A Canadian living in Haiti is taking credit for the coup

Says he's the brains of the outfit.

In an exclusive interview, Paul Arcelin, a professor at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal in the 1960s, told CanWest News Service he is the political lieutenant to Guy Philippe, leader of the rebel army that toppled Jean-Bertrand Aristide last month. "Two years ago, I met Guy Philippe in Santo Domingo and we spent 10 to 15 hours a day together, plotting against Aristide," Mr. Arcelin said in an interview at the rebel headquarters at the Hibo Lele Hotel on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. "From time to time we'd cross the border through the woods to conspire against Aristide, to meet with the opposition and regional leaders to prepare for Aristide's downfall." ...When the rebels took over Hinche, a city in the north, soon after the Feb. 5 start of the insurrection, Mr. Arcelin said he was in Canada, sick. But he took advantage of the visit and his sister-in-law's political connections to meet with Pierre Pettigrew, the Health Minister, whose Montreal riding has a large Haitian population. "I explained the reality of Haiti to him," Mr. Arcelin said, pulling Mr. Pettigrew's business card out of his wallet. "He promised to make a report to the Canadian government about what I had said." It was around that time the international community's attitude toward the rebels began to shift, with the U.S. embassy softening the rhetoric by referring to them as "armed elements of the north." ..."My country [Haiti] looks like Hiroshima -- dirty and destroyed like there was a war," Mr. Arcelin said with disgust. "But there wasn't a war. It was the destruction of the country by a president who was crazy."

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How interesting. The reality of Haiti from a Canadian turns militants with known human rights violations (under the subheading of murder and torture) into rebel liberators.

The road to the Hibo Lele Hotel is a steep, potholed, narrow, winding path. There is no light, save for that coming from the candlelit shacks along the way, the jeep's headlights and a full moon. Inside, the guests all carry guns -- either over their shoulders or tucked into their jeans. Inside a sparsely furnished room, Mr. Philippe, the self-declared military chief of the group, is sitting on a chair, naked from the waist up, a thick silver chain around his neck. He has a beer in one hand and a cellphone to his ear. As he speaks, he gazes at his image in a full-length mirror on the wall. "Hello, my sweetie," he says, after finishing the phone call. "What can I do for you?" He looks much younger than his 36 years. He's wearing brand new Docksider shoes and blue jeans. Around his right wrist is a leather strap with coloured beads that spell out the word "Gucci."

I also read that he's quite fond of more lavish hotel rooms.

Later, Mr. Arcelin says Mr. Philippe is, quite simply, "brilliant." "It's Guy's show; he's the star," Mr. Arcelin said. "He is the army head and I'm head of the political arm of the rebels. In less than 25 days, we took control of two-thirds of the country and part of the capital. We planned it in a way that the world was surprised." ...When a peaceful victory demonstration turned violent on Sunday, killing six, including Spanish television reporter Ricardo Ortega, Mr. Arcelin was outraged. With such a heavily armed population, Mr. Arcelin worries his country will become another Somalia. After Sunday's bloodshed, the rebels vowed to retreat to their stronghold in the north and re-evaluate their strategy. But before leaving, Mr. Arcelin dropped by the Montana Hotel in Port-au-Prince to say goodbye, introducing himself at the front desk as the Canadian ambassador.

And he's calling Aristide crazy.

Pot. Kettle.



....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

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