Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Haitians ready new flotilla of boat people Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 15:07:21 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Haitians ready new flotilla of boat people \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT ANGE-A-GALETS, Haiti ANGE-A-GALETS, Haiti (AP) - Hope-starved Haitians are awaiting Bill Clinton's inauguration with explosively high expectations, ranging from a quick return of the country's exiled president to a warmer reception for boat people. "That's the only thing that's being talked about right now - Jan. 20," said a Roman Catholic priest the Rev. Bill Quigley, on La Gonave, a dusty, deforested island that long has been a principal launching site for wooden boats crammed with U.S.-bound refugees. Father Quigley, an American who has lived on the island 12 years, said U.S. concerns about a new wave of boat people are well founded. He said most of about 50 boats La Gonave lost last year, when Haitians fled in droves after a bloody military coup ousted elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, have been replaced by new ones. "A new exodus? You can bet on it," he said. Mr. Clinton has pledged to make it easier for Haitians to apply for political asylum. During his campaign he criticized President Bush for ordering the direct repatriation of refugees but, amid concern over a flood of refugees, aides now say he may not rescind the order. Nonetheless, on the pebbly beaches of Ange-a-Galets, a port town that links the island to the rest of Haiti, workmen were banging together rough-hewn wooden boats. One of them, 55-year-old Leprincier Pierre, took a break from pounding shredded burlap with a wooden mallet into the seams of a 50-footer to talk of his new hopes. "We welcomed Clinton's victory, because we were dying," he said. "We had lost our president, who was going to save us." "We are going to be saved now," he said. Mr. Pierre said he believed Mr. Clinton would bring democracy back to Haiti. Echoed by many other poor Haitians both on and off La Gonave, his hopes reflect how large the United States looms in the country's history and national psyche. American troops occupied the country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, from 1915 to 1934. The U.S. State Department helped hasten and arrange the 1986 departure of dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier during a popular uprising that ended nearly 30 years of tyrannical rule by the family. Father Aristide, an activist priest who opposed the Duvalierists, remains highly popular among Haiti's poor. But his return is fiercely opposed by the 7,000-man army and a powerful clique of politicians and businessmen. U.S. diplomats based in Haiti often complain that the Aristide camp harbors an exaggerated notion of Washington's power to influence or control event in Haiti. Since the president's September 1991 ouster, pro-Aristide militants have become increasingly critical of Mr. Bush, questioning his administration's commitment to restoring Mr. Aristide to power. They openly expressed hopes for a Clinton victory during the campaign. The United States has backed a year-old trade embargo, called for by the 34-nation Organization of American States, to press for Mr. Aristide's reinstatement. But it has never carried out a freeze on assets of the coup's backers and other threatened measures. It supports OAS efforts to set up talks between Mr. Aristide and his archrival, Marc Bazin, now Haiti's military-backed prime minister. Mr. Aristide refuses to attend, saying Mr. Bazin - a conservative politician who ran in the December 1990 presidential election that Mr. Aristide won by a landslide - has no legal or moral authority. Bernard Shackleton, a jobless 28-year-old mason with a wife and three children on La Gonave, said he believes Mr. Clinton will get the OAS to lift the trade embargo, which has crippled Haiti's already weak economy. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM