is keeping Haitians from fleeing violence in their country, and
infuriating activists, aid workers and rights groups who say the blockade
is discriminatory and illegal.
     The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which has set up a special
office in downtown Miami to monitor the Haitian situation, said on Friday
the U.S. Coast Guard had picked up and repatriated 905 Haitians since Feb.
21, as rebels took control of much of Haiti in a revolt that began on Feb.
5.
     For the month of February, the Coast Guard picked up 704 Haitians at
sea, compared with 157 in February 2003, although U.S. authorities insist
the unrest in Haiti has not provoked a mass migration.
     Haiti's president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, resigned and fled the
country on Sunday under U.S. pressure and the threat of rebels reaching the
capital, Port-au-Prince.
     Some 2,000 U.S., French, Chilean and Canadian troops have poured into
Haiti since, but there is still fighting between Aristide loyalists and his
opponents, including some vigilantes retaliating against the "chimeres"
gangs who supported the ex-priest's rule with automatic weapons and
machetes.
     "What you have is oppression of the people by armed gangs, by armed
thugs. Unless the decision is taken to really disarm everyone, then the
situation is going to be fragile," Jean-Robert Lafortune, chairman of the
Miami-based Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, told Reuters.
     More than 100 people have been reported killed since the revolt
erupted. Activists said the toll is higher.
     "There is fighting, burning and looting, with hundreds dead, by rival
gangs, many bent on vengeance and revenge," Cheryl Little, an attorney with
the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center in Miami, told Reuters.
     The Coast Guard will not say how many ships and aircraft are
patrolling off Haiti, which is about 600 miles (966 km) from Florida.
     "We do have a constant surveillance of cutters and aircraft among the
Windward Passage (dividing Haiti and Cuba)," Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty
Officer Sandra Bartlett said.
     A U.S. government source in Washington familiar with the situation
said there were at least nine large Coast Guard cutters and 10 patrol boats
deployed to keep Haitians from approaching Florida.
     "We've sort of got a little floating Berlin wall going right now in
terms of the Coast Guard cutters," Little said.
     This week, the Coast Guard intercepted and returned to Haiti 11 people
found in a sailboat off the coast, and returned three Haitians picked up
earlier who had been interviewed but found to have no credible fear of
danger in their homeland.
     Human Rights Watch and other activist groups said sending Haitians
back while fighting continues violates international protocols barring the
return of refugees to a place where their lives or freedom are in danger.
     They also say it unfairly contrasts with the treatment of people from
other nations. For example, the United States grants thousands of people
from Communist Cuba permission to enter each year. Washington also granted
special "Temporary Protected" immigration status to people from Honduras
and Nicaragua after a bad hurricane.
     "Although Jean-Bertrand Aristide has departed, Haiti remains lethally
dangerous," Little said.
     Many groups, and some U.S. legislators, have urged that the government
grant Haitians protected immigration status that would bar deportation from
the United States while the crisis continues.