29419: Holmstead replies: Re: 29373: (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

FROM: John Holmstead

Montas quote #1- January 5, 2004 Miami Herald


"I did an interview recently and was asked if I
thought President [Jean-Bertrand] Aristide was a
dictator, and I said, `No.' And after the interview
came out, some people in the opposition were angry
with me,'' she said. ``But to say Aristide is a
dictator is to say he has control over what is
happening in Haiti. He doesn't have the tools to be a
dictator. Chaos rules Haiti. And that scares me very
much.''


Montas quote #2- January 5, 2004 Miami Herald

``There can be something worse than Aristide.'' ''Who
we haven't heard from is the peasantry, which has
always been very loyal to Aristide,'' Montas said. If
the poor in the country were to abandon Aristide, then
nothing would be able to keep Aristide in power. For
now, though, their loyalty appears intact. They
legitimately fear a return to the Duvalier-style
dictatorship they lived under for so long and are
leery of the motives of opposition leaders, such as
Andy Apaid. Haiti may well be on the verge of a civil
war, but the best course for Haiti would be for all
sides to work toward fair elections."


 The following are excerpts from an opinion piece
written by US journalist, Jim DeFede, and published in
The Miami Herald: "On the eve of Haiti's bicentennial,
Michele Montas was sitting in a diner on the Upper
East Side of Manhattan sipping tea and pondering the
future of the  poorest country in the Western
Hemisphere. The widow of slain Haitian journalist Jean
Dominique, Montas has been living in the United States
since an assassination attempt a year ago. The
Christmas day ambush in front of her home in the hills
above Port-au-Prince left one of her body guards dead.
"I did an interview recently and was asked if I
thought President [Jean-Bertrand] Aristide was a
dictator, and I said, `No.' And after the interview
came out, some people in the opposition were angry
with me,'' she said. ``But to say Aristide is a
dictator is to say he has control over what is
happening in Haiti. He doesn't have the tools to be a
dictator. Chaos rules Haiti. And that scares me very
much.'' U.S. policy toward Haiti has been rife with
mistakes, including denying Haiti the support it
desperately needed to build a competent police force
to replace the country's disbanded military.
Opposition groups within Haiti, who resent Aristide's
long-standing popularity, settled on the role of
obstructionist. Their ultimate goal is to force
Aristide from power before his term is up in 2006. It
is an effort to achieve through violence and turmoil
what they were unable to win honestly in elections.
And finally, Aristide himself deserves much of the
blame. Segments of his government have been
incompetent and corrupt. There is genuine fear among
those who are critical of the government that they
will be attacked or killed by gangs who support
Aristide, gangs the president is either unable or
unwilling to reign in. ''That is the biggest change,''
Montas explained. ``More and more of the middle class
is now abandoning Aristide. The last few years have
killed hope for them; the hope that we were going to
change things. So much was possible a few years ago,
but now that hope is broken, and they don't see how
things can change as long as Aristide is in power. It
is frightening to see how much that hope has been
systematically killed.'' Montas worries when she hears
her fellow countrymen declare life in Haiti can't get
any worse if Aristide is forced out. ''Of course they
can get worse,'' she said. ``There can be something
worse than Aristide.'' ''Who we haven't heard from is
the peasantry, which has always been very loyal to
Aristide,'' Montas said. If the poor in the country
were to abandon Aristide, then nothing would be able
to keep Aristide in power. For now, though, their
loyalty appears intact. They legitimately fear a
return to the Duvalier-style dictatorship they lived
under for so long and are leery of the motives of
opposition leaders, such as Andy Apaid. Haiti may well
be on the verge of a civil war, but the best course
for Haiti would be for all sides to work toward fair
elections." (Miami Herald, 1/5)





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