(Below is the table of contents and lead story from the most recent issue of Haiti Info, the newsletter of the Haitian Information Bureau. The lead story from each bi-weekly issue is posted in this conference. To receive the entire newsletter, you may subscribe by email, fax or mail. See the subscription information at the end of this entry).

* * * HAITI INFO * * *

News direct from the people and organizations of Haiti’s grassroots democratic movement

16 September 1995, Vol. 3, #24

Contents:

Stories: PRIVATIZATION: PROTESTS SPREADING Government Moving Forward Anyway, Despite Aristide’s new Tack? DEMANDS FOR JUSTICE MORE & MORE PRESSING ELECTIONS: SECOND ROUND WOMEN’S CONFERENCE ENDS TRUTH COMMISSION UPDATE RELEASE OF CRIMINAL BLOCKED OVER 100 REFUGEES KILLED Box: SEPT. 11: TODAY & PAST Close-Up: NEOLIBERALISM IN HAITI: THE CASE OF RICE

Sample stories:

DEMANDS FOR JUSTICE MORE & MORE PRESSING

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Sept. 14 – Popular and church organizations commemorated the double anniversary of the St. Jean Bosco massacre (Sept. 11, 1988) and the murder of Antoine Izmery (Sept. 11, 1993) with television and radio interviews, marches, meetings and masses. Over and over again, youth, priests and victims demanded justice for the Sept. 11 abuses and all such heinous crimes. Leaders of the Lavalas movement and the government also mourned the date. [For Sept. 11 chronology, see below]

SAJ and Other Groups Mobilize

Most of the events were organized by the groups of the “lakou Sen Jan Bosko,” or “the St. Jean Bosco yard:” the ti legliz groups, Solidarite Ant Jn (SAJ), Konbit Veye Yo, and other groups that sprung up around the fiery, anti-imperialist sermons, speeches and activism of Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They culminated with a march from St. Jean Bosco to Sacre Coeur (where Izmery was killed), attended by perhaps a thousand members of church, popular and other groups, as well as union members from some of the state enterprises slated to be privatized.

Marchers carried signs with slogans like: “Privatization = Unemployment,” “Down with Smarck Michel,” “Government: If you are not a liar, judge the criminals!” They stopped by the Port-au- Prince tribunal and filed a complaint against those who carried out the St. Jean Bosco massacre. The groups also organized several evenings of prayers and reflection, a debate on privatization, and an evening of music and animation.

In a final declaration, the six groups explained the current situation of confusion due to the application of neoliberal measures by the Aristide government, impunity, the U.S.-run military occupation, opportunism of former members of democratic movement groups, and demobilization of the movement. They also criticized Aristide for his lack of clarity and demanded he speak up.

The groups ended calling for a mobilization so Haiti could “find its sovereign rights and not fall into a hand-me-down democracy,” and called for a movement against the “IMF death plan.” They also demanded justice, saying, “The soup of reconciliation is starting to have a bitter taste and we can’t keep it in our stomachs any longer,” called for a mobilization to denounce high cost of living, unemployment and cried out: “Long live a free and independent Haiti!”

Other organizations, like Assemblee Populaire Nationale and the Kolektif Mobilizasyon kont FMI ak Neyoliberalis also denounced the massacre, the lack of justice, government neoliberal policies, and participated in the activities. The Jean-Marie Vincent Foundation issued a statement denouncing neoliberalism as an “economic crime against the masses,” calling for justice and disarmament and said that the state should give “more consideration to the poor people than to the putschists converted into so-called Lavalassiens.”

Gov’t Commemorations Muted

The other commemorations were muted compared with the popular organizations’ fiery demands and the march’s posters.

Father Antoine Adrien, one of those saying mass when Izmery was killed, and other priests said a memorial mass at Sacre Coeur, attended by about 300 people, including some government and foreign officials.

The government decreed a day of mourning and inaugurated two bronze monuments: near St. Jean Bosco, a woman “with arms raised to the sky demanding justice,” and in front of Sacre Coeur, busts of Antoine and his brother George Izmery (murdered in front of his store on May 26, 1992), with the inscription: “Murdered for Democracy.” President Jean-Bertrand Aristide inaugurated them shortly after midnight, early Sept. 11, explaining: “We chose … the middle of the night because we are still in the night of injustice.”

The government is feeling the people’s pressure, especially Aristide, as is evident in his midnight statement and repeated calls for justice during his visit to Hinche today. What is hard to judge is the will to turn such words into action. The experience of one year of the Aristide government doe not authorize any optimism on the matter.

* * * * * * * * * SEPT. 11: TODAY & PAST * * * * * * * *

1988: In the middle of a mass characterized by songs about liberation led by Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a group of “Bwasawouj,” henchmen of Port-au-Prince Mayor Franck Romain who wore red armbands, attacks the congregation, killing at least 13 and injuring at least 77, burning eight cars and the church down. Romain, accused of organizing it, says: “He who sows the wind, harvests the storm.”

1989: In an interview, Father Aristide says the attack erased illusions for the St. Jean Bosco youth: “They are riper, more conscious of their responsibilities.”

Denoucing the Papal Nuncio and the Gen. Prosper Avril dictatorship, Aristide demands justice:

“As we said, dechoukaj is not finished! The criminals have to be judged… The people who have the means to deliver justice are not interested in delivering justice… Avril let Romain go! It’s like there is a complicity, since they… let criminals walk all over people… I think there should be popular education all over the country so we see who the criminals are and… carry out a national judgement… At this serious moment… we need to give the truth clearly, not diluted with water!”

1991: At a meeting in the burned out church shell, ti legliz leaders and the groups of St. Jean Bosco criticize President Aristide for straying from their original principles by negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They also criticize the lack of justice and of a strong and determined literacy campaign.

“There are a lot of things to be discussed and a lot of questions to be asked,” says a SAJ leader standing in front of a banner saying: “Organized Youth is Poison for the Imperialists’ Arrogance.” He ends chanting: “Down with the IMF! Down with the Americans! Organization or death!”

Aristide, obviously shaken and angry, speaks of the original ideals and asks God for strength, at times shedding tears:

“Please, you used to give me strength… Tonight I am in a tough place… We need justice but we have not yet found justice. La Saline looks the same; it has not changed… It’s not easy for everyone to understand all the challenges.”

The president tells the crowd, which is only half-listening, that the questions are good and that he will respond, saying, “If I look like I am not listening, okay, you can think that, but I’m not deaf!”

1993: In a well-planned operation, Antoine Izmery, a rich businessman, friend of Aristide’s, supporter of the democratic movement and tireless critic of the corrupt and immoral Haitian dominant class and of U.S. imperialism, is dragged out of a memorial mass and shot dead, a week after Robert Malval’s “reconciliation” cabinet is installed. (Aristide is completing 24 months of exile.)

1995: Popular and ti legliz groups organize activities where they criticize government policies supporting IMF neoliberal dictates, continued impunity and the absence of justice. In completely separate activities, Aristide inaugurates two monuments in the middle of the night.

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