20480:(Chamberlain) U.S. Marines begin battle for hearts in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Michael Christie

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines began a
battle to win hearts and minds in Haiti on Tuesday, and hooked up water
pipes to communities around the base of an international force whose
presence has stirred anger.
     The commander of the 2,700-strong U.N.-sanctioned force, Marine Brig.
Gen. Ronald Coleman, presided as the first drops of water sprang from two
new taps. He even took the first sip.
     The humanitarian gesture came after Coleman saw residents in the
capital's Tabarre neighborhood, where the force is based, walk for miles
(km) with buckets balanced on their heads to get water, spokesman Staff
Sgt. Tim Edwards said.
     It was also a peace offering after U.S. troops infuriated locals when
they locked down the area, preventing people from going home, during a
visit on Saturday by Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S.
Joint Chiefs of Staff.
     In a country where a third of the population suffers from chronic
malnutrition, and 80 percent live in abject poverty, the small gesture
seemed to have a big impact.
     "I have been waiting for such an opportunity my whole life," said
Marilene Jean, 25.
     Anita Maxi, a mother of seven, said she had always had to ration how
much water she allowed her children to drink.
     "Sometimes we are thirsty but we can't drink too much because it's
hard to find," she said. "We had to walk such a distance to get water and
when we got there we had to fight."
     Edwards said the U.S. military was planning other projects to win over
the population of the poorest country in the Americas. But they appear to
have their work cut out for them.
     The Marines, sent in two weeks ago after President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide was ousted by a month-long revolt and U.S. pressure, have come
under fire several times.
     The attackers are believed to be Aristide loyalists from the slums,
who say he was the only Haitian leader who ever cared for them and who
believe he was kicked out in a U.S. "coup."
     U.S. Marines and Haitian police on Monday night raided Belair, one of
Port-au-Prince's most dangerous slums, in a crackdown on the gunmen who
wounded a Marine on Sunday.
     The show of force by around 120 Marines, backed by light armored
vehicles, did little to douse the spirit of defiance.
     "It's an act of brutalization," said a street tough called Lesly. "We
don't have their kind of guns, we just have .38s (pistols). How many people
can we kill with six bullets?"
     A man called Johnny said he believed the Marines and the police
planned to allow Aristide supporters to be "massacred."
     "We're not afraid of their big guns, trust me. We've been playing with
guns all our life," Johnny told Reuters.
     In another sprawling slum, Cite Soleil, gang leaders, who once
enforced loyalty to Aristide, echo the fears and the bluster of Belair.
     "We're waiting for Aristide to come back. We'll die for him," said
Kendal Mahtoen.
     On the walls of the slum -- where families live in one-room shacks,
wooden boards lie across open sewers as footpaths to people's homes, and
blocks of ice are buried in sawdust to stop them from melting -- the
graffiti speaks of revenge.
     "If Aristide goes, cut off their heads and burn down their homes," a
message urged, evoking the battle cry of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who led
Haiti's slaves to victory against the French 200 years ago.

 (Additional reporting by Joseph Guyler Delva)