News
and opinions on situation in Haiti |
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| 10/2/05 |
AUMOHD appeal, Time for Justice, Fanmi Lavas demonstrates, Elections not possible w/out Lavalas… |
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********************************************************************** AUMOHD appeals to the world for help in stopping the oppression in Haiti HLLN Note: Evel Fanfan of AUMOHD is our legal arm in Haiti for assisting the release of prisoners in Haiti, especially those prisoners with no family and orphaned and street children. Without the help of HLLN’s AUMOHD lawyers, no one would be speaking out for these particular detainees in the courts in Haiti. Evel Fanfan of AUMOHD will be speaking this Friday, February 11, 2005 at St. Francis of Assisi, 1081 Nostrand Avenue (between Nostrand and Lincoln), Brooklyn, New York at 7 pm. Below he writes to our Network, making a cry for help on behalf of the persecuted in Haiti. If you live in the Tri-State area, please don’t miss meeting Evel Fanfan who has first-hand experience as one of today’s Haitian freedom fighters, risking all to serve those in dire need. Donations to AUMOHD may be made by contacting HLLN collaborator, Tom Luce at: www.april6vt.org/ Dear all, The Haitian people can’t continue to live in this situation, illegal arrestation, assassinations every day, misery, repression. Please, Haiti, cry Help! Find a way to help this people who are senselessly dying. PLEASE, IF YOU HAVE A WAY, CALL AT THOSE NUMBERS: 509 424 33 34 Me. Evel FANFAN (AUMOHD) 802 522 3525 Tom LUCE(AprilsixVt Vermonters Lobby) 203 829 7210 Marguerite LAURENT(HLLN) 509 401 3094 Me. Mario JOSEPH (IJHD) Please, find a way to help the Haitian people Me. Evel FANFAN AUMOHD DWA MOUN 509 424 3334 E-mail: aumohddwamoun@yahoo.fr Pravda.ru Haiti: A Time for Justice Haiti to have local elections on 9th October and presidential and parliamentary elections on 13th November The elections will fill the gap in Haiti since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced from power last year in the most blatant example of political interference and intrusion by the United States of America in the region since the failed coup d’etat in Venezuela. As the elections are announced, members of Aristide’s party, the Lavalas Family Party, complain that their senior members are being detained without trial (a practice with which Washington has been connected elsewhere). In fact, the recent history of Haiti is a study in Washington’s interference against a progressive, democratically-elected government. From the time when Aristide was elected in 2000, the USA launched an economic aid embargo, funded opposition groups, and provided support for coup plots. The coup d’etat against Aristide came on February 29th 2004. But this was not only a coup against the president: it was a coup against a progressive manifesto, just as the attempted coup against Hugo Chavez had been as antidemocratic an act as the countless others perpetrated by Washington’s playboys who insist on treating Latin America as their back yard. According to Washington, Aristide was “ousted” because of the level of “popular revolt” against him. But what is the truth? The truth is, as so often, very far from what Washington says. The truth is that Washington was funding and aiding anti-Aristide militia, whose attacks were becoming so violent that government of the country was untenable. Out with Aristide went government literacy programmes, educational programmes, progressive social and economic programmes which aimed to restructure the wealth distribution in the country and ensure that opportunity was available on a more democratic basis. Just as it did in Afghanistan, where the progressive socialist government of Dr. Najibullah was overthrown by the Mujaheddin/Taleban, backed by Washington, the United States of America yet again provides a telling example of the innate undemocratic, nay antidemocratic tenets which form the core of the institutions which dictate this country’s policy. As usual, Washington’s right-wing senators and congressmen, with personal ties to Haiti’s super-rich elite, dictate the foreign policy of their country, which as usual, goes against the grain of the fundamental law set out in the US Constitution. It is the right-wing elitists in Haiti which Washington’s policy strives to defend, not the people and not those who work towards a more democratic and free Haiti. Perversely, it was the USA’s International Republican Institute, purporting to “promote international democracy”, along with the European Union, which channeled money to the anti-Aristide opposition, the leader of whom is Andre Apaid. Among his cronies are former death-squad members and drugs barons (compare Washington’s friends in Afghanistan) Andre Apaid is an interesting character. Apart from being a citizen of the United States of America, he has close ties to the Haitian business community (and, it is said, also owns sweatshops). The forthcoming elections will be interesting, since before the coup against Aristide, the opposition never managed to muster popular support. That is precisely why Aristide was kidnapped by US armed forces, threatened with death along with his family and spirited away to Africa, where he now lives in exile. Those who replaced him, howling messages of support for the USA, took less than 24 hours to engage in acts of mass murder. It remains to be seen whether the electoral model imposed on the citizens of Haiti will be the same as that adopted in the USA. But it will be a perfect opportunity for those who believe in freedom and democracy to win hearts and minds in Haiti, not through shock and awe campaigns based upon wholesale slaughter, but upon the respect for the rule of law, of which Washington these days evidently has none. ********** Thousands of Fanmi Lavalas supporters demonstrate to mark the fourth anniversary of the second inauguration of Aristide as president: the police open fire Port-au-Prince, February 8, 2005 (AHP)- Several thousand Fanmi Lavalas supporters demonstrated peacefully Monday in Port-au-Prince in observance of the fourth anniversary of the inauguration of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s second term. The demonstrators called for the return of constitutional government, which was cut short, they said, with the forced departure of President Aristide on February 29, 2004. They also denounced the summary executions and political persecutions directed against supporters of Mr. Aristide. The demonstration was interrupted by a police patrol accompanied by individuals in civilian dress, known as attachés, who reportedly began shooting at the demonstrators, injuring several of them. Soldiers from the United Nations mission who were following the demonstration then intervened, enabling the demonstrators to return to their base. Reacting to these incidents, a spokesperson for the Lavalas activists, Samba Boukman, said that the interim government is making a mistake if it thinks that violence will persuade the activists to give up their deeply held beliefs. “We are going to continue to struggle peacefully until constitutional government returns because Haitians have had enough of the violence and the poison of social exclusion and corruption”, he said. ************** No serious election is possible without Lavalas, according to Marc Bazin Port-au-Prince, February 8, 2005 (AHP)- The leader of the MIDH party (Movement for the Establishment of Democracy in Haiti) Marc Bazin, indicated Tuesday that no serious election is possible in Haiti without Lavalas, which constitutes the majority party. There are many people who are way off base as they attempt to have people believe that Lavalas is no longer popular, said Bazin. “I could act like certain other political leaders, but I myself am a realist, I am willing to see the reality in front of me”, said the MIDH leader. He explained that he has met with many people who do not express themselves in public. “The majority of them are sympathetic to Lavalas”, he observed, adding that a dialogue is indispensable. ****** Several people are injured as Monday evening’s Carnaval procession in Port-au-Prince is disrupted by gunfire Port-au-Prince, February 8, 2005 (AHP)- Once again, the Haitian Carnaval parade was disrupted as heavy gunfire triggered a great panic along the Champ-de-Mars among celebrants Monday evening. Turnout was significantly less than on Sunday. It is not yet known whether there were any deaths resulting from the incident. However a number of people were injured as some of them fell from the floats or attempted to flee the Carnaval area. The gunfire began around 10:30 in the evening. Television viewers were able to hear the gunshots until the government-run television station, which was broadcasting the festivities, decided as it had the previous evening to interrupt the broadcast for several minutes, resuming as groups started to make their way back to the Sylvio Cator stadium, which is the starting and ending point for the procession this year. Some police officers affirmed that shots had come from the neighboring district of Poste-Marchand, where clashes pitted the police against armed individuals. Other police officers accused demobilized soldiers of responsibility for this outbreak of violence. The former soldiers, who are rivals of the police, had said they wished to provide security for the Carnaval in their capacity as a force authorized under the Haitian Constitution, they said. They are also accused in the case of the murders of four police officers Sunday in the Claircine neighborhood. Pro-government sectors for their part pointed accusingly at the poor people from the shantytowns whom they call ”chimères” as having been the ones who derailed the procession. The “Chimères are presented as the counterpart to the GNBists, violent supporters of the former opposition to President Aristide. The Carnaval procession has enjoyed a much smaller turnout this year as compared to previous years. State television itself presented lengthy shots showing large empty spaces in the very heart of the procession. The main reason for the low turnout is the unsafe atmosphere and the political rivalries. Added to this, the private sector has kept its distance from the Carnaval. It is openly in dispute with the office of the Prime Minister ever since the Prime Minister asked the private sector to focus on what it does best – business, and not to dictate to the interim government. This situation appears to have become more complicated with the outcry over the designation of Marie-Claude Bayard, president of the Association of Industries of Haiti (ADIH), to be Minister of Commerce, due to the fact that she is a national of the United States. This compelled her to step aside from the position even though other members of the government are also U.S. nationals according to her. Further evidence of the reduced interest in Carnival 2005 is the presence of less than 20 stands along the Champ-de-Mars this year, while normally there are hundreds. The few stands that were erected this year were built by public institutions. The interim authorities did however spend large amounts of money to try to create some interest in the festivities by providing some disguises and colors to the Carnaval, whose theme this year is ”Dantanm se Kinanm” (My past belongs to me) Sources close to the Carnaval organizers said that the musical groups and the DJs received tens of thousands of dollars in return for their participation in the procession to offset the risks they would be facing. The merengues are for the most part very critical of the interim authorities who are accused of serious corruption. Some groups such as Démêlé created scenes of animals to depict the Haitian political fauna, going so far as to depict turtles and macaques. As a result of this satire, the leader of Démêlé has had troubles with the police, who are viewed as too “royalist”. Other groups articulated the theme of the need to combat social exclusion, in order that all Haitians may be able to work together in an effort to rebuild the country, because for the moment, they said, “we are all on crutches”. ************ South Florida Sun-Sentinel February 8, 2005 Caribbean news briefs [excerpt] Haiti Ex-soldiers, police exchange gunfire PORT-AU-PRINCE · Police investigating the killing of four colleagues traded gunfire with former soldiers on Monday in a clash that heightened tension between security forces and members of the demobilized army that helped oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide last year. The clash came as police accused former soldiers of kidnapping six police officers over the weekend in a bid to secure the release of a jailed comrade. Five officers later were released. The four officers were killed Sunday night while patrolling near the international airport in Port-au-Prince, police said. ********** Bahamas Haitian boat people intercepted at sea NASSAU · Authorities intercepted a boat carrying 31 Haitians, raising to more than 400 the number caught trying to enter the country this year, officials said Monday. The 25 men and six women were apprehended in a 45-foot sloop east of New Providence island on Saturday night, the Royal Bahamas Defense Force said. They were turned over to immigration officials and are being processed at a detention center in the capital, Nassau. Immigrants are held pending repatriation or review of asylum requests. The Haitians had been at sea for a week after leaving Port-de-Paix on Haiti’s north coast, the Defense Force said. All were in good health. The Bahamas has caught and repatriated 430 illegal immigrants this year. The majority were Haitians. Copyright © 2005,
South Florida Sun-Sentinel February 7, 2005 Haitians languish in squalor awaiting trial PORT-AU-PRINCE — Yvon Neptune, Haiti’s former prime minister, ushers in his guests with a grand sweep of his hand. “Please take a seat. This is the best I can offer you under the circumstances,” he says, pointing to a concrete bench in his three- by two-metre jail cell at the National Penitentiary. Mr. Neptune, who recently marked his 58th birthday in this squalid prison, puts on his reading glasses, settles into a plastic lawn chair and crosses his bare legs. This is his first interview since he came out of hiding and gave himself up in June, four months after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a rebellion led by former soldiers and armed thugs. He is accused of providing weapons to Mr. Aristide’s supporters, who allegedly used them to massacre opponents in the town of St. Marc as the rebellion was gathering steam. He denies the charge. “It’s clear I’m being held up here as an example,” he complains. “My matter has not gone before a judge.” Neither have the cases of most of the penitentiary’s 1,028 inmates. Only 12 have been convicted and sentenced, the rest are languishing in Haiti’s shattered legal system. According to some human-rights advocates, dozens of inmates have been arrested for nothing more than being partisans of Mr. Aristide — arrests that take place with the approval, if not the connivance, of the interim government that was installed under foreign tutelage after his departure. It is nearly a year since Mr. Aristide fled into exile in South Africa. An election for a new government is supposed to take place in November, but there are few signs of reconciliation between those who opposed the Canadian-educated former priest and the supporters who agitate for his return. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch say police are quick to arrest members of Lavalas, Mr. Aristide’s party, when they are suspected of violence or corruption, but have failed to act against the former military soldiers — some of whom are convicted criminals — who led the uprising against the ex-president. “Neptune is being kept in jail as a symbol of all of Aristide’s human-rights violations and excesses. He may or may not be guilty, but he is being denied due process,” says Jean-Rony Morrisseau, a lawyer with the Committee of Lawyers for the Respect of Individual Liberty. Mr. Morrisseau estimates that there are as many as 30 political prisoners in Haiti, including former interior minister Jocelerme Privert, who has the cell next door to Mr. Neptune; two Lavalas senators; a former police chief; and Gérard Jean-Juste, a populist priest who was held for several weeks in the prison until his recent release. “Many face vague or impossible-to-prove charges such as public mischief or conspiracy against the state’s safety,” Mr. Morrisseau says. On Dec. 1, seven prisoners in a penitentiary cell block known as the
Titanic were killed by police and three more died of injuries during Mr. Neptune fears he will be assassinated inside the prison, which has become a battleground for the political war that is playing out across Haiti. He denies involvement in the St. Marc killings and says his lawyer has requested that the judge be removed from the case because of bias. He is also not above pleading for his case to be given priority. “You’re not talking about anyone here,” he says. “You’re talking about the former prime minister.” An official with MINUSTAH, the United Nations mission in Haiti that is made up of police from Canada and several other countries, also says he is concerned about Mr. Neptune’s continued detention. Human Rights Watch concluded in its Jan. 13 World Report chapter on Haiti that police are carrying out arrests without warrants and, in some cases, with little evidence. A recent University of Miami School of Law report, led by attorney Thomas Griffin, went further. The justice system is “twisted against poor young men, dissidents and anyone calling for the return of the constitutional government,” it found. Inside the penitentiary, a repeat of the December riot seems possible at any moment. Mr. Neptune, who has money and influence, is housed in a well-kept solitary cell with a bed, clean sheets, a fan, a radio and boxes of food, water and cleaning materials. It is a very different story in the Titanic, a three-storey cell block with open sewers, rotting garbage, and rats and cockroaches scurrying about. It was built for 440 inmates but now houses 562. On the day I was there, a dozen angry prisoners had broken through a barrier and were shaking the bars at the cell entrance, demanding to be let out. Several guards stood uneasily at the entrance, saying it might not be the best time to tour the Titanic’s inner chambers. Breakfast — a large vat of brown broth with undetermined particles floating in the soup — arrived at noon in a filthy metal pot brought in by wheelbarrow. There was a shortage of mattresses and water, and no bathrooms. When I asked to use the toilet, prison director Sony Marcellus handed me a pail. Mr. Marcellus says he doesn’t know how many of the inmates are Lavalas partisans. But he concedes that almost all are being held without being seen by judges. “The justice system is too slow,” he said. “And there are not enough guards in the prison. Some are afraid of the inmates.” Recreation programs are unheard of, and prisoners spend much of their time banging on their cell doors, complaining. Many are not allowed out at all. “The guards get scared whenever there are more than 20 or 30 of us here in the courtyard. They worry about riots,” explained Titanic inmate Wolff Estaing, a deportee from the United States who was picked up during a public disturbance. He says he doesn’t know what charges he is facing. Mr. Estaing said prisoners’ main frustration is the delay in getting their cases through the courts, but he also had a comment on the prison fare. “Look at that food,” he said, pointing to the vat of dirty brown soup. “My cat in New York ate better than that.” Over on his side of the jail, Mr. Neptune whiles away his time following the news on the radio, jogging on the spot and studying Spanish. He recently finished a novel by Brazilian author Machado de Assis that was left behind by a visitor from the Organization of American States. “The judiciary hasn’t been working for a long time in this country,” he says. “What revolts me the most is not my being here, but the way other prisoners are treated. I see prisoners being beaten here, and most are just poor people from the slums.” By law, a Haitian who is arrested is supposed to be seen by a judge within 48 hours. In practice, this does not happen. Part of the reason is that several court buildings were looted and burned in last year’s anti-Aristide uprising. Yet investigating human-rights abuses is difficult in Haiti, where marronage — a Creole word meaning obscuring reality — is the modus operandi. “Everything is cloaked in smoke and mirrors in Haiti. Virtually every story is wrapped in rhetoric and hyperbole,” says David Beer, an RCMP chief superintendent acting as the UN mission’s police commissioner. Human-rights groups themselves vehemently disagree on the facts. Some say there are 700 political prisoners but cannot provide names; others say there are none at all. It is not clear that Lavalas-affiliated inmates in the overcrowded penitentiary are receiving worse treatment than the other prisoners. The National Coalition for Haitians’ Rights believes there have been no reprisals against Lavalas members. “The ones in jail are accused criminals who happen to have been Aristide supporters,” said Pierre Esperance, the coalition’s director. For example, he said, Father Jean-Juste was jailed on suspicion of masterminding a campaign of attacks against police that was dubbed Operation Baghdad. Leon Charles, chief of the Haitian National Police, says Father Jean-Juste and other Lavalas politicians were implicated in the recent violence through their association with gang leaders. “We want to send the signal to the intellectual authors of the violence,” he says. “This has prompted criticism.” He acknowledged that there may be something to the claims of Mr. Aristide’s followers. “It’s possible some police officers are taking advantage of the current political climate to execute personal vendettas,” he said.The University of Miami’s human-rights report even accuses the UN stabilization mission of collaborating with Haitian National Police as they target Mr. Aristide’s supporters. MINUSTAH denies this, and a spokesman says they plan to send peacekeepers into prisons to track the progress of cases against the dozens of poor, young males arrested in the slums during the pro-Aristide demonstrations. “Until the justice system is up and running properly, it will be impossible to clarify whether there are political prisoners,” Supt. Beer said. Régis Charron, a Corrections Canada assistant warden who is working in Haiti with a UN program to reform the penitentiary system, said one thing is clear: The appalling circumstances that prisoners must endure can only lead to more violence and bloodshed. Unless conditions improve both in the prison and in the judicial system, another riot could break out at any time, said Mr. Charron, whose predecessor resigned last year after Haitian authorities refused to accept recommendations to improve penitentiary conditions. “It’s impossible to leave human beings in subhuman conditions and think nothing will happen,” he said. © 2005 Bell Globemedia
Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. ******* 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. ******************* ********************** HLLN – Action Requested from Haiti solidarity groups and activists for justice and democracy 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 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: Volunteers
to maintain and send us updated or new phone numbers and addresses
to put on our Contact Information Sheet
pages for our Network’s pressworks 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.” 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 |
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