HAITI: UNITED STATES MARINE IS WOUNDED IN HAITI AS FORMER PRESIDENTARISTIDE HEADS FOR JAMAICA

Record ID: 337966

  • Title: HAITI: UNITED STATES MARINE IS WOUNDED IN HAITI AS FORMER PRESIDENTARISTIDE HEADS FOR JAMAICA
  • Date: 15th March 2004
  • Summary: (W6) PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (MARCH 15, 2004) (REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV PRESIDENTIAL PALACE 0.04 2. SV/CU OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES (2 SHOTS) 0.15 3. SV SECURITY AT HOTEL MONTANA WHERE NEW PRIME MINISTER, GERARD LATORTUE, IS VISITING 0.21 4. MCU (French) PRIME MINISTER GERARD LATORTUE SAYING: "This is an unfriendly act on Jamaica's part. We cannot accept this. We will speak with the Jamaican Ambassador as quickly as possible." 0.39 5. SLV STREET SCENES (2 SHOTS) 0.50 6. MCU (Creole) ARISTIDE SUPPORTER, RAFAEL SAYING: "We are waiting for Aristide to send a message for the people from Jamaica. If he asks us to move we'll move and if he tells us not to we won't. We know that if we protest the police will beat us." 1.12 7. CLOSE UP OF PICTURE OF ARISTIDE ON SUPPORTERS T-SHIRT 1.15 8. TV/CU/SV VARIOUS OF MARKET PLACE (3 SHOTS) 1.30 9. MCU (English) MAN ON THE STREET, BILLY, SAYING: "In a way it's kind of good in a way it's no good, man. You can imagine. You see all these people that are dying out here, bodies all over and people are suffering. That doesn't matter, you know. What I'm saying, what really matters us to just put the security together." 1.48 10. SLV/SV VARIOUS MARKET (2 SHOTS) 1.56 11. MCU (French) ARISTIDE SUPPORTER SAYING: "Aristide is a good president for all the people of Haiti. If Aristide is killed they are killing the poor people of Haiti because he is the poor people." 2.17 12. SLV/SV VARIOUS OF INTERNATIONAL FORCES AT INAUGURATION CEREMONY OF U.S. MARINE CORP. BRIG. GENERAL ROLAND COLEMAN AS HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL FORCES (10 SHOTS) 2.52 13. SV (English) BRIG. GENERAL ROLAND COLEMAN SAYING: "Our mission is clear. To bring about stability, to calm fears, and to facilitate the arrival of UN peacekeeping forces. You have my personal word that all law abiding citizens will be treated with dignity and respect. Make no mistake, my Marines and international forces will not stand by while thugs and rebels kill and maim innocent citizens." 3.14 14. MCU OFFICIAL LISTENING 3.16 15. SV COLEMAN LISTENING 3.32 16. SV MILITARY CEREMONY (3 SHOTS) 3.48 17. MCU/SV (English) LT. COLONEL DAVE LAPAN SAYING: "One Marine was wounded in the left arm. He was evacuated to Miami. His condition is not life-threatening. This is our first casualty. We believe it was an ambush." 4.21 18. SV END OF PRESS CONFERENCE 4.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
  • Country: Haiti
  • Reuters ID: LVA6FWR1G42A0NCA3AV19PBJF0YL
  • Story Text: United States Marine is wounded in Haiti as former
    President Aristide heads for Jamaica.



    Haiti's new leader fired a diplomatic broadside at
    Jamaica on Monday (March 15) for allowing ousted President
    Jean-Bertrand Aristide to visit, while U.S. and French
    troops came under renewed attack by gunmen.

    Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, who was sworn in on
    Friday (March 12), said Aristide's planned return to the
    Caribbean had already stoked tensions, and Jamaica's
    decision to allow the former slum priest to visit an
    "unfriendly act."
    Aristide, driven out by a month-long rebellion and U.S.

    pressure, was expected to land in Jamaica on Monday for a
    visit Haiti's new government and U.S. officials fear will galvanize
    his
    die-hard supporters and stoke tensions.

    "This is an unfriendly act on Jamaica's part. We cannot
    accept this. We will recall the Jamaican Ambassador as
    quickly as possible," Latortue told reporters.

    He voiced his objections as U.S. troops suffered their
    first casualty in Haiti when a Marine was injured by gunmen.

    Lt. Col. Dave Lapan said a Marine was hit on Sunday
    night when a patrol, on foot and in Humvees, was attacked
    by several gunmen in the Port-au-Prince shantytown of
    Belair, where support for Aristide remains strong.

    "One Marine was wounded in the left arm. He was
    evacuated to Miami. His condition is not life-threatening,"
    Lapan said. "This is our first casualty. We believe it was
    an ambush."
    Marines fired back but it was unknown whether any
    attackers were hit.

    The Marines leading a 2,650-strong international force
    have fought half a dozen battles with Aristide loyalists
    since they landed on February 29, hours after the president
    went into exile. The Marines have killed six people.

    In a ceremony at the international force's new
    headquarters, U.S. Marine Corp. Brig. Gen. Ronald Coleman
    formally took over the U.N.-sanctioned deployment.

    Coleman will be in charge of not just U.S. Marines, the
    bulk of the force, but also of French gendarmes and
    legionnaires, and Canadian and Chilean troops.

    "Our mission is clear. To bring about stability, to
    calm fears, and to facilitate the arrival of UN
    peacekeeping forces. You have my personal word that all law
    abiding citizens will be treated with dignity and respect.

    Make no mistake, my Marines and international forces will
    not stand by while thugs and rebels kill and maim innocent
    citizens," he said.

    The troops were sent to restore order after more than
    200 people were killed in the revolt that broke out on
    February 5, and after Aristide's flight triggered looting
    and reprisal killings.

    Many slum dwellers, who see Aristide as a champion of
    the poor and reject accusations he became a corrupt despot,
    believe he was kidnapped in a U.S.-backed coup.

    "Aristide is a good president for all the people of
    Haiti. If Aristide is killed they are killing the poor
    people of Haiti because he is the poor people," said one
    Aristide supporter.

    Aristide's followers say they hope his proximity in
    Jamaica, just 115 miles (185 km) from Haiti's shores, will
    herald the eventual return of Haiti's first democratically
    elected leader.

    Aristide left the Central African Republic, where he and
    his wife have been since he was ousted, early on Monday
    despite strong U.S. and Haitian objections.

    He was whisked away on a jet chartered by a delegation
    of U.S. and Jamaican lawmakers. The plane made a first
    refueling stop in the West African country of Senegal.

    Jamaica's prime minister has said Aristide would spend
    up to 10 weeks there. He has not been granted asylum in
    Jamaica.

    Jamaican lawmaker Sharon Hay Webster said the
    delegation's goal was to arrange for the ousted leader to
    see his two children, who have been staying in the United
    States.


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