[Peace-discuss] haiti coup

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

Rep Maxine Waters: Aristide Says 'I Was Kidnapped'

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Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am 
EST. "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is in jail, he said. He says he 
was kidnapped," said Waters. Click on this link to read a full transcript of 
the Democracy Now! interview with Rep. Maxine Waters. 
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RUSH TRANSCRIPT 
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman. Congressmember Waters, 
can you tell us about the conversation you just had with Haitian President 
Jean-Bertrand Aristide? 

MAXINE WATERS: I most certainly can and he’s anxious for me to get the 
message out so people will understand. He is in the Central Republic of Africa at a 
place called the Palace of the Renaissance, and he’s not sure if that’s a 
house or a hotel or what it is and he is surrounded by military. It’s like in 
jail, he said. He said that he was kidnapped; he said that he was forced to leave 
Haiti. He said that the American embassy sent the diplomats; he referred to 
them as, to his home where they was lead by Mr. Moreno. And I believe that Mr. 
Moreno is a deputy chief of staff at the embassy in Haiti and other diplomats, 
and they ordered him to leave. They said you must go NOW. He said that they 
said that Guy Phillipe and U.S. Marines were coming to Port Au Prince; he will 
be killed, many Haitians will be killed, that they would not stop until they 
did what they wanted to do. He was there with his wife Mildred and his 
brother-in-law and two of his security people, and somebody from the Steel Foundation, 
and they’re all, there’s five of them that are there. They took them where-- 
they did stop in Antigua then they stopped at a military base, then they were 
in the air for hours and then they arrived at this place and they were met by 
five ministers of government. It’s a Francophone country, they speak French. 
And they were then taken to this place called the Palace of the Renaissance 
where they are being held and they are surrounded by military people. They are 
not free to do whatever they want to do. Then the phone clicked off after we 
had talked for about five--we talked maybe fifteen minutes and then the phone 
clicked off. But he, some of it was muffled in the beginning, at times it was 
clear. But one thing that was very clear and he said it over and over again, 
that he was kidnapped, that the coup was completed by the Americans that they 
forced him out. They had also disabled his American security force that he had 
around him for months now; they did not allow them to extend their numbers. To 
begin with they wanted them to bring in more people to provide security they 
prevented them from doing that and then they finally forced them out of the 
country. So that’s where his is and I said to him that I would do everything I 
could to get the word out. …that I heard it directly from him I heard it directly 
from his wife that they were kidnapped, they were forced to leave, they did 
not want to leave, their lives were threatened and the lives of many Haitians 
were threatened. And I said that we would be in touch with the State 
Department, with the President today and if at all possible we would try to get to him. 
We don’t know whether or not he is going to be moved. We will try and find 
that information out today. 

AMY GOODMAN: Did President Aristide say whether or not he resigned? 

MAXINE WATERS: He did not resign. He said he was forced out, that the coup 
was completed. 

AMY GOODMAN: So again to summarize, Congressmember Maxine Waters, you have 
just gotten off the phone with President Jean Bertrand Aristide, who said he 
believes he is in the Central African Republic. 

MAXINE WATERS: That’s right, with French speaking officers, he’s surrounded 
by them and he’s in this place called the Palace of the Renaissance and he was 
forced to go there. They took him there. 

AMY GOODMAN: What are you going to do right now? 

MAXINE WATERS: I’m going to get to the State Dept to find out what do they 
plan on doing with him. Do they plan on leaving him there or are they planning 
on taking him to another country? We are going to tell them we would like to 
see him. We are prepared to go where he is NOW and that we are demanding that we 
are able to see him and go where he is. And to negotiate what will be done 
with him. 

AMY GOODMAN: Did he describe how he was taken out? We had heard reports in 
Haiti that he was taken out in handcuffs. Did he… 

MAXINE WATERS: No he did not say he was taken out in handcuffs. He simply 
said that they came led by Mr. Moreno followed by the marines and they said 
simply “you have to go!” You have no choice, you must go and if you don’t you will 
be killed and many Haitians will be killed. We are planning with Mr. De 
filliped to come into Puerto Rico. He will not be alone he will come with American 
military and you will not survive, you will be killed. You’ve got to go now! 

AMY GOODMAN: How did President Aristide sound? What was the quality of his 
voice? 

MAXINE WATERS: The quality of his voice was anxious, angry, disturbed, 
wanting people to know the truth. 

AMY GOODMAN: Did he say why he had not made any calls since early on Sunday 
morning; that people had not been in touch with him for more than 36 hours. 
Certainly this plane was equipped with a telephone? 

MAXINE WATERS: OH, I don’t think they were able to make any calls from the 
plane. They were only allowed to make calls once they landed. And I think the 
only call that they had made was to her mother who is in Florida and her 
brother. But they were not allowed…they had no access to telephone calls… to a 
telephone on the plane. 

AMY GOODMAN: What is the next step…what are you going to do? What do you 
think the people in this country should being doing about this situation in Haiti? 

MAXINE WATERS: First of all I think the people in this country should be 
outraged that our government led a coup de’tat against a democratically elected 
President. They should call, write. Fax with their outrage, not only to the 
State Dept. but to all of their elected officials and to the press. We have to 
keep the information flying in the air so people will get it and understand what 
is taking place. And for those of us who are elected officials we must not 
only get to the President, we must demand that he is returned to claim his 
presidency if that is what he wants. If you can recall what happened in Venezuela 
when Mr. Chavez was…they tried to force him out and they had someone step into 
the presidency and he had not resigned his presidency and he got it back. I did 
not have that conversation with President Aristide but we must meet with him 
and we must talk with him and be prepared to protect him. 

AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Maxine Waters I want to thank you for being with 
us again. Congress member Waters has just spoken with President Aristide who 
she says said he was kidnapped and is now with his wife and surrounded by 
security in the Central African Republic.