Aristide ally blasts U.S. policy, officials (Jean-Just: Noriega & Bolton)

[struggle4progress]

Haitian priest and former Miami activist the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste said two top U.S. diplomats need to resign amid reports the United States sold arms to Haiti.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
[email protected]

<snip>

''The Bush administration is secretly and illegally arming the de facto Haitian government,'' Jean-Juste said at a news conference in Little Haiti.

To Washington's consternation, several nations, including the Caribbean Community, refused to recognize the installation of interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue following the 2004 ouster of Aristide as a rebellion threatened to engulf Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. Jean-Juste insists Aristide is Haiti's legitimate president. Now in exile, Aristide himself insists he never resigned, as claimed by Washington.

Jean-Juste called for the resignation of Roger Noriega, assistant secretary of state for Latin America, and John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control. <snip>

Jean-Juste's accusations about illegal arms sales came a day after The Associated Press, quoting anonymous State Department and U.N. officials, reported that the United States has quietly sold 2,000 used firearms to the Haitian police force. <snip>

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/11467883.htm


Bolton apparently has contempt, not only for international law, but for US law as well ...

[seemslikeadream]

1. Aristide ally blasts U.S. policy, officials

Posted on Sat, Apr. 23, 2005

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

Saying the Haitian people need food, not bullets, the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste on Friday demanded the resignation of two top U.S. State Department officials he accused of helping to arm Haiti's interim government.

The demands by the popular Haitian Catholic priest came at a time when he faces increased pressure by Haiti's Roman Catholic Church to tone down his political rhetoric. It also comes amid speculation that he will be a candidate in the country's Nov. 13 presidential elections.

Well-known in Miami circles, Jean-Juste is quickly becoming a prominent presence on Haiti's political scene, wielding considerable influence with loyalists of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and being a thorn in the side of the current U.S.-backed Haitian government.

''The Bush administration is secretly and illegally arming the de facto Haitian government,'' Jean-Juste said at a news conference in Little Haiti.

To Washington's consternation, several nations, including the Caribbean Community, refused to recognize the installation of interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue following the 2004 ouster of Aristide as a rebellion threatened to engulf Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. Jean-Juste insists Aristide is Haiti's legitimate president. Now in exile, Aristide himself insists he never resigned, as claimed by Washington.

more
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/11467883.htm

[struggle4progress]

2. Typical wingnut hubris: the Bushistas send arms before repealing ...

... the arms embargo. Jean-Juste names Bolton and Noriega.

The threat of wider play for this story may be making Republicans nervous about supporting The Walrus ...

[joanski01]

3. I didn't know it was a secret that

the bushies were arming the interim government. I hope everything caves in on these criminals in this fraud of an Administration.

[aneerkoinos]

4. It was not secret

Only illegal. The sad part is that nobedy expects anything else from US, and that the legal system, rule of law, means absolutely nothing in US anymore.

The really sad thing is not the death of rule of law, but the fact that nobody really expects any better from US.