Haiti-Joy and Fear
9-26-1994
^Haitians Dismayed Police not Totally Disarmed
^By ANDREW SELSKY
^Associated Press Writer
GRAND RIVIERE, Haiti (AP) _ The noisy, much-anticipated arrival of the U.S. Marines set off a celebration Monday in this rural town set amid sugar cane fields and dusty brown hills.
"Americans welcome among us," stated a sign held by one resident. "We love you forever."
Viewed from the air, "I saw them ... pouring out of their houses and onto the streets," said Cpl. Mark Oliva, of Londonderry, N.H. "It was overwhelming. ... The whole way they were lining the streets. The crowds were dancing, chanting and singing."
The purpose of the visit was to show the flag a week into the U.S. occupation of this Caribbean nation. But the Marines also wanted to partially disarm the local police to protect U.S. troops in nearby Cap-Haitien from attack as much as to shield townspeople from human rights abuses.
When the Marines loaded the seized machine guns, a mortar and a grenade launcher into the back of a white pickup truck, half the town - about 3,000 people - escorted it to the soccer field, beating drums, shaking rattles and bells, chanting and swaying with their music.
But when the helicopter took off, the old sense of fear returned: Police still had their rifles and pistols.
"People still are not safe because the Americans didn't take all the weapons," Edrise D'Amise said dejectedly. The demonstration quickly broke up.
As U.S. forces push out into rural areas from Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitien, Haiti's two largest cities, expectations are spreading.
Word is getting around that Haitian security forces abandoned their posts in Cap Haitien, 12 miles from here, after 10 were killed in a shootout with Marines Saturday night.
Marine Capt. Matt Drummer said he was on a similar operation Sunday in the town of Limbe. A crowd also had formed there, and threatened the Haitian police.
"I have never seen people so scared in my life as those police, with those people chanting, 'We're going to get you. We're going to get you,'" Drummer said. "They had that slick sheen of fear."
The Marines are not taking all the weapons from the Haitian forces because that would leave them defenseless against revenge attacks by the people they have brutalized so long.
"They certainly need to have enough for their own self-protection," Marine Lt. Col. John McGuire said in Cap Haitien, "but not to pose a significant threat to our forces."
U.S. officials have said they will attempt to "professionalize" Haiti's security forces, and not dissolve or completely disarm them.
^Haitians Dismayed Police not Totally Disarmed
^By ANDREW SELSKY
^Associated Press Writer
GRAND RIVIERE, Haiti (AP) _ The noisy, much-anticipated arrival of the U.S. Marines set off a celebration Monday in this rural town set amid sugar cane fields and dusty brown hills.
"Americans welcome among us," stated a sign held by one resident. "We love you forever."
Viewed from the air, "I saw them ... pouring out of their houses and onto the streets," said Cpl. Mark Oliva, of Londonderry, N.H. "It was overwhelming. ... The whole way they were lining the streets. The crowds were dancing, chanting and singing."
The purpose of the visit was to show the flag a week into the U.S. occupation of this Caribbean nation. But the Marines also wanted to partially disarm the local police to protect U.S. troops in nearby Cap-Haitien from attack as much as to shield townspeople from human rights abuses.
When the Marines loaded the seized machine guns, a mortar and a grenade launcher into the back of a white pickup truck, half the town - about 3,000 people - escorted it to the soccer field, beating drums, shaking rattles and bells, chanting and swaying with their music.
But when the helicopter took off, the old sense of fear returned: Police still had their rifles and pistols.
"People still are not safe because the Americans didn't take all the weapons," Edrise D'Amise said dejectedly. The demonstration quickly broke up.
As U.S. forces push out into rural areas from Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitien, Haiti's two largest cities, expectations are spreading.
Word is getting around that Haitian security forces abandoned their posts in Cap Haitien, 12 miles from here, after 10 were killed in a shootout with Marines Saturday night.
Marine Capt. Matt Drummer said he was on a similar operation Sunday in the town of Limbe. A crowd also had formed there, and threatened the Haitian police.
"I have never seen people so scared in my life as those police, with those people chanting, 'We're going to get you. We're going to get you,'" Drummer said. "They had that slick sheen of fear."
The Marines are not taking all the weapons from the Haitian forces because that would leave them defenseless against revenge attacks by the people they have brutalized so long.
"They certainly need to have enough for their own self-protection," Marine Lt. Col. John McGuire said in Cap Haitien, "but not to pose a significant threat to our forces."
U.S. officials have said they will attempt to "professionalize" Haiti's security forces, and not dissolve or completely disarm them.
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