20422: Esser: Defying Washington: Haiti's Aristide Arrives in Jamaica (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org

March 15th, 2004

Defying Washington: Haiti's Aristide Arrives in Jamaica

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Kingston, JAMAICA (March 15)--Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman reports
that Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has arrived in the
Caribbean nation of Jamaica. Moments after his plane touched down at
Norman Manley International Airport at approximately 2:20 pm EST,
Aristide and his wife Mildred were escorted to a helicopter.

The Jamaican emissary that traveled with the Aristide's from the
Central African Republic to Jamaica, Sharon Hay-Webster, told Goodman
that the Aristide's were headed to a government compound. Hay-Webster
said she could not disclose the exact location for security reasons.
Aristide made no public statements at the airport.

Amy Goodman has been traveling with Aristide, his Haitian-American
wife Mildred, and the delegation of US and Jamaican officials that
accompanied the Aristides to Jamaica, which has offered to
temporarily host them. Goodman is one of only two journalists that
traveled with Aristide.

In returning to the Caribbean, Aristide is defying the Bush
administration, which has stated clearly it does not want Aristide in
the Western Hemisphere.

Since the Aristides left the CAR, Goodman was with the Aristides and
the US/Jamaican delegation on the chartered Gulfstream jet that
ultimately returned Aristide to the Caribbean.

Shortly before the delegation arrived in the Caribbean, Goodman
reported the following:

"The U.S. delegation on board is extremely excited at being able to
accomplish their mission of picking President Aristide up from the
Central African Republic. On the plane, I spoke with President
Aristide and Mildred Aristide about the situation in Haiti. They
talked about their concern over a number of issues, among them, that
the University of Peace has been made the U.S. military base in
Port-au-Prince. The hospital there, the medical school that teaches
Haitians to become doctors, the teachers have been threatened, and
are afraid to work there. This in a country of total destitution that
has one of the lowest rates of doctors in the world."

Goodman continued:

"Mildred Aristide also talked about the looting of her home. As soon
as the Aristides left, their house was robbed. Contrast this to what
happened after the first coup, when the US government promised the
coup leader, Raul Cedras, his home would be protected, and they
actually paid him $2,000 a month for the use of it."

Preceding Aristide's departure from the Central African Republic,
there was a several-hour-long stand-off in the capital, Bangui, that
raised serious questions about whether the Haitian leader would be
permitted to leave Africa. The events also suggest that the US or
other foreign governments may have attempted to prevent or delay
Aristide from leaving. Aristide, who was democratically elected, has
charged that he was "kidnapped" from Haiti on February 29 in a
US-orchestrated coup. Aristide reiterated these allegations in a
series of interviews with Goodman in Bangui and on-board the plane.

Throughout Sunday, there was a flurry of meetings between Aristide
and the president of the Central African Republic, Gen. Francois
Bozize. Some of the meetings also included Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
and Jamaican parliamentarian Sharon Hay-Webster, who is representing
Jamaica's Prime Minister PJ Patterson, as well as the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM). At one point, Aristide emerged from a meeting
with Gen. Bozize inside the presidential palace. Amy Goodman reported
that when he came out of the meeting, Aristide was "surrounded by
military."

After the initial round of talks with Bozize, Aristide spoke briefly
with Goodman. She reported that "Aristide thinks that President
Bozize must consult with those who called Bozize before Aristide was
taken to the CAR—the US, France and Gabon—to decide whether Bozize
should allow Aristide to leave the country." These were the three
countries that orchestrated Aristide's stay in the CAR.

It is not yet clear what possible role the US and other foreign
governments played in the stand-off that preceded Aristide's
departure from the CAR. In an interview with Goodman as the stand-off
was underway, Aristide's lawyer Ira Kurzban questioned whether the
Haitian president was being held prisoner because he was not being
allowed to leave when he wanted.

Ultimately, after numerous meetings, the group was told they would be
allowed to leave the CAR. Moments before they took off, Goodman
conducted a brief, exclusive interview with Aristide. "Because they
[the government of the CAR] were so gracious in welcoming us here, it
is natural that while we are leaving the first thing we say is thank
you," Aristide told Goodman.

She then asked Aristide for his thoughts on his impending return to
the Caribbean. "In the Caribbean family, we find the African diaspora
too," said Aristide. "Now that we are in Africa, moving toward
Jamaica, we are moving from one big family to the same family
somehow. That’s why we will continue to do our best to promote peace,
friendship for all of us as members of the same family, as brothers
and sisters."

Mildred Aristide told Goodman she is very much looking forward to
reuniting with her two small daughters.

The delegation that traveled to the CAR to escort Aristide back to
the Caribbean was led by Rep. Waters. "It has been been quite an
experience," Waters told Goodman just before they boarded the plane
in Bangui. "It has been a long day... We are very pleased to be
getting on the airplane and he will be in Jamaica by tomorrow."

Sharon Hay-Webster, the emissary of Jamaica and CARICOM, told
Goodman, "I can say that on behalf of the team, all of us who were
here to represent President Aristide and CARICOM, all of his family
within the diaspora of the US and the Caribbean, we are happy to meet
with our family members here in Africa and to have a positive
decision to be taken - that is for him to be returned to his family
within CARICOM... and for him to be reunited with his children and
all the family to plan together as to how they will proceed from
here."

TransAfrica founder Randall Robinson, who is a close friend of the
Aristides, is also a member of the delegation. "I am very pleased
that President and Mrs. Aristide will be reunited with the children
tomorrow in Jamaica," Robinson told Democracy Now!. "It is
refreshing. I am extremely relieved. They have been out here for so
long. To see them joining us, going home is a great joy and a great
relief."

Before the Aristides departed Bangui, President Bozize presented them
with two gifts--one a picture made of hundreds of butterfly wings,
the other a piece of art made from rare wood from the CAR.

US OPPOSES ARISTIDE'S RETURN TO WEST. HEMISPHERE

Throughout Sunday, Goodman reported on the stand-off in the CAR over
the fate of Aristide and his wife Mildred. She indicated that there
was some question among the visiting delegation on what role
Washington was playing in the situation. What is clear is that US
officials have declared very publicly that they do not want Aristide
to return to the Western Hemisphere.

"We think it's a bad idea," national security adviser Condoleezza
Rice told NBC's "Meet the Press." "We believe that President
Aristide, in a sense, forfeited his ability to lead his people,
because he did not govern democratically."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, on CNN's "Late Edition," said:
"The hope is that he will not come back into the hemisphere and
complicate [the] situation."

In Haiti, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, General
Richard Myers, said, "As far as Aristide’s return to the region is
concerned, if that increases the violence here, then that would be
extremely unhelpful."

The US has also criticized Jamaica for offering to host Aristide.
"Jamaican authorities are certainly taking on a risk and a
responsibility," said James Foley, the US Ambassador to Haiti. "His
coming within 150 miles from Haiti is promoting violence."

The US-installed "prime minister" of Haiti said today he was
recalling Haiti's ambassador to Jamaica and putting relations on hold
over Aristide's return to the region.

Jamaican Prime Minister Patterson, speaking as current chairman of
the 15-nation CARICOM, has called for an international investigation
into the circumstances of Aristide's removal from Haiti February 29.
The 53-nation African Union echoed that call last week.

Earlier, Goodman reported that, as the stand-off ensued, the
delegation's pilots were on-board the plane for a number of hours,
awaiting word on whether the group would be allowed to leave. "That
answer has come and it appears to be yes," said Goodman, just moments
after the final round of talks between Aristide, Bozize and the
US/Jamaican delegation ended.

Moments before the Aristides and the delegation left for the airport,
the Director General of State Protocol of the Central African
Republic, Stanislas Moussa-Kembe, told Goodman, who at the time was
inside the Presidential Palace in Bangui, that the Aristides would be
allowed to leave the Central African Republic immediately. He told
Goodman, "You're headed to the airport."

Goodman was reporting from inside the Presidential Palace late into
Sunday night. She is now with Aristide and the delegation that came
from the US to escort him to Jamaica. They are expected to arrive in
the Caribbean nation midday Monday.

NOTE: Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman is with Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife Mildred as they makes their
historic return to the Caribbean. Aristide has been accompanied by a
delegation led by US and Jamaican lawmakers. The delegation includes
Rep. Maxine Waters, TransAfrica founder and close friend of the
Aristides, Randall Robinson, Sharon Hay-Webster, an emissary of the
Jamaican prime minister, as well as Aristide's Miami-based lawyer,
Ira Kurzban. Washington Post reporter Peter Eisner is also with the
group. Over the past 48 hours, Amy has filed regular reports from
each stop of the journey.

This is a Democracy Now! global broadcast exclusive. Check the
Democracy Now! website regularly for the latest news on this historic
trip.

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1 (800) 881-2359.
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