Author
internet-mole
mp3, ~10megs, 1 hour show, with Aristide statement at top of show
While the lion's share of the American media has been spoon-feeding
propaganda in service of the interests of the oligarchy, Pacifica Radio investigative news
programs DemocracyNow and Flashpoints
have been doing some of the most amazing work on Haiti -- all week.
DemocracyNow is more well known given greater syndication. But you don't
want to miss Flashpoints. Their coverage in the last week has been nothing
short of phenomenal. Check them out over the web.
-internet_mole
================
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Commentary,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
Pacific News Service, Mar 05, 2004
Haiti under shadowy circumstances Feb. 29, has delivered an impassioned
address “To the Haitian People and the World” by cell phone to a Haitian
journalist in the United States working with a radio station in Berkeley, CA.
In the address recorded early Friday, Aristide aims his words at Haitians,
urging them to “stand in solidarity and stop the spread of death.” He
delivers a detailed account of what he calls his “kidnapping” from a
palace surrounded by heavily armed “white men.” He refers to the leader of
a massive slave insurrection of l791, Toussaint L'Ouverture, a national hero
who died in a French prison. Aristide spoke from the Central African Republic
where he has been under a virtual house arrest in the days since he was
delivered from Port-au-Prince on a U.S. plane. The address was recorded by a
Haitian radio producer known to Aristide for some 20 years and broadcast
Friday, exclusively on Pacifica Radio’s Flashpoints News Magazine. Six
Haitians and Americans who know Aristide listened Friday to excerpts from the
message, delivered in Creole, and confirmed the voice is that of the
president, said the Flashpoints program host and Pacific News Service
contributor, Dennis Bernstein (e-mail-dbernstein@igc.org), who supplied this
translation exclusively to PNS.
“In overthrowing me, they have uprooted the trunk of the liberty. It will
grow back because its roots are many and deep.” In the shadow of Toussaint
L'Ouverture, the genius of the race. I declare in overthrowing me they have
uprooted the trunk of the tree of peace, but it will grow back because the
roots are L'Ouverturian.
Dear compatriots, it is with these first words that I am saluting our brothers
and sisters from Africa, while I am standing on the soil of the Central
African Republic. Allow me to salute you by repeating that same declaration
that is, “In overthrowing me, they have uprooted the trunk of the tree of
peace.” During the night of the 28th of February 2004, there was a coup
d’etat. One could say that it was a geo-political kidnapping. I can clearly
say that it was terrorism disguised as diplomacy. To conclude, this coup
d’etat and this kidnapping are like two quarters and 50 cents side by side.
I have always denounced the coming of this coup d’etat, but until the 27th
of February, the day before, I didn't see that the crime was going to be
accompanied by kidnapping as well. The 28th of February, at night, suddenly,
American military personnel who were already all over Port-au-Prince descended
on my house in Tabarre to tell me first that all the American security agents
who have contracts with the Haitian government only have two options. Either
they leave immediately to go to the United States, or they fight to die.
Secondly, they told me the remaining 25 of the American security agents hired
by the Haitian government who were to come in on the 29th of February as
reinforcements were under interdiction, prevented from coming. Thirdly, they
told me the foreigners and Haitian terrorists alike, loaded with heavy
weapons, were already in position to open fire on Port-au-Prince. And right
then, the Americans precisely stated that they will kill thousands of people
and it will be a bloodbath. That the attack is ready to start, and when the
first bullet is fired nothing will stop them and nothing will make them wait
until they take over, therefore the mission is to take me dead or alive.
At that time I told the Americans that my first preoccupation was to save the
lives of those thousands of people tonight. As far as my own life is
concerned, whether I am alive or whether I am dead, that is not what’s
important. As much as I was trying to use diplomacy, the more the pressure was
being intensified for the Americans to start the attack. In spite of that, I
took the risk of slowing down the death machine to verify the degree of
danger, the degree of bluff or the degree of intimidation.
It was more serious than a bluff. The National Palace was surrounded by white
men armed up to their teeth. The Tabarre area -- the residence -- was
surrounded by foreigners armed to their teeth. The airport of Port-au-Prince
was already under the control of these men. After a last evaluation I made
during a meeting with the person in charge of Haitian security in
Port-au-Prince, and the person in charge of American security, the truth was
clear. There was going to be a bloodbath because we were already under an
illegal foreign occupation which was ready to drop bodies on the ground, to
spill blood, and then kidnap me dead or alive.
That meeting took place at 3 a.m. Faced with this tragedy, I decided to ask,
"What guarantee do I have that there will not be a bloodbath if I decided
to leave?"
In reality, all this diplomatic gymnastics did not mean anything because these
military men responsible for the kidnapping operation had already assumed the
success of their mission. What was said was done. This diplomacy, plus the
forced signing of the letter of resignation, was not able to cover the face of
the kidnapping.
From my house to the airport, everywhere there were American military men
armed with heavy weapons of death. The military plane that came to get me
landed while the convoy of vehicles that had come to get me was near the
tarmac at the airport. When we were airborne, nobody knew where we were going.
When we landed at one place nobody knew where we were. Among us on the plane
was a baby of one of my American security agents who has a Haitian wife. They
could not get out. We spent four hours without knowing where we were. When we
got back in the air again, nobody knew where we were going.
It was not until 20 minutes before we landed in the Central African Republic
that I was given the official word that this is where we would be landing. We
landed at a French Air Force base but fortunately there were 5 ministers from
the government who came to welcome us on behalf of the President there.
We know there are people back home who are suffering, who are being killed,
who are in hiding. But we also know that back home there are people who
understand the game, but will not give up because if they give up, instead of
finding peace, we will find death.
Therefore, I ask that everyone who loves life to come together to protect the
lives of others. I ask everyone who does not want to see bloodshed to come
together so that it is life that flourishes instead of blood that has been
spilled, or bodies falling. I know it’s possible that all Haitians who live
in the tenth department [Haitians living abroad] understand what tragedy lies
hidden under the cover of this coup d’etat, under the cover of this
kidnapping. I know and they know if we stand in solidarity we will stop the
spread of death and we will help life flourish. The same thing that happened
to a President who was democratically elected can happen at any time, in any
other country too. That’s why the solidarity is indispensable to protect a
democracy that works together with life.
The constitution is the source of this life. It’s the guarantee of the life.
Let’s stand together under the constitution in solidarity so that it is life
that unfolds, and that it is peace that flourishes and not death as we are
seeing it. Courage, courage, courage! From where I am with the First Lady, we
have not forgotten what Toussaint L'Ouverture has said, and that’s why we
saluted all of Africa with his words, and we are saluting all Haitians
everywhere with the conviction that the roots of the tree of peace, with the
spirit of Toussaint L'Ouverture inside, are alive. They can cut the tree as
they have done with the machete of the coup d’etat, but they cannot cut the
roots of peace. It will sprout again because it has the spirit of Toussaint
L'Ouverture inside.