"I Was Kidnaped"--Aristide

By Herb Boyd
Managing Editor, TBWT

Waters said that Aristide told her that the U.S. "completed the coup and forced him out of office." Speaking to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, Waters said that Aristide sounded angry and outraged about what had happened. "He said he and his wife were surrounded by military personnel and not allowed to make calls. ‘It's like being in jail, he said. He repeatedly said he was kidnaped against his will. This is a clear violation of international law."

These remarks by Aristide confirm earlier reports that he had been forcibly abducted. Photo: Maxine Waters in Haiti during bicentennial celebration. Photos by Herb Boyd.

Almost immediately after Aristide was removed, it was reported that a contingent of U.S. Marines were preparing to be deployed to Haiti as part of an international peace keeping force.

Even as Jean-Bertrand Aristide is no longer the president of Haiti, the circumstances surrounding his resignation or removal continue to be murky hours after a flight from his homeland to the Central African Republic.

The most alarming reports of Aristide's final hours in Haiti is that he was abducted by a contingent of U.S. Marines early Sunday morning and led from his home in handcuffs, according to reporter Kevin Pina during a special broadcast Sunday evening on the crisis in Haiti by Amy Goodman of WBAI-FM.

Pina based his account on reports from a palace guard and a cameraman of ABC-TV. In another report, a security guard at Aristide's home said that the Marines came and escorted him away at gunpoint. "He did not want to go," the security man told reporters.

Early Monday morning it was reported that Aristide and his wife, Mildred Trouillot, had indeed arrived in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, aboard an American 757 dispatched by the Pentagon.

Prior to the call from Aristide to Waters, Aristide's attorney, Ira Kursban, appearing on Democracy Now, Monday morning, said he had spoken to Aristide's wife shortly after their arrival. "She sounded okay and said they were doing all right," he said. There was no elaboration of the events leading up to their departure.

In a brief press conference in Bangui, Aristide said that in "overthrowing me they have cut down the tree of peace...the roots of democracy, but the tree will grow again."

Representatives Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters, who appeared with author Randall Robinson on the WBAI special, said that if Aristide was forcibly removed then it constituted an egregious violation of democratic principles. "He told me just the other day that he was determined to finish his term in office," Rangel said, "and he promised to call me if there was any change in plans. Why would someone resign if he was in fact fleeing?"

"He expressed the same promise to me," Waters said. "This is a terrible reversal of the State Department's position. You never heard the U.S. denouncing the opposition, never denounced the killers...armed with U.S. made weapons. If he was forcibly removed, then we need to immediately call for a Congressional hearing."

Waters and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus are terming the regime change a coup d'etat, which would bring the total to 33 in Haiti's 200-year history.

Robinson, founder and former executive director of the TransAfrica, said that the removal of Aristide was planned a long time ago. "The U.S. has done everything possible to assure that Aristide would not succeed," he began. "Two American security companies contacted to supply security for Aristide never materialized." He also noted that Haiti had been denied bilateral assistance and funding from other international sources.

Upon Aristide's resignation, Boniface Alexandre, chief justice of the Supreme Court, assume leadership of the transitional government. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yvon Neptune continues in his position.

Despite Aristide's removal from power turmoil continues in the streets of Port-au-Prince. Guy Phillipe, one of the leaders of the insurgents, had promised that the violence would be abated once Aristide was removed. But in direct contradiction to the rebel's promise, the offices of the Mayors of Port-au-Prince and Petionville have been attacked and several people have been killed. There are reports of brutal reprisals against members of Aristide's Lavalas party.

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