22729: Fenton: Jodel Chamblain Describes Efforts Against Aristide (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Anthony Fenton <apfenton@ualberta.ca>

Haiti: Imprisoned rebel leader describes guerrillas' efforts against Aristide
14 July 2004
08:47 am
BBC Monitoring Americas
English
(c) 2004 The British Broadcasting Corporation [date of publication]. All
Rights Reserved. No material may be reproduced except with the express
permission of The British Broadcasting Corporation.

Text of report on interview with Haitian rebel leader Louis Jodel
Chamblain by the paper's staff writer Pastor Vasquez in Petion-Ville; date
of interview not given; published by Dominican Republic newspaper Hoy
web site on 13 July

Petion-Ville, Haiti: Rebel leader Louis Jodel Chamblain has revealed that
he crossed the Dominican border into Haiti on 6 February 2004 together
with Guy Philippe and other men to lead a guerrilla group that was
operating in Pernal against the government of [then President]
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Now a prisoner in Petion-Ville Municipal Prison, Chamblain said that they
crossed over at Elias Pina, unarmed, taking advantage of the market,
where they mingled with Haitians who enter Dominican territory to shop.

The rebel military leader admits that he is hurt by Haitian politicians,
because they betrayed him, in his view, despite the fact that the people
consider him a hero.

"We left at five in the morning [local times throughout] on 6 February. We
had everything already prepared on the other side of the border. We were
in Elias Pina waiting for the right time when we would mingle with the
people who come to buy, because it was market day," the former soldier
said.

"It was midday when we moved towards Belladere, then we climbed a
mountain. We walked for 12 hours. We were Guy Philippe, myself, Gilbert
Dragon (the former police chief of Croix-des-Bouquets), Joseph Romel
and a former soldier called Desir."

He said that they climbed Pernal Mountain, where they waited, "because
we had a military base. You yourself, Pastor Vasquez, wrote in your
newspaper about the guerrillas in Pernal. Afterwards we armed ourselves
and left Pernal, at that point in vehicles, for Cap-Haitien, which was our
main target."

"We passed through a Haitian town, I do not remember its name, at about
five in the morning. We did not see any police; there was no security in the
country. The Haitian border was deserted. We arrived in Cap-Haitien at
dawn on Saturday 7 February. There were 60 of us guerrillas," Chamblain
said.

He explained that they did not have enough strength to fight the
government troops in Cap-Haitien, who had already fortified the city. "We
did not enter the city, so we went to a place on the outskirts to rest. We
spent the day under the trees. We were hungry, thirsty and covered with
dust."

He said that given the fortification of Cap-Haitien they decided not to attack
the city and made the decision to strike the government in another place.

"It was then that we made the best decision: We left for Saint-Michel de la
Atalaye. We arrived at five in the morning and took the city peacefully,
because the people had already risen up and kicked out the deputy,
mayor and police chief."

He explained that when his presence became known in the city "the
people received us, the people fed us".

When asked who financed their activities to overthrow Aristide, he said
they did it with little money.

"No-one helped us. Look, Pastor, I had 500 gourdes in my pockets. When
I was in Saint-Michel, a rich old man rode up on a bicycle and said to me:
Are you Commander Chamblain? I am going to make a donation to you.
And he brought me 2,000 Haitian dollars (10,000 gourdes) and with that
we bought food for the troops."

He said that from Saint-Michel "I announced to the world that I had arrived
in Haiti and that the war had begun. I told Aristide that he should step
down. Then the foreign press came and all that," Chamblain said.

"On Sunday the 8th [February] we attacked Pilvorot, Cerca-la-Source,
Limbe, Lacour-du-Nord. Then we left 60 men in Saint-Michel and left for
Cap-Haitien, but again we had to retreat because the city was fortified. It
was impossible to take Cap-Haitien at that time. I told Guy (Philippe) that
we were going to show Aristide that we could fight during the day and we
chose Hinche as our next objective. We arrived in Hinche at one in the
afternoon, I think on the 9th. We were not able to attack, and we stayed on
the outskirts."

He said that in Hinche they saw the police chief leave and some chimeres
(Aristide's police attaches) who had a run-in with the group, "they opened
fire and we responded immediately. They died at once."

"We spent 10 hours waiting to attack and, when we attacked the police
station, we fought for three hours. The people came and helped us tear
down the wall. There were chimeres inside. I advised the police to come
and negotiate with me, unarmed and I allowed them to leave. We told
them to leave the country."

"Our target was the chimeres, I do not know how many died. The people
took care of the rest. The battle began at one and ended at four in the
afternoon. We took all the weapons, there were a lot of them. Now we
were well armed and we would take Cap-Haitien."

He said that no members of the armed forces helped them in Santo
Domingo and he considered it "a lot of rubbish" that they received training,
because as Haitians they did everything in absolute secrecy. "My wife,
who is Dominican, found out after we crossed the border, when I called
her on my cell phone from the mountain, and I told her: I am fighting in
Haiti. She did not believe me, so I said to her: here is Guy so you can see
that it is true."

He explained that the night before leaving for Elias Pina he was at the
home of a friend in Santo Domingo "playing cards; we drank a bottle of
whisky, I said to him: I am not coming back here for a long time. He did
not know why."

Chamblain affirmed that they were able to throw the Dominican security
services off their track because they took many precautions. "We left Santo
Domingo unarmed for Elias Pina and when the market opened we mixed
in with the crowd. It is difficult to move about armed in Santo Domingo with
so much security."

When asked how they obtained weapons for the rebellion, Chamblain
said: "Well, we had been bringing weapons to Pernal for a long time,
waiting for the right moment. These were weapons from the former army."

Now he is a prisoner

He said that with the rebellion over he is now in prison, because "the
politicians started getting jealous, because I went to Port-de-Paix to
restore order and the people welcomed me like a hero. So the human
rights bandits said that I was a murderer and started saying things in the
press. There was a lot of pressure. So, I came to prove my innocence."

He explained that now they are blaming him for murders that were
committed in 1991, but he said he was duped by Emmanuel Constant.

"In 1991, I set up the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti
(FRAPH) together with Emmanuel Constant, and he deceived me. He set
up an organization with the same acronym but it was called the
Revolutionary Front for the Progress of Haiti. He went to the press and
said that he had 3,000 men armed by the armed forces."

He explained that a few days later they killed businessman Antoine Izmery
in the Sacred Heart Church, in Turgeaux, and although he was in
Petion-Ville, they accused him of the murder.

"Aristide's justice sentenced me to life in prison, without summoning me,
without hearing witnesses, without evidence. I came so that they would
grant me a new trial and clear my name."

Chamblain said that he does not fear for his life, because "I am still the
commander, I am the chief and I do not accept pressure from anybody."

As far as his health is concerned, Chamblain said that he has a problem
with his spine and "I want them to tell my wife, in Santo Domingo, that I
had a problem with blood pressure. Look, I want you to give my regards to
the Dominican people, I love Dominicans very much."

Source: Hoy web site, Santo Domingo, in Spanish 13 Jul 04