Artistide being held incommunicado
From the International Action Center
A delegation from the United States has arrived in the Central African Republic to meet with overthrown Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Kim Ives, a personal friend of Jean-Bertrand and Mildred Aristide, said “This morning, the delegation went to the Palace of the Renaissance, the presidential compound where President Aristide is being held.”
“We were stopped at the gates by a guard who contacted a Central African Republic official inside the building. A representative of the Central African Republic came out to speak with us,” Ives reported. “We asked to go in to visit President Aristide and were told we could not. We asked if he could come out to see us, and we were told no. We asked if we could send in a note or our phone number, and we were told no. The official then told us that he had spoken with the Minister of Defense and that Aristide was not allowed to receive visitors.”
“The world has been told that President Aristide is free to come and go, and that he has simply chosen not to leave,” said Sara Flounders of the International Action Center. “The fact that our delegation has been denied all forms of contact with President Aristide confirms, in fact, that he is being kept under lock and key, at this point not even able to communicate by phone.”
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I can’t imagine the Central African Republic has much interest in Aristide, hence the US and French must be those actually holding him, well, hostage – because I can’t see who else would care, can you?
The question then becomes, why are they holding him?