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Dr. M. Rony Francois will become the state's new secretary of health, the first Haitian-American to head a Florida state agency, Gov. Jeb Bush announced Thursday. Bush named Francois to replace Dr. John Agwunobi, who was nominated by President Bush to be assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Francois, an assistant professor at the University of South Florida's College of Public Health in Tampa, was born in Haiti and came to the United States in 1979 to pursue an education. Francois, 47, said that under his direction the department would be focused on prevention of...

Using bits of garbage and flotsam and finding their roots in voodoo, poverty and the urban Haitian experience, a group of men in Port-au-Prince is pushing Haitian art's boundaries. At the end of a twisting dirt alleyway crowded with tin shacks, a large metal man with hair made of shredded tires and feet of wheel spokes sits in a small clearing. According to its creator, who goes by the name Guyodo, he and other local artists are inspired by their daily surroundings. "We use all that society throws away, all that is not going to be used again that we...

Soccer, Haitian style -- C'est La Guerre! BY DAVE BARRY May 1, 2005 (This classic Dave Barry column was originally published on March 14, 1999.) We live in troubled and uncertain times, but I am feeling good -- about myself; about my homeland; about all the nations of the earth; and, yes, about future of humanity. And I will tell you why: I am on painkillers. I got them from my doctor, Curt. Curt is a great doctor, probably the greatest doctor who ever lived, and I will tell you why: He gave me these painkillers. These are some STRONG...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - A jury acquitted former paramilitary leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain of murder charges Tuesday after a secretive trial that began in the middle of the night, angering human rights groups who blamed the country's U.S.-backed government. Chamblain and co-defendent Jackson Joanis were acquitted just after dawn in the murder of Antoine Izmery, a former justice minister and financier of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, according to Stanley Gaston, an attorney for Chamblain. Three witnesses were called during the one-day trial, and only one of them was for the prosecution, said Viles Alizar with the National Coalition for Haitian Rights....

Quake Hits Flood-Stricken Haitian Border May 29, 2004 12:29 PM EDT SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - An earthquake Saturday struck a flood-ravaged region along the Dominican-Haitian border, including a river town where more than 440 people were killed in floods this week. There was no immediate word on damage or injuries, and it was impossible to reach the town of Jimani by phone. The 4.4-magnitude quake lasted for four seconds, said Jose Luis German, spokesman for the National Emergency Commission. He said its epicenter was on the Haitian side of the border. Such a quake can cause moderate damage in...

Haitian Rebels Say They Won't Disarm Yet Saturday March 6, 2004 11:01 PM By PAISLEY DODDS Associated Press Writer GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) - Before a raging fire, rebel fighters in this bleak western town offered metal scraps Saturday to a voodoo war god, portending still more violence for Haiti. Though rebel leader Guy Philippe has pledged his fighters will disarm, many insist they will not give up their weapons until militant supporters of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide do the same. Rebels who choose not to show their weapons in public openly admit they have stashed them for later use. And...

It took an armed posse five days to track down Ti Roro. Once they did, Roro was beaten with sticks, taken to the morgue to identify his alleged victims, ringed with gasoline-soaked tires and burned alive. With no police, no courts and no law, communities are taking justice into their own hands, hunting down former militants of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who they say made their lives a living hell."It took him more than an hour to die, but as he was burning, he admitted to all of the 15 people he killed in the last year," said Joubert Muraille, 41,...

U.S. Marines Deploy to More Haiti Cities By MARK STEVENSON and PAISLEY DODDS, Associated Press Writers PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - U.S. forces have expanded their presence in Haiti beyond the capital, deploying to at least two cities that are rebel strongholds, a U.S. military spokesman said Friday. Troops from the U.S. Southern Command based in Miami arrived at Cap-Haitien, a key port on Haiti's northern coast, seized by rebels Feb. 22, and the western city of Gonaives, where the rebellion started Feb. 5, said Army Maj. Richard Crusan, spokesman for the interim international force in Haiti. He also said forces may...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti March 5 — U.S. forces have expanded their presence in Haiti beyond the capital, deploying to at least two cities that are rebel strongholds, a U.S. military spokesman said Friday. Excerpted--click for full article. ================================================================ Why are we Haitied so much? The Haiti invasion and the French-looking Candidate On Sunday morning, the scene was pure anarchy. To have called it a very chaotic situation would be putting it mildly. The whole thing looked very troubling. Confusion reigned as the free-for-all pandemonium -- the disarray and tumult -- grew wilder and wilder. As the cameras panned, zooming in on...

Aristide Spent Millions to Lobby Washington VOA News 05 Mar 2004, 17:35 UTC AP Jean-Bertrand Aristide U.S. Justice Department records show former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his Lavalas Party spent more than $7 million in recent years to lobby the United States. The records show Mr. Aristide's government hired several lobbying firms from 1997 through 2002, while Haiti remained the poorest country in the Americas. The records say the efforts were to contact members of Congress and other officials to discuss moving the democratic process in Haiti forward, as well as aid and other issues. The Washington Times newspaper...

HALIFAX (CP) -- Some 425 Canadian military personnel will be sent to Haiti within days as part of an international stabilization force that will try to bring peace to the troubled Caribbean country, the federal government announced Friday. Defence Minister David Pratt said the deployment is expected to last three months. But he made it clear Canada hopes to establish long-term stability in a country that has become synonymous with political turmoil. "Haiti is not going to be left in a lurch," Pratt told a news conference at CFB Halifax. The minister said the Canadian military contingent will help with...

<p>March 5, 2004 -- BANGUI, Central African Republic - Central African Republic will offer ousted Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide permanent asylum if he asks, but the impoverished nation would find it difficult to pay for his upkeep, the government said yesterday.</p>

<p>Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said yesterday the letter he signed before his departure on Sunday was not a "formal resignation" and he plans to return to his country soon.</p> <p>U.S. officials, however, urged Haiti and the international community to focus on "moving forward." While they noted that only the Haitian people can choose their leaders, officials said Mr. Aristide has proven incapable of good governance.</p>

Nothing became Jean-Bertrand Aristide in office like his leaving it — and so not inviting still more bloodshed. The country's president and demagogue-in-chief decamped in the style of other Haitian dictators over the years. How many other presidents of Haiti have been forced out over its troubled history — 10, 20, 30? We lose count, though the more colorful stand out, like Papa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier, father-and-son tyrants. Also, do you count Jean-Bertrand Aristide twice, since this is the second time he has fled into exile? The first time to the United States, and now apparently to any...

<p>Haiti's government, while controlled by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his party, spent $7.3 million between 1997 and 2002 lobbying the U.S. government as more than 80 percent of the country was impoverished.</p> <p>During this time, U.S. funding to Haiti — a typical measure of lobbying success — declined, and its economy foundered, fueling his opposition's successful effort to depose Mr. Aristide last week for the second time in 15 years.</p>

THE first Chilean troops arrived in Haiti on Thursday to join the international force attempting to restore in the Caribbean nation. The 120 troops arrived on a Chilean Air Force Boeing 707 jet. Eventually Chile is to send 340 troops. "These are special forces and they will be incorporated into units composed of French, Canadian and US troops," said Marcel Young, Chile's ambassador to Haiti, at the Port-au-Prince airport. There are about 1,100 US troops in Haiti, and by the end of Thursday 800 French troops and gendarmes were to be in the country. Canadian forces have also started arriving.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Some smiles but also some hostile words greeted U.S. Marines as they expanded their patrols in Port-au-Prince as the capital took faltering steps toward normalcy after the resignation of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Marines trained their rifles down gritty streets and into a teeming market after rolling into the looted port area in eight Light Armored Vehicles and venturing onto the streets. As merchants scrubbed pro-Aristide graffiti off their businesses, the exiled president's supporters vented their anger, holding up photographs of the former slum preacher who was ousted twice from the presidency. Aristide fled the country Sunday,...

<p>PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — U.S. Marines trained their rifles down gritty streets and into a teeming market as they patrolled the Haitian capital with other peacekeepers Thursday, drawing smiles and a few angry words, but no resistance.</p> <p>Hatred is still simmering among various factions nearly a week after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a rebellion that left at least 130 people dead, with new killings discovered outside Port-au-Prince.</p>

U.S. Says Aristide Rescued From Violence Thursday March 4, 2004 10:46 PM By GEORGE GEDDA Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. role in helping President Jean-Bertrand Aristide leave Haiti was partly a rescue operation because it spared him ``almost certain violence'' from armed gangs opposed to him, the State Department said Thursday. Aristide and his supporters have contended that the United States coerced his departure, consequently subverting Haiti's democratic processes. ``We did not advocate his stepping down,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. Boucher also brushed aside criticisms from the 15-nation Caribbean Community, which called for an investigation...

CNSNews.com) - A conservative black pastor says the White House and the State Department should investigate the Congressional Black Caucus's relationship with exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. What do Congressional Black Caucus members have to gain by keeping Aristide in power? asked the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson. Do CBC members, their family, or friends have business interests in Haiti, he wondered. "These questions must be answered. We need to get to the truth about what has been going on," said Peterson, who heads a group called Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny. (Peterson, who supports various conservative causes, is out...

Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel was absolutely furious over the weekend. The ostensible reason for his rage was the Bush Administration's refusal to intervene in Haiti's latest crisis until after its corrupt, despotic ruler, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was removed from power. Why the Rage? To be sure, Rep. Rangel and his colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus have been the most steadfast of ex-President Aristide's supporters. They and like-minded members of the Clinton Administration were, in no small measure, responsible for the 1994 U.S. power-play that forcibly restored Aristide to the post to which he had been elected. The anger being expressed...

Now that Saddam Hussein has been bagged, the left has found a new third-world dictator to rally behind: Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The Haitian ex-president provides the perfect vessel for their anti-American delusions, and a dastardly plot to boot. All it took was a few phonecalls from Aristide (suffering greatly in a Central African palace) claiming that he’d been kidnapped by the U.S. military, and the left was hooked. It wasn’t long before Americans were treated to the spectacle of members of congress making wild accusations about the Bush administration’s ''coup'' in Haiti. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry chimed in as well,...

In Bangui since February 29, the former Haitian president accused France of complicity with the United States in his removal. He let it be known he wants to return to his palace. On the spot [sur place], the tripartite committee began their first meetings as foreign troops settled into Port-au- Prince, in particular the Chilean contingent, a few months before the Brazilian contingent. Aristide accuses France of "complicity" with the United States. In Bangui (Central Africa) since February 29, the former Haitian president affirmed Thursday that he wanted "to return" to his palace because "there was no formal resignation...

Stars and Stripes European edition, Thursday, March 4, 2004 A U.S. Marine deployed to Haiti had a tearful reunion Tuesday with the mother he hadn’t seen since leaving the country 11 years ago, The (New York) Daily News reported Wednesday. Cpl. Harry Milbin is one of 400 Marines sent to stabilize Haiti and was guarding Toussaint L’Ouverture Airport when a woman carrying a picture of him talked her way into the airport, the report said. And when she saw her son standing on the runway, she couldn’t speak, and tears poured from her eyes. “Don’t cry, don’t cry,” Milbin, 28,...

(CNSNews.com) - A conservative black pastor says the White House and the State Department should investigate the Congressional Black Caucus's relationship with exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. What do Congressional Black Caucus members have to gain by keeping Aristide in power? asked the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson. Do CBC members, their family, or friends have business interests in Haiti, he wondered. "These questions must be answered. We need to get to the truth about what has been going on," said Peterson, who heads a group called Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny. (Peterson, who supports various conservative causes, is out...

In land he knows well, Kidder says U.S. is to blame Williamsburg author Tracy Kidder, who spent extended periods in Haiti over the last decade while researching his most recent book, has watched with dismay over the past month as a country he came to know well has devolved into violence and political unrest. Kidder said he is particularly worried about the state of the public health system chronicled in his 2003 book ''Mountains Beyond Mountains,'' given the volatile political situation. Kidder, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of ''Home Town'' and other books, first visited Haiti in 1994 to write about...

Rumours about a Washington-Paris plotted coup to oust Arisitide flooded world press as the former Haitian president said, from his exile in Africa, that he had been hijacked by US marines. No matter the case, the new geopolitical scenario in the Caribbean intimidates "hostile" countries in Latin America. Shortly after former Haitian president Jean Bertrand Arisitide landed in the Central African Republic, he said he had to resign under pressure of US marines in Port Au Prince, who then forced him into a plane. According to his testimony, later confirmed by two US congressmen, Aristide and his closer collaborators were...

Caricom leaders who met in emergency session in Jamaica say the reports surrounding the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from Haiti are contradictory and require no less than an investigation under the auspices of the United Nations which they hope would "clarify the circumstances leading to the relinquishing of the presidency of Haiti by president Aristide". The leaders are hoping if such an investigation does take place, the former president will be allowed to testify if he wants to. Caricom chairman Jamaica Prime Minister PJ Patterson says from all that is on the table now, it is clear Aristide did...

<p>House Democrats yesterday hammered State Department officials on their policies in Haiti and some accused the Bush administration of conspiring with opposition forces to oust Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.</p> <p>Democrats on the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere called the administration's "inaction leading to Mr. Aristide's resignation" an affront to democracy and denounced the negotiation process.</p>

<p>PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Haiti's key rebel leader promised Wednesday his forces would lay down their arms after 1,000 U.S. Marines began patrolling the impoverished capital to restore order and prepare for the arrival of international peacekeepers.</p> <p>If Guy Philippe, a rebel boss and former police chief, can make good on his vow, it would mark the end of the rebellion that broke out Feb. 5, drove President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into African exile Sunday and left at least 130 Haitians dead.</p>

<p>Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry yesterday called for an investigation into statements by former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide that he was kidnapped at gunpoint and removed from power by U.S. troops over the weekend.</p> <p>"I think there ought to be some investigation of it," the Democratic senator from Massachusetts said yesterday on NBC's "Today." "I have a very close friend in Massachusetts who talked directly to people who have made that allegation. I don't know the truth of it. I really don't. But I think it needs to be explored, and we need to know the truth of what happened."</p>

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 3 (Reuters) - Haiti's rebel leader said on Wednesday he was disarming his forces and pulling them off the capital's lawless streets, where gunfights had erupted three days after the president was driven into exile. "We have decided to lay down our arms," said Guy Philippe, one day after announcing that he was chief of the military and police in defiance of the United States, which is heading a U.N.-authorised mission to restore order in the country. "The Front from now on has no men patrolling the streets," Philippe said, referring to the rebel forces. He said...

Lagos Worried by the diplomatic implications of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's allegation that he was kidnapped and ousted by United States troops, Central African Republic (CAR), where he is staying at the moment, has warned him to stay silent for now. In Haiti, rebel leader, Guy Philippe who entered the capital Port-au-Prince Monday declared himself the head of Haitian army formerly disbanded by Aristide. Aristide, who resigned Sunday and arrived in CAR on a flight arranged by the US government, said he was forced to leave by the American military, a claim dismissed by Secretary of State Colin Powell...

Annan Urges Long-Term International Commitment To Haiti Security Council Approves Multinational Force POSTED: 11:34 p.m. EST March 2, 2004 UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is urging a long-term international commitment to Haiti, saying it could take years to stabilize the country. On Sunday, the U.N. Security Council approved deploying a multinational force to restore order in the Caribbean country after its president fled. Ten years ago, U.S. forces restored Jean-Bertrand Aristide's elected government to power after a military coup. Annan says he hopes "this time the international community will go in for the long haul and not a...

<p>Why is anyone surprised at events in Haiti? The left's darling, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a corrupt dictator, has behaved as he always has - as a coward ("Heroes In & Aristide Out," March 1).</p> <p>Aristide was famous for his brutality and his corruption.</p>

<p>March 3, 2004 -- Rebel leader Guy Philippe yesterday declared himself the new chief of Haiti's military - as brutal former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier said he wanted to return from exile.</p> <p>A day after his ragtag forces took the capital of Port-au-Prince and forced dictator Jean-Bertrand Aristide to flee, Philippe told a news conference, "I am the chief."</p>

Some of the same people who urged President Bush to stay out of Iraq a year ago have criticized the administration sharply for not intervening sooner in Haiti. Haiti and Iraq pose quite different challenges to both the international community and the United States. But if there’s a common lesson to be learned, it is that interventions followed by elections, while necessary, are not sufficient. In bleak soil, democracy can take root only with a prolonged effort on the part of people both inside and outside the country to forge democratic institutions. With regard to Iraq, the United States invaded...

28/02/2004 09:07 Erika Gibson Pretoria - A South African air force plane will leave for Haiti early next week to support the country's government. The Boeing 747 is expected to leave as early as Tuesday morning after Police requested the flight. On board the plane would be 5 000 bullets, 200 smoke grenades and 200 bullet-proof vests, according to a document in local newspaper Beeld's possession. In South African terms, R-1 rifles are old-fashioned, but according to specialists, they are similar the French FN-rifles still being used by Haiti police. Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa could neither confirm or deny...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Another day of burning barricades did not cause much alarm yesterday morning when I set out to detail Haiti's torment, but by midday, I was part of the story, surrounded by angry men with guns and jagged rocks the size of basketballs. We had approached the barricades all morning long and there was nothing particularly ominous about this one near Rue Monsignor Guilloux. No flaming tires - just a neat row of big rocks that had forced our rented Montero sport-utility vehicle to a halt. I had been on my cell phone talking to my colleague, photographer...

02/28/04 - White House Bush Administration Thinks Haiti's Aristide Must Go The Bush administration is signaling Haiti's embattled president it's time to step aside. As rebel troops menace Port-au-Prince, Press Secretary Scott McClellan says the administration still seeks a peaceful political settlement to weeks of bloodshed.

Wyclef Jean Voices Support For Haitian Rebels 02.25.2004 5:50 PM EST Wyclef Photo: Columbia Wyclef Jean voiced his support for Haitian rebels on Wednesday, calling on embattled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to step down and telling his fans in Haiti to "keep their head up" as the country braces itself for possible civil war. "The country's in an uproar, it's not safe. But for the safety of the country and to stop the violence, it has to be a situation where he steps down," Jean, who was born in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, told MTV News. "If the president steps down, there...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The street corner executions and other turmoil that raged through Haiti's capital came to an abrupt halt on Saturday, apparently on the order of embattled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Saying that Aristide controls the militants who've inflicted death and pain on the capital, French officials for the first time called without equivocation for his resignation. "The time has come, Aristide must go. He must resign," a senior official at the French Foreign Ministry told Knight Ridder. French officials said Panama was willing to grant Aristide asylum. Panamanian officials said they'd consider such a request. By Saturday, Aristide still...

STANDING BY Ignore Haiti? Tell That to Politicians in Florida By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS ASHINGTON — Ten years ago, a former Haitian priest named Jean-Bertrand Aristide lived down a heavily guarded hallway from Attorney General Janet Reno in a Washington apartment building. He strummed a guitar to relax, lived the life of a monk and waited for the end of exile. He had a legion of followers - mostly dirt-poor peasants - back in Haiti, where he had been elected president but had been ousted in a coup. So for nearly three years, waiting to see whether the West would support...

<p>PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — President Jean-Bertrand Aristide left Haiti on Sunday, bowing to pressure from a rebellion at home and governments abroad, U.S. and Haitian officials said.</p> <p>The Bush administration said it welcomed Aristide's departure and said it was in the best interests of Haiti.</p>

PORT-AU-PRINCE : President Jean Bertrand Aristide fled Haiti on Sunday in the face of an armed revolt and world pressure, with an international force including US and French troops expected in the violence-wracked Caribbean state this week. Aristide, 50, increasingly isolated after months of bloody unrest in the Western hemisphere's poorest country, resigned and fled to the neighboring Dominican Republic, officials said. Supreme Court chief justice Boniface Alexandre assumed interim power. "My resignation will avoid bloodshed. Life for everyone death for no one," Aristide, the firebrand priest turned politician, said in a a farewell statement written in Creole and read...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush ordered on Sunday the deployment of U.S. Marines to Haiti to deter rebels from grabbing power after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned under American pressure in the face of an armed rebellion. Criticized for responding slowly to defuse the revolt and for failing to mediate a viable alternative to Aristide, Washington was worried rebels would fill a power vacuum in a nation with a history of coups and political violence. "I have ordered the deployment of Marines as the leading element of an interim international force to help bring order and stability to Haiti," Bush told...

Haitian conflict can’t be understood without background My mother, an American, lived in Haiti under Jean-Claude Duvalier, one of Latin America’s cruelest dictators. She always says, “Just when you think Haiti couldn’t get worse, it usually does.” Earlier this week, Bush sent U.S. troops to Haiti to guard the American Embassy and called for international aid to negotiate a peaceful settlement between Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the country’s rebel factions - many former Aristide supporters. Understanding the mess means comprehending Haiti’s decades-long decline. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former priest, legitimately won the presidency in 1991, and most thought he was...

OTTAWA - Canada is ready to send troops to Haiti as part of an international force, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said Sunday. Graham made the comment after the Haitian leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, fled the country earlier in the day. The rebels have not yet moved into the capital, Port-au-Prince, and there are fears a power vacuum could lead to bloodshed. Aristide left the country in 1991 and over the next three years of military rule, thousands of people were killed, freelance journalist Claude Adams told CBC Newsworld. "That could happen again." The U.S. ambassador to Haiti, James Foley, said...