HAITI: President Jean-Bertrand Aristide supporters mob home as exiled leader returns

Record ID: 699594

  • Title: HAITI: President Jean-Bertrand Aristide supporters mob home as exiled leader returns
  • Date: 19th March 2011
  • Summary: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (MARCH 18, 2011) (REUTERS) SUPPORTERS OF FORMER PRESIDENT JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE WALKING DOWN THE ROAD TOWARD ARISTIDE'S HOUSE VARIOUS OF ARISTIDE SUPPORTERS RUNNING AHEAD OF POLICE MOTORCADE CARRYING ARISTIDE THOUSANDS OF SUPPORTERS IN STREET WITH BANNER OVERHEAD READING: 'WELCOME BACK PRESIDENT TITIDE!' CROWD OUTSIDE ARISTIDE'S HOUSE SUPPORTERS WALKING AHEAD OF MOTORCADE ARISTIDE SUPPORTERS CHEERING AS FIRST CAR OF CARAVAN ARRIVES AT HIS HOUSE CAR CARRYING JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE DRIVING THROUGH CROWD IN FRONT OF HIS HOUSE CROWD WAVING FLAGS AND CHEERING AS ARISTIDE ARRIVES TO HIS HOUSE ARISTIDE AND FAMILY GETTING OUT OF CAR ARISTIDE WAVING TO CROWD CROWD AND SUPPORTERS IN TREES WATCHING ARISTIDE (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) ARISTIDE SUPPORTER, RICKY FORTUNE, SAYING: "I hope this election is not cancelled by fighting, people setting things on fire, with people saying it's because of Aristide's arrival in the country. Aristide does not say yes or no for the election. He doesn't want exclusion, he wants inclusion." ARISTIDE SUPPORTERS IN TREES (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) ARISTIDE SUPPORTER, SAMUEL PIERRE, SAYING: "Today is the biggest day in our lives because Aristide, our brother, our friend, is with us today. Despite all the humiliation for the past seven years that we've been suffering from the bourgeois and those doing politics under the table, today our morale is high because Aristide is making a show today and is showing the international community who Jean-Bertrand Aristide is." SUPPORTERS WALKING ON STREET NEAR ARISTIDE'S HOUSE
  • Embargoed: 3rd April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Haiti, Haiti
  • Country: Haiti
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACD8AV12WUBNPQTZ96CVMSAFXI
  • Story Text: Screaming supporters carrying Haitian flags and welcoming banners mobbed former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Friday (March 18) as he returned to his Port-au-Prince home after seven years of living in exile.
    Crowds surrounded the black SUV that took Aristide from the airport with a police officer sitting on the front of the car.
    At his spacious home in the capital's Tabarre district, which had been refurbished for his arrival and draped with national flags, followers climbed walls and trees to pack the yard to greet him when he arrived. One woman rolled on the ground in delight, screaming "Long Live Aristide."
    Fifty-seven-year-old Aristide, a charismatic former Roman Catholic priest, was ousted from power in 2004 through an armed rebellion.
    He became Haiti's first freely elected president in 1991, but was overthrown by the military after seven months. His fiery brand of left-wing populism won him enemies among business elites and the army, which he eventually abolished.
    Re-elected in 2000, his second term saw economic instability and violence, with critics accusing him of intolerance and persecution of opponents.
    Aristide, who had accused Washington of helping to engineer his 2004 exile, ignored a direct plea from the United States to delay his return to the Caribbean nation until after Sunday.
    Washington and other western donors, who have pledged billions of dollars to help rebuild Haiti after the earthquake, had expressed fears that the homecoming of the former president could be destabilizing for a run-off election set for Sunday (March 20) following months of chaos and tension.
    One Aristide supporter said he hope no blame would fall to the former leader if things do not proceed smoothly on Sunday.
    "I hope this election is not cancelled by fighting, people setting things on fire, with people saying it's because of Aristide's arrival in the country. Aristide does not say yes or no for the election. He doesn't want exclusion, he wants inclusion," said Ricky Fortune.
    But for other supporters, Aristide's return was a moment of triumph.
    "Today is the biggest day in our lives because Aristide, our brother, our friend, is with us today. Despite all the humiliation for the past seven years that we've been suffering from the bourgeois and those doing politics under the table, today our morale is high because Aristide is making a show today and is showing the international community who Jean-Bertrand Aristide is," said Samuel Pierre.
    In his first comments, Aristide mostly avoided overtly political issues but stressed the importance of including all Haitians in national life. He did mention the "exclusion" of his Fanmi Lavalas party, Haiti's biggest, which was barred from registering its own candidate for the elections.
    Despite a generally calm second-round campaign, there are fears Aristide's presence and large numbers of his followers in the streets could stir up a volatile electoral atmosphere.
    Aides to Aristide say he intends to stay out of politics and use his expertise in education to assist Haiti's recovery.
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