Cuba accuses US of manipulating results to force run off

Cuba accuses US of manipulating results to force run off
AP
Wednesday, February 15, 2006

HAVANA (AP) - Communist Cuba accused the United States yesterday of
helping to manipulate the results in presidential elections in Haiti,
where thousands of the front-runner's supporters blockaded roads in a
second day of protests.

"What is happening in Haiti shouldn't be surprising," the Communist
Party daily Granma said in a front page editorial. "It isn't the first
time that the United States has intervened on a whim over the destiny of
this nation, nor is it the first time it has shamelessly manipulated
another country's electoral results to its benefit."

The editorial also praised front-runner Rene Preval, who has accused
election officials of manipulating vote counts to deprive him of a
first-round victory. It called him "a man of great prestige who
painstakingly served the people."

The editorial said Washington did not like Preval because of his
previous ties to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was
deposed in a rebellion two years ago.

Entitled "The Yankee Government has Ordered a Second Round," the
editorial noted that Preval, a former president and one-time Aristide
protégé, had appeared headed toward an easy victory in last week's
election before his results fell below the 50 per cent needed to prevent
a runoff.

"The world will not allow the reins of the entire plant to be moved from
the seat of imperial power," the editorial said in a reference to the
United States. "No one has the least doubt that the Haitian people,
patient but also self-sacrificing and heroic, will fight for their rights.

"All of the responsibility will fall on the United States government and
the occupying troops that do not hesitate in firing against the people,"
it added, in a criticism of the UN peacekeeping troops in Haiti.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20060214T220000-0500_98744_OBS___CUBA_ACCUSES_US_OF_MANIPULATING_RESULTS_TO_FORCE_RUN_OFF.asp