Revolt in progress in Haiti

beyond hope · Post by **beyond hope** » 2004-02-09 03:39pm

source

ST. MARC, Haiti — Anti-government rebels had taken control of at least nine towns in eastern Haiti Monday, and the death toll in the violent uprising rose to at least 40, witnesses said.

In the strongest challenge yet to the authority of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide (search), armed rebels began their assault Thursday in Gonaives (search), Haiti's fourth-largest city, setting the police station on fire, driving police officers out of the town and sending government workers fleeing for safety.

"We are in a situation of armed popular insurrection," said opposition politician and former army Col. Himler Rebu, who led a failed coup attempt against Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril in 1989.

The deaths were reported by the Associated Press, Red Cross official Raoul Elysee, rebel leaders Wenter Etienne and Jean-Yves Marcisse, and Haitian radio.

At the weekend, the rebels took the important port city of St. Marc (search), where hundreds of people looted TV sets, mattresses and sacks of flour from shipping containers.

Using felled trees, burning tires and cars, residents blocked entry to several towns. Rebels blocking the road into St. Marc from Port-au-Prince (search), the capital 45 miles away, told Associated Press reporters Monday that if they entered the city there was no turning back to Port-au-Prince. They only would be allowed to travel deeper into rebel-held territory.

The main rebel group is the Gonaives Resistance Front (search), formerly a gang of pro-Aristide toughs who terrorized government opponents but since have turned on the Haitian leader.

In Gonaives, they were joined by some former soldiers of the disbanded Haitian army. The rebels are being supported by residents who have formed neighborhood groups disgruntled by mounting poverty, corruption and political crises.

Anger has brewed in Haiti since Aristide's party won flawed legislative elections in 2000 and international donors blocked millions of dollars in aid. The opposition refuses to participate in new elections unless Aristide resigns; he insists on serving out the term that ends in 2006.

Aristide was elected in Haiti's first democratic election in 1990 then ousted months later by the army. He was restored to power in a 1994 U.S. invasion. He disbanded the army and replaced it with a small civilian police force that is accused of being trigger-happy and partisan.

In one the bloodiest clashes, 150 police tried to retake Gonaives on Saturday but left hours later after a series of gunbattles, witnesses said. At least nine people were killed, seven of them police.

Crowds mutilated the corpses of three police officers, according to AP reporters. One body was dragged through the street as a man swung at it with a machete, and a woman cut off the officer's ear. Another policeman was lynched, and residents dropped large rocks on his body.

Meanwhile, before dawn Sunday an unidentified group of arsonists torched a two-story building in the northern city of Cap-Haitien (search) that housed the studio of Radio Vision 2000, destroying it, the independent Haitian broadcaster said.

Rebels continued to rule the streets of Gonaives on Monday, witnesses said, though it was unclear how many armed militants were in the city of 200,000. St. Marc has a population of about 100,000.

Calling the violence acts of terrorism, the government has vowed to regain control, but it was unclear when police planned to return.

Premier Yvon Neptune, in a Sunday interview with state television, lashed out "The violence [which] is tied to a coup d'etat under way."

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-02-09 03:41pm

Only 40 dead? Not much of a revolt, espically when you consider the state of that shithole and its history.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-02-09 03:42pm

First possible coup of the new year, they're late.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-02-09 03:46pm

Well, that's not good. Maybe we'll have to help.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-02-09 03:49pm

Joe wrote:Well, that's not good. Maybe we'll have to help.

Why bother? These were the idiots we helped restore to power.

Unless we're going to back to the days of colonialism it's just putting our hands into the meat grinder. And worse yet at a time we can't afford it.

beyond hope · Post by **beyond hope** » 2004-02-09 03:59pm

Stormbringer wrote:
Joe wrote:Well, that's not good. Maybe we'll have to help.
Why bother? These were the idiots we helped restore to power.

Unless we're going to back to the days of colonialism it's just putting our hands into the meat grinder. And worse yet at a time we can't afford it.

That's what I was thinking too... "we actually invaded to put this ass in charge?"

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-02-09 04:42pm

Haiti is a doomed country,after 200 years they`re still fighting to see who`s gonna run the place.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-02-09 05:33pm

I did a missionary trip to Haiti once. It was scary. After what I saw in the outlying villages I can't believe they made voodoo the state religion...

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-02-09 09:01pm

fuck it. just sell the Dominican Republic a few hundred Abrams real cheap and let thm solve the problem this time.

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-02-09 11:34pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:fuck it. just sell the Dominican Republic a few hundred Abrams real cheap and let thm solve the problem this time.

Do you understand how much the Dominicans hate Haitians? Hell, they're the only country in this hemisphere that doesn't celebrate their independence from a European colonial power. They celebrate getting rid of the Haitians...

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2004-02-09 11:41pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:fuck it. just sell the Dominican Republic a few hundred Abrams real cheap and let thm solve the problem this time.

The problem is then you've got to do something about the Abrams equipped Dominican Republic. It's like killing a swarm of lizards with wave after wave of lizard eating gorillas. After all the lizards are gone, you've got a bunch of gorillas to deal with.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-02-09 11:48pm

Gil Hamilton wrote:
Col. Crackpot wrote:fuck it. just sell the Dominican Republic a few hundred Abrams real cheap and let thm solve the problem this time.
The problem is then you've got to do something about the Abrams equipped Dominican Republic. It's like killing a swarm of lizards with wave after wave of lizard eating gorillas. After all the lizards are gone, you've got a bunch of gorillas to deal with.

Simple, don't sell them the repair manuals.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2004-02-10 12:08am

.. What are the Dominicans going to do with Abrams on an island they control? Threaten to fire their guns at the ocean?

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2004-02-10 12:12am

kojikun wrote:.. What are the Dominicans going to do with Abrams on an island they control? Threaten to fire their guns at the ocean?

Kill more people than is economical and we'll have a huge arms dealing scandal about who sold those tanks to the Dominicans. While this would certainly make CNN and FOXNews happy, it wouldn't be a nice mark on us.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-02-10 12:25am

Vive la revolucion!

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-02-10 12:52am

Gil Hamilton wrote:
kojikun wrote:.. What are the Dominicans going to do with Abrams on an island they control? Threaten to fire their guns at the ocean?
Kill more people than is economical and we'll have a huge arms dealing scandal about who sold those tanks to the Dominicans. While this would certainly make CNN and FOXNews happy, it wouldn't be a nice mark on us.

Better idea, sell them Machetes! Nice and hacky and so easy to cover up.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-02-10 02:01am

Third world revoulutions involve big talking people but little fighting and actual displays of courage.

Shaidar Haran · Post by **Shaidar Haran** » 2004-02-10 02:36am

evilcat4000 wrote:Third world revoulutions involve big talking people but little fighting and actual displays of courage.

They go apeshit and leave bits of bodies all over. Look at some of the African civil wars if you don't believe they can get very, very brutal.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-02-10 03:23am

Shaidar Haran wrote:
evilcat4000 wrote:Third world revoulutions involve big talking people but little fighting and actual displays of courage.
They go apeshit and leave bits of bodies all over. Look at some of the African civil wars if you don't believe they can get very, very brutal.

Depends on the country actualy. In Pakistan Musaraf seized power without any bloodshed in 1999.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-02-10 07:38am

kojikun wrote:.. What are the Dominicans going to do with Abrams on an island they control? Threaten to fire their guns at the ocean?

therein lies the beauty of the crackpot doctrine! once the fuck up the Haitian's shit, there is no where left for them to go. They don't have ships big enough to carry them anywhere. Knowing the Dominicanos they'd weld the tanks together into a housing sub division by the sea and name it Puetrta Tankarta or something.

beyond hope · Post by **beyond hope** » 2004-02-10 12:08pm

I should have gone with my first idea for a title, "Haitians Revolting."

Shaidar Haran · Post by **Shaidar Haran** » 2004-02-10 12:14pm

evilcat4000 wrote:Depends on the country actualy. In Pakistan Musaraf seized power without any bloodshed in 1999.

It does depend on the country and planning. But as a rule they aren't bloodless or short and your generalization can be disproven simply by opening a newspaper.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-02-10 12:39pm

Latest shit i heard today on the local news,some Haitians who escaped that shithole to live in Montreal,wants Canada to do something there.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-02-10 12:46pm

Montcalm wrote:Latest shit i heard today on the local news,some Haitians who escaped that shithole to live in Montreal,wants Canada to do something there.

Send Gordie Howe to beat the fuck out of those young punks. He's still alive, right?

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-02-10 12:50pm

Montcalm wrote:Latest shit i heard today on the local news,some Haitians who escaped that shithole to live in Montreal,wants Canada to do something there.

Because the last time some one 'did something' it restored these dicks to power. If anything is done I suggest massive arms sales.