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Congressional Black Caucus: Bush Must Stop Haiti Coup
Haiti: Different Coup, Same Paramilitary Leaders
Scenes From a Marriage: Married Transsexual Couples Speak
Out
Congressional Black Caucus: Bush Must Stop Haiti
Coup
INTRO: After President Bush rejected Haitian President Aristide's
appeal for immediate security assistance from the international
community, members of the Congressional Black Caucus expressed
their concern at what they say is Bush's refusal to preserve
the democratically elected government in Haiti. We speak with
Black Congress member Rep. Maxine Waters.
Today at the United Nations, the UN Security Council is holding
an emergency session on the embattled Caribbean nation. Meanwhile
in Washington, the House Intelligence Committee is holding
a closed door meeting with Roger Noriega, the Undersecretary
of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs and other US officials
running Washington's Haiti policy.
Late yesterday, France called on Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide to resign and said a United Nations-backed security
force should be deployed to Haiti to stabilize the country.
Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepan said Aristide's government
has lost its legitimacy and should be replaced.
President Bush yesterday rejected President Aristide's appeal
for immediate security assistance from the international community
to head off bloody insurrection, saying the US would "encourage
the international community to provide a security presence"
only after there was what Bush called a "political settlement."
That remark confused some observers, given that it is Aristide's
opponents that have rejected Washington's so-called peace
initiative. Aristide accepted the plan. At the White House
yesterday, Bush also warned Haitians not to flee to the United
States.
Bush's statements yesterday immediately drew fire from members
of the Congressional Black Caucus. At a press conference yesterday,
Rep. Elijah Cummings and Congressmember Charlie Rangel addressed
reporters.
That was Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York and Rep. Elijah
Cummings of Maryland speaking at a press conference yesterday.
Shortly after Bush made his remarks, Black Caucus members
rushed to the White House to express concern at what they
say is Bush's refusal to preserve the democratically elected
government in Haiti. They first met US National Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice and ultimately demanded to meet with Bush.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and White House Chief of Staff
Andrew Card were there as well. This comes a day after Ira
Kurzban, the lawyer for the Haitian government, said on this
program that the US is arming and training the paramilitaries
currently fighting to topple Aristide's government.
- Rep. Maxine Waters, Democratic Congressmember from California
serving in her seventh term. She is the Chief Deputy Whip
of the Democratic Party and serves as Co-Chair of the House
Democratic Steering Committee. She is the former chair of
the Congressional Black Caucus.
Haiti: Different Coup, Same Paramilitary Leaders
INTRO: For a closer look at what is happening right now
on the ground in Haiti, we look back at the involvement of
the U.S. in the 1991-1994 coup period with veteran investigative
journalist Allan Nairn who broke a number of stories that
proved the direct links between US intelligence agencies and
Haitian paramilitary death squads in the early 1990s.
Many of the men leading the armed insurrection in Haiti right
now are well known to veteran Haiti observers and, for that
matter, the US intelligence agencies that worked closely with
the paramilitary death squads which terrorized Haiti in the
early 1990s. People like Louis Jodel Chamblain, the former
number 2 man in FRAPH, Guy Philippe, a former police chief
who was trained by US Special forces in Ecuador and Jean Tatun,
another leader of FRAPH.
In an hour-long interview with the Washington Post, published
today Guy Philippe vowed a bloody assault on Port-au-Prince
"very soon" if Aristide refuses to leave office.
Philippe and Chamblain told the paper that Aristide's departure
and his replacement by an interim leader who would call new
elections was the only possible peaceful solution to their
three-week-old insurgency. Chamblain said "Aristide has
two choices: prison or execution by firing squad."
Preparations against a possible assault by the paramilitaries
were evident in Port-au-Prince. Pro-Aristide militia groups
stepped up their vigilance in the increasingly tense capital,
setting up roadblocks and burning tires after dark at intersections
throughout the city. Vehicles throughout the city are being
stopped and searched.
Philippe said some of his forces are already in Port-au-Prince,
some, he said, under cover in the National Palace. He predicted
that they would use intelligence to identify and locate leaders
of pro-Aristide groups, "neutralize them" and take
the city in "one or two hours." He said his forces
would kill Aristide if he resisted an attack, but that a trial
would be preferable, either in Haiti or at an international
court. Philippe said he would welcome an international peacekeeping
force, provided Aristide was gone.
For a closer look at what is happening right now on the
ground in Haiti, we are going to look back at the involvement
of the US in the 1991-1994 coup period.
- Allan Nairn, a veteran investigative journalist. He was
in Haiti during the 1991-94 coup and broke a number of stories
that proved the direct links between US intelligence agencies
and Haitian paramilitary death squads. Among the stories
he broke was that the head of FRAPH, Emmanuel "Toto"
Constant, was on the payroll of the Defense Intelligence
Agency.
Scenes From a Marriage: Married Transsexual Couples
Speak Out
INTRO: Married transsexual couples are the focus of an NBC
Dateline special premiering Friday night entitled "Scenes
From a Marriage." We speak with Cindy and Miriam, a married
couple who married as husband and wife. The husband, Roger,
then became Cindy and Miriam chose to stay with him.
It's become one of the most prominent acts of civil disobedience
in recent times. San Francisco's mayor this month ordered
city officials to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Thousands flocked to city hall to get married.
Most people view this as the first time in U.S. history
that same-sex couples could enjoy the same legal rights as
a married man and woman. But for some time now, hundreds of
same-sex couples across the country have been living as married
couples under the law. They are couples who married as man
and woman and later, one spouse underwent a gender change.
Transsexual or transgender couples are the focus of an NBC
Dateline special that is premiering tomorrow night. Dateline
followed several transgender couples for two years to get
a closer look at the lives. This is an excerpt of the Dateline
special that is airing tomorrow.
Today we speak with one of those couples: Cindy and Miriam
Huebscher-Scott. They are a married couple from the midwest.
They married as husband and wife, then Roger became Cindy
and Miriam chose to stay with him. They are the founders of
an internet support group for the spouses and partners of
transsexuals.
- Scenes From a Marriage, excerpt of NBC Dateline special.
- Cindy and Miriam Huebscher-Scott, a married couple from
the Midwest. They married as husband and wife, then Roger
became Cindy and Miriam chose to stay with him. They are
the founders of an Internet support group for the spouses
and partners of transsexuals.
- Dr. Virginia Erhardt, licensed psychologist and gender
specialist based in Atlanta. She has treated dozens of transsexuals
and their partners. She is a founding member of the American
Gender Institute and a member of the Gender Education &
Advocacy Advisory Board.
- Dawn Fratangelo, New York-based correspondent for Dateline
NBC.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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