[Peace] [Sdas] Exclusive Breaking News re Aristide (fwd)

Mon Mar 1 15:19:41 CST 2004

Compare this report to today's New York Times stories. NYT leaves out the
main event and portrays Aristide as having decided on to leave.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 14:58:48 -0500 (EST)
From: Regina Day Langhout <rlanghout at wesleyan.edu>
To: cgan at topica.com, Sdas at ojctech.com
Subject: [Sdas] Exclusive Breaking News re Aristide (fwd)

---------- Forwarded message ----------

EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS:
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE SAYS 'I WAS KIDNAPPED'
'TELL THE WORLD IT IS A COUP'

Monday, March 1st, 2004
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=3D04/03/01/1521216

Multiple sources that just spoke with Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide told Democracy
Now! that Aristide says he was "kidnapped" and
taken by force to the Central African Republic.
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. She said he
had been threatened by what he called US
diplomats. According to Waters, the diplomats
reportedly told the Haitian president that if he
did not leave Haiti, paramilitary leader Guy
Philippe would storm the palace and Aristide
would be killed. According to Waters, Aristide
was told by the US that they were withdrawing
Aristide's US security.

TransAfrica founder and close Aristide family
friend Randall Robinson also received a call from
the Haitian president early this morning and
confirmed Waters account. Robinson said that
Aristide "emphatically" denied that he had
resigned. "He did not resign," he said. "He was
abducted by the United States in the commission
of a coup." Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on
a cell phone that was smuggled to the Haitian
president.

Developing...

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. =8Athat 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=8A

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=8Athey had no access to
telephone calls=8A to a telephone on the plane.

AMY GOODMAN: What is the next step=8Awhat 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=8Athey 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.

www.democracynow.org

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