From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: HAITI: ARISTIDE'S TENACITY REMAINS UNSHAKEABLE
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 22:35:35 GMT

/** reg.carib: 320.0 **/
** Topic: IPS: Haiti: Aristide's tenacity rem **
** Written  6:37 am  Oct  2, 1992 by caribdesk in cdp:reg.carib **
From: Bob Thomson <caribdesk>
Subject: IPS: Haiti: Aristide's tenacity remains

/* Written 12:12 am  Oct  2, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "HAITI: ARISTIDE'S TENACITY REMAINS " ---------- */
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: ARISTIDE'S TENACITY REMAINS UNSHAKEABLE

an inter press service feature

by estrella gutierrez

caracas, sep 28 (ips) -- jean-bertrand aristide has changed during
the 12 months following the bloody military coup which ousted him
from power sep. 30,1991.

the man still recognised by the international community as
president of haiti was forced after the coup to leave his country
following arduous negotiations with the new haitian strongman,
general raoul cedras.

the differences between the aristide who subsequently arrived
in venezuela oct. 1 and the aristide of today lie just beneath the
surface.

he is still slim, still has one eye higher than the other
behind his gold-rimmed spectacles in a plain face adorned only by
a slight moustache, but which radiates a special dignity, now
heightened by fine clothes and ties, and a gold watch.

but one year's experience as a deposed president, which has
transformed him into a roving personality on the international
scene, has resulted in a sureness of gesture, word and attitude.

he has much of the traditional facade of a head of state,
perhaps because appearances are more important than ever now he is
president only at the level of protocol.

but behind it, one detects a politician who has grown wiser,
who is now more realistic and prepared to skillfully make
concessions -- even though they always seem insufficient -- so
that his case and that of his country, one of the world's poorest,
are not filed into oblivion.

moreover, at 39, he allows himself a humanity which before he
reserved only for his people, who called him 'titid' and launched
themselves at his call into a 'lavalas' (avalanche) from the
slums, which swept away all obstacles until they made him the
winner of the first free elections in haiti's history.

his face changes fluidly to transmit a smile, irony, contained
pain, but above all a new moderation and, more than ever , a great
serenity, as he utters words which he pronounces syllable by
syllable when he wants to underline or bring out the nuance in
something.

but there is a trait which his timidity does not hide:
tenacity, which he says is based on his conviction in his mission,
keeping the flame of hope burning for haiti.
(more/ips)

haiti: aristide's tenacity remains unshakeable(2)

haiti: no setback can shake (2)

it seems less important today that he is a priest expelled from
the salesian order in 1988, a believer in liberation theology --
or the church of the poor as he prefers to call it. he notes with
fleeting contempt that the vatican's disapproval of him has made
it the only state to recognise the cedras regime.

aristide's unalterable hairstyle, his gestures and his language
filled with references to god, ethics, theology and , above all,
jesus and the holy gospel, recall the past of a man whose
personality cannot be explained without reference to his christian
faith.

it is this past which also explains his love for the parables
he used to reach out to the 70 percent of haitians who voted for
him.

however, this figure does not reflect the full extent of his
support among the seven million haitians, 85 percent of whom are
illiterate, ''but not stupid,'' he stresses, and 90 percent of
whom are, like him, black.

this polyglot, psychologist and theologian, who also studied
anthropology and archaeology, has been called the ayatollah of the
caribbean and has been dubbed a socialist.

during his seven months in power, followed by one year of moving
from capital to capital, he has created a different image of haiti
from that of voodoo, the 'tontons macoutes' and all-enveloping
misery.

he stresses that, for him, ''politics is a question of
morality'' and he uses ''the ethical dimension of politics'' to
spur people from making declarations to acting in support of
haitian democracy.

he still prefers to use the word ''challenge'' rather than
''shame'' when referring to the refusal by some members of the
organisation of american states (oas) to comply with the trade
embargo against haiti. but he warns  that ''tomorrow it can be an
indelible historical shame.''

how much credibility will the oas and its 34 governments have?
''none,'' he says, insisting that ''the very morality of the
governments is at stake''. ''if we do what we say, if some of us
do half of what we say, tomorrow we shall see democracy return to
haiti.''

meanwhile, his people continue to suffer. ''i feel pain from so
many deaths,'' he says, accusing the regime that has replaced him
of killing 3,000 people.

''but there is also a profound joy because i am not mistaken in
my strategy, since in the one year they have not been able to
govern, cannot govern and will not be able to govern.''

he admits that the passage of time benefits cedras more than
him, but he is convinced that the putschists have helped to
consolidate his image in haiti and even turn him into something of
a myth. ''now, speaking humbly, i am stronger in my country than
when my body was there.'' (more/ips)

haiti: aristide's tenacity remains unshakeable(3-e)

haiti: no setback can shake (3)

''they have turned me into an indispensable figure and, in
fact, there is no other person today who can give peace to all
sectors: army, civilian population, rich and poor.''

he sees haiti as ''a broken vase in which my task will be to pick
up the pieces through the democratic game'' and provide what the
poor and the very financiers of the coup long for, ''safety to
walk, to invest, to live''.

he recognises that he made mistakes during the seven months
following his inauguration on feb. 7, 1991, because ''anyone who
claims he has made no mistakes is making a very serious mistake,''
but he prefers to speak of an apprenticeship and rejects the idea
that extremism on his part may have contributed to the coup.

what would be his policies if he returned to haiti in triumph?

''on feb. 7 we were a car which had fuel to go at 150 kph along
the democratic highway. now that car cannot go at the same speed.
what we did then was proportionate to the weight of historical
corruption. what we would do now would be proportional to the game
of flexibility,'' he says.

''reality tells me i cannot retake the path of sep. 30 and that
the issue is remaining on the democratic highway.''

he speaks of cedras with a detachment which was impossible a
few months ago: ''i have to love cedras, i have no personal
conflict with him,'' he says. it is almost with admiration that he
describes cedra as ''a trickster, but what a trickster''.

in contrast, he has only contempt for de facto prime minister
marc bazin. ''he is nothing but a civilian marionette in the hands
of the military.''

for aristide, the word love is important because ''love for me
is a force which pushes me to commit myself even so far as to
giving my life.  i love human beings, no matter which cardinal
point they come from.''

but love slips into the background when he speaks of the
vatican and pope john paul ii. he wonders if the pope is racist, a
question he does not answer, and if ''he would have blessed the
criminals in a similar manner'' had the 3,000 dead been poles.

to bolster his case internationally, aristide is publishing his
fifth book and having others, which are out of print, re-edited.
in his spare time he is learning chinese, in which he became
interested during a visit to beijing.

he sees the haitian problem in continental terms. ''haiti is
not a case which can be deleted through the will to delete it. it
is an arm of the continent, and what happens to my country will
determine whether or not we shall be able to speak of a democratic
continent in the year 2000.''
(end/ips/trd/so/eg-oh/kb/amk/92)

** End of text from cdp:reg.carib **

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