22598: (Hermantin)Sun-Sentinel-Aristide backers fearful in exile (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Aristide backers fearful in exile

By Alva James-Johnson
Staff Writer
Posted July 1 2004

Every time Fritzner hears of an arrest of a Fanmi Lavalas party member,
whether in Haiti or the United States, his stomach aches, his spirit sinks,
and his emotions ignite in anger.

That's how it has been for the former Haitian politician ever since he and
his family fled Haiti for South Florida in March, following the ouster of
former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Fritzner's friend and leader.

Since then, Fritzner says it seems that his political party has been under
attack. Fritzner, his wife, Carol, and their 3-year-old son live with
relatives in Delray Beach. They avoid Haitian restaurants and community
gatherings. They didn't want their full names disclosed because they might
be tracked down.

In Haiti, former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, who had been in hiding
since March, on Sunday surrendered to Haitian authorities for his alleged
involvement in a massacre in February that left more than 50 people dead.

In South Florida, five former Haitian officials who served in the Aristide
government remain locked up on federal drug charges. Many party members
think the arrests are part of a conspiracy between the United States and the
interim Haitian government.

Ira Kurzban, a Miami lawyer who represents Aristide, who is living in South
Africa, said he's putting together asylum claims for about two dozen people
who fled Haiti for political reasons since Feb. 29. He said they are former
government officials, high-ranking Lavalas party members and officials with
the Aristide Foundation for Democracy in Haiti. He said the interim
government has frozen some of their bank assets.

"This whole operation since Feb. 29 is to destroy Lavalas," Kurzban said
after Neptune's arrest. "At the same time they're letting thugs in Haiti
kill members of Lavalas."

The more arrests, the deeper the former officials go into hiding, keeping
their children out of school, staying away from public places, fearful of
seeing friends and other day-to-day activities.

"It seems they're going to arrest everybody that's for Aristide even if they
don't have proof," Fritzner said during a clandestine interview in Miramar.
"I have to stay low-profile because I'm not secure."

Lavalas members estimate there are hundreds of exiles in South Florida and
New York now that Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas, or the Cleansing Flood Family,
is out of power.

Tony Jean Thenor, a member of Veye-Yo, a grass-roots Miami organization
composed of Lavalas members, said some of the political exiles attend Friday
night meetings at the organization's headquarters, where they recount their
stories.

He said people feel they are not safe, not only in Haiti, but also in the
United States.

"I'm a tax-paying citizen, living here the last 20 years, but right now I
feel the U.S. government can come and say I'm a drug dealer," Thenor said.
"It's a kind of witch hunt that's taking place right now."

Their fears come amid continuing controversy over the Feb. 29 removal of
Aristide, who claims he was kidnapped by the U.S. government. The Bush
Administration has denied the charges. But groups such as CariCom, the U.S.
Congressional Black Caucus and the Organization of American States all have
called for an investigation into the former president's departure.

Amnesty International, the National Lawyer's Guild, the Ecumenical Program
in Central America, and the Caribbean and other human rights groups have
reported abuses against Lavalas party members.

"Many are hiding in the mountains or in Port-au-Prince. Others have been
beaten and or killed," the National Lawyer's Guild reported in March. "Many
of their homes have been selectively destroyed, mostly by arson."

Officials of the interim Haitian government -- led by Gérard Latortue, who
has a home in Boca Raton -- said the accusations are unfounded.

Edgar Bruneau, assistant director of the Office of Communications, said
Lavalas party members have been demonstrating freely in the streets, with no
intervention from the government.

"There are no human rights violations at this time in Haiti," he said. "We
have no reason to persecute people. Justice is prevailing in this country
right now. Let the justice work."

But Fritzner and his wife, Carol, said their nightmare began on Feb. 29.

"The morning Aristide left, all the maids in our house were crying and
shaking," Carol said. "We packed all we could in a car, went to friends and
fled through the Dominican Republic."

They left the country in mid-March. Fritzner said Haitian police recognized
him at the border but let the family escape for $3,500. They flew to Miami,
where they entered the country on visas, and now they spend their days
sleeping, crying and watching TV in Delray Beach.

"My son keeps asking `When are we going home, Pappy?'" he said, his voice
cracking. Then he paused: "I don't know why they come into my country and
take Aristide out."

Fritzner was elected to office in the landslide 2000 elections, which some
observers and Aristide opponents said were flawed.

As a firebrand Roman Catholic priest, Aristide challenged the Duvalier
dictatorship in the 1980s. As he campaigned for president in 1990, he rode
through the country on a donkey, exhorting his fellow Haitians to follow his
example, to defy violent threats and vote. His popularity was so great, he
was unchallenged, and he was swept into office on a great, cleansing flood
-- a lavalas, in Haitian Creole, which he adopted as his party's name.

"Aristide was one of the people that kept the flames of freedom," Fritzner
said. He "was one of the leaders that every time we go out on the street to
[demonstrate] was always on the street with us."

Fritzner said he was very politically active in Haiti, ran his own store in
Port-au-Prince and lived a middle-class life. He worked as a liaison between
the government and the poor during Aristide's first term in office. He lived
in the United States for five years after the 1991 coup against Aristide.

He said Aristide wasn't perfect, but some of the charges against the former
president aren't true.

"A lot of people say Aristide controlled the chimère [armed gangs], but it's
not true," Carol said. "These people saw Aristide as the only way to
improve. When they saw his mandate threatened, they got upset."

Alva James-Johnson can be reached at ajjohnson@sun-sentinel.com or
954-356-4523.

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Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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