- The A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism)
Coalition condemns the U.S.-led coup carried out today against the elected
president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, as well as the U.S. occupation
of that country. U.S. marines have entered Haiti tonight (February 29).
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- Whether President Aristide was actually kidnapped by
U.S. forces, as some sources have reported, or was just presented with
'an offer he couldn't refuse,' there is no question that Washington played
the decisive role in this regime change. The coup in Haiti is reminiscent
of similar deadly CIA operations in Iran, Guatemala, the Congo, Chile and
numerous other countries in the last half-century.
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- The removal of President Aristide follows more than a
century of U.S. intervention in Haiti, and years of destabilization designed
to bring about the destruction of the Aristide government. This negation
of Haiti's democracy and sovereignty by the U.S. comes as the country is
marking its 200th anniversary of independence which followed the heroic
revolt against slavery and the creation of the first free Black republic
in the Western Hemisphere.
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- Since the election of Aristide to a second term in late
2000 with 92% of the vote, Washington has maintained economic sanctions
against the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Sanctions have had
the intended effect of wearing down the people and popular support for
the Aristide government by denying food, medicine and other necessities
of life to the population. Haiti's poverty today is a direct result of
centuries of slavery and exploitation for the benefit of corporate interests
in France and the U.S.
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- In addition, the U.S. has extended financial and political
support to the so-called "Democratic Convergence," the right-wing
opposition. According to a story in today's Miami Herald, State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher said today that the U.S. "facilitated"
Aristide's departure. Ira Kurzban , an Aristide spokesman in Miami, said
he believed "U.S. intelligence agencies were involved in the ouster.
... This was a major operation by the intelligence agencies of the U.S."
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- Congressperson Charles Rangel, a member of the Congressional
Black Caucus, said that the U.S. government is "just as much as part
of this coup d'etat as the rebels, looters or anyone else." (ABC's
"This Week," Feb. 29, 2004)
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- According to Reuters, U.S. civil rights leader Jesse
Jackson called Aristide's resignation an "American-assisted coup,"
and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, demanded to know where
the Haitian leader was being taken one day after he told her "he would
rather die than leave." "When I last talked to him (Aristide)
yesterday, he was not going to leave. He said he would rather die than
leave. And then I wake up this morning and I find out that my government
has landed at his home with Marines. How did they get him to leave? What
did they do? And where is he?" Waters said in an interview with CNN.
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- The Bush Administration has arrogantly and illegally
embarked on a policy of "regime change" in Afghanistan, Iraq,
Haiti and elsewhere. On March 20, the first anniversary of the start of
the unprovoked war of aggression against Iraq, people around the world
will take to the streets in massive numbers. We will demand: Bring the
Troops Home Now and End Occupation from Iraq to Palestine and Everywhere.
We will also be marching to oppose the criminal role of the Bush administration
in ousting the first democratically elected government in Haiti's history.\
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- Email circulated by:
- A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
- Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
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- FOR MORE INFORMATION:
- http://www.InternationalANSWER.org
- info@internationalanswer.org
- Washington 202-544-3389
- New York 212-633-6646
- Los Angeles 213-487-2368
- San Francisco 415-821-6545
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