As the CBC turns up the heat on the [Bush] administration, rebel leader Guy Philippe, who said his troops are ready to attack the Haitian capital, decided to "give a chance to peace" that is, to see if [Jean-Bertrand Aristide] will resign. "Given the fact that Haiti is so close to us, they have been treated very shabbily by our government and we have not exercised the kind of moral authority that we talk about and attempt to exercise even in other places when it comes to Haiti. That is unfortunate...," [Danny K. Davis] stated. "The current unrest may result in an exodus of refugees fleeing to our shores, thus placing the lives of many Haitians in danger. The political violence in Haiti is intolerable, and the U.S. cannot afford to allow a country in our own hemisphere to spiral further downward into a state of turmoil," said [Bobby L. Rush].
While six Haitian nations were arrested and charged with orchestrating the boat ride where 235 Haitians waded to a Florida shoreline, Rep Danny K. Davis (D-IL) and the Congressional Black Caucus on Oct 3, 2002 called on President Bush to intervene in the crisis. Rather than processing the Haitians and granting them political asylum, immigration officials said the 235 will be detained for months.
-, An editorial asserts that the Chicago Defender joins the Congressional Black Caucus, the Miami Branch of the NAACP and Rep Carrie Meek in denouncing a Bush administration directive requiring INS officials to arbitrarily detain Haitian refugees seeking asylum in the US.
An editorial reflecting on President George W. Bush's international policy. Maintains that 1) the U.S., Britain and France, the main colonist countries and monopolists of international trade at the time, imposed sanctions on Haiti when it became the first black republic in the world in 1804; 2) the U.S. introduced forced labor during a political crisis in 1915 to maintain high profit rates and left Haiti in 1934, leaving behind a deadly legacy and securing its rule over the Caribbean; 3) President George H. Bush financed a coup seven months after the first democratic elections in 1990, leading to a new dictatorship and more bloodshed; and 4) the Bush administration needs control over Haiti as it could be a stable base to launch interventions in Cuba, Venezuela and Panama.
