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October 25th 2005
Aristide's helicopter pilot, Frantz Gabriel released a statement regarding the kidnapping of President Jean Bertrand Aristide.
While in exile in Pretoria South Africa, Frantz Gabriel released a statement to writer Randall Robinson. Here it is from his book "An Unbroken Agony" 'I got to the house at 3:30 A.M. on Sunday morning. The gate is usually opened by a member of the CAT team (Haitian Counter Ambush Team). That morning it was opened by the Steele people. This never happened before. (I later thought that the Steele people had gotten a call to play the game, to play along.) The gate closed behind me. I parked in my usual space in the parking lot on the right between the two walls. I left the M3 on the seat of my car. I walked through the second gate and into the command post. No one said anything to me. I then walked through the office and then into the president's living room. The president was standing alone in the room dressed in a suit with a white shirt and a dark tie. The First Lady was somewhere else. She was not in the living room. I then asked, "Is there a problem, Mr. President?" The president said, "There has been a lot of pressure coming from all different directions." I said, "What do you mean, sir?" He said, "The way things are looking – I am under intense pressure." The phone rang and the president went to answer it. I heard him talk. No American forces were there at that time. While he was on the phone, I said to myself that I should go out and see what was going on in the yard where Haitian security and the Steele people [US private security hired by Haiti to protect Haiti’s president] were. As I walked out [the front door], pulling up to the walk to the front door was a big white Suburban with diplomatic plates. I was standing by the steps to the door. [Luis] Moreno got out of the Suburban with two American soldiers. I turned and went back into the living room to be closer to the president. The president was putting the phone down. Moreno said, "Mr. President, I'm from the U.S. Embassy. Ten years ago, I was there when you came in. I was there to greet you. It's too bad that ten years later, I'm the one that has to announce to you that you've got to go." I looked at the president and then at Moreno. By then the First Lady had come downstairs. The president went into the dining room to speak with her. They came out together. The First Lady was carrying a small bag. She was wearing a suit. Outside there were twenty to thirty American soldiers on the walls that surrounded the house. They had lasers on their guns that made red dots. The red dots filled the yard. They were crisscrossing and coming from all directions. The two soldiers with Moreno were Special Forces. I knew this because they had beards. They carried M16's and wore full battle dress with steel helmets and bulletproof vests. They were white and said nothing. We got into the Suburban. The president sat in the second row by the window. The First lady sat in the middle and Moreno sat by the sliding door. The two solders sat up front with one of them driving. I sat in the back row. We went through the main gate and made the right toward the airport. Outside the gate, we were joined by a convoy of ten U.S. embassy vehicles. There were all white Suburbans. We made a right into the airport in the direction of the general aviation area. There were two hangers there. The old Huey helicopter was there. There was s white Airbus there. It had a huge American flag on the tail. There was no tail number and no other markings. Moreno opened the door and got out of the Suburban. He said to the president and the First Lady, "Okay, let's go." That's all he said. He didn't say anything to me. He stood at the foot of the plane and sort of motioned to the president, the First Lady, and me to board the plane. The three of us went up the stairs into the plane. The two American soldiers who were in the Suburban boarded the plane and changed into civilian clothes (polo shirts and sneakers) while the door was still open. Moreno never boarded the plane. The [American] ambassador was not there. All this happened very quickly. Everything was timed so well. The Suburban came into the yard at about 4:00 A.M. We got to the plane at about 4:30 A.M. The Suburban went right to the bottom of the stairs. We sat in the Suburban about five minutes before Moreno opened the door and said, "Okay, let's go." The plane looked like it would seat about 365 people. All the window shades were pulled down. Behind the first seating section was a big operations centre with telephone, a fax machine, and a computer. The machines were on one side of the plane and there were seats on the other side. The president and the First lady were told to sit in the front section. I sat ten rows behind a bulkhead that was behind the American soldiers who were behind the operations centre. I could not see the president and the First lady from where I was sitting, but I went to talk to them several times. He was quiet. She was crying silently. I said to myself, This is incredible. This is a kidnapping. They just came and kidnapped the president in his home and took him away. I'm in the middle of a fucking kidnapping. This is the first thing that hit my mind. There were about thirty American soldiers on the plane. They came from the house in the ten Suburbans. They all had beards. They boarded the plane with their gear and then changed into civilian clothes. One of them, who seems to be in charge, said to me, "Are you going back with us?" like he thinks I am one of his men. Maybe it was just because of my beard. The American soldiers sat on the plane between me and the president and the First Lady. All the way in the back behind me were the Steele men with their wives and children. They were all wearing casual clothes. The pilots wore regular pilot's uniforms. We waited on the plane about thirty minutes before we took off. There were five black people on the plane. Besides the president, the First Lady, and me, there was a Haitian woman who was with one of the Steele men. They had a baby. After we landed the first time, I asked somebody where we were but nobody would tell me. Everybody was quiet. I heard the fuel nozzle attach. Once in a while the baby would cry. After the baby was fed, everything was quiet again. They offered the president and the First lady some sandwiches, but they did not take them. We were on the ground for five hours. The guys who spoke to me before, who seemed to be in charge, said to everyone over the PA system, "So far we don't have an official invitation yet for President Aristide. It seems like nobody wants him." The guy was on the phone the whole time behind the president who was sitting face forward. His staff was also on the phone. Some of the phones were black and some were red. They were using the fax and the laptops also. We flew for a long time after we took off again. We landed again and waited on the ground for fuel. We didn't know where we were. When we were approaching the Central African Republic, the guy who was in charge asked me, "What are you gonna do? Are you going back with us?" I told him that I was staying with the president. Then he said, "You are going to a French military prison." This is what he said to me. I said, "I don't care. I'm going where the president goes." Then he said, "You will be greeted by a French colonel on your arrival." No Americans got off the plane. Nobody. Only the three of us. Only the Central African Republic minister of foreign affairs came on the plane. We left the airport before the plane took off. Before that, we went into a small terminal. It was in the morning. We sat in the terminal for thirty minutes. The minister allowed journalists to ask him questions, but he was in no mood to talk. Then they drove us to President Bozize's palace. The president was out of town. They took us to two rooms in a side section of the palace. It was three days before President Bozize returned from out of town. You asked me if the Central African Republic people where respectful to us. The only time that they were a little disrespectful was when your plane came.' [Randall Robinson, Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Jamaican parliament member, Sharon Hay-Webster, traveled to the Central African Republic and rescued the Aristides, arranging temporary asylum in Jamaica, against US-Condoleezza Rice’s strong-armed pressure for Jamaica not to provide said temporary asylum.] For more information and greater details, purchase Randall Robinson’s book
"An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President"
Buy the book at: http://www.randallrobinson.com
More about Haiti in October What else happened in Haiti in the month of October? Vincent Oge Demanded the right to vote in Hispaniola.Henri Christophe was born in St. Christopher Island, Now St Kits.Recording artist Wyclef Jean of Haiti arrives at The Source Hip Hop...Birthday of Haitian filmmaker Godnel Latus AKA Babylove.Dr. Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier is elected President of Haiti More about Haiti in 2005 What else happened in Haiti in the year 2005? Hip Hop Musicians Distributed Food in Haiti Slums in Joint Venture by...Canada increased its support for electoral process in Haiti.Father Gerard Jean Juste had to appear before a judge in...Haitian Journalist Jacques Roche was found dead in Haiti.Gerard Jean Juste was arrested in Haiti. Browse Haiti Timeline by Year » 1492 1493 1494 1496 1498 1499 1502 1503 1508 1528 1592 1606 1625 1659 1664 1665 1670 1685 1697 1743 1749 1751 1758 1766 1767 1772 1777 1778 1779 1781 1786 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1811 1812 1814 1816 1818 1820 1821 1822 1825 1831 1838 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1849 1852 1853 1854 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1865 1867 1869 1870 1872 1874 1875 1876 1879 1880 1882 1883 1884 1885 1888 1889 1893 1896 1897 1902 1904 1908 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1919 1920 1921 1922 1926 1928 1929 1930 1931 1933 1934 1935 1937 1938 1940 1941 1944 1946 1948 1949 1950 1951 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1964 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1974 1977 1979 1980 1983 1985 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
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