REV. WALTER E. FAUNTROY’s DECLARATION

"I used to believe that Aristide, being a priest and a man of God, would avoid the temptations of greed and power and violence," said Fauntroy, himself a Baptist minister and a disciple of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "My great disappointment is his willingness to use violence as a tool of intimidation and repression. We have a particular interest, because a Haitian society in disarray becomes prey to all the forces that destabilize us here in America. We can't just stand and watch.

"In 1986, when there was a similar situation of crime and corruption and violence, we essentially offered Duvalier a nonviolent transfer to one of his villas in France, letting him take with him whom he would and enough money to take care of him for the rest of his life.

"Perhaps it's time we made a similar offer to Aristide. That, of course, won't solve Haiti's problems. But it might make a solution possible."