By Robert Hart , Staff Reporter
Above: Jean-Bertrand Aristide (left), the ousted Haitian president, is greeted yesterday by Thanduyise Chiliza, South Africa's Ambassador to Jamaica, on his arrival for a press conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston. Mr. Aristide addressed journalists shortly before his departure from the island for exile in South Africa, after an 11-week stay here. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer
JEAN-BERTRAND Aristide, the ousted Haitian President, yesterday swore he would return to his Caribbean homeland and painted a damning portrait of abuses, which he said had been taking place in Haiti since he went into exile on February 29.
Mr. Aristide, who had shunned the news media since arriving in Jamaica weeks ago on March 15, left the island early yesterday afternoon with his wife, Mildred, and their two children, for what he said would be a temporary stay in South Africa. They were accompanied by a delegation which included Delano Franklyn, Jamaica's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, and Maxine Waters, the Democratic United States Congresswoman from California.
"There is one elected President of Haiti... there is not two... and that is me," Mr. Aristide calmly told journalists at a mid-morning news conference during which he said he would eventually travel back to Haiti from South Africa. However, at the briefing at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, he said he had no timeframe in mind for his return.
Mr. Aristide's statement was a clear swipe at Haiti's interim president Boniface Alexandre, who assumed the post following his controversial exit on February 29, as well as at Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, who was appointed by a seven-member 'council of sages' to head the provisional government just days later. Neither Jamaica nor CARICOM has been willing to recognise the new Haitian Government.
Mr. Aristide claimed yesterday that thousands of people were being killed for supporting him, their elected leader, and said the Haitian situation must be normalised. Accusing a 'combination of people, including the so-called Haitian government' of abuses such as the arrest and handcuffing of a five-year-old child, Mr. Aristide demanded that peace be restored through democratic order.
His assertions were based on contact he said he had made with persons in Haiti, and included the alleged burning of a house with people being forced to remain inside. He claimed that citizens were being killed, bagged and dumped in the sea.
"What we have in Haiti today may remind of what we have in Iraq. The issue is you have pictures from Iraq and you may not have from Haiti. But when you compare these two countries, you feel shock and you suffer with those suffering," he said.
Mr. Aristide: "I wish my people will not fall in the temptation to use violence against those using violence to keep them silent."
Also, yesterday, he addressed allegations of ties between members of his administration and drug dealers as well as claims that he had fleeced Haiti of millions of American dollars.
"Those who were arrested are adults. I will let their lawyers talk for them. I hope justice will be done," Mr. Aristide said.
He added: "It is totally false... nonsense when they refer to us (his family being involved in drugs and corruption). We exposed our lives when we were in office in Haiti to reduce the level of drugs coming from Haiti to the United States."
Mr. Aristide pointed to what he said was a reduction in drug transport to the U.S. through Haiti from 15 per cent to eight per cent during his administration, stating that the figure had been provided by the U.S. Embassy in Haiti.
The former Haitian president's departure from Haiti was the result of a violent coup that left more than a 100 people dead and threatened his life. But shortly after he arrived in the Central African Republic from Haiti, Mr. Aristide accused the U.S. of having taken him by force from his homeland.
Yesterday, he refused to give details about the alleged 'kidnapping' but said it would all be outlined in a book he apparently spent time writing while in Jamaica. "Please be patient. The book is almost ready and it will bring the full answer of what happened and how it happened," he said.
