29677: Hermantin(News)Leader's health worries Haitians (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Leader's health worries Haitians


South Florida residents fear for homeland

By Alva James-Johnson
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted December 16 2006


Rumors that Haitian President René Préval was dead spread swiftly throughout 
South Florida's Haitian-American community recently, threatening hope for the 
impoverished country's future.

Préval proved the reports false when he appeared on Haitian television Sunday. 
But his announcement that his prostate cancer may have returned worries 
Haitians in South Florida, who fear their fragile homeland could spiral out of 
control if the president's poor health forces him to step down.



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"It will be turmoil in the country and we don't know where it will end," said 
Dr. Gregoire Eugene Jr., an Oakland Park physician, who considered running for 
president.

Préval, 63, said tests in Havana showed possible signs of cancer, but the 
results were inconclusive. He plans to return to Cuba on Dec. 26 for more tests 
and treatment.

Haitians elected Préval in February. His administration replaced an interim 
government installed after a bloody rebellion that resulted in the ouster of 
former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who remains exiled in South Africa.

A former Aristide protege, Préval also served as the country's president from 
1996 to 2001. He received his initial cancer diagnosis the last year of his 
first term.

West Palm Beach businessman Yves Laurent, 48, said he heard the reports of 
Préval's death Sunday and brushed them off.

"That's how Haiti works. You can say you're sick and they say you died, 
especially if you're president or have a big function in the government," he 
said.

But Laurent and other Haitian-Americans worry another bout with cancer could 
hinder the president's ability to hold together a delicate coalition 
government, made up of moderates in the Lavalas political party and those who 
want Aristide to return to power.

"He's probably the main guy right now holding the two groups together, and 
other people might instigate the violence a little bit," Laurent said.

The Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, a Catholic priest released from a Haitian prison 
for cancer treatment in South Florida almost a year ago, said he met with 
Préval in June when the president visited Miami for a Haiti Tourism Development 
Summit.

"He told me he felt OK," said Jean-Juste, an Aristide ally who now lives in 
Fort Lauderdale. "He encouraged me and said, `If I can make it, you'll make it 
too.' "

Gerard Ferere, who supported the interim government led by Boca Raton retiree 
Gerard Latortue, said he suspects the anxiety over Préval's health is being 
fanned by his opponents.

"I think the whole thing is over-exaggerated," said Ferere, who also lives in 
Boca Raton. "I think the news of the bad or poor health of President Préval is 
not as bad as the politicians who want to replace him want them to sound."

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