Reply #8: It is unclear [View All]

[htuttle]

The facts:
Eyewitness reports say US helicopters flew over Port-au-Prince and disppeared over the horizon. The DN reporter on the ground in Haiti had seen them himself, and was going to go investigate.

The Rumors:
Venezuela offered assistance to Aristide. Some say that some Venezuelan troops were already around the Palace.

Speculation is that the US may have sent in the helicopters, because they didn't want to be shown up by Venezuela (and would also lose all control over Aristide). Exactly what the US helicopters were going to do is also unknown. Perhaps they went in to help Aristide after all, perhaps they went in to perform some less-defined 'peace keeping' -- keeping themselves off of Aristide's 'side', or perhaps they were going to assess or confront the Venezuelan troops.

Other:
On Free Speech Radio News, immediately after the DN Haiti Report, they stated that there were reports that thousands of US troops had already landed in Haiti. However, official reports only speak of the 50 marines sent to the embassy.

Maxine Waters was on Pacifica, and said she thought that the US ships had been sent down there to prevent Haitian refugees from fleeing to Florida. She said that they had already returned a number of ships, skipping the entire refugee registration process where someone can apply for asylum.

That is all for now...