News
and opinions on situation in Haiti |
|
| 2/10/05 |
HAITI REPORT FOR OCTOBER 2, 2005 |
|
|
|
|
The Haiti Report is a compilation and summary of events as described in Haiti and international media prepared by Konbit Pou Ayiti/KONPAY. It does not reflect the opinions of any individual or organization. This service is intended to create a better understanding of the situation in Haiti by presenting the reader with reports that provide a variety of perspectives on the situation. To make a donation to support this service: Konbit Pou Ayiti, 7 Wall Street, Gloucester, MA, 01930. IN THIS REPORT:
ELECTIONS: Disgruntled presidential hopefuls who were ruled ineligible to run in the Nov. 20 election should appeal to Haiti’s Supreme Court, an election official said Monday. Several would-be candidates visited the office of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council, demanding to know why they weren’t on the list published Friday of the 32 people eligible to run. “If the court rules in their favor, they will be back on the list,” said Stephan Lacroix, a spokesman for the council. “It is possible, but it also depends on the law.” The electoral council has rejected 22 candidates, including wealthy U.S. businessman Dumarsais Simeus, who is the son of Haitian peasants and owner of one of the largest black-owned businesses in the United States. Simeus plans to appeal within the next few days, his campaign said. Lacroix said the candidates must get a court decision in their favor before Oct. 8, which is the official start of the race — the first since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted following a violent February 2004 rebellion. Jacques Ronald Belot of the Independent Force of Haiti said he was rejected after being told the night before the Sept. 15 registration deadline that he had to put the names of all 70,000 people who signed his candidacy petition on a computer disk. The 32 approved candidates include two presumed front-runners: former President Rene Preval, a one-time close ally of Aristide, and Marc Bazin, a former prime minister. Other candidates include Leslie Manigat, a former president who was forced from his post by the army in 1988, and Guy Philippe, who led the rebellion that forced Aristide, the country’s first freely elected president, out of office and into exile in South Africa. (AP, 9/26) A wealthy U.S. businessman whose bid to run for president of Haiti was rejected by electoral authorities defiantly pledged Saturday to fight for a spot on the ballot in his native country’s first election since the February 2004 ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Dumarsais Simeus, owner of one of the largest black-owned business in the United States, said he has appealed to the Provisional Electoral Council to reverse its decision to strike his name from the list of presidential candidates in the Nov. 20 election and will do “everything possible,” including filing a legal challenge if necessary, to participate in the race. “This election, without us being allowed to participate as a presidential candidate, will have no legitimacy whatsoever,” Simeus, the son of illiterate Haitian rice farmers, said at a news conference in the capital. The electoral council late Friday issued a list of 32 approved presidential candidates — a diverse group that includes former government officials from across the political spectrum and a leader of the rebellion that forced President Aristide out of office and into exile in South Africa. Simeus, the 65-year-old owner of a Texas-based food services company, was rejected because he has U.S. citizenship, said Rosemond Pradel, the council’s secretary-general. The businessman, who has lived outside his native country for more than 40 years, told reporters that he has always maintained links to Haiti and his citizenship should not be an issue. “I was born in Haiti. I have Haitian nationality. This is not negotiable. Period.” Garry Lisade, an attorney for the businessman, said the electoral council misinterpreted Haitian election law, which requires that any objection to a candidacy be lodged within 72 hours of the Sept. 15 filing deadline. Simeus had already received confirmation of the “provisional acceptance” of his candidacy, the campaign said. If the electoral council does not reverse it’s decision, Simeus said he would appeal to the Supreme Court. Simeus, who has said he hopes to use his business skills to help the economy of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation, said he asked the council for an explanation of its decision but has not received a response. In any case, he said he had no intention of abandoning his bid for the presidency. “We are in this battle to stay,” he said. “We are in this battle to change the country.” The council, which rejected 22 presidential candidates, accepted the candidacies of two presumed front-runners: former President Rene Preval, a one-time close ally of Aristide; and Marc Bazin, a former prime minister who is running as a candidate of a moderate faction of the ousted leader. (AP, 9/24) The National Episcopal Commission Justice and Peace denounced Friday the exclusion of citizens from small towns from the electoral process. In a note to the press published this Friday, Justice and Peace deplored that only 10% of peasants were able to register, a few days before registration offices close down, while the CEP prides itself on the registration of 2 millions 300.000 citizens. The commission criticized the officials of the electoral organization who chose to use high technology to register citizens while even larger cities can suffer from a drastic rationing of electricity, so think about small towns. It also deplored that nothing in the electoral decree was thought for Haitians who don’t know how to read or write to fulfill their civic duty. “How will they be able to choose their candidates”, Justice and Peace wondered, considering that the exclusion of this category of citizens could be a way to fraud in the next elections. Justice and Peace also denounced the great amount of candidates to presidency, reminding these people that they don’t necessarily have to be heads of State to serve their country. The commission calls officials to set up sessions of civic education, to extend the period of registration for citizens, notably in small towns and to think about those who don’t know how to read or write. (AHP, 9/23) Haiti likely won’t be welcomed back into the 15-nation Caribbean Community unless the country holds free and fair elections later this year, the bloc’s secretary general said Thursday. Edwin Carrington said several Caribbean leaders conveyed that message to Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin during a meeting on the sidelines of last week’s U.N. General Assembly. Martin, whose government has sent about 100 peacekeepers to help stabilize Haiti, had voiced concern that the regional bloc known as Caricom may have isolated the violence-torn country for too long since a February 2004 revolt toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Carrington said. But the leaders insisted that restoring ties could happen only if Haiti takes steps to ensure Nov. 20 presidential and legislative elections are legitimate, including improving voter registration and making the Electoral Council more efficient, Carrington said. “Without an acceptable election, relations with Caricom would be difficult,” Carrington said Caribbean leaders told Martin during the meeting. The leaders added that Haiti’s Electoral Council “does not seem to be getting its act together,” Carrington said, without elaborating. The Caribbean Community suspended Haiti shortly after the revolt that ousted Aristide, the country’s first democratically elected leader. The bloc has refused to recognize Haiti’s U.S.-backed interim government, saying it was unconstitutionally installed. (AP, 9/23) The Candian government gave Wednesday an additional aid of 2,2 millions dollars to Haiti, for the reinforcement of security during the electoral period. Counsellor of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Deputy Denis Coderre, declared that these funds will help in the next few days to deploy in Haiti 25 retired specialists from the Canadian security services. According to Denis Coderre, these reservists who will be under the MINUSTAH’s control will help the national police to assure security of the vote. On the other part, 15 four-wheel drives were given to the Provisional Electoral Council on the same day for the Departmental Electoral Bureaux (BEDs). Representative of the United Nations Program for Development (PNUD), Adama Guindo who handed over those vehicles, pointed out that this was the first part of a new contribution from the international community for the electoral process in progress. According to Adama Guindo, 9 other vehicles should be given to the CEP in the next few days. He took the occasion to encourage all citizens to get their national identification card. For his part, CEP President Max Mathurin declared that the new vehicles received by the electoral organization represent an important step in the mobilization of all resources needed for the good running of this institution. It also shows the international community’s trust in the CEP’s capacity to lead the electoral process well, Mr. Mathurin considered and he assured that the electoral agenda will be respected. (AHP, 9/22) The Provisional Electoral Council decided Tuesday to extend the period allowed for voter registration by an additional five days, observing that the populist districts and the more isolated parts of the country are either short of or totally deprived of voter registration offices. To date, 2.4 million potential voters have registered out of a possible total of 4.5 million eligible voters. Of these 2.4 million cards made in Mexico, the CEP says it has received only 20,000 thus far. Because of this expected shortfall, most Haitians may well find that they have to vote using their receipts rather than the actual cards. The Council reaffirmed its determination to hold credible, honest and democratic elections in the country, despite the concerns of the international community as to its capacity to successfully hold the elections. These concerns were relayed at the beginning of this week by interim Prime Minister Gérard Latortue, who added his own concerns on the question. For his part, provisional President Boniface Alexandre urged the international community to release funds for Haiti as a step toward helping Haiti hold credible elections. These funds are indispensable to the complete success of the electoral process, he told the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The international community is providing more than 90% of the funding for the electoral process, but it is the UN Development program (UNDP) that is managing all the funds that are thus received, rather than the CEP itself. Also at this time, the electoral body is evaluating the files of the 54 presidential candidates as well as candidates for the Senate and the lower House. In the absence of a functioning Senate. it is the government that is examining the question of certifying the status of former civil service workers. (AHP, 9/21) The director of electoral operations for the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), Patrick Féquière, indicated Tuesday that only 2.4 million potential voters have obtained their national identity cards as of this date. Mr. Féquière’ commented as the scheduled deadline arrived for ending the registration of voters. Some 100 communal sections had not been reached as of September 20, he said, explaining that efforts are underway to make it possible for these Haitians to register. He urged that an evaluation be made of the registration process, which is the most important stage in the electoral process, he said, in that it is indispensable to the establishment of a reliable register of voters. The CEP’s head of electoral operations urged the CEP to make a special evaluation of the voter registration process in populist districts such as Cité Soleil and Bel-Air, and in the communal sections. Very few citizens have registered in these areas, said Mr. Féquière. In his view, it is imperative that registration offices be moved to the areas where there is a high density of population. (AHP, 9/20) Despite bouts of violence and a climate bordering on chaos, elections in November should return the long-troubled Caribbean nation of Haiti to democracy, the country’s interim president said Monday. Still, he said, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere will need international help “to emerge from the miasma of underdevelopment, extreme poverty and squalor … (imposed under) the bedrock of all dictatorships.” President Boniface Alexandre also appealed to nearby nations where Haitians have sought refuge to resolve tensions that have led to attacks. He appeared to be referring to neighboring Dominican Republic, where months of tensions and deportations of thousands of Haitians reached new heights last month when three Haitian immigrants were burned alive. Nov. 6 elections would replace Haiti’s first democratically elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was ousted in a February 2004 rebellion. But critics say that hundreds of Aristide supporters and officials have been detained for months and the candidate of Aristide’s Lavalas Family party, the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, was detained July 21 and officials have U.N. and Haitian electoral officials say that mounting reports of fraud and a lack of transparency could undermine the legitimacy of elections in November and the hopes of restoring democracy in this troubled nation. ‘’The stage is being set for something horribly wrong to happen,’’ said Patrick Féquiere, a member of the government’s Provisional Electoral Council who regularly criticizes his colleagues. United Nations officials are more cautious in their statements but echo his concerns about a lack of transparency while critical jobs deep in the electoral bureaucracy go to people who might rig the results of the presidential and legislative elections. ‘’When you’re transparent, you have no choice but to be honest,’’ said Gérard Le Chevallier, the chief of electoral assistance for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti. ``The problem is, this Electoral Council is not perceived as being transparent enough.’’ The nine-member council was set up to organize new elections after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s ouster during an armed rebellion last year. Each member represents a political party or sector of society, but Aristide’s Lavalas Family Party has refused to appoint its envoy and until recently was boycotting the entire election process. Most international observers agree that Lavalas — the only party with proven support among Haiti’s destitute majority — must be included in the election for the subsequent government to have legitimacy in the eyes of most Haitians. But after the rebellion many of its leaders went into exile and others have been imprisoned, harassed or even killed by police. On a political level, even U.S. and U.N. officials concede that the interim government of Prime Minister Gérard Latortue, backed by Washington and some 8,000 U.N. peacekeepers, is deeply biased against Lavalas. But the Electoral Council insists that it is working feverishly to create fair and transparent balloting on Nov. 20. Runoffs are set for Jan. 3 if no candidate wins more than 50 percent in the first round. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hosted a meeting on the general topic of the Haitian elections Wednesday with diplomats from several countries that have contributed to the peacekeeping force, and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is planning another today in New York. At least a dozen presidential candidates were registered on Thursday — the last day allowed — from Dumarsais Simeus, a rich Haitian businessman living in Texas, to former President René Preval and former Prime Minister Marc Bazin. Not allowed to register so far has been the Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste, a Catholic priest and well known Haitian rights activist when he lived in Miami who seems to be the Lavalas favorite. Election officials say he must register in person — but he’s in jail, under investigation for the murder of a journalistHe says his detention is political. Rosemond Pradel, the Election Council’s director general, said it will not block Lavalas from running, and has invited all types of Haitian and international organizations to observe the electoral process. ‘’Everything we do is by the rules,’’ he said. ``People have complained that we are too transparent.’’ Féquiere disagrees. ‘’There is a definite conspiracy by a group of council members to control the institution by planting their own people inside,’’ said Féquiere, a businessman who represents several minority parties on the council. ``Most of the corruption does not take place in the central office. It’s out there in the field.’’ (Miami Herald, 9/17) Sun Sentinel EDITORIAL: Those elections cannot be botched. Yet, that’s no certainty right now. Some voices within Haiti are distrustful, saying they fear the election will be rigged. Security concerns are also paramount, since efforts to disarm rival gangs and quell the violence have not been successful. Because of this, the State Department did not announce Secretary Condoleezza Rice’s one-day visit Tuesday until the day before. Rice’s message this week was straight to the point: The elections are an opportunity for a “new start.” Haitian leaders must take advantage of all election-related help they can get from the United Nations and the Organization of American States. That’s worthwhile advice. Haiti’s interim leaders should follow it. They should demonstrate their commitment to electoral government by quickly designating polling places and registering poll workers. Haiti needs a new crop of leaders with the legitimacy that elections provide. The country has waited long enough. BOTTOM LINE: The election must be a success. Haiti’s leaders should seek help from the U.N. and OAS. (South Florida Sun Sentinel, 9/30) ONE YEAR AFTER FLOODS FROM JEANNE: A huge lake sits where fields of scrubland once lay on the city’s outskirts, sewers overflow with putrid, black sludge and thousands of people cram into a makeshift shantytown that sprang up to house survivors. Jeanne’s devastation was reminiscent of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina along the U.S. Gulf Coast, but Haiti’s smothering poverty has prevented many in Gonaives from learning of the disaster. “I never heard about it,” said Rosy-Claire Zepherin, who lost all her meager possessions during the floods. “Jeanne took all I had, my job, my home. Now I beg for food at the market.” The U.N. World Food Program had been supplying beans, flour, oil, rice and high-protein biscuits to 160,000 Gonaives residents each day but ended distribution in March, deeming the emergency mission completed. Stagnant pools of water still dot the makeshift community, the remnants of old salt fields that were swept away by the floods, depriving the area of a key source of income. Now, residents like Zepherin who once earned a living from the salt fields walk an hour to the market along rutted, muddy alleys to beg vendors for their rotten vegetables. “At the beginning, charities gave us food, but now we’re all alone,” Zepherin said, a shy smile spread across her deeply lined face. Anne Poulsen, spokeswoman for the World Food Program in Haiti, said the agency was focusing on long-term aid projects, and noted it was providing one meal a day to some 850,000 Haitians, or about 10 percent of the population, mainly through clinics and schools. But that food doesn’t reach Cite Jeanne, where there are no clinics and parents can’t afford to send their children to school. Many children in the slum spend their days playing amid mounds of trash and puddles of fetid water, their bellies distended and their hair reddish from severe malnutrition. Other aid sent after the floods was slowed by gangs who blocked relief convoys in demand for payment or unscrupulous customs agents who wanted bribes to let goods through to the city, a five hours’ drive north of the capital on a rocky, spine-jarring dirt-and-gravel road. Some aid simply never arrived. (AP, 9/19) NEW UPSURGE IN KIDNAPPINGS: In a break in one kidnapping case, Haitian National Police Inspector James Bourdeau, accused of involvement in the abduction of a senior official of UNIBANK, Nathanael Génélus, was arrested last week in the South of Haiti. James Bourdeau is being detained at the DCPJ (Central Directorate of the Judicial Police). Nathanael Génélus has not been seen since his disappearance after he was arrested by Inspector Bourdeau. In related news, interim Prime Minister Gérard Latortue called for an extension of at least six months of MINUSTAH’s mandate to operate in Haiti. “It is indispensable that the UN forces remain in Haiti even after the elections in order to continue the stabilization of the country” declared Gérard Latortue, asserting that the new government will need the UN Mission as it comes up to speed. He said he hopes that the UN forces will continue their work to professionalize the national police in order that Haiti may have a police force capable of handling the country’s security needs. Gérard Latortue also announced that the European Union has released funds to Haiti. More than $72 million dollars (U.S.) are to be released on behalf of the interim government, he indicated. The European Union froze its funding to Haiti under the presidency of René Préval, claiming that its decision was justified by the outbreak of a political crisis. JUDGE DECIDES NEPTUNE AND 29 OTHERS WILL GO TO TRIAL: The indictment said that Neptune had been in constant contact with the alleged leaders of the massacre. A list of calls from Neptune’s cell phone showed that he had spoken for at least 350 minutes with the alleged perpetrators of the killings from Feb. 7 to Feb 13, when the killings were either being organized or taking place at St. Marc. Neptune’s defense attorney, Mario Joseph, declined to comment, saying he had not seen the indictment. (AP, 9/20) An investigative judge has formally charged Haiti’s jailed former prime minister, Yvon Neptune, with masterminding the killings of political opponents last year, radio reports said on Tuesday. Neptune, who served under ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has been held for more than a year on suspicion of involvement in the killings of up to 50 people near St. Marc, about 60 miles (96 km) north of Port-au-Prince, on Feb. 11, 2004. He has said his arrest was politically motivated. Judge Clunie Pierre Jules decided to send the case against Neptune to a criminal court, formalizing the charges against him, according to private Radio Solidarity. Other radio stations, including Radio Metropole, Radio Kiskeya and Radio Vision 2000, carried similar reports, but they could not be independently confirmed. A court official in St. Marc said the judge had issued the report but would not discuss its contents. Cases against a total of 30 people were sent before the criminal court, including three other members of Aristide’s cabinet — ex-Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert, former Justice Minister Calixte Delatour and former Secretary of State for Public Safety Jean Gerard Dubreuil, the report said. The U.N. special envoy to Haiti, Juan Gabriel Valdes, called for Neptune’s release in August and said his detention was a source of concern for the U.N. Security Council. Judge Jules indicted Neptune because of evidence linking him to people accused of the killings, the radio reports said. But she said there was not enough evidence to link Aristide and 32 of his allies to the crimes, recommending they be exempt from prosecution, Radio Solidarity said. But a U.N. independent expert on human rights, Louis Joinet, rejected the notion of a massacre after he visited St. Marc in April. Joinet said people who died were killed in confrontations between pro- and anti-Aristide groups and there were victims on both sides. (Reuters, 9/20) TRAFFICKING HAITIAN CHILDREN IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: There is a thriving trade in Haitian children in the Dominican Republic, where they are mostly used for domestic service, agricultural work or prostitution. Eight-year-old Jesus Josef was one of them. Numbed by a mixture of trauma and shyness, this small boy with huge eyes cannot recall how he left his three brothers and mother in Haiti and ended up doing domestic work for a Dominican family in Barahona, 120 miles from the capital, Santo Domingo. Jesus sits quietly as Father Pedro Ruquoy, who runs a refuge near Barahona, tells how he escaped from the family and ran away to a local hospice. When he arrived his neck was twisted from carrying heavy loads on his shoulder and the marks on his slender torso suggested ill-treatment. The Dominican family found out where he was and came to the hospice demanding either his return or 10,000 pesos for the loss. “They used him as a slave,” says Mr Ruquoy. “And they tortured him.” Nobody knows quite how many Haitian children like Jesus there are in the Dominican Republic. A Unicef report in 2002 put the figure at around 2,500, although some NGOs think it might be twice that. Most boys under the age of 12 end up begging or shoe shining and giving their proceeds to gang leaders; most girls of that age are used as domestic servants. Older boys are taken to work in construction or agriculture; teenage girls often end up in prostitution. Tensions have long existed between the two countries that share the island of Hispaniola. In May, and then again last month, the Dominican Republic summarily deported thousands of Haitians, many of whom had the right to stay. A former Haitian consul to the republic, Edwin Paraison, says the situation had not been this bad since the former Dominican military leader Rafael Trujillo massacred 20,000 Haitian sugar cane workers in 1937. “This is the first time regular people are trying to run Haitians out of the country,” he says. “There is an organised campaign to reject Haitian presence.” But even as Haitians are reviled, they are also needed for their cheap labour. The manner in which the children arrive varies. Some are kidnapped but most often their parents not only know, but actually pay “busones” or scouts to ensure their safe passage in the hope that they will have a better life. “Half of all Haitians struggle to eat even once a day,” says Helen Spraos, Christian Aid’s Haiti representative. “It doesn’t take much to push people over the brink. If the rains fail or someone falls ill, they have to sell what little they have – perhaps a pig or a goat – to buy medicines. Eventually they have to sell their land. Once they reach rock bottom, the one way they can provide for their children is by sending them to live in the cities or in the Dominican Republic. There at least they may be fed and have some prospects for making a living.” (The Guardian, 9/22) 17TH CLASS OF POLICE GRADUATE: JUSTICE AND PEACE DENOUNCES VIOLENCE IN PORT-AU-PRINCE: It calls authorities to adopt measures to allow the police to become more professional and able to deal with violence with competence and precaution. Authorities must be stricter in their condemnations of populist justice by setting the judicial apparatus in movement against the guilty parties, the Commission recommends. It calls to a real and non-discriminated disarmament in the country and to a better control of the arms in circulation. Justice and Peace also demands the opening of serious investigations on the operation at the base of Dread Wilmé in Cité Soleil, on cases of populist justice in the populist neighbourhood of Solino on July 16th and 17th and August 12th and on the massacre in Martissant, on August 20th. About thirty citizens were lynched last August 20th in Grand’ravine, according to residents of the neighbourhood. MINUSTAH Leader Juan Gabriel Valdès rather talked about 9 victims murdered, in all probability, he said, by police officers and “attachés”. (AHP, 9/23) PARTNERS IN HEALTH WINS HILTON PRIZE: “This is the best thing that’s ever happened to us,” says Dr. Farmer of the award. “I have had personal accolades before,” he adds, but “the Hilton prize is all about the team.” “PIH combines idealism and brilliance to a degree I’ve never witnessed before in the public charity arena,” says bestselling author Tracy Kidder who published a book about Farmer’s work in 2003 (”Mountains Beyond Mountains”). “These are people who know where to draw the line. The point is not to build an empire for PIH, but to start a movement to try to bring decent healthcare to the poorest people in the world.” The intransigence of Haiti’s poverty, political turmoil, and environmental degradation is well known. It surfaces in the media periodically. Haiti’s recent history includes desperate waves of Haitian “boat people” landing in Florida, the overthrow of a dictator, the democratic election of a president (and his subsequent overthrow last year), and devastating floods that killed an estimated 3,000 people last September. Haiti is “living on NGOs [nongovernmental organizations], private initiatives, church groups, that take the place of state-sponsored services,” says Kathie Klarreich, author of “Madame Dread,” a book about Haiti. “Initiatives like Partners in Health are invaluable because they pick up what the government is unwilling or unable to do.” “We have refused to be defeated,” PIH director Dahl says. With the money from the prize, “we’ll continue to do what we’ve been trying to do with more financial security.” PIH “puts people first,” says Catherine Maternowska, an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco, and a medical anthropologist who worked in Haiti for 22 years. “Although that doesn’t sound like it’s an anomaly, it is,” she says. PIH has extended its approach to healthcare and ending poverty to Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Rwanda, and the United States. PIH is one of many groups working to alleviate world suffering. Recently, a spate of high-profile charities, governments, and other organizations have announced their intention to help end poverty. Paul Farmer attributes this sudden awareness to the increasingly interconnected world. “I could see images in rural Rwanda from Katrina every day,” he says. “I don’t think that was the case a decade ago.” He is sober about Haiti, but committed. “Conditions in Haiti are not improving,” Farmer says, but people on the ground there still have hope for the future. Dahl agrees: “I have enormous faith that Haiti can become stable again, but I don’t think that it became unstable on its own and will need help becoming stable again.” For more than a century, Haiti was the source of two-thirds of France’s imports, Farmer notes. “It would be great if people would acknowledge that the state of Haiti was because of the resources we took away.”(Christian Science Monitor, 9/26) NEW PEASANT PLATFORM LAUNCHED, PLANOPA: More recently, there have been moves to develop new platforms of regional peasant organisations, and there has been some success with the creation of the Mouvman Revandikatif Peyizan Latibonit, (MOREPLA, the Artibonite peasant’s movement for justice), and the Kòdinasyon Rejyonal Oganizasyon Sidès (KROS, the coordination of regional organisations in the South-East). PLANOPA now unites the following seven organisations: Tèt Kole ti Peyizan Ayisyen (national), Mouvman Peyizan Nasyonal Kongrè Papay (MPNKP) (national), Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP) (Central Plateau), Mouvman Revandikasyon Peyizan Latibonit (MOREPLA) (Artibonite), the peasant branch of Kòdinasyon Rejyonal Oganizasyon Sidès (KROS) (south-east), Konbit Peyizan Nip (KPN) (south-west), and Rezo Koperativ Peyizan Ba Latibonit (RACPABA) (lower Artibonite), According to Métayer, PLANOPA will attempt to channel the energies of all seven organisations to put forward the peasants’ demands for farming land and for subsidised credit. He said it was also important to put an end to impunity. “After all the massacres suffered by the peasants, the judicial system has still not yet reined in the criminals.” Métayer continued, “We want to mobilise the peasants to work out a national agreement and to position ourselves vis-a-vis the State.” He added that the organised peasants would support the demands made by workers and students. The first PLANOPA congress was held la Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite in the north of the country between 22-25 August. Three hundred delegates from the different organisations met to discuss the future of national agricultural production, particularly rice, and to denounce the invasion of imported rice from the United States and the neo-liberal policies of the International Monetary Fund. Before the end of the congress, the Artibonite peasant organisations agreed on a number of demands for measures to be taken to restore the department to its position as the nation’s granary. These included irrigation and drainage of land, and initiatives to save the environment, such as reforestation, soil conservation, and to protect mountains and rivers. (Alterpresse.org from Haiti Support Group September newsletter) HAITIAN CONFERENCE OF BISHOPS SUSPENDS FATHER JEAN-JUSTE: _______________________________________________ |
|
|
|
|