February 2001 news briefing & analysis this month

News Briefing & Analysis This Month ... Only our monthly journal brings you hours of fine reporting and research

Compiled and written by Prof. Yves A. Isidor. Other staff members assisted with the following reports. Correspond with the concerned parties via electronic mail: wehaitianspol@aol.com / Last month news.

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A wrongful deportation lawsuit against the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service or INS

So easy it is for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to deport foreign born criminals residing in the U.S. to their respective countries of origin, as the 1996 immigration law provisions stipulate, that two Bahamian-born citizens, but of Haitian parents, were deported to Haiti late last month after they were convicted of committing crimes in the U.S. But an immigration group in Miami filed suit this week in U.S. court against the INS, claiming that it illegally deported Gertha Claiville, 20, and Kervence Carry, 21, to Haiti, who since have been languishing in Haitian jails. The Miami-based immigration group, which has identified four other similar cases since it began investigating the Clairville and Carry's cases, is seeking to have the INS return them to the U.S. As we reported on January 31st (refer to our Jan. 2001 archive), according to Miami-Dade County Criminal Records, in 1998 Claiville, who speaks only English and with a U.S. accent, was convicted of aggravated battery and sentenced to two years in prison. And, Carry, who speaks no Haitian Creole, but only U.S. English, was convicted of strong-arm robbery and sentenced to 270 days in jail. Unlike in the U.S. and most European nations, according to a 1996 law Haitian refugees may apply for permanent residency in the banana Republic of Bahamas after 10 years of interrupted physical presence there, citizenship 10 years or more afterward.

Because of rampant violent crimes, including politically motivated ones, and a country being rapidly impoverished by radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide interested only in hanging on to power, though illegally, tens of thousand Haitians continue to flee Haiti for the neighboring country of the Dominican Republic in search of a better life. But a plan designed by the Dominican Republic's army to, at least, reduce the float of illegal Haitian immigration to the contiguous country was made public this week by Minister of Defense, Jose Miguel Soto Jiminez. "We will in the next few days install electronic equipments on our side of the of Dominican Republic-Haitian border. In so doing, we will be able to avoid a repeat of unfortunate incidents, such as members of our armed forces opening fire on Haitian trying to illegally enter our territories in the middle of the night," Defense Minister Soto Jiminez told Listin Diaro, a major Dominican Republic daily, this week. "Sure we have established a very strong military presence on the border. Such a presence is justified by our patriotic obligation, our constitutional obligation to defend our territories, to prevent the Haitians from invading us, otherwise there would be no need for us to exist as an army, as our members continue to be paid by the taxpayers of this country. We must defend the citizens of this country," added Defense Minister Jiminez. "I must add," said Defense Minister Soto Jiminez, "our decision to have a heavy military presence on the border does not mean there will be a massacre of Haitians, similar to the 1937 one." During that year, on the order of dictator Raphael Leonidas Trujllo, Dominican Republic's armed forces massacred tens of thousand Haitians. To add insult to injury, the Dominican Republic later paid Haiti less than U.S$30 for each of the Haitians massacred. To explain the threat that Haiti represented for the Dominican Republic, Defense Minister Soto Jiminez said: "In no way that Haiti represents a military threat for the Dominican Republic. However, because of the extreme conditions of poverty in Haiti, the multitude of social problems in Haiti and the ecological problems in that country we have concluded that Haiti represents a 'grave threat' without precedent for us." "On the border we are at war with narcotics trafficking. We are at war with contraband and illegal immigration. Our country does not have the financial resources needed to pay for the cost of new infrastructures, as the populations of our cities and towns increase, resulting from illegal Haitian immigration from Haiti," said Defense Minister Soto Jiminez. Defense Minister Soto Jiminez, is said to be one of the Dominican Republic's top intellectuals and ideologues. He recently wrote a book entitled: Defense, Security and Democracy. In that book, some of the chapters centered on the problem of Haitian illegal immigration to the Dominican Republic. He strongly believed if the float of illegal immigration coming from Haiti to the Dominican Republic were to stop the country' army would not only have to permanently establish a heavy presence on the border that his country shares with Haiti but be heavily armed.

Hundreds of thousand Haitians, many of them dressed as clowns, Zorro and Indians, took to the streets of Haiti Sunday celebrating the first day of Carnival. However, the Carnival celebrations, which will end Tuesday, were marked by violence. More than 100 people were reportedly wounded.

Haiti, also a dangerous country for Russian citizens Barely two weeks since Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide promised to build an additional 7,000 hotel rooms over the next five years, though no one knows where he will obtain the capital needed from to pay for the cost of his grandiose project, and for whom he will built them for, more and more countries seem to be urging their citizens to stay away from Haiti. "Because of Haiti's pronounced lack of infrastutures we are not convinced that it is capable of protecting the lives of our citizens. As a result we greatly discourage them all from venturing into Haiti.," said this week a Russian Foreign Ministry communiqué. Haiti now figures among the 29 nations, which Russia considers too dangerous for its citizens to visit. In another development, Friday night, there was theater drama in Haiti's so-called parliament. All but the bogus presidents of both, the upper and the lower houses, approved radical leftist Aristide's choice of Jean-Marie "Ponpon" Cherstal as Prime Minister. The Unanimous vote came just a few hours after radical leftist Aristide met with his Family Lavalas party members, ordering them all to behave ... "No fighting between you! You listen to everything I tell you!. Do you understand? Yes, we do President," responded in unison the so-called senators and deputies as if they were all little kids letting their father know they understood his order not to venture out after 6:00 p.m. Perhaps, since Cherestal was an aid to the late Dr. Roger Lafontant, a secret police chief or Tontons Macoutes, many of his sons and daughters, in a sense of gratitude, will be offered positions in his de facto government.

All but one of the bogus 27 senators and more than 80 percent of the deputies in Haiti's Congress belong to the Lavalas Family party of Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide. But the angry exchange of words, including death threats, this week between radical leftist Aristide's Lavalas Family party senators and deputies, who were fraudulently elected last year, again helped tell the shameful story of that party. The Chaos this week came after one of the bogus senators urged his colleague Dany Toussaint, who has long been a suspect in the last year brutal murder of prominent radio journalist Jean Leopold Dominique, to appear before judge Claudy Gassant for questioning. Other colleagues, including a senator who not long ago told the judge he will gun him down if he continues to summon Toussaint to court, however, urged him to ignore Judge Gassant's latest summons, arguing that Toussaint was a Senator of the Republic of Haiti and as such he enjoyed full immunity from prosecution. A judge has no legal rights to summon him to court. Toussaint, also a well known drug baron, who had previously refused to appear in Judge Gassant's courtroom, claiming parliamentary immunity, reportedly has finally made the decision to appear as a defendant in the judge's courtroom Friday. Fearing a breakup of his Lavalas Family party, an emergency meeting, scheduled for today, was convened by radical leftist Aristide. The message those in attendance will hear from king Aristide: "I want you all to behave," said a source we can thrust.

Once again, Haiti proved to be a transshipment point for South American narcotics entering the United States. A Panamanian freighter with more than 100 kilos of cocaine on board was seized late Wednesday afternoon by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents (DEA) hours after arriving in Miami from the Haitian port of Cape Haitian, in north Haiti. DEA agents estimated the illicit cargo found on board of the freighter to have a street market value of U.S.$1 million. With the exception of the freighter's captain, a U.S. citizen, the other crew members were all foreign citizens, many of them Haitians. The foreigners were all handed over to U.S. immigration authorities by DEA agents, pending their deportation to their respective countries of origin. "Those in custody will be deported to their respective countries of origin, but first questioned," said U.S. immigration officials.

Jean-Marie Cherestal, radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Prime Minister-designate seems to suffer from amnesia.

Cherestal, who completely forgot that the suspension of economic aid for Haiti by the international community is the result of a series of fraudulent elections held last year called Wednesday upon the same community to restore economic assistance to the desperately poor Caribbean nation.

While Cherestal is claiming that the international community is turning its back on Haiti when the country is experiencing pronounced economic difficulties, radical leftist Aristide, however, purchased a few days ago a U.S.$1.2 mansion for his political godson, leftist Rene Preval.

U.S. Coast Guards repatriate 125 migrants to Haiti They were among the millions of Haitians told that life would change for the better for them. In fact, immediately after the Feb.7th farcical ceremony, when radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide claimed to be the president of Haiti. But, 125 Haitians who could no longer endure abject poverty were all returned to Haiti Wednesday by U.S. Coast Guards after their flimsy boat was intercepted in high seas a few days ago. 'There are no jobs in Haiti. We have nothing at all in this country. There is no life at all for us in this country. This is hell, and we will we again try to go to Miami. For sure life will be a lot more better for us there," said an unidentified man who was among those returned to Haiti Wednesday by U.S. Coast Guards. In another development, two radical leftist Aristide's bandits, Rene Civil and Paul Raymond, Wednesday threatened to gun down one of the Haitian Senators who continues to hold illegal office. The death threat came after the said Senator urged his colleague, Dany Toussaint, a prominent narcotics baron, to appear before a judge who wants to question him about the brutal murder of prominent radio journalist, Jean Leopold Dominique, last year.

Dominican Republic deports 145,137 Haitians Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo killed thousands of Haitians in the 1930s. Tens of thousand more have since either been killed or dispossessed. Still, they continue to illegally enter Dominican Republic territories, even after Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide promised them gold, in search of a better life. Of the estimated one million Haitians who until recently continued to establish residences in the neighboring country, 145,137 of them have been deported to Haiti by authorities of the contiguous nation over the past few months, says a report made public last week by the Dominican Republic Army. While most of the Haitians deported by Dominican Republic authorities, including an incalculable number of those expelled by other countries, have since been homeless, former Haitian President and leftist, Rene Preval, however, now lives in a U.S.$1.2 million mansion purchased for him a few days ago with Haitian taxpayers' money by radical leftist Aristide. The dirt poor Haitians, who hoped that money collected by the government in the form of taxes from citizens and others would be spent, rather, on public goods and services must once again feel betrayed. So, too, they must feel condemned to die poor, as radical leftist Aristide continues to kidnap and kill political opponents, many of them in broad daylight. Still, radical leftist Aristide and his political godson continue to claim to be disciples of Fidel Castro - another big lie. We may be in total disagreement with Castro's central planning, which is the result of his totalitarian communistic system. But, according to a report published Sunday by the Miami Herald he and his second wife, Della Soto del Valle, and their sons Angel, Antonio, Alexandro, Alexis and Alex, all live a simple life. "Some of his sons don't even have cars, and often have to call the palace for rides around the capital city of Havana," Castro's daughter, Alina Fernandez, now a resident of Spain, has written in books published. Added Fernandez, the offspring of an affair with a Cuban woman named Natalia Revuelta in the early 1950s, "They don't dress any better than other Cubans." When compared to radical leftist Aristide and predecessor's mansions, Castro's private two-house complex in Western Havana, resembles a mud hut. So the same may be said for the nearby private residence of his brother, Raul Castro. According to people who have visited the Cuban dictator-president-for-life's private residence, the only luxury visible there to visitors is a big-screen television set. And while radical leftist Aristide, his political godson Preval, including officials of their totatalirian governments, seem to have a luxurious automobile for a every Italian suit they wear, Cuban government officials, however, have only one car, and with no air conditioner, concluded the report.

The threat made against radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide Monday during a radio interview by de facto Haitian National Provisional Electoral Council President, Ernst Mirville, was so nearly unthinkable in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, that many, including democratic opposition leaders, did not expect members of the country's parliament, who were fraudulently elected last year, would even take the chance to rebuke his anticipated order that he be granted immunity from prosecution for life for fear of being burned alive. "The electoral council is an independent body. The president, Aristide, better not touch it. I am warning him. If you touch it a lot of terrible things could happen. There could dangers in touching the electoral council. If you touch the electoral council problems will be every domino will fall from the local posts to the presidency," said Mirville. Mirville's threats came days after radical leftist Aristisde exhibited sign of forming a new electoral council, under pressure from U.S. President George Bush, who in a Feb.13th letter demanded that he respects promises, including co-operating with the U.S. in fighting Haiti's fast growing drug trade and strengthening the police and judicial system, made in a Dec. 27th letter to former U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton. In that same Dec. 27th letter sent to former U.S. President Clinton, radical leftist Aristide said the current electoral council was not a credible institution and he promised to replace it with a new one. Ironically, it was the same electoral council that organized the Nov. 26th presidential election, which fictive results published for afterward gave him nearly 92 percent of the votes cast by less than 5 percent of the Haitian electorate, last year. The idea that the current electoral council is not a credible institution, as radical leftist Aristide told former U.S. President Clinton, also brings to mind the series of largely fraudulent elections held early last year by the council of the same. Bogus results published after those elections gave radical Aristide's Lavalas Family party all but one of the 27-member senate seats, more than 80 percent of the seats in the lower House of Parliament, including more than 80 percent of the mayoral and local government posts.

A U.S$1.2 million mansion for former Haitian President and leftist Preval Haitians now have one more thing to complain about or even taking the streets to protest against, as they continue to endure abject poverty. A U.S.$1.2 mansion was purchased three days ago by radical Aristide leftist for his predecessor and political godson, leftist Rene Preval. If there were one thing calculated to further make the dirt poor Haitians see the sea of wealth in which radical leftist Aristide and cronies lived in, in otherwords adding insult to injury, perhaps, it was the immediate occupancy of the sumptuous residence by leftist Preval after the purchase was finalized.

When you are caught lying you can expect to be ordered to stop doing so. This has just happened, in fact not for the first time, to Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In a Feb.13th letter to Haiti's radical leftist Aristide, U.S. President George Bush demanded that he leaves up to the promises made in a December 27th letter to former U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton. In that December letter, though vaguely worded, and which many are still convinced was drafted by Anthony Lake rather, the then-U.S. presidential special envoy, radical leftist Aristide said that he was committed to carry out economic reforms and include opposition members in his government. Radical leftist Aristide continued with his usual lies, promising to co-operate with the U.S. in fighting Haiti's fast-growing drug trade and strengthen the police and judicial system. Included in that December letter were promises to create a credible electoral council. Ten senators, all members of his Lavalas Family party, who were fraudulently elected in a May 21st election, would first give up their senate seats in the Haitian Congress and then submitted themselves to the rigors of a runoff election. If radical leftist Aristide were an honest man his decision to have ten of his senators, though there are no constitutional provisions that allow him to do so, give up their seats in Haiti's Congress would include the office of the presidency. There are reasons for this. First, the May 21st elections the largely contested senators claimed to have won were organized by the same exact electoral council radical leftist Aristide told former U.S. President Clinton was not credible. Second, he was sworn in as President in a Feb. 7th farcical ceremony by the very same Senators after he was elected in a Nov. 26th sham election, also organized by the electoral council he told U.S. President Clinton that was not credible. And so radical leftist Aristide promised former U.S. President Clinton that he would welcome all undocumented Haitians deported to Haiti by his government and that of his successor. But for U.S. House of International Relations Chairman, Benjamin Gilman (R-NY), including Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL), the promises made by radical leftist Aristide to then-U.S President Clinton were all new lies that they issued a Dec. 29th joint press release strongly criticizing him. "The promises being made by Mr. Jean-Bertrand Aristide are important. The proof, however, will be the implementation of those promises. Regrettably, Mr. Aristide's record in this regard has not been encouraging. The conduct of our nation's future policy towards Haiti, including any progress in Haiti, will be decided by President-elect George W. Bush's administration." As anticipated by both U.S.Congressmen, Reps Gilman and Goss, unfortunately radical leftist Aristide continues to prove that he is nothing more than a pathological liar, a man even if he told you that your mother was dying you should not believe it, as his broken promises to former President Clinton suggest. Also, his continuing refusal to negotiate in good faith with the Haitian democratic opposition now confirms what U.S. President Bush has allegedly long thought of him: that is a pathological liar and tyrant. As a result, President Bush has been forced to take things seriously. "I demand that you leave up to the promises made to former U.S. President Clinton in your Dec. 27th letter to him. All dialogues between you and the Haitian democratic opposition must take place under the supervision of the international community and that a solution to Haiti's long political crisis be found," said U.S President Bush in a letter sent to radical leftist Aristide this week. In another development, radical leftist Aristide may continue to claim to be a strong man. He may also continue to assassinate an innumerable number of his Haitian political opponents. However, his worries were in evidence slightly more than two weeks ago. In anticipation of an indictment for drugs trafficking he firmly believes will soon be returned again him in U.S. court he retained U.S. star criminal defense attorney Johnny Cochran. The O.J. Simpson attorney met with him for more than four hours at his mansion before flying back to the U.S, said a source we can thrust.

Another killing in Haiti Shooting political opponents dead has long been one of Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide favorite hobbies; and today he added another victim to the long list of his Haitian opponents who are no longer with us. Many of them have been burnt alive in broad daylight. Gerard Cassis, aged 52, a prominent businessman and member of Haiti's small Civil Society, which is still trying to help find a solution to Haiti's long political crisis was shot (four times) dead today by bandits identified by witnesses as members of radical leftist Aristide Lavalas Family party. Witnesses also said the bandits were not only all in the same car but heavily armed.

Posted at 4:45 p.m., Friday, February 16, 2001 Bad news for Haitian narcotics barons and others While the United States city of Miami is known to be a place where millions of citizens from around the world give rendez-vous year around mainly because of its hot weather condition, its river, the Miami River, however, is known for something else. It is the center of drugs, coming from South America, via Haiti. "Every Haitian freighter that enters the Miami River has either been seized or forfeited only to be later sold at auctions as a result of cocaine seizure," said a December Florida grand jury report. Mon Repos, a Haitian freighter, was among those seized in 1998 after Drug Enforcement Authorities found 485 pounds of cocaine on board. It was later sold at auction. Like most of the other 200-300 Haitian freighters that were seized last year by U.S. drug enforcement agents after their cargoes were found to be drugs, the auction of Mon Repos, even after it was renamed Croyance, however, did not stop it from transporting drugs, from Haiti to Miami, months later. It was seized late last year on its first voyage to the U.S. after authorities found 541 pounds of cocaine on board. Prompted by the growing drug smuggling on the Miami River, where freighters often wait weeks until there are sure very few drug agents are not around or looking to unload their illicit cargoes, and its multiplying effect, primarily on Miami, Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, announced today in a 2:30 p.m. news conference a two-year initiate to combat the drug trade on the River. Attending Governor Bush's today news conference at the Jose Marti Park in the Little Havana section of Miami, were: U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis, Acting U.S. Customs Service Commissioner Chuck Winwood, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Tim Moore, U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ros-Lehtinen. Other officials, including state and local, could also be seen at the news conference. Though no details were provided as to how exactly Governor Bush plans to combat the drug trade on the Miami River during the next two years, however, approximately two dozen federal, state and local agencies, he said, will soon start removing the junk freighters left behind after their illicit cargoes are unloaded. Don't wait until it's too late. Have an honest dialogue with your kids about the multiplying effect of drugs. Even if you don't have kids, still you can talk to someone else about the multiplying effect of the illicit product of the same name.

Hundreds kidnapped in Haiti, many of them badly tortured Hundreds of Haiti's democratic opposition provincial supporters and leaders have been kidnapped by the tyrannical and illegal regime of radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Many of them have been badly tortured. Also, radical leftist Aristide is to travel Friday to the Caribbean country of Barbados to attend the 12th inter-sessional meeting of the conference of the Caribbean Community, commonly known as CARICOM. While millions of Haitians are starving to death the one-day trip of radical leftist Aristide abroad a chatered plane to Barbados, which has no economic purpose, rather political, will cost (economic cost) Haitian taxpayers about U.S$100,000, said a source we can thrust.

Moi, Aristide, I don't care if the international community and others say I am a dark age radical leftist dictator Radical leftist Aristide continues to be viewed as a dark age tyrant by the international community and others despite millions of dollars spent in an effort to have lobbying firms from around the world help him improve his image. So too he continues to be perceived as a man with minimal intelligence. Radical leftist Aristide fully deserves it. Ever since he became president in 1991, only to be deposed seven months later for burning opponents alive, he has kidnapped, tortured and extorted millions of dollars from thousands of political opponents. His people has known only abject poverty while he himself went from wearing tattered polyester paints to Italian suits. Among them are 120 Haitians who were returned to Haiti Monday by U.S. Coast Guard Cutler Tahoma after they fled the country's abject poverty he has long nurtured. The Haitians were intercepted on February 8th near the Bahamas, and one day after radical leftist Aristide, a narco-multimillionaire, promised 500,000 jobs - another big lie. 114 more Haitian refugees were returned Tuesday to Haiti by Bahamian authorities. This year alone, thousands have been repatriated to Haiti from the United States, Cuba and Dominican Republic, according to Carol Joseph of the Haitian National Office for Migration. The last year installation of a fraudulent Haitian Congress was followed by the February 7th swearing-in of radical leftist Aristide as president. In fact, it was before the same fraudulent Congress that he was sworn in after he was elected in a Nov. 26th sham election. Despite all of the problems listed above and others, thousands of Haitians, from Boston to Haiti, continue to call radical leftist Aristide a savior, suggesting that they are too dam, too stupid, people of zero intelligence to even realize that the chief bandit will only increase their suffering, say many Haitians, who luckily happen to be literate enough to also understand the defrocked radical leftist priest does not comprehend even basic economics. Remember your special friend, your lovely wife on valentine's day.

Radical leftist Aristide, farcical man Now, there can be no doubting that Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a pretty farcical man. First he again said late last week he wanted to resume talks with Haiti's democratic opposition in an effort to find a compromise to the tropical country's long political crisis. A few hours later he appointed Jean-Marie Cherestal Prime Minister of the desperately poor Caribbean nation of Haiti. The choice of Cherestal, radical leftist Aristide's hometown boy of the provincial town of Port-Salut, South of Haiti, as Prime Minister once again proved that the democratic opposition was right when it said not long ago the illegitimate president-elect's words could not be trusted. Cherestal, who spent close to two decades in Montreal before returning to Haiti in the early 1990s, served in the mid-1990s as Haiti's Minister of Finance and Planning and as External Cooperation. Cherestal, whose nickname is Ponpon, also served in the 1990s in the capacity of Haiti's coordinator for the Lome Convention, a trade pact that long allows low-tariff entry for products from approximately 70 African nations, including Caribbean and Pacific nations, into the European Community, now European Union. Still, even his mother Frances Cherestal, brother Maxime Cherestal, sister Yolaine Cherestal, aunt Rosie Cherestal, not including his uncle Saurel Dolere since he is no longer with us (all of Boston, nice and hard working people), cannot honestly say he effectively managed the finances of Haiti when he held the post of Minister of Finance and Planning. Proving further that you are not an honest man, you a radical leftist and farcical man, rather, by appointing a Prime Minister while you continue to ask for a dialogue with the democratic opposition can be an invitation for you to be once again chastised by the latter. "We must continue to condemn and criticize Aristide until he honestly accepts to dialogue with us members of the democratic opposition," said Sunday Herve Denis, an opposition spokesperson. Added Denis, "Aristide must also stop intimidating, threatening opposition figures. I must also say that Aristide should not think the struggle for a democratic Haiti is over and as a result he no longer has to honestly dialogue with us so the country may get out of the political mess that it has long been in." "We have been asking for a dialogue for ten years, but all we have been witnessing in this country is a monologue, meaning that Aristide has been talking to himself, not to members of the democratic opposition. If he now wants to honestly talk he has to do so with provisional President Gourge," a reference to the alternative and provisional president installed last week by the democratic opposition, said Monday Dr. Hubert de Ronceray, also an opposition spokesperson. Yet the Port-au-Prince de facto district attorney, Josue Pierre-Louis, a radical leftist Aristide's Lavalas Family party member, said late last week that he was exploring the possibility to summon prominent former law professor Gerard Gourge, the alternative and provisional government president, to Haiti's kangaroo for holding illegal office. Given the unfortunate political situation that Haiti continues to find itself in, as radical leftist Aristide remains a farcical man, the country, the poorest of the Americas seems unlikely to again begin receiving foreign aid in the foreseeable future, which has long been halted by foreign donors in protest over the series of fraudulent elections, including the Nov.26th presidential vote, held last year.

Another setback for leftist Aristide, more to come, as the chief bandit continues to claim to be president Two days after Haiti's democratic opposition chose Gerard Gourge, a prominent former law professor and human rights leader, as the country's provisional president, leftist and chief bandit Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who claimed to be the country's president after a so-called presidential ceremony Wednesday, yesterday urged the opposition to return to the negotiation table, which he distanced himself from, only to first make a brief appearance there, last week. "Our position concerning the obliteration of results for the series of fraudulent elections held last year, including the Nov. 26th so-called presidential election, remains the same. Our position has not changed at all," said Thursday opposition spokesperson Victor Benoit. Added opposition spokesperson Benoit "Now, Aristide can only negotiate with President Gourge," not with us." Can leftist Aristide solve many of the country's problems, including state-sponsored corruption and both, petty and politically motivated rampant crimes? Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, leader of Haiti's largest peasant movement does not think so. He called upon Haitians Thursday to fight leftist Aristide's dictatorship of the proletariat, and urged them to lend their support to the presidency of professor Gourge. The International Republican Institute, a U.S. Republican party affiliated organization that promotes democracy and human rights around the world Thursday had a few unpleasant words for leftist tyrant, Aristide, too. "Given the fact that the May 21st and 26th elections were all fraudulent one may conclude Haiti now has a de facto president and an illegitimate Congress. Hopefully, democracy will one day triumph in Haiti." Two days almost to the hour passed from Wednesday when he fraudulently claimed the presidency of Haiti, leftist Aristide has yet to nominate a Prime Minister. Fears of additional problems, resulting from his continuing legitimacy crisis seem to have prompted the leftist tyrant to postpone the nomination of a chief of government, said many Thursday. Many foreign countries have suspended millions of dollars in foreign aid for Haiti, arguing results for the May and Nov. elections were fictive. The European Union suspended last week approximately $54 million in financial assistance for the desperately poor Caribbean country. Celebrating black history month is remembering your heritage.

Contrary to 1991 when the presidential inauguration of Haiti's leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide was attended by world leaders and covered by world news media, his second presidential inauguration today, however, was only attended by Ambassadors stationed in Haiti. Attending today's inauguration, which came one day after the democratic opposition formed an alternative government and named prominent Atty. and human rights leader Gerard Gourge provisional president, and more than three months after leftist Aristide was elected in a Nov. 26th sham election, were Canadian Ambassador Gilles Bernier; U.S. Ambassador Brian Dean Curran; and Luigi Einaudi, assistant secretary general of the Organization of the American States. The neighboring Dominican Republic President, Hypolito Mejia, was not in attendance. He was instead represented at today's farce by Foreign Minister Hugo Tolentino, and Belize by Prime Minister Said Musa. Others in attendance were former U.S. Convicted former Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez who who served time under house arrest, rather than in a penitentiary, for grand fraud, was in attendance, too. Only Taiwan, a renegade province of the People's Republic of China sent a delegation. Others in attendance at today's farce after fraudulent and leftist Aristide was sworn-in as president before a de facto Congress were former U.S. Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy, his wife Beth Kennedy and brother Max Kennedy. So too the Papal Nuncio could be seen at the so-called presidential inauguration. But there were hundreds of poor Haitians in front of the National Palace, most of them hoped to be fed. The poor people were finally convinced they would each get a dish of rice and beans while leftist Aristide and cohorts were inside the palace eating fancy food and drinking champagne, Preval himself vodka, after rumors circulated in Port-au-Prince Tuesday suggesting there will be food for the poor people after the so-called leftist Aristide's inauguration. "We and the European Union declined to send delegations to the inauguration because we wanted to show our disapproval of the conditions in which the controversial electoral process took place in the Caribbean nation," said Wednesday the French Foreign Ministry. The results of a today's survey of world major newspapers and television stations suggested that leftist Aristide's ascension to the office of the Haitian presidency was somehow ignored. Many of these newspapers and television stations have simply republished Associated Press or Reuters's articles, suggesting that dispatching reporters to Haiti for today's grand fraud would mean they agree that leftist Aristide prolong the suffering of the Haitian people. The European Economic Community's suspension of economic aid for Haiti last week suggests that leftist Aristide is nothing more than a de facto president. So did the U.N., which ended its Haiti mission Tuesday. Nothing concrete, such as how the life of the long dirt poor Haitians will change for the better, came out of leftist Aristide's so-called inaugural speech. "Zero corruption in my government! Zero misery in Haiti! Zero insecurity in this country! Zero plus zero equals zero." Many Haitians, however, though they were dreaming after they heard leftist Aristide, a man who always advocates violence, pronouncing himself on the issue of peace, as his bandits continue to terrorize and kill honest citizens. "Peace for me! Peace for you!, leftist Aristide said. Sure many Haitian intellectuals and others who expected him to address issues of importance, rather than sounded like a little boy playing with his toys, could also hardly comprehend what Aristide was talking about, as he changed from Haitian Creole to French, then broken English, back to Haitian Creole after saying a few words in broken Spanish. "Haiti will be a nice country! Together we are going to turn this country into a paradise," added leftist Aristide. What appeared to be a verbal attack on wealthy citizens from around the world, especially U.S. multimillionaires, was when leftist Aristide blamed those who had money, excluding himself with his narco-millions, as usual, for the suffering of the Haitian people. "Most of the people from around the world are extremely poor and leave on less than one dollar a day while a few have millions of dollars. Still, we are friends." Former law professor Gerard Gourge, the provisional president, chosen by the opposition Tuesday delivered an eloquent speech Wednesday. The speech, which was well received by millions of Haitians, hoping that life in the Caribbean country will change for the better, centered on issues of importance, including public safety, economics, foreign policy, national security and education. Of concern to President Gourge was the problem of malnutrition and famine in the country. President Gourge briefly explained how he intends to address all of the issues that formed the content of his speech, contrary to leftist Aristide who always sounds like a fifth class comedian.

An anti-leftist Aristide demonstration in Haiti Down with drug dealer Aristide! We do not want Aristide as president! Aristide sold the whole country! Aristide is a thief! These were the words of hundreds of Haitians who took to the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital city, Tuesday to voice their total displeasure with the chief bandit who will later today proclaim himself "monarch." Haiti's democratic opposition chose Tuesday prominent Atty. Gerard Gourge as the country's provisional president. Send a message of support to the provisional government :convergencedemocratique@yahoo.com

Haitian democratic opposition names president The collapse of three days of talks between Haiti's leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the country's democratic opposition in an effort to avert a political crisis was immediately followed by the announcement Tuesday of a provisional government by the Haitian opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, a 15-party coalition. The provisional president, Gerard Gourge, is a 75-year prominent lawyer and human rights activist. He was Minister of Justice in the National Council of Government after dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier fled Haiti for France abroad a U.S. c-141 airfare airplane, in 1986. So too was he a senior member of the council of the same. President Gourge's term will not exceed two years. During that time, he will organize general elections. A 1987 presidential election many believed he would have easily won was aborted after gunmen opened fire on voters. The Cabinet members in the provisional government will soon be appointed and announced, said opposition leaders. On Wednesday, Haiti will have a second president. But this one, leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was elected in a Nov. sham presidential election. He is scheduled to deliver an inaugural address at noon in front of the National Palace. "The U.S. will not send an official delegation to Aristide's inauguration on Wednesday", said Port-au-Prince U.S. Ambassador Brian Dean Curran Monday in an interview. However, what could again be seen as a major blow to leftist Aristide who has already spent millions of dollars in an effort to have his de facto government recognized by the international community was when Ambassador Curran said "There will only be normal relationship between the two countries after the elections impasse is resolved."

Haitian democratic opposition tells Aristide no more than two years in office Seventy five years from now, Haitian historians' texts will say less than two days before leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide was to assume the presidency of Haiti for a second time after being elected in a Nov. 26th, 2000 sham election the democratic opposition submitted a 17-point proposal to the chief bandit as a condition not to proceed with its plan to install an alternative government Tuesday. In the 17-point proposal, which was submitted to leftist Aristide late Monday, included was that leftist Aristide's mandate be reduced from five to two years and a presidential collegiate committee be formed immediately, composing of three members, at least, to oversee the activities of the executive branch of government. After the expiration of leftist Aristide's reduced presidential term, general elections will be held. Tough the democratic opposition's midnight deadline to install an alternative government has already passed, however, leftist Aristide has yet to pronounce himself on the said proposal

Haiti's leftist Aristide met under duress with democratic opposition leaders After years of defying the international community, especially the United States. After years of assassinating an exorbitant number of Haitian opposition leaders and supporters alike. After years of state-sponsored corruption and gross incompetence that Haiti is now the third hungriest country after Afghanistan and Somalia, said a recently U.N. report, Haiti's leftist and chief bandit, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, met under duress Saturday night with democratic opposition leaders in an effort to avert a political crisis. The Saturday night meeting centered on the fraudulent May 21st parliamentary election and the Nov. 26th sham presidential vote. Leftist Aristide, who again last week was urged by the international community to negotiate with the democratic opposition, along with his Lavalas Family party, a political movement rather, claimed nearly 100 percent victory in both elections. Sure the exceptionally high margin of victory reminded us of tyrants Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein's elections. Why not dictator Muammar Qaddafi's, too? Though the Saturday night meeting, which was held at the Port-au-Prince Vatican embassy, marked a step toward dialogue, but nothing concrete came out of that meeting. "My assessment of that meeting is that it was procedural," said an opposition representative who requested anonymity. From experience, the opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, a 15-party coalition, does not trust leftist Aristide's words. Still, after the weekend meeting, alike the Lavalas Family party of leftist Aristide, opposition representatives eased their position. "We are ready to make some concessions so the country may get out of this crisis," said opposition leader Paul Denis, also a former senator who was kidnapped last year by leftist Aristide's gangs. "If Arabs and Jews can convene at the negotiation table in an effort to make peace in the Middle East, why not among us Haitians?" leftist Aristide reportedly said at the Saturday night meeting. But de facto Senator and spokesperson for leftist Aristide's Lavalas Family party, Yvon Neptune, said Friday leftist Aristide's presidency was not negotiable. "To be frank with you, I do not know what they," a reference to opposition leaders, "mean by a provisional government." The talk, which began Saturday, is to continue until Monday at the Port-au-Prince El Rancho hotel with U.N. representatives and foreign diplomats stationed in Haiti as observers. As far as we know, the latest series of talks have yet to produce concrete results. Leftist Aristide has not been in attendance. If by midnight Monday no agreement is reached between the opposing parties, an alternative government will be installed said democratic opposition leaders. In another development, Dominican Republic President, Hipolito Mejia, has yet to make a final decision to attend the Wednesday swearing-in coronation of leftist Aristide. "We are awaiting Ambassador Alberto Despradel's return from Port-au-Prince to brief us on the country's current political situation and to evaluate the impact of such a visit," said Thursday a government official who asked that his name not be printed. "Dominican Army Generals have privately expressed their total displeasure with President Hypolito in attendance at Aristide's inauguration as President of Haiti. The only foreign head of state so far to have expressed interest in traveling to Port-au-Prince for the Wednesday ceremony, his presence there will certainly mean that he recognizes Aristide's presidency while the rest of the world does not," added the official. When former Dominican Republic President, Leonel Fernandez, traveled to Haiti last year, more than 1,000 military officers and commanders, government officials, including journalists, accompanied him there. But prior to the visit, more than 300 army officers, disguised as peasants, were already in the country. In case the then-Dominican Republic President's life was in danger he and others would have been evacuated in less than twenty minutes, wrote Hoy last week, a major daily Dominican Republic newspaper.

U.N. to end Haiti's mission Another day, another mission to withdraw from troubled Haiti, as chief bandit and leftist, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, continues to massacre political opponents. The United Nations will end Tuesday its one-year mission in the Caribbean Republic, more than six months after the mission transport chief, Garfield Lyle, a citizen of Barbados, was forcefully removed from his car by leftist Aristide's bandits and shot dead. The 120-strong mission member's ultimate goal was to help promote human rights, reform the judiciary, including building a professional police force in the poorest country of the Western Hemisphere. Unfortunately, as the mission is preparing to depart Haiti Tuesday corruption remains a way of life for the police force that it was supposed to professionalize. The judiciary, which also figured on the mission's list as one of the institutions to be reformed is even more corrupt today, as most judges have become "narco-judges" rather. The United States, which over the past six years has spent $3 billion (economic cost) in an effort to help Haiti becomes a democratic state contributed nearly $14 million to the mission's $24 million budget. In another development, Haiti's opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, said Saturday if the negotiation, which has been encouraged by the international community, between leftist Aristide and its designated member-representatives fails to produce acceptable results by Tuesday an alternative government will be installed on that day. Haiti Torn by Hope and Hatred As Aristide Returns to Power

By Edward Cody

Washington Post Foreign Service

Friday, February 2, 2001; Page A01

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The death threats came in a chilling Creole expression. Unless the opposition to President-elect Jean-Bertrand Aristide backed off, righteous crowds would kill 80 of Haiti's establishment politicians, journalists and clerics, turning their "blood to ink, their skin to parchment and their skulls to inkwells." Twenty Haitian reporters were summoned to hear the warning read out on Jan. 9 at St. Jean Bosco, a burned-out church whose shell remains a monument to Aristide's days there as a liberation theology priest. Paul Raymond, a militant in the slum's "Little Church Community," named the opposition figures one by one, as several dozens activists affiliated with Aristide's Lavalas political movement shouted, "Long Live Aristide! Long Live Aristide!" Realizing the significance of what they had just heard, the reporters rushed back to their radio and television stations. By nightfall, Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, was buzzing with the news. Opposition politicians demanded Raymond's arrest. Foreign embassies and the papal nuncio issued condemnations. People waited for Aristide to emerge from his luxurious home to disavow the threat made in his name. But they waited in vain. As Aristide prepares to take office Wednesday for his second five-year term, Haiti is again divided over its most charismatic and enigmatic figure. And again, the United States - Aristide's former patron and perpetual nemesis - is in the middle of the divide. The sunny but desperately poor Caribbean nation that the Clinton's administration repeatedly cited as a foreign policy success now seems likely to be one of the Bush administration's earliest headaches. Bombs go off here regularly these days, more than a dozen in Port-au-Prince since Aristide's election in November. One of three blasts Jan. 19 left a pigtailed schoolgirl writhing and moaning in the street. A number of mysterious political killings remain unsolved as well, making the threats at St. Jean Bosco seem all too real. Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis blames the bombings on extremists in the anti-Aristide opposition, although he acknowledges that police have not identified the perpetrators. It's a provocation," he said in an interview. " They are trying to get us to take repressive measures. But we will just let the police do its work." The opposition alliance, the Democratic Convergence, regards Aristide's Nov. 26 election as illegitimate and charges that he is preparing to set up another Haitian dictatorship. As a result, it has refused to deal with Aristide as president-elect, despite U.S. appeals for dialogue. Opposition leaders held a convention Saturday - called "etats generaux" to evoke the French revolution - and to form a parallel "provisional government" unless a deal can be worked out with Aristide before he takes over. "The elections were fraudulent, not only irregular but illegal," said Leslie Manigat a former president and current opposition leader who was on the St. Jean Bosco list. "Given that, we demand the undoing of what was done wrong." The Convergence was formed as a broad group with help from the International Republican Institute, an organization that promotes democracy that is closely identified with the U.S. Republican Party. It includes former Aristide allies - people who helped him fight Haiti's dictators, then soured as they watched him at work. But it also includes former backers of the hated Duvalier family dictatorship and the military officers who overthrew Aristide in 1991 and terrorized the country for three years. The most determined of these men, with a promise of anonymity, freely express their desire to see the U.S. military intervene once again, this time to get rid of Aristide and rebuild the disbanded Haitian army. "That would be the cleanest solution," said one opposition leader. Failing that, they say, the CIA should train and equip Haitian officers exiled in the neighboring Dominican Republic so they could stage a comeback themselves. With just 8 million inhabitants, zero natural resources and no strategic value except proximity to Cuba, Haiti instead would seem a perfect candidate for benign neglect under the Bush administration national-interest test. Perfect, that is, except for things: geography, boat people and drug smuggling. According to Haitian and foreign observers alike, the risk is high that cocaine and desperate Haitians will head in ever higher numbers to Florida - where President Bush younger brother, Jeb, is governor, unless a way is found to resolve the political and social confrontation swirling around Aristide's person, his tactics and his plans. "There is a lot of misery here," complained Pierre Blaise. His village, Sous-Bogne, lies just across the road from the Club Miditerranee, a verdant seaside resort near the town of Montrouis, about 35 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince. Haiti's magic," a sign at the hotel's palm-shaded entrance. European and American tourists by the planeload used to descend on the club every week, providing a livelihood for Blaise, 55, and for those of his 15 children who were old enough to work. Those days are over. Because of political turmoil and crime, the resort has closed. Garbage lines it beach. Furniture is piled for storage in the rooms. the pools sits forlorn and unused, filled with dirty rainwater. But a rumor has moved recently through the huts of straw matting and cinder block. With Aristide back in office, the club will reopen soon, it says. The village will get jobs again. "We're waiting for Aristide," Blaise said. "He's our friend." Aristide has come a long way since his start as a tightly wired priest combating misery and despair in the Port-au-Prince slums. Today he has a reputation as a calculating politician, along with a wife, two children and a suburban home with air conditioning and a swimming pool. Aristide began his first term in February 1991 after winning 67 percent of the vote in the country's first democratic election. A liberation theology activist, beloved by the poor for his courage and eloquence, he voiced the aspirations of Haiti's downtrodden and hopeless in a sinuous, image-laden Creole they readily embraced. But his presidency was aborted after seven months by a military coup d'etat that his supporters say was carried out with U.S. acquiescence. Three years later, with the military dictatorship universally condemned and pressure mounting from the black political leaders in Washington, President Clinton dispatched 20,000 troops to restore Aristide to power. That was the beginning of a long, heavy injection of aid money and international political political capital, the start of what one official involved in the effort called "an unhealthy embrace.' Now - six years and some $3 billion later - the embrace has ended, replaced by discouragement and in some cases resentment. Kofi Annan, the normally circumspect U.N. secretary general, has decided the U.N. political mission here should close on Tuesday and has warned of "further turmoil" that will further impoverish the hemisphere's poorest nation. The United States has long since brought home its last troops, and it ended a police training program last July; Washington also is the driving force behind a freeze on $500 million in international aid for the cash-starved government. Although the Clinton administration returned to power, in the end it had largely lost faith in his willingness to play by the rules of democracy. In that, U.S. officials were joined by most U.N. officials and European governments involved in trying to get Haiti on its feet. Most diplomatic dismay focused on last May's legislative elections, in which Aristide's Lavalas movement won 71 of 81 lower house seats and 26 of 27 Senate seats, setting up an Aristide presidency unfettered by legislative obstacles. U.S. and other foreign observers were unanimous in concluding that the Provisional Electoral Council unfairly tallied Senate votes in 10 districts to prevent Lavalas candidates from facing a runoff. As a result, they declined to recognize the results and refused to validate the November presidential vote. International irritation rose further when the council declared a turnout of 60 percent and gave Aristide a 90 percent margin of victory. Reliable estimates from foreign groups put the turnout at less than 20 percent. partly because of an opposition boycott. A commitment obtained late last year by Anthony Lake, the Clinton administration's special envoy, required Aristide to resolve the Senate dispute and reach out to the opposition leaders to form an inclusive government, among other things. The incentive: recognition and renewed aid. During his confirmation hearings to become secretary of state, Collin L. Powell said Lake's accords seemed to be the basis for braking the stalemate. Some steps have been taken, but the specifics negotiated by Lake, Haiti's old background music of class hatred and mistrust plays on. Aristide and his followers seem convinced that the country's former ruling class is still determined, with U.S. help, to prevent him from making the deep changes they believe are necessary to improve the lives of Haiti's poor. Talk of another coup only reinforces their convictions. "How to move forward with the emancipation of the Haitian people without getting stopped by the bourgeoisie and the petite bourgeoisie, that is the big challenge for him," said Leslie Voltaire, an adviser on the staff of outgoing President Rene Preval. Alexis, who has hung a large painted of poor people the rich in his office vestibule, agreed, saying the "real problem" in Haiti is Aristide's stand in favor of the poor. The shelves are nearly empty in the little grocery store run by Jacqueline Toussaint, 50, and her husband Winny Fils-Aime, 54, on the main street of Montrouis. Thieves in the little town have hit twice, and the couple no longer dares to exhibit their wares. "You can get robbed any time," Toussaint said. God knows what will happen." In any case, she added, prices have risen so fast that people cannot afford to buy food. The drop in sales has meant that her son, who became the pride of his family by finishing high school, could not continue to the university. "So he just sits home," she said. But help is on the way, Fils-Aime predicted, because Aristide is soon to take power again. "The voice of the people is the voice of God," he said, "and if the people want something, nobody can stop it." As soon as Aristide returned from exile with the U.s. troops in 1994, the disgraced army was disbanded and the Clinton administration set out to train and equip a 6,000-member police force with help from the United Nations, France and others. The idea was to give Haitians their first taste of justice and and professional policing. Things have not worked out as planned. Politics, U.S. intervention and corruption still play a large role in the Haitian justice system. So much that U.S. diplomats were forced three months ago to denounce talk of a coup among disaffected police officers around whom swirled reports of drug smuggling. Many police officers have left in a cloud over allegations. And they are not without foundation; the House International Relations Committee charged in December that traffickers "have largely succeeded in consolidating a narco-state in Haiti." Other officers have left for better salaries in legitimate work. As a result, the force stand a fewer than 4,500. Haitians call them "the philosophers," mocking a requirement that recruits have a high school diploma in a nation of 90 percent illiteracy. The problems with Haiti's National Police came to head last October when Aristide showed up a Provisional Electoral Council headquarters to register officially as a candidate for election, joined by a crowd of cheering supporters. The local police commissioner, Jean-Jacques "Jackie" Nau, had his men go through the crowd looking for weapons. A street leader known to be an Aristide supporter, nicknamed Ronald Cadaver in tribute to his reputation for violence, refused to relinquish his gun. In the confrontation that ensued, Cadaver and his gang disarmed Nau and other officers and put tires around their necks in apparent preparation for one of the gruesome burnings known as "necklacing." The standoff was resolved without anyone being killed. But Cadaver was never called to account, and the infuriated Nau began meeting with another police commissioner, Guy Phillippe, and other officers to discuss what should be done. By the middle of November, in account confirmed by a senior U.S. official, Prime Minister Alexis said he was visited by Don Steinberg, a Lake aide then on temporary duty in Port-au-Prince. Steinberg relayed intelligence that Nau, Phillippe and others were discussing what could be the beginnings of a coup. Several days later, Alexis said, Steinberg went to see Aristide at his home with the information, warning that Aristide and Preval could be assassination targets. Called in to explain themselves, Alexis went on, Nau and Phillippe denied they were contemplating a coup. But within days, they and a half-dozen other officers fled to the Dominican Republic. Two other officers implicated in the reports sought refuge in the Dominican Embassy in Port-au-Prince. Haitian authorities wanted to wait them out. But Alexis said they were allowed instead to travel unmolested to the Dominican Republic - at the request of the U.S. Embassy. Return to top of page.

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