News
and opinions on situation in Haiti |
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| 25/11/05 |
Undermining Haiti, Sham elections postponed again by illegal gov., Rep. Waters speaks, contradicts Col. Wilkerson, UN continues bloodbath in poor neighborhoods |
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-Haiti Sets New Dates for Elections,By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU |AP |Nov. 25, 2005 – “Undermining Haiti” by Mark Weisbrot | The Nation, Dec. 12, 2005 – Brazilian general denies accusations of human rights|AP worldstream Nov. 23, 2005 – Rep. Waters Contradicts Col. Wilkerson on U.S. Role in Haiti:”It Was a Coup D’Etat, it Was a Forceful Removal of Aristide” |Democracy Now!, November 23, 2005 | www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/23/152229 Congressmember Waters Contradicts Col. Wilkerson on U.S. Role in Haiti: “It Was a Coup D’Etat, it Was a Forceful Removal of Aristide” – Group, Jean Align to Help Poor in Haiti, AP | Nov. 24, 2005 – U.S. Embassy Workers Return to Haiti, AP | Nov. 22, 2005 – Four Killed As U.N. Troops, Haitians Fight| Nov. 15, 2005 – 14 Haitian Officers Face Charges in Deaths AP | Nov. 8, 2005 Please make a donation to support this work: PRESSKIT – RBM: Between Falling and Hitting The Ground — Breaking Sea Chains by (c) 1997 Marguerite Laurent Go to: -RBM Video Reel – Presentation by Marguerite Laurent, Esq.: ********************************************************* *********************************************************** Haiti Sets New Dates for Elections By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s electoral board on Friday again postponed the country’s first elections since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a rebellion almost two years ago. The nine-member Provisional Electoral Council set a new date of Jan. 8 for presidential and legislative elections, followed by a Feb. 15 runoff, council Secretary-General Rosemond Pradel told The Associated Press. It was the fourth date Haitian authorities have set for the elections, first scheduled for Nov. 13, to replace the interim government installed after Aristide’s ouster in February 2004. The elections council decided that Haiti was unprepared to hold the election on Dec. 27, the date announced last week by interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue. Council members met overnight to establish the new date, Pradel said. “These dates are the real dates, perfectly final and based on serious planing,” he told AP in a telephone interview. Haiti’s lack of equipment and trained poll workers, its crumbling infrastructure and its violence have made it difficult to register voters. Pradel said it was unrealistic to hold elections so soon when the council had not finished printing ballots, distributing more than 2.5 million voter ID cards and training poll workers. “There was a series of practical points that needed to be addressed for the elections to take place in serene conditions,” he said. Several private organizations had expressed similar views in recent days. In a report released hours before the election was postponed, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group urged Haiti to delay the balloting. “Holding these elections over the holidays will mean low turnout and insufficient international observation,” said Alain Deletroz, director of the group’s Latin American Program. “And one month is not enough time to fix the serious organizational and security problems.” Voters will choose from about 35 candidates for president and hundreds of candidates for 129 legislative seats. The revolt that ousted Aristide was led by former soldiers linked to the repressive military regimes of Haiti’s dark past. Aristide, a former priest who was accused of corruption, now lives in exile in South Africa. © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. ******************************************************** The Nation December 12, 2005 Comment “Undermining Haiti” History is repeating itself in Haiti, as democracy is being destroyed for the second time in the past fifteen years. Amazingly, the main difference seems to be that this time it is being done openly and in broad daylight, with the support of the “international community” and the United Nations. The first coup against Haiti’s democratically elected government, in September 1991, was condemned even by the George H.W. Bush Administration. This although the CIA had funded the leaders of the coup and—according to a founder of the death squads that murdered thousands of people during the 1991-94 military dictatorship—also sponsored the repression. All this was covert, and the official position of the United States and most other countries was that the dictatorship was not legitimate. But when in February 2004 Haiti’s democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was overthrown for the second time by remnants of that prior dictatorship—including convicted mass murderers and former death squad leaders—this was considered a legitimate “regime change.” The Caricom countries, showing great courage, objected strenuously, as did some members of the US Congress. But these voices were not powerful enough to influence the course of events. The fix was in: The US Agency for International Development and the International Republican Institute (the international arm of the Republican Party) had spent tens of millions of dollars to create and organize an opposition—however small in numbers—and to make Haiti under Aristide ungovernable. The whole scenario was strikingly similar to the series of events that led to the coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Ch·vez in April 2002. The same US organizations were involved, and the opposition—as in Venezuela—controlled and used the major media as a tool for destabilization. And in both cases the coup leaders, joined by Washington, announced to the world that the elected president had “voluntarily resigned”—which later turned out to be false. Washington had an added weapon against the Haitian government. Taking advantage of Haiti’s desperate poverty and dependence on foreign aid, it stopped international aid to the government, from the summer of 2000 until the 2004 coup. As economist Jeffrey Sachs has pointed out, the World Bank also contributed to the destabilization effort by cutting off funding. Now the coup government, headed by unelected Prime Minister GÈrard Latortue, is trying to organize an election. But it is an election that would not be seen as legitimate in any country, not even Iraq. Everything is being arranged so that the country’s largest political party, Fanmi Lavalas—which at any moment before the coup would have overwhelmingly swept national elections—cannot win. Many of the party’s leaders are in jail, generally on trumped-up or nonexistent charges, including the constitutional prime minister, Yvon Neptune, and Father GÈrard Jean-Juste, a Catholic priest and likely presidential candidate if he were not jailed. Jean-Juste has been declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. Other leaders are in hiding or in exile, since the murder of political opponents is common. In one massacre in August, witnesses described Haitian police arriving at a soccer match and pointing out people in the crowd, who were then hacked to death by civilian accomplices with machetes. UN troops have also been implicated in some of the violence, and the UN has promised an investigation. The coup government, with an electoral commission that has no pretense of impartiality, is also set to disenfranchise a huge number of its opponents. There have been about one-twentieth as many registration sites for this election as there were for previous elections, and it is mostly Fanmi Lavalas voters who have been excluded. According to party spokespeople, the party has not registered any candidates for president, and many of its voters will boycott the election unless their demands for the release of political prisoners and an end to the persecution are met. The election has been postponed three times, most recently to December 27. Setting the date two days after Christmas will also help minimize voter turnout. Will the world accept this farce of an election? The Bush Administration and its allies seem to be hoping that Haiti is just too poor and too black for anyone to care about whether democratic, constitutional or even human rights are respected there. They have also cited the violence from both sides of the conflict to disguise the fact that most of that violence is directed at supporters of the ousted government to prevent them from returning to power through a fair election. But if this election goes forward without the release of political prisoners and the restoration of basic rights and security, it will not only be a tragedy for Haiti. It will be a throwback to the days when the United States was able to destabilize, overthrow and replace elected governments that it did not like. It will be a huge step backward for democracy in this hemisphere. — Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington, is co-author of The Scorecard on Globalization 1960-1980: Twenty Years of Diminished Progress (Center for Economic and Policy Research). Copyright © 2005 The Nation. ********************************************************** Associated Press Worldstream November 23, 2005 SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS LENGTH: 435 words HEADLINE: Brazilian general denies accusations of human rights violations in Haiti vs-ma/ml-jr BYLINE: VIVIAN SEQUERA; Associated Press Writer DATELINE: BRASILIA, Brazil BODY: The Brazilian general formerly in charge of U.N. peacekeeping troops in Haiti on Wednesday denied allegations that his forces had carried out executions or other atrocities in the impoverished Caribbean nation. Gen. Augusto Heleno Ribeiro told the foreign relations committee of Brazil’s lower house of Congress that the accusations were spread by gangs linked to former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in an attempt to sully the peacekeepers’ legitimacy. He said many of the allegations arose from an operation in the Cite Soleil slum that resulted in the death of gang leader Emmanuel “Dread” Wilme. He said the operation caused little harm to civilians. “One hour after the operation, local radio stations went there and did not uncover any of the alleged irregularities,” Ribeiro said. On Nov. 15, human rights groups such as Global Exchange and the Institute for Justice and Democracy alleged that systematic massacres were carried out in Port-au-Prince by the Haitian National Police and by U.N. forces under Brazil’s command. At the time, Brazil’s foreign ministry issued a statement denying the charges. The general said claims that soldiers carried out executions began to appear a day after the operation. He said that any such killings were likely carried out by gang members seeking revenge on slum residents suspected of collaborating with peacekeeping forces. “The majority of executions were people shot in the head. That is not characteristic of military operations,” Ribeiro said. Ribeiro was in charge of the U.N. force in Haiti from June 2004 until last August, when he was replaced by another Brazilian, Gen. Urano Teixeira da Matta. Brazil has more than 1,100 soldiers in Haiti as part of the U.N. force trying to re-establish order ahead of elections to replace the interim government imposed after the February 2004 ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. U.N. troops have repeatedly traded gunfire with the gang members in the Pele neighborhood of Cite Soleil. The U.N. says its forces have killed five alleged gang members and arrested nearly 100 people. Gang leaders, who describe themselves as a self-protection force for slum dwellers against Haitian police and soldiers, say 15 people have been killed – including unarmed civilians caught in crossfire. Cite Soleil, home to about 200,000 people, is one of the most lawless and violent areas of Haiti. International authorities have pressed the U.N. forces to crack down on the gangs before the elections to replace the interim government imposed following the February 2004 ouster of Aristide. Copyright © 2005 Associated Press. ********************************************************** PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The U.S. Embassy said Tuesday that security in Haiti has improved enough for diplomatic employees evacuated earlier this year to return in time for elections. The State Department in May and June ordered the evacuation of an unspecified number of employees and their families for security reasons. Some politicians and human rights groups called on Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council to delay the elections because of lack of preparation and security. In the past 18 months, more than 1,200 Haitians have been killed because of gang violence and political chaos, the Roman Catholic Justice and Peace Commission reported. More than 7,500 U.N. peacekeepers and police have been in Haiti since June 2004 to keep order. They arrived four months after the Feb. 29 overthrow of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Haiti’s first elections since Aristide’s ouster have been set for Dec. 27, after three postponements. On Monday, however, the Provisional Electoral Council declined to confirm the date officially. It said it needed more time to fix a timetable. © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy. Group, Jean Align to Help Poor in Haiti By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — U.N. peacekeepers venture into Cite Soleil with automatic weapons and armored personnel carriers. Haitian police, fearful of well-armed gangs, avoid the dusty streets of the seaside slum altogether. But a new aid organization has managed to use the immense popularity of hip-hop musician Wyclef Jean to provide badly needed help to a desperate corner of his native country, the poorest nation in the Americas. Yele Haiti, which Jean formed this year, has so far focused mostly on giving out scholarships. But after a few exploratory forays, it ventured into Cite Soleil this month to give out food – backed by the pulsating beat of hip-hop blasting from speakers on a makeshift stage. The music wasn’t just entertainment. It was the way the aid group secured permission to enter the territory of gangs who dominate a slum that is home to more than 200,000 people. “The gangs are really into my music, so we use that to connect with the population,” Jean said by telephone from New York. “It helps us get in to help people that others may not reach.” The name “Yele Haiti” comes from a popular Jean song that has become a sort of anthem of hope following the violent rebellion that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. Jean, who left Haiti when he was 10 and gained fame as a member of the Fugees, said he was inspired to create his aid group by his own bitter memories of poverty. “I grew up with no shoes and no pants,” the 35-year-old musician said. “So, in the position I’m in today, I couldn’t sleep if I wasn’t giving back.” Most of Haiti’s 8 million people live on less than $1 a day. Unemployment is estimated at 80 percent. Locals struggle to survive coups, street-level justice, corrupt leaders and pervasive crime. Kidnappings are common. Human rights groups and international organizations say at least 1,500 people have died in the violence in the capital in the past year, much of it blamed on the street gangs that allegedly support Aristide, now in exile in South Africa, and his Lavalas party. Yele Haiti so far has distributed about $1 million in grants and aid, mostly in the Gonaives region, which was devastated last year by Hurricane Jeanne. The organization has also taught sports to slum children and helped clear litter from the streets of Port-au-Prince. “What you need is for people to participate in the aid programs, feel like human beings – not just receive food like animals,” Jean said. Dozens of aid groups operate in Haiti. What makes Jean’s unusual is its reliance on his celebrity to gain permission from the gangs to operate amid the violence of Cite Soleil. “There’s always an element of risk, but the community has a lot of respect for the musicians,” said Hugh Locke, the manager of Yele Haiti. A gang leader who calls himself General Toutou said he and others “have completely lost trust in the U.N.,” whose blue-helmeted peacekeeping troops often engage in firefights with slum residents. Mamadou Mbaye, head of the U.N. World Food Program in Haiti, said the agency doesn’t allow its staff to enter Cite Soleil because of the danger – so it provided food to Yele Haiti to distribute. Mbaye praised Yele Haiti for its ability to “take the first step and pave the way,” for other aid groups. “People in dangerous zones have the same right to aid and food as the rest of the Haitian population,” he said. But even with the gang’s permission and Jean’s popularity, the first major food handout did not go off as smoothly as organizers hoped. Yele Haiti volunteers and workers in bright orange and blue T-shirts arrived with hundreds of bags of rice, beans, salt and cooking oil. But the crowd had grown unruly under the hot sun, and people began to scramble for the food, fearful they might miss out. Some gangsters could be seen striking people with belts and sticks while others ran off with food. In the distance, U.N. troops and gang members could be heard exchanging gunfire. Ernia Saint Louis, who lives in Cite Soleil, said gang members stole her rice. “It’s great to bring food to the poor, but we never get any of it. The big guys take it all,” the 26-year-old woman said as she picked beans from the dust and collected them in a fold of her dress. Despite the problems, the World Food Program said it hopes to keep channeling aid through Jean’s group. “Yes, it was chaotic, but it was a learning process for us and Yele Haiti,” said Anne Poulsen, spokeswoman for the U.N. agency in Haiti. Jean said his group would learn from the incident, which he views as a reminder of why Haiti needs so much help. “We can’t just wait for things to improve before we get involved,” he said. “It’s because we are trying that things will get better.” Four Killed As U.N. Troops, Haitians Fight, By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — U.N. peacekeepers and gang members traded gunfire Tuesday in the volatile Cite Soleil slum of the Haitian capital, leaving at least four people dead, witnesses and a U.N. official said. The deaths were the latest casualties from sporadic clashes between gangs and U.N. troops, who were called to the country following the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The bodies of two young men were displayed by gang members in the slum. U.N. military spokesman Col. El Ouafi Boulbars said the bodies of two other suspected gang members were turned over to police. Gang members say at least a dozen people have died in the area over the past week. U.N. military spokesman Col. El Ouafi Boulbars said it was not possible to provide an exact death toll, but confirmed that several suspected gang members had been killed in recent clashes. Over the weekend, peacekeepers killed one suspect during a series of sweeps to root out well-armed gangs in several areas of the capital, a U.N. statement said. Peacekeepers also made nine arrests and seized an unspecified number of weapons and stolen vehicles. “The situation is very tense. We’re reacting to heavy pressure from the gangs and the situation has begun to degenerate,” Boulbars said. There have been no reports of U.N. casualties in the latest violence, Boulbars said. Gang leader William Batiste accused U.N. peacekeepers of firing without provocation and of wounding unarmed civilians in the crossfire. “They shoot at us every single day,” Batiste said. “It’s persecution.” Cite Soleil, home to about 200,000 people, is among the most lawless and violent areas in Haiti, with numerous well-armed gangs that authorities claim are loyal to Aristide, who was forced from power in February 2004 following a violent uprising. Haiti’s interim government and international authorities have pressed the U.N. peacekeepers to crack down on the gangs ahead of national elections tentatively scheduled for next month. © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Nov 8, 11:32 PM EST 14 Haitian Officers Face Charges in Deaths By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Fourteen police officers will face charges for their alleged involvement in the slayings of at least 11 civilians at a soccer game, Haiti’s police chief said Tuesday. The officers will be charged with murder or complicity to commit murder, said police chief Mario Andresol. Witnesses claimed police were seeking gang members aligned with ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide when they stormed the soccer stadium in a poor Port-au-Prince neighborhood on Aug. 20. Other police and civilians surrounded the stadium, shooting or hacking people with machetes as they tried to flee, the witnesses said. A judge is expected to launch an investigation against the officers in the coming days before deciding whether to file formal indictments, Andresol said. It’s unclear when they could be tried in Haiti’s inefficient and backlogged judicial system. They each face a maximum sentence of 20 years if convicted. The suspects include Andresol’s former deputy commander, who was arrested as he attempted to leave the country in September. Andresol said other officers would be disciplined for their roles in the attack without elaborating. Police in Haiti are rarely prosecuted for abuses, but human rights groups have long accused the force of killing Aristide supporters under the pretext of restoring order to the violent capital. Andresol said he believed some police carry out killings of civilians at the order of rival political factions bent on destabilizing the nation ahead of national elections tentatively scheduled for December. “Too much blood has been spilled by police,” Andresol said. “If this country does not have an honest police force that also respects human rights, we will never reach true democracy.” Aristide has been living in South Africa since his ouster in February 2004 in an armed rebellion. © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ************************************************ Please send letters to the media to request release of political prisoners held without charges, especialy Father Gerard Jean Juste, call Lavarice Gaudin to send direct support for his release and demand UN occupation of Haiti be terminated and Haiti’s sovereignty respected by the international community. Go to for media contact information: Demand a Stop to the killings in Site Soley, Bel Air, Martissant, Solino – stop killing of Haitian people by UN Troops * * Turning Haiti into a (Penal) Colony: The systemic criminalization of black males in Haiti by the Haiti’s ***************************************** NY Fanmi Lavalas denounces Marc Bazin and his renegade Fanmi Lavalas acolytes * HLLN’s position on the sham elections * ***************************************** “We are abandoning the position of the moderates who tell us to be peaceful HLLN Note. Haiti is hallowed ground, set by our African ancestors as a place 5-Points From the Democratic Base In Haiti speaking for self (since Haiti’s 5-points from the grassroots Lavalas Movement and party-base in Haiti 1. Liberation of all political prisoners including Father Gerald Jean-Juste 2. The Latortue government must go. 3. The repression and killings in the popular neighborhoods must stop 4. Disarmament. Arms must be gone. There cannot be elections with all these 5. President Aristide and all those in exile must be allowed to return to |
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