Gangs, Looters Roam Haiti's Capital

[Chicago Democrat]

Gangs, Looters Roam Haiti's Capital
City Tense as Rebels Approach
By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, February 28, 2004; Page A01


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb. 27 -- Armed pro-government gangs roamed the streets of this capital on Friday, and thugs looted businesses and hijacked cars, forcing residents to stay in their homes in anticipation of a threatened assault by rebels who have vowed to capture or kill President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.




There was a marked deterioration of security throughout the city of about 1.3 million people, three weeks into an armed insurgency that reportedly was moving toward the capital. In Washington, the Pentagon was considering sending 2,200 U.S. Marines to stand by off the coast as a precaution, officials said. The U.S. government sent 50 Marines earlier this week to protect the U.S. Embassy and its staff.

In a sharp escalation of diplomatic language by the U.S. government, the U.S. Embassy here issued a statement Friday night saying that armed groups had "begun to burn, pillage and kill" and "are spreading terror and attacking civilians and the general population and are acting in the name of Jean-Bertrand Aristide." The statement called on him to "stop this blind violence."

"Mr. Aristide must understand that his honor, legacy and reputation are now at stake," said the statement, which also issued "an equally urgent appeal" to the rebels to stop their armed advance on the capital. Both the rebels, who include former death-squad and military members, and their civilian opponents accuse Aristide of abandoning his promises to help the poor. They also charge that he has profited from international drug-trafficking and has enforced his will by arming gangs who terrorize and kill his opponents.

rest at...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13184-2004Feb27.html

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. in their spanking new uniforms supplied by bushco

[Chicago Democrat]

3. Yes, why isnt this Front Page News!!

Hello??? Where are our liberal leaders???

The Rebels are armed by Robert Noriega arranging the arms via the Dominican Republic! This is an outrage!

[Webster Green]

4. The Congressional Black Caucus met with the chimp...

(and Powell and Rice, who are both traitors to their race, as well as their country). Smirky says he would prefer a political solution. that won't happen because the government is out-gunned, and the terrorist thugs staging the coup have no reason to compromise. They are succeeding with a wink and a nod from ChimpCo Inc. The blood of the innocents in Haiti will be on the hands of the bush crime family. The chimp, and Powell, and Rice can all take turns sucking Satan's cock in Hell. They are the very definition of evil.

[Chicago Democrat]

2. Why DOES NO ONE CARE??!!!

On DU, in the US media, Colin Powell, Jimmy Carter where the hell are youall?

People are gonna die, because noone cares.

[not systems]

6. People have already moved on...

this time before rather than slightly after an event.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Lots of us are looking for every bit of information we can find

I did a small search for some previous threads, and can't seem to locate the really LOOOOONG threads we've been working on here, but we've really had a few whoppers.

When I found these threads, I noted you have been right in the midst of things, yourself. Believe me, there's a TON of DU'ers who are very concerned about this, for MANY reasons.

We've been watching every thing that moves on the subject since this very serious, _Bush-supported trouble flared up! We're all reading the links, and hoping for help.

Here's a handful of the links from the last week, only some of them, and the ones from today and yesterday aren't listed, as they should be easy to find in the last pages of Late Breaking News:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=380048

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=378881

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=387095

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=387089

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=385648

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=385551

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=384388

You're not alone, Chicago Democrat! Believe me, you're definitely not alone. Many of us are all sick about this.

[not systems]

5. I posted a thread about the US image of Haiti in GD.

"Why is Vodou disparaged in the USA?"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1173533

[fearnobush]

7. Ok, so what is in Haiti that the BFEE really want?

As I listened to Free Speech Radio today, hearing Deepa claim that the CIA... Bush Admin has armed these thugs with M-16s and Mortors etc., to overthrow the Government there, I wondered what could it be that they want? Does anyone have any ideas?

[CHIMO]

8. Cuba

[fearnobush]

9. Good point

Chimps tone has grown stronger against Castro.

[Snazzy]

14. and...

Columbia, Venezuela, Argentina, and probably a great bit of SA and CA that's off the media radar. Noriega and Reich are playing cards they were forced to hold for 8 years.

Now.

In a way, I take this as a good sign. They want to institute their plans now in case chimpy goes down. I think that's why you see all this in play and getting caustic all of a sudden. They know their opportunity may soon end. Cards on the table.

EDIT, disclaimer: That there is a maybe a default assumption that plans made best be played now on account of dubya's potential demise should not diminish the seriousness of how these major league assholes hope to reshape our backyard. Danger now, till November. Someone suggested in an earlier Haiti thread that messing with Haiti is not part of the neocon agenda--I would differ on several fronts. The most obvious being demonstrations of American power--start with Regan in Grenada, do some senior in Panama. This is the CIA playground. Forget neocon, this is the original -con.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Snazzy, that's a whole new way at looking at this.

Going to DEFININTELY keep it in the forefront of my thinking for the new few days as this thing goes into the Twilight Zone.

If you're right, it may NOT be as well thought out on their part as we might fear, somewhat half-@$$ed. Is that possible?

It just might be that they had been working with the assumption there would be a second term to do their best dirty work in the Western Hemisphere, and they've had to speed things up.

[Snazzy]

16. half @ssed

SOP for this admin, isn't it?

No master plan, just a bunch of unresolved, often competing agendas.

Why such a mess? (and you know this, but humor me)

No one is in charge.

Sooner or later you need a president--seems like the whole system was set up that way. Imagine that, it's shocking! Somewhere there ought to be a grown-up (Jim Baker is a very busy man <<< this is not an endorsement).

[Snazzy]

13. power

They don't want anything except power. This is, and always has been, a "who's da boss" move.

The collection of Regan era rejects and felons (and esp. the CIA) who are now entrusted with this hemisphere by bushco (*) have unfinished business.

In 1994 Clinton made a move for democracy.

That must be undone.

That's the story.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Haitians in Phila. area voice support for Aristide

Posted on Sat, Feb. 28, 2004

Haitians in Phila. area voice support for Aristide

By Gaiutra Bahadur

Inquirer Staff Writer


The voice of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the besieged president of Haiti, crackled calm and defiant as it was transmitted live by an Olney studio to shortwave radios in the region.

Center City lawyer Picard Losier listened intently as Aristide told CNN International in a telephone interview late Thursday: "I'm sure what I'm doing is the right thing..."
(snip)

Many in the local Haitian community seem to share that sense of denial, if Losier's weekly call-in program on Radio Haiti is any gauge. The station, housed in a second-floor walk-up, carried the interview live, then fielded calls from dozens of expatriates who expressed faith in Aristide and deep distrust of international leaders urging him to step down.

A mid-February poll of Haitian Americans in five states with the largest Haitian populations - Florida, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut - reflected a split in the community with 52 percent saying Aristide should stay in power. But the Haitian immigrants in this region, bundled primarily in North and West Philadelphia, appear to be more adamant in their support for the populist priest who became their homeland's first democratically elected president.
(snip/...)

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/8061451.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope people notice there's a lot of underhanded, anti-Aristide coloration floating in a lot of the articles we're reading, just as a DU poster mentioned in another thread.

We are getting news filtered through the same people who dictated our news concerning Iran-Contra, and other Latin American affairs through Reagan's Otto Reich in the Office of Public Diplomacy.

[Judi Lynn]

12. This is sounding really bad......

From the DallasNews:
(A free registration only site)

Dallas, Texas

Saturday February 28, 2004 4:35 a.m. CST
U.S. may send troops to Haiti

12:41 AM CST on Saturday, February 28, 2004

By TRACEY EATON / The Dallas Morning News

(snip) Rebel leader
Guy Philippe, the leader of the rebellion, had said he wanted to reach Port-au-Prince by Sunday, his 36th birthday. Later he told reporters he planned to encircle the capital, forcing boats with food, supplies and fuel to land instead at Cap-Haitien, the country's second-largest city, which is under rebel control.

"We want to block Port-au-Prince totally," he was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. "No more boats to Port-au-Prince."

Taking the capital now would be "very hard," he said. "It would be a lot of fight, a lot of death. So what we want is desperation first."

The rebels seized control of the strategic town of Mirebalais, 30 miles northeast of Port-au-Prince, freeing prisoners and chasing off the police. It's a key town because it offers access to the capital to the south, rebel-controlled territory in the north and the Dominican Republic to the east, where some of the insurgents have trained and sought refuge.
(snip/...)


AP
The U.S. Coast Guard (left) returns refugees to Haitian custody Friday. 531 Haitian citizens have been caught since Feb 21.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/022804dninthaiti.20e96.html