26568: Hermantin (news) toussaint ad campaign turns motorists' heads (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sat, Nov. 12, 2005

Miami Herald

HAITI | PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Toussaint ad campaign turns motorists' heads

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@herald.com

He is a former Haitian senator and suspected killer who is banned from the 
United States. But that isn't stopping Dany Toussaint from seeking the Haitian 
presidency -- or making an appearance in South Florida.

Not to be outdone by the slew of Haitian presidential candidates who have been 
appearing at campaign fundraisers and political rallies here, Toussaint has 
decided to make his presidential pitch in a big way:

A life-size billboard bearing his image popped up this week on southbound 
Interstate 95 near the Northwest 69th Street exit.

Decorated in the blue, red and white colors of Haiti's flag, the sign reads: 
Dany Toussaint Haiti's Next President! Ensuring Security, Health, Tourism, 
Education & Agriculture.

Toussaint's grand entrance onto the political scene in South Florida has kept 
the airwaves of the Haitian community radio stations crackling.

'We haven't mentioned his name in weeks. Ever since the billboard, people have 
been calling, `Did you see it? Did you see it?' '' said Ed Lozama, host of a 
Creole-language morning radio talk show on Planet 17 (1700 AM). 'This is a 
grand way for him to say `I am here,' too.''

Jocelyn McCalla, head of the New York-based National Coalition for Haitian 
Rights, couldn't stop laughing after hearing about the billboard, joking that 
at least Toussaint ``is spending good money here.''

The billboard, he said, not only demonstrates that perhaps Toussaint has a bit 
more money to spend than his competitors, but ``it also highlights the 
importance of the Haitian expatriate community, particularly in the United 
States.''

Though Haitian Americans are not allowed to vote in Haiti's upcoming 
presidentialelections, which have been postponed from Nov. 20 to sometime next 
month, they can influence their family and friends back in Haiti.

Still, the mere fact that Toussaint is a presidential candidate points to an 
even larger issue with Haiti's already problematic elections, McCalla said.

A former Aristide ally who once headed the U.S.-trained interim National Police 
force trained in the 1990s, Toussaint quickly became a nefarious character, 
accused of drug trafficking by U.S. officials.

And in Haiti, he has been linked to several political assassinations including 
that of Haiti's most prominent journalist, Jean Dominique. He has never been 
charged, and the Dominique case remains unsolved.

Still, the implication put him on a U.S. State Department list of Haitians 
''credibly alleged'' to have committed ''extra-judicial and political murders'' 
in Haiti, barring himfrom entering the United States.

He also was described by two members of U.S. Congress intelligence committee as 
``credibly linked by a number of U.S. government agencies to narcotics 
trafficking in Haiti.''

''Dany Toussaint is just a symptom of a big problem that exists in Haiti,'' 
McCalla said. ``You don't have the institutions that can raise a flag when 
folks like Toussaint or the others like him seek the presidency. Toussaint is 
not the only person who has been involved in corruption, illicit practices or 
even in perpetrating or commissioning murders.''

Toussaint did not return calls for comment, but in the past has vehemently 
denied any involvement in drugs or assassination plots.

Lavarice Gaudin, a leading member of the pro-Aristide group Veye Yo, who also 
hosts a South Florida Creole-language radio program, said he also has been 
fielding calls about the Toussaint billboard. He too finds Toussaint's 
candidacy mind-boggling.

''Under the Aristide administration the [U.S.] State Department asked Aristide 
for Dany Toussaint's head as a drug dealer. So as soon as they kidnap Aristide 
. . . Dany no longer becomes a drug dealer? Now they accept Dany as a president 
for candidate in Haiti,'' he said.

''I don't understand the morality of the U.S. government,'' he said.

The State Department has not taken any public stance on the Haitian 
presidential election.

Toussaint is among 35 candidates Haitian electoral authorities on Friday 
approved in a revised presidential candidate list.

The list did not include Miami Lakes resident Samir Mourra, or Texas 
millionaire Dumarsais Siméus. Both were excluded because they hold U.S. 
passports.

Haiti's constitution bars anyone from running for president if they have dual 
nationality and have not lived in the country for the past five years.






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