Haiti Foreign Press Liason Update

Michelle Karshan, Foreign Press Liaison
National Palace, Haiti
Email: mkarshan [at] aol.com

Haiti: Foreign Press Liaison Update - February 3, 2004


1. "The opposition...cannot continue to boycott elections." says Baltimore
Sun editorial
2. In Haiti, Two Sides and Bloodshed Between... (Washington Post)
3. New Haitian exodus? Same old US treatment of refugees (Christian Science
Monitor)
4. Assorted comments by President Aristide at recent press conferences
5. Slideshow of photos taken during and around the Bicentennial celebration
6. Key Haiti Government websites
7. Recent articles of interest on the web

1. Haiti's dangerous brew, Baltimore Sun Editorial, January 30, 2004
IN HAITI, this bicentennial year is devolving into a year of political
violence. Instead of celebrating their defeat of Napoleon's forces in 1804, Haitians
by the thousands are demonstrating for and against their democratically
elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. If victory by a rebel band of slaves
marked Haiti's liberation, violence by armed gangs has threatened the stability
of the first free black republic. Protesters opposed to Mr. Aristide are
demanding he resign. The president intends to serve until his term expires in 2006.
A potent mix of forces contributes to this political maelstrom, including U.S.
displeasure with Mr. Aristide, the isolation of Haiti by international donors
and a crushing poverty that keeps Haitians economically depressed and
politically disillusioned. The answer to Haiti's crisis, however, is not to force Mr.
Aristide from office - Haiti's history is replete with assassinated and
deposed leaders, revolts and coups d'etats, repressive and dictatorial regimes. Mr.
Aristide himself was ousted in a military coup in 1991 and restored to power
by American troops three years later. The answer is for the Organization of
American States or some other neutral third party to broker fair and peaceful
parliamentary elections; a strong legislature could serve as a check on Mr.
Aristide's power. Disenchantment with the government of Mr. Aristide, a former
priest popular among Haiti's poorest, stems from the impoverished state of the
country. Haiti's 10-year experience with democracy has not produced a reliable
source of potable water, decent housing or foreign investment. Haitians suffer
widely from AIDS, malnutrition, illiteracy and joblessness. The situation in
Haiti has been complicated by several factors. While opponents of Mr. Aristide
clamor for change, they refuse to participate in elections and they dismiss
Mr. Aristide's offer to bring in outside observers and international police
monitors. For several years, until last summer, foreign loans to Haiti worth about
$147 million had been delayed. The United States is Haiti's largest aid donor
- $850 million since the fall of 1994 - but the money bypasses Mr. Aristide
and flows to nongovernmental organizations. As the political climate has
deteriorated in the past month, the United States has contented itself with
pronouncements to Mr. Aristide to "end violent oppression of peaceful demonstrations."
When Mr. Aristide meets with Caribbean leaders today in Jamaica, they will
want to hear that he plans to disarm those who are resorting to violence, while
at the same time ensuring that peaceful demonstrations are not disrupted. Mr.
Aristide's insistence that Haiti's troubles derive from a "200-year-old plot"
to disenfranchise blacks only inflames emotions; his reliance on a $21 billion
reparation claim from France won't solve this crisis. The opposition, a
collection of civic, professional and union groups with no clear leader, cannot
continue to boycott elections. It should mobilize its supporters to exercise
their power at the ballot box. That's the place to make their mark.

2. In Haiti, Two Sides and Bloodshed Between, Political Crisis Deepens as
President's Supporters, Opposition Trade Accusations, By DeNeen L. Brown,
Washington Post, February 3, 2004. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb. 2 -- The fear of death
has run through the streets like the dirty water. At least 47 Haitians have
been killed in recent months, officials report, and dozens injured. In one
case, a man's heart and eyes were carved out by assailants to show he had seen too
much.

Anti-government protesters have burned tires and hurled rocks, demanding that
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resign. His supporters have fought back,
chanting, "Aristide! Five years!"

Inside the grand white presidential palace, Aristide, the former priest on
whom thousands of poor Haitians hung their hopes, called on Friday for an end to
the killing. Beside him sat the wife of Lyonel Victor, 27, a pro-government
protester who was killed two days earlier by a police tear gas canister that
pierced his chest.

"It is a horrible thing that happened," Aristide told Victor's family and the
masses beyond the palace during a broadcast news conference. "The whole
country is tired of death and lies. The whole country condemns all the killings,
the whole country condemns the pain. The fight for power shouldn't bring us to
death."

But in Haiti, nothing is as it seems. In this poor country of about 8 million
people, where voodoo is considered a national religion and some people
believe in mermaids and that the dead walk the streets, the political situation is
mired in complexities. There are shades of meaning in a simple handshake and
twists of the truth in the flash of a smile. Even those killed in the violence
are sometimes claimed by both sides in the crisis.

What is clear is that tension has been mounting between those who support
Aristide and those who oppose him. The political crisis has deepened as a
coalition of opposition parties and businessmen has called for the ouster of
Aristide, who returned to office in 1994 with U.S. government backing following a 1991
military coup. He was reelected president in 2000.

At the palace, Aristide, wearing a black suit and his trademark gold
wire-framed glasses, defended his administration. He said he will not resign and will
serve the last two years of his term.

"We will have elections and security," he said in an interview, seated next
to the Haitian flag, his portrait hanging above his head. "Without elections,
there is no way to have peace," Aristide said. "I think it's linked to a simple
one-man, one-woman vote."

Aristide said opponents are trying to destabilize the country because they
realize his government still has majority support.

"In Haiti we still have political parties and citizens not ready to embrace
democracy. Why do they refuse to go to elections? They fear that simple and
important principle: one man, one vote. I think we are all equal. I think the
peasant and the rich man are all equal."

Aristide's opponents contend that the president has squandered opportunities
for reform, that his government is corrupt and surrounded by thugs who commit
murder to hold on to power. They criticize Aristide for failing to raise the
country's majority out of poverty, to improve literacy rates or to deliver one
of the basic necessities of life, clean water. Critics say the country is
still riddled with widespread corruption, injustice, human rights violations,
unemployment and hunger. They accuse Aristide and his Lavalas Party of creating
gangs to threaten anti-government protesters and kill anti-government activists.

"Aristide, when he came back, he had a tremendous opportunity," said Andre
Apaid Jr., a U.S.-born opposition leader. "But rather than behave as an
assembler, he kept being more preoccupied about how to build a machine to prolong his
power."

The political crisis escalated on Jan. 12, when the country's parliament
ceased operating after most legislative terms expired. Squabbling prevented an
agreement on new election procedures, leaving the country with no functioning
legislature. Since then, marches have grown.

The opposition -- the Democratic Convergence and the Group of 184, made up of
students, business people and some of the country's wealthy elite -- has
called for a group of "wise men" to run the country. "Since parliament is
dissolved, we are calling for nine wise men who will choose the prime minister until
the next election," said Apaid, who coordinates the Group of 184.

After returning from a Caribbean Community meeting in Jamaica over the
weekend, Aristide said he would agree to meet with opponents and take steps for the
safety of demonstrators. "As civilized people," he said, "we agree with each
other in building the rule of law."

Government supporters charge that the leaders of the 1991 coup that ousted
Aristide are behind the current opposition. "Some of the old coup leaders are
involved," said a government source. "The elite run everything. They control
everything. They paid for the coup in 1991. They paid money to the military to
make the payroll after the coup."

'He Promised Too Much'

Aristide was once called Haiti's savior. His message of peace and empowerment
for the poor eventually led to the ouster of the Duvalier family that
controlled the country for decades. Aristide was voted president in 1990, the first
freely elected chief of state. But he was forced into exile 10 months later.
There was widespread rejoicing when Aristide returned to Haiti, protected by
U.S. troops, after four years of exile.

"So many people believed in him," said Jean H. Laurenceau, 50, a business
manager. "The problem is, President Aristide will promise you God when God is not
even his friend. That is why he is in trouble. He promised too much and has
never done what he promised."

Aristide's followers blame failed support by the United States and European
countries for many of the country's problems. The U.S.-backed decision to
freeze $500 million in international loans to Haiti after disputed legislative
elections in 2000 has hurt the country, government officials said. In July, after
Haiti paid $32 million in debt, some of the loans were released, but
government officials said they have not yet received any disbursements. U.S. officials
acknowledge that Haiti needs the loans to develop its infrastructure, but
express concern that aid may be misspent.

"This is clearly a country facing overwhelming problems: agriculture,
environment, urban blight and disease. It is an afflicted country and an afflicted
people," a U.S. diplomat said. "However, for the international community to be
able to help address these problems, it needs a partner in the government of
Haiti committed to the rule of law."

Government officials here also charge that the Bush administration supports
the opposition. The diplomat said: "The United States stands for democratic
principles in Haiti. The Haitian government's corruption of the police and the
egregious use of street gangs must change as a predicate for improving the
relationship with the international community."

Jonas Petit, head of the Lavalas Party, says the United States is practicing
economic blackmail. "Nobody can understand this situation," Petit said in an
interview. "We are talking about the most powerful and richest country in the
world against the poorest country in the hemisphere."

Government supporters charge that opposition leaders do not have a plan to
improve Haiti. But opposition leaders counter that they are protesting because
there is too much corruption to wait two years for the next scheduled
presidential election.

"Aristide is a disguised dictator," said Evans Paul, a former ally who turned
against Aristide and has now become an outspoken leader of the opposition
Convention for Democratic Unity. "Because he is running this country so badly,
every day he stays in power is catastrophic for the country," Paul said.
"Aristide is known as a man who never keeps his word. Nobody can trust him."

Paul, who describes himself as coming from a modest family, is a former
journalist, former mayor of Port-au-Prince and a playwright. He smiled, but did not
answer directly when asked whether he was a leader in the opposition. "That
is what they say out there," he said. "In Haiti, the leader is the one most
listened to by the people." Paul charged that the murders of government
supporters had been staged by the Aristide government, and that none had been
committed
by the opposition.

"Haiti is a confused country because the information is so manipulated mostly
with the government," Paul said.

A rooster crowed outside Paul's office, where rifle-toting guards were on
patrol. A breeze was blowing as the city grew dark. The mountains turned black
against a gray Caribbean sky. Peasants could be seen walking up a hill balancing
loads of supplies on their heads.

'Too Much Bloodshed!'

In another part of the city, a funeral march wound past the chaotic street
traffic, as vendors sold used car parts, toothbrushes and cigarettes. Graffiti
reading "Viva Aristide pou 5 An," or "Long Live Aristide -- 5 Years," were
scrawled on buildings in blue and red spray paint. "Too much bloodshed!" the
marchers chanted.

Some of the mourners were carrying a sign: Adieu Francis Pinchinat.
Pinchinat, an Aristide supporter, was another victim of recent violence.

The concrete cemetery entrance was across a bridge over a ravine flooded with
garbage and bluish gray water, in which two boys upstream were bathing. The
mourners hesitated to carry their friend through the gates of death, then
rushed suddenly forward, circling the coffin, singing and crying. Finally, they
crossed the bridge, walked to the grave site and lowered the coffin into the
ground. Some mourners then pulled out guns and fired into the air, not worrying
where the bullets eventually would fall.

Ernst Vilsaint, a local official, stood at the grave and described the
details of Pinchinat's death. "Francis was riding in a car with two other government
officials when protesters recognized the government officials and shot into
the car," he said. Two men with Vilsaint, one also an official, opened their
shirts to show their wounds. He said the attackers were on the lookout for
Aristide supporters. "If they notice somebody in the party, they shoot at the car,"
he said.

"The president is asking for peace," Vilsaint said. "We want the president to
stay five years. You can't kill a whole nation who is asking for elections."

In the interview, Aristide said the problem is that he needs more time to
reverse decades of abuse and entrenched poverty.

"We are a young democracy," he said. "Sometimes, mistakes happen. They will
have to be corrected." Aristide acknowledged that people remain poor, but he
said things are better than they were under the military that overthrew him.
"Today they have misery, but not that kind of misery of the army killing them."

3. New Haitian exodus? Same old US treatment of refugees, by Kathie
Klarreich, February 3, 2004, Christian Science Monitor. MIAMI – Almost daily, pro-
and
antigovernment demonstrators flood the streets of Haiti's capital,
Port-au-Prince, disrupting business and forcing schools to close. Those calling for
the
departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide show no sign of backing down:
Since September, more than 50 people have died and scores more have been wounded.
In decades past, political conflict like this has sent waves of Haitian boat
people onto the high seas seeking refuge. In the 1980s, bodies of Haitians
escaping the Duvalier dictatorship in rickety boats washed up on south Florida's
shores. In 1991, a military coup forced President Aristide into exile, and the
US Coast Guard plucked nearly 70,000 refugees from small vessels in the
ensuing three years. The majority then were taken to the US military base on
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and eventually returned to Haiti.

Guantánamo may soon be seeing more action. Under what it characterizes as
part of an ongoing contingency plan, the State Department has, in the past month,
contacted a dozen nongovernmental agencies (NGOs) about running a refugee
camp with as many as 50,000 beds. That's a startling estimate given that in all
of 2003 fewer than 1,500 Haitians were interdicted.

While Bush officials say this is just routine preparation for mass migration
and natural disasters in the Caribbean, it looks suspiciously like a new twist
on an old US tactic: Making sure that Haiti's problems stay in Haiti and
asylum-seekers never make it to US shores.

As Caribbean diplomats labor to broker a peace between Aristide and his
opponents, the US is cynically battening the hatches against a possible refugee
crisis landing on Florida's coast. America is the world leader in defending human
rights, and it's shameful that US policy is geared more to keeping Haitians
out than offering them the haven provided for refugees from most other
countries.

NGO directors confirm that in late December, the State Department began
polling them about their resources, capabilities, and staff in the Caribbean to run
a large camp as early as this month. And these directors are nervous about
their agencies' participation in a plan so obviously geared to barring Haitians
from US shores, effectively denying them full legal rights as refugees.

The US has long had a double standard when it comes to Haitian refugees. And
with the war on terror as an excuse, the Bush administration has raised the
bar for Haitians looking for refuge in the US. When two large boatloads of
Haitians arrived in south Florida in December 2001 and October 2002, the US
implemented new measures aimed at deterring Haitians from ever attempting to flee
their homeland. These measures drastically reduced the time refugees had to make
their case and limited the ways they could exercise their rights to plead
asylum. These changes, coupled with the "shout test" - which requires a migrant
picked up at sea to literally cry out for help once aboard a US vessel even to
have a shot at political asylum - have proved an effective deterrent.

Of the 1,490 Haitians interdicted last year, just one received refugee
status. But that Haitian remains - along with four other compatriots who received
refugee status in 2002 - at Guantánamo awaiting resettlement in a third country.

Last April, Attorney General John Ashcroft declared that Haitians posed a
security risk to the US because Haiti was believed to be a jumping-off point for
terrorists from places like Pakistan and Palestine. A Freedom of Information
request by legal aid agencies turned up no supporting documentation for this
claim. The US upped the ante again when, on Dec. 29, just days after the State
Department contacted the NGOs about its contingency plan, it released a fact
sheet that said Haitian migrants were a threat to US national security. Again,
no explanation has been offered as the basis for this declaration.

It's morally wrong - if not xenophobic - to deny Haitian refugees their
rights through tenuous association with terrorists who might use the Caribbean
nation as a backdoor to the US. And it may be even harder now to defend the label
of economic refugee because much of the violence in Haiti seems to be
politically motivated, linked to demands for Aristide's ouster. While the majority of
Haitians are desperately poor, the entire population is vulnerable to the
chaos created by unruly mobs, a politicized police force, and a resounding lack of
leadership.

There is also a legal component. Interdicting refugees fleeing political
violence and refusing them entry to the US breaks international law.

"With the Haitians there has been some tendency by the US to use detention or
deportation as a deterrent," says Joung-ah Ghedini of the UN High Commission
for Refugees. "That, as a policy, is not acceptable according to the [UN]
Convention of Refugees."

While the international community works to find a diplomatic solution to
further bloodshed and a mass migration, it's understandable that the US is
discussing a contingency plan.

A plan of action is welcome, says Wendy Young of the Women's Commission for
Refugee Women and Children. But she'd be more supportive "if the plan was
designed not to keep Haitians out, but rather offer them protection."

The US should continue to pursue a diplomatic solution that respects
international law. But until then, Haitians should receive the same treatment granted
asylum seekers from other countries, including admittance to the US to pursue
asylum claims. The final plan should provide full and meaningful protection
for Haitians seeking relief, rather than one that sequesters them and denies
them due process.
• Kathie Klarreich is a freelance writer who lived in Haiti for 10 years.


4. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide/assortment of comments at recent press
conferences:

President Aristide's response to a CNN question at press conference held upon
his return from talks in Jamaica led by Caricom in an effort to resolve
political impasse. The opposition declined the invitation to participate in
Jamaica. January 31, 2004:

PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: ...I can say that I was committed as an elected
president to be the president of every single Haitian. To work with Lavalas, as with
the opposition, with the civil society as the private sector, and with the
public sector. So, this is my responsibility which I assumed since I was
elected. Along the way, as tonight, I continue to renew my commitment to help my
country by working with the opposition.

For instance, as I said in Creole, tomorrow some of them will demonstrate,
and they have their right to demonstrate and I have the obligation to respect
the right. What I need, what they need, what we all need, is the full respect
of the law. As in the United States or elsewhere, when you want to
demonstrate, they talk to the police, they talk with you, we identify the route, and
we
go together and the police protects you as you respect the rules.

I wish for tomorrow, that that will happen -- which requires goodwill from
both sides. And, it's not only for tomorrow, it's also for the coming days and
weeks. Whenever they want to demonstrate we have the right, they have their
rights, and I have the obligation to respect their rights. So, we were
committed to do that. I am committed to do it. Because this is part of any
democratic process.

In the same way we think we will have an opportunity to talk with the
opposition, to set the rules of the game. I think it would be good for them as for
us. If now we move from demonstrations to government, yes, it would be good for
us to sit, have a dialogue and have a new government, including members from
the opposition, from the civil society, from Lavalas. People who can create
that kind of indispensable trust. It's good for all of us, from the Prime
Minister, to the Ministers, from the President to the government, we all need
something like that, and we will move towards something which will benefit all of
us.

If I move from the government to elections, we need security to organize
elections. We need security to organize elections.

If we work to see how are the conditions of those detainees, those who have
to be freed, they have to be freed. Those who need to see their judge; they
have to see their judge. And I was committed, as I am committed, to move fast
and straight to have their rights, their full rights, respected.

If political leaders complain, I have to pay attention to what they say. The
same way we need security, the same way we also need a provisional electoral
council. We have a provision for that which is in the framework of the
Resolution 822 of the OAS. And we intend to respect our words as we wish one day
will come together we have this electoral provisional council ready to lead the
country towards elections.

Because without elections we will not have a new parliament. Without a new
parliament we will not strengthen our institutions. So that will happen. As I
said, I don't want to go into too many details but I just identified some of
those key points, which are part of what we discussed in Kingston, and I am
convinced, slowly but surely, the solution will bring light to the future of our
country. Any other questions to end.

Closing comment by President Aristide: I will have an opportunity to seat
with CNN and the foreign press because I know you are looking for truth and my
people want to tell the truth. The huge majority of the Haitian people, they
don't speak French. So it's not easy for them to have a direct communication
with the foreign press. They don't speak English which makes it is more
difficult for them to communicate with you. Few of them have that opportunity to
tell you their truth. On their behalf tonight, I shared that truth with you,
wishing soon we could sit again to continue to explore the field of truth in an
environment where they spray lies to hide that truth.

The Haitian people are non violent. Despite economic problems, despite
political problems, they face the challenge of maintaining peace as we said it. On
their behalf, we will continue to talk. When they suffer from lies, when
they suffer from disinformation, we, who had the opportunity to go to school, we
have the obligation on their behalf to tell the truth because that's what
they have as a daily bread, truth.

I thank you for being in Haiti and I thank you for releasing and spraying the
truth around the world on behalf of the Haitian people as one of the richest
countries of the world, from a cultural point of view, from an historic point
of view, but unfortunately the poorest country of the West Hemisphere from an
economic point of view.

========January 30, 2004, President Aristide received the wife and family of Mr.
Lionel Victor, who died after being struck by a tear gas canister during
demonstrations. Mr. Victor's widow explained that after she saw her husband die at
the
hospital someone tried to pressure her not to clarify that her husband was
not a student, as the opposition had alleged. According to his widow, and
President Aristide, Mr. Victor was a pro-government Lavalas activist. Rough notes of
comments by President Aristide: "condemn what happened, the conditions that
caused this are not acceptable...All Haitians want the truth...Everyone is
tired of the lies, it's criminal and we won't accept these lies...People with
morals cannot take the route of lies, of obtaining power by using and
manipulating students...Stop manipulating the youth...Suspend the lies! Respect the
right
to demonstrate...Chaos leads to death...The route to power is through the
elections...Sometimes violence comes from both sides...Violence escalating past
two weeks from the opposition...Victor killed because of their violence...I
think there were hundreds of thousands of people peaceful, nonviolent on January
1st at the National Palace, It's possible for Lavalas to demonstate how
nonviolent they can be...Opposition wants violence and to have people killed,
particularly students and then to use all this against the government, this is their
strategy...They want to use a model of civil war. We will not permit
this...no to violence...we will combat terrorists...we have the opportunity to
transform the negative to the positive...the option for democracy...combat
nonviolently...

We will have elections in a climate of security because without elections
there is no way out to a peaceful solution...There is no democracy without an
opposition, we need them...
You can realize power through the local and parliamentary elections...It is
my job to continue to use the law so that all journalists, who have the right
to operate, can do so without being attacked. (He cited the recent attack on
the Radio Solidarity journalists.)
...There are false students...there are also false police (*See reference
below)...we will make severe sanctions against police [who have acted
wrongly]...no one has the right to throw rocks at students at any university, at cars,
rocks can kill, stop throwing rocks, I encourge the students...Students are
people...Lavalas are people...Opposition are people
...It is not right to lie using corpses...I salute the students, its their
right to continue to demonstrate without an ambiance of violence...Embargo,
there are people interested in the embargo to create conditions of division...The
police are there to give security to the demonstrators in all parts of the
country...Using fake students, this is a stragedy to use fake students to gain
the power through the students...

* A Dec. 22, 2003 Agence Haitienne de Presse (AHP) article described how
two pro-government supporters were killed during an opposition demonstration.
According to several accounts, Stanley Jacques Loiseau ("Doudou") and a man named
Francky were killed by individuals providing security for the members of the
G184, who were allegedly former members of the Haitian army and were said to be
wearing uniforms similar to those worn by the members of the CIMO police
unit. Additionally, the L'Union newspaper carried photographs this week of a man
marching in a recent opposition march in full police gear with heavy weapons
and a mask. He was not a police officer.

5. Slideshow of photos taken during and around the Bicentennial celebration
in Haiti by Jean Saint-Vil, Haitian journalist/activist based in Canada
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b3445fca658e

6. Websites from the Government of Haiti:
National Palace http://www.palaisnational.info
L'Union Newspaper http://journallunion.com/
Ministry of Foreign Affairs http://www.maehaitiinfo.org/
Haiti's Embassy to US http://www.haiti.org
Haiti's National Television (watch the daily news!) http://www.tnhaiti.org/

7. Recent articles of interest on the web:

La CIA déstabilise Haïti, Reseau Voltaire, Jan. 27, 2004<FONT COLOR="#000000"
BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR
http://www.reseauvoltaire.net/article11918.html

Analysis by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA)
Unfair and Indecent Diplomacy: Washington's Vendetta against President
Aristide

http://coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2004/04.03_Haiti_Aristide.htm

Haiti and the US Game by Tom Reeves, Z Magazine, March 27, 2003
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=3337