Thousands march for exiled Aristide in Haiti

By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) – Thousands of supporters
of exiled former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide took
to the capital’s streets on Saturday to call for his return and
demand political prisoners be freed.

The protest in Port-au-Prince, which witnesses said
included about 30,000 people, was largely peaceful apart from a
brief standoff with U.N. peacekeepers and riot police.

It was held on the 53rd birthday of Aristide, who is living
in South Africa. Protesters danced to drums, chanted “Aristide
is king” and sang happy birthday to the exiled leader.

“We want Aristide back because he is Haitian, not South
African,” said Jean Woody Pierre-Paul, a spokesman for the
marchers.

The demonstrators called on newly elected President Rene
Preval, a one-time ally of Aristide’s, to free all political
prisoners jailed under the previous interim administration of
Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.

Latortue’s unelected, U.S.-backed administration took over
after Aristide fled an armed revolt in 2004. Preval in February
became the impoverished and unstable Caribbean country’s first
elected leader since Aristide.

The crowd, mainly from the slums where Aristide and Preval
drew most of their support, also called for public employees
fired en masse by the Latortue government to be given back
their jobs.

The United States, which exerts enormous influence in
Haiti, has warned Preval that Aristide’s return would
destabilize Haiti.

A champion of the country’s poor masses, the former Roman
Catholic priest is deeply mistrusted by its wealthy elite and
by conservatives in Washington.

The protesters almost clashed with police and U.N.
peacekeepers when they were barred from approaching the
presidential palace.

Most scattered when Haitian security forces pulled their
guns and threatened to shoot. But several thousand protesters
managed to force their way through.

“I can’t believe that under Preval the population can be
barred from demonstrating in front of the presidential palace,”
said Josias Mathurin, a protester. “We spent two years fighting
the interim government to regain this right,” he said.