Aristide Abducted?

I'm not exactly sure what's going on here, but the (democratically elected) President of Haiti is claiming he was kidnapped by US forces:

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted as Haitian president on
Sunday, told U.S. lawmakers and other contacts by telephone on Monday
that he was abducted by U.S. soldiers and left his homeland against his
will. Washington immediately denied this, saying Aristide had agreed to
step down and leave his country. "It's complete nonsense," White House
spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
[...]
Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Randall Robinson, the former head
of the black lobbying group TransAfrica, said in separate interviews
with CNN that Aristide called them from the Central African Republic,
where he is in temporary exile. Robinson, speaking from the Caribbean
island of St Kitts, said Aristide had telephoned him on a cell phone on
Monday morning from a room in the Central African Republic, where he
said he was being guarded by African and French soldiers. "The
president said to me that he had been abducted from his home by about
20 American soldiers in full battle gear with automatic weapons and put
on a plane" on Sunday morning, Robertson said. "Across the aisle from
him and Mrs. Aristide sat the American soldier who apparently was the
commander of the contingent. They were not told where they were going,
nor were they allowed to make any phone calls before they left the
house or on the plane," he said. He said Aristide had told him the
plane made two stops before landing in the Central African Republic and
that the Americans had instructed them not to raise the blinds to look
out when the plane was on the ground. "Not until they arrived did the
president learn where he was," Robertson said. "He said to me twice
before he had to get off the phone, 'Tell the world that it's a coup.
That American soldiers abducted (me)."' Rangel, a Democratic member of
the House (of Representatives) from New York, said he heard a similar
account from Aristide by telephone. Aristide told him he was
"disappointed that the international community had let him down, that
he was kidnapped, that he resigned under pressure."

Again, my knowledge of the Haitian situation (I kick mad rhymes) is
virtually null. I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what the
motivation would be for the US to stage a coup against Aristide, given
that we spent $2 billion getting him elected.
Even if we hadn't installed Aristide, I still don't see what
the US would gain by controlling Haiti. They have no oil and they have
no natural gas. What's the motivation here?
Anyone who knows anything about this story is welcome to shed some
light on it. By all means, feel free to comment.

Posted by flow Frazao on March 1, 2004 at 02:10 PM | Permalink