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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Haiti Rebel Uprising Spreads to 9 Towns |
| 2004-02-09 |
| EFL: Anti-government rebels had taken control of at least nine towns in eastern Haiti Monday, and the death toll in the violent uprising rose to at least 40, witnesses said. In the strongest challenge yet to the authority of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, armed rebels began their assault Thursday in the Gonaives, Haiti’s fourth-largest city, setting the police station on fire, driving police officers out of the town and sending government workers fleeing for safety. "We are in a situation of armed popular insurrection," said opposition politician and former army Col. Himler Rebu, who led a failed coup attempt against Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril in 1989. Success builds on success, if the government doesn’t stop the spread soon, it’ll reach a tipping point. The deaths were reported by the Associated Press, Red Cross official Raoul Elysee, rebel leaders Wenter Etienne and Jean-Yves Marcisse, and Haitian radio. Sounds about right, still low by international uprising standards. At the weekend, the rebels took the important port city of St. Marc, where hundreds of people looted TV sets, mattresses and sacks of flour from shipping containers. Using felled trees, burning tires and cars, residents blocked entry to several towns. Rebels blocking the road into St. Marc from Port-au-Prince, the capital 45 miles away, told Associated Press reporters Monday that if they entered the city there was no turning back to Port-au-Prince. They only would be allowed to travel deeper into rebel-held territory. Seize an area, seal it off, establish control, rinse, repeat. The main rebel group is the Gonaives Resistance Front, formerly a gang of pro-Aristide toughs who terrorized government opponents but since have turned on the Haitian leader. In Gonaives, they were joined by some former soldiers of the disbanded Haitian army. The rebels are being supported by residents who have formed neighborhood groups disgruntled by mounting poverty, corruption and political crises. In one the bloodiest clashes, 150 police tried to retake Gonaives on Saturday but left hours later after a series of gunbattles, witnesses said. At least nine people were killed, seven of them police. Crowds mutilated the corpses of three police officers, according to AP reporters. One body was dragged through the street as a man swung at it with a machete, and a woman cut off the officer’s ear. Another policeman was lynched, and residents dropped large rocks on his body. It’s Haiti, you can never be too sure someone is going to stay dead. Meanwhile, before dawn Sunday an unidentified group of arsonists torched a two-story building in northern Cap-Haitien city that housed the studio of Radio Vision 2000, destroying it, the independent Haitian broadcaster said. Amateurs, you’re supposed to seize radio stations and broadcast your message to the masses urging them to join you. Rebels continued to rule the streets of Gonaives on Monday, witnesses said, though it was unclear how many armed militants were in the city of 200,000. St. Marc has a population of about 100,000. Calling the violence acts of terrorism, the government has vowed to regain control, but it was unclear when police planned to return. Premier Yvon Neptune, in a Sunday interview with state television, lashed out "The violence (which) is tied to a coup d’etat under way. Seems like it is. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #6 I'm not a fan of human misery, either. You guys want some of this popcorn? |
| Posted by: Fred 2004-2-9 9:48:13 PM |
| #5 The pro-Aristide forces battling it out with the recently pro-Aristide forces. I hope they are going with the colored bandana convention or the chances of a blue-on-blue engagement are a real possibility. I mean with all the wanton looting, launching of televisions out of 2nd story windows and gratuitous arson, somebody might accidently drop a cement block on the stricken body of a close ally. That would be a shame. I am not a fan of human misery but I'm just glad our GI's aren't in the middle of the melee trying to referee the cage match - for once. Jimmy Carter must be asleep at the wheel. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-2-9 9:13:44 PM |
| #4 Good luck Brad, send reports or report back. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-9 5:42:59 PM |
| #3 i'll be there on feb 20th for a mission trip. hope it cools down a little between now and then. |
| Posted by: brad 2004-2-9 4:57:38 PM |
| #2 Bet that bartending gig at the Kennedy compound is looking pretty good right now, huh, J-B? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-2-9 4:15:21 PM |
| #1 It’s Haiti, you can never be too sure someone is going to stay dead. I'd take this story with a huge helping of salt. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-9 2:50:16 PM |