HAITI: US IMPERIALISM INVADES
US Forces Regime Change in Haiti, Kidnaps Aristide
01 Mar 2004 20:50 GMTDemocracy Now! has confirmed through multiple sources that Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been "kidnapped" and taken by force to the Central African Republic. Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am EST. "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is in jail, he said. He says he was kidnapped," said Waters. She said he had been threatened by what he called US diplomats. According to Waters, the diplomats reportedly told the Haitian president that if he did not leave Haiti, paramilitary leader Guy Philippe would storm the palace and Aristide would be killed. According to Waters, Aristide was told by the US that they were withdrawing Aristide's US security. [Audio]
TransAfrica founder and close Aristide family friend Randall Robinson also received a call from the Haitian president early this morning and confirmed Waters account. Robinson said that Aristide "emphatically" denied that he had resigned. "He did not resign," he said. "He was abducted by the United States in the commission of a coup." Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on a cell phone that was smuggled to the Haitian president. [ Audio]
More From Democracy Now | IMC Coverage: San Francisco , New York City and Houston | Haiti Action Network | From Argentina IMC | From Quezon City IMC | Portland IMC | The Daily Grind
3/1/04:Protests Today Against US-Led Coup in Haiti: San Francisco , Fresno , Houston and New York City
Coups d'Etat and military interventions: A long story in USA foreign policy
AmigaPhil 01.Mar.2004 21:54
- Coup Arranged or Backed by the USA
- A century of U.S. military interventions
War on Terrorism: Depicting a source of the highest threats to the world
Coups d'Etat and military interventions: A long story in USA foreign policy
AmigaPhil 01.Mar.2004 23:17
[HTML publishing still not fixed, sorry. Here are the missing links]
http://amigaphil.planetinternet.be/cgi-bin/getfile.cgi?file=nowarktcoups;prev=nowar12.png
http://amigaphil.planetinternet.be/cgi-bin/getfile.cgi?file=nowarusinterven;prev=nowar14.png
http://amigaphil.planetinternet.be/usa.html
- Coup Arranged or Backed by the USA
- A century of U.S. military interventions
War on Terrorism: Depicting a source of the highest threats to the world
US to Install Puppet Regime council in Haiti
sean 02.Mar.2004 09:41
So pulling a few different links together, it becomes clear that the US has every intention of installin a puppet regime in Haiti now that it has removed the much loved democratically elected president.
I urge you all to call your local corporate media and urge them to tell our story.
The Australian ABC news has told the story:
"US plans to create a Haitian council"
"The United States wants to create a council of "eminent" Haitians to fill a power vacuum in Port-au-Prince left by the flight into exile yesterday of President Jean Bertrand Aristide."
In the past few years they have taken Afganistan, Iraq, Venezuala and now Haiti. They lost Venezuala but will try to get it back soon. Please America, you must protest. Your government is literally taking over the world. Do not feel hopeless. Even on your own, one person alone, can make a difference. One person with a banner or a spray can or a website can help spread the news. Email your friends and please make sure that everyone knows the Aristade was kidnapped by US Marines and now the US plans to install a puppet regime.
Ton-ton macoute and the CIA and the American marines
lmp 02.Mar.2004 14:10
This is an old story in Latin America. The US can always be counted on to ally itself with the lowest form of pseudo humanity in a country and use/buy it to do whatever needs doing in the country. Then it can claim that it will support a return to democracy when in reality there is nothing that has upset democracy more in Latin America than the US. Now we have true veritable genocidal killers as president and also as Secretary of State and these devils go abroad and seek their kind; in the case of Haiti, they found the remnants of the psychopathic ton-ton macoute created by the equally psychopathic Duvalier with the help of the CIA. All these characters are old hat to Latin America, including the Bush intervention/inteference with the trappings of racist genocide. It's only now, thanks to the internet that this kind of procedure is coming to light but it has been going on longer than anyone's lifetime. The difference is that now powell and bush no longer care what you hink so they are doing the same thing out in the open. THIS is a dangerous new step but its too late for you to do anything about it - the fascist state has shut the gate behind it and you will live to see the greates horrors in the history of humanity all committed in your name. Shame on you and your leaders. You for your cowardly ways in letting them stay on and merely change names.
BREAKING NEWS!! Bush cabal and media whores to put Duvalier back in power
Walt 02.Mar.2004 18:58
Check during the next few days the favorable coverage that the CNN whore has already begun. This will be brought on by the chief diplomatic whore of the US, powell. Then bush will try to bring killer buddy and long time friend baby doc back to power and the tonton macoute will be brought in to Miami to take care of the next demonstrations. What a farce we allow these criminals to play in our name!!!!!!
Take action !
island girl 03.Mar.2004 14:14
Send letters of Shame to the perpetrators of the coup and its supporters in the international community. This includes Kofi Annan at the UN who did not act when international support was truly needed and , of course, the U.S. State Department's Colin Powell who has hypocritically undermined and overthrown a democratically elected government in Haiti. I have not bothered to include contact info for the Whitehouse. The level of arrogance and distain for public opinion is so great there that you would be wasting your time.
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/hac2_25_4.html
http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/02/111690.php
http://www.haitiaction.net/
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/29/2053220
Letters of Shame to:
Kofi Annan
annan (at) un.org and sg (at) un.org
Embassy of France
4101 Reservoir Road, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Ph#: 202.944.6000
Fax: 202.944.6166
france-presse (at) un.int.
Secretary of State Colin Powell
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Phone: 202-647-6575
Fax: 202-261-8577
Email: secretary (at) state.gov
Zap the corporate media
Canada's complicity:
Another article to add to the mix...
Paul Bowman 05.Mar.2004 13:37
Something I scribbled in a hurry and got a comrade to post on indymedia.ie:
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=63692
"I don't wanna holiday in the sun... Western Imperialism Finally Re-united in Haiti? Lessons from the US-backed coup in Haiti"
ARISTIDE UNDER LOCK & KEY, U.S. DELEGATION SAYS
International A.N.S.W.E.R. 08.Mar.2004 01:22
March 7, 2004
A delegation from the United States has arrived in the Central African Republic to meet with overthrown Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. President Aristide was taken involuntarily to the Central African Republic following a U.S. coup d'etat on February 28. The group was granted visas on Thursday and Friday and departed the United States on Friday evening.
The delegation includes Kim Ives from the Haiti Support Network, and Johnnie Stevens and Sara Flounders from the International Action Center. Ives, Flounders and Stevens are representing former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Also on the delegation are Brian Concannon, acting in the capacity of President Aristide's lawyer; and Katherine Kean, a friend of President Aristide.
Kim Ives, a personal friend of Jean-Bertrand and Mildred Aristide, said "This morning, the delegation went to the Palace of the Renaissance, the presidential compound where President Aristide is being held." Mr. Ives had spoken to the Foreign Minister on Thursday to inform him that the delegation was coming to the Central African Republic to meet with President Aristide.
"We were stopped at the gates by a guard who contacted a Central African Republic official inside the building. A representative of the Central African Republic came out to speak with us," Ives reported. "We asked to go in to visit President Aristide and were told we could not. We asked if he could come out to see us, and we were told no. We asked if we could send in a note or our phone number, and we were told no. The official then told us that he had spoken with the Minister of Defense and that Aristide was not allowed to receive visitors."
Mr. Ives also reported that he placed a call to the cell phone that the Aristides have been using to place calls to their friends, attorneys and the media. "Mildred Aristide answered the phone. I said, 'Hello Mildred, this is Kim Ives, we are here.' At that point, the phone line went dead. We have tried to call many times since then but there has been no answer."
Brian Concannon is also a member of the delegation, acting in the capacity of President Aristide's attorney. Standing outside the gates of the compound where President Aristide is being held, Mr. Concannon requested to meet with President Aristide alone for a consultation. This was also denied.
"The world has been told that President Aristide is free to come and go, and that he has simply chosen not to leave," said Sara Flounders of the International Action Center. "The fact that our delegation has been denied all forms of contact with President Aristide confirms, in fact, that he is being kept under lock and key, at this point not even able to communicate by phone."
"The U.S. and French governments chose to take Aristide to the Central African Republic, a formerly colonized and impoverished country," said Johnnie Stevens of the International Action Center.
"The Central African Republic, similar to many formerly colonized countries in Africa and around the world, has been isolated and underdeveloped because of the past policies of France, the U.S. and other colonial and neo-colonial powers. The U.S. and France should be paying reparations to the Central African Republic."
* * * * *
HELP CIRCULATE THIS PRESS RELEASE TO SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH THE HAITIAN PEOPLE
Click on the following link to send an e-mail to your local and national media outlets urging them to cover this important story:
After you click on the link, simply follow the easy-to-understand instructions. You will first enter your zip code and press "go." You will be taken to a list of media outlets. You can select the media outlets you want to send to and then choose "compose a message." You can then add your customized message (if you would like) and send the email.
Thousands of Aristide Supporters Pour Into Streets
Reuters 08.Mar.2004 01:27
March 5, 2004
Thousands of Aristide Supporters Pour Into Streets
By Ibon Villelabeitia and Jim Loney
-Hurling slurs at U.S. Marines and calling President
Bush a "terrorist," a crowd estimated at more than
10,000 materialized in the capital, seething with
anger at Aristide's flight to Africa five days ago
after a bloody rebellion and U.S. pressure.
-[The protesters] blamed Haiti's wealthy elite, Bush
and French President Jacques Chirac for what they
called the "foreign occupation" of Haiti.
"The bourgeoisie joined with the international
community to occupy Haiti and get rid of President
Aristide," one demonstrator screamed. "The bourgeoisie
never did anything for us, the masses. Now they took
away our president."
-"At 6 p.m. we all have to go and find a hole to
hide," said Hubert Louis, 31, referring to the nightly
curfew. "If the foreign troops want to show they want
to support the people, they should protect us from the
soldiers who are chasing us."
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Thousands of
outraged supporters of exiled President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide poured out of Haiti's slums and into the
streets on Friday, marching on the U.S. Embassy to
denounce the "occupation" of their homeland and demand
Aristide's return.
Hurling slurs at U.S. Marines and calling President
Bush a "terrorist," a crowd estimated at more than
10,000 materialized in the capital, seething with
anger at Aristide's flight to Africa five days ago
after a bloody rebellion and U.S. pressure.
"Bush terrorist! Bush terrorist!," chanted the crowd,
many of them waving Haitian flags and wearing T-shirts
bearing photos of Aristide, as they passed a
contingent of battle-equipped U.S. Marines guarding
the embassy.
Hundreds held up their hands with five fingers
extended, shouting "Aristide five years," the rallying
cry of his supporters who wanted him to finish his
five-year term in office. U.S. troops watched
impassively from the rooftop.
The massive protest came as U.S. and French troops
joined Haitian police on patrol in the teeming
capital. U.S. military vehicles mounted with machine
guns and missile launchers rumbled through the
streets, sending a message to rebels and Aristide
militants to lay down their arms.
Supporters of Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest
whose fiery oratory from the pulpit helped galvanize a
popular revolt that dislodged the Duvalier family
dictatorship in the 1980s, had been relatively quiet
this week, shocked by the ouster of Haiti's first
freely elected president.
They had stayed largely in Cite Soleil, La Saline and
the other slums of Port-au-Prince as the armed rebels
who helped push Aristide from office roamed the
streets, hunting for "chimeres," the most militant of
Aristide's supporters.
But as the rebels withdrew from the city following a
pledge from their leader, former police chief Guy
Philippe, to lay down their arms, Aristide partisans
vowed to demonstrate daily for the return of their
president.
"FOREIGN OCCUPATION"
They blamed Haiti's wealthy elite, Bush and French
President Jacques Chirac for what they called the
"foreign occupation" of Haiti.
"The bourgeoisie joined with the international
community to occupy Haiti and get rid of President
Aristide," one demonstrator screamed. "The bourgeoisie
never did anything for us, the masses. Now they took
away our president."
"If Aristide doesn't come back, life will be hell
here."
Five days after Aristide was ousted by a bloody
rebellion, a new tripartite council made up of people
chosen by the government, Aristide's political foes
and foreign nations went to work.
Aristide's Minister of Haitians Living Abroad, Leslie
Voltaire, was named by the government. The political
opposition Democratic Platform picked Paul Denis, a
former senator, and the international community chose
Adama Guindo, the United Nations resident coordinator.
The council will select a seven member "Council of
Wise Men" within a week to pick a new prime minister
and begin the process of establishing a new
government.
Haiti's legislature has been largely defunct since
early January. Only a few senators have time left in
their terms.
Haitian and foreign officials have been struggling
with the process of installing interim president
Boniface Alexandre, who according to the constitution
must be ratified by the legislature. It was still
uncertain on Friday when a formal swearing in would be
held at the palace.
U.S., French, Chilean and Canadian troops in Haiti
numbered about 2,000, according to the commanders of
the multinational force approved by the United Nations
to restore order after days of looting and shooting
following Aristide's flight into exile in the Central
African Republic on Sunday.
More than 100 people died in the armed revolt that
began on Feb. 5 when an anti-Aristide gang took over
the northwestern city of Gonaives.
Aristide said from his African exile that he was
kidnapped. The U.S. government has denied the
allegation but residents of Aristide strongholds
believe it.
In the pro-Aristide Port-au-Prince neighborhood of
Bellair, where glass and debris litters the streets
and the stench of sewage hangs in the air, residents
said foreign troops should help protect them from
gunmen that raid the area nightly.
They say rebels have been conducting reprisal raids.
"At 6 p.m. we all have to go and find a hole to hide,"
said Hubert Louis, 31, referring to the nightly
curfew. "If the foreign troops want to show they want
to support the people, they should protect us from the
soldiers who are chasing us." (Additional reporting by
Joseph Guyler Delva)
Godfather Colin Powell: The Gangster of Haiti
blackcommentator 08.Mar.2004 02:06
Colin Powell’s Big Lie was unraveling – and now it emerged that the Secretary of
http://www.blackcommentator.com/80/80_cover_haiti.html
State had taken upon himself the role of Godfather. Ron Dellums, the
distinguished former Congressman from the San Francisco Bay area who worked as a
lobbyist for Aristide’s government, got a call from the Head-Negro-In-Charge on
Saturday, warning in no uncertain terms that gunmen were coming to kill Aristide
on Sunday morning. The U.S., said Powell, would not lift a finger to stop them.
When the Americans come to call, Aristide must leave with them.
It is a mind-boggling measure of the Bush Pirates’ ferocious lawlessness that
Powell would personally initiate the overt, criminally culpable act in the
kidnapping of a head of state. This aspect of the crime alone should send him to
The Hague
Godfather Colin Powell: The Gangster of Haiti
The new order congeals like blood on the streets of
Port-au-Prince. Haiti’s dance of death begins anew, a
convergence of low-life assassins, high-living
compradors, preening French imperialists and global
American pirates – an unspeakable bacchanal.
---------------------------------
Partial transcript of interview between A,my Goodman & President Aristide
imc 08.Mar.2004 17:36
In his interview on Democracy Now!, Aristide asserted that he is the legitimate president of Haiti and that he wants to return to the country as soon as possible. He details his last moments in Haiti, describing what he called his "kidnapping" and the coup d'etat against him. He responds to Vice President Dick Cheney's comment that Aristide had "worn out his welcome" in Haiti.
http://www.democracynow.org/
Full transcript will be posted shortly at:
Developing....
EXCERPT OF TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: I am Amy Goodman from the radio/TV program Democracy Now! around the United States. We would like to know why you left Haiti.
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Thank you. First of all, I didn't leave Haiti because I wanted to leave Haiti. They forced me to leave Haiti. It was a kidnapping, which they call coup d'etat or [inaudible] ...forced resignation for me. It wasn't a resignation. It was a kidnapping and under the cover of coup d'etat.
AMY GOODMAN: It was a kidnapping under the cover of coup d'etat?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Who forced you out of the country?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE:I saw U.S. officials with Ambassador Foley.
Mr. Moreno, [inaudible...] at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti I saw American soldiers. I saw former soldiers who are linked to drug dealers like Guy Philippe and to killers already convicted, Chamblain. They all did the kidnapping using Haitian puppets like Guy Philippe, [inaudible], and Chamblain, already convicted, and basically, this night, I didn't see Haitians, I saw Americans.
AMY GOODMAN: So, you say that they kidnapped you from the country. Secretary of State Powell said that that is ridiculous. Donald Rumsfeld said that is nonsense. Your response?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Well, I understand they try to justify what they cannot justify. Their own ambassador, ambassador Foley said we were going to talk to the media, to the press, and I can talk to the Haitian people calling for peace like I did one night before. And unfortunately, once they put me in their car, from my residence, a couple of days later, they put me in their planes full with military, because they already had all of the control of the Haitian airport in Port-au-Prince. And during the night, they surrounded my house, and the National Palace, and we had some of them in the streets. I don't know how many are -- were there. So it's clearly something they planned and they did. Now, if someone wants to justify what I think they cannot justify and that's -- my goal is to tell the truth. This is what now I'm telling you -- the truth.
AMY GOODMAN: President Aristide, did you resign the Presidency?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: No, I did not resign. I exchanged words through conversations, we exchanged notes. I gave a written note before I went to the press at the time. And instead of taking me where they said they were taking me in front of the Haitian press, the foreign press, to talk to the people, to explain what is going on, to call for peace. They used that note as a letter of resignation, and I say, they are lying.
AMY GOODMAN: When you went into the car from your house, did you understand you were going to the airport and being flown out?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Not at all. Because this is not what they told me. This was our best way to avoid bloodshed. We talked with them somehow in a nice, diplomatic way to avoid bloodshed, we played the best we could in a respectful way, in a legal and diplomatic way. Because they that told me that they were going to have bloodshed. Thousands of people were going to be killed, including myself. As I said, it was not for me, because I never cared about me, my life, my security. First of all, I care about the security and lives of other people. I was elected to protect the life of every single citizen. So, that night I did my best to avoid bloodshed and when they took me, putting me in their plane, that was their plan. My strategy was then all I could [do] to avoid bloodshed.
AMY GOODMAN: Are you being held in the Central African Republic against your will?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Actually, against my will, exactly. Let me tell you, this past twenty hours on the American plane with American soldiers, including nineteen American agents who had an agreement with the Haitian government to provide security to us. They were also in that plane, maybe, to keep the truth in the plane, instead of having one of them telling the truth out of the plane. Because one of them had a baby, one year and-a-half in the plane - he was an American guy - and they wouldn't give him a chance to get out of the plane with the baby. My wife, the first lady, who was born in the United States, her father and mother were Haitians, with me. She didn't have the right to even move the shade and look out through the windows. Which means, they violated their own law. Until twenty minutes before I arrived here, I knew where they request going to land, which means clearly, clear violation of international law. Unfortunately, they did that, but fortunately, I pay tribute to the government of Central Africa for the way they welcomed us. It was gracious, human, good, and until now, this is the time kind of relationship which we are developing together. I thank them for that once again.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you want to happen now?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: I always call for peace. Those who realize their kidnapping cannot bring peace to the violence in my country. CARICOM, which means all of the heads of the Caribbean countries, call for peace and restoration of Constitutional order. In some way we heard the voice of Americans - American Senators, American members, U.S. members, members of the U.S. parliament. They're all -- they're all U.S. citizens and the Haitians are actually calling for peace for the restoration of Constitutional order. This is what I also call for. Allow me to give you a very simple example. Peace means for us, in this time, education and investment in health care. In my country, after 200 years of independence -- we are the first black independent country in the world - but we still have only one-point-five Haitian doctors for its 11,000 Haitians. We created a university, we founded a university with the faculty of medicine that has 247 students. Once U.S. soldiers arrived in Haiti after the kidnapping, what did they do? They closed the faculty of medicine and they are now in the classrooms. This is what they call peace. This is the opposite of peace. Peace means investing in human beings, investing in health care, respect for human rights, not violations for human rights, no violations for the rights of those who voted for an elected President, and this is what it means. It means that, for humans in the world, today this is their day, [inaudible] men in the world, all together, we can all work hard to restore peace and constitutional order to Haiti.
AMY GOODMAN: This is president Jean-Bertrand Aristide speaking from the Central African Republic. Did you want to return as President to Haiti now?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: If it's possible now, yes, now. Whenever it's possible, I am ready because this is what my people voted for.
AMY GOODMAN: Are you being held -- do you see yourself as being held as a prisoner in the Central African Republic?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: Here I say it again, the people and government and the President, President Bozize, they are gracious, the way they treat us. I just paid public tribute to them, and if you have citizens of Central Africa listening to me, allow me to tell them [inaudible], which means thank you very much, because their country is a country called zo-quo-zu, in the language which means every human being is a human being. All that is to say, we I am grateful to them. But when you living in a house or in a palace that is their palace, which is a good sign of respect for us, and we are living in their conditions, although it's still good because of the way they welcome us, we also feel that we should be in Haiti with the Haitian people doing our best to keep investing in education, health care, building a state of law. Slowly, but surely, building up that state of law.
AMY GOODMAN: President Aristide, at least five people were killed in Haiti on Sunday. Opposition leaders say it was pro-Aristide forces that opened fire. Also including journalists - a Spanish journalist based in New York was shot dead. Another was also shot. Your response?
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE: First of all, I wasn't there, and I don't have many pieces of this information to comment, but the respect that I have for the truth, I will make some comments but I say it again, I wasn't there. I don't have yet any information so, I cannot go too far in my way to analyze the situation. I do believe because for the past years, each time drug dealers like Guy Philippe, people already convicted like Chamblain kill people, we heard exactly what I just heard. They blame the non-violent people and they blame the poor. When are poor, they are violated in their eyes, like the way they did. When you are already convicted, you are not violating human rights. So, I think or I suspect they are lying when they talk like that, accusing my followers.
What if we let him stay?
Bob 08.Mar.2004 22:17
Let's just say, for the sake of the American haters, that we got Aristide out of Haiti. We saved his life. It appears that the opposition is as violent as his thugs were. If we let him stay and get killed, you leftist would have said we did not go help because there is no oil in Haiti. What would you North Koreans at communist now have done?