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American Morning
Haiti Crisis
Aired February 26, 2004 - 09:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Haitian rebels are poised outside the capital, Port-au-Prince, threatening to storm the city if President Jean Bertand Aristide does not resign. They city already in chaos. If President Aristide does not step down and allow a smooth transition of power, thousands of Haitians could try to seek refuge in the U.S. The Coast Guard turned back more than 65,000 Haitian refugees in the early 1990s. Thousands more have reached the U.S. shores. U.S. officials are now holding a ship off the Florida coast this morning with 17 Haitian nationals onboard.
John Zarrella is standing by in Miami for us this morning.
John, good morning.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, and of course, many people probably remember back in the early '90s when that happened, that many of the Haitian refugees ultimately ended up at Guantanamo Naval Base. Some 25,000 were sent there to be processed and debriefed before most ended up going back to Haiti.
Now this morning, the United States Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs enforcement agents, along with the FBI, remain onboard the 200-foot freighter Margo. Live pictures from our affiliate station here in Miami, showing that boat, the Margo, still sitting between five and 100 miles off shore of Miami, as they continue to investigate what happened yesterday. Apparently, on the 22nd of this month, some 17 Haitians, commandeered this freighter somewhere along the coast of Haiti, or in port in Haiti, and forced the captain to bring the ship, to sail the ship to Miami.
About 4:00 yesterday afternoon, they got the word, the Coast Guard, from the captain that armed men were onboard and had forced him to come to Miami. The ship was ordered to stop off the coast. It did. And before U.S. federal officials boarded, the men that seized the boat were asked to drop their weapons over the side. They did that in a small bag. About four weapons were confiscated, one handgun and three shotguns. Then the agents went on board to begin the determination of what happened and who these people are. Still no indication of whether they are asking for asylum -- we assume that's the case -- or who they are, or where the boat was seized from.
Not knowing exactly how long that will take or what ultimately will happen with these people, whether they will be turned around and sent back to Haiti or whether they will face federal charges of hijacking on the high seas -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: John Zarrella for us this morning. John, thanks for that update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 26, 2004 - 09:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Haitian rebels are poised outside the capital, Port-au-Prince, threatening to storm the city if President Jean Bertand Aristide does not resign. They city already in chaos. If President Aristide does not step down and allow a smooth transition of power, thousands of Haitians could try to seek refuge in the U.S. The Coast Guard turned back more than 65,000 Haitian refugees in the early 1990s. Thousands more have reached the U.S. shores. U.S. officials are now holding a ship off the Florida coast this morning with 17 Haitian nationals onboard.
John Zarrella is standing by in Miami for us this morning.
John, good morning.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, and of course, many people probably remember back in the early '90s when that happened, that many of the Haitian refugees ultimately ended up at Guantanamo Naval Base. Some 25,000 were sent there to be processed and debriefed before most ended up going back to Haiti.
Now this morning, the United States Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs enforcement agents, along with the FBI, remain onboard the 200-foot freighter Margo. Live pictures from our affiliate station here in Miami, showing that boat, the Margo, still sitting between five and 100 miles off shore of Miami, as they continue to investigate what happened yesterday. Apparently, on the 22nd of this month, some 17 Haitians, commandeered this freighter somewhere along the coast of Haiti, or in port in Haiti, and forced the captain to bring the ship, to sail the ship to Miami.
About 4:00 yesterday afternoon, they got the word, the Coast Guard, from the captain that armed men were onboard and had forced him to come to Miami. The ship was ordered to stop off the coast. It did. And before U.S. federal officials boarded, the men that seized the boat were asked to drop their weapons over the side. They did that in a small bag. About four weapons were confiscated, one handgun and three shotguns. Then the agents went on board to begin the determination of what happened and who these people are. Still no indication of whether they are asking for asylum -- we assume that's the case -- or who they are, or where the boat was seized from.
Not knowing exactly how long that will take or what ultimately will happen with these people, whether they will be turned around and sent back to Haiti or whether they will face federal charges of hijacking on the high seas -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: John Zarrella for us this morning. John, thanks for that update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
