#3272: Serge Gilles' Shameless Accusations (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:Racine125@aol.com

Serge Gilles, shameless as ever!  There are photos all over the web of police 
holding suspects flat on the ground at gunpoint, driving protestors away from 
the Space for Magouilleurs office, and so on.

I wonder, if Serge became President, how many HE would kill to stay in power. 
 We all saw how cozy he was with the putchists.  I don't approve of violence, 
but if you are dying by inches of starvation and lack of health care and 
rotten living conditions, the people who are doing their best to keep you 
there are murderers.

_________________________________


Haitian government sanctions violence, opposition says
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- (AP) -- Opposition politicians accused Haiti's 
government today of sanctioning violence in an alleged effort to derail 
overdue elections and impose a dictatorship on the Caribbean nation.

``It is clear: Lavalas wants to restore dictatorship in Haiti,'' Serge 
Gilles, head of the opposition Space for Concord coalition, said of former 
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Family party.

Gilles' statements, broadcast on radio, followed the razing of an opposition 
party headquarters on Saturday by Aristide supporters.

The attack came after a funeral for journalist Jean Dominique, a supporter of 
Aristide and Aristide's hand-picked successor, President Rene Preval. 
Dominique was assassinated April 3.

Prominent Haitians have reported receiving death threats amid rising 
uncertainty over whether Preval's government will hold legislative and local 
elections that have been postponed three times.

The opposition claims Preval and Aristide want to postpone elections until a 
presidential vote in December, when Aristide will seek a second term. That 
way, pro-Aristide candidates can ride Aristide's coattails to victory, 
opponents argue.

Aristide last week said he supported separate elections for the legislature 
and presidency. He also denied his supporters were responsible for recent 
political violence that has killed at least nine people.

Preval insists that Haiti won't hold elections until its elections council is 
organized enough to run them.

At Dominique's otherwise peaceful funeral Saturday, a few dozen Aristide 
activists threatened to kill opposition leader Evans Paul. Aristide and 
Preval remained impassive during the outburst.

Afterward, about 100 Aristide supporters set ablaze the headquarters of 
Paul's Confederation of Democratic Unity, which also housed the Space for 
Concord office. Heavily armed police did not intervene.

Militants then stoned the headquarters of the opposition Struggling People's 
Organization and threatened to burn down the anti-government Radio Vision 
2000. The radio station has urged police to protect its reporters after 
repeated death threats.

Aristide militants also threatened to attack the Haitian Chamber of Commerce, 
whose president, Olivier Nadal, fled Haiti two weeks ago after persistent 
death threats. The activists later appeared on state television to boast of 
their deeds.

After repeated death threats, Paul called on a foreign diplomatic mission 
this weekend to provide safe haven in Port-au-Prince for his family and 
dozens of orphans who are his wards. He also said Aristide activists were 
forcing Paul's partisans to flee their homes in Port-au-Prince's slums.

``They can eliminate me at any moment. I'm beginning to wonder whether 
Dominique's death isn't part of a diabolical plot to have a pretext to muzzle 
the opposition,'' Paul said in an interview.

The Canadian, French and U.S. embassies did not send representatives to 
Dominique's funeral because they did not want to endorse a government attempt 
to capitalize on his death, a diplomat told The Associated Press on condition 
of anonymity.

Aristide was elected president in 1990 but was overthrown in a 1991 army 
coup. A U.S.-led intervention ousted the army-backed regime in 1994 and 
restored Aristide to power. Haitian law prohibited Aristide from seeking a 
consecutive term as president in 1995 elections.

___________________________________



Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra", 
     Good is rare - Haitian Proverb

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