Montreal: Another blow to democracy in homeland, local Haitians lament

[Minstrel Boy]

Montreal is home to, I believe, the world's second largest Haitian ex-patriot community. Aristide lived in exile in Montreal in the early 1980s.

From The Montreal Gazette, Monday:

Another blow to democracy in homeland, local Haitians lament
'Le mal est Infini'. Aristide supporters blame world powers for failure to support elected president

"Aristide was kidnapped!" they screamed, draped in Haitian flags. "Election yes, coup no," said the placards they raised in defiance.

...

As Montrealers elsewhere began to discuss Haiti's post-Aristide future, those outside the U.S. consulate on St. Alexandre St. vowed to keep up the fight to bring Aristide back.

"France and the U.S. kidnapped him with a knife to his throat," said Rébert Ismaël. "But the resistance is organized in Haiti to show we will not accept this coup d'état, the 34th coup d'état in our country."

They denounced everyone, from George Bush (Sr. and Jr.,) to the local media for biased reporting. Prime Minister Paul Martin, "an accomplice to Bush assassin," and French President Jacques Chirac, who called for Aristide's resignation.

"We want to know why they took away our president," cried one angry woman, carrying a picture of Aristide, a former priest, now on his way to exile in an undetermined nation.

http://tinyurl.com/yvd4h