Haiti Braces for Return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Island issues new passport for former president forced out in 2004 and living in exile in South Africa
by Isabeau Doucet
Global Research, February 10, 2011
Guardian - 2011-02-09
Haiti has issued a diplomatic passport to former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in effect ending his seven-year exile in South Africa.
His lawyer, Ira Kurzban, said he had collected Aristide's new passport in Port-au-Prince. "He's going to try to return as soon as he can," Kurzban said.
Aristide has asked the government to provide him with the security constitutionally promised to a former president.
Asked last month whether he was ready to return, Aristide said he would come back "today, tomorrow, at any time".
Speculation that he would try to get back to Haiti increased after the return of former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who now faces charges of embezzlement and crimes against humanity.
.....
Voter turnout was unusually low in the election, which was marred by widespread fraud. Haiti recently scheduled a delayed runoff for 20 March to pick a successor to President René Préval.
......
But Aristide's return could be the political equivalent of a second earthquake in the runoff. It is likely to cause a surge of popular support, with tens of thousands in the street throughout the country.
"You will see, when people know he is returning for sure, they will go out and sweep the streets clean for him," says Jeremy Dupin, 26, a journalist from Cité Soleil, one of the capital's poorest areas.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23168
Island issues new passport for former president forced out in 2004 and living in exile in South Africa
by Isabeau Doucet
Global Research, February 10, 2011
Guardian - 2011-02-09
Haiti has issued a diplomatic passport to former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in effect ending his seven-year exile in South Africa.
His lawyer, Ira Kurzban, said he had collected Aristide's new passport in Port-au-Prince. "He's going to try to return as soon as he can," Kurzban said.
Aristide has asked the government to provide him with the security constitutionally promised to a former president.
Asked last month whether he was ready to return, Aristide said he would come back "today, tomorrow, at any time".
Speculation that he would try to get back to Haiti increased after the return of former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who now faces charges of embezzlement and crimes against humanity.
.....
Voter turnout was unusually low in the election, which was marred by widespread fraud. Haiti recently scheduled a delayed runoff for 20 March to pick a successor to President René Préval.
......
But Aristide's return could be the political equivalent of a second earthquake in the runoff. It is likely to cause a surge of popular support, with tens of thousands in the street throughout the country.
"You will see, when people know he is returning for sure, they will go out and sweep the streets clean for him," says Jeremy Dupin, 26, a journalist from Cité Soleil, one of the capital's poorest areas.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23168