<html>
<body>
<font size=3><br>
</font><font size=5><b>Aristide Details Last Moments In Haiti, Calls For
Stop To Bloodshed In First Address To Haitian People From Exile<br>
</b></font><font size=3>Commentary, Jean-Bertrand Aristide,<br>
Pacific News Service, Mar 05, 2004<br><br>
<i>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@igc.org), who supplied this translation exclusively to
PNS.<br><br>
</i>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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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?"<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><font size=3><a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
</html>