Thousands Protest in Haiti's Capital in Support of Aristide

[Khephra]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Thousands of outraged supporters of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide poured out of Haiti's slums and into the streets on Friday, marching on the U.S. Embassy to denounce the ``occupation'' of their homeland and demand Aristide's return.

Hurling slurs at U.S. Marines and calling President Bush a ``terrorist,'' a crowd estimated at more than 10,000 materialized in the capital, seething with anger at Aristide's flight to Africa five days ago after a bloody rebellion and U.S. pressure.

``Bush terrorist! Bush terrorist!,'' chanted the crowd, many of them waving Haitian flags and wearing T-shirts bearing photos of Aristide, as they passed a contingent of battle-equipped U.S. Marines guarding the embassy.

Hundreds held up their hands with five fingers extended, shouting ``Aristide five years,'' the rallying cry of his supporters who wanted him to finish his five-year term in office. U.S. troops watched impassively from the rooftop.

more............

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-haiti.html

[darkstar]

1. kick

:kick:

[Tinoire]

2. FOREIGN OCCUPATION''

"FOREIGN OCCUPATION"

They blamed Haiti's wealthy elite, Bush and French President Jacques Chirac for what they called the "foreign occupation" of Haiti.

"The bourgeoisie joined with the international community to occupy Haiti and get rid of President Aristide," one demonstrator screamed. "The bourgeoisie never did anything for us, the masses. Now they took away our president."

"If Aristide doesn't come back, life will be hell here."

<snip>

"At 6 p.m. we all have to go and find a hole to hide," said Hubert Louis, 31, referring to the nightly curfew. "If the foreign troops want to show they want to support the people, they should protect us from the soldiers who are chasing us."

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-haiti.html

"Bush terrorist! Bush terrorist!"

And this from the NYT. Wonder what the real situation is.

[tom_paine]

5. Wouldn't surprise me if the Busheviks ordered the Amermacht to open fire

The Bushevik HATE liberty and freedom. The only thing they hate more are the Filthy Little Nobodies who dare to think they deserve the same kinds of freedom enjoyed by the Imperial Aristocracy.

Poor bastards. Of course, the Busheviks think of us, both the remaining few Free Americans and the Imperial Subjects of Amerika, in essentially the same way.

They just can't yet start treating us like Haitians or the Subjects of Imperial Freedomstan (formerly Iraq).

They will, though, if they aren't stopped. Wait for it. Be ready.

[LSparkle]

13. A chill went up my spine last Friday after hearing Mrs. Aristide ...

on the phone with Amy Goodman. This US regime is not going to relinquish power willingly, election or not. And you're right, they don't believe in true democracy, just laissez-faire capitalism.

[SmokeyBlues]

3. I'm so confused!

Why are the Haitian people in thousands protesting the removal of Aristide? Their actions don't make sense to me. According to Roger 'don't mistake me for a white man' Noriega, members of the *hole administration, and the bobbled-headed mainstream news media whores, the Haitian people were the primary force behind 'relieving' Aristide --a democratically-elected President-- of his duties.

Can somebody please help me understand what the hell is going on? By the way, Rog 'I am what I am and I ain't that' Noriega during the subcommittee hearing on Tuesday took umbrage (damn, not again!) at the rebels being called rebels. Instead, he insisted that they should be called exactly what they are and what many of us on DU have been accurately labeling them all along: thugs and killers.

But...but, that's not what the administration and the media whores (on orders of the administration) had been calling them before the coup d'etat took place. As I said before, I am so confused!

[Tinoire]

4. Thousands (10,000) of Aristide supporters pour into streets

Stay tuned SmokeyBlues.
This is only going to get more violent. It is now, once again, the slaves against the plantation owners. The slaves won the last one.


Thousands of Aristide supporters pour into streets

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Thousands of outraged supporters of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide poured out of Haiti's slums and into the streets on Friday, marching on the U.S. Embassy to denounce the "occupation" of their homeland and demand Aristide's return.

Hurling slurs at U.S. Marines and calling President Bush a "terrorist," a crowd estimated at more than 10,000 materialized in the capital, seething with anger at Aristide's flight to Africa five days ago after a bloody rebellion and U.S. pressure.

"Bush terrorist! Bush terrorist!," chanted the crowd, many of them waving Haitian flags and wearing T-shirts bearing photos of Aristide, as they passed a contingent of battle-equipped U.S. Marines guarding the embassy.

Hundreds held up their hands with five fingers extended, shouting "Aristide five years," the rallying cry of his supporters who wanted him to finish his five-year term in office. U.S. troops watched impassively from the rooftop.

<snip>

But as the rebels withdrew from the city following a pledge from their leader, former police chief Guy Philippe, to lay down their arms, Aristide partisans vowed to demonstrate daily for the return of their president.

Reuters/abs-cbnNEWS.com

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/FlashNewsStory.aspx?FlashOID=15533




``If it comes to that, we will confront the U.S. Marines,'' said demonstrator Pierre Paul, 35. ``We will do the same thing that they are doing in Iraq.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3826420,00.html

[darkstar]

6. Hey Tinoire

Peace upon your heart. Your previous posts upon this situation were informative and moving. And the truth of what you wrote is now being bourne out, it seems, in the streets. God, this worries and saddens me.

Take care.

[Tinoire]

8. Thanks DarkStar

Thanks DarkStar. Just spent an hour talking with another DUer about this over the phone. This occupation is not going to happen as smoothly as Bush is thinking. That's a good thing for Democrats (another nail in his coffin) but a really bad thing for the Haitian people.

This worries and saddens me. Thank you for your warm, good thoughts. Thank you.

This is from about 20 minutes ago.


<snip>

The massive protest came as U.S. and French troops joined Haitian police on patrol in the teeming capital. U.S. military vehicles mounted with machine guns and missile launchers rumbled through the streets, sending a message to rebels and Aristide militants to lay down their arms.

<snip>
http://www.nbc6.net/news/2900767/detail.html

[SmokeyBlues]

11. I'm confident that good will triumph over evil in Haiti

It's only here in this country that it seems a large segment of people have lost the common sense they were born with (and I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt).

I was following another thread on DU about how the Haitian people were cheering on the rebels based on an article in the Boston Globe. Accompanying the article was a photo of some people seemingly passing out with joy over the fact that Aristide had been forced into exile.

What's interesting about that photo is that it was an extremely tight shot of what appeared to be about 15 people maximum. Now compare that 'jubilant' turnout to the 10,000 people who took to the streets in support of Aristide, and flashback to the 'multitude' that turned out to witness the toppling of the Saddam statue in Baghdad.

Catch my drift?

Also, the headline read that the people were happy to see the "rebels". Considering what Roger Noriega said the other day, are we to assume that the people of Haiti (at least all 15 in the photo) were overjoyed to see "thugs and killers" return to the country?

[CaptainClark23]

10. That's what you get for trying to think!

Don't worry your pretty lil head about it.

There are people in charge who know how to handle this sort of thing.

Go watch TV, citizen.

(frankly, it don't make any fuckin' sense to me either...assume the worst is all I can recommend to you)

[AP]

7. This is the example Venezuela set.

However, it was pro-Chavez troops in the basement of Milaflores that made the difference.

Let's see if the power of the people can bring back autonomy and democracy and kick back the fascists in Haiti.

[sonias]

9. The people have the power

It is up to the people of Haiti to decide this one. The people of Venezuela undid the coup in 2002 and if the people of Haiti want Aristide back, then it will happen.

The US is responsible for the economic climate in Haiti because they denied aid to Haiti since the bu$h regime came to power here in the US.
That just wasn't one of their selected democracies therefore, let it starve.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0304-13.htm
Assuming the Right to Intervene
"The U.S. maintained its aid freeze, and the opposition (in Haiti) maintained a veto over international aid," writes Sachs, now an economics professor at Columbia University. "Cut off from bilateral and multilateral financing, Haiti's economy went into a tailspin."



Sonia

[Tinoire]

12. That's what I'm hoping for.

A 6% business/elite should in NO way be allowed to get away with backing a coup that will bring this much bone-crushing misery.

[Chicago Democrat]

14. Hey Tinoire! I just saw The Revolution Wil Not Be Televised...

at least a big chunk of it today on Democracy Now!

It is amazing watching Ari Fleischer lie his ass off, in what could be word for word, the same damn script they just followed in Haiti.

What an incredible Documentary! How fortunate that we have it to watch!

http://www.democracynow.org/index.pl

[Tinoire]

15. I LOVE that documentary!

in case you couldn't tell ;) I am so glad you liked it! Quite an eye-opener isn't it? Love seeing those SOBs nabbed on tape.

Thanks for the link. Am going to watch it on your link. You should post a thread in GD with something along the lines of "The Revolution Wil Not Be Televised..." Free Online!

Thanks!
Going to watch it those lying SOBs getting exposed to the world now.

What they did in Venezuela in 2002 is just what they did in Haiti.
Those buffoons misunderstimate the will of the people.

Peace

[eablair3]

17. I heard it on Dem Now

and after seeing your link, I watched it online this afternoon. I had seen the whole film a few months ago.

It's a reallly good film, ... an excellent film. Probably one of the best films I have ever seen.

The clip on Dem Now only kind of scratched the surface, although the clip was real good. The rest of the film has many great parts -- I liked in the film how they showed how the media was manipulating things. How they would get pundits on TV there to propagandize. Then, they would show what the true facts were. And the TV people were just outright lying and/or saying things with no basis in fact.

When you get a chance, watch the whole film.

I'd buy it in a heartbeat, but I don't know where it's available. anyone?

[eablair3]

16. what, what, .... what? you mean there are Aristide supporters who are not

... who are not gang members and drug traffickers? how could that be?

We couldn't have been lied to, could we?

seriously, ... I think and hope that more and more thousands will come out a demonstrate like this every day. No better message can be sent than that.

[Jacobin]

18. What's this? Another coup going not so well?

my my my. Those bush boys are really "something" with their foreign policy finesse.

[eablair3]

19. any predictions?

when do people think Aristide will be returned to Haiti, ... a la Chavez? maybe they won't let him back, ever, as the U.S. & BushCo removed him themselves rather than their paid flunkies who they could blame for it.

[Judi Lynn]

20. Miami Herald Saturday article: Top rebel wavers on disarming

Posted on Sat, Mar. 06, 2004




CRISIS IN HAITI


Top rebel wavers on disarming

A Haitian rebel leader seesaws on disarming, backers of the exiled president assail President Bush, and the OAS says a council of 'sages' will name a new prime minister.

BY SUSANNAH A. NESMITH AND NANCY SAN MARTIN

[e-mail]


PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Rebel leader Guy Philippe, in a worrisome flip-flop, said Friday his fighters would not disarm unless they are guaranteed they will not be prosecuted for their role in forcing former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to resign.

Several thousand Aristide supporters marched to the National Palace and shouted anti-Bush slogans, underlining their deep resentment over Washington's involvement in the president's sudden resignation last weekend.

The Organization of American States announced that a council of seven ''sages'' had been formed to name a new prime minister within a week and an interim cabinet. All seven are respected Haitians, but they include no prominent members of Aristide's Lavalas Family Party.

Philippe, who on Sunday declared himself ''military commander'' of Haiti, then on Monday said he had ordered his men to disarm, told The Herald that he had done nothing to disband his fighters -- and perhaps could not.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/haiti/8120183.htm

[eablair3]

21. I don't think these criminals will ever disarm ... on their own

I don't think any in their right mind would ever trust any words of these criminals. They're not going to ever disarm, without being forced to.

Someone's going to have to kill or capture them and take all their American M-16s, M-60s and other U.S. weapons from them.

They claim to not know how the weapons got into the hands of these criminals. Isn't that grounds for an investigation? They want us to believe that they can send 20,000 M-16s to the DR (the DR miliatry is only about 3-4 thousand strong) and that they can't be responsible for what happens to the weapons after that. Seems like that should be investigated.

If this is their story, then perhaps they should be prohibited from sending such weapons to the DR or other countries in the future if they can so easily end up in the hands of criminals and terrorists?

[Zhade]

22. Kick

Back to the front!