30801: (news) Chamberlain: Fleeing Haitian rebel leader denies drug charges (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 23 (Reuters) - A former Haitian rebel leader who
went into hiding last week distributed an audiotape on Monday denying drug
trafficking charges brought against him by Haitian and U.S. officials.
     Guy Philippe, who ran unsuccessfully for president in February 2006,
said in a taped statement to local media he was not involved in drug
trafficking and challenged U.S. authorities to provide evidence of his
guilt before trying to arrest him.
     "I am not involved in drug trafficking. I've been the victim of
political reprisals," Philippe said in Creole on the tape.
     U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents and Haitian police used
four helicopters and two planes in a July 16 raid at Philippe's residence
near the town of Les Cayes, 110 miles (180 kms) north of the capital
Port-au-Prince, but Philippe had fled.
     Police said a warrant had been issued for his arrest on drug
trafficking charges, and the U.S. agents took part in the raid under a
treaty allowing them to pursue drug dealers within the Caribbean nation and
its territorial waters.
     Philippe said on the tape that he would return to his home shortly.
     He said the U.S. consulate had granted him a visa in 2006 to allow him
to visit relatives in the United States and called that an indication he
had been cleared of drug trafficking allegations levied by the
administration of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2000.
     "If I was involved in drug trafficking I would not have been allowed
to be a presidential candidate and I would not have been granted a U.S.
visa in 2006," he said.
     Philippe, a former member of Haiti's defunct army and a former police
commissioner, led an armed rebellion that ousted Aristide in February 2004.
     Aristide, who was also under intense French and U.S. pressure to quit,
is exiled in South Africa.
     Philippe accused DEA agents of plotting to kill him during the raid.
     "They did not want to arrest me, but they wanted to assassinate me,"
he said.
     "They have to provide evidence for their accusations. Otherwise they
will have to compensate me for tarnishing my reputation," said Philippe,
who also accused the agents of manhandling his wife during the raid at his
house.
     Calls for comment to the U.S. embassy officials in Port-au-Prince were
not returned.