UN Massacre of Poor in Port-au-Prince. Letter to Dumas Simeus of RepresentAction, et al…

CORRECTION on last e-mail: Date reported for Dréd Wilme’s allege death is July 6, 2005 not 7 as written.

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– UN Occupation Forces Carry Out Massacre of Poor in Port-au-Prince

– Open Letter to Dumas Simeus of RepresentAction

– The spokesperson of Lavalas activists of Bel-Air denounces the MINUSTHAís “blind operation” in CitÈ Soleil, AHP July 7, 2005 12:05 PM

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For Immediate Release:

[For more information, contact Dave Welsh, from the Labor/Human Rights Delegation to Haiti, at 510-847-8657]

UN Occupation Forces Carry Out Massacre of Poor in Port-au-Prince

On Wednesday morning, July 6th, at approximately 3:00 AM, UN occupation forces in Haiti carried out a major military operation in the working-class neighborhood of Cite Soleil, one of the poorest in Port-au-Prince and also a stronghold of support for Haiti’s majority political party Lavalas and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Presumably, the purpose of the operation was to crack down on illegal “gang activity”, in particular on “gang” leader Dread Wilme. In actuality, a US trade union and human rights delegation in Port-au-Prince discovered evidence of a massacre conducted by the UN forces, targeting the larger community itself.

According to accounts from many different members of the community, many of whom chose to remain anonymous, as well as from journalists who were on the scene during the operation, UN forces surrounded two neighborhoods within Cite Soleil, Boisneuf and Project Drouillard, sealing off the alleys with tanks and troops.

Two helicopters flew overhead. At 4:30 AM, UN forces launched the offensive, shooting into houses, shacks, a church, and a school with machine guns, tank fire, and tear gas. Eyewitnesses reported that when people fled to escape the tear gas, UN troops gunned them down from the back.

UN forces shot out electric transformers in the neighborhood. People were killed in their homes and also just outside of their homes, on the way to work. According to journalists and eyewitnesses, one man named Leon Cherry, age 46, was shot and killed on his way to work for a flower company. Another man, Mones Belizaire, was shot as he got ready to go work in a local sweatshop and subsequently died from a stomach infection. A woman who was a street vendor was shot in the head and killed instantly.

One man was shot in his ribs while he was trying to brush his teeth. Another man was shot in the jaw as he left his house to try and get some money for his wife’s medical costs; he endured a slow death.Yet another man named Mira was shot and killed while urinating in his home.

A mother, Sena Romelus, and her two young children were killed in their home, either by bullets or by a 83-CC grenade UN forces threw. Film footage of many of these deaths was shared with the US human rights delegation. Eyewitnesses claimed that the offensive overwhelmed the community and that there was not a “firefight”, but rather a slaughter. The operation was primarily conducted by UN forces, with the Haitian National Police this time taking a back seat.

Seth Donnelly, a member of the US human rights delegation in Port-au-Prince, visited Cite Soleil with Haitian human rights workers on Thursday afternoon, July 7th. The team gathered testimony from many members of the community, young and old, men, women, and youth. All verified the previous statements we had received from journalists and other eyewitness accounts.

These community members spoke of how they had been surrounded by tanks and troops that sealed off exits from the neighborhoods and then proceeded to assault the civilian population. The community allowed the team to film the evidence of the massacre, showing the homes — in some cases made of tin and cardboard — that had been riddled by bullets, tank fire and helicopter ammunition, as well as showing the team some of the corpses still there, including a mother and her two children.

The team also filmed a church and a school that had been riddled by ammunition. Reportedly, a preacher was among the victims killed. Some community members allowed the team to interview them, but not to film their faces for fear of their lives. People were traumutized and, in the cases of loved ones of victims, hysterical.

Many community members — again young and old, men and women — spoke highly of Dread Wilme, referring to him as their “protector” or “father”, and expressed fear for the future. One member said that he heard that another UN operation against the community was planned for later Thursday night or early Friday morning.

Multiple community people indicated that they had counted at least 23 bodies of people killed by the UN forces. Community members claimed that UN forces had taken away some of the bodies. Published estimates indicate that upwards of 50 may have been killed and an indeterminate number wounded, and that more than 300 heavily armed UN troops took part in the assault on this densely populated residential neighborhood.

“There was systematic firing on civilians,” said one eyewitness to the killing. “All exits were cut off. The community was choked off, surrounded — facing tanks coming from different angles, and overhead, helicopters with machine guns fired down on the people. The citizens were under attack from all sides and from the air. It was war on a community.”

The Labor/Human Rights Delegation from the United States, sponsored by the San Francisco Labor Council, had been in Haiti since late last month to attend the Congress of the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH), the country’s largest labor organization, and interviewed hundreds of Haitian workers, farmers and professionals about the current labor and human rights situation in Haiti.

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AN OPEN LETTER TO DUMAS SIMEUS OF REPRESENTACTION

July 7, 2005

Dumas M. Simeus Chairman & Founder, Simeus Foods International, Inc. Co-Chair, National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians Chairman, PromoCapital USA, the Haitian-American Investment Bank

Dear Mr. Simeus:

It is with great consternation that I read your open letter dated June 30, 2005 asking the president of the United States of North America, George W. Bush to consider sending U.S. troops to provide security to our ìhelpless brothers and sistersî in Haiti. You also stated in your letter that you are acting on ìbehalf of Haitians everywhereî. Sir, it seems to me that you still do not understand the roots of the problems in Haiti.

First let me tell you that you have not spoken on my behalf. Second, part of the problems of Haiti is and has always been the involvement of US policy makers in the internal affairs of this Caribbean country. US policy makers have never been interested in both the development of democracy in Haiti and the well being of the Haitian mass. They have yet to prove me wrong.

  You either do not know the history of the US interventions in Haiti. Or if you knew, you are simply ignoring it. In order to solve a problem, you have to understand the roots of its causes. Dumas Simeus, I emphatically repeat that the US Embassy is one of the major causes of our problems in Haiti.

The majority of the Haitian people have made it clear that they want to be included in the affairs of their country. They want to be considered as real citizens of Haiti but not second class human beings. They want access to health care, education, opportunities, freedom to express, respect of their human rights, and especially respect for their rights to choose their elected representatives. US marines have never come to Haiti to guaranty those rights and to further advance those goals. Instead they always come to maintain the status quo, a status quo that the majority of Haitians have repudiated and will never accept. Furthermore, I would like to enumerate who those ìhelpless brothers and sistersî are that you are asking protections for? Nevertheless, I have not heard you lending your voice to those denouncing the despicable, barbaric acts of human rights violations (i.e. illegal and arbitrary arrests, prolonged detention without any charge, summary executions, rapes, beatings by the Haitian police while under arrest, etc) being committed by the current de-facto Haitian government. I would like to ask you if you are pleased with what is going on in the popular neighborhoods in Haiti and are you going to send an open letter to President Bush asking him to stop the bombings of innocent civilians in Cite Soleil?

Today instead what we need is a new national and patriotic vision for the country based on respect for one another without any outside interference while recognizing the harm that has been done and still plaguing the society to come up with a new consensus to make Haiti the country we all dream of.

You and I have had a chance to access many opportunities in these United States of America. Otherwise, you and I would have been among one of those fighting for those opportunities and those rights denied to millions in todayís Haiti. Let us not forget that. We do not need any more boots including north-american to trample the aspirations and rights of the Haitian people.

Patriotically,

Jean Yves Point-du-Jour, Transportation Engineer Maryland, USA Yves@erols.com

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From: “RepresentAction” <info@representaction.net>

To: jpoint du jour Date: 07/02/2005 6:26:36 AM

Subject: An Open Letter To The President of The United States of America

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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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June 30, 2005

President George W. Bush The White House Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We have read a press release from the U.S. Embassy in Haiti further reducing the in country personnel and sending them back home as a result of continued and accelerating violence in Haiti. While all of us Haitians and Haitian Americans are very grateful to the United States for its repeated benevolent acts towards Haiti, we are respectfully asking you once more for additional help that only you can provide.

UN Peacekeeping Chief Jean Marie Guehenno recently stated that parts of Haiti are far worse than the violent conditions in Darfur, and that the 1,000 additional troops assigned to Haiti will be insufficient to solve this crisis. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has also stated that only the presence of U.S. troops working side by side with the U.N. will bring about peace and security.

We Haitians and Haitian Americans support the assertion of Mr. Kofi Annan that only the direct intervention of the United States will stem the flow of violence and bring about peace and security for all of its citizens.

As you know, there are at least 6 10 kidnappings daily in the country and citizens are living in a state of terrorism, full of fear and anxiety, afraid even to drive their kids to school.

May I urge you Mr. President, on behalf of Haitians everywhere, to consider direct action and help us provide security to our helpless brothers and sisters in Haiti.

Respectfully yours,

Dumas M. SimÈus Chairman & Founder, SimÈus Foods International, Inc. Co Chair, National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians Chairman, PromoCapital USA, The Haitian American Investment Bank

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The spokesperson of Lavalas activists of Bel-Air denounces the MINUSTHAís “blind operation” in CitÈ Soleil

Port-au-Prince, July 7, 2005 (AHP)- Spokesperson of Lavalas activists of Bel-Air, Samba Boukman, denounced Thursday the intervention considered brutal and without discrimination, done the day before at CitÈ Soleil, by the MINUSTAH and the National Police against gang leader Emmanuel (Dread) WilmÈ.

People close to Mr. WilmÈ said there were dozens of people killed, while the MINUSTHA military spokesperson, Elouafi Boulbars, speaks of several people killed, 6 of them only in WilmÈís home. According to the daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste, among the people killed in the gang leaderís home are one of his children and one of his lovers.

Samba Boukman accused the MINUSTAH of violating Resolution 1576 of the United Nations Security Council, by killing members of the civil population during its operations. “Crimes occur regularly in residential neighbourhoods, Samba Boukman declared.

Dread WilmÈ is accused of being involved in several cases of violence registered lately in the capital, notably the murder of another gang leader named Robinson (LabanyË) Thomas who was known to be close to the former opposition.

The spokesperson of the activists of Bel-air said that the MINUSTHA and the National Police have the right to want to arrest individuals whom they accuse of violence, but they should have other ways, different than the armour, to neutralize one man only.

“Using weapons of destruction in a neighbourhood as populated as CitÈ Soleil can only harm the population, Samba Boukman declared, saying that the activists of democracy are determined to mobilize peacefully until the return to democratic order.

Meanwhile, the body of Dread WilmÈ, who was declared dead by UN officials, was still not found over 24 hours after the operations.

AHP July 7, 2005 12:05 PM