20559: (Arthur) The Guardian on Haitians in Florida (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

'There, it's a fight just to live'

Florida's Haitian community may have a crucial influence over who wins the
presidency, Matthew Wells finds

Wednesday March 17, 2004


The Bonjour Travel agency, next door to the Chez le Bebe restaurant, in the
heart of Miami's Little Haiti, used to be thronging at lunchtime.

"Now you can see, there is no one here. We go for hours without a customer.
Every single country in the world is moving up, but Haiti, it just goes down,"
says one of the two doleful looking women stuck behind the Perspex glass of
the counter, with too little to do.

She gives her name as Marie, and her friend is Celeste. They are bright,
intelligent people; typical of most relatively new immigrants to the US. But their
country is being ripped up - again - and apart from the lost business, they
are sad for their families and friends.

"We just want the best for Haiti. Everyone has their own view on what Bush
has done and I'm not for or against him or Aristide. We want it to get better.
That's it," says Celeste.

Ordinarily, the domestic political consequences of US policy towards Haiti
are negligible. But this is an election year and there are thousands of Haitian
votes at stake in Florida - the 50/50 state - where any one of the diverse
tribes that constitute Miami-Dade County could make a real difference to the
outcome.

Many of the 100,000 Haitians here are nowhere near having a vote, but they
have a strong sense of injustice. At the North Miami public library, which
nestles in a tidy civic square next to the local National Guard headquarters, I
come across Roberson Gelin, 23, who has taken out some travel books about
Morocco, for a class presentation he needs to make. He is studying for a
qualification in "hospitality":

"I think people here are evenly divided over what has happened to Aristide.
Haitians expected too much from him, but let's not forget that people in the US
are still fighting for real civil rights. There, it's a fight now just to
live."

The library is hosting a free income-tax clinic, to help locals fill in their
forms. Louis, 65, has been in America for more than 40 years now and is a
citizen, but still doesn't want to give his full name. He agrees that the
resignation - or removal - of the democratically elected leader of his shambolic
homeland has divided Haitians in Miami, but he decries the "fanatics" who are
using it for personal political gain. He is happy with his president and will be
voting for him in November.

"We have to get behind Bush. He has protected us so far, and I am staying
loyal," he says with an almost defiant tone.

It is a curious fact that the new prime minister of Haiti, Gerard Latortue -
chosen by a seven-member "council of sages" - was living in the Florida city
of Boca Raton until last week. His chief political advisor is a friend and
fellow long-term south Florida resident, as is the defence minister elect, and
another man who is being touted for the PM's chief of staff.Three of them
appeared together cosily on the Haitian Television News of America network, where
they were co-hosts of a weekly review show.

Whatever happens now - whether Aristide mounts an improbable comeback from
nearby Jamaica where he is now camped out, or whether the new administration
takes root under American and French military supervision - the political links
between the sunshine state and the chaotic republic are more inextricable than
ever.

Talking to some who hold strong opinions within the boundaries of Little
Haiti - which is actually a large 30-block area of sprawling north Miami - the
White House has not done itself many favours with its wait-and-see policy of
recent months.

Jacques Despinosse insists on the unfortunate title of vice-mayor of North
Miami district. He founded the Haitian American Democratic Club, and is chuffed
to be heading for the party convention in Boston this summer, as a delegate
for John Kerry: "Removing Aristide was not a solution, though I'm not saying he
was perfect. Democracy takes time to work and Bush didn't give it a chance. He
could have intervened earlier, but now he has gone for a military option,
just like Iraq. This man does not like negotiation."

Mr Despinosse knows the new prime minister. Along with half the new cabinet
it seems, they were practically neighbours: "The key thing is will Gerard help
bring peace? I wish him the best, but Bush must understand that the problem is
more complex than just replacing Aristide."

The criticism of White House policy is to be expected from political foes.
But perhaps more worrying for the re-election campaign is the view expressed by
another middle-class Haitian American with a vote, who I met near the library.

Elaine Point-Dujour has been in Florida for 17 years, drives an SUV and is
training to be a nurse. A few weeks ago, one of her husband's cousins and two of
his friends were murdered in their Haitian hometown by a gang of men who cut
their heads off with a machete, she says.

"There should have been a referendum on Aristide's rule. There has been no
respect for the law shown by America and France here. Aristide was elected and
he has two more years to go. The people of Haiti should have been allowed to
decide. Sure he made mistakes, but when 9/11 happened, did people call for Bush
to be deposed?"

She is convinced that America can't make peace in her homeland, and she is
nostalgic for the Clinton administration when she felt democracy was tangible
and consistently realised: "I will vote for the Democrat. I wish I could vote
now for Clinton's wife. They are professional but I could not vote for this
Bush. He is not on the side of the rules," she adds.

Close observers of the Haitian community in Miami are not sure whether the
reactive policy-making of the last few weeks will backfire on the president in
this crucial swing state.

Andrea Robinson reports on black issues for the influential Miami Herald
newspaper. She says that in an already heavily politicised voting bloc, it means
that self-interest might not be the only criteria Haitians use come November:
"Passions are running high and as far as the presidential election is
concerned, I would not be surprised if people are inspired to vote."

For the south Floridians who have headed back home to mould a new government,
the stakes are considerably higher. Prime ministerial consultant Louis
Noisin, 77, had this to say to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel a few days ago, about
his decision to leave his wife at home in Miami: "For the moment all of the
wives are shaking for their husbands. My wife would not want me to be in danger.
But I tried to convince her that a man doesn't know when he came to life, and
he doesn't have to know when he's going to die. So if I have to die trying to
save my country, that's a good death."