Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 12, 1990 TAG: 9003123020
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI LENGTH: Medium
Amid lawlessness and bloodshed, opposition groups intent on forcing a swift transition to civilian rule had called for a general strike today unless Avril went into exile.
The deposed ruler, his wife, Marie-Ange, two of their children and a servant left the country on a C-141 sent for them from Charleston, S.C., said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Susan Clyde.
They arrrived at Homestead Air Force Base, 25 miles south of Miami at 8 a.m., the State Department said. Avril's ultimate destination was not disclosed.
After Avril left, the opposition coalition known as the United Assembly reportedly picked Ertha Pascal-Trouillot, the only woman on the 12-member Supreme Court, as its choice for provisional president.
The army's choice is Supreme Court president Gilbert Austin, but he has been rejected by the coalition as too close to Avril. The deadline for announcing a provisional president is Tuesday, when Maj. Gen. Herard Abraham, who took over from Avril, is to transfer power to a civilian.
Thousands of people milled about Port-au-Prince, the capital, but the mood was more one of disbelief than celebration. "He's gone, he's gone," people were heard saying.
The Rev. Bertrand Aristide, a Roman Catholic priest and staunch critic of the military government, said residents should remain alert to the possibility of army reprisals.
"We can smile, but we can't laugh yet," Aristide said on Radio Haiti Inter after Avril's departure.
At least 24 people were killed in seven days of protests and clashes that have left this Caribbean nation without a leader and in turmoil. Most of the victims have been civilians slain by soldiers or police.
"The people have shown how much they love democracy by dying for it," Aristide said earlier.
A leading member of the United Assembly, Jean-Claude Roy, said Pascal-Trouillot was the coalition choice for provisional president. Radio reports said Austin - under the constitution next in line for the presidency - resigned from the court to make way for Pascal-Trouillot.
If Pascal-Trouillot is chosen as provisional president she would be the first woman to hold the post in Haiti's history.
Earlier, residents of the capital retreated behind shuttered windows after sundown Sunday and the streets were deserted. Soldiers in pickup trucks drove around the city and gunshots were heard occasionally.
"I'm afraid for my husband and I fear the Macoutes will come out of the walls," said the wife of a well-known politician, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Tonton Macoutes were the feared secret police of the Duvalier family, which ruled Haiti for 29 years.
Numbering about 30,000, the Macoutes were disbanded after Jean-Claude Duvalier fled to exile in France in February 1986. Later, several hundred were integrated into the army and police as special agents.
Tele-Haiti, a private television station, urged viewers to stay indoors Sunday night because "there are gangs of marauding gunmen in the streets" and politicians and religious leaders urged citizens to form neighborhood defense groups.
The state hospital said it treated about 100 people, mostly for gunshot wounds, over the weekend. Radio reports said soldiers firing from a speeding truck killed five pedestrians on Sunday.
In another incident, witnesses said police looking for the killers of Maj. Renaud St. Bert stopped a passer-by, shot him four times and sat under a tree for more than an hour watching him die.
Radio Metropole said St. Bert was killed by unknown assailants in a lottery booth in the suburb of Delmas but gave no details.
Avril was brought to power in a September 1988 revolt by soldiers who professed disdain for political killings and other abuses by the previous military ruler, Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy.
Namphy had ruled the country - among the poorest in the hemisphere - for most of the 2 1/2 years since the popular uprising that ousted Jeane-Claude Duvalier.
This Caribbean nation of 6 million people has been ruled mainly by the military since it gained independence from France in 1804.
by CNB