20215: White: Rep. Waters' press release on Senate hearing on Haiti 3-10-04 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Randall White <raw@haitiaction.org>


For Immediate Release                                   CONTACT: Ron Dungee
March 10, 2004                                          (323) 757-8900

Congresswoman Waters Demands an

Investigation into the U.S. Government's Role

in the Coup d'Etat in Haiti

Washington, D.C. - Today, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) testified before
the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the role of the U.S.
government in the overthrow of the democratically-elected government
of Haiti during a hearing on "Charting the Future of U.S.-Haitian
Relations".  The Congresswoman made the following statement:


"Senator Lugar, Senator Coleman, Senator Biden, Senator Dodd, members
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, thank you for allowing me
to testify here today.  It is clear that a coup d=etat took place in
Haiti.  We have learned that our government made the departure of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically-elected leader
of Haiti, a pre-condition to introducing United States forces to
restore order.  At the very least, despite our government=s claims to
support democratically-elected governments, the Bush Administration
was unwilling to take any real steps to prevent President Aristide=s
overthrow.

"Uncovering the truth about our government=s role in President
Aristide=s departure is critical to any attempt to chart the future
of U.S.-Haitian relations.

"I have been involved in U.S. policy towards Haiti since shortly
after President Aristide was ousted in a coup d=etat in 1991.  I
became acquainted with President Aristide while he was in exile here
in the United States following the 1991 coup.  I joined with other
Members of Congress to convince the Clinton Administration to
intervene to allow President Aristide to return to Haiti and resume
his position as the democratically-elected President of Haiti.  As a
result of our efforts, President Aristide was able to return to Haiti
in 1994.

"Mr. Chairman, the sad reality is that the same people who supported
the 1991 coup were involved in planning this year=s coup.  Andre
Apaid, a factory-owner who holds an American passport, supported the
1991 coup and is now the leader of the Group of 184.  Many of the
thugs are former members of the Haitian military or members of the
feared death squad known as the Front for the Advancement and
Progress of Haiti (FRAPH), which was responsible for numerous human
rights violations during the three years following the 1991 coup.
Louis Jodel Chamblain was the second-in-command of FRAPH and was
convicted in abstentia for his role in the 1994 Raboteau massacre and
the 1993 assassination of Antoine Izmery.  Jean Tatoune was a local
FRAPH leader, who was also convicted of involvement in the Raboteau
massacre.  Guy Philippe is a former police chief and military
officer, who led several coup attempts between 2001 and 2003.

"I am convinced that the recent coup involved not only Andre Apaid
and the armed thugs but also our own Ambassador Roger Noriega.
Ambassador Noriega=s history is replete with actions against Haiti,
both as Senator Jesse Helms= chief of staff and now as the Bush
Administration=s Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

"I have been to Haiti three times since the beginning of this year.
While I was in Haiti, I met with President Aristide and Lavalas party
members as well as Andre Apaid and other members of the Group of 184.
I was also present when the international community and the members
of CARICOM presented the CARICOM proposal to President Aristide.  The
CARICOM proposal was designed to limit President Aristide=s power and
provide for the selection of a new prime minister, who would be
acceptable to the opposition and able to exercise more independent
power in Haiti.

"I believe the demonstrations organized by Andre Apaid and the Group
of 184 were designed to provoke the Haitian police into retaliating
against the demonstrators, who routinely threw rocks, spat in the
face of police officers and defied government orders establishing
permissible parade routes for protests.  In the beginning, these
tactics worked and the police responded.  However, when President
Aristide learned what was happening, he was able to control the
police and prevent them from carrying out acts of retaliation.

"When the police stopped responding to provocations by the
demonstrators, I believe the U.S. government and the French
government became involved in exerting increasing pressure on
President Aristide, by refusing to fully support the CARICOM proposal
and covertly supporting the thugs, who were taking over cities and
cutting off supplies of food and water.  Meanwhile, the thugs became
bolder and bolder, threatening to carry out a bloodbath if President
Aristide did not leave Haiti.  Yet neither Andre Apaid nor the U.S.
government ever admitted they knew who these thugs were or denounced
their invasion of Haiti.

"I repeatedly appealed to Secretary of State Colin Powell to assist
the government of Haiti, yet the Bush Administration refused to
provide any assistance whatsoever to stop the violence until after
President Aristide=s departure.  It is clear that President
Aristide=s departure was a pre-condition to any U.S. efforts to stop
the violence.  President Aristide told me that he was forced to leave
Haiti on February 29, 2004, after U.S. officials told him that he and
many other Haitians would be killed if he refused.  President
Aristide apparently is being held against his will in the Central
African Republic.

"I urge the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to
investigate the circumstances under which President Aristide and his
wife are being held in order to ensure that they are not being held
against their will.  The United States should inform the government
of the Central African Republic that President Aristide should be
allowed to leave the Central African Republic whenever he is ready to
do so.  Furthermore, the United States should make certain that he is
allowed to travel to any country of his own choosing that will
receive him and offer him assistance in doing so.

"The members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee must determine
the truth about our government=s role in the organization and
execution of the coup d=etat that lead to President Aristide=s
departure.  The American people deserve to know how and why this
Administration allowed a democratically-elected government to be
overthrown by a group of heavily-armed thugs."

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