7026: re 7014 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: David X Young <frelgo@interport.net>

Bravo Bebe Pierre Louis for hitting the nail right on the head of the
core problem confronting the deeper truth of Haiti!!
.
When I interviewed Aristide on June 3 1986---he was then barely known---
a pogrom had been taking place urged by the evangelicals to rid Haiti of
Houngans under the guise that all were really Macoutes-- if I recall
correctly perhaps a thousand Houngans had perished under this vendetta.
Aristide was poetic enough discussing the gospel of Jesus and providing
a theatrical metaphor for his anti- Duvalier rationale---Baby Doc had by
then left--- but when I mentioned the pogrom he did not seem at all
interested, only saying he respected vodun because it is part of
his"being Haitian". He had only 'heard' of the killings and did not seem
to care. At that time I became suspicious of Aristide because he took
such a cavalier attitude to the bedrock of Haitian culture. Now, 15
years later, things have obviously not changed.

david x young