Hti: Body guard says Aristide lied

If Jim Refinger knows one thing it's this: Ousted Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide is safe.

There was no kidnapping, as some sources reported. There was no injury. And for Refinger there was no mystery.

Refinger was there. The former Jacksonville police sniper and retired Marine was part of a private security team hired to protect Aristide's inner circle.

"We left with him (but) I won't talk about where we went," Refinger said Friday from his home in Jacksonville where he just returned. "We escorted him safely out.

"Everything was done with the full knowledge and cooperation of the president. There was no forcing the president to go anywhere. We protected our principal without a shot fired and he is safe."

Refinger works for Steele Foundation, a security firm based in San Francisco. The company has protection details all over the world and does industrial security and risk analysis, Refinger said.

Aristide had a presidential protection unit, and a team from Steele mirrored the unit in an inner circle. Refinger's job was running the outer circle that kept the inner circle safe.

"We were protecting the protectors, and we worked closely with the Haitian counter-ambush team," he said.
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"It never really came to Port-au-Prince," Refinger said. "We saw some demonstrations and started hearing about it in Gonaives and Cap Haitien. The police got pretty overwhelmed, especially in the small towns, but Port-au-Prince is probably 80 percent pro-Aristide."

The Shamir or ghost pro-Aristide supporters blocked roads leading into the capital, making it difficult, if not impossible for rebels to enter the city.

Refinger speculated that Aristide may have decided to leave to avoid further bloodshed, but questioned whether it was possible to avoid that in Haiti.

The matter is under investigation, said Refinger, who added that he may be called to testify and, therefore, could not go into details about Aristide's departure.

"We got out slick and fast, before they even knew what was happening," Refinger said. "It wasn't until after it was all said and done that we heard a report about kidnapping, but we knew that wasn't the case."

Why am I not surprised? No doubt, there are those who will say, Refinger is American, he's a former Marine, what else did you expect him to say. That won't wash because American thought on the U.S. government is not monolithic.

Also

While Refinger was in Haiti, his wife Dee visited a couple of times, once for 30 days and most recently for four months. The couple was married in November 2002.
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What struck them most about Haiti was the poverty. Wild pigs, cows and chickens wandered the streets and countryside. Infant mortality was so high, they said, that families waited a year to name their children in case they didn't survive.

"When you fly over it you can smell the rancid countryside," Refinger said. "The bugs and mosquitoes are bad, the filth comes up over your shoes and people live in that."

The couple also recalled mansions manned by servants who lived in mud huts packed 12 to a room just across the street.
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"There's no middle class in Haiti," Refinger said. "There are haves who have a whole lot and the poor who have nothing."