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[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: PatrickStephenson <patrickstephenson@videotron.ca>

FW: La Fin des chimères/ The End of the Chimeras

Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004  07:36:43 -0400 Culture & Spectacles Charles Najman
signs documentary "Haiti: end of the chimeras?" The end of the reign
of'Aristide [ June 23, 2004 ] Journalist, writer, scenario writer Charles
Najman has explored the Haitian culture for more than fifteen years. After
his Haitian novel, God alone sees me (Balland Editions), the Illuminations
of Mrs Nerval, a film on  voodoo, Royal Candy (Jean Vigo Award 2002), a
truculent fable on the madness of incapacity, he returns to the documentary
genre with Haiti: end of the chimeras? A lampoon on the end of the
presidency of Jean Bertrand Aristide, driven out  in spring 2004, Today in
exile in South Africa. A vitriolic portrait which resembles that of « king
Chacha » of «  Royal Bonbon (Candy) », this illuminated despot, this poor
wretch covered of bric and pitcher, carrying a crown of scrap on his head
and self proclaimed the reincarnation of king Christophe, one of the heroes
of Haitian Indépendance. If the matter remains singularly the same, Haiti:
end of the chimeras plunges in the heart of a  reality that is not phantasm
but quite real .

 We are to Port-with-Prince, January 1, 2004. Jean Bertrand Aristide, still
president, celebrate the bicentenary of Haiti, the first black Republic of
the world, created in 1804, following the victorious revolt of the slaves
and a group of  black and mulatto officers led  by Dessalines and Pétion. If
the  time is to euphoria, one feels an evil within the population, the first
signs of dissatisfaction which will agitate Haiti. Jean Bertrand Aristide,
this former priest of the poor become a shameless corrupted dictator, saw
his last moments of reign. "Haiti is a drunk species of boat, explains
Charles Najman. This is the country of  giddiness and disproportion. That of
ivress to fall and the art to remain upright. In spite of the famine, the
extreme precariousness, omnipresent violence, the Haitians dealt with the
insupportable with force and dignity.

« I arrived in Port-with-Prince to turn this documentary in mid-December
2003. I found myself in the center of the convulsions, of repression. I have
tried to translate that into images. To seek in the History of Haiti what
could explain the present and the Aristide phenomenon » Charles Najman met
Jean Bertrand Aristide in 1988 as  he was still a priest in the shantytowns.
"the newspaper « Le Monde » had hired me to write an article portraying
'Aristide, specifies Charles Najman. At the time he was living in
clandestinity. One of his close friends bandaged my eyes to conduct me to
his hideaway. I discovered his double personality. He handled perfectly the
set language when he was addressing to people in French. He was constantly
calculating his blow thoroughly. In Creole, on the other hand, he was
hysterically galvanizing the crowds. He entered transes with these excluded
illiterates who never had their word to say and which had always been
controlled by an arrogant and scorning elite. Aristide spoke the language of
the poor. He knew them well, having himself « miraculously » spawned from
the slums. The " chimeras ", its unconditional partisans completely iden
tified with this providential man who promised to them to pass from unworthy
misery to worthy poverty." For this reason they supported him, and with the
help of multiple alliances with other political groups and influent  Haitian
organizations the Lavalas movement  brought him in power in 1990. They then
believed havingo elected Jesus. They did not suspect ed that they would soon
discover "a Messiah of shoddy goods, a corrupted and covetous traitor,
implied in the traffic of cocaine and whose personal fortune is estimated to
2OO million dollars", Charles Najman collected enthralling testimonys of
former ministers of Jean-Bertrand Aristide government,  historians and
politicians. That of Evans Paul, one of  the spokesman of  the Opposition
groups which had allowed the election of Aristide tto he presidency, in 1990
to become later one of his boldest ennememy. He was a leader of Kid
(democratic Convention of  unity). He also questioned Régis Debray, charged
in January 2004 with then writing a report/ratio on the situation in Haiti
for Dominique de Villepin, the honorable Foreign Minister of France. But,
the most poignant testimony is that of Billy. "I have met Billy by  the
mediation of a friend who works in the shantytowns, added Charles Najman. He
is a 22 years old boy. He is a  « chimeras gang leader », in one of the
largest shantytowns of Port-with-Prince. He and his/her buddies manage a
true weapons arsenal. They have been armed jfrom feet to teeth by Aristide.
Billy had a special relationship with Aristide. While a child, he dreamed to
become the Haitian Che. He knows now that he was just the instrument of the
Lavalas party. And, that  Aristide murdered  all its hopes for a better
future."

 B B.

Translated by P.SS