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| 5/5/05 |
The people of Cite Soleil still need our attention |
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Thank you to all who wrote letters to demand a stop of the summary execution of Haitians by the U.N. Troops in Cite Soleil and elsewhere throughout Haiti. The people are still getting slaughtered by U.N. bullets and tanks in Cite Soleil, please continue to send out your appeals: See our SAMPLE LETTER (attached below) TO U.N. Denouncing the killing and summary executions in Cite soleil. – MINUSTHA must respect human rights in Haiti. Reed Lindsay: In a May 3, 2004 article, entitled “Haitian gangs unite, renew violence” published by the Washington Times, Reed Linsday myopically reduces the instability, human rights abuses, torture, disappearance, illegal arrests and grief of Haitians due to the U.S./Canada/France 2004 bi-centennial coup d’etat to an issue of “scorched-earth gang warfare” and Black male rape in Cite Soleil. Lindsay writes that: “(Cite Soleil) Residents complain that the gangs, now unified, continue to kill, rape, rob and extort in its alleys, out of sight of U.N. peacekeepers, who rarely leave the main avenues or the safety of their white armored vehicles.” According to Lindsay’s article (See article copied below) Labanye was merely the “unspoken” ally of Latortue and Apaid. This spin, muting Labanye’s real function and relationship in Cite Soleil on behalf of Latortue – who publicly lamented Labanye’s death, and no one elseís in Cite Soleil to date; this deliberate Lindsay half-truth is merely one of the many and cumulative small spins and half-truths buried in real hard facts and dished-up in Lindsay’s objectionable article. (See, the Miami Law Center Report on the question of Labanye and the Boston area of Cite Soleil’s close, direct and personal connections to the Coup d’etat police, attaches and sweatshop kingpin, Apaid). The article is disjointed but still uniformly manages to put in its unsubstantiated zingers (i.e.”Some say Mr. Wilme’s gang and Mr. Robinson’s now-defunct anti-Aristide group were equally brutal”) as a DIRECT attack against Dread Wilme to dehumanize and justify Wilme’s killing (summary execution) and the hunt for such other “gangsters” by U.N. troops in Cite Soleil. Despite the sprinkling of quotes from pro-democracy advocates – HLLN’s partner Evel Fanfan and from victims – in the article, stating Haiti/Cite Soleil is much worse because of the Coup d’etat and MINUSTHA’s killings, arbitrary, warrantless arrests and restricting of the people’s freedom to associated and freely live peacefully in their own homes, Reed’s article still manages to shift the focus away from what really ails Cite Soleil and Haiti. The article, which makes absolutely no mention of the numerous U.N. rapes of Haitian women since their arrival to Haiti; said article, in its totality, ends up selectively extrapolating data, cleverly spinning them to basically instruct and inform the unsuspecting reader that Haiti’s main problem is gang warfare, chimeres – bandits- and Black male rape of Haitian women in Cite Soleil. Mr. Lindsay has written a few overall accurate articles in the past on Haiti. We have even commended some of his reporting. But, that is not to say HLLN did not take into account the general lack of perspective, context, allowed for the learning curve for new journalist to Haiti, or noticed that Reed Lindsay mostly publishes in the ultra, right wing, Washington Times, owned by Sun Yung Moon. Perhaps this is a fluke, irrelevant. Or, perhaps, like the rest of the mainstream press that has mostly relegated the Bi-centennial Coup d’etat to “Haitian infighting,” Reed’s true colors are just starting to show and he shall, from now on, crank out the regular Coup d’etat “Kill all the Haitian Bandits” line. Time will tell. What the Network does know for sure, is that the Black women of Cite Soleil urgently want the world to know their children are not bandits and all Haitians are people and deserve justice. The women and mothers of Cite Soleil, their community leaders and lawyers want HLLN to correct the record and CLEARLY let the world know that their most pressing problem is the indiscriminate killing of Cite Soleil men, women and children, especially the mass arrest of Haitian men and boys by MINUSTHA troops This MINUSTHA human rights abuses have exacerbated since the death of Labanye. Their greatest sufferings and predicaments are due, right now, to their inability to freely travel around in their own community without being shot by a U.N. bullet. They are traumatized by the 4 a.m. U.N. raids, sirens, the tear gases thrown into their makeshift homes at any time of the day; the increased joblessness and high price of food since the Coup D’etat; the U.N.’s murderous sweeps in all the populous neighborhoods to arrest, kill and hunt down their Black sons – sentient beings who are presumed to be “supporter of Lavalas” and thus dubbed as “bandits, “gangster” (like Reed does in his article), animals subject to summary execution not respect or justice. The issue in Cite Soleil and Haiti today, the women we talked to say, is the loss of their Constitutional government, the killing and disappearing of unarmed demonstrators (their sons, brothers, fathers, uncles and husbands) protesting the Latortue government and his police, ex-soldiers and their civilian attaches. These, the current Haitian police, illegitimate Latortue government, their ex-soldiers, civilian attaches like Labanye and their U.S./Canada/France backers, the poor in Cite Soleil say, not their mostly unarmed, defenseless and hunted-down sons, living in Cite Soleil, Bel Air, Aux Cayes, Cap Haitien, et al, are the most lethal gangsters in Haiti today. HLLN shall try to have links to interviews and affidavits, from the people of Cite Soleil, Bel Air and throughout Haiti, speaking for themselves, up on the Internet for public viewing (with English translation) as part of our May 18, 2005 international solidarity “Dessaline Is Rising” event. (See: Dessalines Is Rising Worldwide – May 18, 2005 International solidarity day with Haiti at www.margueritelaurent.com/photogallery/haitisolidarityday.html But for advance and accurate information, where people of Cite Soleil, speak for themselves, about their misery and not through Lindsay’s or anyone else’s prisms, please look at “Dread Wilme Speaks” on our website at: www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/presswork/interviewdread.html and this interview today, in Kreyol, of a lawyer of the MINUSTHA victims in Haiti and five mothers from Cite Soleil, who will themselves tell you that their most pressing problem is that their children are in jail, have not ever seen a judge, have no hope of being released, were all arrested by MINUSTHA while in their own homes, some where even arrested while sleeping. The mothers don’t have money to feed them in jail, to lose their help at home and that this Coup d’etat oppression has made their ability to live more miserable than ever. www.lakounewyork.com/lakouny-phila5-4-05.mp3 (or go to www.lakounewyork.com/koute.htm and click on the Philadelphia May 4th, 2005 program. ******** Go to our Urgent Action Alert to stop the Summary Executions of Haitians by U.N.Troops in Cite Soleil: Please continue sending your letters out. It is making a difference and saving the lives of the “wretched,” as Fanon says, of the earth. Haitians continue to demand JUSTICE while the Bush administration keeps their U.N proxies hailing bullets and spewing disrespect for a Haitian’s right to self-determination, self-defense and self-respect. Say no to this U.S. government’s de-humanization of the poor in Haiti not just Iraq. Go to our website and take action against the slow killing of Yvon Neptune, the slaughter in Cite Soleil, the merciless hunt and dehumanization of all poor Haitian males calling for the return of President Aristide, especially as just outlined in Reed Lindsay’s misleading article. Help the Haitian Lawyers Leadership tell the story of the Haitian people today. Circulate our post and let the world know: It is NOT Black-on-Black Haitian infighting, lack of competence or street crime in Cite Soleil that is responsible for the MASSIVE human rights abuses, disenfranchisement of almost 9-million Blacks, in Haiti today. It is the work of the political gangsters, in three piece suits in Washington, their Haitian restavek sweatshop kingpins in alliance with the global elite and their economic hit men at USAID, IMF, World Bank, European Union, et al. Haitians are not savages who indiscriminately rape their women as Mr. Lindsay Reed and his informants would have us believe. As HLLN legal partner in Haiti, Evel Fanfan has pointed out, the problem in Haiti is that the Latortue regime has only brought to Haiti: “systematic violations of Cite Soleil contains perhaps upwards of half-a-million people, there is no POLICE force there, except the Coup d’etat sort that would hire a Labanye. How much crime would there be in a U.S. city of that size with no police or recognized government in the country? Don’t believe the hype or be distracted from the issue of occupation and colonialism in Haiti right now. Lindsay’s voyeurism is not REPORTING. Masturbating on the pain and trust of the people of Bel Air and Cite Soleil is not REPORTING. Spewing out the facts of Haitian criminality out of context is bad journalism. It does not point out that this extreme lawlessness and bloodbath was brought to Haiti by three-piece suited and well-fed gangsters who are presidents and prime ministers of the world’s most powerful countries. A U.S.-backed Haitian government, installed by the U.S. at gun-point, which took power by killing people, killing justice and killing truth and which maintains its rule through killing, is Haiti PRIMARY problem today. Yvon Neptune and Release of all Haiti’s political prisoners: For instance, we point to all the political prisoners of conscience such as, SÚ Anne, Jacques Mathelier, Amanus Mayette, Yvon “Zap Zap” Antoine, Prime Minister Neptune and thousands illegally arrested. We ask help from this world’s lovers-of-liberty to save the life of Prime Minister Yvon Neptune. He has been incarcerated without charges for 10-months. The Latortue govenment, US and MINUSTHA seem to be well able to arrange for his trip into exile but not his trip to a court house to be judged. Why? Because the charges against Neptune can not be upheld in real court of law. For, after an investigation, the U.N. independent expert on human rights in Haiti, Louis Joinet, dismissed accounts of the massacre charge for which Yvon Neptune, Amanus Mayette and Interior Minister Privert are being held. Prime Minister Neptune, like all Haitians, don’t want to be forced into exile to a foreign place, that’s another sort of death. They want JUSTICE. Please continue to call for a STOP to the mass rounds up, hunting down and killings of Haitians in Cite Soleil. MINUSTHA must respect human rights in Haiti. (See our sample letter below.) Call now to demand the unconditional release of PM Neptune. Time is of the essence. His life is ebbing away. Demand a stop to the U.N./U.S. supervised killing that is occurring with Prime Minister Yvon Neptune simply so that the Bush Regime change adherents don’t lose face: See also: Attyn Laurent addresses the Yvon Neptune issue on Fanmi Lavalas Broadcast, Radio Soleil, May 1, 2005 www.lakounewyork.com/marguerite%20nan%20soleil%205-1-05.mp3 (Recording made available – Courtesy of www.lakounewyork.com) Marguerite Laurent ********** 1. Sample Letter – MINUSTHA must stop violating human rights in Haiti 2. The Haiti Democracy Project is not so Democratic 3. John Bolton’s Role in Arming the Murderous Haitian Police under Latortue, 3. See also pdf file: Kathy Kelly writes “Remembering the Children: * Hon. Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General Cc: UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) c/o Office of UN General Secretary (New York) By Fax: 212.963.4879 UN Human Rights Adviser Mahamane Cisse-Gouro By e-mail: cisse-gouro@un.org cc: U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, James B. Foley * by Fax: (509) 249-9920 * cc: Ambassador of France in Haiti, M. Yves GAUDEUL by Fax : (509) 223 5675 |
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