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The death toll in Tuesday's bus crash near the town of Cavaillon, about 120 miles west of Haiti's capital city of Port-au-Prince, has risen to 41. We previously reported that 19 people, including three judges, were killed, but those were killed after the overcrowded bus traveling to Port-au-Prince from the provincial city of Les Cayes hit an abandoned truck and overturned.

U.S. Coast Guard tells 183 Haitian boat people you don't belong in the U.S. It was Haiti's dehumanizing poverty and radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's dictatorship that forced 183 Haitians to flee Haiti, hoping to illegally enter Florida. The boat people, whose 40-foot wooden sailboat was intercepted late Sunday morning by the U.S. Coast Guard, 25 miles west of Great Inagua, in the Bahamas, were all returned to Haiti Tuesday. "Aristide is not helping us. We are hungry. As long as there is no work in this country. As long as abject poverty continues to be the order of the day we will again try to go to Miami," many of the repatriated Haitians said Tuesday in the trash-filled, the environmental-treat capital city of Port-au-Prince.

U.S. Haiti's Ambassador tells radical leftist Aristide "no more burning of opponents alive" More than a week after radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide told supporters to burn alive alleged car thieves, for example, the U.S. Ambassador, Brian Dean Curran, in Haiti, Tuesday in an interview with private Radio Metropole ordered him to stop such barbaric practice. "For example, six people have since been burned alive. Three in the town of Cabaret and three in the city of Petit-Goave. You cannot replace illegality with illegality," said Ambassador Curran.

An overcrowded bus traveling to the capital city of Port-au-Prince from the provincial city of Les Cayes collided after hiting a parked truck and overturned near the town of Cavaillon, about 120 miles, west of Port-au-Prince, early Tuesday. At least 19 people, including three judges, were killed and several others badly injured.

11 Haitian migrants perish in Bahamian waters A flimsy boat with more than 90 Haitian migrants, including 68 men and eight women, on board capsized early on Sunday morning after hitting a reef and split in half off Rum Cay in the Bahamas. Eleven of the migrants who apparently were en route to the U.S. died, and three of the victims' bodies are believed to have been consumed by sharks since their 30-foot (nine-metre) boat went aground in shark-infested waters.

Radical leftist Aristide postpones setting up fraudulent electoral council as fired judges accuse de facto Justice Minister of behaving like a tyrant; many burn alive in Haiti Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who not long ago was ordered by the Organization of American States (O.A.S.) to form a new electoral council, replacing the current, but largely discredited one, because it held a series of fraudulent elections last year, Monday postponed the formation of the new electoral body, hopping that members of the democratic opposition will agree to be represented on the new board. But members of the democratic opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, which continues to call for new, but general elections, seem to have turned a dead ear to radical leftist Aristide's offer to join the new electoral board. Many Haitians are convinced that the tyrant will have problems holding new elections for seven senate seats, which his Lavalas Family Party claimed to have won last year. In another development, two judges, including Jean Senat Fleury who first was assigned a prominent radio journalist murder case, were dismissed from their jobs Tuesday by Haiti's de facto Justice Minister Gary Lissade, who accused the former judges of demanding $1 million from drug dealers in exchange for their freedom. The fired judges, who took to the airwaves Tuesday, accused Lissade of behaving like a dictator, a corrupt man, and they also said no one can dismiss them from their posts and they still consider themselves as judges. Reynold Georges, a prominent attorney for the kidnapped former brutal Haitian military dictator Prosper Avril, who continues to languish in a jail cell since he was kidnapped last month by six radical leftist Aristide's hooded Lavalas police or bandits while he was signing his new book, "The Black Book of Insecurity," in the upper-class Port-au-Prince suburb of Petion-Ville, sided with the judges who now figure among the estimated 85% Haitians who are either unemployed or underemployed. "Before Lissade can say he fires a judge for soliciting money from drug dealers in exchange for their liberty first he has to take out of the circulation Dany Toussaint," said Georges Tuesday. Toussaint is a well known drug Baron and members of radical leftist Aristide's Lavalas Party. He has been named in a sealed indictment for the brutal murder of prominent radio journalist, Jean Leopold Dominique, who was shot to death in the early morning of April 3, 2000. Claudy Gassant, the judge in the case, fled Haiti nearly two weeks ago after learning that Toussaint convened a meeting late June 6 and ordered his assassins to kill him. Gassant, who returned to Haiti Monday, has indicated the murder case is too complex for him, and he has no intention of continuing with it, suggesting that Toussaint, who claims parliamentary immunity, will continue to kill. Also, since last Wednesday, when radical leftist Aristide urged supporters to burn alive, to hack to death citizens said to be car thieves, for example, more than 50 Haitians have been hacked to death, sprayed with gasoline and then burn alive in many provincial cities, which include Petit-Goave.

Freedom Network

New YORK - In ranging endorsement of "justice for all," the U.S. Supreme Court today affirmed the right of legal immigrants to have their cases reviewed by a court before facing deportation and said that a 1996 law making deportation automatic for an expanded group of immigrants could not applied retroactively. "Today's ruling preserves the fundamental principle that no matter who you are, you are entitled to your day in court under our system of justice," said Lucas Guttengag, Director of the ACLU's Immigrants Rights Projects, who argued the matter before the Justices in April. "In particular, this ruling ends the nightmare of thousands of immigrants families who were facing deportation of loved ones, in many cases for minor crimes that were committed many years ago and that did not even include jail time," he added. The case arose out of 1996 anti-immigrant laws that required the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to deport even lawful permanent residents who committed minor criminal offenses, many of which carried no jail time time and for which they had long ago paid their debt to society. In some cases, an immigrant may have pleaded guilty to a crime for which he was advised there would be no adverse immigration consequences. The Attorney General argued that the 1996 laws stripped federal courts of their powers to review such cases and said that the laws could be applied retroactively. In a 5-4 decision, the Court today rejected that view. Writing for the majority, justice John Paul Stevens said that legal immigrants who pleaded guilty under the old law "almost certainly relied" on their right to a court review in deciding whether to forgo their rights to a trial. The "elimination of any possibility of relief ... has an obvious and severe retroactive effect," he wrote. While the Supreme Court today acted to ameliorate some of the harshest elements of the 1996 ant-immigrant legislation, the ACLU said that Congress now needs to finish the job. "Today's decision rejects the Attorney General's harsh interpretation of the 1996 laws but does not address other equally harsh provisions that Congress should now reconsider," said Timothy Edgar, an ACLU Legislative Council. "These include mandatory detention of lawful permanent residents and restoring discretion to immigration judges for cases in the future," he added. The cases are Calcano-Martinez v. INS, No. 001011, and INS v St. Cyr, No. 00-767. An ACLU special feature on the immigration cases, including stories of the families affected, is online at htt://www.aclu.org/features/f042401a.html.

What else should you know about the U.S. Supreme Court ruling? St. Cyr's biography Enrico St. Cyr, 34, whose case (INS v St. Cyr, No. 00-767) became the vehicle for the high court's ruling, is a former Bridgeport, Conn. resident who was admitted to the United States from Haiti in 1986 as a lawful permanent resident alien. In 1996, he was arrested for selling $75 worth of cocaine. On March 8 of that year, he entered a guilty plea in state court to a charge of selling a controlled substance in violation of Connecticut law. He was then sentenced to five years in prison. Upon his release in 1999 from prison, where he earned a general equivalency diploma (GED), he was immediately taken out of the circulation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which on April 10, 1997 began deportation proceedings against him. He has since been a resident of the Hartford Correctional Center.

In addition to Lucas Guttentag, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Immigrants' Rights Project, who April argued before the Justices in favor of amending the 1996 immigration laws that went into effect in 1997, causing thousands of legal immigrants who had run afoul of the law, often in minor ways, such as shoplifting, to face certain deportation, was Springfield, MA. Attorney Michael More. Atty. More, who has a one-person law practice at 20 Mapple St., in Springfield, was hired by St. Cyr for his case after teaching a law course in the prison, where the defendant is still being held, for Asnuntuck Community College. The 1996 Immigration Laws One of the complex laws, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, specified a broad range of offenses for which immigrants would be ineligible to seek a waiver of deportation, a discretionary form of administrative relief that had frequently been granted to deportable aliens with ties in this country or with a minor offense marring an otherwise good record. Under the old immigration law more than half a waiver of deportation was granted to half of the people who applied. This law also restricted judicial review for aliens taken out of the circulation for various reasons. The second law, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, also complex. This law provided that no court shall have jurisdiction to review any final order of removal for aliens, including those who have been lawfully admitted into the U.S., who had committed any of various crimes in the United States.

Justices who rule that legal immigrants convicted of crimes under plea agreements before 1997 cannot be deported to their home countries without first appearing before an immigration judge

They were Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Bryer.

They were Justices Sandra Day O'Oconnor, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

INS agents nab alleged Haitian human rights abuser Carl Dorelien, a former Haitian Army colonel who is said to have participated in the 1991 military coup d'etat that sent radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile for more than three years was arrested Thursday in Port St. Lucie, Florida, where he has lived in exile since fleeing Haiti in 1994, when Aristide resumed the presidency of Haiti after more than 20,000 U.S. troops landed there, said U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman Rodney Germain. He has long been accused of gross human rights violations, and these during his tenure as a member of the military junta that governed Haiti by proxy in the early 1990s. Dorelien who won $3.2 million in the Florida state lottery in 1997 attempted to avoid arrest by sneaking out the back of his private residence, but unfortunately INS agents were there, too, waiting to grab him. He was then taken to Krome Detention Center in Miami-Dade County for deportation proceedings, said U.S. Miami immigration spokesperson Germain.

Radical leftist and grossly incompetent Aristide tells supporters to burn alleged bandits alive In democratic or civilized countries, the courts determine violations of the laws and order remedies or penalties for these violations. But not so in Haiti, where radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide long ago instituted the dictatorship of the proletariat. Such were the words of tyrant Aristide Wednesday when he visited a few police stations in the trash-filled capital city of Port-au-Prince in an effort to reduce Haiti's unacceptable crime rate, he said in an interview. "If someone forces a driver out of his or her car that means he or she is a criminal, a bandit. If someone is robbing someone else that means he or she is a criminal. There is no need for you to wait for the police to arrive and arrest him or her, which will then be followed by an appearance before a judge. Forget about it I say! Forget about it I say! He or she is guilty. All you have to do is burning him or her alive, kill him or her right on the spot." But what the grossly incompetent Artistide completely forgot or did not know is that, according to many Haitians, only reducing the country's estimated unemployment rate of 80 per cent, disarming his bandits, providing electricity for citizens more than one hour a day and educating his fellow Haitians about the effect or multiplying effect of crime, to name only these ones, will (hopefully) be the answer to this social problem that Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, started to experience shortly after he first assumed the presidency in 1991. Having nothing at all to do because he is so incompetent and visiting police stations or demagogy is far from being the answer. In fact, we learned Lavalas Police has executed only this month more than 300 hearsay Haitian criminals, and this on the order of radical leftist Aristide.

Man, his secretary on trial in New Orleans for newlywed wife's brutal murder in Haiti Even before Curtis Wharton, 38, a New Orleans insurance salesman, went to Haiti with his newlywed wife, 28-year-old Sheila Webb-Wharton, last January, he had something else on mind other than vacationing and looking for business opportunities in the Western Hemisphere poorest country. He would soon become a great many times a millionaire. But, that would only be possible first by plotting with his secretary Judy Nipper, 53, to have his wife brutally murdered in the crime infested Caribbean nation. After his wife body was found on a Haitian coastal road last January, Wharton told Haitian Lavalas Police that two armed motorcyclists forced him and his "bird of paradise," as he used to call his wife, according to people close to them, off the highway, then shot her before taking off in their rental vehicle. But in indictments unsealed not long ago by U.S. authorities, the charges against Wharton said he had a U.S. citizen (his wife) murdered on foreign soil four months after his marriage to her, but first considered faking her death, so he could in turn collect $2.8 million in life insurance policy. Nipper herself was accused of complicity. Wharton, who is now on trial in a New Orleans U.S. Federal Court, denies any involvement in the murder of his wife. So does Nipper who will be tried after Wharton, U.S. Judge Don Walter said Monday. Both will be incarcerated for life if they are found guilty by an eight-man, four-woman jury that was selected Tuesday by attorneys, but not before nearly 100 witnesses testify.

Judge who flees troubled Haiti for his life might return there to unseal indictments in prominent radio journalist murder case Nothing in Jean Leopold Dominique's journey in politics and journalism suggested that he would be assassinated under the regime of Rene Preval, which called itself a "democratic government." But Dominique who was arrested more than once by previous governments - which chief bandit Jean-Betrand Aristide and his political godson Preval called dictatorial, brutal and criminal - only to then be forced into exile was brutally murdered in the early morning of April 3, 2000 in the front yard of his Haiti-inter radio station in the trash-filled capital city of Port-au-Prince. Under pressure from international human rights groups, including Reporters Without Borders, judge Claudy Gassant, who last year was assigned the murder case after judge Jean Fleury Senat recused himself because of death threats, fled Haiti Saturday for his life after learning that a death contract was being put on his head by Dany Toussaint, a well known drug baron, a de facto Senator and one of those indicted. "I will return to Haiti from Miami to proceed with the complex murder case only if I am provided with full security," he told Haiti's de facto Justice Minister Gary Lissade Tuesday by telephone from his involuntary exile in Miami.

Radical leftist Aristide's Lavalas police or bandits murder opposition supporters A prominent member of Haiti's democratic opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, Evans Paul, also a former mayor of Port-au-Prince, Tuesday blasted radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide, accusing him of kidnapping many of his supporters. "The families of many of my supporters brought them food in jail and they were told by police to no longer count them as their sons, they are dead, go back home and give birth to other sons," Paul said in a radio interview.

Former Dominican Prime Minister says radical leftist Aristide does not want to help find a solution to Haiti's long political problem Dame Eugenia Charles, a former Prime Minister of Dominica, who arrived in Haiti Tuesday, accused radical leftist Aristide of having no interest at all in helping find a solution to the long Haitian political crisis, which began after a series of largely fraudulent elections were held last year, benefiting only his Lavalas Family Party. Many Haitians now call it the party of death. Added Prime Minister Charles, "All he, Aristide, is interested in is having international financial institutions resume their economic assistance to Haiti."

More than 50 hack to death, burn alive in Haiti; more than 200 houses burn to the ground there, too Fights between many groups of citizens, bandits - most of them armed with machetes and guns - over land and radical leftist de facto government officials trying to extort money from dirt poor citizens resulted in more than 50 deaths this week in the Port-au-Prince slums of Carrefour-Feuilles and Fort Mercredi. More than 200 houses, including huts, were burned to the ground. No one was arrested because police officers did not intervene, fearing for their lives.

Haitian judge flees home country for his life Fearing for his life after a contract to murder him was entered into between Dany Toussaint, a de facto Senator and senior member of radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Party, and some hit-men, Claudy Gassant, a Haitian judge investigating the April 3, 2000 brutal murder of prominent Haitian radio journalist Jean Leopold Dominique fled Haiti for Miami Saturday. Gassant submitted his letter of resignation to Haiti's de facto Minister of Justice Gary Lissade Wednesday, but he officially resigned Friday. One of the persons known to have been indicted for the murder of Dominique is Toussaint. Approximately two weeks ago, he was on three different occasions summoned to appear in the judge's courtroom. He refused to do so, claiming parliamentary immunity. For details, see article below.

Young Haitian man guns down in Miami's little Haiti section Dudley Francois, 20, could have become a lawyer, for example. But on Saturday one of the four black males who were in a blue Toyota automobile jumped out and shot him several times, suggesting that his parents could no longer dream of a proud son. According to Miami Police Lt. Bill Schwartz, Francois was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he died, from the front of a house, where he was standing when he was fatally shot, near the intersection of Northwest 59th Street and North Miami Ave in Little Haiti, Miami. "We have no clues as to what prompted the shooting. Anyone with relevant information should call police at 305-579-6420," said Lt. Schwartz.

Haitian immigrant denies role in robbery, murder Jean Joseph, a young Haitian immigrant told a Nashville, Tennessee jury Wednesday that he had not participated in the planning of a robbery that took the life of a businessman, Gholam Ali Soheilinia, who had sold him a car on the afternoon of Sept.10, 1999. On the afternoon of Sept.10, 1999, he agreed to give Deandre Sweeney and Lazarus Spencer, both 18, a ride home from Jere Baxter Alternative School, where he, too, was a student. Sweeney, a convicted car thief, then invited Phillip Howard White Jr., whom he met for the first time, Joseph told a jury in heavily accented English. As he was driving, but first to United Imports at 705 51st Ave. N., where he needed to make a car payment, there was a lot of talk, but he did not understand much of it. Joseph further told the jury that he even feared for his life, thinking that the three passengers in his car would rob him before he arrived at the car dealer. He knew nothing at all about the gun that White Jr. used to rob and shoot to death businessman Soheilinia on the afternoon of Sept.10, 1999. However, his two classmates contradicted his version of the the Sept.10, 1999 afternoon robbery and murder. "That's not true at all. He took an active role in planning the robbery. He was the person who provided the gun that Phillip Howard White Jr., used to rob and shoot to death Soheilinia." White and Joseph will automatically be confined for life in a penitentiary if a felony murder verdict is returned against them by the jury, which Judge Cheryl Blackburn Wednesday sent home for the night before Joseph could complete his testimony. He is due back on the witness stand Thursday at 10 a.m. In another development, the 1996 car theft and vandalism convictions of a Boston's Haitian man was reversed Monday by the Massachusetts Appeals Court, sending the case back to Somerville District Court, where the guilty verdicts were returned against Icarfens Hillaire who was then only 17. The Appeals Court ruled that Somerville District Court Judge Paul Hefferman failed to warn Hillaire, as required by state law, because he was not a citizen of the United States the consequences in the aftermath of his convictions could include deportation, denial of naturalization, and permanent exclusion from admission to the U.S. Hillaire, who emigrated to the U.S from Haiti at the age of 6, has been in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service pending the outcome of a new trial.

Posted at 2:59 a.m., Thursday, June 14, 2001 Fearing for his life, judge resigns from Haiti's prominent murder case Claudy Gassant who since last year has been the investigative judge in the murder case of prominent Haitian radio journalist Jean Leopold Dominique who was assassinated in the early morning of April 3, 2000 in the front yard of his Haiti-Inter Radio Station in the trash-filled capital city of Port-au-Prince Wednesday recused himself. "I am well aware of a plot to assassinate me simply for doing my job. My life comes first. My decision is irrevocable," Gassant wrote in a letter to Haiti's de facto Justice Minister Gary Lissade. Gassant became the second judge to be assigned the murder case after Jean Fleury Senat resigned last year because of death threats. Dominique, who was an official adviser to former President Rene Preval together formed a nationwide peasant movement. As a result many people close to radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide viewed Preval as a traitor. Dominique was perceived as a potential presidential candidate - a threat to Aristide - who behind the scene had been doing everything, including burning alive political opponents, so he could again assume the presidency of Haiti, which in fact he did on February 7, 2001, but fraudulently so.

Posted at 3:10 a.m., Wednesday, June 13, 2001 In Haiti, a plot to murder an investigative judge and de facto Senator as indictments are about to be unsealed Millions of citizens from the world over know Haiti, in addition for its dictatorship of the proletariat, presided by chief bandit Jean-Bertrand Aristide, as a place where a significant number of citizens, most of them opponents of radical leftist Aristide, have been murdered. Still, the government has never launched a serious investigation in an effort to bring those responsible for those murders before a court of law. But last year, for the first time ever things took a different turn. Under pressure from international human rights groups, including Reporters Without Borders, an inquiry headed by judge Jean Senat Fleury into Jean Leopold Dominique's death, a prominent Haitian radio journalist who was brutally murdered in the front yard of his Haiti-Inter Radio station in the early morning of April 3, 2000, was finally launched. As anticipated, it took judge Fleury, who could not enumerate the number of death threats he had received, a few months to involuntarily abandon the murder case. But today, the big challenge for judge Claudy Gassant, who has since been the investigative judge in the Dominique's murder investigation, is the publication of the indictments that have been returned against those presumed responsible for the prominent radio journalist's assassination. One of the indictments, we learned, has named Dany Toussaint, a de facto Senator, and whose attorneys Jean-Claude Nord and Gerard Georges, including former Duvalierist Serge Beaulieu, broadcast death threats against Dominique and his wife on the New York Radio Liberte on February 9, 2000, as the person who planned, including paying for the brutal murder of Dominique. Toussaint, who can only be arrested after his parliamentary immunity is lifted, was informed of so when he recently appeared in judge Gassant's courtroom, and has yet to return there, despite being summoned more than three times. The long awaited results of the murder investigation were not long ago communicated to de facto Haiti's Attorney, too. By law, if he needs additional information (complementary information) before they are published he must inform judge Gassant of so within five days from the time of reception. According to a reliable source, the seventy-page or so indictments against those presumed responsible for Dominique's murder say the killing was planned in the course of several meetings convened by Toussaint. The day of the murder, the bandits were lying in wait outside the radio station. There were seven of them: two gunmen and five accomplices who waited in three vehicles - a red Nissan Pathfinder in which the gunmen got away, a white Cherokee jeep and a small truck parked a little further away. Two of the vehicles, the Cherokee and the Nissan, had been stolen and already used to commit other crimes. The third vehicle was found burned-out. Toussaint, the assumed mastermind in Dominique's assassination has yet to be taken out of the circulation, But most of the other suspects who were paid by Toussaint to carry out his orders to kill Dominique, say the results of judge Gassant's murder investigation, have long lost their liberty. They have been questioned and one of them murdered while in detention. The gunman, Jamedy Millien, known as Ti Lou, who received $3,000 in cash from Toussaint, was arrested about 10 days after the crime. The second gunman, Jean Daniel (known as Gime), a brother of Ti Lou, who also received $3,000 in cash from Toussaint, was arrested a few weeks after the investigation began. Others who have been arrested in the killing include two policemen. Police Officer Ralph Leger who received $1,000 from Toussaint after the killing for a job well done, was taken out of the circulation in possession of the white Cherokee jeep. Philippe Markington, a notorious criminal and informer, may have yet to enter a penitentiary to begin serving his sentence for his direct role in Dominique's murder but sure had a few days after the killing told investigators what exactly happened in the early morning of April 3, 2000. "I have seen everything because I happened to be at the scene by chance." Jean Wilner Lalanne, another accomplice in the Dominique's murder who worked for a network handling stolen cars, was arrested on June 15, 2000. "Don't kill me. I am afraid of being murdered," he said several times after he was taken into custody by Lavalas Police. Lalanne, who was shot in the buttocks and thigh after his person was seized by Lavalas Police, died 13 days later during an operation to mend a broken thigh-bone, said government officials. But in what seems to be another unintelligently cover up, the orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Alix Charles, who performed the operation, said he died from a pulmonary embolism, but this, including the government's version, was not substantiated by the autopsy. Days later, his body mysteriously disappeared and its whereabouts is still unknown, even for investigative judge Gassant who immediately afterward opened an inquiry. All of the suspects named above are partners in crime with Ronald Camille, whose surname has long been changed to Cadaver, and this in tribute for killing an exorbitant number of innocent citizens - most of them assumed opponents of radical leftist Aristide. Cadaver is the head of several criminal organizations. Through those organizations, he controls networks of stolen automobiles and weapons in the capital city of Port-au-Prince port area. He also runs extortion rackets, from the port to the downtown iron market, known in Haitian Creole as Mache enba or downtown market. Both he and his brother Franco are prominent members of radical leftist Aristide's Lavalas Family Party, which many Haitians now call the party of death. Like the final scene in a movie, judge Gassant's murder investigation may end up costing him his own life, including that of de facto senator Prince Pierre Sonson. The latter has long been in support of Dominique's murder investigation. There is a reason to believe that there may soon be some tears for judge Gassant and de facto Senator Sonson. At a June 6, 2001 meeting, chaired by Toussaint at an undisclosed location in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, we learned from a person who spoke to us Tuesday on the condition of anonymity, a contract-to-murder was entered into. Based on the provisions of the said contract, the names of those to be killed as soon as possible (before the publication of the indictments) included those of judge Gassant and de facto Senator Sonson. At a news conference Tuesday, Toussaint, who many Haitians cannot wait to see in handcuffs, either for the murder of Dominique or narcotics trafficking, had many unpleasant words for judge Gassant. "I am not going to appear before that little judge again. He is not a judge. He has no moral character. What the hell does that little man think he is? He is nothing. I mean nothing." In another development, seven of the twelve Cubans who sought political asylum in Haiti last week are now in the Dominican Republic seeking so. The whereabouts of the other five are not known. Also, the Organization of American States (OAS) Assistant-Secretary General, Luigi Einaudi, will travel to Port-au-Prince Wednesday for a 48-hour visit.

Coast Guard seizes freighter from Haiti carrying 74 pounds of cocaine A 164-foot freighter, registered in La Paz, Bolivia, that left northern Haiti last week for cargo docks on the Miami River, was seized Thursday by U.S. Coast Guard 1 1/2 miles off the coast of Miami Beach after authorities of the agency of the same name found abroad the vessel 74 pounds of cocaine, with a wholesale value of $630,000.

De facto radical leftist Aristide kidnaps six for allegedly "plotting against state" Listening to news coming from Haiti these days, you often hear radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide kidnaps political opponents. Radical leftist Aristide sprays gasoline on political opponents and burns them alive. Often, the charges against the victims are "plotting against his de facto government." So true is that six Haitians, whose names have yet to be made public, were kidnapped Wednesday by Lavalas police or radical leftist Aristide's police in the Port-au-Prince Mariani section. "They were arrested on charges of planning to launch a bombing campaign, which would certainly cause many citizens to be badly injured or lose their lives," Lavalas Police spokesperson Jean-Dady Simeon said Thursday. "The materials we found were similar to those used in previous bombing campaigns," added Simeon who did not say where the materials were found. The latest victims of radical leftist Aristide's tyrannical rule are members of a little-known political party called the United Force for National Liberty.

An anticipated large demonstration against radical leftist Aristide in Haiti Friday Less than three days after radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide claimed total victory after the OAS 31st General Assembly, which was held in Costa Rica early this week, unintelligently approved his letter of proposals, many pro-Haiti's democratic opposition popular organizations said Thursday they will take to the streets Port-au-Prince Friday to protest his dictatorship of the proletariat. The popular organizations, which have vowed to send radical leftist Aristide and consort into permanent political retirement, blamed him for all social and economic problems that Haiti is continuing to experience. In another development, the Dominican Republic deported to Haiti this week a significant number of Haitians. "We don't care at all how many times the Dominican Republic forces us out of the country we will return there because Aristide has done nothing at all for us. We have no jobs. We have nothing at all. At least when we are in the Dominican Republic can hope that life is going to change for the better for us," said many of the deportees.

Cubans fleeing Castro's dictatorship seek political asylum in Haiti Twelve Cubans, including medical doctors and other professionals, fleeing Fidel Castro's dictatorship Wednesday sought political in troubled Haiti. The Cubans who were on their way to the United States arrived in Haiti Wednesday on a Haitian freighter that picked them out of the old Bahamas Channel on May 31 after their sailboat sank near Cay Labos, in the Bahamas, about 250 miles from the United States. "I am convinced that they all will be returned to Cuba, and after arriving there they will be subject to hours of interrogation and torture. Certainly, death is what awaiting them in Castro's prisons," said a Boston-based anti-Castro political activist who spoke to us Thursday on the condition that his name does not accompany his statement. There reasons to agree with the Boston-based anti-Castro political activist. Haiti re-established diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1996, more than 35 years after it voted to expel the latter country from the Organization of the American States (OAS). Also more than 35 years after brutal dictator Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier severed diplomatic relations with the communist country as a gesture of good will toward the United States. Former leftist Haitian President, Rene Preval, a radical leftist Jean-Betrand Aristide's political godson, is a good friend of Castro. He has since 1996 paid him many visits. He, his sister and many officials from his troubled government have sought medical care in Castro's Cuba. Many of his terrorists, including those of radical leftist Aristide, have reportedly been trained there. The 800 Cuban medical doctors and personnel or so who now provide basic medical care in many remote areas of Haiti while most Haitian medical doctors leave and work in the U.S. and Canada, for example, is another indication that the 12 Cuban asylum seekers who have since their arrival in Haiti been jailed in the Cap-Haitien police station pending an Aristide's de facto government decision on their asylum request will be returned to Cuba. Life has not been easy at all for many of the expatriate Haitian medical doctors. Because they have been unable to pass the U.S. and Canadian medical board examinations they have been forced to drive a taxi cab to earn a living, to earn some money to pay for the cost of their basic needs. Sometimes, life takes a turn for the worst for some of the Haitian medical doctors. They cannot afford to rent a simple apartment and as result are forced to sleep temporarily in friends or relatives' livingrooms who often wish that they were not their guests.

Haiti's democratic opposition says "NO" to radical leftist Aristide's deceptive election plan The approval Tuesday by the OAS 31st General Assembly in Costa Rica of a radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's offer to hold new, but parliamentary elections next year would be accepted by Haiti's democratic opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, only if he were not a pathological liar and that the last May elections were not clumsily fraudulent, causing all international donors and financial institutions to since refrain themselves from donating and lending, respectively, money to Haiti. Haiti's democratic opposition Tuesday rejected radical leftist Aristide's proposal to hold new elections, which many believe will be largely fraudulent, only for seven de facto Senators, and demanded that new elections, including presidential, be held. The opposition wants to be included in all negotiations to find a solution to the long political impasse. "We are waiting for Lavalas to agree to negotiate and not only with the international community, but also with us," opposition spokesperson Micha Gaillard said Tuesday. Included in radical leftist Aristide's letter of proposals was a promise to form a new electoral council to organize new elections. But minutes after it was said that his letter of proposals was approved by the OAS General Assembly the current, the troubled electoral council issued a press release, indicating that the campaign for new legislative elections has opened, effective Tuesday. Again, radical leftist Aristide has proven all he is capable of making are empty promises. No wonder why the opposition continues to call for new and general elections. In another development, Gabriel Fortune, a former Senator and member of the democratic opposition, regained his liberty Monday afternoon after two weeks spent in captivity. Former Haitian military dictator, Prosper Avril, who was kidnapped by six radical leftist Aristide's hooded and heavily armed thugs inside a restaurant in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petion-Ville while more than 50 them waited outside last Saturday has yet to regain his liberty. Avril was signing copies of his new book, "The Black Book of Insecurity," a compilation of all Haitians murdered by radical leftist Aristide, when he was kidnapped. As has been the case for many tyrant Aristide's opponents before him, he was accused of plotting against his de facto government.

OEA/Ser.P

June 3, 2001

AG/doc.260/01

San Jose, Costa Rica

June 2001

LETTER FROM H.E. JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF HAITI

TO H.E. ROBERTO ROJAS

MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND WORSHIP OF

COSTA RICA

Dear Minister Rojas, I wish to extend to you and all members of the XXXI General Assembly of the Organization of American States my personal greetings and to submit to you a special message and request of utmost importance. I would like to thank everyone involved in making possible the Joint Organization of American States and Caribbean Community Mission headed by Secretary General Cesar Gaviria and Dame Eugenia Charles. My interactions with them throughout this mission have been fruitful and encouraging. The current political impasse in Haiti has had the effect of impeding the development of the country and muted my fellow citizens' hope for a more prosperous future. It is my fervent wish that with the assistance of the international community, Haiti will soon emerge from this difficult moment and move forward toward economic and social progress. With a view toward an end to the impasse, I wish to outline five elements which I am confident will foster an end to this situation. I urge the international community to support this initiative as symbol of its solidarity with a burgeoning democracy. 1. I am now in a position to inform you that the seven contested Senators have resigned as evidence of their patriotic commitment to ending the electoral controversy surrounding the May 21, 2000 elections. 2. I commit to appoint a new Provisional Electoral Council (CEP by June 25, 2001. This CEP would be composed of nine members nominated by the Executive, Judiciary, political parties - including the Convergence, Fanmi Lavalas, and other political parties - and churches, both Catholic and Protestant. I will uphold the integrity of the new CEP as a functionally independent entity. It should be clear that if any of the above groups fail to nominate its assigned member(s), the undesignated member(s) would be selected from among the sectors identified above. 3. The CEP will, after appropriate consultations, set the date for elections of the contested seats in the Senate and proceed to organize these elections in a timely manner. I am convinced that it would be in the the country's best interest if the elections to fill the vacated seats were to occur before the end of the year 2001, and would encourage this result. 4. The new CEP would also organize early elections to replace all members of Parliament elected May 21, 2000, in accordance with the government's proposal outlined at the March 14, 2001, session of the OAS Permanent Council, the terms of the parliamentarians elected on May 21, 2000 would be reduced by two years, in order to regularize the cycle of renewal for the seats in the Haitian Parliament as provided for in the Constitution. Finally, the CEP would organize complementary elections that are necessary to bring about the establishment of a Permanent Electoral Council. 5. To increase confidence in these measures, I seek your support for the establishment of a Special OAS//CARICOM Mission whose mandate would be to facilitate dialogue with civil society and political parties, and to strengthen democratic institutions. The mission's functions would include the observation of human rights conditions and support for the proper functioning of the electoral process, including freedom of expression and security for all concerned. It is my sincere belief that as an integral part of this solution, the Organization of American States and the Caribbean Community should undertake to help normalize relations between Haiti and the international financial institutions. The releases of much needed international financial assistance would permit Haiti economic development, which will in turn strengthen the democratic process. On behalf of all Haitians, I urge you to support these five elements and recognize them as a thoughtful and thorough resolution to this impasse. I look forward to our continued cooperation in bringing about social and economic progress in Haiti. Kindest regards,

Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Minister Roberto Rojas L.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship

President of the XXXI General Assembly

of the Organization of American States

San Jose, Costa Rica

Report of the Secretary General on the OAS mission and of the joint AOS of the joint OAS/CARICOM mission to Haiti OEA/Ser.P

Background information At a special meeting of the Permanent Council on July 13, 2000, the Chief of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) in Haiti, Ambassador Orlando Marville, made an oral presentation on the findings of the EOM in respect of the May 21, 2000 legislative and municipal elections in Haiti. In his report, the Chief of Mission highlighted the deficiencies and difficulties of those elections and mentioned, in particular, the flawed methodology that was used by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) in the allocation of seats for certain members of the Haitian Senate. In view of the failure of the CEP to correct the deficiencies identified, the EOM did not observe the second round of the legislative and municipal elections, which were also boycotted by several political parties in Haiti. A stalemate ensued. These elections were considered vital for the democratic consolidation of Haiti, which had not a working parliament since January 1999. Hundreds of million of dollars of much needed development assistance had been held up as a consequence. The holding of credible legislative and municipal elections was considered to be a precondition for the release of funds from the international donor community. Therefore, the failure of the authorities to correct the deficiencies identified in the May 21 elections created, not only a crisis of legitimacy, but a significant political impasse in Haiti.

Against this background, the Permanent Council, at a special meeting on

To accept the invitation of the Government of Haiti and to promptly send to Haiti a mission led by the Secretary General, on which the Group of Friends of the United Nations Secretary-General shall be represented, to identify, together with the Government of Haiti and other sectors of the political community and civil society, options and recommendations for resolving, as expeditiously as possible, difficulties such as those that have arisen from differing interpretations of the electoral Law, and for further strengthening democracy in that country. In fulfillment of this mandate, Secretary General Cesar Gaviria and Assistant Secretary General Luigi Einaudi traveled to Haiti from August 17 to 20, 2000, accompanied by the Ambassadors, Permanent Representatives to the OAS, of Argentina, H.E. Juan Jose Arcuri, of Chile, H.E. Estaban Tomic Errazuriz, and of Venezuela, H.E. Virginia Contreras. Also accompanying the Secretary General and the Assistant Secretary General was the Assistant Secretary General for Foreign and Community Relations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, Albert Ramdin.

August to November 2000 The first report of the Mission is contained in CP/doc.3349/00 dated August 24, 2000. In this report, the Secretary General observed: "There was acknowledgment that the aftermath of the May 21 elections had served to exacerbate an existing political and democratic-institutional crisis in the country rather than beginning to resolve it, as it had hoped. The sense of the urgent need for political dialogue now coexists with doubts about such a dialogue is possible." Subsequently, Assistant Secretary General Einaudi, in an effort to facilitate and promote a climate, visited Haiti on three occasions between September 15, and October 23, 2000. On October 11, 2000, the Assistant Secretary General reported orally to the Permanent Council, indicating that major differences remained to be overcome and that time was rapidly becoming a common enemy for all concerned. He stressed that in the absence of a political accord on how to resolve the differences arising from the May 21 elections and how to ensure legitimacy for the presidency and the Senate, it seemed clear that current electoral schedule with voting on November 26 - a mere six weeks away - was going to be kept. During his October 13 to 23 visit, the Assistant Secretary General succeeded in promoting and facilitating a series of meetings among representatives of the political parties and with civil society organizations in Haiti. Indeed, the hallmark of this initial dialogue was the presentation by the Assistant Secretary General of a document titled "Elements of Reflection for a National Accord," on which there was significant agreement by all involved on a number of points outlined in that document. In presenting the Second Report on the Mission of the OAS to Haiti, (CP/doc.3371/00 of November 9, 2000), the Assistant Secretary General noted that, in spite of these efforts, there was "no consensus broad enough to achieve the OAS'objective: namely the negotiation accord among all parties that would resolve the political crisis and do so in a manner that would elicit the support of the international community." In presenting the Second Report on the Mission of the OAS to Haiti, (CP/doc.3371/00 of November 9, 2000), the Assistant Secretary General noted that, in spite of these efforts, there was "no consensus broad enough to achieve the OAS" objective: namely, the negotiation of a national accord among all parties that would resolve the political crisis and do so in a manner that would elicit the support of international community." Thereafter, consultations continued, both within and outside of Haiti. Meetings were held with the OAS's collaborators, specially with the Group of Friends on Haiti of the Secretary General of the United Nations and with CARICOM, in an attempt to correct the deficiencies prior to the November 26 presidential elections. Regrettably, this was not done, and the presidential elections proceeded without correction of the deficiencies of the May 21 elections. The OAS did not observe these elections. On November 27, the OAS issued a press release stating, among other things: On November 26 despite the absence of such an accord avoids on interruption in the timetable for presidential succession established by the Constitution of Haiti, but does not alter the need to ensure the broad political representation and citizen participation critical to the development of Haitian society. January to March 2001 On January 12, 2001, the Prime Minister of Haiti, H.E. Jacques Edouard Alexis, visited OAS Headquarters and met with Assistant Secretary General. Prime Minister Alexis had come to Washington both at the request of the President of the Republic of Haiti, His excellency, Rene Preval, and of the President-elect, Jean-Bertrand Aristide in order to revitalize the dialogue, with the support of the OAS, with a view of reaching a consensus on the pending issues identified in the document "Reflections Regarding the Components of a National Agreement (Elements de Reflection)." The Prime Minister and the Assistant Secretary General reviewed the Council Resolution (CP/RES. 772. During the meeting, the Assistant Secretary General noted that the broad political representation and citizen participation are crucial to Haitian stability. Noting the consensus reached on these points during his October 13-21, 2000 mission to Haiti, the Assistant Secretary General expressed strong over the need to improve security for Haitians. He also expressed his belief that the document "Elements de Reflection," presented to Fanmi Lavalas and the Convergence Democratique on October 19, 2000 could serve as a basis for renewed dialogue, particularly if the Haitian government implemented the points covered by President-elect Aristide in his letter of December 27 to the President of the United States. Subsequently, Assistant Secretary General Einaudi visited Haiti from February 6 to 10, in representation of the Secretary General at the ceremony marking the assumption of office of the new President of Haiti on February 7 and to keep the lines of communication open to all involved with of determining the extent to which conditions had been met for continued efforts by the OAS, together with the government and other sectors of the political community and civil society of Haiti, identify options and recommendations to overcome the political impasse. The opportunity was also taken to assess the possibilities for putting into effect such other measures as may be deemed appropriate for further strengthening democracy in Haiti, in keeping with CP/RES. 772 and with the eight commitments expressed in December 2000 by the incoming President, as previously stated above. He visited again from March 8 to 10, 2001. Information on these visits by the Assistant Secretary General is contained in the Third Report of the Mission of the OAS to Haiti (CP/doc.3419/01 corr.21) that was issued on March 13, 2001. This Report concluded that Haiti had taken certain definite steps but much more remains to be done. The steps taken thus far fall short of assuring the strengthening of democracy in Haiti." The report also made reference to indications which had been received from President Aristide that his Foreign Minister, Joseph Philippe Antonio, would present to a meeting of the Permanent Council, scheduled for March 14, 2001, a proposal for the establishment of a special AOS commission to support democracy in Haiti, The report suggested that, should such a Commission be established, as requested by the Government of Haiti, it would be prudent to focus, at least initially, on fresh steps related to political dialogue, perhaps using a format similar to the Dialogue Procedure in Peru involving the government, opposition, and civil society, with OAS as Observers. The report further noted that should the dialogue process begin to bear fruit, the OAS would require the collaboration in critical areas of the United Nations, of the international financial institutions and of individual members of the international community. More to come.

Haiti's radical leftist Aristide makes a move to avoid isolation and economic sanctions In an effort to avoid regional and economic sanctions not imposed on the Republic of Haiti, military leaders and their associates since a 1991 military coup d'etat, in a letter of proposals sent late last week to the Organization of American States, which is holding its 31st General Assembly in Venezuela this week (June 3-5), radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide offered to hold new elections next year for seven senators, though the number of de facto legislators is believed to surpass 10, who were proclaimed so after a largely fraudulent election last May. "I agree to order the resignation of seven senators." Such was one of the sentences in radical leftist Aristide's letter that read more like that of a king or Stalin than a man who continues to claim to cultivate a democratic culture despite his many actions, which are not limited to burning alive political opponents, suggest that he is nothing more than a chief bandit and tyrant. There is no government in Haiti. But Aristide has since Feb. 7 hid behind a multifaceted criminal organization, which he calls the government of Haiti, the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It was in the capacity of a mob don, not head of state, as he claimed to be in his letter, that in return for holding new elections he asked OAS for the resumption of economic aid to Haiti. Radical leftist Aristide's letter was the most important issue on the 34-member organization's agenda Monday. Cesar Gaviria, the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States who late last week failed to pursuade radical leftist Aristide to negotiate with the Haitian democratic opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, over the last year clumsily fraudulent elections, Sunday speaking at the opening of his hemispheric organization general assembly had harsh words for the man who claims to be president of Haiti, despite he was elected in a Nov. 26th sham election. "It is imperative that President Aristide, as he offers in his letter, honor the commitment to shorten the terms of the legislators elected in the May 2000 elections and to hold early elections next year for the assembly and the senate."

Haitian-American attorneys are recipients of Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce top business award Approximately three years ago, Marie Estime-Thompson, 34, a Haitian-American lawyer, together with other Haitian-American lawyers, formed an all female law firm, Estime-Thompson, Mondesir, and Alixis PA. But today, the law firm, which many would rather call "all in the family," not only have a staff of five attorneys, billing close to $1 million, offices in Miami and Boynton Beach, but last month garnered the top business award from the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.

Posted at 3:19 p.m., Friday, June 1, 2001 OAS Secretary-General Gavaria returns to Washington, D.C. from Haiti with empty hands; visit overshadowed by kidnappings and bomb-shell press conference Cesar Gaviria, the Secretary-General of the Organization of the American States who led a joint OAS and Caribbean Community delegation to Haiti Tuesday returned to Washington, D.C. Thursday after failing to persuade radical leftist Jean Bertrand Aristide and democratic opposition leaders to find a solution to the country's long political problem, which began after Aristide and his leftist political godson Rene Preval held a series of largely fraudulent elections last May. All victors for the 27-member Senate were members of radical leftist Aristide's Lavalas Family Party, which many Haitians now call "The party of death." Lavalas Family was said to win more than 80% of the seats in the House of Deputies and more than 85% of Haiti's city halls. And on Nov. 26th, radical leftist Aristide, who rules Haiti like a mob don, proclaimed himself president-elect after publishing fictive results, giving himself nearly 92% of the votes said cast, for a sham election. All major opposition parties boycotted the election, in which less of 5% Haitians voted. "We could say that the environment we found was not a very positive one, we think that the environment is not good enough for a political settlement in Haiti, for a Haitian solution to the political crisis," a very pessimistic Gavaria, who was accompanied there by former Dominican Prime Minister, Dame Eugenia Charles, the other member of the joint delegation, told journalists Thursday shortly before returning to Washington, D.C. Gavaria will submit a report to the 31st OAS General Assembly, which will be held in Costa Rica, June 3-5. He will also deliver to a letter of proposals from radical leftist Aristide to the General Assembly. Regarded the Haitian political situation as extremely difficult to solve, Haiti faces an unpleasant vote by the 34-member hemispheric organization. It may vote in favor of the 1080 resolution, which will allow it to impose partial or a blanket of economic sanctions on the Caribbean country to make tyrant Aristide behave. Joseph philippe Antonio, a foreign minister in the radical leftist Aristide's government, and who in the 1960s lead a commando that kidnapped the then U.S. ambassador, Clinton Knox, stationed in Haiti, will attend the OAS General Assembly meeting, defending his government. The visit of Gavaria, a former president of Colombia, and Charles, the eighth by OAS members since August, to the dirt poor Caribbean country was overshadowed by the last week arrest of Gabriel Fortune, a member of the democratic opposition, better kwon as the Convergence Democratique. There was a reason for the opposition's refusal to join radical leftist Aristide at the negotiation table. "We will not negotiate with Aristide," who it has refused to recognize as the president of Haiti.because he was elected in a Nov. 26th sham election, "not until Gabriel Fortune and many other members of Convergence Democratic regain their liberty." said opposition leaders. Many Haitians believed another factor in the opposition's decision not to negotiate with radical leftist Aristide was the Saturday assassination of Fortune's attorney, Yves Jean, 50. He was killed in a mysterious car accident in Leogane, about 25 miles west of Port-au-Prince. The driver of the car, Jean- Moise Fortune, 32, a law student and the young brother of the incarcerated Fortune, a former senator, was seriously wounded, and had to be transported to a nearby hospital. Fortune, who was in a coma for more than a day, told reporters after he regained consciousness Sunday "I had driven about 55 miles when I realized a white sport utility vehicle was following me. I turned off into a town for about 15 minutes and when I returned to the road the vehicle appeared behind me again. Still, I continued to drive but lost control of the car after I hear what sounded like a gunshot. Both victims, Yves Jean and Jean-Moise Fortune, were on their way from the provincial city of Les Cayes to Port-au-Prince to file an a appeal for jailed politician Gabriel Fortune. He has yet to regain his liberty. In fact, taking out of the circulation or kidnapping, even assumed political opponents, is now so much the order of the day in tyrant Aristide's Haiti that Prosper Avril, a 64-year-old grand father, a former army general and military dictator-president, has since Saturday lost his freedom following an abduction in the Port-au-Prince upper-class suburb of Petion-Ville. Avril, who earned his degree with high honors from Haiti's military academy in the last class before dictator Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier closed the school in the early 1960s, was signing copies of his new book, "The Black Book of Insecurity," when he was handcuffed by six hooded Lavalas police or radical leftist Aristide's bandits and taken straight to a jail cell. In the book, Avril, who in 1991 a judgment was issued against him and was ordered by a Miami Federal Court to pay $41 million in punitive damages and interest to Evans Paul, Gerard Laforest, Gerard Brun, Marino Etienne, Patrick Bauchard, Serge Gilles and Jean-Auguste Mesyeux, after the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a complaint, accusing him of having "personal responsibility" for the interrogation and torture that the victims were subjected to, during his 1988-90 reign of terror, chastises radical leftist Aristide for drug trafficking that has become so rampant in Haiti that many people often call it "the little Medelin cartel," a reference to a city in the northwest South American country of Colombia. Also, for a wave of kidnappings, holdups, robberies, killings and rapes. So rich is the book in information that it contains the photographs and names of least 500 Haitians who have been gruesomely murdered, who Avril also chastises radical leftist Aristide for. But Wednesday, things took another turn for the worst in troubled Haiti when Danny Toussaint, a notorious drug baron and de facto senator, who has from day one been a suspect in the April 3, 2000 brutal murder of prominent radio journalist Jean Leopold Dominique, held a bomb-shell press conference, which did not lack drama at all. Toussaint, who sounded more like someone who was in a confession before a Catholic priest told journalist present for the circumstance: "Why should it be a surprise for you that it has been said that I have been indicted for the murder of Jean Dominique. It has long been a plot by former President Rene Preval to set scores with me because when he and former police commander Bob Manuel said 'the Whites or American government officials' told them that I was dealing drugs I said to them both in fact it is you who are dealing drugs, you Preval and Manuel your cars have always been used to transport drugs. You Preval you have freed many arrested drug dealers." Since Preval was never free to decide for himself without first obtaining the blessing of radical leftist Aristide one may conclude that the latter is also a drug baron, who had ordered many drug dealers, including Roland Ceide who is no longer with us in this world be set free after they were arrested. "Claudy Gassant," the judge who has long been in the case, "wants to make sure he gets me, and in the first place that's why he was given the case by Preval, who was not happy at all after judge Jeudy, Gassant's predecessor, told him he could not find something that would implicate me in the Dominique's murder,' added Toussaint who called on judge Gassant to summons Preval to his court to explain what he meant by "Dominique was killed because he was a Lavalas," a reference to radical leftist Aristide's party members. "If the Senate wants to lift my congressional immunity that will not be a problem at all. Regardless of what happens, I am going to continue to fight for my dignity. I am going to continue to fight for my name," further said Toussaint, who accused former justice Minister Camille Leblanc, Preval and many others of twice issuing a warrant for his arrest before he was sworn in as a de facto Senator last year. It was not difficult at all to understand Toussaint, who probably caused others to wet their paints when he said "I 'am not naming now the other people in this country who are also responsible for the murder of Dominique. They are all responsible for his murder." Many could easily conclude that he was also alluding to radical leftist Aristide who viewed Dominique as a potential and serious presidential candidate. In another development, Amnesty International, Wednesday said the human rights situation in Haiti was worse last year than at any time since the U.S. returned radical leftist Aristide to the Caribbean country in 1994, and this after three years of exile in Washington, D.C., which he used to call "The imperialist capital of the world." The return of radical leftist Aristide to the Caribbean country, which the U.S. has nothing at all to be proud of, except kidnappings of political opponents, killings of political opponents and other crimes, cost the latter country's taxpayers nearly $3 billion. Return to top of page

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