Thousands of pro-democracy demonstators call for the return of President Aritide as they celebrate his birthday on Tuesdsay, July 15, 2008.
Photos: ©2008 HIP/Jean Ristil

Haiti celebrates President Aristide's birthday

Thousands take to the streets throughout Haiti on the 55th birthday of ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Despite claims by the United Nations and the US Embassy that Aristide's Lavalas political movement is dead, the Haitian people once again confound policy makers in a show of support for the ousted president who now lives in exile in the Republic of South Africa. Aristide was unceremoniously forced onto a plane and forced to leave Haiti in late Feb. 2004 amid pronouncements by the Bush administration and the UN that he had lost the support of the Haitian people. Ten of thousands took to the streets demanding his return in the years that followed and were met with an unrelenting campaign of extermination and political persecution that was backed by United Nations so-called peacekeeping forces. Today's demonstration of support for Aristide and his Lavalas movement shows that the struggle of the majority of the poor is far from over in Haiti.

Flashpoints will host a special segment today at 5 pm PST and 8pm EST analyzing today's demonstrations. We will be talking live with well-known Liberation Theology priest Father Gerard Jean-Juste and legendary folk singer Annette Auguste also known as SO ANNE. Joining us in the KPFA studio in Berkeley CA will be Flashpoints Special Haiti Correspondent Kevin Pina.

94.1 FM - Berkeley, CA   or worldwide on the web at www.flashpoints.net

Kevin Pina is a journalist and filmmaker who has been reporting about Haiti since 1991. He lived in Haiti from Jan. 1999 to Feb. 2006 and is currently the editor of the Haiti Information Project, a non-profit news agency providing news and analysis. Pina and the Haiti Information Project are recipients of the Project Censored 2008 Real News Award for Investigative Journalism. He can be heard regularly on the radio program Flashpoints broadcast on the Pacifica Network's flagship station KPFA in Berkeley, CA

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