Seven Questions Eugenia Charles interviewed by Derrick O’Keefe

Seven Oaks Magazine www.sevenoaksmag.com/

February 08, 2005

Haitians from throughout the Diaspora were joined this past weekend by a number of solidarity activists at the Kongre Bwa Kawiman 2005 in Washington, DC. Eugenia Charles, one of the key organizers of the gathering, spoke with Seven Oaks about the results of the weekend and about the current political situation in occupied Haiti.

1) Could you tell us who was gathered this weekend in Washington, D.C. – from where in the Haitian Diaspora people came – and what general topics were discussed?

We had Haitians come from Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Haiti, in order to share knowledge and talk about the present situation, especially the increasing violations of human rights taking place in Haiti, the arbitrary arrests, the killings at the order of the de facto government of Gerard Latortue. This was talked about by all of our speakers that came from Haiti, and also Mr. Thomas Griffin was with us, an investigator and immigration lawyer who went to Haiti and produced a 61 page report with extensive information and pictures.

We also talked about the issue of Canada, the United States and France, who are currently trying to place Haiti under UN Trusteeship for 25 to 40 years, which is something that the popular classes, which is 80% of the Haitian population, do not want. We know that Haiti got its independence in 1804, and people have worked very hard and fought to maintain it, and – since we finished commemorating the 200th anniversary of our independence – it’s imperative for the Haitian people to mobilize and stand up to the United States, France and Canada, and let them know that we will not accept re-colonization.

2) You mentioned the report by Thomas Griffin. What are some of the key points that need to be communicated about this very comprehensive study produced for the University of Miami’s Centre for the Study of Human Rights?

His report proves that it’s truly a campaign of political persecution and execution that’s being done at the hands of the United States, Canada and France’s command, and also by the Latortue government, to literally wipe out anyone who is a Lavalas supporter in Haiti. You can see it in the bodies, the way the people are being mutilated, the bodies piled up at the morgue.

It gives you proof, hardcore facts as it is, pictures. The bodies, you can’t dispute them.

That report is very vivid and I encourage everyone to read it and take a look at the extent of the human rights violations that are taking place in Haiti.

3) What, in your view, were the motivations behind the coup against Jean-Bertrand Aristide that took place last year, on February 29, 2004?

The United States – Canada has recently become involved in this, starting with the meeting they held in 2003 to kind of plan that coup which finally took place in 2004 – has never liked Aristide, because he’s been one that’s been preaching liberation theology, and that’s not something the U.S. supports. He’s been one that advocates against the IMF, World Bank, and structural adjustment policies…

And he was also calling on the French government to pay reparations to the Haitian population. After we had gotten our independence, we were forced to pay over $90 million dollars worth of gold to France, and retribution is important right now for Haiti, because the money that France owes us can be used to repair Haiti, to build the infrastructure and to build more schools, so that Haiti will not remain the poorest nation in the western hemisphere.

4) Would you say that there was a consensus around the political demands that Haitian solidarity activists should be putting forward?

It was pretty clear that the physical return of President Aristide is one of the things that we are asking for, and that respecting the people’s vote is very important.

5) Without lending credence to the anti-Aristide campaigns by the governments of the U.S. and Canada, among others, could you comment on his political trajectory and that of Lavalas. How had Aristide changed from 1991, to 1994, to 2004?

I don’t think that President Aristide has changed, as a man, from when we first elected him. When we first elected him, we elected him as a priest, but when he ran for his second term he ran as a politician. So there were some differences, but everybody who has gotten into a position learns and grows, and they develop and master different skills.

The people still believe in him. That has not changed. In terms of the Lavalas movement, I think that some people have broken off in different directions and these are people that, I believe, were just using the Lavalas movement as a way for them to get into office. But the core of the movement has not changed; the core of the movement continues to demand the people’s needs, which is basic education, clean water, infrastructure, hospitals, roads, and jobs for the poor. The basic social services that every low income person in a country should receive, these are the things that the Lavalas movement has been requesting and calling on all governments to do.

During the Aristide years, there were a lot of things we received. For 190 years, there were very few public schools in Haiti. But during the time that the Lavalas government was in office, they built over 100 hundred high schools and over 100 elementary schools. Even the people in the rural areas were able to go to school, and were able to learn how to write their own names. I can recount that my own grandmother, who is eighty-some years old, was able to go to school and learn how to write her own name. So that’s an extreme improvement to what we ever had before…And that change is what the U.S. and Canada and France have put an end to right now.

6) We’ve just had the experience of the U.S. orchestrated elections in Iraq, which were clearly designed to try and legitimize that occupation. Later this year, there are election slated for Haiti. Will there be participation in these elections by the Lavalas party, and how do you see them playing out?

I think that if there is to be an election in Haiti right now it should be under the leadership of President Aristide, because he’s still the duly elected president of the country. His term doesn’t end until February 7, 2006. So therefore he should be the man who oversees the hand-over of power to the next president.

And we know what will happen if the election takes place without the participation of President Aristide and the Lavalas Party. It’s re-colonization. Canada, the U.S. and France have already put out this plan, placing Haiti under UN trusteeship for 25 to 40 years…I think it’s ludicrous to take a country that has been independent for 200 years and to put it in the hands of the people that it has fought to get its independence from. It’s time to give the Haitian people a chance; it’s time to let Haiti live…

The Lavalas Party continues to be the political party with the largest following in Haiti. If you have an election right now with Lavalas participation, it is a complete guarantee that they will win the election again, and I think that’s what Canada, the U.S. and France are afraid of.

I mean the elections that just took place in Iraq are sham elections, sham democracy. And if you look at the amount of infrastructure destroyed by the U.S. in Iraq, I think that it won’t be long until what’s happening in Haiti is happening in Iraq, with government coup upon coup.

7) There are already actions planned in a number of Canadian cities to mark the 1-year anniversary of the coup in Haiti. What kind of activities, and protests, are being planned for later this month in the United States?

There are a number of activities being planned, especially by the Haitian community. They started today, February 7, which is a very important day in Haitian history. It was the day that ‘Baby Doc’ left the country and the day that President Aristide was sworn into office.

So we will continue with actions and with events to bring attention to what’s happening in Haiti. And coming out of this conference we have a resolution calling for the physical return of Aristide to Haiti, and calling for an end to the human rights abuses that are occurring. We will also be publicizing the resolution on Haiti that came out of the recent World Social Forum.

The Haiti Information Project tour committee will be hosting independent journalist Kevin Pina in Vancouver and Victoria this week. A public forum on Friday, February 11, 7p.m. at SFU Harbour Centre will feature a documentary film and talk by Pina, as well as the contributions of local independent journalist Anthony Fenton, who has worked to expose Canada’s central involvement in the illegal regime change in Haiti.

******* Forwarded by the Haitian Lawyers’ Leadership Network ******

“Men anpil chay pa lou” is Kreyol for – “Many hands make light a heavy load.”

See, The Haitian Leadership Networks’ 7 “Men Anpil Chay Pa Lou” campaigns to help restore Haiti’s independence, the will of the mass electorate and the rule of law. www.margueritelaurent.com/law/lawpress.html

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Please circulate our mailings and posts to your mailing list and e-mail contacts. Subscribe or unbscribe by writing to: Erzilidanto@aol.com

Read, adopt and circulate the Haiti Resolution (see below) from the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network: www.sfbayview.com/080404/haitiresolution080404.shtml , and/or the Porto Alegre Declarations on Haiti adopted at the World Social Forum in 2005: www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/declaration.html

Circulate the human rights reports, especially the latest Miami Law Center report www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/human_rights_reports/c1humanrightsreports.html

Do Press Work: Join our letter writing campaigns to help free the political prisoners in Haiti, stop the persecution of Haiti’s most popular political party and restore Constitutional rule. Write a letter, call the media, fax, – See our Press Work page for sample letters and contact information: www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/presswork/pressreleases_hll.html

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Virtual interns and volunteers are needed to help us translate selected materials into French, Kreyol, or Spanish to reach a wider audience; Volunteers with some research and computer skills are also needed to help us update our “list of victims” and “Personal Testimonies” pages under Campaign One. (We have the materials, what we don’t have we know where to extrapolate them, but need help to put it together and into the format pages on our website for “List of Victims” and “Personal Testimonies”: See: www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/campaignone.html

HLLN Networkers are urged, in addition to the general writing campaigns and e-mail circulations, to also consider volunteering as primary coordinators/contributors to one of our seven campaigns www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaigns.html

One internet savvy volunteer interested in logging and archiving, on our new Ezili Danto blog, (not yet unveiled) the regular Erzilidanto posts we send out so that those who only want to see these at their leisure or who cannot receive daily mailings will have access to these materials and posts, in an archived format.

Fundraise for the work of HLLN, donate to our projects, or, better yet, earn money, save lives and spread meaning and value by becoming an HLLN Marketing Associate trained to train other HLLN Associates and licensed to use our logo and HLLN materials to sponsor a “To Tell The Truth about Haiti Forum and Teach-In.” www.margueritelaurent.com/DNC_2004/dnc_slideshow/DNC_2004_01.htm

Proceeds from such teach ins will go to pay the Associate and to continue the work of HLLN projects, such as, our partnership with AUMOHD, the young human rights lawyers in Haiti who are defending the defenseless poor whose only crime is that they voted for Lavalas, supported Constitutional rule or are resisting a return of the bloody U.S.-trained Haitian army and US-sponsored dictatorship. For information on AUMOHD, go to: www.april6vt.org/

********* The Haiti Resolution:

1. Support the return of constitutional rule to Haiti by restoring all elected officials of all parties to their offices throughout the country until the end of their mandates and another election is held, as mandated by Haiti’s Constitution;

2. Condemn the killings, illegal imprisonment and confiscation of the property of supporters of Haiti’s constitutional government and insist that Haiti’s illegitimate “interim government” immediately cease its own persecution and put a stop to persecution by the thugs and murderers from sectors in their police force, from the paramilitaries, gangs and former soldiers;

3. Insist on the immediate release of all political prisoners in Haitian jails, including Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, other constitutional government officials and folksinger-activist Sò Ann;

4. Insist on the disarmament of the thugs, death squad leaders and convicted human rights violators and their prosecution for all crimes committed during the attack on Haiti’s elected government and help rebuild Haiti’s police force, ensuring that it excludes anyone who helped to overthrow the democratically elected government or who participated in other human rights violations;

5. Stop the indefinite detention and automatic repatriation of Haitian refugees and immediately grant Temporary Protected Status to all Haitian refugees presently in the United States until democracy is restored to Haiti; and

6. Support the calls by the OAS, CARICOM and the African Union for an investigation into the circumstances of President Aristide’s removal. Support the enactment of Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s T.R.U.T.H Act (HR 3919) which calls for U.S. Congressional investigation of the forcible removal of the democratically elected President and government of Haiti. *************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, contact Erzilidanto@aol.com