By Edgar Sandoval
Staff Writer

Miami · For so many years they fought alone.

But not anymore. South Florida leaders representing different nations in the Americas gathered Saturday afternoon in downtown Miami to express their solidarity in
protesting against the government leaders of their native countries, including Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti.

The demonstration was organized by the recently formed Coalition of the Americas, which hopes to convince the U.S. government to oust dictators and corrupt
leaders of countries in this hemisphere.

Some 200 protesters were welcomed to Bayfront Park Amphitheater where a stage was adorned with posters showing four photos, Saddam Hussein,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. Hussein's image had been marked with an X. The rest, they hoped, would be marked off soon.

"Bush should do what he did with Iraq but in his backyard, the Americas," former Cuban political prisoner Maria Marquez said in Spanish to the crowd. "We have
corruption, dictators and guerillas in nations here in Latin America. The United States should be in our side, because of geography."

The turnout was not as large as organizers had hoped, but they were upbeat.

"We are no longer alone," said Lucy Orlando, one of the Haitian leaders present at the event. "We are different people, with different cultures, but are going through
the same thing."

Area Haitian leaders decided to join with Latino leaders in recent weeks when civil unrest began to increase in Haiti. Like their Venezuelan counterparts seeking the
ouster of President Chavez, people in Haiti are calling for their president, Aristide, to step down.

"Aristide must go. He is a terrorist. He is a criminal," Orlando shouted to the crowd. "No negotiations. He violated human rights. He is a monster."

Rubens Eliatus said he is worried about his relatives back in Haiti. They fear that hit squads are trying to kill them since the government found out Eliatus has been
speaking publicly against Aristide.

"I'm never going to stop talking," Eliatus said. "I'm willing to die for my liberty."

Besides Marquez, speakers included Luis Pina, a former Chavez supporter who now opposes him. Both said Latin Americans and Latinos in the United States need
to join hands with Haitians to lobby the United States for help.

When Orlando began to spread the posters she had brought for people to see, she lifted one with the image of Castro and Aristide standing side by side. The
headline read: The Talibans of the Americas. Bettina Rodriguez, one of the Cuban leaders, noticed it and patted Orlando on the back.

"Good work Lucy," she told her. "Good work."

"Yes," Orlando replied. "We are together now."

Edgar Sandoval can be reached at esandoval@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7910.

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