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| Caribbean |
| Haitian president urged to quit to end violence |
| 2004-01-21 |
| Leaders of the Democratic Platform, a coalition of political parties, clergy, students and business leaders, who met Caribbean community leaders in the Bahamas yesterday to seek a peaceful resolution, said they had a two-pronged plan to depose him. The first element, said Evans Paul, an opposition politician, was "to show the international community and the Catholic church that Aristide has lost his popularity and should not be supported". The second was to show that he "uses violence to repress our rights to free speech and assembly and that no compromise is possible with his regime". The police fired tear gas and bullets into the air to break up a student protest on Monday. On Sunday a boy of 13 was killed during a protest against the government when shots were fired by men hiding in a state television station. On Saturday Mr Aristide said the opposition rallies constituted an attempted coup, and he refused to step down. The protests have become an almost daily event: 47 people have died and more than 100 have been injured since mid-September. Mr Aristide has become isolated on the world stage since observers questioned the fairness of the parliamentary elections in 2000. He was elected by a landslide later that year, but has been in almost permanent conflict with the opposition, which demands new presidential and parliamentary polls. Mr Aristide told Caribbean leaders last week that he would hold parliamentary elections in six months time. He made the same promise last year. His opponents refuse to take part in elections unless he resigns. The standoff has provoked a bloody spiral of popular protest and state repression in recent months, particularly since Monday when parliament disbanded, leaving Mr Aristide in effect to rule by decree. On Monday students threw stones at private schools which had stayed open despite being asked to close in solidarity with the protests. During the melee a tear gas canister landed in a Roman Catholic girls’ school, causing the children to panic. On Thursday two pro-government broadcasters, Radio Pyramide and Radio America, were attacked. Three days later two stations with an anti-government bias were set alight. The clashes have marred the bicentennial celebrations of Haiti’s independence from French rule, when it became the world’s first black-led republic. I didn’t receive the script on this one. If he is ousted again, are we supposed to invade and put him back in power? Somebody page Jimmy Carter and let us know. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #5 zzzz..... Whah. Sorry that was me. I forgot. He's allowed to deport violent felons to Gitmo for 10 years. And he is not allowed to issue Visas either Jesse Jackson, members of his family, other members of Rainbow Push, or Farakauns crowd either as we want this Island kingdom to be a finincially sucessful Pan-African utopian not a shakedown..... zzzz Halle Berry.... zzz ... can of Readi Whip ... zzz |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-1-21 9:15:39 PM |
| #4 Shipman, I don't know who would foot the bill, and I'm sick of invading places for humanitarian reasons only to be called an imperialist. I was hoping for Castro to take over, but I think he only subverts the poor in countries that have money or oil. I came up with this plan in the shower. Roy Disney now has time on his hands until they popsicleize his aged ass. Rather than allowing him to travel the country tilting at the Eisner windmill, let's reroute the old coot to the Caribbean. He arrives with a $10B from the US taxpayers as a balloon, lump sum, don't come looking for more, last lotto stake to get him started. We allow him to issue stock in such away as to leave one share per Haitian that they can cashout should an individual decide to leave or should said individual be such an abomitable ass that a majority of other residents decide to blackball him for hygene offences or whatever. Roy founds HAITILAND and excercises McAurthur like powers for a decade or so of theme hotel building, ride construction and tourist gouging. He should have the power to issu more stock not to exceed the .... zzzzzz |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-21 9:09:05 PM |
| #3 1/3+1/3+1/3+1/3+1/3=5/3?? Must just be me. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-1-21 7:37:24 PM |
| #2 Maybe they could all move to the Dominican Republic?... |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-1-21 7:12:55 PM |
| #1 If a run away reactor or an earthquake caused the situation in Haiti there'd be support to evacuate the country. Haiti needs to be depopulated to give it's soil a chance regain a foothold. They are Creole speakers... send 1/3 to Louisiana, 1/3 to France, 1/3 to Quebec and 1/3 to French Polyopanisia and last 1/3 to the People Republic of Vietnam. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-21 6:46:53 PM |