Interview on plane during Aristide journey to Jamaica

Описание: (16 Mar 2004)

*CLIENTS - MANDATORY CREDIT: DEMOCRACYNOW.ORG*

Bangui - Central African Republic
March 14, 2004
1. Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife boarding plane en route to Jamaica

International Airspace
March 15, 2004
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Exiled Haitian President:
"When the coup which I call kidnapping happened last February 28 and 29 this opportunity gives me a good chance to say thank you to the chairman from CARICOM, Mr. Paterson the heads of all our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean family."
Q. And why do you call it a coup or kidnap?
"Because they (US forces and others) broke the constitutional order by using force to have me out of the country the way it happened."
Q. How did it happen?
"I will not give details, maybe next time, but as I said they used force. When you have military coming from abroad surrounding your house taking control of the airport, surrounding the national palace, being in the streets, and taking you from your house to put you in a plane where you had to spend 20 hours without knowing where they were going to go with you, without talking about details, which I already did somehow in other occassions, it was using force to take an elected president out of his country"
Q. And was that US military that took you out?
"They were US military and I suspect it could be also completed with the presence of other military from other countries."
Q. When they came to your house in February 29 was it a US military that came?
"There were diplomats, there was US military, there were US people."
Q. And what did they tell you?
"Well, as I said, I prefer not to go to details right now because I''ve already talked about it in details on other occassions and its a good opportunity for me to help the people focusing on the results of that kidnapping because actually, they still continue to kill Haitian in Haiti, and Haitian continue to flee Haiti by boat, others have to go to hiding, others courageously went to the streets to demonstrate in a peacefully way asking for my return, and when we know what happened to those they killed we have concerns about what may happen to those who peacefully demonstrate for my return."
Q. The Bush administration said, after you got on the plane, when you were leaving, you spoke with CARICOM leaders, is this true?
"They lied, I never had any opportunity from February 28 at night when they started, to the minute I arrived in CAR, I never had any conversation with anyone from CARICOM within that frame of time."

Jamaica - 15 March 2004
3. Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife arriving in Kingston International Airport

STORYLINE:

Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has reiterated his kidnap claim, saying that US military forced him to leave Haiti on February 28.

Aristide gave an exclusive interview to the non-profit organisation Democracy Now as he travelled to Jamaica to take up temporary exile on the Caribbean island.

He arrived in Jamaica from exile in Africa on Monday, prompting Haiti''s interim leader to withdraw his ambassador to Jamaica and suspend ties with the Caribbean economic bloc.

Aristide''s arrival in neighbouring Jamaica raised tensions in Haiti, where his followers are planning more protests to demand the return of the country''s first democratically elected leader.

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