From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 07 Sep 92 13:09 PDT
Subject: IPS:Haiti: Exiled President
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700425:000:4023
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Sep  7 13:09:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: IPS:Haiti: Exiled President

/* Written 12:10 am  Sep  5, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: HAITI: Exiled President is winner of IPS Achievement Award


united nations, sep 2 (ips) -- haiti's exiled president, jean-
bertrand aristide, has been named the 1992 winner of the annual
inter press service (ips) international achievement award.

in making the announcement wednesday, roberto savio, director-
general of ips and member of the selection panel, said aristide
was being honoured as ''a symbol of the long battle by the people
of haiti to be free of the yoke of injustice and oppression''.

the director-general also described aristide as ''a defender of
the poor and an advocate of a free media in a democratic haiti''.

aristide, who was ousted in a military coup september 30, 1991,
gained office as the country's first democratically elected
president december 16, 1990, with more than 67 percent of the
popular vote.

he will receive the award at a formal ceremony scheduled to
take place at u.n. headquarters in  new york on september 15.

haiti entered a topsy-turvy period of military-inspired coups
and counter-coups in 1986 after president jean-claude duvalier, in
the face of sustained pressure, was forced into exile aborad a
u.s. military plane ending a brutal 30-year dictatorship.

several attempts at democratic change were frustrated until
aristide's victory in december 1990 which was made possible with
the support of the deprived majority of the haitian people, the
poor people of the towns and cities, rural peasants and those in
organisations working on their behalf.

but as the human rights group amnesty international noted in
its latest report, many haitians have ''plunged into despair'' as
their hope for a return to constitutional order has faded
following aristide's ouster.

the 39-year-old outspoken roman catholic priest who was
expelled from the church's salesian order in 1988, based his
message on the theology of liberation against the background of
the military dictatorship and what he saw as the need for a
renewed church.

following his electoral victory, he called on haitains to
''hold hands and work together to reduce the high cost of living,
to create jobs, to raise production and create better working
conditions''.

an amnesty international report compiled following the visit to
haiti of an international delegation noted that ''urban
insecurity, which had dramatically decreased during president
aristide's administration, has risen to levels comparable to those
before february 1991''. (more/ips)


haiti: exiled (2)

amnesty said in the report released last week that ''the old
repressive structures, which the deposed government had partly
succeeded in dismantling, are back in place''.

human rights groups have observed that under aristide, haiti's
media blossomed with new publications and programmes on
television. intimidation, has however been reimposed following
aristide's ouster.

the exiled president is currently working with the organisation
of american states (oas) in an effort to restore constitutional
rule in haiti.

since the international achievement award was established in
1985, ips has been honouring journalists and human rights
activists making significant contributions in their fields.

the selection was made this year by a panel comprising the ips
director-general, the director of the international press
institute (ipi) peter galliner, and noted swedish author and
journalist per waestberg.

the last two winners of the ips award were mme danielle
mitterrand (1991), for her role in creating awareness of the
problems of dispossessed minorities throughout the world, and sri
lankan journalist richard de zoysa (1990), who was murdered by
death squads for his advocacy of human righ
(story received incomplete)
p017

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