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Exclusive: Aristide Talks With Democracy Now About His Return
to the Caribbean
Exclusive: Aristide and His Bodyguard Describe the U.S. Role
In His Ouster
U.S. Warns Aristide: Stay Out of Hemisphere
Exclusive: Aristide Talks With Democracy Now About
His Return to the Caribbean
Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman talks with Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide aboard his flight from the Central
African Republic to Jamaica. He landed in Kingston on Tuesday
defying the Bush administration and the U.S.-installed Haitian
government.
It has been a historic 48 hours. Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide has defied Washington, returning to the Caribbean.
He is now in Jamaica, just 130 miles or so from his native
Haiti. This comes two weeks after Aristide said he was taken
by force to the Central African Republic in what was a US-orchestrated
coup.
Late last night, I returned to New York after a trip that
began on Saturday, when I accompanied a delegation of US and
Jamaican officials who set off from Miami, Florida on a mission
to escort President Aristide and his wife Mildred back to
the Caribbean. The delegation was led by California Congressmember
Maxine Waters. She was joined by Sharon Hay-Webster, a Jamaican
member of parliament, who was representing her Prime Minister
PJ Patterson and the Caribbean Community, CARICOM. Also on
the delegation was Randall Robinson, the founder of TransAfrica
and a close friend of the Aristides, as well as Ira Kurzban,
the Haitian president's lawyer.
This mission took us from Miami to St. Thomas to Dakar, Senegal
to Bangui in the Central African Republic and back to Dakar,
onto Cape Verde to Dakar, Cape Verde, Barbados and finally
Jamaica.
President Aristide's return to the Caribbean was a trip the
Bush administration clearly did not want to happen. In very
public statements over the past several days, the most senior
US officials said bluntly that they did not want Aristide
in the Western Hemisphere.
At this moment, there is a major controversy brewing in the
Caribbean. The US-installed Prime Minister of Haiti, Gerard
Latortue, has recalled Haiti’s ambassador to Jamaica,
in protest of that country's welcoming of Aristide. Latortue
has also announced that he is freezing Haiti’s participation
in CARICOM, the 15-member organization of Caribbean nations.
CARICOM has called for an independent investigation into the
circumstances of Aristide’s removal from Haiti.
As we crossed the Atlantic on our way to Kingston, Jamaica,
I had a chance to conduct an extensive interview with President
Aristide on-board the Gulfstream jet. I asked him for his
thoughts on returning to the Caribbean.
After we arrived at Norman Manley International Airport in
Kingston, Jamaica yesterday afternoon, the Aristides were
quickly escorted to a helicopter, which transported them to
an undisclosed location on the island nation. President Aristide
did not hold a press conference and at this moment it is unclear
when he will be speaking to reporters again.
- President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, speaking on board of
a chartered Gulfstream jet as he made his way to Jamaica
about his return to the Caribbean.
Exclusive: Aristide and His Bodyguard Describe the
U.S. Role In His Ouster
In a broadcast exclusive, Democracy Now! Aristide goes on
camera for the first time to charge the U.S. kidnapped him
and overthrew his government. We also broadcast the first
interview of his bodyguard Franz Gabriel. In a moment we will
hear Aristide's detailed description of what transpired the
night of the 28th/29th of February when he says he was kidnapped
by the US and removed from Haiti.
Before we hear from Aristide, we wanted to go back to those
days and listen to how the Bush administration was spinning
the ouster.
On March 1, Democracy Now! broke the story that Aristide
was directly accusing the US of overthrowing him in a coup,
kidnapping him and taking him by force to the Central African
Republic. That day US official after US official was asked
about Aristide's charge. Let’s listen to Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and White
House Secretary Scott McClellan.
- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
- Secretary of State Colin Powell
- White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan
In my talks with President Aristide on board the plane Monday,
I asked him if he had resigned-- as the Bush administration
continues to allege.
- Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Because the circumstances under which Aristide was removed
from Haiti continue to be a source of great international
controversy, we felt we needed to get as comprehensive a version
of events as possible from President Aristide. I asked him
why he calls his removal from Haiti a coup and a kidnapping.
- Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
I also had a chance to speak with another person who witnessed
firsthand the events of that night. He is Franz Gabriel, Aristide's
personal bodyguard and security aide. I spoke with him in
a wing of the presidential palace near where the Aristides
were being held and where they were meeting with the delegation
that came to escort them back to the Caribbean. Gabriel provided
further details on the role of the United States in Arisitide's
removal, in particular the role of the deputy chief of mission
at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, Luis Moreno. Peter Eisner of
the Washington Post was also in the room. During the interview,
Gabriel’s mobile telephone rang many times. I began
by asking Franz Gabriel to describe his last night in Haiti.
You are listening to Franz Gabriel, President Aristide's
personal bodyguard. Peter Eisner of the Washington Post –
the only other journalist on the plane with the delegation
- asked Gabriel whether President Aristide agreed to resign
the night of his departure from Haiti. He asked about reports
that Aristide handed a resignation letter to the deputy chief
of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, Luis Moreno. Gabriel
says he saw no such exchange and that it didn’t happen
in front of him. Aristide has maintained that he did write
a message in Creole that the US says was his letter of resignation
but that it was mistranslated in English to make it appear
as if he resigned.
Aristide’s bodyguard Franz Gabriel speaking in the
presidential palace in Bangui. On the flight back from the
CAR, President Aristide spoke about what he says was a US-orchestrated
coup and kidnapping, I asked Aristide why he believes the
US wanted him gone.
- Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
U.S. Warns Aristide: Stay Out of Hemisphere
Rep. Maxine Waters, Randall Robinson, lawyer Ira Kurzban,
and Jamaican envoy Sharon Hay-Webster talk with Democracy
Now! about the return of Aristide and the reaction from the
U.S. and Haiti. President Aristide's arrival in Jamaica has
sparked a major controversy in the Caribbean. The US-installed
Prime Minister of Haiti, Gerard Latortue, has recalled Haiti’s
ambassador to Jamaica. He has accused Jamaican Prime Minister
PJ Patterson of committing what he called an unfriendly act.
He has also announced that he is freezing Haiti’s participation
in CARICOM, the 15-member organization of Caribbean nations.
CARICOM has called for an independent investigation into the
circumstances of Aristide’s removal from Haiti.
Meanwhile, senior officials of the Bush administration have
expressed their opposition to Aristide being in the Western
Hemisphere. James Foley, the US Ambassador to Haiti, said
Jamaica was taking on a “risk and a responsibility”
in welcoming Aristide. He said "His coming within 150
miles from Haiti is promoting violence.”
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Sunday on
NBC's Meet the Press "We think it's a bad idea. We believe
that President Aristide, in a sense, forfeited his ability
to lead his people, because he did not govern democratically."
On Sunday, before Aristide began his return back to the Caribbean,
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on CNN "The hope
is that he will not come back into the hemisphere and complicate
[the] situation."
Onboard the plane yesterday, I got a chance to get reaction
to the U.S. position from the delegation that escorted Aristide
to Jamaica. I talked to TransAfrica founder Randall Robinson,
Rep. Maxine Waters, Jamaican Member of Parliament and CARICOM
representative Sharon Hay-Webster and Aristide’s lawyer,
Ira Kurzban. We begin with Randall Robinson.
- Randall Robinson, founder of TransAfrica
- Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
- Sharon Hay-Webster, Jamaican Member of Parliament
- Ira Kurzban, lawyer for the Haitian government
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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