News
and opinions on situation in Haiti |
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| 20/2/05 |
Gunmen take Haiti ex-Prime Minister from prison – 2 different stories |
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HLLN Notes: Reuters tell one story and ABC another (See below). Lately, it would seems whenever high ranking U.S. official visit Haiti – there are currently three former U.S. ambassadors who are in Haiti right now looking at feasibility of election and assessing “security concerns” for said U.S. elections in Haiti; or, as on Dec. 1, 2004 when Colin Powell was in Haiti) – something horrible for the Haitian poor happens at the Latortue/Foley Haitian concentration camp, known as, the National Penitentiary. Let us never lose our focus. It is NOT Haitian infighting that has brought Haiti to this precipice, this death trap. But said same US high ranking officials and their policies to destroy democracy in Haiti at any cost, with any Haitian life, so that their corporatocracy may rule Haiti through Washington puppets like Latortue or Bazin, or Apaid, et al. They will invent ANY storyline to keep us from focussing on that truth.
But we shall not be distracted. The conflicts manufactured into Haiti has
cost us way too much blood. Marguerite Laurent, Esq. Gunmen take Haiti ex-Prime Minister from prison Gunmen stormed Haiti’s main prison on Saturday and drove away with jailed former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and other inmates linked to ousted ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, witnesses said. Two girls look at the body of slain prison guard Pierre Marie Gurrier Romeus, killed outside the National Penitentiary, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on February 19, 2005, only a few hours after scores of armed men broke into the institution and freed around 480 prisoners, including former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune. Witnesses said the armed men were from the gangs claiming allegiance to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was overthrown on Feb. 29, 2004. Neptune was his prime minister. [Reuters] Neptune and former Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert appeared to have been taken out at gunpoint by the attackers, who sent poorly armed prison guards fleeing the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, they said. A police source speaking on condition of anonymity said up to 500 of the prison’s 1,200 inmates may have escaped during the attack. One off-duty prison guard was killed. “I saw three gunmen escorting Neptune and several other prisoners and force them to get into the back of a double-cab white pickup,” said Jacques Dameus, who said he was in front of the prison at the time. “When they arrived at the gate of the National Penitentiary, Neptune did not want to walk any further. One gunman raised his weapon and forced him to walk and get into the pickup,” Dameus told Reuters. Neither the police nor the interim government, which jailed Neptune and Privert on charges of violence, made any statement on the prison break. But deputy public prosecutor Carvest Jean said afterward that neither Neptune nor Privert, who their supporters say are victims of political persecution against allies of Aristide, remained in the prison. Residents of the area said the heavily armed gunmen arrived in three vehicles. They entered the prison shooting and guards fled. Bullet casings littered the ground outside the prison later and bullet holes pockmarked the walls of nearby houses. International police who are part of a 7,000-strong Brazilian-led U.N. force trying to keep the peace in the chaotic and impoverished Caribbean country arrived later and began interviewing witnesses. Several witnesses mentioned the white pickup truck and said its license plate had been folded over to obscure its number. A woman said some of the attackers wore T-shirts with “Haitian National Police” written on them while the rest were in casual clothes. The guard who was killed, Omeus Guerrier, 25, was outside the jail at the time of the attack. In addition to Neptune and Privert, who had been jailed for several months without being indicted, witnesses said the gunmen took away a former soldier named Anel Belzaire, who had been arrested after weapons were found in his car. Almost a year after Aristide fled an armed revolt — his stature as the father of Haitian democracy and champion of the country’s poor sullied by charges of despotism and corruption — Haiti remains torn by political violence. The government is pitted against street gangs still loyal to Aristide, and
its once warm relations with former soldiers who helped lead the revolt against
Aristide have chilled under their repeated demands for the re-establishment
of the army. “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. ABC News abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=516034 Gunmen Attack Haiti Prison, Allowing Some Prisoners to Escape; One Guard Dies in Shootout Police escort Haitian National Police Chief Leon Charles, center, following
a prison break at the Haitian Civil Prison in the Rue Centre neighborhood
of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2005. An unknown number of prisoners
escaped when four heavily armed men stormed the prison killing one prison
guard. (AP Photo/Kent Gilbert) PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti Feb 19, 2005 — Heavily armed gunmen attacked Haiti’s national penitentiary Saturday, killing one guard in a shootout that allowed some prisoners to escape, Haitian and U.N. peacekeeping officials said. Guards rushed two jailed allies of ousted leader President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to a secret location when inmates began rioting. Damian Onses-Cardona, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force, told The Associated Press that former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and former Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert were later turned over to U.N. soldiers. “They are now in the protective custody of the U.N.,” Onses-Cardona said. “They have agreed to return to the prison.” Authorities were investigating whether the attack was aimed at freeing Neptune and Privert, but neither man tried to get away, Onses-Cardona said. Some prisoners did escape, but it was not clear how many, he said. Black and beige rubber sandals of the type worn by inmates were scattered just outside the stone and brick prison, where the wall was pockmarked with several bullet holes and the pavement littered with spent ammunition. The attack began when three or four men dressed in black and armed with assault rifles drove up to the prison in a jeep and began firing into the air Saturday afternoon, touching off a brief gunbattle with guards, witnesses said. At least one guard was killed, said police spokeswoman Gessy Coicou, adding that authorities had no information about a possible motive or suspects. Police swarmed around the prison, setting up roadblocks and searching cars. Hundreds of onlookers also gathered outside the prison. Dozens of allies of Aristide, who fled the country amid a three-week rebellion nearly a year ago, were held at the prison. None have been formally charged. Neptune and Privert were accused of orchestrating killings of Aristide opponents
during the February 2004 rebellion in the western town of Saint-Marc. Both
men have said they are innocent. “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. |
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