20830: Jepiem: Re: 20738: Vedrine: Resignation or Not?.. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jepiem@aol.com

I guess people will be debating for years to come whether Mr Aristide, the
ex, former or still constitutionally president of Hati resigned or not on the
29th of February 2004. Even the translations of his famous letter or document of
..... resignation/abdication/notice of absence from his functions are giving
people the fits. Mr Vedrine the authority on Hatian Creole gave us an english
translation which begins as such:
 February 7th. 2001
 I have sworn to respect And make respected the Constitution
Tonight February 28, 2004, I still decide
To respect and make respected the Constitution
I have a problem with the beginning of the translation. The date February 7th
2001 is the date when the President is sworn in. According to the
Constitution he swears to respect and impose respect to the Constitution.....The date
February the 7th in the beginning of the translation seems detached and
unrelated, but it in fact isn't. Because in Creole we hardly use " On" before a date,
Mr Aristide didn't use anything. He just wrote the date at the beginning of the
sentence which when translated litterally seems to begin with "I have sworn"
and that dates becomes an odd out of place and out of time date to date the
document.  So I believe we should put the "On" before February the 7th to give
the date its true meaning.
This being said, it is clear and obvious that Mr Aristide signed that paper
under some kind of harassment and he did not want to officially resign. Hence
the ambiguity. But who was pressuring him? He clearly states that he still
wants to uphold the Constitution. That's what "Respekte et Fe Respecte" means to
me. You can't resign your function and still uphold the Constitution you are
supposed to uphold. My guess is he also wanted to exit playing a trick on his
tormentors. In fact, if he wanted to cut and run he didn't have to sign
anything. Nowhere in the Constitution does it specify how and if the President has to
resign and to whom if he's tired of it all. May be a simple "Address to the
Nation" would suffice. Article 148 of the 1987 Constitution  simply states that
in case of temporary inability of the president... the Council of Ministers
under the leadership of the Prime Minister takes charge. Article 149 states that
if the function of President becomes vacant for any reason the President of
the Supreme Court takes over. Now I have a real problem with anyone saying that
Mr Aristide didn't resign. He didn't have to. He just had to be absent to be
replaced. The real issue is then with those who forced him to be absent
against his will.
Mr Aristide would have done a lot better to tell these folks to take him
wherever they wanted and that he didn't have to or didn't want to sign anything.
That trick was played in Guatemala against Arbenz who fled his palace under
pressure from the CIA who was backing some '"rebel" who weren't even in the
country but were manning some phony radio stations and pretending to be at the
gates of the city ready to invade and chop off his b.. neck. Well  Arbenz ran and
the rest is history. That same trick was repeated in Venezuela not long ago.
This time the generals were there in the palace with real heavy weapons and
they marched into the presidential office with letter of resignation for Chavez
to sign. Chavez refused to sign and they took him away anyway. The Chavez's
faction of the army and his ardent supporters knowing he didn't resign made a
countercoup and reinstated him. The newly installed president fled and I'll give
a Miami dollar to the first one who guesses where he is now living. Mr
Aristide isn't as brave as his pronouncements would have us believe. If he hadn't
signed that paper I would have now a lot more respect for him. The most vexing
part for me was to hear him quote Toussaint Louverture after that. Where do we
go from here. Whoever made that coup d'etat. ( I think we are clear now this is
what this was) better be held responsible that the country be fixed and fixed
well. And as for those who are cooperating with them, remember that the
people will hold you responsible.
I asked with the question Resignation or Not. I ask you that question: ARE
you resigned or Not? We can't be just "Resigned". We have to continue asking
questions and force answers by refusing to be silent.
Math Jay