22784: Justin: Re: 22777: VISHNUSURFRe: 22774: Wharram: Re: Hermantin #22764 US aids Arisitide (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Justin <justins@alacrityisp.net>

> From: VISHNUSURF@aol.com
> ----------------------------------------
>
> Mr. Wharram asks an excellent question, to which I would add:
> Why did the US not only NOT investigate Cedras but rent all five of his
> houses
> in Port-au-Prince before they flew him and his family off to a cushy exile
> in
> Panama?
> Does anyone know if those homes are still rented by the US government?
> There was a TON of money made off of the cocaine trade by that regime,
> likely
> much more than whatever Ketant and co. made off with.

As far as I know, he is still renting out his mansions.  Not only did they
guard his mansions and allow him to rent them out during his exile, but they
also unfroze assets for him to collect before he left.  Cedras kept
insisting that he be allowed to leave "with dignity," and the U.S. gladly
obliged him.  He never had to put up with any unexpected airplane rides in
the middle of the night.  In fact, the U.S. soldiers even loaded his
extensive luggage on to his plane for him.    Here is a Washington Post
story from the time about his mansions and whatnot:


Washington Post

October 14, 1994

U.S. ASSISTS DICTATORS' LUXURY EXILE
WASHINGTON UNFREEZES ASSETS, RENTS HAITIAN EX-STRONGMAN'S HOMES

Author: Douglas Farah; Washington Post Foreign Service

The United States has agreed to release the frozen assets of Haitian
military leaders and rent three properties belonging to former military
commander Raoul Cedras, who left Haiti for exile in Panama early today

The actions would allow Cedras to collect millions of dollars that he
reportedly amassed during his brutal three years in power as well as
thousands of dollars in rental income that will further cushion his exile,
U.S. officials said today.

Cedras, his former chief of staff, Philippe Biamby, and Cedras's family left
Haiti at 3 a.m. today, flying to Panama in a U.S.-provided airliner. Friends
said Cedras and his family will probably end up at some future date in
Spain, where they own other properties.

U.S. soldiers loaded massive amounts of luggage onto the aircraft, while the
two generals and their entourage headed straight up the stairs of the
waiting plane, never pausing to look back.

A separate U.S.-provided jet flew 23 "relatives and associates of Cedras and
Biamby" to Miami, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Stan Schrager. "After a review
by the departments of State and Justice, they were paroled into the United
States by the attorney general."

Schrager said the departure of Cedras and Biamby "clears the way for the
return ... of elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, for the full
restoration of democracy and for a bright new future for the Haitian
people." Aristide is to return Saturday.

But the future, at least financially, also looks bright for the fleeing
military officers. While Cedras is renting his properties to the United
States, former Port-au-Prince police chief Michel Francois, the third of the
troika of military leaders who fled to exile, has rented out his opulent
home to the Dominican Republic for use as an official residence, diplomatic
sources said. Francois last week went to the Dominican Republic, where he
has extensive business holdings.

Biamby, who led a much more austere lifestyle than his two colleagues, does
not own a home. He lived in a room of his mother's house, where he grew up.

Washington is now facilitating the dictators' exile a month after President
Clinton, in a dramatic address, called for their ouster, saying: "Cedras and
his armed thugs have conducted a reign of terror, executing children, raping
women, killing priests. As the dictators have grown more desperate, the
atrocities have grown ever more brutal."

Further guaranteeing that the three will not suffer in exile, White House
spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers today announced the assets of the military
leaders, frozen in most countries for the past year, would be released.

"We've always envisioned that when Aristide returns all the sanctions,
including the sanctions on assets, would be lifted," Myers told reporters.

A Treasury Department spokesman said that there was $79 million in
individual Haitian accounts as of Sept. 15 but added that the amount was
certainly larger than that because the Treasury figure came from voluntary
bank declarations.

Schrager said the United States had, in an effort to get the former generals
out of the country before Aristide returns, agreed to rent the three Cedras
properties. The United States had pressed Cedras and Biamby to leave the
country after they resigned Monday.

One home is a luxurious house in the affluent suburb of Pegguyville,
surrounded by a stone wall, a manicured lawn and lots of trees. The second
is his recently built stone beachfront resort house just off the main road,
30 miles north of the capital. The third is his mother-in-law's house close
to the center of the capital.

The properties, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, were acquired
although officially Cedras was earning a salary of about $900 a month.
Francois was able to build homes and businesses on an official salary that
never exceeded $500 a month.

"The rental will be determined at fair market value, and the property will
be used by U.S. personnel in Haiti or sublet to other tenants," Schrager
said. The main home, at market value, would go for about $5,000 a month, as
would the beach-front home. The third house would normally rent for about
$2,000.

Schrager said the rent would be "paid in advance" for either six months or a
year, depending on the home. The agreement eased the Cedrases' immediate
cash-flow problem on arrival in Panama.

All three buildings are now guarded by U.S. troops, dressed in full combat
gear, the entrances blocked by U.S. Army humvees and trucks.

Diplomatic sources familiar with the deal said Cedras's wife, Yannick, led
the haggling and set the terms, concerned not only about the price of the
rentals but demanding that the homes be protected against destruction by
angry crowds.

The sources said Yannick Cedras had first asked the United Nations to rent
the properties, but the request was rebuffed. While the U.S. jet sat on the
runway, the terms of each contract were painstakingly negotiated. U.S.
Ambassador William Swing visited the Cedras residence several times Tuesday
and sent a team of advisers over to assess the house.

"In the end, it was a matter of money," said one diplomat. "Yannick had to
handle everything, make all the decisions, because the men were unable to
make any decisions. They were completely listless."

All three men amassed their fortunes during their time in power by
controlling basic products whose value skyrocketed because of international
embargoes placed on the nation. Cedras, as

commander-in-chief of the army, was cut in on almost all deals and lived by
far the most ostentatious lifestyle. Two associates who did business with
him estimated he saved about $100 million.

Francois was able to profit immensely by monopolizing the cement market,
along with rice imports and other valuable commodities and reportedly also
saved millions.

All three made millions of dollars by breaking the petroleum embargo on the
nation, creating a cartel in conjunction with military officers in the
Dominican Republic. Gasoline that sold in the Dominican Republic for about
$1.50 a gallon retailed here for 5 to 10 times that and more. At its peak,
international monitors estimated that Haiti was importing 2 million gallons
a month.

Biamby, while leading a more austere life and passing much of the money he
made on to soldiers loyal to him, saved several million dollars, according
to business associates.

"He saved his money, he did not spend it," said one business acquaintance.
"He went into exile once in 1989 after a failed coup, and he was penniless.
When he came back, he vowed that would never happen again, and so he made
sure he had something to fall back on."

The news of the rentals and the flight to exile infuriated many of those who
supported the coup but were left behind. Many now face the abrupt loss of
income that came from their dealings with the military and the possibility
of losing their properties in attacks by angry crowds or through legal
action.

Cedras, Biamby and Francois had all publicly vowed to stay in Haiti and lead
armed resistance against the U.S. occupation that began Sept. 19. They had
also promised not to cut a deal that left their followers unprotected.

"They were scum," said one man who participated in the coup. "They are
cowards, just like all the rest.