Sounding as bold as her husband, Haiti's first lady Mildred Trouillot Aristide said she hopes South Florida's Haitian community views the current crisis as more than a political attack on her husband.

"I would say to South Florida's Haitian community that what is at risk in Haiti is democracy," said Trouillot Aristide during a telephone interview.

"This is an assault on the democratic process that so many Haitians here and in South Florida have fought for, and in some cases their relatives died to help establish democratic order in Haiti."

Speaking Friday afternoon from her office in Port-au-Prince's presidential palace, she said President Jean Bertrand Aristide would not step down, insisting support for the embattled president remains strong.

"I am confident the majority of Haitians in South Florida support the democratic process and the president," she said.

Trouillot Aristide, 42, who was briefly in Coral Springs this month attending a funeral, confirmed her children are in South Florida.

"My children are fine and on a mini-vacation. I took the children out because on Tuesday night there was shooting around the palace and I don't want to subject them to that."

She admitted fearing for her husband's life but said she is trying to maintain her normal routine, rising at 7 a.m. and attending meetings in the palace.

She said last week she and her husband watched as some in the capital celebrated Mardi Gras but described the mood as "obviously very subdued."

She said the president had met with some opposition leaders but declined to name them, citing concerns for their safety.

"In Haitian society there exist members of the private sector who have met with the president. The international community knows them and they have indicated their willingness to sit on a new consensus government. They don't agree with Aristide but they don't agree with the armed groups ... but this third group can't come forward in this climate," she added.

Aristide's critics and U.S. officials say Aristide has failed to address long-standing economic, environmental and political problems that rendered Haiti the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

Trouillot Aristide said the United States was "too slow in reacting to the crisis," which intensified Feb. 5 when rebels overtook 11 cities in the north.

She called for an investigation into the sale of arms to opposition groups and militias.

"Haiti is a country that doesn't produce guns, so where did they come from? Haiti is under an embargo and even the police can't obtain arms. The last two classes of police that graduated from the academy had no side arms," she said.

But critics and local activists insist Aristide's support is waning here and at home.

"Aristide has lost support in the U.S," said Samir Mourra, a Haitian activist who lives in Miami Lakes and recently helped organize an anti-Aristide march in Miami.

"And the proof is we have organized marches in Little Haiti where we outnumber supporters. Five years ago we couldn't set foot in Little Haiti," he said.

He dismissed Trouillot Aristide's claims that the crisis will undermine any future governments.

"Even if this sets up a bad precedent, this is a necessary thing to be done. ... This is the only way we can get rid of Aristide."

One analyst cautioned the crisis would deepen political divisions and make it difficult for future governments.

"I view the forceful removal of the elected president as yet another setback to Haiti's nascent democracy. That is why it is so important for Mr. Aristide's opponents to seek a mediated solution," said Robert Maguire, a professor and director of international affairs and the Haiti Program at Trinity College in Washington, D.C.

Trouillot Aristide said she hopes the Bush administration will take a more active role because "this is imperative and to the advantage of reinforcing democracy worldwide, to reinforce the democratically elected government in Haiti."

Sandra Hernandez can be reached at shernandez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4514.

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