Nation & World News
Aristide flees Haiti, U.S. Marines head to capital
u.b. Marines will attempt
to enforce order in Haiti,
where at least 100 people
have died since Feb. 5
By Nancy San Martin, Trenton
Daniel and Martin Merzer
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The firet
of several hundred U.S. Marines left
Camp Lejeune, N.C. for Haiti's chaotic
capital Sunday night, the vanguard of a
multinational force to calm the rebel
lion that ousted President Jean
Bertrand Aristide in less than a month.
A transitional government assumed
power, without much initial success. As
word spread of Aristide's resignation
and flight to asylum, hundreds of resi
dents ignited a new orgy of revenge and
opportunism, killing several people,
looting countless businesses and torch
ing the homes of Aristide loyalists. Men
identifying themselves as rebels, some
dressed in civilian clothing, others in
camouflage, were seen in the capital.
The Marines, perhaps as few as 100,
were expected to land late Sunday at
Port-au-Prince's airport, with more to
follow on Monday. Fifty members of
a Marine security team moved into
the capital last week to help secure the
U.S. Embassv.
"I have ordered the deployment of
Marines, as the leading element of an
interim international force, to help
bring order and stability to Haiti,"
President Bush said.
Abandoned by the United States
and other foreign governments and
under pressure from advancing insur
gents, Aristide signed a letter of resig
nation early Sunday and flew into ex
ile at 6:15 a.m. with his wife and a
black-uniformed security detail
aboard an unmarked white airplane.
State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said that the United
States "facilitated" Aristide's depar
ture. Other administration officials
said U.S. Ambassador James Foley of
fered Aristide a destination and a se
cure way to leave the country.
Aristide's destination was believed
to be the Central African Republic, ac
cording to a senior State Department
official who spoke on the condition
of anonymity.
It was the second such humiliation
for Aristide, who was ousted by a mil
itary coup in 1991 and restored to
power in 1994 by 20,000 U.S. troops.
"If my resignation prevents the
shedding of blood, I agree to leave,"
Aristide, Haiti's first democratically
elected president in 200 years of inde
pendence, wrote Sunday.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Boni
face Alexandre, a widely respected
figure in Haiti, was sworn in as head
of the transitional government. "I as
sume it because the constitution in
dicates it," Alexandre said during a
news conference.
I Ie urged the 8 million residents of
Haiti to refrain from further violence.
"The task will not be an easy one," he
said. "Haiti is in crisis.... It needs all its
sons and daughters. No one should
take justice into their own hands."
This appeal didn't work. In recent
weeks, pro-govemment militants had
warned foes that if Aristide left, they
would "bum down their houses and
cut off the heads," a rallying cry that
Haiti's founding father Jean-Jacques
Dessalines aimed at the French 200
years ago, and on Sunday a new
episode of violence ravaged the capital.
Bullet-riddled bodies were seen on
city streets. Angry crowds of Aristide
supporters gathered at the presiden
tial National Palace and roamed else
where through Port-au-Prince. Bursts
of gunfire reverberated through the
streets. Looters plundered banks,
■
Tom Burton Orlando Sentinel
Haitians gather outside the National Palace on Sunday after learning President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled the country the previous night.
police stations and supermarkets.
Smoke billowed over the capital.
Mobs reportedly burned down the
homes of Aristide loyalists, including
Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and
spokesman Mario Dupuy.
The new death toll couldn't be de
termined, but at least 100 people have
died in the rebellion that began Feb. 5.
Later Sunday, police finally moved
into action, sometimes in association
with rebels, and the violence subsided.
Aristide's most outspoken political
critics offered few details about their
next step.
"Right now we're in the stage of
making sure violence doesn't contin
ue and that people put down their
guns," said Andy Apaid, a spokesman
for the political opposition.
Rebel leader Guy Philippe, who
turned 36 Sunday, said he endorsed
the arrival of U.S. and other interna
tional uoops. "1 think it's a good deci
sion," Philippe told CNN. "The people
of Haiti need it and the country needs
it. They will be welcome." At the Unit
ed Nations, diplomats worked Sunday
evening on a resolution to authorize
an international military force.
U.S. officials, meanwhile, swiftly
ordered the Marines into action.
"We have been informed that sever
al other countries are prepared to
move quickly to join this mission,"
said Boucher.
2004, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services. Knight Ridder
Newspapers correspondents Frank
Davies of the Miami Herald and Warren
P. Strobel of the Knight Ridder
Washington Bureau in Washington;
Susannah A. Nesmith in Gonaives, Haiti;
Stewart Stogel at the United Nations;
and Richard Brand, Jacqueline Charles,
Tere Figueras, David Ovalle, Renato
Perez, Carol Rosenberg and Juan
Tamayo in Miami contributed to this
report.
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