KOMPA! MAGAZINE

[tipoupouche]

Many Haitians want exiled Aristide back
By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer
Tue Apr 15, 4:53 PM ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Haiti's president has lowered rice prices and the Senate has sacked the prime minister. But hungry Haitians who rioted over food prices still want more.

"Aristide or death! Aristide or death!" young men in sunglasses and low-slung ballcaps chant outside parliament.

That's right, Jean-Bertrand Aristide — the slum priest-turned-president who needed a U.S. intervention to restore him to power in 1994, and who accuses Washington of kidnapping him into exile a decade later as the country descended into political chaos.

The clamor for Aristide's return was deafening during last week's unrest over skyrocketing food prices that left at least seven people dead, hundreds injured and Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis out of a job. Some protesters vowed to press on until they unseat President Rene Preval, a former Aristide ally.

Experts say it is unlikely that Aristide engineered the protests from exile in South Africa. But people living in Port-au-Prince slums say workers for a prominent Aristide loyalist went door-to-door drumming up support for the peaceful protests, some of which spiraled into violence as criminal gangs seized the opportunity to loot stores.

Either way, Aristide's return has become a key demand on the streets after entire slums rallied for the former president and protesters carried tree branches they said signified their support for his Famni Lavalas party.

"If there were an election in Haiti, Aristide would win," said Mario Jeanty, a Haitian who lives in New York. "There's no one who can beat him."

Aristide's smiling, bespectacled face is everywhere in the poor areas of Port-au-Prince, from paintings sold on roadsides to photographs pasted onto cell phones. Blocks from the presidential palace, graffiti declares: "King Aristide will return" and "Down with Preval, long live Aristide."

"Whether or not one likes Aristide, he remains a force in this country because the masses remain very attached to him," said Patrick Elie, who has served as an adviser to both Aristide and now Preval.

In speeches from South Africa, Aristide has hinted at returning, but said he merely wants to be a teacher. He has said his possibilities depend on Preval, who served as his prime minister.

Preval won the 2006 elections with the support of voters who believed he would bring Aristide home. But he has not called publicly for Aristide's return, and the men's current relationship is unclear.

Jean-Robert Lafortune, chairman of the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition in Miami, said the fact that Aristide hasn't made a statement on the food crisis could be a tacit indication of support for Preval.

"Once, Aristide called Preval his twin brother," Lafortune said. "We don't know if that sentiment has changed."

Aristide generally keeps a low profile, living with his wife Mildred and their two daughters in a government villa in Pretoria, a garden city of government headquarters and embassy residences.

South African officials say he spends his time researching Caribbean history and studying Zulu, a local language. He penned a comparative linguistic study of Zulu and Haitian Creole, as well as a paper on the theology of love.

A miraculous Aristide comeback would not be unprecedented. Aristide became popular as a priest in the slum of La Saline, and was elected president in 1990. Ousted in a military coup the following year, U.S. troops restored him to the presidential palace in 1994.

After stepping down, he was re-elected in 2000 but was ousted again in a bloody 2004 rebellion amid charges that he broke promises to help the poor, allowed drug-fueled corruption and masterminded assaults on opponents.

Some of Aristide's current support can be attributed to nostalgia for a past in which life, while difficult in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, was easier than today.

"When Aristide was around we found food, we had jobs," said Manouchak Louis, who is 21 and unemployed. "If he comes back the country will change."

___

Associated Press writers Verena Dobnik in New York, Jennifer Kay in Miami and Michelle Faul in Johannesburg, South Africa, contributed to this report.

[kazak-lakol]

Se le mesye mouri Ayisyen ap gen nanm!
_________________
It's all about Love.

[classic 1]

"When Aristide was around we found food, we had jobs," said Manouchak Louis, who is 21 and unemployed. "If he comes back the country will change."


ki job touye moun pou lajan mwen pa konnen sa Aristide fe po moun cite soleil ki fe yo fou pou li konsa le Aristide te sou pouvwa yo still t'ap viv nan menm mize a.

[Sweet kowompu]

Incroyable!
Ayisien pense lot nasyon yo pral aksepte Aristide tounen ayiti, bravo taleu yo pral anvayi peyi a

I wonder what Aristide can do for Haïti

[LadyKreyol]

kazak-lakol wrote:

Se le mesye mouri Ayisyen ap gen nanm!

Are you saying if he were to die he would become a martyr of sorts and possibly INSPIRE a lot of Haitians to stop relying on others, stay in school, stop thinking their salvation can be found in P.A.P, open their eyes to the value of the country side and if they have the agronomic skills, concentrate on farming the lands in their hometowns and MAYBE even cause the Haitian gov't to think HAITI FIRST for a change.

I can only WISH that were the case.
_________________
Music is love in search of a word.
Sidney Lanier

[radiocitadelle2006]

I'am a fan of Aristide...but I don't want to see hum president again...if he return to haiti..he should just go live his life.. Haitien pa konn sa yo vle...
me I'd never get in to haitian politics.....
_________________
djakout renouvle pouvwa'l... djakout renouvle pouvwa'l........... gade amba'm wa we.. men kompa

[Haitianone]

RC

They should bring back Aristide, finish off Haiti for good.
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Statehood or Bust

[Neg Lakay]

The phrase "many Haitians want exiled Aristide back" is very vague and misleading. Sure you can find people in Haiti who wants Aristide back, just like you can find people in Iraq who wants Saddam back, but what percentage of the population is that? Saying Haitians want Aristide back would imply that it is the majority of the population... I can tell you it is not the case. The majority of Haitians are not askign for Aristide back. Mande jounalis sa bay moun tèt yo!
_________________
"The first WEALTH is HEALTH"
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

[SIROMYEL]

This is when I give up on Haiti.

there is no hope.

gade kouman arisitde ka tounen yon pongongon pou on peyi?

koulanget mesye.


TONEEEERRRE!

[Redji-Vice]

Bagay yo se yon kesyon de temps yo ye en Haiti!
Epòk après ané 86 yo juska 94, sete yon honte li te ye si yon moun te di li se yon "makout" or li vle Duvalier tounen. Yo te menm fè blag sou bagay kote kouri dèyè yon makout te pi grav ke kouri dèyè yon vòlè ... Après ane 2000 yo, anpil moun tounen santi yo fier pou yo deklare tet yo kòm makout.

Mwen te just panse fenomèn Aristide la tap pran plus temps avan li tounen nan lide moun yo tout bon ... Enfin!
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"LET THE BAD IN OTHERS BRING OUT THE GOOD IN YOU"!