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U.S. DELEGATION MEETS WITH PRESIDENT ARISTIDE<br><br>
ARISTIDE REVEALS DETAILS OF COUP<br><br>
Press release for email distribution<br>
For Immediate Release<br>
March 8, 2004<br><br>
Contact:<br>
Sarah Sloan or Brian Becker<br>
202-544-3389, 212-633-6646<br><br>
A delegation from the United States met twice today with overthrown<br>
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Bangui, Central African<br>
Republic. Following the first meeting, President Aristide held a
news<br>
conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then conducted a<br>
30-minute phone interview in English with Pacifica Radio's Democracy
Now.<br><br>
The delegation includes Kim Ives from Haiti Progres and the Haiti
Support<br>
Network, and Johnnie Stevens and Sara Flounders from the
International<br>
Action Center. Ives, Flounders and Stevens are representing former
U.S.<br>
Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Also on the delegation are Brian
Concannon,<br>
acting in the capacity of President Aristide's lawyer; and Katherine
Kean,<br>
a friend of President Aristide.<br><br>
Aristide's press conference today and his meeting with the U.S.
delegation<br>
constituted a remarkable turnabout from the day before when the
delegation<br>
was barred by the Central African Republic government from meeting
with<br>
Aristide. Following the refusal to give the delegation access to meet
with<br>
the ousted Haitian president, a press release entitled "Aristide
Under<br>
Lock & Key" circulated around the world. Thousands of individual
activists<br>
and organizations submitted the press release and statement to local
media<br>
throughout the United States in a high-visibility emergency
mobilization<br>
to tell the truth. The Central African Republic officials have made
it<br>
clear that their country is under severe pressure from the United
States<br>
and France.<br><br>
The Curtain of Silence that has surrounded President Aristide since
the<br>
February 28/29 coup has now been significantly opened as a consequence
of<br>
this political intervention. The world, and especially the Haitian
people,<br>
has been anxious to hear from President Aristide. It is precisely
for<br>
this reason that the U.S. State Department and the French Foreign
Ministry<br>
have applied so much pressure to the Central African Republic to
prevent<br>
him from having access to the media, and to his attorneys, friends
and<br>
supporters.<br><br>
The delegation arranged for President Aristide to be interviewed by<br>
Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now
introduced<br>
today's interview with these words:<br><br>
"Moments before the Democracy Now! interview, Aristide appeared
publicly<br>
for the first time since he was forced out of Haiti in what he has
called<br>
a US-backed coup. The authorities in the Central African Republic
allowed<br>
Aristide to hold a news conference after a delegation of visiting
U.S.<br>
activists charged that the Haitian president was being held under lock
and<br>
key like a prisoner. The delegation included one of Aristide's
lawyers,<br>
Brian Concannon, as well as activists from the Haiti Support Network
and<br>
the International Action Center, representatives of former U.S.
Attorney<br>
General Ramsey Clark. Shortly after they arrived in Bangui on Sunday,
the<br>
delegation attempted to meet with Aristide at the palace of the<br>
Renaissance. The CAR government rebuked them.<br><br>
"Shortly after, the country's foreign minister held a press
conference in<br>
Bangui. Armed men threatened journalists in the room, warning them not
to<br>
record the minister's remarks. Mildred Aristide, the Haitian First
lady,<br>
was brought into the room, but was not permitted to speak. The CAR
foreign<br>
minister told the journalists that President Aristide would hold a
news<br>
conference within 72 hours. Hours later, Aristide was allowed to
address<br>
journalists.<br><br>
"In his interview on Democracy Now!, Aristide asserted that he is
the<br>
legitimate president of Haiti and that he wants to return to the
country<br>
as soon as possible. He details his last moments in Haiti, describing
what<br>
he called his 'kidnapping' and the coup d'etat against
him."<br><br>
In his press conference and in the direct meetings with the
delegation,<br>
"President Aristide was very forceful about the fact that he
was<br>
kidnapped, and that his government is being replaced by a
U.S.-sponsored<br>
government of occupation," said Sara Flounders of the International
Action<br>
Center. President Aristide also said that "only his return to Haiti
can<br>
bring peace, and he stated that the people who carried out this
campaign<br>
against his government are internationally recognized
criminals.<br><br>
"President Aristide said that he had been lied to by the U.S.
ambassador,<br>
who assured him that he was being taken to a press conference to talk
with<br>
international and Haitian media. He was instead forced onto a plane
and<br>
taken out of the country in a U.S. coup d'etat," according to
Flounders.<br>
"President Aristide also pointed out the irony that Haiti, which
only has<br>
1.5 doctors for every 11,000 people, now has seen the closing of
its<br>
primary medical school and that school is now being used to house
U.S.<br>
Marines and other foreign soldiers."<br><br>
President Aristide expanded on this point both in the press conference
and<br>
in his interview on Democracy Now!: "In my country, after 200
years of<br>
independence - we are the first Black independent country in the world
-<br>
but we still have only 1.5 Haitian doctors for every 11,000 Haitians.
We<br>
created a university, we founded a university with the faculty of
medicine<br>
that has 247 students. Once U.S. soldiers arrived in Haiti after
the<br>
kidnapping, what did they do? They closed the faculty of medicine and
they<br>
are now in the classrooms. This is what they call peace. This is
the<br>
opposite of peace. Peace means investing in human beings, investing
in<br>
health care, respect for human rights, not violations of human rights,
no<br>
violations for the rights of those who voted for an elected President,
and<br>
this is what it means. ... How can you imagine that you come to me,
you<br>
want to be in peace, and you close my university and you send out
247<br>
students of medicine in the country where you don't have hospitals and
you<br>
don't have enough doctors. God, this is an occupation. When you
protect<br>
killers, when you protect drug dealers like Guy Philippe, like
Chamblain,<br>
when you protect the citizens of the United States in violating the law
of<br>
the United States, Mr. Andy Apaid is a citizen of the United
States,<br>
violating the Neutral Act, the way with this act will destroying
our<br>
Democracy, and once we do that, then this is an occupation."
(quotation<br>
from Democracy Now!)<br><br>
Kim Ives, who is with the Haiti Support Network and is a journalist
with<br>
the newspaper Haiti Progres, is a member of the delegation and had
an<br>
opportunity to speak to President Aristide in Creole during the
meeting<br>
following today's press conference. Ives states that Aristide's account
of<br>
the events of February 28-29 stand in sharp contrast to the account
given<br>
by Colin Powell and other U.S. officials to the Washington Post on
March<br>
3. The U.S. "story" was that Aristide was ready to leave
the country and<br>
that they simply facilitated his departure at his request. Colin
Powell<br>
and other U.S. officials later said that Aristide's assertion that he
had<br>
been the victim of a U.S. coup were "absurd" and "not
true."<br><br>
Ives stated, "The Washington Post and other U.S. media coverage
gives the<br>
impression that the sequence of events leading to Aristide's departure
at<br>
6 am on February 29 began around 4 or 5 am when Aristide allegedly
called<br>
U.S. officials and asked for their assistance in leaving the
country.<br>
President Aristide told me that in fact 'armed Americans and
diplomats'<br>
came to his residence the day before - that is, on the evening of
February<br>
28. Aristide reported that U.S. officials told the 19 security guards
that<br>
have functioned as a presidential security detail that they should
abandon<br>
their posts. These 19 security guards were on assignment from the
Steele<br>
Foundation and are mostly former members of the U.S. Special Forces.
They<br>
were told by U.S. officials that they 'wouldn't be protected, the gig
was<br>
up.' [expression might have been "jig was up"--Joe] President
Aristide<br>
asserts that these Steele Foundation security<br>
guards basically obeyed the orders from their former employers (the<br>
Pentagon). They were flown by helicopter on Saturday night away from
the<br>
preidential palace, leaving Aristide with no armed
protection."<br><br>
A recent Miami Herald article on the subject reported that another
25<br>
reinforcement security guards from the Steele Foundation, who were<br>
supposed to arrive Saturday, February 28, received a call Friday
night<br>
telling them that the U.S. would block their deployment.<br><br>
Mr. Ives also stated that "President Aristide was told by U.S.
Ambassador<br>
James Foley that the U.S. officials and armed forces would take him to
a<br>
press conference with the international and Haitian press, where
President<br>
Aristide could make his case. President Aristide agreed to go on
the<br>
condition that he could speak to the media, and also that his home
would<br>
be protected from any attack or looting. The fact is, the press
conference<br>
never took place and his home was looted almost immediately after he
left.<br><br>
"President Aristide was instead driven to a plane. Upon arriving
at<br>
approximately 5 am on February 29, he found his 19 security guards
already<br>
there. They were all flown - including the one-year-old child of one
of<br>
the guards - to the Central African Republic. After spending 20 hours on
a<br>
plane flying to a destination unknown to them, the security guards
were<br>
then flown back to the United States. The trip prevented them
from<br>
revealing the details of the coup until after Aristide was out of
Haiti<br>
and in the Central African Republic.<br><br>
"In the course of the discussions with President Aristide, it became
clear<br>
that the timing of the coup coincided with several international<br>
developments that could have shifted the relationship of forces in
the<br>
Haitian government's favor. While the U.S. government escalated
pressure<br>
on Aristide to resign in that last week, the government of South
Africa<br>
had sent a planeload of weapons that was set to arrive on Sunday,
February<br>
29. Venezuela was in discussions about sending troops to support
Aristide.<br>
There was also gathering international support and solidarity for
the<br>
maintenance of constitutional democracy in Haiti. African American
leaders<br>
were receiving increasing media attention as they denounced the
efforts<br>
towards a coup. Two prominent U.S. delegations, one led by members of
the<br>
Congressional Black Caucus and another led by former U.S. Attorney
General<br>
Ramsey Clark, were set to arrive within days. We can see that there
were<br>
various converging influences of aid about to come. This accounts in
large<br>
part for the timing of the coup, it explains why the U.S. had to rush
in<br>
and remove Aristide," concluded Ives.<br><br>
Johnnie Stevens of the International Action Center stated, "Today,
as a<br>
consequence of strong international pressure, the people of Haiti and
the<br>
rest of the world have had a chance to hear President Aristide refute
the<br>
lies and slanders of the U.S. government and its henchmen from the
former<br>
Haitian military who are behind the coup. We believe that the U.S
has<br>
tried to muzzle or silence President Aristide, not simply to stop one
man<br>
from speaking out. The goal is to discourage the people of Haiti
from<br>
continuing the growing struggle demanding President Aristide's return.
It<br>
is really an effort to muzzle, silence and pacify the people in order
to<br>
impose U.S. regime change."<br><br>
Stevens continued, "The people of Haiti have been a source of
inspiration<br>
for two centuries. Their struggle for freedom, independence and<br>
sovereignty is part and parcel of the struggle of oppressed people<br>
everywhere. We must continue to do everything in our power to stand
up<br>
against the racist designs of the Bush administration."<br><br>
In his interview with Democracy Now!, President Aristide was asked if
he<br>
planned to return to Haiti. His response: "If I can go [to
Haiti] today,<br>
I would go today. If it's tomorrow, tomorrow. Whenever time comes, I
will<br>
say yes, because my people, they elected me."<br><br>
To schedule an interview with a member of the delegation<br>
or to get more information, contact Sarah Sloan or Brian<br>
Becker at 202-544-3389 or 212-633-6646.<br><br>
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