Aristide claims he was kidnapped

[GrGr]

So is this a US/French coup?

DemocracyNow: "Exclusive Breaking News: President Aristide Says 'I was kidnapped'

 

[CADsortaGUY]

check here

CkG

 

[maluckey]

Aristide recanted the original statement, and now claims it was "like" he was handcuffed. Hell, he even was able to call his lawyer via his personal cell-phone. If he was arrested by the U.S. do you honestly beleive we would let him use his personal cell phone?

Wake up! The guys a thug, drug dealer, and a liar. He's trying to save face about the fact that he ran away, rather than dying in place as he swore to do just a few weeks ago.

 

[burnedout]

On NPR this morning, I believe the report indicated that Aristide had his personal bodyguards with him when he departed Haiti.

[you may now return to your regularly scheduled USA bashing already in progress]

 

[burnedout]

**UPDATE**

UN says Aristide resigned

The United Nations has said it was "very clear" that former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide had resigned and had not been forced into exile by a coup d'etat.

"For us it is very clear he resigned," UN spokeswoman Marie Heuze told reporters.

"We have no problem, he resigned."

Mr Aristide had said in a telephone interview with CNN from the Central African Republic that he was overthrown in a coup, for which he blamed the United States.

Ms Heuze said the Haitian constitution had been respected with the swearing in of Boniface Alexandre, head of the court of cassation, as interim president.

**film at eleven**

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: burnedout
**UPDATE**

UN says Aristide resigned

The United Nations has said it was "very clear" that former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide had resigned and had not been forced into exile by a coup d'etat.

"For us it is very clear he resigned," UN spokeswoman Marie Heuze told reporters.

"We have no problem, he resigned."

Mr Aristide had said in a telephone interview with CNN from the Central African Republic that he was overthrown in a coup, for which he blamed the United States.

Ms Heuze said the Haitian constitution had been respected with the swearing in of Boniface Alexandre, head of the court of cassation, as interim president.

**film at eleven**

OH TEH NOESS!!! Not the blessed UN:Q They are the ultimate holder of truth-no?. Too bad for the leftists this time - seems that this isn't something they can spin into something to bash Bush with.

CkG

 

[EagleKeeper]

He knew that he had to leave.

He screwed up his government position by retailiating aginst people from the previous regime. (Implictly blessing necktie parties and such).

He got out with his skin, courtesy of the US Marines.

 

[EXman]

Should have let let him get capped!

what haven't they had 32 armed revolutions that have resulted in ZERO change. These people are screwed another head will just grow into the hole that Aristide left.

 

[Moonbeam]

He was sort of in the way of the rich plundering the country. It's a great place for Walmart to have stuff made cheep.

 

[Chadder007]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
He was sort of in the way of the rich plundering the country. It's a great place for Walmart to have stuff made cheep.

w00t....Now Dell can send Tech support to Haiti too!!!

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
He was sort of in the way of the rich plundering the country. It's a great place for Walmart to have stuff made cheep.

1) The only thing Haiti exported to the US was raw materials, like coffee, and some low quality textiles. And this was some pittance of about $300M.
2) Aristide WAS plundering the country. You'll notice he'll live in luxury the rest of his life...

 

[burnedout]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
He was sort of in the way of the rich plundering the country. It's a great place for Walmart to have stuff made cheep.

<Sybok> I feel your pain. </Sybok>

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: alchemize

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
He was sort of in the way of the rich plundering the country. It's a great place for Walmart to have stuff made cheep.

1) The only thing Haiti exported to the US was raw materials, like coffee, and some low quality textiles. And this was some pittance of about $300M.
2) Aristide WAS plundering the country. You'll notice he'll live in luxury the rest of his life...

Now they can pick and sew for Walmart, like they should. That nasty Aristide with his hand in the till. Shame on him. That's our money.

 

[heartsurgeon]

Haiti's main export has been "boat-people"

now they have "exported" Aristide...
he never would have been in power if Clinton hadn't propped his goevrment up..he was a total disaster as a "leader", and i don't see where it is our place to prop up a failed goverment again, if it's own people are in revolt against him.

The Congressional Black Caucus is acting in a shameful manner. But I guess their leadership are expert at that.
Reparations anyone?

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: alchemize

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
He was sort of in the way of the rich plundering the country. It's a great place for Walmart to have stuff made cheep.

1) The only thing Haiti exported to the US was raw materials, like coffee, and some low quality textiles. And this was some pittance of about $300M.
2) Aristide WAS plundering the country. You'll notice he'll live in luxury the rest of his life...

Now they can pick and sew for Walmart, like they should. That nasty Aristide with his hand in the till. Shame on him. That's our money.

Ok Dave.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: heartsurgeon
Haiti's main export has been "boat-people"

now they have "exported" Aristide...
he never would have been in power if Clinton hadn't propped his goevrment up..he was a total disaster as a "leader", and i don't see where it is our place to prop up a failed goverment again, if it's own people are in revolt against him.

The Congressional Black Caucus is acting in a shameful manner. But I guess their leadership are expert at that.
Reparations anyone?

But the opposition are all angels, so everything is now comming up roses.

 

[xxxxxJohnGaltxxxxx]

Originally posted by: heartsurgeon

The Congressional Black Caucus is acting in a shameful manner. But I guess their leadership are expert at that.
Reparations anyone?

I could use some reparations, though the acts that facilitate the need for reparations never happened to me directly...always looking for a handout; it's the American way.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: heartsurgeon
Haiti's main export has been "boat-people"

More swam with the fishes than actually made it to land.

My boy was on a Coast Guard cutter whan the first exodus happened in the early 90's.
They were laying them out on the decks like logs. Roughly a 5/1 fatality rate.

 

[heartsurgeon]

haiti a brief history

what a mess..

 

[GrGr]

U.S. political maneuvering behind the ouster

BY RON HOWELL
STAFF WRITER

March 1, 2004


The departure of Haiti's Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a victory for a Bush administration hard-liner who has been long dedicated to Aristide's ouster, U.S. foreign policy analysts say.

That official is Roger Noriega, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, whose influence over U.S. policy toward Haiti has increased during the past decade as he climbed the diplomatic ladder in Washington.

"Roger Noriega has been dedicated to ousting Aristide for many, many years, and now he's in a singularly powerful position to accomplish it," Robert White, a former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador and Paraguay, said last week.

White, now president of the Center for International Policy, a think tank in Washington, said Noriega's ascent largely has been attributed to his ties to North Carolina Republican Jesse Helms, an arch-conservative foe of Aristide who had behind-the-scenes influence over policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean before retiring from the Senate two years ago.

"Helms didn't just dislike Aristide, Helms loathed Aristide because he saw in Aristide another Castro," said Larry Birns, director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, which has been strongly critical of the Bush administration's policy on Haiti.

Working hand in hand with Noriega on Haiti has been National Security Council envoy Otto Reich, who, like Noriega, is ardently opposed to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, say analysts such as Birns. Washington diplomats have seen Aristide as a leftist who is often fierce in his denunciations of the business class and slow to make recommended changes such as privatizing state-run industries.

"On a day-to-day basis, Roger Noriega [has been] making policy, but with a very strong role played by Otto Reich," Birns said.

Reich is a controversial Cuban-American criticized by some who have lingering concerns about his contacts with opposition figures who plotted a short-lived coup against Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Ch&aacute;vez, two years ago. Reich also is linked to the Iran-contra scandal of two decades ago that was part of President Ronald Reagan's policy of defeating Marxists in Central America.

etc.

 

[DZip]

Why not just send Jean-Bertrand Aristide back to Haiti handcuffed to Jesse Jackson. I heard they would like to give him a party.

 

[AndrewR]

Of course he was -- because the US really wants to encourage the possibility of a massive migration of refugees from Haiti to U.S. shores.

The fact that this was a story goes a long way to proving bias in mainstream media.