Eyewitness: Haiti protests

[Dover]

In the searing Caribbean heat, thousands of opposition supporters flooded through the streets of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, chanting, "Aristide, Go! Aristide - we are mobilising!"
"The situation in Haiti is very bad - now the whole population is against Aristide," said one man, draped in the red and blue Haitian flag.

"Everybody is just tired - everyone wants to see a change," another young man said, his face beaded with drops of sweat.

Even as they spoke, stones started flying through the air, as the demonstrations turned violent.

Intimidation

Groups of Jean-Bertrand Aristide supporters - hired thugs known as "chimeres" - roamed the streets clutching automatic weapons, and wearing black masks.

Their aim was clearly to intimidate people and to disrupt the demonstrations.....cont'd

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3378013.stm

[TexasMexican]

1. hmmm...

didnt we go into Haiti a few years back to kick that white guy out who used to be the dictator, what was his nationality anyways?

What about Aristide, wasnt he the one that they had wanted to elect back then, did he decide to become a dicator too. Figures.

[Judi Lynn]

2. We are told so LITTLE about our own hemisphere!

From the article:

A victorious slave revolt against Napoleon's troops brought about the creation of the world's first black republic.

However, independence has brought Haiti little but misery and poverty.

It is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, with most people existing on less than a dollar a day, and an average life expectancy rate of just over 50.

I'm ashamed to admit I learned about Haiti's becoming the first country to throw over the slave owners, only LAST WEEK or so.

I think that is truly remarkable. They deserve a chance to succeed, yet have had such bad luck for so long.

"Papa Doc" Francois Duvalier was a brutal, loathesome dictator, completely acceptable to the U.S., no matter WHAT he did to the citizens of Haiti, utilizing his secret police, and death squad, the TonTon Macoute.

Now they get in delapidated boats, and sail over 600 miles to try to get refuge here, and almost always are deported after being thrown in jail in Florida, while all Cubans who reach shore are paroled into the community almost immediately, then given free legal status, as well as access to a free work visa, green card, Section 8 government housing, food stamps, medical care, social security, etc., etc. Does this seem fair to you?

Hope this century will bring the help Haiti really needs.

[lostnfound]

3. DemocracyNow! interview told a very different story last Friday

A guest was Kim Ives, editor of a Haitian newspaper, talking about the difference between the press reports and her on-the-ground observations. She said that the masses are celebrating their independence, and that the opposition is much smaller and supported by Washington.

She compared it to Venezuela, saying that a massive destabilization campaign is underway supported by Washington.

Amy Goodman actually had two sides to the story on her show, with another guest who faulted Aristide.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/02/1459204&mode=thread&tid=25
AMY GOODMAN: Our guest in the studio is Jocelyn McCalla, Executive Director of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights, and joining us by telephone in Port-au-Prince is Kim Ives, editor of the Haitian newspaper, Haiti Progres. Let's go down to Port-au-Prince first. Kim Ives, can you tell us about Independence Day, 200 years later? What happened in Port-au-Prince yesterday?

KIM IVES: Well, Amy, it was a surreal day. Surreal in the sense that if you are to read the press and the NPHR press releases in New York, you get the sense that Haiti was coming apart at the seams, that there was an uprising against the government -- in some form or another. In fact, the uprising was just to celebrate Haitian independence. There were tens of thousands of people throughout the streets of Haiti on Wednesday night on December 31st, celebrating independence out in the streets, singing, dancing. It was just incredible to behold. The next day you had – and it was really ironic -- you had in front of the palace tens and tens of thousands. I would estimate between 200,000 and 400,000; AP said 10,000 -- they upped it to 15,000 when some people protested. And, this is what has become the hallmark of coverage, this total media distortion of what's going on. That afternoon, the opposition, supported by Washington, carried out some kind of action where they marched. And, their modus operandi now is they announce a march and then they change the route so the police are faced with this provocation on each occasion. They had to stop them from taking their direction. They used some gas. The people had -- the opposition march had -- prepared for this. They had tires and cinder blocks. This was in Port-au-Prince yesterday afternoon after the celebrations in the morning. They threw everything into the street, created barricades. Finally, they were dispersed and they went on a rampage through the areas of Nazon-la-Lieu, and other parts of the city, tearing up storefronts, smashing car windows. So, it was a real attempt to wreck the day. In Gonaïves, something similar happened. There was a ceremony and they held it. They said they were going to shoot it up and stone it up. They didn't do that to the actual ceremony, but as people were leaving Gonaïves, they stood behind a row of houses going out of the city and pelted cars with rocks and some cars had their windows shot out, too. So, this is the kind of action the opposition is undertaking to terrorize people and destabilize the country. I think it's ironic.