27750: Durban (comment); on Craig (reply) re Aristide's missing years (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com> writes...

In discussing Aristide's missing 6+ years as President, Dan Craig
writes:

   As I recall, this idea was floated before his return in 1994;
   and President Aristide thought it was more important to hold
   elections as planned than add his time in exile to extend his
   term.

That's certainly not the story that I've heard.  It was only after
considerable int'l (read, U.S.) pressure was applied that Aristide
backed off his claim for extending his first term to make up for those
lost "embargo years".  His Prime Minister, René Préval, also argued
against term extension, and reportedly this was one of the main factors
in their well-documented falling out.

L. Durban