Haiti's chance for peace begins with the restoration of President Aristide

While leaving church after Mass at our parish, I picked up a copy of the May/June 2005 issue of Catholic Peace Voice which contained the above article. In it, Bishop Gumbleton says,

The U.S. government, some elements in Haiti, and some former supporters of President Aristide insist that the violence is a result of his encouraging his supporters to turn to violence. Supposedly he is still doing this from South Africa. But there is no evidence of this. From my knowledge of President Aristide, and his deep commitment to nonviolence, I know that this is not the case.

Change the situation to accusations of sexual abuse, made against a priest of whom a bishop had a favorable opinion.

Update: [7:30 PM May 16th] a reader responds.

Saw your weblog post of May 15 regarding Bishop Gumbleton's view of Haiti. I'm not an expert on the political situation in Haiti but I have gone down there almost annually since 1999 on a surgical mission which is part of the Haiti Project of the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee. I just returned from our annual trip a couple weeks ago and I don't have the sense that there is a lot of support for Aristide. He is viewed like many others before him corrupted by power by virtually every Haitian with whom I spoke when down there. I wouldn't hold my breath that his return would calm things in Haiti, in fact I would expect just the opposite.