Informed Sources

"Sweet Mickey" and the Haitian Drug Connection

During preparations for Jean-Bertrand Aristide's return, customs officials in Miami were seizing 100-kilo loads of cocaine -- instead of the typical 5-to- 50-kilo shipments -- off Haitian freighters. "We surmise the traffickers were trying to get it out in case Aristide did come back into power and try to put some curbs on this," says one customs agent. While a handful of Colombians in Haiti control the drugs, the U.S. is more interested in the role of Michel Francois, the self-anointed police chief of Port-au-Prince. "Sweet Mickey" controls the local docks.

More Sound Bites, Please, Mr. President

President Clinton is worrying his aides more than ever with his verbose and minutiae-encrusted public statements. Advisers fret that in trying to appear smart, especially on matters of foreign policy, Clinton looks mired in niggling particulars. During one long-winded presidential response at a press conference, George Stephanopoulos grabbed Mack McLarty's wrist to point at his watch. "The upside is that Clinton explains everything, but the downside is that he gets too detailed," says a senior official.

Rosty Gets a Break -- for Now

When a U.S. Attorney announced that a second grand jury would be digging deeper into House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski's involvement in a stamps-for-cash scam, it seemed like bad news for Rosty. In fact, it appears his defense team couldn't be happier: sources in the U.S. Attorney's office had promised an October indictment, but now it's unclear when an indictment will come. Furthermore, former House postmaster Robert Rota has changed his story, and some of his testimony is in question.