20517: This Week in Haiti 21:52 03/10/2004 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

"This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI PROGRES
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                           HAITI PROGRES
              "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

                      * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                        March 10 - 16, 2004
                         Vol. 21, No. 52

U.S. DELEGATION MEETS WITH PRESIDENT ARISTIDE
ARISTIDE REVEALS DETAILS OF COUP
by Sarah Sloan & Brian Becker

In his first meeting with outsiders since being sent into exile
on Feb. 29, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide met with a
delegation from the United States in Bangui, Central African
Republic on Mar. 8. Following the meeting, President Aristide
held a news conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and
then conducted a 30-minute phone interview in English with
Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now!. He then met with the delegation
again.

The delegation included Kim Ives from Haïti Progrès newspaper and
the Haiti Support Network, and Johnnie Stevens and Sara Flounders
from the International Action Center. Ives, Flounders and Stevens
were representing former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Also
on the delegation were Brian Concannon, acting in the capacity of
President Aristide's lawyer; and Katherine Kean, a filmmaker and
friend of President Aristide.

Aristide's Mar. 8 press conference and his meeting with the U.S.
delegation constituted a remarkable turnabout from the day before
when the delegation was barred by the Central African Republic
government from meeting with Aristide. Following the refusal to
give the delegation access to meet with the ousted Haitian
president, a press release entitled "Aristide Under Lock & Key"
circulated around the world (see
www.internationalanswer.org/news/update/030704haiti.html).
Thousands of individual activists and organizations submitted the
press release and statement to local media throughout the United
States in a high-visibility emergency mobilization to tell the
truth. The Central African Republic officials have made it clear
that their country is under severe pressure from the United
States and France.

The curtain of silence that has surrounded President Aristide
since the February 28/29 coup has now been significantly opened
as a consequence of this political intervention. The world, and
especially the Haitian people, has been anxious to hear from
President Aristide. It is precisely for this reason that the U.S.
State Department and the French Foreign Ministry have applied so
much pressure to the Central African Republic to prevent him from
having access to the media, and to his attorneys, friends and
supporters.

The delegation arranged for President Aristide to be interviewed
by Amy Goodman of Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now!. She introduced
the Mar. 8 interview with these words:

"Moments before the Democracy Now! interview, Aristide appeared
publicly for the first time since he was forced out of Haiti in
what he has called a US-backed coup. The authorities in the
Central African Republic allowed Aristide to hold a news
conference after a delegation of visiting U.S. activists charged
that the Haitian president was being held under lock and key like
a prisoner. The delegation included one of Aristide's lawyers,
Brian Concannon, as well as activists from the Haiti Support
Network and the International Action Center, representatives of
former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Shortly after they
arrived in Bangui on Sunday, the delegation attempted to meet
with Aristide at the palace of the Renaissance. The CAR
government rebuked them.

"Shortly after, the country's foreign minister held a press
conference in Bangui. Armed men threatened journalists in the
room, warning them not to record the minister's remarks. Mildred
Aristide, the Haitian First lady, was brought into the room, but
was not permitted to speak. The CAR foreign minister told the
journalists that President Aristide would hold a news conference
within 72 hours. Hours later, Aristide was allowed to address
journalists.

"In his interview on Democracy Now!, Aristide asserted that he is
the legitimate president of Haiti and that he wants to return to
the country as soon as possible. He details his last moments in
Haiti, describing what he called his 'kidnapping' and the coup
d'etat against him."

In his press conference and in the direct meetings with the
delegation, "President Aristide was very forceful about the fact
that he was kidnapped, and that his government is being replaced
by a U.S.-sponsored government of occupation," said Sara
Flounders of the International Action Center. President Aristide
also said that "only his return to Haiti can bring peace, and he
stated that the people who carried out this campaign against his
government are internationally recognized criminals.

"President Aristide said that he had been lied to by the U.S.
ambassador, who assured him that he was being taken to a press
conference to talk with international and Haitian media. He was
instead forced onto a plane and taken out of the country in a
U.S. coup d'etat," according to Flounders. "President Aristide
also pointed out the irony that Haiti, which only has 1.5 doctors
for every 11,000 people, now has seen the closing of its primary
medical school and that school is now being used to house U.S.
Marines and other foreign soldiers."

President Aristide expanded on this point both in the press
conference and in his interview on Democracy Now!: "In my
country, after 200 years of independence - we are the first Black
independent country in the world - but we still have only 1.5
Haitian doctors for every 11,000 Haitians. We created a
university, we founded a university with the faculty of medicine
that has 247 students. Once U.S. soldiers arrived in Haiti after
the kidnapping, what did they do? They closed the faculty of
medicine and they are now in the classrooms. This is what they
call peace. This is the opposite of peace. Peace means investing
in human beings, investing in health care, respect for human
rights, not violations of human rights, no violations for the
rights of those who voted for an elected President, and this is
what it means. ... How can you imagine that you come to me, you
want to be in peace, and you close my university and you send out
247 students of medicine in the country where you don't have
hospitals and you don't have enough doctors. God, this is an
occupation. When you protect killers, when you protect drug
dealers like Guy Philippe, like Chamblain, when you protect the
citizens of the United States in violating the law of the United
States, Mr. Andy Apaid is a citizen of the United States,
violating the Neutral Act, the way with this act will destroying
our Democracy, and once we do that, then this is an occupation."
(quotation from Democracy Now!)

Delegation member Kim Ives had an opportunity to speak to
President Aristide in Creole during the meeting following the
Mar. 8 press conference. Ives states that Aristide's account of
the events of February 28-29 stand in sharp contrast to the
account given by Colin Powell and other U.S. officials to the
Washington Post on March 3. The U.S. "story" was that Aristide
was ready to leave the country and that they simply facilitated
his departure at his request. Colin Powell and other U.S.
officials later said that Aristide's assertion that he had been
the victim of a U.S. coup were "absurd" and "not true."

Ives stated, "The Washington Post and other U.S. media coverage
gives the impression that the sequence of events leading to
Aristide's departure at 6 a.m. on February 29 began around 4 or 5
a.m. when Aristide allegedly called U.S. officials and asked for
their assistance in leaving the country. President Aristide told
me that in fact 'armed Americans and diplomats' came to his
residence the day before    that is, on the evening of February
28. Aristide reported that U.S. officials told the 19 security
guards that have functioned as a presidential security detail
that they should abandon their posts. These 19 security guards
were on assignment from the Steele Foundation and are mostly
former members of the U.S. Special Forces. They were told by U.S.
officials that they 'wouldn't be protected, the gig was up.'
President Aristide asserts that these Steele Foundation security
guards basically obeyed the orders from their former employers
(the Pentagon). They were flown by helicopter on Saturday night
away from the presidential residence, leaving Aristide with no
armed protection."

A recent Miami Herald article on the subject reported that
another 25 reinforcement security guards from the Steele
Foundation, who were supposed to arrive Saturday, February 28,
received a call Friday night telling them that the U.S. would
block their deployment. President Aristide confirmed this, saying
that the Steele Foundation had called saying the additional
guards could not arrive in Haiti until Monday.

Mr. Ives also stated that "President Aristide was told by U.S.
Ambassador James Foley that the U.S. officials and armed forces
would take him to a press conference with the international and
Haitian press, where President Aristide could make his case.
President Aristide agreed to go on the condition that he could
speak to the media, and also that his home would be protected
from any attack or looting. The fact is, the press conference
never took place and his home was looted almost immediately after
he left.

"President Aristide was instead driven to a plane. Upon arriving
at approximately 5 a.m. on February 29, he found his 19 security
guards already there. They were all flown   including the
one-year-old child of one of the guards   to the Central African
Republic. After spending 20 hours on a plane flying to a
destination unknown to them, the security guards were then flown
back to the Untied States. The trip prevented them from revealing
the details of the coup until after Aristide was out of Haiti and
in the Central African Republic.

"In the course of the discussions with President Aristide, it
became clear that the timing of the coup coincided with several
international developments that could have shifted the
relationship of forces in the Haitian government's favor. While
the U.S. government escalated pressure on Aristide to resign in
that last week, the government of South Africa had sent a
planeload of weapons that was set to arrive on Sunday, February
29. Venezuela was in discussions about sending troops to support
Aristide. There was also gathering international support and
solidarity for the maintenance of constitutional democracy in
Haiti. African American leaders were receiving increasing media
attention as they denounced the efforts towards a coup. Two
prominent U.S. delegations, one led by members of the
Congressional Black Caucus and another led by former U.S.
Attorney General Ramsey Clark, were set to arrive within days. We
can see that there were various converging influences of aid
about to come. This accounts in large part for the timing of the
coup, it explains why the U.S. had to rush in and remove
Aristide," concluded Ives.

Johnnie Stevens of the International Action Center stated,
"Today, as a consequence of strong international pressure, the
people of Haiti and the rest of the world have had a chance to
hear President Aristide refute the lies and slanders of the U.S.
government and its henchmen from the former Haitian military who
are behind the coup. We believe that the U.S. has tried to muzzle
or silence President Aristide, not simply to stop one man from
speaking out. The goal is to discourage the people of Haiti from
continuing the growing struggle demanding President Aristide's
return. It is really an effort to muzzle, silence and pacify the
people in order to impose U.S. regime change."

Stevens continued, "The people of Haiti have been a source of
inspiration for two centuries. Their struggle for freedom,
independence and sovereignty is part and parcel of the struggle
of oppressed people everywhere. We must continue to do everything
in our power to stand up against the racist designs of the Bush
administration."

In his interview with Democracy Now!, President Aristide was
asked if he planned to return to Haiti. His response: "If I can
go [to Haiti] today, I would go today. If it's tomorrow,
tomorrow. Whenever time comes, I will say yes, because my people,
they elected me."

Sarah Sloan and Brian Becker are both with the International
Action Center (IAC).

All articles copyrighted Haiti Progres, Inc. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED.
Please credit Haiti Progres.

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