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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Aristide backers march in Haiti |
| 2011-02-20 |
| [Pak Daily Times] Several thousand supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide protested in Haiti's quake-torn capital on Friday, waving photos of their exiled leader and vowing to derail a runoff election next month unless he returns. Chanting "No Aristide, no second round," flag-waving and horn-blowing demonstrators marched through gritty slums and near the collapsed National Palace, which police protected with light barricades. There was no violence and the mood was festive, with loudspeakers blaring music and men drinking beer in the hot sun. "We must have the return of Dr. President Aristide as a simple citizen to help us get better as a country, as a people," said Eugune Mirthil, an unemployed 37-year-old who wore two photos of the ousted leader stapled to his white T-shirt. Aristide, a former slum priest and Haiti's first democratically elected president, decamped the country on a US plane in February 2004 amid a violent rebellion. He still retains strong support in this impoverished and often rudderless Caribbean country, particularly in the slums of Port-au-Prince. Speculation that he might come back soared after ex-dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier made a surprise return in January after nearly 25 years of exile in La Belle France. |
| Posted by:Fred |