January 2001 news briefing & analysis this month

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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: March/December

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The INS problem with two Haitian or Bahamian deportees Gertha Clairville, 20, and Kervence Carry, 21, were both born in the Bahamas. They speak only English and with a U.S. accent because they were both raised in the U.S. Still, they never became U.S. naturalized citizens. In 1998, Clairville found himself in trouble with the law when he was arrested. According Miami-Dade County criminal records, he was later convicted of aggravated battery and sentenced to two years in prison. During that same year, Carry, was convicted of strong-arm robbery and sentenced to 270 days in Jail. Since the 1996 immigration law mandates that any foreigner convicted of aggravated felonies be expelled permanently from the U.S. after serving his sentence, deportation day came for them last week. After the government of Bahamas told U.S. immigration officials last week Clarville and Carry were not Bahamian citizens, tough they both were born there, but of Haitian parents, they were deported to Haiti. In a letter sent to Robert Wallis, the Immigration and Naturalization Service Miami district office director, and Owen B. Cooper, general INS counsel in Washington, D.C. outraged lawyers for the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center said Clairville and Carry should not be deported to the Caribbean nation of Haiti and demand their immediate return. "Ever since their arrival in Haiti they have been languishing in a Port-au-Prince jail without food, clothing or bed," said immigration attorneys and Cheryl Little of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. "We do not know exactly what to do with those guys because Bahamians officials do not recognize them as citizens. Even so, we have agreed to reopen the cases," said Miami INS spokesperson Rodney Germain. 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 uninterrupted physical presence, and citizenship 10 years or more afterward. Remember the homeless during the winter season!

Once again from Haiti, 880 pounds of cocaine for the U.S. Four days after U.S. drug enforcement agents found 45 kilos of cocaine abroad a Honduran-flagled vessel, which first made a stop in Haiti before docking at the port of Miami, the agents of the same seized Wednesday 880 pound of cocaine shortly after the illicit cargo of a Haitian vessel was loaded into a Ryder truck. The driver of the Ryder truck, a Haitian national, was taken away in handcuffs by custom agents and Miami Police. Customs agents estimated the 880 pounds of cocaine to have a wholesale value of $8 million.

Exiled Haitian National Provisional Electoral Council President writes U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell "I was summoned to the National Palace, where both President Preval and former President Aristide threatened me with death if I did not publish the manipulated results."

Nashua, December 27, 2000

General Colin Powell

Secretary of State-Designee

Bush-Cheney Transition Team

McLean, Virginia

Dear General Powell: As the President of the Haitian Provisional Electoral Council, let me congratulate you as the 65th Secretary of State of the United States. Your integrity, character, sense of honor, and dedication remind me and other Haitians of our own roots, which include General Toussaint Louverture, one of the fathers of our independence. At that time, for the black people of Haiti, he was the savior against oppression and slavery; he was a man of integrity, with the vision of freedom and democracy for his people. Sir, for all the blacks of the world, you continue to carry the flag as a role model for showing that the best is yet to come. Almost two years ago, Haitian President Rene Preval called me out of retirement, at age 74, to serve my country with pride, honesty and dignity. I agreed to become the President of the Provisional Electoral Council of Haiti, despite the obvious difficulties that lay ahead for a country coming out of 23 months of political crisis and the fact that since 1994 both former President Aristide and President Preval violated all agreements on democratization with the parties, civil society, and the international community. During that crisis period, President Preval sought to force the Parliament to accept the results of previous fraudulent elections and impose a prime minister without parliamentary approval. Parliament was dissolved, a prime minister was appointed without constitutional legitimacy, and elections were often postponed and eventually were held, however fraudulently. Political repression and assassinations were common, and regrettably, still are. During the 15 months I served in office prior to fleeing the country for my own safety, I endured the difficulties of the job, wanting only to get my country out of the mess it was in and help it become part of the international democratic community. Despite threats of violence, manipulations of the ruling party, and recriminations by the opposition, we succeeded in organizing reasonably fair elections on May 21, 2000. Turnout was around 60 percent, extremely high by recent Haitian historical experience. Violence was relatively minor, and for the first time since 1995, all the opposition parties and civil society fully participated. But on election night, after the polls closed and the international observers went home, ballots boxes were stolen and replaced with stuff substitute boxes. The replacement boxes were full of ballots in favor of former President Aristide's party, Fanmi Lavalas (FL). Many members of the police forces betrayed their mission of ensuring the security of the electoral process, participating in fraudulent maneuvers. Overall, the night of the elections was one of fraud, with the goal of ensuring the absolute success of the Fanmi Lavalas party. I was summoned to the National Palace, where both President Preval and former President Aristide threatened me with death if I did not publish the manipulated results. I refused to commit such infamy against the Haitian people, and with the support of the international community, I was taken out of Haiti and into exile in the United States. At age 76, I m learning of the difficult conditions of exile. Subsequent to my departure, Presidents Preval and Aristide published the bogus results, which do not reflect the will of the Haitian people. My deepest concern is that Haiti once again has become a one-party de facto dictatorship. In the name of my countrymen, I call on you to do all you can to help Haitians organize free and fair local, legislative, and presidential elections as soon as possible and with the participation of the whole of our democratic society. Because you understand the meaning of honor, decency, and democracy, I am confident you will hear the call of the Haitian people. We want peace and democracy. The Haitian people deserve no less. Thank you for your consideration. I am glad to wish you great success as the Secretary of State of the new administration and all the best for the year 2001 and beyond. Sincerely,

Leon Manus

President in Exile

Provisional Electoral Council

More than 8,000 Haitians respond to Haiti's democratic opposition call to form a national government of consensus and unity Haiti's leftist and chief bandit, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, did not want to go willingly. But on January 27th, perpetual state-sponsored corruption, perpetual politically motivated killings, perpetual gross incompetence, perpetual largely fraudulent elections and destruction of the Haitian economy swept him away when more than 8,000 Haitians responded to Haiti's democratic opposition's call, better known as the Convergence Democratique, to form a national government of consensus and unity. During the democratic opposition's Saturday mass meeting, in the Port-au-Prince section of Pont-Morin, where the offices of the Organization of the People in Struggle are located, also a member of the 15-party democratic opposition coalition, attention was first paid to the Universal Declarations of Human Rights, the Organization of the American States' (OAS) chart and international pacts, involving economic, social, cultural and political rights, which Haiti is a signatory. And then there was the Lavalas government of the inebriated Rene Preval, which leftist Aristide has since 1995, when he was forced to abandon the office of the presidency after a five-year term, been the power behind the throne. "The Lavalas government has completely destroyed the country's economy, democracy, imposed a one-party system, frustrated the Haitian populace, unjustly imprisoned and exiled honest citizens, caused citizens to experience more unemployment and poverty." So while the opposition continued to name leftist Aristide's misdeeds, including those of his political godson, the unarticulated Preval's, all worthy of Stalin and Castro, also was the issue of a total lack of public safety, and as a result thousands of Haitians have lost their lives. The other issues of concern were perpetual social agitation and citizens who have become hopeless because of the Lavalas government's reign of terror and gross incompetence. In an effort to have the country and the majority of its citizens brake away from the total mess they first found themselves in ten years ago, when leftist Aristide ascended to power as president, the opposition declared, tough it is still opened to dialogue, it said, unacceptable and void results for the Nov. 26th sham presidential election, in which leftist Aristide, also a voodoo praticioner and womanizing, was said to have been elected president. Participants at the mass meeting further breathed a sigh of relief and hope when they were informed a national government of consensus and unity was in fact been formed. The composition of the government, however, will be announced before February 7th, when leftist Aristide says he will proclaim himself "Monarch," and de facto Premier, Jacques Edouard, says there will be a bloodbath. The opposition invited the international community to take notice of this national "noble patriotic action." The success of Saturday mass meeting, when leftist Aristide was forced to make room at the national political podium for leaders capable of improving the lot of Haitians, also can be measured by the support of the international community. Prior to the national "noble patriotic action," as millions of Haitians also called it, the international community, particularly, the United States and Canada, celebrated in sympathy, asking the country's national police chief, Pierre Denize, to assure the safety of opposition's leaders and participants as well. In addition to the international community, sure do we congratulate Chief Denize for assuring the safety of opposition leaders and participants, and this, in a very efficient fashion. In another development, but two weeks ago, during a January 16th festivity, honoring one of the neighboring or contiguous Dominican Republic national heroes, Juan Pablo Duarte, the country's Army chief, General Manuel Ernesto Polanco Salvador, had some unpleasant words for Haitians. "We have lot of problems with the Haitians. Drug trafficking, illegal possession of guns, illegal immigration and contraband have defined the Haitians. They are a threat to national stability, they are a threat to national security." Haiti's de facto Prime Minister, Jacques Edouard Alexis, in turn, had a few harsh words for General Salvador. "I have solid proof that Dominican Republic soldiers extort money from well-armed Haitian drug traffickers before letting them into the Dominican Republic," said de facto Alexis in a January 27th interview, published in the Listin Diaro, a major Dominican Republic newspaper. Added de facto Alexis, "When soldiers kill Haitians at the border it is not because they want to stop the float of illegal immigration coming from Haiti, but because some of those Haitians do not want to pay a bribe. Not long ago, soldiers machine-gunned a bus carrying Haitians. Five other buses were allowed to continue their journey into the Dominican Republic after soldiers were bribed by their occupants."

Marvin Rosen (finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee from September 1995 until January 1997), former Democratic Congressman Joseph P.Kennedy II, and Bill Clinton confidante Thomas (Mack) McClarty III are all on the same board of Fusion Telecommunications International, according to that company's Web Site. Mr. Rosen, who was active in the DNC at the height of the Clinton fundraising scandals, is also the company's chief executive officer. Fusion may not be well known in the U.S., but it is a well-known name in the Haitian business community. Although Haiti has never privatized Teleco, the state-owned monopoly, or officially deregulated the telecommunications sector, the government, which has been run by former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Party since 1994, has granted Fusion a concession in the long-distance market. The terms of the deal are a secret, but sources say Fusion has an office inside Teleco. Of course there's nothing illegal about a few heavyweights from the Democratic Party cutting a deal with a foreign government. Nor is it illegal to keep the deal hush-hush. But considering the Clinton administration's remarkable passivity toward Mr. Aristide's political terror and corruption over the past seven years, Fusion's concession is, at the very least, interesting. It's not surprising that many Haiti watchers are asking how deep the connections between the Aristide and Clinton political machines really go. There are also hopes among Haiti's battered democratic opposition that President George W. Bush will have a look at these connections and perhaps reverse a longstanding U.S. policy of not responding effectively to Mr. Aristide's misdeeds. Moreover, it should be remembered that American fighting men were employed on Mr. Aristide's behalf. He was reinstalled as president in 1994 after a U.S. invasion overthrew military coup leader Raoul Cedras. Ever since his return, first as president and then as the power behind the throne during the current presidency of Rene Preval, the Clinton protege has piled up a dubious record. Economic deterioration, drug trafficking and political assassinations of Lavalas critics have defined Mr. Aristide's Haiti. Every national election since 1997, including the one last Nov. 7 in which Mr. Aristide claimed victory, has been ruled fraudulent by independent outside observers. Political violence in Port-au-Prince forced the 1999 closing of offices of the International Republican Institute, a U.S. party-affiliated agency that promotes democracy around the world. The Clinton nonchalance about such matters has puzzled people of both U.S. political parties. One close observer of U.S.-Haitians affairs said before last fall's sham elections in Haiti: "I am a Democrat but I have had a hard time understanding it. The administration can have an influence and they're not doing it. The lengths to which they're going to are rather remarkable. It is a policy of denying reality." Unsurprisingly, one theory is that it has to do with Mr. Aristide's important friendships. There are rumors inside the Haitian telecom industry that Fusion's concession includes a cost for long distance minutes substantially below what competitors are offered. If that is false, Fusion could clear it up. But Fusion's in-house counsel refuses to answer any questions about Haiti, offer the name of anyone at the company who might do so, or return follow-up phone calls. Nor would Mr. McClarty discuss Fusion's Haiti's deal. "Mack doesn't know anything about Fusion and Haiti,' a McClarty spokesman told me. That doesn't seem to jibe with his listing as a board member. People with knowledge of matter say that Fusion in Haiti is a joint venture between Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Aristide. Again, that cannot be confirmed and Mr. Kennedy was not immediately available for comment. But the Haitian despot, whose Lavalas Party was recently denounced by Amnesty International for

"The telephone concessions are an arbitrary distribution of favors.

Anybody who got anything received it through Lavalas."

threatening in early January to exterminate its opposition, was a guest at Mr. Kennedy's second wedding, according to press reports. Mr. Kennedy's second wedding, according to press reports. Mr. Kennedy and his mother are both on the board of advisors of the Aristide Foundation for Democracy, a tax-exempt foundation that raises money for Mr. Aristide's use in Haiti. Other foundation board members are U.S. Congressmen John Conyers and Charles Rangel. In the June 26 issue of Insight magazine Catherine Edwards reported that Mr. Conyers had received a letter from a Haitian senator asking him to resign from the foundation. It read, according to the Insight article: 'The incumbent de facto government controls and diverts all the financial resources and power of the Haitian state for the use of the Lavalas political party. The Aristide Foundation is the principal mechanism for diversion of public resources." Whatever the Fusion deal is, members of the Haitian business community insist that it had to be negotiated through the ruling party and its leader, Mr. Aristide. As one leading Haitian businessman told me, "The telephone concessions are an arbitrary distribution of favors. Anybody who got anything received it through Lavalas. They control the telephone sector. There has been no privatization, no transparency and no legal rules." During Mr. Aristide's time as president-elect in exile, he had access to some $40 to $50 million in frozen Haitian government assets. He drew on those assets at a rate of $900,000 per month during his first year of exile, and at a rate of $1.8 million per month starting in October 1992, as previously reported in this paper. He also collected millions of dollars in telephone and other royalties due the government of Haiti. This explains how he was able to pay expensive lawyers, with good political connections, to press his case for U.S. aid in returning him to the Haitian presidency. A book written by Lynn Garrison and published in 2000 by Leprechaun Publishing Group claims that Mr. Aristide holds an unpublished manuscript titled "I Paid For My Return." The Haitian democratic opposition refuses to recognize Mr. Aristide's November "victory" in the presidential elections and it's heading for a showdown. This weekend it will convene in several provinces in order to construct an alternative government. During George W.'s "real good scrubbing" of the White House, a close look at conditions in Haiti and what role the previous administration played in upholding a highly unattractive regime would bear a close look. Ms.O'Grady edits the Americas column. This article was published in The Wall Street Journal of January 26th, 2001, page A15.

More drugs from Haiti for the U.S. Miami U.S. drug enforcement agents seized Saturday a Honduran-flagged vessel with 45 kilos of cocaine on board. Agents had to nearly dismantle the vessel, which only stopped in Haiti before reaching Florida, to find the illicit cargo.

Once again, two unexpected funerals in Haiti, as the country was hoping for more unusual services from two of its few highly educated sons Leslie Delatour, who we previously reported expired on January 24th, after suffering from cancers for a longtime, was bury today after a funeral service in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville. And Dr. Thony Raton, assassinated early this week by bandits, in the provincial city of Petit-Goave,was interred Friday after a funeral service.

Dominican Republic to deport hundreds of Haitians Faced with an increasing number of illegal Haitian immigrants, many of them women and children begging on the streets of the Dominican Republic capital city of of Santo Domingo, the country's immigration officials, accompanied by soldiers, arrested Thursday hundreds of Haitians. The hundred or so Haitians taken out of the circulation Thursday, a handful of the estimated one million Haitians living in the neighboring country, most of them in squalid conditions, will be repatriated to Haiti. The latest round up of Haitian illegal immigrants occurred six days after a truck in which other undocumented Haitians were passenger-prisoners was fired on by soldiers in the Santiago region, North of the Dominican Republic. Two of the prisoners were wounded. Two others, Theodore Alexandre, 28, and Telvi Jean, 28, later succumbed to their wounds. About 4,000 Haitian migrants have been deported from the Dominican Republic to Haiti over the past two weeks. Earlier tragic incidents included seven Haitian illegal immigrants who found death during the night of June 15th, 2000. This, too, happened after the truck in which they were being transported as third world cheap goats was machine-gunned by soldiers.

Bandits kill thousands in Haiti;Haitian opposition leader in Haiti's kangaroo court Without listing all, a few things explain why Haiti is a state that disappeared in all but name months after leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide assumed the presidency, in 1991. Over the past nine years, thousands of Haitian citizens and others have been robbed at gunpoint by bandits. In most cases, victims are fatally wounded or short dead. A handful of the bandits have been arrested only to be seen the next day walking on the streets, as they prepare to add more citizens to the already long list of their victims. The latest victims include a Haitian medical doctor, who was short dead this week after bandits forcibly gained access to the interior of his private residence in the provincial city of Petit-Goave. Also early this week, another Haitian medical doctor was shot dead in Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince while an armed robbery was in progress. Joining the long list of Haitian citizens, about 30, wounded by gun shot or shot dead, early this week by bandits was Mr. Georges Mangonese, a Haitian-American citizen who majored in hotel management in college, and is the son of a prominent businessman. He is now in critical condition. His friend, Bayard, was slightly injured. And early this month, a five-year-old Haitian-American girl was fatally shot in the mouth by bandits after she was told to stop crying, as they were searching her mother, but first entirely disrobed, for money during a home invasion. The country is also prominent for its thousands of politically motivated killings. Many of them, including U.S. educated Atty. Mireille Durocher Bertin's, March 28th, 1995, took place in broad daylight, and this, only over a period of nine years. Yet, a leftist Aristide's Lavalas Family party Congressman, though fraudulently elected in a May election, told judge Claudy Gassant Wednesday he will shoot him as many times as possible if does not stop his questioning of those presumed to be responsible for the April 3rd, 2000, assassination of prominent radio journalist, Jean L. Leopold Dominique. Leftist Aristide, the same very chief bandit and grossly incompetent man who, was elected in a November in sham election, not long ago said he will create 500,000 jobs over the next five years. To be precise, he will start doing so, he said, after he again assumes the presidency on February 7th. "Because of Aristide's gross incompetence and thuggery Haiti died a long time. We don't understand. We don't get it. We don't know where and whom he is going to create those 500,000 jobs for... another big lie," said many last month. Still, the Haitian opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, remains hopeful. It thinks Haiti can be resurrected, the same way Christ did. But the only way that something like this will be possible, says the opposition, is by continuing not to recognize leftist Aristide as president-elect and at the same time form a government of consensus, which, it says, members will be known, at the end of a January 27th public meeting. However, as the opposition was arduously preparing for the January 27th public gathering so the government could be installed on February 7th, to replace the current inebriated President, Rene Preval, its spokesperson, Sauveur Pierre Etienne, was accused last week by leftist Aristide's bandits of making threats against citizens and and later ordered to appear Wednesday in Haiti's kangaroo Court. Mr. Etienne, who Wednesday, was asked by presiding judge Jose Pierre-Louis to divulge the source or sources of his information about a plot he said weeks ago Aristide's bandits had to kill opposition leaders said "I belong to a well organized, a structured political party that knows everything that is going on." As the kangaroo court hearing progressed, Mr. Etienne suggested that judge Pierre-Louis again listen to many of his public messages, tape recorded by leftist Aristide and his bandits, to determine if he, in fact, threatened the lives of citizens, as Haiti's de facto Prime Minister, Jacques Edouard Alexis, another buffoon plaintiff, claimed, too. As is customary in Haitian kangaroo court, judge Pierre-Louis could not produce the tape recorded messages he said he had in his possession. However, before the case was being continued for further investigation, Mr. Etienne, who was accompanied to Haiti's Kangaroo court by six prominent attorneys and supporters, urged the judge to commence legal criminal proceedings against de facto Prime Minister Alexis for threatening the lives of opposition leaders. Mr. Etienne was able to leave the Court House only under heavy police protection, as hundreds of leftist Aristide's bandits, with used tires and gasoline in hands, their trademarks, attempted to burn him alive, while shouting "long live Aristide, Aristide for ever, death or Aristide." "Dirty, filthy, hungry, thieves, criminals, condemned to die dirt poor, illiterate. Those people shouting long live Aristide are too dam to realize another five years of Aristide will only cause them and more of their fellow Haitian compatriots to experience more abject poverty," an impeccable dressed young woman said in French, the language of the very few, and who only gave her name as Sasha.

Leslie Delatour, prominent Haitian economist who brought economics to Haiti, too, died on January 24th, aged 53 In the 1980s, there was something particular new in Haiti. Leslie Delatour, a prominent Haitian economist, became a finance and economics Cabinet Minister in the Caribbean country. Did he perform at a superior level? On balance, yes, but he was always misunderstood, particularly by average Haitian citizens, including leftist and firebrand, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, then a defrocked priest, who failed to realize that the Soviet empire was soon to be be story. To the surprise of many communist nostalgics, however, about five years ago, Mr. Delatour became chairman of Haiti's Central Bank. He left his post at Haiti's Central Bank after only being there for three years for personal reasons, which were never made public. As we continue to mourn the death of thousands of Haitians killed by tyrant Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and their families awaiting for the day when he will stand trial for those murders, drug trafficking and grand thievery, unfortunately Mr. Delatour, aged 53, is no longer with us. He expired on January 24th at a hospital, in Miami, Florida, after suffering from cancers for a long time, said Wednesday his brother, Lionel Delatour. Yet, for all that, Mr. Delatour deserves an honored place in Haitian history. Presuming, as one must, that he was one of the very few educated Haitians, who was an expert in finance and economics. He was such a rare asset to Haiti that his services were often needed by many of the country's presidential candidates, too. We are saddened by his unexpected departure from this world. We offer our condolences to his family, including his wife Elizabeth D. Delatour and five children.

Leftist Aristide welcomes the Bush's presidency with 57 boat-people If the idea of creating 500,000 jobs over the next five years, as leftist and fraudulent Haitian president-elect, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, said he will not long ago could ever be sold to Haitians, the 57 Haitian boat-people who were repatriated Tuesday to Haiti by U.S. Coast Guard officers, however, seemed they would not buy it all. The 35-foot flimsy sailboat, with 49 men and 8 women on board, with Miami as its final destination, was intercepted Saturday by U.S. Coast 11 miles south of the Bahamian island of Great Inagua. The 57 Haitian boat-people attempted to enter the U.S. illegally less than eight days (January 18th) since Miami U.S. Customs agents found more than 400 pounds of cocaine, with a street market value of more than US$2 million, abroad a Haitian freighter. Though the year 2001 is still in its infancy, however, the latest freighter, coming from Haiti, including its cocaine cargo, was the fifth one seized by U.S. Customs Agents as off January 18th.

Updated at 9:15 p.m., Saturday, January 20, 2001 Mysterious bombs explode in Haiti; many say leftist Aristide and government plant bombs Approximately three weeks before leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide is to again but this time fraudulently assume the presidency of his Lavalas Family party-impoverished Haiti the country endured Friday a day of mysterious bombings. Two bombs but one in downtown Port-au-Prince destroyed a truck and seriously injured one man. While a third bomb in a suburban open-air market caused no injuries after it exploded but a fourth bomb planted near a public high school went off and injured one person. "We now have evidence implicating the opposition in yesterday's bombing," said Saturday de facto Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis. The opposition, which immediately rejected the accusations and accused leftist Aristide of being the one to have planted the bombs by proxy rather said "we are peaceful and democratic. We are not involved in violence." The latest series of mysterious bombings seemed to increase tension, a sentiment reflected on the streets of the Port-au-Prince trash-filled capital city. For many Haitians, Friday's bombings had the air of state terrorism, punctuated by Aristide's plans, including his political godson, outgoing President Rene Preval's, to destroy the opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, which plans to install a government on 7th February, the very exact same day that the chief bandit says he will proclaim himself "monarch." One young college educated Haitian man interviewed Friday on a separate basis for this story worried so much about the future of Haiti that he felt the time may soon come for him to commit suicide. Asked what monarch Aristide might mean for Haiti's future, the Haitian man who requested anonymity said: " I'm not a politician. If the U.S. does not arrest Aristide and cohorts for drug trafficking his legacy of the dictatorship of the proletariat will be so pronounced in the months to come, meaning more of my fellow Haitian compatriots will be burned alive, as others experience more poverty of an abject sort."

Haitian opposition leader Sauveur Pierre Etienne was summoned Thursday to appear in court Wednesday, said a summons received yesterday from Haiti's Kangaroo court. According to the order to appear in court, Mr. Etienne who has written two books, has been accused by many, meaning leftist Aristide's bandits, of making threats against citizens. Responding to journalists' questions Thursday, Etienne said "Nothing is new, all the government is doing is using the court to silence critics." Added Atty. Reynold Georges, another opposition leader and member of a 15-party coalition, which plans to install a parallel government on 17th February, "As a true democrat he will appear in court." And, Aristide's bandits nearly lynched Thursday Evans Paul, an opposition leader, too, as he was leaving a funeral service in the Port-au-Prince surbub of Petionville.

Haitian opposition to pronounce itself on the formation of a provisional government of consensus Haiti's opposition, better known as CONVERGENGE DEMOCRATIQUE, a 15-party coalition, announced Thursday in a press release that it will convene on 27th January, at 10 a.m., at Port-au-Prince's Rex Theater, to pronounce itself on the formation of a provisional government of consensus. Representatives from all of Haiti's geographic departments (9) will be in attendance, said Haiti's opposition. Members of the international community and the newsmedia from the world over as well are invited to this grand noble and patriotic event during which the Haitian people will make important political decisions, said Haiti's opposition. The Patriotic Mouvement for the National Salvage itself (Le Mouvement Patriotique Pour le Sauvetage National), a CONVERGENCE DEMOCRATIQUE member, invited all supporters, including those residing in and outside of Haiti. It urged supporters who cannot be in attendance to, at least, send a message of support. It also urged members of Haiti's social classes, including peasants and urbanites, to land a strong hand to the Haitian opposition so this event can be a success. To take lecture of Haiti's opposition press release in its entirety, refer to French Forum.

Kabila to be buried Tuesday Democratic Republic of Congo government spokesperson, Dominique Sakombi, confirmed today the death of President Laurent-Desire Kabila. He will be buried Tuesday after the body is flown back to Congo from Zimbabwe, said Thursday a government official who asked that his name not be printed. And, the government of Zimbabwe said Thursday Kabila expired while he was being transported by plane to Zimbabwe after he was shot twice early Tuesday by Vice-Minister of Defense, Dieudonne Kayembe, who was later shot dead.

Haitian opposition replies to leftist Aristide's 12th January letter If the name "Aristide" were in the dictionary, it would describe Haitian male, Haitian leftist totalitarian dictator who rather shares his impoverished nation of Haiti than share power with the opposition. And, so would the name Aristide describes former leftist Haitian President who have assassinated an exorbitant number of his fellow citizens, too. This past year, leftist Aristide, along with his political godson, outgoing Haitian President, Rene Preval, held a series of largely fraudulent elections, favoring only Aristide's Lavalas Family party's candidates.Until recently, Aristide was still defending the elections' results, which he claimed were not fictive at all, as the Haitian opposition and members of the international community said. But it was only after the Haitian opposition made its intentions known that it would install a parallel government on 7th February, the very exact same day that leftist Aristide is to again fraudulently sworn-in as President, that he finally wrote the said opposition, better known as Convergence Democratique, a 15-party coalition, asking for a dialogue. "In your 12th January letter to us asking for a dialogue you first wish us a happy new year. Sure do we want to return the same to you," said the opposition in a 17th January letter to leftist Aristide. "Your supporters continue to terrorize opponents, burn alive opponents and destroy anything that happens to be in their way. Still, you remain silent, even after they all claim to be members of your Lavalas Family party," further read the opposition's letter. Sure the opposition had a few more unpleasant words for leftist Aristide," as its 17th January letter (again, a reply) suggested. "We will only meet with you as head of your Lavalas Family party, but not as President-elect, as you claimed to be in your 12th January letter." "Such meeting, which you have asked for in your 12th January letter, can only be held at a neutral place, suggesting that we do not meet at your private residence, nor our party headquarters," said the opposition's letter. On a very last note, the opposition said in its January 17th letter to leftist Aristide "Since your record indicates that you are not a man who is capable of making good on your promises we will only meet with you in the presence of members of the international community and members of the Haitian civil society."

Democratic Republic of Congo Defense Minister calls for war with Uganda, Rwanda and Congo Brazzaville Democratic Republic of Congo Minister of Defense, Godefroid Tcham'lesso, confirmed Wednesday, while in Tripoli, Libya, President Laurent Desire Kabila had in fact succumbed to his wounds, resulting from two shots fired early Tuesday by the head of his personal guard, also a Vice Minister of Defense, Army Colonel Dieudonne Kayembe. Mr. Tcham'losso, who accused neighboring Uganda, Rwanda and Congo Brazzaville as the foreign nations to have organized the assassination plot, in which ferocious dictator Kabila found death, called upon his fellow Congolese citizens to be prepared to take revenge.

Democratic Republic of Congo self-proclaimed president, Laurent Kabila, shot dead by Vice-Minister of Defense Laurent- Desire Kabila, 61, who in the 1960s became a friend of the late Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the Argentinean-born revolutionary who was instrumental to the 1959 Cuban revolution that overthrew far-right dictator, Fulgencio Baptista, and in May 1997 self-proclaimed himself president of the then Zaire, was shot dead early Tuesday by his Vice-Minister of Defense, Colonel Dieudonne Kayembe, after the later was told that he was being dismissed from his post by the president, said an e-mail message received late Tuesday from the Republic of Congo's capital city of Kinshasa. Che distanced himself from Kabila because of his heavy drinking, womanizing and pronounced belief and black magic, according to many of his biographers. The e-mail's author, who pleaded with us that his name not be printed, further said that Kabila's son, Joseph, the army chief, was also shot by Colonel Kayembe while attempting to disarm him, as ordered by his father. Kabila was shot dead, said the e-mail message, one day before the 40th anniverversary of Patrice Lumumba, Congo's only legitimate president, who was assassinated by Mobutu Sese Seko after holding office for less than a year. Though Mobutu himself later became a ferocious dictator-for-life (32 years), only to be forced out of power by Kabila, in 1997, and later died in exile, many Haitian teachers still were being hired by his government to replace the Belgian'. Congo, a former personal possession of Belgium's King Leopold, is a country of 50 million belonging to more than 255 ethnic tribes. It is also Africa's third-largest country.

Leftist Aristide's bandits threatened to burn judges alive in Haiti If you are attorney who cares about your life and hope to have a new career, such as a judge, having the privilege or honor of being appointed a magistrate in Haiti, even if it pays ten million dollars a year, is not for you. But if you want to be powerless, having your life threatened by leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's bandits, sure working in the capacity of a judge in Haiti will be the most unintelligent thing for you to do. Paul Raymond, a leftist Aristide's bandit, who last week held a press conference and threatened to burn journalists, opposition leaders and officials of the Haitian Catholic Church alive, did not appear in court Monday in Haiti after he was summoned a few days ago by the court of the Caribbean country to do so. But in a scene reminiscent to the burning of the old Haitian cathedral by leftist Aristide's bandits, in 1991, a significant number of those same exact bandits held a violent protest Monday in front of the Court House, threatening to burn the building that housed it to the ground and judges alive if they again summon Raymond into court and not revoke a warrant issued for his arrest. Fearing for their lives, judges reportedly changed their minds about enforcing the summons and warrant. As usual, none of the leftist Aristide's bandits threatened to set the Court House building on fire and the lives of the judges was taken away in handcuffs.

It was only after Haiti's leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide killed an innumerable number of his fellow Haitian compatriots, held a series of largely fraudulent elections, including the Nov. 26th presidential election, which he claimed to win, that he finally asked the Haitian political opposition for a dialogue in a January 12th letter, which seemed was written, rather, by a fifth grade student. "I'm willing to meet with you so we may discuss the country's political problems and try to find a solution to those problems," said a letter sent late last week by Aristide to Haiti's opposition members. "We will only meet with Aristide as president of his Lavalas Family party, but not as President-elect, as his January 12th letter suggested," said Haiti's opposition, better known as Convergence Democratique, a 15-party coalition, which plans to install an alternative government on February 7th, the very exact same day that leftist Aristide is to again assume the presidency of the Western Hemisphere poorest nation that is Haiti. "If he accepts our conditions we will promptly tell him when and where such a meeting will take place," said Monday opposition spokesperson Reynold George. Meanwhile, opposition leaders Sunday called upon all Haitians to mobilize nationwide to prevent Aristide from fraudulently assume the presidency on Feb. 7th. "You must say 'NO' to Lavalas," a reference to Aristide's party, said opposition spokesperson Evans Paul. Added another opposition leader, Claude Roumain, "Our goal is to have as many Haitians as possible embrace our development program." Opposition leader Victor Benoit and KONAKOM political party's President had something to say, too. "Only after we install the provisional government that Haiti will return to constitutional order." * If you happen to be in Cambridge, MA. remember to go to Camie's Bakery and Restaurant (152 Colombia St., 617-661-4878) for your spicy Creole food. Sure you will return for more food and highly recommend it to friends.

Haiti's alternative provisional government program should inspire confidence and give Haitians unprecedented hope for a better quality of life For a people who leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide has lied to, killed in great numbers and defrauded for many years while he himself years ago went from wearing tattered polyester paints to Italian suits after he became a great many times a millionaire in a matter of months Haiti's alternative provisional government program should inspire confidence and give Haitians unprecedented hope for a better quality of life. Include in the long-overdue Haitian alternative provisional government program, which will be inaugurated on February 7th, are several issues of importance to the well-being of the country's estimated 8 million citizens, most of them now dirt poor. Sure those issues may be exceptionally difficult for leftist Aristide to comprehend since he himself never has a program. They range from public safety to general elections, to public and private sectors, to national production, to education, to restructuring the way the affairs of the state are conducted, to infrastructures, and briefing citizens on a consistent basis about the affairs of the state.

Leftist Aristide refuses to speak out against death threats made against journalists and others

Five days since Haitian journalists urged leftist and fraudulent Haitian president-elect Jean-Bertrand Aristide to personally speak out against death threats made against Haitian opposition political leaders, members of Haiti's civil society, and the hierarchy of the Haitian Catholic church, Tuesday, too, he has yet to do so. His continuing silence, say many Haitians and human rights organizations, helps explain that Kominote Ti Legliz Saint Jean Bosco, including its leader, Paul Raymond, which Tuesday held a press conference, promising to kill about 100 Haitians because they were all members of a soon-to-be alternative government, it said, was not only given the green light by Aristide to make its horrible plan public, but told exactly what to say in that press conference. This is not the first time leftist and chief bandit Aristide has refused to condemn violence perpetrated by his bandits, perhaps in fear that doing so will anger them and permanently end his political life after they go public against him. An April 25th joint statement issued by the National Coalition For Haiti's Rights, the Washington Office On Latin America, the Lawyers Committee For Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, the Center For International Policy, and the International Law Group, read as follows: "We are disturbed that Mr. Aristide personally has not used the considerable moral force and political goodwill that he still enjoys in Haiti to condemn violence." Leftist Aristide never personally or through his spokesperson, Yvon Neptune, pronounced himself on the issue of violence, condoning it, as the just mentioned human rights parties wished.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to decide whether long-time legal immigrants to the United States can be deported without legal recourse if they had committed a serious crime in the past. A ruling on the issue is due by summer and could affect several thousand pending cases, including hundreds of cases in Southern Massachusetts. In 1996, Congress, newly under Republican control, sought to crack down on immigrants - including those who were in the United States legally - by restricting government benefits and making it easier to deport those who commit crimes. Immigrants who committed aggravated felonies, such as drug dealing, forfeited their right to live in the United States, congressional leaders said. Such criminals should not be allowed to tie up the courts with years of legal claims, they added. The new law closed the courthouse door to those who wanted to challenge their forced removal from the United States. "Any final (immigration and Naturalization Service) order of deportation against any alien who is deportable by reason of having committed a criminal offense ... shall not be subject to review by any court," it said. Immigrants rights lawyers have been fighting this so-called "court stripping" provision and have been winning in many parts of the nation. They also say that it is unfair to apply this harsh, new automatic deportation rule to persons who pleaded guilty to crimes before the provision became law. Before 1996, a long-time legal resident who was not a U.S. citizen could be deported for committing a crime. However, many such persons obtained leniency if they could show the INS that, for example, they had a job and a family in the United States and had lived here productively for years. But the 1996 law canceled the authority of the INS to grant these so-called "waiver' of deportation for "criminal aliens." In Southeastern, the law change has resulted in hundreds of legal immigrants being deported since 1996, mainly to the Portuguese mid-Atlantic islands of the Azores. Now, the supreme Court will consider whether these legal immigrants can even go to court to challenge the unfairness of applying the new law retroactively to them. "This is a fundamental issue of whether the INS can act as judge, jury and executioner, so to speak, in an immigration case," said Lucas Guttentag, an attorney for the Immigrants Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. He argued that the Constitution gives all persons a right to go to court and ask a judge to hear their claims. Most lower courts have agreed, including the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California. its judges said that all persons can ask for a judge's help by filing a writ of habeas corpus. Appealing to the supreme Court, lawyers for the INS said that allowing judges to hear these claims "could lead to significant delays in the removal of criminal aliens from the United.' They argued in essence that Congress sets the rules in the area of immigration and that judges have no inherent power to change those rules. In one case, a Haitian man, Enrico St. Cyr, was lawfully admitted to the United States in 1996 but was convicted of selling a hallucinogen early in 1996. In a second case, Deb Calcano-Martinez, a Dominican native, had been in the United States legally since she was 3 years old and is the mother of four children. She pleaded guilty in a New York court to selling an illegal drug, also early in 1996. In both cases, the U.S. court of appeals in New York said they can go before a federal trial judge to argue that it is unfair to apply the new automatic deportation rule to them. In April, the Supreme Court will hear the cases (INS vs. St. Cyr, 00-767, and Calcano-Martinez vs. INS, 00-1011. WeHaitians' notes: We republished this Los Angeles Times' article in its entirety (published on 13 January, 2000) because on many occasions we receive a multitude of E-mails about the 1996 Immigration Law from our visitors.

After a murder trial that lasted about four days in the provincial city of Les Cayes, a 14-member jury found today a French national, Guy Cordier, 42, not guilty of the murder of his wife, Chantal Cordier, 44, whose body was found in June at the base of a cliff on the southwestern Island of L'Ile a Vache, about 100 miles of the capital city of Port-au-Prince. For more details, read related story below.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE

11 January 2001

Haiti: Amnesty International urges immediate response to threats of political violence. "Threats of political violence must cease," Amnesty International said today calling on the Haitian authorities to act quickly to curb threatened attacks against opposition figures and journalists. On 9 January representatives of popular organizations claming to support the dominant Fanmi Lavalas party issued threats of physical violence against members of opposition parties and journalists during a press conference in the Saint Jean Bosco church in Port-au-Prince. In issuing the threats, the speakers referred to a list of public figures reportedly opposed to the upcoming inauguration on 7 February of president-elect Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Fanmi Lavalas. The list is said to contain up to one hundred names, including some opposition politicians who have announced plans to form a "shadow government" following the inauguration. Journalists and religious leaders were also reportedly named. During the press conference, the speakers warned the individuals concerned to change their position within three days or face violence. Amnesty International is deeply concerned at these overt calls by self-described political partisans for violence against opposition members, journalists and others. Amnesty International reminds the Haitian authorities of their obligation to safeguard the freedom of expression, assembly and association laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international treaties, as well as in Haitian law. Further, the organization calls on the authorities to take steps to curb threatened violence by all political sectors, and to afford special protection for those affected by the threats. Some popular organization members were implicated in acts of violence and intimidation in the period leading up to the May parliamentary and November presidential elections. Amnesty International once again urges the Fanmi Lavalas party and its leaders to publicly condemn acts of intimidation and violence committed in the party's name, and calls on all parties and political figures to assist the authorities in establishing a climate in which fundamental freedoms are respected.

GILMAN, GOSS, REPUDIATE LAVALAS THREATS, EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR HAITIAN OPPOSITION WASHINGTON (Jan.10)) - U.S. Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman (20th-BY), a senior member of the House International Relations Committee, and U.S. Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following joint statement today to repudiate threats made by violent elements linked to Mr. Jean Bertrand Aristide: "The threats made yesterday by the leaders of the so-called 'Young People's Power Organization' (JPP) against prominent journalists, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, civil society and opposition political leaders are unacceptable. The long list of political assassinations in Haiti is proof enough to believe that these are not idle threats. 'In speaking at the church of Saint Jean Bosco, the men issuing these threats clearly suggested to Haitians that they were speaking for Mr. Jean Bertrand Arisitide. Instead of keeping his promises to President Clinton, Mr. Aristide is condoning by his silence thuggish acts of violence in his name. Haiti's 1987 Constitution explicitly guarantees freedom of expression and of assembly. Haiti's journalists, opposition leaders and civil and religious leaders have courageously sought to peacefully exercise these basic democratic rights. They deserve our support. "The government of Haiti and the National Police are responsible for insuring that fundamental human rights are protected. The responsibility for preventing the violence that is being threatened lies squarely on the shoulders of President Rene Preval and the government of Haiti.

Leftist and chief bandit Aristide tells Haitian journalists and opposition leaders they have three days to live; some are to be killed on U.S. soil Less than a week after Haiti's de facto Premier, Jacques Edouard Alexis, promised to kill Haitian opposition leaders who have vowed to install an alternative government on February 7th, the same day leftist and chief bandit Jean-Bertrand Aristide is to again assume the presidency of the dirt poor Caribbean nation after he was elected in a Nov. 26th sham election, Kominote Ti Legliz Saint Jean Bosco (Saint John Bosco Little Church Committee), an Aristide political organization, Tuesday held a press conference during which the names of those presumed to be enemies of the fraudulently president-elect were repeatedly read aloud. "Those people, those anti-Haiti, those anti-Aristide, those CIA agents are preparing a coup against Aristide, and we will kill them all, we will necklace them all," said Kominote Ti Legliz members, which included Paul Raymond, the group's leader. "Their blood will be used as ink, and their skulls as inkwells so we may write our second independence Act," said Kominote Ti Legliz members. "Lilianne Pierre-Paul," a prominent Haitian journalist and part owner of Haiti's Radio Quisquya, "has three days to tell us why she continues to plot against Aristide, and what her name is doing on the list" (a mysterious list) "of an alternative government prospective officials. She better not let the deadline past, and if she does we will kill her," said Kominote Ti Legliz members. "Those living in the U.S., including Raymond Alcide Joseph, Yves A. Isidor and Gregoire Eugene," said Kominote Ti Legliz members, will be killed there.We have to wipe them all out for good, regardless where they are." And, the names of those to be killed in Haiti were so numerous that we can only cite those of Evans Paul, Gerard Gourge, Volvick Remy, Sauveur Pierre Etienne, Robert Malval, Marc L. Bazin, Hubert de Ronceray, Reynold Georges, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, Gerard Pierre Charles, Serge Gilles, Tuneb Delpe, and Victor Benoit.

The Catholic Church was a target, too. The names of Bishop Francois Gayot and others figured on the list of those to be killed. Kominote Ti Legliz members ended their press conference with the words "Aristide or death, down with the CIA, long live Aristide." The latest threat came less than a year after prominent Haitian journalist, Jean Leopold Dominique, was gunned down in the front yard of his radio station after receiving death threats weeks earlier for criticizing government officials and those close to Aristide in a radio editorial.

Our spokesperson, Prof. Yves A. Isidor, invited An invitation, postmarked January 4, 2001, received from the prestigious Global Security Institute, prominent among its senior members are Maya Angelou, many former senior U.S. government officials and other Western countries former government officials as well, by our prominent spokesperson, Prof. Yves A. Isidor, reads as follows: To: Dr. Yves Isidor, Spokesperson, We Haitians United We Stand For Democracy, 151 Cherry Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. The Family of Alan MacGregor Cranston (1914-2000) Invites You to A Memorial Celebration of His Life, January 16, 2001, 3:00 PM, Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street, San Francisco, Reception to Follow at the Fairmont Hotel

A French man on trial in Haiti Guy Cordier, 42, of Grenoble, France, was brought to court in handcuffs Monday in Haiti's provincial city of Les Cayes to stand trial for the murder of his wife Chantal Cordier, 44, who was found dead in June at the base of a cliff on the Island of L'ile a Vaches, about 100 miles and southwestern of Haiti's capital city of Port-au-Prince. Mr. Cordier, a mechanic, who has been jailed since the death of his wife, was not long ago transferred from Les Cayes' main jail to Port-au-Prince's L'Hopital Francais (French Hospital) for medical reasons. Mr. Cordier's wife reportedly suffered from chronic mental depression, and two letters of her intention to commit suicide were found at her residence after she apparently took her on life. Mr. Cordier and his two young daughters settled in L'Ile a Vache after his sail boat was destroyed by residents who mistook it for a Colombian drug boat last June. He later found employment there. In the court house were Haiti's French Consul, Paul Fonsat, and an exorbitant number of French expatriates to show support for Mr.Cordier. So were many Haitians, who not long ago formed a Cordier's support committee, in the court house, too. "'I'm innocent," Mr. Cordier told presiding judge, Jean Fougere Jean-Louis. Mr. Cordier is being defended by Les Cayes-based attorney, Nerva Cassion, and Grenoble attorney, Jean-Pierre Joseph. The murder trial, which started Monday, will last about four days, and the fate of Mr.Cordier is to be decided by a 14-member jury. However, no words yet as to when leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide and cohorts will face the bar of justice and a jury to decide their fates for killing thousands of their fellow Haitian compatriots, including prominent atty. Mireille Durocher Bertin, in 1995.

U.S. Customs seize $2 million abroad Haiti-bound freighter Selling drugs can be a risky business. You can spend the rest of your life behind bars after being caught by authorities and the proceeds and or illicit goods seized. $2 million dollars, concealed inside canisters and boxes, allegedly drug proceeds, were seized Thursday by U.S. Customs after agents boarded and searched a Haiti-bound freighter, the KLAAS I.

Longtime Miami Haitian community activist shown the door It is not unusual for an employee to be fired from his job, especially after his boss receives an exorbitant number of complaints about his performance. Roger Biamby, 53, a veteran Haitian Miami community activist, who three years ago became administrator of one of Miami's neighborhood mini-city halls, overseeing 10 employees, lost his $52,000-year job last week after he was shown the door by that city manager, Carlos Gimenez. Biamby was the next day replaced by Lumane Pluviose-Claude, a Haitian-American who not long ago was a program and resource associate for community director development at Cornell University.

Leftist Aristide to give up on ten senators Ten senators, all members of Aristide's Lavalas Family party, may soon call themselves "former senators." "I can only say 'yes-no' about the latest information relative to the permanent departure of ten senators from parliament," said Thursday Aristide's party spokesperson, Yvon Neptune. The news about the prospective permanent departure from parliament of leftist Aristide's Lavalas party senators came after the former president sent a Dec. 27th letter to U.S. President Clinton in which he said that he was committed to a broad range of government and political reforms, including ten senators, who were fraudulently elected in a May election. And, that letter was sent to President Clinton after the opposition vowed to install an alternative government on February 7th, the day when Aristide himself is to again assume the presidency after he was fraudulently elected in a Nov. 26th election, which was boycotted by all opposition parties. Rideau Joseph Boyer, a deputy representing the provincial city of Saint-Marc in parliament, said Thursday "I am ready to pack my bags and live parliament permanently in an effort to, hopefully, help put an end to the long-disputed May elections." Medard Joseph, a senator from the provincial city of Gonaives, however, said Thursday "Aristide has no constitutional grounds to have a senator resign from his parliamentary seat."

Haitians overwhelmingly say "yes" to an alternative government; leftist Haitian government threats opposition leaders More than 800 Haitians and foreigners, including church officials of all denominations, prominent Prof. and atty. Gerard Gourges, a former senior member of the 1986 National Provisional Council of Government, were in attendance at Wednesday's Convergence Democratique, a 15-party alliance, Forum to develop an alternative national government, in Haiti. "The objective of this patriotic and noble movement is to save Haiti from anarchy, from terrorism, from corruption, from a small group of people that continues to pillage the public treasury while the majority of citizens live in absolute poverty, from a small group of people, though those people hold illegal power, still want to impose themselves on the majority of citizens, who, on Nov. 26th, rejected them all and dictatorship," said Convergence Democratique leaders in opening statements. As the meeting, a challenge without precedent to leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Nov. 26th extremely fraudulent election as Haiti's next president, in addition to the previously held largely fraudulent elections, progressed, Covergence Democratique leaders said they will first write a platform for a provisional national government and then organize fair and free national general elections. So satisfied were participants about what they heard many responded to Convergence Democratique's call to struggle against what it called Aristide and cronies "a small group of profiteers." The leftist Haitian government of Rene Preval, notorious for politically motivated assassinations and anti-U.S. and Whites rhetoric, as was Aristide's, and now Aristide himself, threatened Convergence Democratique's leaders' lives. "Those guys are a bunch of lunatics. I know they have been receiving money from foreign countries. Many of them now have security at home, and it is paid by foreign countries. I'm warning them. Together with the popular organizations I will deal with them. All they are doing is preparing a coup d'etat, and I will not allow them to overthrow the government. I will not be responsible for whatever happens to them," said Wednesday de facto Premier Jacques Edouard Alexis, who sounded a lot like the former Ugandan butcher, Idi Amin Dada, telling his political enemies "If you don't stop plotting against me I will hack you to death, cook your bodies, and eat them all." And leftist Preval himself, an Aristide's political godson, said Tuesday the opposition's plan was synonymous with "political madness." Added Preval, "Sure the opposition's coup resembles that of Lafontant." Lafontant, a former Tontons Macoutes (senior dictator Duvalier's secret police) supreme chief, attempted a coup in January, 1991, in an effort to prevent leftist Aristide from assuming the presidency. He was later arrested only to be shot to death months afterward on the order of Aristide.

Posted at 9:12 p.m., Tuesday, January 2, 2001 Haiti's voodoo priestess (mambo) may soon find herself out of favor after she fails to have her boss dream come true Vil Cleopatra is said to have bathed in asses' milk to stay young and beautiful, but did not live long enough to find out if it worked in old age. Years before the snake bite that is said to have killed the queen of Egypt, she was the mistress of Julius Caesar, the emperor of ancient Rome. Cleopatra aligned herself with Mark Anthony and bore his children after Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C. Cloepatra, the lady of many men, noted for her beauty and charisma, along with her lover, Anthony, whose chief rival was Octavius and who later became the emperor Augustus, were defeated at the battle of Actium, according to many historians. More than 2000 years later, history again repeated itself, not in Egypt, but this time in Haiti, where human blood, in lieu of asses's milk, was used. The purpose of bathing in so was far from staying young and beautiful because the party in question is not a well looking man at all. And because he looks more like a boy than a man, though he is now in his late late 40s, he is often thought to have suffered from extreme malnutrition in the very first years of his life. Haiti's leftist dictator, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who claims to be a prophet, reportedly was bathed last month in the blood of a dead Haitian man by voodoo priestess So An or Marie-Anne Auguste, and this, was in an effort to help U.S. Vice-President Albert Gore win the Nov. 7th presidential election over then Texas Governor George W. Bush, said Monday a clearly agitated and disappointed member of Aristide's Lavalas Family party who spoke to us on the condition that his name not be printed. Now that president-elect Bush is about to assume the U.S. presidency after he not long ago emerged as the president-elect, voodoo priestess An or Auguste, a prominent member of Aristide's Lavalas Family party, who after bathing Aristide told other anxious party members, too, the office of the presidency would go to Vice-President Gore for the next four years and that Aristide will enjoy the support of the U.S. under a Gore administration, may soon loose her unofficial power and the privileges that come with it, said Monday the party member. What has Aristide since being thinking of a George W. Bush's presidency? It may help the Haitian opposition lock Haiti's White House doors, reinforced with iron bars, on February 7th, when he is to again officially assume the presidency of that country after he was fraudulently elected president on Nov. 26th, said the party member. In attempt to reach to the soon-to-be Bush Administration, leftist Aristide told outgoing U.S. President Bill Clinton in a Dec. 27th letter that he was committed to broad range of government and political reforms, including strengthening democratic institutions with a semi-permanent commission of the Organization of American States and through international monitoring of human rights. The list of promises made by Aristide to U.S. President Clinton, whose days in the White House are now numbered, in his Dec. 27th letter was so long that it could easily pass for a list of presents that a Haiti's Haitian preferred son wanted his mother to purchase for him for Christmas since he did not expect a visit from Saint Nicholas, who was born in Bakara, but now Turkey. Aristide said he will enhance drug enforcement cooperation between Haiti and the U.S., that will allow U.S. Coast Guard chasing suspected drug boats to enter Haitian waters and arrest traffickers. However, no promise was made about turning a few imposter Senators, including Danny Toussaint, Florel Celestin and Joseph Medard, over to U.S. authorities so they can be prosecuted for helping turning Haiti into a narcotics state. Nor did he promise to turn himself in to U.S. authorities for prosecution since he continues to be accused of possessing millions of narco-dollars. Haitian immigrants, now living in the U.S., without proper documents (i.e., a valid visa, a green card) should be deported to Haiti, and he will welcome them, further read Aristide's letter. In the meantime, as life is becoming harder in Haiti for Haitians citizens continue to flee in great numbers the Caribbean nation for Florida in search of economic opportunities, in search of political freedom.166 Haitian boat people were repatriated to Haiti Wednesday, three days after their 60-foot (18-metre) flimsy boat was intercepted by U.S. Coast Guard, as it was taking in water, 40 miles north of Haiti. And, imagine you are elected Senator. Yet you are sworn-in a few weeks afterward and start making financial plans for the number of years that you will spend in parliament. Unfortunately, after a few months in the legislature, you learn through the newsmedia that a fraudulently leftist president-elect, a deranged man who is said to eat the drug lithium for breakfast, and whose party of which you are a member, sends a letter, dated Dec. 27th, to U.S. President Bill Clinton promising him that there will be a runoff for your parliamentary seat. That, in fact, is now the predicament of 10 Haitian Senators who were fraudulently elected in the May 21st elections. However, no mention of the November 26th presidential charade, which leftist Aristide claimed to overwhelmingly win, was made in that letter. Also read leftist Aristide's letter to U.S. President Clinton was a promise to establish a credible electoral council. All that explains results for a series of elections, including those for the Nov. 26 presidential election, cannot be accepted by the majority of Haitians and the international community, and Aristide and cohorts should extend an apology for repeatedly deceiving them all, for repeatedly orchestrating what the Haitian opposition continues to call "an incalculable number of Stalisnist-like grand frauds" in the poorest nation of the Western Hemisphere that is Haiti. Sure there were reactions to Aristide's promise to professionalize the police and the judiciary, too. "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 administration," said U.S. House of International Relations Chairman Benjamin Gilman (R-NY) in a December 29th press release. Earlier December, Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), Reps. Porter Goss (R-FL) and Benjamin Gilman (R-NY), issued a joint press release strongly criticizing the Nov. 26th presidential election. "Haitian President Rene Preval and his one-party electoral commission organized a sham election with the sole purpose of delivering absolute control over Haiti's government to Mr. Jean-Bertrand Aristide." " The United States must also make it clear that Jean-Bertrand Aristide is not fit to joint the democratically elected leaders at the Summit of Americas in April 2001." And, a December 28th statement issued by the White House Press Secretary read as follows: "Last week, Special Envoy Tony Lake led a delegation to Port-au-Prince to meet with President Preval and President-elect Aristide and Haitian opposition leaders. During a series of meetings, President-elect Aristide committed to rectify the problems associated with the May 21st elections, create a credible electoral council, enhance counter-drug cooperation, professionalize the police force and judiciary, strengthen democratic institutions and protect human rights, install a broad-based government, initiate a new agreement for the repatriation of illegal migrants. He has written to the President confirming his commitment to these significant steps. Their implementation can mark a new beginning for Haiti's democratic future." "Sure the events of last month suggests that it was not a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for Haiti's leftist and chief bandit Jean-Bertrand Aristide, including so-called outgoing President Preval who seems to be always inebriated, at all," said Tuesday a Haitian opposition leader. Added another opposition leader, "may be Aristide should try his luck with a voodoo priest, too... too bad!" Joseph Felix, in Haiti, contributed to this article.

Haiti's leftist President blames Whites for the country's problems Haiti's leftist President Rene Preval who the bar of competence is set so low for and that it is basically lying on the ground said Monday in a New Year's day speech, also Haiti's independence day, in the provincial city of Gonaives that whites were responsible for the country's multitude of problems. "They exploited us before independence [applause]." After a long pause, many in attendance though the leftist President was too drunk and as a result could no longer talk. However, to their surprise Preval resumed his speech and said "I know the Lavalas Regime" - a reference to his party, which he believes will continue to be in office over the next five years, with Jean-Bertrand Aristide as head of government - "will be squeezed by Whites ... you know what I mean [applause]. White exploited us after independence, and they are continuing to do so [applause].

Haitian opposition to meet Wednesday The Haitian opposition, which has vowed to increase demand for writers to write leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's political obituary when it installs an alternative government on February 7th said Tuesday it will meet Wednesday at Port-au-Prince's hotel Montana to begin developing such government. And, the leftist Haitian government, which is well known for burning an incalculable number of political opponents reiterated its threats Tuesday to make the opposition behave. Return to top of page.

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