[News] ARISTIDE's first address to Haitian people since coup d'etat

[News at freedomarchives.org]

Aristide Details Last Moments In Haiti, Calls For Stop To Bloodshed In 
First Address To Haitian People From Exile
Commentary, Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
Pacific News Service, Mar 05, 2004

EDITORíS NOTE: President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who left a tumultuous 
Haiti under shadowy circumstances Feb. 29, has delivered an impassioned 
address ìTo the Haitian People and the Worldî by cell phone to a Haitian 
journalist in the United States working with a radio station in Berkeley, 
CA. In the address recorded early Friday, Aristide aims his words at 
Haitians, urging them to ìstand in solidarity and stop the spread of 
death.î He delivers a detailed account of what he calls his ìkidnappingî 
from a palace surrounded by heavily armed ìwhite men.î He refers to the 
leader of a massive slave insurrection of l791, Toussaint L'Ouverture, a 
national hero who died in a French prison. Aristide spoke from the Central 
African Republic where he has been under a virtual house arrest in the days 
since he was delivered from Port-au-Prince on a U.S. plane. The address was 
recorded by a Haitian radio producer known to Aristide for some 20 years 
and broadcast Friday, exclusively on Pacifica Radioís Flashpoints News 
Magazine. Six Haitians and Americans who know Aristide listened Friday to 
excerpts from the message, delivered in Creole, and confirmed the voice is 
that of the president, said the Flashpoints program host and Pacific News 
Service contributor, Dennis Bernstein (e-mail-dbernstein at igc.org), who 
supplied this translation exclusively to PNS.

In overthrowing me, they have uprooted the trunk of the liberty. It will 
grow back because its roots are many and deep.î In the shadow of Toussaint 
L'Ouverture, the genius of the race. I declare in overthrowing me they have 
uprooted the trunk of the tree of peace, but it will grow back because the 
roots are L'Ouverturian.

Dear compatriots, it is with these first words that I am saluting our 
brothers and sisters from Africa, while I am standing on the soil of the 
Central African Republic. Allow me to salute you by repeating that same 
declaration that is, In overthrowing me, they have uprooted the trunk of 
the tree of peace.î During the night of the 28th of February 2004, there 
was a coup díetat. One could say that it was a geo-political kidnapping. I 
can clearly say that it was terrorism disguised as diplomacy. To conclude, 
this coup díetat and this kidnapping are like two quarters and 50 cents 
side by side.

I have always denounced the coming of this coup díetat, but until the 27th 
of February, the day before, I didn't see that the crime was going to be 
accompanied by kidnapping as well. The 28th of February, at night, 
suddenly, American military personnel who were already all over 
Port-au-Prince descended on my house in Tabarre to tell me first that all 
the American security agents who have contracts with the Haitian government 
only have two options. Either they leave immediately to go to the United 
States, or they fight to die. Secondly, they told me the remaining 25 of 
the American security agents hired by the Haitian government who were to 
come in on the 29th of February as reinforcements were under interdiction, 
prevented from coming. Thirdly, they told me the foreigners and Haitian 
terrorists alike, loaded with heavy weapons, were already in position to 
open fire on Port-au-Prince. And right then, the Americans precisely stated 
that they will kill thousands of people and it will be a bloodbath. That 
the attack is ready to start, and when the first bullet is fired nothing 
will stop them and nothing will make them wait until they take over, 
therefore the mission is to take me dead or alive.

At that time I told the Americans that my first preoccupation was to save 
the lives of those thousands of people tonight. As far as my own life is 
concerned, whether I am alive or whether I am dead, that is not whatís 
important. As much as I was trying to use diplomacy, the more the pressure 
was being intensified for the Americans to start the attack. In spite of 
that, I took the risk of slowing down the death machine to verify the 
degree of danger, the degree of bluff or the degree of intimidation.

It was more serious than a bluff. The National Palace was surrounded by 
white men armed up to their teeth. The Tabarre area -- the residence -- was 
surrounded by foreigners armed to their teeth. The airport of 
Port-au-Prince was already under the control of these men. After a last 
evaluation I made during a meeting with the person in charge of Haitian 
security in Port-au-Prince, and the person in charge of American security, 
the truth was clear. There was going to be a bloodbath because we were 
already under an illegal foreign occupation which was ready to drop bodies 
on the ground, to spill blood, and then kidnap me dead or alive.

That meeting took place at 3 a.m. Faced with this tragedy, I decided to 
ask, "What guarantee do I have that there will not be a bloodbath if I 
decided to leave?"

In reality, all this diplomatic gymnastics did not mean anything because 
these military men responsible for the kidnapping operation had already 
assumed the success of their mission. What was said was done. This 
diplomacy, plus the forced signing of the letter of resignation, was not 
able to cover the face of the kidnapping.

 From my house to the airport, everywhere there were American military men 
armed with heavy weapons of death. The military plane that came to get me 
landed while the convoy of vehicles that had come to get me was near the 
tarmac at the airport. When we were airborne, nobody knew where we were 
going. When we landed at one place nobody knew where we were. Among us on 
the plane was a baby of one of my American security agents who has a 
Haitian wife. They could not get out. We spent four hours without knowing 
where we were. When we got back in the air again, nobody knew where we were 
going.

It was not until 20 minutes before we landed in the Central African 
Republic that I was given the official word that this is where we would be 
landing. We landed at a French Air Force base but fortunately there were 5 
ministers from the government who came to welcome us on behalf of the 
President there.

We know there are people back home who are suffering, who are being killed, 
who are in hiding. But we also know that back home there are people who 
understand the game, but will not give up because if they give up, instead 
of finding peace, we will find death.

Therefore, I ask that everyone who loves life to come together to protect 
the lives of others. I ask everyone who does not want to see bloodshed to 
come together so that it is life that flourishes instead of blood that has 
been spilled, or bodies falling. I know itís possible that all Haitians who 
live in the tenth department [Haitians living abroad] understand what 
tragedy lies hidden under the cover of this coup díetat, under the cover of 
this kidnapping. I know and they know if we stand in solidarity we will 
stop the spread of death and we will help life flourish. The same thing 
that happened to a President who was democratically elected can happen at 
any time, in any other country too. That ís why the solidarity is 
indispensable to protect a democracy that works together with life.

The constitution is the source of this life. Itís the guarantee of the 
life. Letís stand together under the constitution in solidarity so that it 
is life that unfolds, and that it is peace that flourishes and not death as 
we are seeing it. Courage, courage, courage! From where I am with the First 
Lady, we have not forgotten what Toussaint L'Ouverture has said, and thatís 
why we saluted all of Africa with his words, and we are saluting all 
Haitians everywhere with the conviction that the roots of the tree of 
peace, with the spirit of Toussaint L'Ouverture inside, are alive. They can 
cut the tree as they have done with the machete of the coup díetat, but 
they cannot cut the roots of peace. It will sprout again because it has the 
spirit of Toussaint L'Ouverture inside.



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