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World News
3/15/03 - 3/21/04
Sunday 3/21/04
Eleven killed in 'friendly-fire' attack in Colombia 3/21/04 AP: "Soldiers searching for rebels in rural southwest Colombia accidentally ambushed a police unit yesterday, killing seven police officers and four civilian prisoners, police said."
Bush attacked on terrorism record 3/21/04 BBC: "A former White House security expert has accused President Bush of doing a "terrible job" of tackling terrorism."
Worldwide protests mark first anniversary of US-led invasion of Iraq 3/21/04 Channel News Asia: "It was in Italy that anti-war support was most successfully galvanized, with organisers claiming that up to a million people had crammed into the streets of the capital.
Italian police put the figure at about 250,000.
A sea of people of all ages waving red balloons and rainbow flags with the message "peace" written on them stretched between Republic square to the ancient Coliseum, itself a symbol of violence.
Banners calling for peace in the world and a host of city coats of arms floated above the crowd as it moved to the beat of rap protest songs.
"No to war, no to terrorism, no to bombs" read one banner carried by representatives of Italy's Green party."
BBC Black Radio host fired for being too ‘intellectual’ 3/21/04 Final Call: "Accusing the station of failing to address the issues affecting the Afro-Caribbean community and not providing substantive alternatives for Black people to listen to, Mr. Bonsu, an Oxford graduate, was host of the Sunday night show GLR since September of last year. He has interviewed prominent figures within the Black community, such as Winston Silcott, known for his conviction for the murder of Police Constable Keith Blakelock being overturned in 1991, as well as Professor Tony Martin, author of the book, "The Jewish Onslaught," about the Jewish role in the Black Holocaust."
Black Ivy League students under attack 3/21/04 Final Call: "Columbia University is now on damage control, as Black members of its student body, local activists and the general public assembled at a local church to protest a growing number of racially-charged incidents on campus.
In December, the school’s marching band distributed flyers that asked, "Who needs ethnic studies?" On the flyers were pictures of Michael Jackson as a dark-skinned young man and then as a light-skinned man. This was followed by a Feb. 5 Affirmative Action Bake Sale, sponsored by the Columbia College Conservative Club. During the sale, which coincided with a conference to assist minority students in finding jobs, Blacks, other minorities and female students were charged lower prices for cookies and doughnuts than their White counterparts. The club’s president, Mark Xue, claimed that he did not know it would offend Blacks… "Some of the most brilliant minds in the country are orchestrating this thing. This is more than just about racist attitudes, but more of a well-planned action of gentrification by Columbia University," said Prof. Sales who, in 1968, as a Columbia graduate student, participated in the historic 1968 seizure of Hamilton Hall when students armed themselves and took control of the campus building to protest racial injustices on the campus.
Similar incidents, including the bake sales, have occurred on some of the country’s most prominent institutions of higher learning, including the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and University of Southern California-Berkley. (USC Berkley). Adding to this racially-charged climate, in a post-Sept. 11 wave of neo-conservatism, conservative groups across the country that believe Blacks and other minorities are getting a free ride, have launched a full attack on affirmative action policies in the workplace and in the schools."
Haitian Premier Hails Rebels As 'Freedom Fighters' 3/21/04 Haiti Democracy Project: just like the contras, the "founding fathers" of Nicaragua, the rebels are also fueled by the drug trade.
'We ugly! But we here!' 3/21/04 Jamaica Observer: "The so-called new prime minister of Haiti is one monsieur Latortue, who has a lot of chat for someone without a mandate from anyone except the US ambassador and his bosses. He is, he says, going to unite Haiti, so he has begun by boldly leaving out of his 'government' any representative of the people of Haiti. I give him three weeks… The political quagmire, according to the US and its clients, is entirely due to Aristide, except that the disputed senatorial seats were vacated three years ago and offers made for a new election. The Opposition refused. They refused as they have refused every single attempt by President Aristide to make peace and develop Haiti. One fundamental demand of the 'democratic opposition' was non-negotiable. There would be no democratic dialogue with Aristide!
But, according to the US, it is Aristide that is the problem.
The democratic opposition is almost entirely financed by USAID and by a far-right US Government outfit called the National Endowment for Democracy, which some describe as the human face of the CIA."
The Spanish vote is al-Qaida's loss 3/21/04 Newsday: "The wall rising between Muslims and Westerners is the context in which the Spanish election was a loss for al-Qaida. A country that had emphatically joined in the crusade against Islam by sending troops to Iraq is pledging to bring its troops home unless United Nations authorization is forthcoming. A government that was part of raising the wall has been replaced with a government promising to lower it.
To al-Qaida, the worst threat is everyday peaceful relations between Muslims and Westerners. Terrorism aims to elicit war and wall to block this threat. This is jujitsu politics: using the enemy's strength against him. But jujitsu requires that the enemy lunge at you, and Spanish voters refused to lunge."
On Anniversary of a Divisive War, Italians Cry to Withdraw Troops 3/21/04 NYT
Head of Haiti Force Says Won't Disarm Gunmen 3/21/04 Retuers: "The commander of a multinational force in Haiti insisted on Sunday it was not his mission to disarm militants, differing with earlier U.S. assertions that the force would confiscate weapons.
"This is a country with a lot of weapons and disarmament is not our mission. Our mission is to stabilize the country," U.S. Marine Corp. Brig. Gen. Ronald Coleman, head of the 3,000-strong U.N.-sanctioned force, told Reuters."
Haiti chief appears with rebel leaders 3/21/04 Seattle Times: ""I ask you for a moment of silence for all the people who fell fighting against the dictatorship, and especially for Amiot Metayer," Latortue said as the crowd went wild.
Metayer was the leader of the Cannibal Army street gang, and anger over his death last year helped spark the rebellion.
Rebel leaders who still run Haiti's fourth-largest city sat on a platform alongside Latortue, Organization of American States representative David Lee, recently installed interim Cabinet ministers Bernard Gousse and retired Gen. Herard Abraham, and new Haitian Police Chief Leon Charles."
Afro-Venezuelans celebrate 150 years of the Abolition of Slavery 3/21/04 Vheadlines
Afro-Venezuelans celebrate 150 years of the Abolition of Slavery 3/21/04 Vheadlines: "Commemorating 150 years of the abolition of slavery in Venezuela, the Afro-Venezuelan Organizations Network has announced a seminar at the Caracas Bellas Artes Museum on March 22-24 entitled: A Critical Review of the Historical Dimension of Slavery in Venezuela. The National Culture Council (Conac) is sponsoring the meeting… The black Education, Culture & Sports (MECD) Minister, Aristobulo Isturiz will open the event, along with other guests that include National Assembly (AN) indigenous deputy, Noheli Pocaterra, CONAC president and Deputy Culture Minister, Francisco Sesto, Venezuelan representative to UNESCO, Maria Clemencia Lopez and of course, Afro-Venezuelan Organizations Network leaders, Jesus Garcia and Jorge Guerrero."
Globovision TV assures African diplomats there's no racism in Venezuela 3/21/04 Vheadlines: "In the letter, Ravell says he's surprised about the lack of interest and sociological curiosity on the part of "your respectable diplomatic missions to understand the multiples characteristics of our people's identity." However, in an attempted exculpatory, the Globovision media boss laments the fact that the Africans "do not understand the Venezuelan people's sense of humor." "
Trinidad Express: Caricom seriously prepared to go along with the Chavez agenda? 3/21/04 Vheadlines
Saturday 3/20/04
 Arab journalists confront Powell 3/20/04 Boston Globe: "Calling the US occupation of Iraq a "failure," about two dozen Arab journalists walked out of US Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's press conference here yesterday to protest the killing of two television reporters by US troops on Thursday… Abdelaziz died instantly, and Khatib died yesterday in a Baghdad hospital. According to colleagues, they were shot at a US roadblock."
Peace protests follow the sun 3/20/04 News 24, SA
Clinton Aides Plan to Tell Panel of Warning Bush Team on Qaeda 3/20/04 NYT: "Senior Clinton administration officials called to testify next week before the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks say they are prepared to detail how they repeatedly warned their Bush administration counterparts in late 2000 that Al Qaeda posed the worst security threat facing the nation — and how the new administration was slow to act.
They said the warnings were delivered in urgent post-election intelligence briefings in December 2000 and January 2001 for Condoleezza Rice, who became Mr. Bush's national security adviser; Stephen Hadley, now Ms. Rice's deputy; and Philip D. Zelikow, a member of the Bush transition team, among others.
One official scheduled to testify, Richard A. Clarke, who was President Bill Clinton's counterterrorism coordinator, said in an interview that the warning about the Qaeda threat could not have been made more bluntly to the incoming Bush officials in intelligence briefings that he led."
An Outside Takeover of the Sierra Club 3/20/04 Sierra Club: "The three candidates of primary concern are Dick Lamm, Frank Morris, and David Pimentel. Advanced by a group called "SUSPS," these candidates have no Sierra Club experience -- but they do hold interlocking roles on the governing Boards of outside anti-immigration organizations, some of whom are actively seeking to influence the Sierra Club's election."
USA-Led Occupation Targets Haiti’s Slums 3/20/04 World Socialist
Local chaplain talks about experiences in Haiti 3/20/04 WTNH: "They can't talk to each other because they don't know what side people are on and people literally disappear. Rebels take them, they're killed and bodies wash up on the seashores."
"There's no police no government. Each town in Haiti is being run by little armies and they're all armed."
"Although we get all these press reports that the us is there and disarming people and everything is fine. There is no disarmament. The rebels are still in charge and they're in for the long haul."
Father Carrier will return to Haiti in a month."
Friday 3/19/04
Majority of Jamaicans Support Aristide, Welcome Ousted Leader 3/19/04 Black America Web: "Jamaicans in South Florida are appalled at the circumstances that forced Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first democratically-elected president, out of office, some community leaders there say. Because of that, few of them have qualms about Aristide being granted temporary refuge in their homeland."
Haiti and the Impotence of Black America - Roll Back this Coup, Mr. Bush - By CYNTHIA McKINNEY 3/19/04 Counterpunch: "Now, according to one of my investigative sources, one of the contracts that Preval put in place was with the Steele Foundation to provide presidential security. The Steele Foundation, headquartered here in the Bay Area, is reportedly very close to the Pentagon, with its former leader coming directly from the Pentagon's Office of Intelligence. Interestingly, it reportedly maintains an office in Miami, the home of the headquarters of the U.S. Special Operations Command, which was reportedly involved in training the rebels who ousted Aristide. So, at the time of Aristide's "capture," he supposedly was protected by a Pentagon-sanctioned security team that just happened to fail to secure him.
Additionally, according to this same source, some of the Dominican troops and Spanish and English-speaking paramilitaries trained by the U.S. during last year's Operation Jaded Task in the Dominican Republic were fighting alongside Haitian rebels in the north and on the southern coast of Haiti. We are told further that Haitian government authorities intercepted vans carrying new M-16s across the border from the Dominican Republic. According to the report I have received, Haitian authorities began intercepting vans carrying the weapons from the Dominican Republic beginning last year, and shortly after the U.S. military delivered 20,000 M-16s to the Dominican Army."
Haitians Under the Gun Getting the Word Out on Cell Phone 3/19/04 Pacific News Service: "One call from Haiti to a California radio station covering the coup aftermath came like so many others: on a shaky cell phone, with a connection that crackled and faded in and out, but which carried a clear message. This time it was the mayor of Milo, hiding from a group of armed former military men and convicted death squad leaders. We are swimming in blood everywhere. The oppression is atrocious," said Jean Charles Moise, who advocates for the return of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Moise's district of 50,000 persons counts many being targeted now by gunmen of the National Liberation and Reconstruction Front. Noel Vincent, a literacy teacher, is using cell phones to report from Cap Haitian to family in Florida. "I am so afraid I may never see you again," he told relatives as a reporter was allowed to listen in. "You must tell everyone what is happening here and in the Central Plateau... The death squads are reforming and they are coming for all who support democracy." ...Jean Kernazan is a radio producer on Radio Soley in Brooklyn, home to the largest Haitian community in the United States. Kernazan says he's spending hundreds of dollars weekly on calls to cell phones in Haiti. Many callers from Haiti, in order to save money, place quick calls and ask to be called back."
Thursday 3/18/04
The Momentum of the Movement 3/18/04 Alternet
Marines Face Danger on Haiti Night Patrol 3/18/04 AP
Spain Reportedly Reluctant to Include FBI 3/18/04 AP
'Liberating' Saudi's Shi'ites (and their oil) 3/18/04 Asia Times: "If the rulers of Saudi Arabia held out any hope that the post-September 11, 2001, demonization of their kingdom was finally waning, then someone in Riyadh should pick up a copy of An End to Evil, a recently published neo-conservative roadmap for "winning" the "war on terror". In it, David Frum, an ex-speechwriter for President George W Bush (and inventor of the term "axis of evil"), and Richard Perle, the eminence grise of the neo-con fraternity, suggest that the United States should bring Saudi Arabia to heel by threatening to support independence for the country's Eastern Province or Al Hasa (also known as Ash Sharqiyah), where much of Saudi Arabia's minority Shi'ite population and, coincidentally, most of its oil is situated." Classic colonial tactics.
US Builds Gangster State in Haiti 3/18/04 Black Commentator: "The US-led multinational force and the police bear down exclusively on Aristide supporters. "There's a lot of them" to be arrested, said Leon Charles, the newly appointed police director general. What about the lawless “rebels” that came to town with Guy Philippe? “The government has to make a decision about the rebels. That's over my head,” said Charles."
Vote Theft in 2004: déjà vu all over again 3/18/04 Black Commentator: "Not only was the real story unreported, but the media feeding frenzy over the wrong issue led to the establishment of new and more insidious forms of voting fraud in the United States. When the story of punch cards and touch screens was reported over and over the solution seemed simple. America needed new voting mechanisms to prevent a Florida repeat in future elections. The media said that Congress had to act. The American people joined in the demand for action. However, the result has made vote manipulation easier than ever before. In 2004 voter purges will be only one weapon in the vote thieves’ arsenal. The technology that was supposed to assure the integrity of the electoral process has already undermined it… Greg Palast and Martin Luther King III spelled out the perils presented by these new rules. ”The controls on the 50 secretaries of state are few – and the temptation to purge voters of the opposition party enormous. African-Americans, whose vote concentrates in one party, are an easy and obvious target.” "
Why catching bin Laden is difficult 3/18/04 CSM: "We're kind of losing there," says a senior US official in Washington, with knowledge of intelligence operations. "I just think it's very, very difficult to do anything with 10,000 troops in some of the world's highest mountains in a place the size of Texas."
But American politicians and the media need to get realistic about what the CIA and other American operatives can do in Afghanistan, this senior official adds. "People who talk about blaming the intelligence services for not getting assets in that area don't know what they're talking about - it's like sending a white-skinned guy to penetrate an Indian reservation."
Colombia: Old Domino's New Clothes
Foreign Policy In Focus 3/18/04 Defense in the National Interest: "There are moments in American foreign policy that run a déjà vu chill down one's spine. Just such a moment was the recent talk to a group of Cali businessmen by William Wood, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia. In his remarks, Wood endorsed efforts by the present government of President Alvaro Uribe to overturn that country's constitution to permit himself a second term. "The U.S. Constitution permits presidential re-elections," Wood argued, "that's why we don't see this proposal as anti-democratic." "
'If I am told to go, I will go.' Spanish soldiers prepare to return to home front 3/18/04 Independent: "The road to Baghdad - Highway 8, the "road of death" - is now the scene of almost daily assassinations of western aid workers, occupation officials, even Red Cross personnel. The seven Spanish intelligence officers murdered in Iraq just before the Spanish battalion arrived were gunned down on the same stretch of road. Among the most recent victims was a former American Marine helicopter pilot who had returned to Iraq with an NGO. At night now gangs of armed men - 25 or 30-strong - roam the main highway between Najaf and Kerbala.
General Ricardo Sanchez, who seems to exude more confidence after each disaster in Iraq, claims that Spain's probable withdrawal is "clearly manageable", that "it is not a significant military problem for the coalition to be able to cover that area." But if any other nation withdraws - the Poles, for example, who run the international division in central Iraq - then General Sanchez's position will be a lot less "manageable"."
Exiled Aristide vows to stay out of politics 3/18/04 Independent, SA
Mercy, politics and history dunces 3/18/04 Jamaica Observer: "In addition, we should remember that slaves from Jamaica were sold in Haiti and vice versa.
This means that families of slaves were split up between Jamaica and Haiti. So being charitable to Haitians means that we are doing so to our own extended families."
Bombing Group Reportedly Wants Bush Re-Elected 3/18/04 Omaha Channel: "An Islamic militant group that had claimed responsibility for the train bombings in Spain says it supports the re-election of President George W. Bush. The group said it needs what it calls Bush's "idiocy and religious fanaticism" to "wake up" the Islamic world."
America's Image Further Erodes, Europeans Want Weaker Ties 3/18/04 Pew Research: "Anti-war sentiment and disapproval of President Bush's international policies continue to erode America's image among the publics of its allies. U.S. favorability ratings have plummeted in the past six months in countries actively opposing war France, Germany and Russia as well as in countries that are part of the "coalition of the willing." In Great Britain, favorable views of the U.S. have declined from 75% to 48% since mid-2002.
In Poland, positive views of the U.S. have fallen to 50% from nearly 80% six months ago; in Italy, the proportion of respondents holding favorable views of the United States has declined by half over the same period (from 70% to 34%). In Spain, fewer than one-in-five (14%) have a favorable opinion of the United States. Views of the U.S. in Russia, which had taken a dramatically positive turn after Sept. 11, 2001, are now more negative than they were prior to the terrorist attacks."
Wednesday 3/17/04
Colombian Police Capture Rebel Commander 3/17/04 AP: "Police captured a top rebel commander who was allegedly recruiting youths to carry out suicide attacks against President Alvaro Uribe and other officials, Colombia's secret police chief said Wednesday."
U.S. Green Berets train Mali troops to guard desert interior against terrorists, bandits 3/17/04 AP
Haiti, a wake-up call for us all 3/17/04 Jamaica Observer: by Hazel Ross-Robinson, wife of Randall Robinson. "President Aristide co-operated fully with Caricom as the latter attempted to forge a non-violent, constitutional solution to the Haitian crisis, for this is the Caribbean tradition. Haiti's so-called opposition stubbornly refused, year after year, to go to the polls, deeming a selected government more appropriate for the Haitian people than an elected one, thereby pushing Haiti into a vortex of instability which to this day has not abated."
Bush tries to steel allies Netherlands and Honduras may also be leaving Iraq 3/17/04 LA Times
Probing U.S. ties to Haiti coup 3/17/04 Newsday: "Sen. Christopher Dodd says he wants to know whether U.S. taxpayers paid to train Haitians who plotted to overthrow President Jean-Bertrand Aristide… Dodd said he planned to ask the inspector-general of the U.S. Agency for International Development to investigate the International Republican Institute. Two years ago, USAID gave the institute $1.2 million to train Haitians. In the Dominican Republic, IRI then held a series of classes for 600 Haitians, who crossed the border from Haiti, said IRI spokesman Thayer Scott.
Dodd is especially concerned about the involvement in IRI of a hard-line Haitian Aristide opponent named Stanley Lucas.
Lucas had been "undermining" international efforts to get Aristide foes to moderate their positions, Dodd said, citing allegations made two years ago by Brian Dean Curran, then U.S. ambassador to Haiti.
Dodd said USAID agreed to Curran's demand that Lucas be barred from the program, but Lucas wound up working with IRI anyway."
US coup in Haiti could spell trouble for African countries 3/17/04 NNPA: "The Bush administration has long been criticized for helping to block nearly $500 million in international aid for Haiti. Ironically, the basis cited for taking that approach was Haiti's disputed election in May 2000. The opposition movement and the Organization of American States, a regional organization that includes the U. S. and 35 other nations in the Western Hemisphere, disputed the way Haiti counted the votes for eight seats in the senate after 30,000 people ran for 7,500 seats.
The senators eventually resigned, but the money, including $146 million in approved international funding and $350 million for which Haiti could subsequently qualify, was embargoed until Haiti paid arrears on other loans amounting to about $105 million. Only $45 million of the money was released.
Among other things, the money was to be used for clean water, health purposes, roads and education.
"In affect, what they did was simply pay Haiti back for the arrears clearance, so Haiti didn't actually get any money," explains Ira Kurzban, Aristide's attorney in Miami. "Now, I expect in light of President Aristide's so-called resignation, they will now expedite everything…This is the most fierce economic embargo against the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. I mean, Haiti was given not one penny for three years by the World Bank, the IDB (International Development Bank), the U. S., France and the European Union." "
U.S. Has Few Options Against Venezuela's Chavez 3/17/04 Reuters
Haitian activists being hunted down 3/17/04 SF Bay View: ""Friday evening (March 12) the 'whites' went up to the Bèlè neighborhood where they killed more than 16 people. They arrested a whole bunch of others whose whereabouts remain unknown to this very moment.
"Today, Sunday (March 14), from what I have learned, these folks picked up several young men who belonged to 'Rene Civil's group.' They got hold of them in Dèlma 75, St-Martin Street, Tiremasse St. and in Bèlè. Right then and there, they placed a black bag on their heads and up to this moment no one knows what has become of these young men.
"Please, what is the most important priority at this juncture of the struggle is to have a human rights organization present to help protect the activists and to find out where they are taken after arrest - especially in situations where no trace of their whereabouts can be found."
Aggressive and violent adversary Aznar could return to haunt Chavez Frias 3/17/04 Vheadlines: "The ghost of Aznar may turn up again to haunt the Chavez Frias administration, if the former gets the appointment he has been hankering after as special adviser to the Organization of American States (OAS). He was offered the post some time back when it was known that he would not be running for another election. The USA supports Aznar's aspirations to enter the Central and Southern American scene."
Tuesday 3/16/04
Furious at Jamaica welcoming Aristide, Haiti freezes diplomatic ties 3/16/04 AFP: "As the plane was landing in Kingston, Haitian prime minister Gerard Latortue announced in Port-au-Prince he had suspended relations with Jamaica.
"I am immediately recalling the ambassador and we are freezing our relations with Jamaica," Latortue said at a news conference.
He also said he would reconsider Haiti's relationship with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) group, which is currently headed by Jamaican Prime Minister Percival Patterson."
Aristide Backers Left Out of Coalition 3/16/04 AP: "Wilgo Supreme Ebouard, leader of a neighborhood group, angrily complained that peacekeepers patrol the slum from dusk to dawn and that residents are afraid to leave their homes… An official involved in the process said all the 11 ministers chosen so far had not served in government since 2000 when Aristide was re-elected in a rigged vote.
The official said the list included Yvon Simeon as foreign minister; Bernard Gousse, an anti-Aristide lawyer, as justice minister; Henri Bazan, president of the Haitian Association of Economists, as finance minister; and former Gen. Herard Abraham as interior minister."
Honduras says it will follow Spain's lead, withdraw troops from Iraq in June; El Salvador to stay put 3/16/04 AP
Venezuela court boosts poll hopes 3/16/04 BBC
Black Caucus Appeals for Diversity in Kerry Campaign 3/16/04 Black America Web
Aznar Was Going Anyway - The Truth About the Spanish Elections 3/16/04 Counterpunch: "But once again, as is the case these days, the Amerian media paints pictures the way Bush wants them, not the way they are. Thus, they paint Aznar's loss as a total result of the bombings; this is patently untrue."
Resistance Populaire contre la Repression 3/16/04 Haiti Progres: nice pic of large pro-Lavalas/Aristide demonstration.
Information Control For Social Manipulation 3/16/04 Nexus, Australia: "It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas in disguise.
—Joseph Goebbels"
Aristide Now in Jamaica; Haiti Denouncess Ex-president’s Visit 3/16/04 NYT
Liberal Says He Was Fired for Criticizing Aristide, Black Caucus 3/16/04 The Nation
Warrant snags Aristide aide 3/16/04 Toronto Star: ""It is not about a person with a history of crimes against humanity or fear of prosecution and persecution (in Haiti).... We have a person who has information that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration wants," Mamann told Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada adjudicator Ilze De Carlo.
Meanwhile, Aristide returned to the Caribbean yesterday for the first time since being ousted as Haiti's president, enraging the new government with a visit to Jamaica. Haiti recalled its ambassador in protest amid fears that Aristide is plotting a return to power… "Those who are loyal to Aristide are being harassed and it has become a witch hunt. It's not just," Jean's close friend from Montreal, Serge Bouchereau, said after the hearing at the Immigration and Refugee Board's Toronto headquarters."
Monday 3/15/04
Haiti arms row rocks South Africa 3/15/04 BBC
Regional rift deepens over Haiti 3/15/04 BBC: "Mr Chavez, who is himself accusing the US of fomenting the opposition to his rule in Venezuela, said he supported Mr Aristide's claim to be the rightful leader of Haiti and would refuse to recognise the government of new Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.
Haiti's Caribbean neighbour, Jamaica, also said it would not recognise Mr Latortue's authority, at least until after a regional summit of the Caribbean Community scheduled for next week."
The Haiti Support Project 3/15/04 BWT
U.S. Marine shot and wounded in Haiti 3/15/04 CNN: "The Marine was patrolling the Belair neighborhood, a stronghold of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, around 9:35 p.m. when he was shot in the left arm, Edwards said. The weapon was believed to be a small-caliber pistol, and the injury is not life-threatening, he said.
Anger has been brewing among residents in the neighborhood since Marines -- under fire -- shot and killed two men on Friday. The Marines said the two were gunmen, but no weapons were recovered. Residents said those killed were neither militants nor armed, and that one was playing basketball."
US Military Intervention Number 3 - Haiti: a Coup without Consultation 3/15/04 Counterpunch: "Despite the heavy presence of troops from the United States, Canada and Chile--plus those that are to join them from seven other countries--occupying Port-au-Prince, disorder and chaos still reign in this city, where there is only one hospital. The facility is being managed by Cuban doctors who are continuing to give support and solidarity to the Haitian people having freely decided not to abandon the suffering population to its fate."
The Real Haiti Dilemma 3/15/04 Global Black News: "The significance of the Republic of Haiti goes far beyond anything
currently reported in the news. It is almost an unwritten code by America and France that Haiti remains destabilized and the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Its anguish began with the first European contact by Columbus in 1492.
Within a 25 year period after his arrival, the indigenous Arawak of Haiti
virtually disappeared under Spanish genocide. It is no coincidence that 2004 is the 200 year celebration of Haiti's independence (1804), and the same year a democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was forcefully removed by American military."
US sends special forces into north Africa 3/15/04 Guardian
Aristide leaves for Jamaica - Clearance came after tense stand-off in Bangui 3/15/04 Jamaica Observer
G.I. Toll Is Rising as Insurgents Try Wilier Bombs and Tactics 3/15/04 NYT
Zapatero confirma el regreso de las tropas españolas de Iraq 3/15/04 Rebelion: "Es un compromiso previo a los atentados. En muchas ocasiones dije que la guerra de Irak es un desastre, la ocupación lo sigue siendo, porque sólo ha generado más odio. La lección tiene que servir. No puede ser que no haya consecuencias, y ya ha habido una: el resultado electoral ayer en España. Y la segunda va a ser que las tropas españolas se vendrán", ha explicado.
"Bush y Blair tendrán que hacer la reflexión y la autocrítica para que nunca más se hagan las cosas así --ha dicho--. No se puede bombardear un pueblo por si acaso, bombardear un país por si acaso, no se pueden organizar guerras con mentiras. No puede ser".
Election blow to Bush's war on terror 3/15/04 Telegraph, UK: "Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, one of the leading Socialist Party figures, told the Telegraph yesterday that it would put withdrawal from Iraq at the top of its agenda.
"One of the first decisions will be to bring the troops back home," he said. "We have said that we would pull them out by June 30."
"There
is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and
security to all, but especially to Democracies as against despots:
suspicion." -- Demosthenes
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