[lbo-talk] Haiti: Who Is Guy Phillipe? Who Does He Represent? What Does He Want?

[Dwayne Monroe]

An interesting turn of events: 'rebel leader' Guy
Phillipe, who only a few days ago declared himself to
be military head of Haiti has reportedly changed his
mind after a meeting with the US Marine Commander -

Rebel Leader in Haiti Says His Work Is Done

By Carol J. Williams Times Staff Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — As Marines in Humvees began
patrolling this capital, rebel leader Guy Philippe
declared his mission accomplished Wednesday and said
his forces would lay down their arms now that Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had fled into exile.

More than 2,000 soldiers from nations including the
United States, France, Canada and Chile have arrived
in Haiti since Aristide left the country Sunday, but
Port-au-Prince has continued to be plagued by looting,
destruction and revenge killings. 

[...]

full at -

<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20040304/ts_latimes/rebelleaderinhaitisayshisworkisdone>

The official story is that Phillipe, confident the
Marines -- along with soldiers from France, Canada and
Chile -- will maintain order no longer sees a security
or combatant role for his group.  This sounds quite
nice, but makes little sense.  For starters, the
foreign troops do not appear to be keeping order as
the NPR story linked below describes (audio capability
required):

<http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php?prgDate=04-Mar-2004&prgId=3>

(search on the page for a story titled "U.S. Marines
to Police Haitian Streets ")

Also, it's certain Phillipe is expecting something in
return for cooperation (this is human nature, yes?) -
"democracy and security for Haiti" is the sanctioned
story but this is hard to believe.  Does anyone have
background information on Phillipe and the group he
fronts?

DRM