Haiti Information Project (HIP)

Remembering Flag Day in Haiti and the events of May 18, 2004

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:07:00 +0000

US MARINES POINTING GUNS AT UNARMED, PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATORS, MAY 18, 2004.

(KEVIN PINA IS THE GUY TO THE LEFT IN THE FOREGROUND
HOLDING CAMERA AND WEARING A WHITE SHIRT AND JEANS)

Watch this clip starting at 21:53 from Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits
about events in Haiti on May 18, 2004, Haitian Flag Day.

US Marines dispute Bay View's account of Haiti Flag Day protest

On Thursday and again on Saturday, the Bay View received email messages from U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. David Lapan, spokesman for the Multinational Interim Force in Haiti, wanting to "correct the record regarding MIF forces and U.S. Marines." Lapan is disputing our coverage of the May 18 protest by 30,000 to 50,000 Haitians, headlined "At least 9 demonstrators killed during huge march on Haiti's Flag Day," in last week's Bay View. This response to Lapan by journalist and documentary filmmaker Kevin Pina, an eyewitness, is followed by Lapan's first message, then by responses from Pierre Labossiere and Wanda Sabir and finally by Lapan's second message.

by Kevin Pina

Despite the slaughter of thousands of democracy-loving Haitians since the Feb. 29 coup d'etat, 30,000-50,000 marched for freedom on Haiti's Flag Day May 18. And they kept marching, even into a hail of police gunfire that felled several ‚ their courage equal to that of their ancestors who defeated Napolean's best troops. The Haitians of that day are described by a French officer, Capt. Jean-Baptiste Lemonnier-Delafosse: "But what men these Blacks are! How they fight and how they die! One has to make war against them to know their reckless courage in braving danger when they can no longer have recourse to strategem. I have seen a solid column, torn by grape-shot from four pieces of cannon, advance without making a retrograde step. The more they fell, the greater seemed to be the courage of the rest. They advanced singing Ö a song of brave men."

Photo: Haiti Information Project © 2004

I was an eyewitness to events of May 18 and wish to publicly respond to a letter written to the SF Bay View by Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, USMC, director, Public Affairs Office of the Combined Joint Task Force, Haiti. His letter was a response to an account of events on May 18 written by attorney Marguerite Laurent and published in the Bay View May 19.

While it is true I did not see the Marines fire into crowds, it is also true they were not required to do so, as they left that dirty work to the SWAT team of PNH or Police Nationale de Haiti (which Lapan should know is the correct acronym, by the way, not HNP). The role of the Marines was to enter the heart of the neighborhood of Bel Air with an extraordinary show of numbers and firepower in a clear effort to intimidate the community.

The Lavalas demonstrators had decided earlier to use the area in front of Perpetual Catholic Church in Bel Air, after receiving a legal permit to demonstrate from the police, as a rallying point for their intended peaceful march demanding the return of their constitutional President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Should Lapan decide to question whether Lavalas received such permission to demonstrate, I have a copy of the approval document with an official PNH stamp bearing the signature of a senior officer.

Lapan is indeed correct in describing the Marines as having "assisted" the PNH. While the Marines intimidated the community with an excessive show of armaments, or what he calls a "security presence," the demonstrators would then mass to leave the area and march down toward Champ de Mars. As they descended, the Marines became conspicuously absent as SWAT teams wearing black battle gear suddenly drove up to the front of the march and opened fire. It had the appearance of a clearly designed and coordinated strategy between the U.S. Marines and the Haitian SWAT team to forcefully break up an otherwise peaceful march.



Annette Auguste, aka So Anne, and Titus Simpton certainly would not agree with this propaganda literature of a smiling white Marine surrounded by doting Black children that is being distributed throughout Haiti. Auguste's residence was violently assaulted by U.S. Marines and she was arrested on bogus charges of "being a threat to stability and security in Haiti." Titus Simpton was murdered by the a Haitian SWAT team "assisted" by the Marines during a peaceful demonstration on May 18 calling for the return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The grim face of this Marine watching the brave marchers on Flag Day better represents the repressive U.S. occupation forces. Photo: Haiti Information Project © 2004

In addition, there were several statements given on the scene that more than one demonstrator had been shot by the Marines" backup SWAT teams of the PNH. There were also unconfirmed reports, as there have been on several other occasions, that the Marines placed corpses in black body bags and immediately removed them from the scene.

Many inquiries have been made at the General Hospital morgue in Port au Prince and private morgues throughout the capital by countless families who have been unsuccessful in finding the whereabouts of missing relatives who publicly identified themselves with Lavalas. These instances of disappearances have grown in such frequency that it has led many of the poor, whether rationally or irrationally, to believe that the U.S. Marines may have a morgue of their own hidden somewhere in the area of the capital.

Lapan states, "Press accounts here in Haiti are that one person - not nine - was killed during the demonstration. It remains unclear how that person died." As to the actual number killed on May 18, I can guarantee Lapan that the investigation continues by credible human rights activists and journalists. I wonder if he and his forces can claim they are doing more to investigate the truth other than relying upon "press accounts."

As to his statement about the one person confirmed killed by a less than reliable Haitian press, I can state that I was a witness to the killing of Titus Simpton. Yes, Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, USMC, you should at least know the victim has a name and an age like yourself: Titus Simpton was 23.

Daniel Lescouflet, 16 years old, was shot dead at point blank range on Haitiís Flag Day by the regular forces of the Police Nationale de Haiti, who left in a vehicle with license number 1-0044. Daniel, part of the rasanblement in La Saline, was killed on the street that runs in front of the church of St. Jean Bosco, where President Aristide used to be pastor. Photo: Haiti Information Project © 2004

Photo: Haiti Information Project © 2004

He was shot and killed by a Haitian SWAT team member less than 30 yards in front of me, and it was I who filmed his last breath as he lie bleeding from a single shot to the head. The only weapon he had in his hands lay beside him, a bloodied Sony Walkman he was listening to as he marched peacefully demanding the return of his president.

After this, I attempted to film the faces of the SWAT team members who shot towards the crowd and they immediately responded by firing off two rounds in my direction. That Lapan states he does not know this is disingenuous, as I later reported it to an Officer Vasquez and gave him the license plate number of the vehicle the SWAT left in shortly after the murder of Simpton. Given his sense of duty and military discipline, he must also know I have since been contacted on two other occasions to verify the information.

I have interviewed every single member of Annette Auguste's household, and they all tell the same story. At 12:30 a.m. on the morning of May 10, a Special Forces team of the U.S. Marines violently invaded her home using explosive devices, terrorizing the occupants. I have photos of the damage and the paraphernalia left behind, including blasting caps and M-60 fuses.

The Haitian police never entered the premises nor did any official magistrate of the Haitian government. This was a unilateral home invasion undertaken exclusively by U.S. forces as the PNH stood outside watching from their vehicles. A warrant was asked for several times by those inside, and none was ever produced at the scene.

While Lapan states that this armed assault was undertaken "for questioning about threats to our forces and to stability and security in Haiti," he then contradicts himself by stating that PNH arrested Auguste on an outstanding warrant. Again, every single occupant and neighborhood dweller who witnessed this event states quite clearly that PNH never entered the premises.

If this overwhelming testimony is true, then why on earth are the U.S. Marines executing arrest warrants for the Police Nationale de Haiti? The larger question to Lapan is, where is the evidence to back up the U.S. claims that Auguste was at any time a threat to "his" forces and "stability and security in Haiti"? Provide us with the evidence and hold yourself to the same standards of proof you demand, or maybe we should just listen to the Haitian press and accept it as gospel.

When Annette Auguste was arraigned this week, the only charge made before the court was a weak accusation of purported participation in events that occurred at a university campus last Dec. 5. There was never any mention of her being a threat to U.S. forces, stability and security in Haiti.

In fact, the presiding judge never showed up to the evidentiary hearing on May 20, and Auguste's lawyers suspect this is because it is clear there is no evidence to justify continuing her incarceration. Unless this is a stalling tactic to allow more time for Lapan and "his" forces to prepare a stronger case for what appear on the surface to be specious and outrageous charges targeting an individual for her political beliefs.

Can we believe Lapan and the U.S. government when they state that "last week's arrest of Annette Auguste by the Haitian National Police had nothing to do with planned Flag Day activities"? The only way to answer that is by citing the role this brave woman has played in organizing previous peaceful marches and rallies in defense of democracy in Haiti.

Anyone who knows Auguste's history is well aware of the huge cadres of women who heed her call in Haiti and identify themselves by dressing in white. Of course, Lapan could not be expected to know this, as he has not been here that long and his knowledge of the history and culture come from "official" briefings prepared for him by military intelligence specialists.

Did Annette Auguste's arrest have any impact on the peaceful May 18 Flag Day demonstration demanding Aristide's return? You certainly prove you know little about Haiti if you think it didn"t. Lapan's response is either mere rhetoric approved by his superiors or proves how little he actually knows about contemporary Haitian history.

My final offering concerning the arrest of Annette Auguste is this letter sent May 11 from Congresswoman Maxine Waters to Secretary of State Colin Powell which shows the serious questions raised by this incident.

"Dear Secretary Powell:

"I write to urge you to immediately investigate the circumstances of the arrest of Anne Auguste (SÚ Ann), a well-known Haitian woman, who was arrested on or about 12:30 a.m., May 10, 2004, by U.S. military personnel in Haiti, acting as part of the Multinational Interim Force (MIF). I have seen reports that indicate that U.S. soldiers blew up the gates at Anne Auguste's home with grenades and entered her house carrying machine guns. Eleven occupants of the house, including two children, were taken into custody and interrogated. Anne Auguste was arrested and transferred to the Haitian National Penitentiary.

"Ms. Auguste is an elderly Haitian woman on medication who is recovering from recent surgery. Her grandson, who was one of the children detained and who was placed in handcuffs, is a five-year-old boy. It is virtually impossible to believe that an elderly woman and a child needed to be subjected to such overwhelming force, even if the MIF deemed it necessary to interrogate them. Ms. Auguste remains under arrest. While she was finally taken before a judge today, she still has not been charged with any crime.

"It is critical that you explain why Ms. Auguste is being detained or release her immediately. I urge you to conduct an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding her arrest in order to determine the reasons for her arrest, the charges against her - if any - and whether excessive force was used against her or other occupants of her household. If it is determined that excessive force was used, it is imperative that you act to hold accountable those who were responsible.

"Finally, I urge you to monitor the actions of U.S. armed forces in Haiti and ensure that they not take any actions that could endanger the very Haitian people whom you say they are there to protect. I would appreciate it if you would contact me as soon as possible to clarify the circumstances of Anne Auguste's arrest and to advise how you intend to proceed. I look forward to your prompt response.

"Sincerely,
"Maxine Waters, Member of Congress"

As far as the question of who fired upon me, I stated earlier it was elements of the Haitian SWAT team who were being "assisted," to use Lapan's word, by the U.S. Marines. That does not mean that I was not threatened by the U.S. Marines. Before the killing of Titus Simpton, I was disgusted, as an observer and journalist, to see how the U.S. Marines coordinated and provided cover for the Haitian National Police to attack the peaceful march by Lavalas on May 18.

As I was filming in one of the calmer moments of that day, one of the Marine grunts asked me, "What's up?" I made the mistake of giving him my honest opinion, to which his commanding officer on the scene responded by threatening to handcuff me and arrest me on the spot.

I provided him with my press credentials and asked him to identify himself. He purposely hid his name tag under the strap of his M-16 and refused three requests I made for him to identify himself. He threatened me again with immediate arrest if I did not leave "his" Marines alone.

I considered it a display of arrogance and abuse of authority that has come to symbolize the U.S. Marine presence in Haiti. In my opinion, the Marines are being used as pawns in a foreign policy debacle in the making by the Bush administration.

The U.S. forces are now trying to pretend they have no control over the Haitian police, while they were clearly seen collaborating and directing their movements. Even if Titus Simpton was the only murder victim on May 18, my photo of him drawing his last breath before dying is a symbol for the new nightmare the Bush administration now calls democracy in Haiti.

The Haitian people deserve better, the average American soldier deserves better and the American people deserve better.

Kevin Pina is associate editor of the Black Commentator (www.blackcommentator.com) and special correspondent for Flashpoints on KPFA radio in Berkeley, the flagship station of the Pacifica Radio Network.

Who really killed Jean Dominique and Jacques Roche?

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:22:00 +0000

by Kevin Pina and
Father Gerard Jean-Juste

Kevin Pina recently interviewed legendary Haitian priest and human rights activist, Father Gerard Jean-Juste from Miami, Florida on the program Flashpoints heard on the Pacifica network. The following is a transcript of the interview made possible by Kevin Salinger.

Kevin Pina: Good afternoon, this is Kevin Pina with Flashpoints on Pacifica. Today's very special guest is my dear friend, and a man who has fought tirelessly for justice in Haiti, who has fought tirelessly for human rights in Haiti, Father Gerard Jean-Juste. Father Gerard Jean-Juste is currently in Miami, he is undergoing chemotherapy. He was, of course diagnosed with leukemia while he was being held without charges in a Haitian jail. He was tested by Doctor Paul Farmer, who then smuggled out his blood and diagnosed him with leukemia. Finally the US, United Nations-backed forces, the US-backed government, installed government of Gerard Latortue was forced to free Father Gerard Jean-Juste to allow him to begin his medical treatment. Father Gerard Jean-Juste, good afternoon, and welcome to Flashpoints.
Fr. Jean-Juste: Good afternoon Kevin, good afternoon to all the listeners of Flashpoints.
Kevin Pina: Well, now you've had a little bit of time, you've been in Miami. How are the treatments going Father, how are you feeling?
Fr. Jean-Juste: It has been improving for a while, and I feel better now. I thank God; I thank all of you for your prayers, and for your support. And also, I'm getting ready right now for the second cycle of chemotherapy treatment. I have about five more cycles left, so the first one went very well, and I hope the second one will go well too, and the other ones, so they hope within five months I may recuperate pretty good.
Kevin Pina: Now I now that, in theory, your case is still pending in Haiti, but I'd like to get into that a little bit, particularly in light of the fact that there's been a lot of talk lately by Reporters Without Borders, and by the widow of Jean Dominique lately, raising the question of Jean Dominique, in particular the involvement of Lavalas in the murder of Jean Dominique; and I can't help but think of the parallels, in that, you of course are accused of being involved in the kidnapping and the murder -- a preposterous accusation of course -- and the murder of Jacques Roche. Jacques Roche was a reporter who was, really, I guess a sort of slanted reporter, I guess there is another term for it, a reporter who worked with the Group 184, which was, of course, the opposition group that helped to oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on February 29, 2004. But Father, I don't think that we ever really heard from you. How did you feel when you first heard this preposterous accusation against you? I know you must have felt it was preposterous.
Fr. Jean-Juste: Definitely, definitely, it was ridiculous to charge me with such a preposterous accusation. I was in Miami on business, and then I returned to Haiti on the 15th, two days or three days after the Jacques Roche assassination. So I had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with Jacques Roche. Of course, now they are looking for a way to get rid of me, to shut my mouth, and also to stop Lavalas from participating in the election, in order for them to go to the elections and carry all the posts. But, unfortunately for them, and fortunately for us, within time the case of Jacques Roche has been dying -- inaudible -- because the search found nothing about us, they dropped the charges. But I would like to see Jacques Roche obtain justice, in the sense that they should try to find the true killers and go after them, and bring justice to the case. But now we have to ask the question: who was the true killers of Jacques Roche? Because it seems to me this is a political killing in order to capitalize, in order to benefit out of the exploitation of the death of Jacques Roche. And this is the beginning of what we call the "arming of ti machet." That was the first in a series where we've been attacked at the church, it was something plain, by some officers of the de facto government, and later on we discovered that the death squad was in full speed going after Lavalas people, even at the soccer game, organized, or sponsored by the USAID, where so many Lavalas people have been assassinated and killed in cold blood. So I guess there was a -- inaudible -- going on, and they were looking for a way to trap us Lavalas, and put everything on our back, and then get rid of Lavalas. So they have failed, Lavalas has survived, and now we hope we will keep moving forward, obtain justice, not only for myself, but for the other political prisoners, and for everyone else accused falsely in the case.
Kevin Pina: It seems so hard though to figure out the truth and to be able get justice, when people seem to politicize incidents like this, and use it as a tool of political persecution against those who are associated with Lavalas. Of course there's the most recent example of your own where you were not involved with Jacques Roche, but yet we know that the minister of culture under the Latortue government got up and accused you personally, accused Lavalas of involvement. Without any proof it was printed in the media, in the mainstream media and in the Haitian press, and there were very few questions raised as far as the validity of it until you were finally released when the charges were dropped. But I can't help but also think about the Jean Dominique case.

©2000 Michelle Karshan - Demonstration in memory of Jean Dominique at Radio Haiti Inter April 3, 2000 - Sò Anne participated in demonstration outside Radio Haiti Inter to protest the murder of Jean Dominique the day before. Reporters Without Borders aledged that Sò Anne played a role in the Dominique assassination, this is the first time that her name has ever come up as a "suspect."

And now I hear about Michelle Montas, who of course I have respect for, and I hear Reporters Without Borders who I have very little respect for, bringing up the Jean Dominique case again. But I also remember when those same forces had accused President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of having given Senator Dany Toussaint the order to have Jean Dominique, Haiti's most famous journalist, assassinated. I remember quite clearly, everyone, the political line was President Jean-Bertrand Aristide gave Senator Dany Toussaint the order to kill Jean Dominique. And yet, Senator Dany Toussaint, in the recent presidential elections, ran as a candidate for the presidency, and nobody said a word about it again. But yet the damage had been done. Father, can you help us to understand how these sorts of mysterious murders are used for political reasons, for a tool of political persecution against Lavalas, how accusations are made, peoples' lives are destroyed, and then suddenly we find out that what they told us was the truth, wasn't the truth. Fr. Jean-Juste: Yeah, it is unfortunate Kevin that in Haitian politics, some politician can do anything to blame, or to condemn the opponent, the adversaries. So, this is a very bad practice. It reminds me of the tactic on the international level, once in awhile we see that whenever they want to create a problem for a president, for a party, for a group, they manage to get somebody killed, and then they manage to blame some group they want to get rid of. In French we always say that -- speaking in French -- we say that whenever we want to get rid of somebody, just look for an alibi, look for a case we hear of murder, and put it on the back of the person, and then we make propaganda about it. So it is unfortunate. And in the case of Jean Dominique, Jean was a Lavalas, strong Lavalas, and helping the peasants, helping the poorest ones. And who should profit off the killing of Jean? Who should profit off getting rid of such a great journalist? You understand, so they use Jean to put pressure on the Lavalas government. It's like having a family, where someone will try to kill the son or the daughter of the family, and now try to blame the whole family for the killing. It is ridiculous. So in that sense, we are putting it so Jean Dominique could obtain justice. But I think that Reporters Without Borders is just using the case for their own purpose. Understand that the last three years we heard nothing about the case. Why is it now coming back again on the scene? It seems that every time a Lavalas, comes back- is running, they try to bring up something in order to stop the government of the people.
Kevin Pina: And of course Reporters Without Borders said absolutely nothing, or very little about this thing of Abdias Jean. You know we don't know, there's no clear evidence who killed Jean Dominique, but we know that there were eyewitnesses who say that the Haitian police summarily executed Abdias Jean in January 2005, in the neighborhood of Cite de Dieu. We know that for a fact.
Fr. Jean-Juste: Yeah, that's true. Unfortunately, this is the type of reporting we have coming from France. And understand that some French officials have been helping some Haitian students in order to make them rise against the Lavalas government all the time. And because President Aristide was apparently asking for France to repair it, to repair, to uh -
Kevin Pina: Give reparations.
Fr. Jean-Juste: - for reparations, and they [owe] 22 billion dollars to Haiti, and France refused, and in that case, I guess Reporters Sans Frontiers is trying to think ahead, to make us forget what we are looking for. We're looking for reparations, we're looking for restitution, and I think its about time that France stop- and deal frankly with the issue, otherwise, they cannot understand the issue. We're still alive, and probably after Jacques Chirac or some other government, we'll still continue to demand reparations and restitution, and we will gain justice someday.
Kevin Pina: Now you know, sometimes it almost seems like a cultural war for me. When I see the attacks, the character assassination on leadership of Lavalas, when I see the attempt to destroy the reputation of Lavalas, when I see the attempt to paint it with a wide brush stroke, that it was a violent movement at the behest of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the dictator of Haiti, all of this sort of propaganda machine within culture. And a latest example is this film that was just released, which I haven't seen yet, but the main theme of it, its called Ghosts of Cite Soleil, its produced by the son of Jorgen Leth, Asgar Leth. Jorgen Leth of course was the former Danish honorary counsel to Haiti, who had to resign because he had written a book that detailed his sexual exploits with his 17-year-old house servant, and that created a very moral uproar and he had to resign from that position. But his son Asgar Leth now has produced a film called Ghosts of Cite Soleil, in which he now chronicles the exploits of two gang leaders in Cite Soleil called Tupac and Billy. And according to this film, there are these phone calls that are made reportedly, in this film, that say that they are being made by those close to Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who is getting leadership to the gangs in Cite Soleil to go out and kill the opposition. Father Gerard Jean-Juste, I've never asked you this question before: what is your opinion about the accusations that have been leveled against Jean-Bertrand Aristide, that he was using the state to sponsor violence against the opposition in Haiti?
Fr. Jean-Juste: Well its completely false, its completely propaganda, its completely unjust doing that to President Aristide. The president was elected by the people, the president was well-loved by the people, by most Haitians, as the president was being so good to the poorest ones in Haiti by offering education to everyone, regardless that the international community had stopped all aid, all assistance to President Aristide as well as President Preval in the past; and these presidents, loved by the people, had managed to offer maximum services to the people. And that is the reason that now we have so many people coming out, still supporting these Lavalas presidents. So I guess the enemy should take a lesson, instead of trying to destroy all those who want good for the grassroots, who want good for the people in general, who want good for everyone in general, rich or poor, who want possibilities for the poor, want - going after these good Haitians; and I think they should, instead, try to find ways to bring cooperation and help us better the life of the people. That's the way how I see it, but unfortunately we have a long way to go to make these people, to make the enemies of the Haitian people understand that. Its not the proper way to live, its not the proper way to operate, and they should come on the side of the people. So we hope with our prayers, with our discipline, we shall convince them, someday they will change. That's why hope, or otherwise I'll see why people who are educated, who are supposed to know better, will go in a way of -- inaudible -- that leads to the assassination of so many Haitian brothers and sisters. And President Aristide, he is loved by the Haitian people, not because he is President, or because he has done something great, its because he has shown complete love for the people. Poor people can enter the palace and eat with the president, and party with the president, as well as rich people. So President Aristide has been opening his arms and heart to everyone. So at the moment that the people have tasted this type of service, this type of offer coming from the president -
Kevin Pina: Open government.
Fr. Jean-Juste: - from the government -- you can do whatever you want, they will give their life for the movement, because the movement is in their advantage, giving them more dignity, and more hope, and improve their living. So that's the best way to operate. The best way to operate is completely to come with some services that allow people to receive basic human needs. So this is the best way, and you're going to have the Haitian people with you forever. But the other ways, exploiting them, killing them, and telling them nonsense -- they won't accept any of that nonsense.
Kevin Pina: You know Father, there seems to be a revision of history going on as well. People seem to be wanting to sweep under the rug what life has been like in Haiti the past two years, which I can only describe as a human rights hell. But I wonder if you could just help our listeners to understand, if you could describe, define what the last two years have been like in Haiti before the elections, after the coup against Aristide, February 29, 2004. How would you describe that period of history, Father.
Fr. Jean-Juste: Well as you just were referring, it was hell in Haiti, cause, imagine that we had a democratic government functioning, and in effect, within the international community, they come together and, with some putchist leaders, coup leaders, and they get rid of this elected president. And that has been quite a blow to us Haitians. So many innocent people have been killed for nothing, and the people who have survived have received no services at all, and all the public places that were built, to serve the people, to welcome them -- the parks, the public institutions in education, meant to serve the people -- everything has been either destroyed or disappeared. And so the de facto government that has been imposed on us the last two years has received more assistance from that sector of the international community -- from the international community at large, I should say -- and has done nothing for the people in concrete. Look at Haiti now: they are still without electricity, no woods, and no food for the people, and -- inaudible -- it's very expensive. And on the human rights level forget it. The jails are overcrowded with innocent people, most of them Lavalas people. And so this is a situation where they have tried to force a government in the throat of the people, and the people have stood up and thwarted them. So I think we have a great lesson today, and Haiti should never, never live such a sad, hellish moment, like we've had the last two years, in its history. So we have to find ways now to make democracy a growing, and find ways to make sure that human rights of all in Haiti are respected, and find ways to correct whatever wrong has been done by the previous de facto government, and move ahead to see if we can bring as many Haitians -- to bring them together, as many as possible, and to rebuild this beautiful country God has given us. So that's the way how I see it, because it is true that I'm not able to speak more, but you know, in the condition I'm now, I'm in the middle of treatment and I'm taking a lot of medication right now.
Kevin Pina: I understand Father. This is Kevin Pina on Flashpoints on Pacifica, our guest today is Father Gerard Jean-Juste. Now Father they've set you free to undergo chemotherapy for lymphatic leukemia, which of course is very dangerous. They had held you to the point where it had become life-threatening, and of course your treatment had to commence immediately. But technically you're still a political prisoner, because technically after your treatment you're supposed to return to Haiti. Is that right?
Fr. Jean-Juste: Yes, I'm looking forward to returning to Haiti. As far as my case is concerned, in order to send me for treatment the government wanted to pardon me. I said, what have I done to deserve a pardon? So I am the one who went on appeal. I'm going on appeal, and I would like to win the case all the way, all the way, and I won't back off until I receive justice from the government of Haiti, probably now would be under government under Preval administration, yeah.
Kevin Pina: Well I can't thank you enough Father Gerard Jean-Juste. God bless you sir and thank you so much for your time. Please take care.
Fr. Jean-Juste: Thank you very much Kevin. My greeting to all the listeners, and I hope God bless every one of us. Thank you.

The "Freedom Fighters" behind the 2004 coup in Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:42:00 +0000

Teenagers killed in Belladères: Louis Ramil, 14 years old and Natalie Souverain, 17 years old - killed by 2 bullets in the vagina - were assassinated by former military. The armed groups of ex-soldiers and members of the paramilitary group FRAPH who served in the pay ofthe U.S. and France organized extremely murderous campaigns against the border population

Haiti Information Project (HIP)
Human Rights Archives

"Nou pap janm bliye!/We will never forget!"

Remembering Gerard Latortue's "Freedom Fighters"

The Victims of the Haitian "Contras" Testify

Haiti Progres August 4-10 2004

Original story was published on the centerfold spread in French and appears for the first time on the web here. This version will have additional information that did not appear in the original printed version. All photos and story provided by Haiti Information Project to Haiti Progres.

Story in kreyol: Rapò sou sitiyasyon kite pase nan Beladè nan mwa jen pou rive nan desanm 2002

The series of deadly incursions by ex-soldiers and members of the terrorist organization, FRAPH and other mercenaries, especially on the Haitian-Dominican border, didn't just start a few days before the kidnapping and forced exile of President Aristide. Equipped and armed with expensive heavy weapons by agents of the Bush Administration, benefiting from the active complicity of the Dominican government and army, and working in coordination with the internal "opposition", these criminals have spread terror in the border region and led harassment operations which have claimed dozens of civilian victims during the last two years.

Here is a brief report on the attacks led by the former commissioner, Guy Phillipe and Louis Jodel Chamblain, the former death squad leader, who were presented as "freedom fighters" by the government of Gerard Latortue. This is the summary of a document published by the Haiti Action Committee entitled "Hidden from Headlines."

"In the morning of July 28, 2001, commandos in military uniforms attack five police stations in Haiti, including the Police Academy in Freres, a suburb of the capital. During this action the head of this police training center was killed along with four other police officers.

On December 17, 2001 a commando unit of 30 heavily armed men attack during the night and take control of the National Palace. They declare that Aristide is no longer president and try to force the Palace security guards to join forces with them to carry out a coup d'etat. The scoundrels are surrounded and finally dispersed by the police and thousands of civilians who take to the streets to defeat this attempt."
However, most of the assailants managed to run away and get to the Dominican Republic where they get political asylum to again take up their seditious and destabilizing activities which ultimately served as the pretext for the governments in Washington and Paris to move to the kidnapping of President Aristide on February 29, 2004.

At the end of 2002 and in 2003, army veterans organized attacks against the border towns from the Dominican Republic, killing police officers, civil servants and representatives of the Fanmi Lavalas party, and terrorizing the population.

On May 7 2003, some men who identified themselves as ex-soldiers attack the Peligre hydroelectric center, the most important source of electricity in the country. The commandos torture and execute two security guards and set the control room on fire, causing a worsening of the electrical crisis. The paramilitary group takes several employees hostage from the Partners in Health hospital and steals an ambulance. In response to this attack Dr. Paul Farmer, the director of the hospital, declares: "As you know, this isn't the first time that our medical team is a victim of these Contras. In December they used the same threats and same language, accusing Aristide (rightly) of having dissolved the Army and accusing our staff of being anti-military (again, rightly) It's worth remembering that the so-called human rights organizations in Port-au-Prince told the Miami Herald that these events didn't take place and that this is just "government propaganda."

After the overthrow of President Aristide by the United States and France, the file on a horrible massacre which was carried out by the "freedom fighters" in Belladeres in 2002 resurfaced. Cleodor Souverain, a Lavalas coordinator who has been underground since the February 29 coup, courageously gave this testimony to the Haiti Information Project (HIP), with supporting photos. It comes as a condemnation of the foreign policy of the United States, which aids and encourages the killers, a condemnation of the Dominican government and army who have allowed their territory to be used as a base, and finally a condemnation of the current de facto regime which has embraced these terrorists as "freedom fighters."

Eyewitness accounts of the toll of the former soldiers in Belladères:

The armed groups made up of ex-soldiers and members of the paramilitary group FRAPH, who served at the behest of the U.S. and France for the coup d'etat, organized extremely murderous incursions against the border population from their base in the Dominican Republic starting much earlier. These accounts that we have received give an idea of the toll exacted by these bandits starting in 2002 against members or reputed members of Lavalas in the Belladeres region. Several people have since had to again go underground, such as: Cleodor Souverain, Levelt Rival, Eliodor Denaud, Israel Jean, Felix Bruno, Rodolphe Remarais, Vilceme Rosalvard, etc.

Eyewitness Account of Cleodor Souverain, Belladères

"I am the coordinator of Fanmi Lavalas in the Central Department of Belladeres. In December 2002 I had to leave my house in Belladeres and take refuge in Port-au-Prince because a group of men, armed to the teeth, had arrived at my house to kill me and my family. Since I wasn't there, they assassinated the 5 people who were in my house:

Rosita Souverain, my sister, 24 years old
Nathalie Souverain, (17 years old, killed with two bullets in the vagina)
Mimose Brizard, 38 years old, a friend of the family
Dubuisson Brizard (35 years old, brother of Mimose)
Louis Ramil (14 years old, servant)

Hussein Bertrand, a four year old boy was shot with a bullet in his spine and he remains paralyzed. All of these events took place before the kidnapping of President Aristide. After the departure of the President the situation got worse. We can't go out any more even in Port-au-Prince where the ex-soldiers and members of FRAPH are looking for us in order to kill us. The people who participated in the massacre of my family are:

Clotaire Jean-Baptiste (ex-soldier)
Remicinthe Ravix (ex-soldier)
Voltaire Jean-Baptiste Alia Poitille (former chauffeur for Colonel Michel Francois who caused a reign of terror during the coup d'etat from 1991 to 1994)
Bell Panel (armed civilian)
Edouard Casimir (armed civilian)

All these individuals are currently members of the Resistance Front of Gonaives and they participated in the assassination of the regional police director Mr. Jonas Maxime in Hinche on February 15, 2004. Today Clotaire Jean-Baptiste and Remicinthe Ravix work on recruiting former soldiers for the National Police of Haiti (PNH).
A group of ex-soldiers arrived in Belladeres and came to my house on February 17, 2004 to rob and pillage. When they left, they left seven children orphans. I've thus become responsible for these kids, which is a huge problem for me. Here are the names of these little orphans:

Micheline Brizard
Robecca Brizard
Chantale Brizard
Miradelle Nestor
Pharma Nestor
Gilene Nestor
Bussein Tito

I'm sending an SOS message to all our compatriots to help us because we cannot take refuge in the Dominican Republic. That's where the criminals have their base. We launch an urgent appeal for Hussein Bertrand, the four year old who was paralyzed.
On November 28, 2002 Judge Christophe Lauzama was going to hold a hearing in Kinpe. He was accompanied by Cleonor Souverain, Remarais Rodolphe and the magistrate, Jean-Robert Paldomaire. On the way they met some demonstrators from the Democratic Convergence. A former "Leopard" (an elite military unit for repression under the Duvalier dictatorship) by the name of Serge Etienne opened fire on them. Judge Lauzama died and his three companions barely managed to escape.

On December 10, 2002 in Penal, in the third section of Riyarib, armed civilians attacked the house of Eliodor Denaud, coordinator of the Casec of Fanmi Lavalas. The assailants destroyed everything he had. Since then Mr. Denaud, his wife and his nine children have been forced to return to clandestine hiding. On the same day, former soldiers and members of FRAPH killed: Erezman Joseph, Leonie Laverne, Caridor Dorinvil, Sincere Joseph, Jean Harry. On June 23, 2002 they had already killed Wilfrid Denaud, Marrus Pierre and Felix Bomo.

On December 13, 2002, still in the third section of Riyarib, after a confrontation between the police and the ex-soldiers, the soldiers came to Levelt Rival's house, coordinator of Fanmi Lavalas, at one o'clock in the morning. He had to take refuge with his wife and seven children in a banana field. They destroyed everything in his house as well as the small school he directed.
During the same night, at about 3:00, the bandits arrived at Isael Jean's house, a member of Casec. They destroyed everything. Even the goats in the courtyard were killed. Moise Celestin and someone named Golman pointed out Isael Jean's house to the commandos.

Following all these attacks, the supporters of Guy Philippe had decided to go to Las Cahobas. During their trip they ransacked and pillaged the house of Felix Brunel. They also killed Colean Pradel and Dadou Pierre.
On June 26, 2002, the former soldiers who were occupying Wasek Square had kidnapped and killed four members of my family, among which was my cousin whom they accused of being a militant with Lavalas.
Here is the situation in which I find myself. There's no need to tell you of the hardships endured at the hands of the FRAPH members and the ex-soldiers since the departure of President Aristide. Rodolphe Desmarais experienced the same situation."

Testimony of Isael Jean

"My name is Isael Jean, member of the Fanmi Lavalas Casec in the Central Plateau.
In the month of December 2002, ex-soldiers and their accomplices entered Pernal. They came to my house. A friend saved my life and sheltered me with my wife and children. After the kidnapping of President Aristide, my situation got worse. On March 17, 2004, the ex-soldiers came to our house saying they wanted to exterminate all the members of Lavalas. They destroyed everything in the house.

On February 17, 2004 after the assassination of the police chief Maxime Jonas, all the policemen had abandoned the Belladeres commissariat, and a group of soldiers and FRAPH members had taken control of it."

Photos and story provided by:
Haiti Information Project
all rights reserved

Hussein Bertrand,
a 4 year old boy was hit by a bullet in his spine and survived

Rosita Souverain, 24 years old was the sister of Cleodor Souverain a Fanmi Lavalas official in the Central Plateau.

Nathalie Souverain,
17 years old. Five people, who were at the home of Cleodor Souverain were brutally assassinated when the former soldiers discovered that he was not there.

Mimose Brizard, 38 years old, a friend of the family

Dubuisson Brizard
35 years old, brother of Mimose

Louis Ramil - 14 years old - worked in Cleodor Souverain's home

Remembering the 2004 coup in Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:51:00 +0000

Flashpoints Radio special marking the 9th anniversary of the Feb. 2004 coup in Haiti

Author Jeb Sprague joins Flashpoints guest host Kevin Pina on the ninth anniversary of the 2004 coup in Haiti to discuss his new book Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti

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Haiti 3 years after the earthquake, US Militarizes Relief

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:38:00 +0000

Three years ago on January 25, 2010, critical reports began to surface of the US military stalling earthquake relief operations in Haiti. Flashpoints Senior Correspondent Kevin Pina provided this live report from the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port Au Prince.

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Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits, Review by Jeb Sprague

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:45:00 +0000

Placing himself and his camera between the gun barrels of masked death squads and UN accompanied Haitian police, Kevin Pina in his documentary “Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits” (2011) shows what happened in the slums of Haiti’s capitol in the years leading up to it’s decimation by the January 2010 earthquake. Following the 2004 coup that ousted Haiti’s democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, massive demonstrations pouring out from the impoverished slums of Cite Soleil, Bel Air, and other communities, challenged the interim authorities that had been put in place by the U.S, France, and Canada.

To halt the protests and barricade with barbed wire the poor into the slums, authorities carried out a campaign of political violence, targeting the popular Fanmi Lavalas movement and the neighborhoods where it was strongest. Whereas most often violence against the majority poor goes unreported by the media, Pina along with local Haitian photojournalist Jean Ristil risked their lives, being jailed, beaten and threatened in acquiring the footage for this documentary. Often with the only camera on the scene, Pina documents a U.S. and U.N. sanctioned campaign of political violence between 2004 and 2007- where Haitian police snipers shoot demonstrator after demonstrator, aiming for the head in state-sanctioned assassinations. The responses from UN and state bureaucrats ooze in condescension.

A documentary that should be viewed by all who are interested in Haiti and the Caribbean, where state-sanctioned violence has also recently exploded in the slums of Kingston, Jamaica, this documentary should be seen in tandem with Pina’s other films on Haiti: Harvest of Hope (1997) and Haiti: The UNtold Story (2005). Together these films are amongst the most important documentation of the mobilization of the Haitian people at the turn of the twenty first century, starved of resources and braving the bullets of neo-Duvalierist gunmen and their foreign allies, Pina’s documentary is a testament to the human spirit and its quest for justice.

Jeb Sprague
Author of Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti

Remembering Haiti's Earthquake: Jan. 12, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 21:12:00 +0000

Remembering Haiti's Earthquake 3 years later

This Special Report from Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio originally aired on January 12, 2010, the day a devastating earthquake struck the island nation of Haiti.

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Lafanmi Selavi and the case against Aristide in Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 03:38:00 +0000

Background to the Haitian government's case against former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and an interview with Caitlin Manning, the director of the documentary "Lafanmi Selavi." The hour long film focuses on the orphanage founded by the former president when he was a priest at St. Jean Bosco.

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Aristide discusses history and mission of Lafanmi Selavi

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 19:08:00 +0000

The Water of Life
by Jean-Bertrand Aristide
This material was originally prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock.

On weekends the kids from Lafanmi Selavi, our center for street children, come to our house to spend time, to share food, talk, play and swim in the swimming pool. It is a small pool, too small for 400 kids, but for them it is a piece of paradise. Sometimes we invite children from other parishes in Port-au-Prince. Sometimes a Lafanmi Selavi bus goes to Cité Soleil, to La Saline, to Carrefour to pick up children who want to swim.

This experience, which may appear at first as merely symbolic, has tremendous ramifications. In a country where only 20 percent of the population have access to clean drinking water, swimming pools are exclusively for the rich. There is not a single public swimming pool in Haiti. The pool itself is a symbol of the elite.

We know the kids need food, we know they need school, but we cannot give all of them these things in a day. So while we are working to change the society, we can give them a day in a swimming pool. We say no child is so poor she does not deserve to swim in a pool. And if you imagine this has no impact on the society, think again.

The kids swim with us, with their teachers, with a group of agronomists who work with them on Saturdays, and with American friends and volunteers working at Lafanmi Selavi. A mix of races and social classes in the same water. Sometimes these images have appeared on television. Shortly after we began this experience we started hearing reports from friends among the upper classes of rumors that I was preparing these vagabon, these street children, to invade their swimming pools. Were it not tragic it would be comic. Perhaps the real root of the fear is this: If a maid in a wealthy home sees children from Cité Soleil swimming in a swimming pool on television, she may begin to ask why her child cannot swim in the pool of her boss.

So it is a system of social apartheid that we are questioning. We saw the same phenomena during the civil rights movement in the United States where attempts to integrate beaches and swimming pools met with some of the worst violence of the period. The same was true in South Africa. What we are facing in Haiti is a form of apartheid. There are no laws on the books enforcing segregation, but the social and economic forces at play are so powerful they create a de facto apartheid.
The polarizations are many: literate/illiterate, rich/poor, black/white, male/female, those who have clean water to drink/those who don’t. In Haiti, where these polarities remain so strong, swimming in the same water has both psychological and social repercussions. You swim with people you are close to. If you are a family, if you are a community, swimming together may improve the quality of the relationship. Our experience has shown that the water can help to melt the barriers between us, and wash away the dirt of prejudice.

Officially, slavery no longer exists in Haiti. But through the lives of children in Haiti who live as restaveks we see the remnants of slavery. Restaveks are children, usually girls, sometimes as young as three and four years old, who live in the majority of Haitian families as unpaid domestic workers. They are the first to get up in the morning and the last to go to bed at night.

They carry water, clean house, do errands and receive no salary. Often they are from the countryside; their parents send them to the city in the hope that the family they live with will give them food and send them to school. The family that takes in the restavek is more often than not just one rung up on the economic ladder. Most families struggle to send their own children to school -- let alone the restavek. So most often restavek children are not in school; they eat what is left when the others are finished, and they are extremely vulnerable to verbal, physical and sexual abuse.

Officially, Haiti is a free country. But through the economic life of the country we see the remnants of colonialism. Ours is an economy of dependence, a restavek economy. Because of foreign food imports our agricultural production has fallen to historic lows. Because we export little our currency is weak. Haitian workers earn the lowest wages in the hemisphere. We are encouraged to exploit and maintain this so-called advantage to attract foreign companies to come. Because our economy is weak we depend on loans and aid from foreign countries to support our national budget. This makes us extremely vulnerable to pressure from international institutions that control the money.

Bertony was a restavek when we met him. He came to the house with a group of children from our neighborhood to spend the day. He was five years old. That day Bertony played, swam and ate all he wanted. When he went home he bragged to the children of the family with whom he lived about this rare day. When the parents heard, they were angry. They would not stand to have this little restavek teasing their own children who had not enjoyed such privilege. They threw Bertony out, saying that if he was such a big man he should go back to Aristide’s house. Bertony had broken the first rule of the restavek. The restavek has no right to speak. Fortunately, Bertony, being a very clever boy, found his way to Lafanmi Selavi, where he quickly became integrated into the life of the house, going to school and working at the kids’ radio station. Today seven-year-old Bertony is a journalist at Radyo Timoun. He not only speaks; the whole country hears him.

Another story came to us after the visit of the famous Haitian-American rap group the Fugees. They played a concert for the rich at Haiti’s Club Med. The lead singer was once himself a very poor child growing up in Port-au-Prince. And he continually reminded the crowd of this. One of the concert-goers was heard to say that the singer did not need to keep talking as this would just make the kids in the street plis sou moun. The closest translation is, "they will think they are somebody." Another person, talking about the kids swimming in the pool I will clean it. But if one of Aristide’s dogs falls in my pool they will be swimming in their own blood."

In 1991, on the first day of my presidency, I invited the poor to breakfast. The palace doors, forever closed to them, were opened. To this day many among the elite feel that the palace has been dirtied by the presence of the of the poor. At the time the response was the coup d’état which did indeed bathe the country in blood.

How do we wash away the dirt of prejudice? Little by little? With a cleansing flood?
When my daughter was born in 1996, we asked, Where should we baptize her? In this country of rigid social delineation, the place that we chose Lafanmi Selavi. There at the house, among the children of the streets, and in the presence of many friends of all social classes, Christine was baptized by her godfather, Bishop Willy Romélus. The water of life can baptize us all new. One people, God’s children, swimming together in the water of life.

In Haiti’s countryside the people are crying out or the water of life, too. The 70 percent of Haiti’s population that lives in the countryside needs water to grow the food that can feed the country. If Haiti is to be economically independent, we must be able to feed ourselves. To do that we must heal the land. We can trace the roots of our current ecological crisis to Haiti’s heavy debt to France in the 19th century, which encouraged the logging of Haiti’s tropical forests for export to Europe. Today only 3 percent of our forests remain. Without the trees to hold the soil, 1 percent of Haiti’s topsoil washes to sea each year, driving Haiti’s peasant farmers further into poverty as the land produces less and less each year.

Since our independence in 1804, every Haitian government has governed on the backs of the peasants, taxing their produce and giving nothing back in return. A deep chasm between people in the countryside and people in the capital has always existed. This chasm is inscribed in the language. Anyone who lives outside of Port-au-Prince is called moun andeyò -- literally, "outside people," outsiders. And the language was inscribed in the law. Historically, paysanne ("peasant," in French) was listed on the birth certificates of anyone born outside Port-au-Prince. When I became president in 1991, by presidential decree we changed the law, so that now all birth certificates are the same. Now we must keep working to change the language -- and the realities of life in the countryside.

On our continent, the banking industry has grown from 40 percent of the economy to 57 percent over the past ten years, while agriculture has shrunk from 30 percent to 15 percent over the same period. In Haiti, agriculture was 50 percent of our gross national product ten years ago -- now it is only 28 percent. The banks in Haiti extend only 2 percent of their lending to the agricultural sector. How can we ask the poor, who are mostly peasants, to put their money in these banks?

Article 247 of the Haitian constitution says, "Agriculture is the principal wealth of the nation and the guarantee of the well-being of the population." Yes, but where will we find water to irrigate the land? If only 2 percent of bank lending goes to agriculture, how will the peasants have money to irrigate, to buy water pumps, to buy seeds, to invest in the land?

In the world at large we see this same picture: 3.1 billion people make their living in agriculture. Their lives are on a collision course with globalization. They cannot compete with industrialized Western agriculture with its heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers. And yet the world economy is not creating new jobs for them. What will they do?

Peasants are forced off their land and move to overcrowded cities where they find neither jobs nor health care, nor schools for their children, nor even clean water to drink. The people follow the land. After the trees are cut from the mountains, the soil washes to the plains and the people follow. When the soil washes away from the plains, the people once again follow, moving to the slums of cities by the sea.

The economically powerful are not protecting the land, the trees, the soil or the people who have existed on this land for generations. Can we expect that aid programs will help our environment or our people who depend on the land? If 84 cents of every dollar is going back to the donor country, how much is left for water for the peasants? Or for trees to hold the water and the soil? The question is dramatic. What will we do to have water?

We are at the millennium and there is still no water for the people to drink -- let alone water for the land. Sometimes foreigners think we are lazy, asking for food, asking for handouts. But in fact we are asking for water. In our rich country, where the sun shines every day, I assure you that if we have water, we will grow the food we need to eat.

Some may ask how a strategy of national development based on agriculture can possibly succeed in this day and age, in the face of the macroeconomic realities we are facing. In fact, we cannot know for sure. But what we can be sure of is that as long as Haitian governments continue to receive instructions from international institutions we will move from the same to the same, the same program to the same program, from bad to worse.

On the other side, if we see organizations in Haiti among civil society looking for strategies that come from the people, this represents a candle in the night. Hope in a night of despair. We can offer an alternative -- an alternative that will not make us rich, but may at least save us from starvation and lead us to poverty with dignity. If what we propose is not perfect, what they proposed has already demonstrated how disastrous it is.

This is a strategy for subsistence, for survival. And that is just what the poor have always done in the face of macroeconomic realities that have never been favorable.

The neoliberal strategy is to weaken the state in order to have the private sector replace the state. Through cooperatives we can perhaps preserve some margin of public services. Without a national mobilization of human resources, we will never be able to create a balance between that economic power and that human power. The human power in my country is the huge majority of the poor. The economic power is that tiny 1 percent that controls 45 percent of the wealth.

The coup d’état of 1991 showed how terribly afraid the 1 percent is of the mobilization of the poor. They are afraid of those under the table -- afraid they will see what is on the table. Afraid of those in Cité Soleil, that they will become impatient with their own misery. Afraid of the peasants, that they will not be moun andeyò anymore. They are afraid that those who cannot read will learn how to read. They are afraid that those who speak Creole will learn French, and no longer feel inferior. They are afraid of the poor entering the palace, of the street children swimming in the pool. They are not afraid of me. They are afraid that what I say may help the poor to see.

But in the end, on this small planet, we are all swimming in the same water.

President Aristide summoned by Martelly's prosecutors in Haiti.

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:08:00 +0000


Martelly appointed Government Prosecutor Luckman Delille is a former member of the GNB (Balls up your butt) movement that worked to oust Aristide in 2004. He is now accused of carrying out a politically motivated campaign of political persecution in Haiti.

Martelly appointed government prosecutor Luckman Delille is accused of waging a politically motivated campaign of political persecution against the Lavalas movement in Haiti. Following large demonstrations last December 16, 2012, he ordered the arrest of 21 members of the Lavalas political party and has been summoning into court countless others without charge. Flashpoints Senior Producer, Kevin Pina interviews Pierre Labossiere about the situation. (For more information check FPs Haiti special that aired on Jan. 1, 2013: https://soundcloud.com/flashpoints/flashpoints-daily-newsmag-01)

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UN cholera in Haiti and kidnappings run by the elite

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 05:06:00 +0000

Demonstrations against UN cholera epidemic in Haiti

ROMEO HALLOUN (second from left) former leader of the
NINJAS in #Haiti having lunch with former dictator Baby Doc Duvalier

Flashpoints Senior Producer Kevin Pina gives an

in-depth update of the situation in Haiti on December 11, 2012.

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Unresolved Transgenerational Trauma in Haitian Society

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 18:51:00 +0000

-->

Unresolved Transgenerational Trauma in Haitian Society:

A perspective on potential reconciliation and conflict resolution in Haiti

Kevin Pina

December 12, 2010

Traumatic experience plays a significant role in the development of patterns of violence. The link between a traumatic past and violence has been found in individuals who have been severely abused, as well as in groups that have suffered trauma collectively, such as systematic abuse and humiliation over an extended period.

- Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela (2010)

Each passing episode of political unrest and uncertainty in Haiti, with its corresponding spasms of violent upheaval, punctuates the barriers to lasting peace and reconciliation that persist in Haitian society. This chapter contends that the UN and the international community have contributed towards perpetuating cycles of violence in Haiti through their failure to acknowledge the effects of massive trauma resulting from violent oppression during the period of 2004-2006. It further contends this represents one of the major roadblocks to a creating a process of much needed healing and reconciliation in Haiti.

Much of the political division and the greatest potential for mass violence that exists in Haitian society today centers on the circumstances and legitimacy of Aristide’s ouster in 2004 and its aftermath. On one side is the view that his departure was voluntary resulting from a popular revolt against his government and that most of those killed during 2004-2006 were gangsters and bandits. The other view is that Aristide and his government were the targets of a destabilization campaign by foreign powers that cultivated and funded an opposition against them and that the president’s departure was involuntary. Regardless, what is clear is that most of the documented cases of human rights abuses committed during this period were the result of an extreme campaign of political repression targeting those who resisted the government takeover.

The response of the international community, particularly the governments of the US, France, Canada and Brazil, has been to deny any evidence of human rights abuses committed as a result of Aristide’s ouster. Instead they have pursued a course of legitimizing the transition, and by extension the dismemberment of organizations supporting the Lavalas political movement and the Fanmi Lavalas political party, through a series of elections. These elections have legitimized the political actors that supported the coup of 2004 even as Haiti’s current Conseil Électoral Provisoire (CEP), or Provisional Election Council, has banned the participation of Lavalas in the electoral process on the basis of what are seemingly trivial technicalities.

This policy has served to drive a deeper wedge between the political forces that supported Aristide’s ouster and the majority of Haiti’s underclass, and hence the majority of the population, that supported Lavalas. This has led to further polarization with supporters of Lavalas more openly perceiving the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, known by its acronym MINUSTAH, as a biased political actor and occupying military force imposing a political solution at the behest of the international community.

Perceptions of the role of the international community and MINUSTAH in Haiti are further complicated by persistent accusations of their complicity in supporting the Haitian National Police (PNH) between 2004-2006 as they were documented committing human rights violations. These negative perceptions are further compounded by equally persistent allegations of the UN committing massacres in the community of Cite Soleil, long considered a bastion of support for Lavalas, between 2005 and 2006 under pressure from Haiti’s economic elite.

The ouster of Aristide and the Fanmi Lavalas party in Haiti on February 29, 2004 ushered in two years of rule by an interim regime under the protection of United Nations military and police forces. Lavalas means “flashflood” and its leaders, organizations and communities loudly opposed Aristide’s ouster thus representing a threat to the consolidation and stability of the Interim Government of Haiti (IGH). For this reason Lavalas, widely recognized as the most popular political movement in Haiti of the past decade, came under constant attack by the Haitian National Police (PNH) and UN security forces. Between 2004-2006 thousands of supporters of the Lavalas political movement and the Fanmi Lavalas political party were killed, jailed and forced into exile in what has been described as a systematic campaign of political extermination (Donais, 2005).

If we place current manifestations of large-scale violence in Haiti in this historical context, most recently over electoral fraud and the growing cholera epidemic reportedly brought into the country by UN troops, a cyclical pattern emerges that can be said to be symptomatic of larger unresolved factors in Haitian society. These factors include what renowned psychiatrist and trauma specialist Dr. Vamik Volkan (2006) has identified as transgenerational trauma resulting from periods of intense violence and oppression resembling what occurred in Haiti between 1991-1994 and again during 2004-2006. Volkan’s description of the specific form and context of societal conflict from which transgenerational trauma emerges is applicable to these two relatively recent periods in Haitian history. Volkan (2006) describes this form and context as,

When a massive trauma results from wars, war-like conditions or from existing devastating political systems, there is an identifiable enemy or oppressing group that has deliberately inflicted suffering and helplessness on its victims.

Conditions in Haiti during 1991-1994 and 2004-2006 closely resemble Volkan’s description of the context of massive trauma where there exists an “identifiable enemy or oppressing group that has deliberately inflicted suffering and helplessness.” The effects of this massive trauma on a specific group, as in the example of Lavalas in Haiti, results in what Volkan (2006) identifies as transgenerational trauma,

Such trauma affects the victimized society in ways that are different from those of natural or accidental disasters or unexpected loss of a leader. Sharing shame, humiliation, dehumanization and guilt, inability to be assertive, and identification with the oppressor complicate large-group mourning and this complication in turn becomes the main reason for the transgenerational transmission of trauma.

According to Staub, E. et al (2005), ending the cycle of violence that results from such conditions is dependent upon a process of healing and reconciliation,

For reconciliation to take place, perpetrators and members of the perpetrator group who may not have engaged in violence also need to heal. Often perpetrators have endured victimization or other traumatic experiences as part of the cycle of violence. Their unhealed wounds contribute to their actions. Sometimes past trauma has been fixed and maintained in collective memory (Bar–Tal, 2002; Staub&Bar–Tal, 2003); it has become a chosen trauma that continuously shapes group psychology and behavior. (Volkan, 1997, 1998)

From the countryside to the largest cities of Cap Haitien, Les Caye, and the capital of Port au Prince, the political violence of 2004-2006 inflicted lasting individual and collective trauma. For survivors in Haiti old enough to remember back then, it was reminiscent of the political persecution and violence directed against them by a brutal military regime from 1991-1994. During the military regime of Cedras and Francois, poor communities sympathetic to Lavalas and within the physical province of the capital such as Cite Soleil, Bel Air, Solino, and Martissant, bore the brunt of the repression. The Haitian National Police (PNH) largely repeated this pattern of attack during 2004-2006 even as the force was being supervised, armed and trained through the UN and funded by the international community.

Due to this key role played by the UN military and police in Haiti between 2004-2006, the approach of the UN Security Council and the international community has largely been to deny and avoid any discussion of victimization and transgenerational trauma that may have resulted. Taken as a whole, their approach can be viewed as a policy of expediency and avoidance in Haiti that places more emphasis on moving forward than a serious program to address past injustice and the underlying causes of cyclical political violence in Haitian society.

The most visible symbol of the unresolved and yet unhealed wounds from the period of 2004-2006 remains the exiled leader of the Fanmi Lavalas party, former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A nationalist leader and former liberation theology priest whose popularity in Haiti is still feared by the international community, Aristide is currently forced to live in exile in the Republic of South Africa. In the collective memory of the Lavalas movement, Aristide’s exile is a tangible and constant reminder of their victimization between 2004-2006 and the lack of reconciliation achieved by the United Nations and the international community since they took control of Haiti in 2004.

To fully grasp the impact and scope of the violent oppression faced by Aristide supporters and the mass trauma it generated in Haiti between 2004-2006, it’s important to understand the historical context of the Lavalas movement.¹

The Haitian people have experienced the joy and pain of two cycles of election victories by Haiti’s popular movement that were followed in both instances by sustained periods of massive human rights abuses and violence. The first of these cycles began when the popular movement of the poor effectively defeated the forces of the status quo by electing Aristide president on December 16, 1990. This was in turn answered with a brutal military coup launched on Sept. 30, 1991 and a repressive regime that clung to power through violence until the US was forced to intervene in 1994.

The conscious and collective power of millions of Haitians in the popular movement, later evolving into Lavalas, began after the fall of the corrupt and brutal regime of the Duvalier family in 1986 (Smarth, 1997). The departure of the regime unleashed the fury and anger of a brutalized and impoverished majority of Haitians that took the form of what was called the dechoukaj, or uprooting (Constable, 1992). This phenomenon was manifested throughout Haiti as a spontaneous violent rebellion where the impoverished population attacked anyone associated with the Duvalier dictatorship and its dreaded paramilitary attaches known as the Ton Ton Macoutes.

In the wake of the dechoukaj, Aristide and the Christian based communities called Ti Legliz or the Little Church, would rise to prominence and their political strength would ultimately capture the highest office in the land on behalf of the poor majority. That majority elected Aristide president on December 16, 1990 with 67% of the vote altering Haiti’s political landscape once and forever. This sense of collective power on behalf of the poor majority represented the first major step in the formation of the large-group identity of the Lavalas movement (Aristide, 1987).

Lavalas or the Flashflood represented a literal and symbolic flood of the poor meant to wash the country clean of Duvalierist corruption and the sway of a complicit and predatory wealthy elite. In many ways and for a great many Haitians it became a non-violent and reasonable alternative, through elections, to the spontaneous violence of dechoukaj. As Aristide himself once said to me in July 1991, “The poor of Lavalas are the subjects of our social revolution. On December 16, 1990, it was they who took power in Haiti.”

An elderly Haitian man I interviewed in front of Haiti’s presidential palace in July 1991 best illustrates the mass psychological change this represented. He summed it up best, “When I was a young man we didn’t even dare to look at the place for fear something bad would happen to us.” He stooped over turning his head towards the street and away from the building. “We would walk by like this,” he continued miming fear while forming blinders with his hands to cover his eyes. Suddenly the old man snapped his body upright and raised his hands towards the sky while focusing his gaze back on the building, “We are not afraid anymore. This place belongs to all of us now.” The importance of this psychological transformation from fear to empowerment in solidifying the large-group identity of the poor in Haiti cannot be overemphasized. Bayard de Volo (2006) describes what she calls the non-material benefits of such transformation,

First, the benefits are accrued in-process, as actors officially participate for some larger social goal. Second, they involve more sustained transformations in mental and emotional condition than is suggested by consumptive benefits. Third, they are relational, requiring that other actors recognize and help sustain such benefits. Finally, they can be central to actors' own understanding of why they continue to participate within a social movement organization.

The popular recollection of this period within the Lavalas movement is that for the first time Haiti’s poor felt they had a government in office that belonged to them even as the wealthy few began to plot with certain elements of the army, the police and the parliament to destroy it.

The military coup of 1991 and the aftermath of the controversial ouster of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004 have yielded the same results; prolonged periods of massive political violence in Haiti. In the first case the Haitian military, with the backing of Haiti’s wealthy elite, waged a stubborn campaign to violently eliminate resistance to their regime following the coup of 1991. The same can be said of the regime of Gerard Latortue following Aristide’s ouster in 2004 despite it having not only the backing of the wealthy elite but the added support of the international community and the United Nations. In both instances, thousands were killed, jailed and forced into exile. In describing the first coup, renowned physician and current UN Deputy Envoy to Haiti Paul Farmer (2004) wrote,

Declassified records now make it clear that the CIA and other US groups helped to create and fund a paramilitary group called FRAPH, which rose to prominence after a military coup that ousted Aristide in September 1991. Thousands of civilians were killed and hundreds of thousands fled overseas or across the border into the Dominican Republic.

The Haitian masses and the Lavalas movement would struggle for many years to overcome the losses of the 1991 coup and would finally regain their collective power by re-electing Aristide president again on Nov. 26, 2000. The forces of opposition would strike a second time by ousting Aristide in yet another coup four years later on Feb. 29, 2004. Although the context and circumstances of these two cycles of elections and corresponding coups in Haiti are markedly different, the brutal nature of the end result makes them all too similar. While the coup of 1991 was marked by a violent and immediate show of force by the Haitian military, the violence perpetrated against Lavalas and initiated by Aristide’s second ouster in 2004, escalated gradually as deep-seeded resistance to the takeover became more apparent.

On February 14, 2004 an armed paramilitary force invaded Haiti from the neighboring Dominican Republic to force the ouster of the democratically elected president of Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office. This invasion immediately followed the dwindling of protests by the “opposition” in Haiti demanding Aristide’s resignation.

Aristide’s ouster coincided with the destruction and disintegration of the Haitian police as it was constituted and organized under his government. A UN authorized force called the Multinational Interim Force or MIF, comprised of U.S. Marines, French Foreign Legion and Canadian Special Forces, exercised military authority in Haiti following Aristide’s departure.

Simultaneously, the governments of George W. Bush, Jacques Chirac and Paul Martin, respectively of the U.S., France and Canada, supported extra-constitutional procedures to install an unelected Interim Government of Haiti (IGH) led by former World Bank official and Florida television talk-show host, Gerard Latortue. The IGH was comprised primarily of individuals and elements that exhibited the greatest antagonism towards Aristide and the popular movement of the poor responsible for his election.

               The 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom) refused to recognize the

new government and demanded a UN inquiry into the events and circumstances of

Aristide’s ouster. They were soon joined by the 51 nations in the African Union that

fully supported both measures. On April 5, 2004 then Secretary of State Colin Powell

delivered the Bush administration’s immediate rejection stating at a press conference

in Haiti, “I don't think that any purpose would be served by such an inquiry."

The MIF collaborated closely with the IGH to create a new Haitian police force comprised of members of the former brutal military and Haitian death squads that had invaded from the neighboring Dominican Republic to force Aristide from office. Despite control of Haiti’s streets by the MIF and the new police force, thousands began taking to the streets to demonstrate against what they described as yet another coup in Haiti and to call for the return of Aristide. The demonstrations were met with violence on the part of the police backed by the MIF that resulted in the killing of unarmed demonstrators and brutal military assaults on entire communities. The extreme was realized when members of the community of Bel Air in the capital of Port au Prince accused the U.S. Marines of executing a campaign of wholesale slaughter against their community in an early morning raid on March 12, 2004.

The four months following Aristide’s ouster, especially October and November 2004, marked the first wave of violent repression against Haitians that supported Aristide and the Lavalas movement. A great many were killed, jailed or forced into exile while the lives of thousands more were disrupted by an atmosphere of uncertainty and terror. This was the human rights situation in Haiti when a United Nations peacekeeping mission replaced the MIF in June 2004.

Known as the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, or most commonly by its acronym MINUSTAH, the new force was led by the armies of Brazil, Argentina and Chile. They would come to play a similar role as the MIF in as much as they turned a blind eye to the extra-judicial slaughter met upon the population by the new Haitian police force. In response community members from the largest slums, that were the backbone of continuing massive demonstrations against the coup demanding Aristide’s return, began to take up arms and lead armed resistance against police incursions. They were immediately and opportunistically labeled everything from gangsters to bandits and at one point were said to be emulating Iraqi resistance that was waging war against U.S. troops in Iraq. Most of theses unfounded accusations came from partisan human rights organizations and Aristide opponents in the IGH and most were repeated uncritically in the international press.

All of this culminates in two events in which the United Nation’s forces, known by its acronym MINUSTAH, are accused by community members and local human rights organizations of having committed massacres of unarmed civilians. The first incident was July 6, 2005 where a U.N. military incursion is said to have resulted in between 20-25 deaths with scores more wounded in the seaside shantytown of Cite Soleil. The second occurred on December 22, 2006 under similar circumstance and with equally deadly results.

Psychologist Dan Bar-On (2005) writes the concept of reconciliation is “used extensively when conflict transformation is discussed” where,

Its introduction is usually based on the assumption that after a political settlement has been reached top-down, another bottom-up process should take place in which any unresolved issues of the conflict will be handled as well. It is assumed that without such a bottom-up complementary process, there is a real danger that the top down conflict settlement will not last and a new violent outbreak might follow.

The approach of the United Nations, and therefore most of internationally funded non-governmental organizations since 2004, has been to focus on community violence reduction programs from the top-down rather than reconciliation strategies from the bottom-up in Haiti. They justify avoiding open community dialogue of political violence against the Lavalas movement citing a heavily polarized and partisan political culture. The programs funded by the international community, including those that use the term reconciliation in describing their objectives, tend to focus on violence reduction through greater community involvement in civic education campaigns tied to reform of the Haitian National Police (PNH) and the courts. The problem is that these are the same institutions and authority that were responsible for violent repression and the jailing of Lavalas leaders and sympathizers between 2004-2006. When international policy makers and NGO programs have addressed violence during that period, they focus almost exclusively on the symptom of “gang related violence” rather than a frank discourse of the causes of the massive political violence remembered by communities throughout Haiti.

Violence intervention and reduction programs, sponsored by the United Nations and the international community, largely ignore the need for any public discourse of the role of transgenerational trauma in Haitian society. They have thus far been unwilling to acknowledge its impact because to address it would invite an inconvenient dialogue with communities in Haiti about Lavalas, Aristide and their role in Haitian sovereign affairs, particularly between 2004-2006. This is understandable given that most NGOs when asked will say that 2004 was the year Aristide had to flee the country because he became corrupt and lost the support of the Haitian people. If you ask a poor Haitian about 2004 a great many of them will tell you this was the year of the coup against Aristide and Lavalas.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2010) defines a coup as, “a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics; especially: the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group.” Aristide’s overthrow in 2004, regardless of the debate over it’s causes and origins, had the net effect of forcing from office more that 7000 officials that were elected in May 2000 (Maguire, 2002). That number does not include thousands more political appointees in federal and municipal levels of government who were also driven out of their positions under threat of violence and forced into hiding after February 29, 2004. This marked the beginning of a two-year period of intense demonization and criminalization of the Lavalas movement that was used to justify state-sanctioned violence against them often with the collaboration of UN military forces in Haiti.

As Kenyan novelist and theorist Ngugi wa Thiong'o (2009) eloquently pointed out in an article written for the UN Chronicle,

It is well known that both a person who perpetrates trauma and one who experiences it can often shut the trauma in a psychic tomb, acting as if it never happened. The recipient does not mourn the loss and the perpetrator does not acknowledge the crime, for you cannot mourn a loss or acknowledge a crime you deny. This can occur at a community level, where horror committed to a group is kept in a collective psychic tomb, its reception and perpetration, passed on in silence, which of course means that there is no real closure and the wound festers inside to haunt the future.

Until a mechanism is created to address transgenerational trauma resulting from violent oppression in Haiti, including acknowledgement of the role played by UN military and police forces between 2004-2006, it is not of question of if but when Haitians will once again erupt into violent political conflict.

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¹ The documentation of violent repression from that period is largely derived from my documentary video Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits and a large archive of unused raw footage of events and incidents from 2004-2006. All of the footage I shot served as source material for regular radio reports I filed from Haiti on Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio heard on KPFA in Berkeley, CA. In turn, I would use the same information to analyze and write about the situation in Haiti for the cyberzine Black Commentator and articles for the Haiti Information Project (HIP) published on HaitiAction.net.

Secret Struggle for Haiti: The Mafia vs. the CIA

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 03:16:00 +0000

Secret Struggle for Haiti: The Mafia vs. the CIA (1970)
(VIEW ORIGINAL PDF)

Synopsis: Important historical article exposing roots of US intelligence and low intensity warfare in Haiti. The article traces, including naming names, of CIA operatives and operations against Duvalier through the Kennedy and Johnson administrations that ended with Nixon's accommodation of the dictatorship.

Outsiders EXPECT burning tires in Haiti...not accurate reporting

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 10:55:00 +0000

Radio Caribes FM - Haiti

September 21, 2012 saw yet another in a series of large demonstrations across Haiti. The largest protests were registered in Cap Haitien and La Cayes, Haiti's second and third largest cities respectively, against what many protestors called "the corruption of the Martelly regime." Thousands took to the streets chanting slogans such as "Down with Martelly and the pink hunger," a clear reference to the color associated with the president's election campaign and his supporters. While Haitian news outlets such as Radio Caraibe, Radio Vision 2000 and Le Matin reported on the demonstrations, the only foreign news agencies to write about them appeared to be RFI and AlterPress.

AlterPress

On the same day, the new US Ambassador to Haiti, Pamela A. White, inaugurated her new personal twitter account @AmbPWhite. As news of the protests against Martelly began to spread throughout Haiti, Ambassador White tweeted her disapproval, "These demonstrations are SO unfortunate. Burning tires will not change a thing. They will turn off international business interests."

This was immediately followed by the US Ambassador's admonishment, "Outsiders EXPECT burning tires in Haiti. Let's not give them what they have learned to expect but a better way forward - like talking." Now exactly who White was referring to as "outsiders," given that she was only sworn into her post on July 18, remained unclear. That she seems to either be unaware or disingenuous, about the increasing evidence of growing corruption in the current Haitian government and the commiserate misery and hunger facing Haitians, was crystal clear. What she failed to acknowledge is that the thousands of Haitians protesting in the streets against corruption and hunger in Haiti were "talking" in the only way they felt possible even as she was dismissing them as merely "burning tires." They have been "talking" for several months now and no one in power seems to be listening to them especially Martelly and, apparently, the US Embassy.

More interesting was that not a single US news outlet filed a story in English on the demonstrations. Most conspicuously absent in their coverage was the The Miami Herald whose Caribbean correspondent, Jacqueline Charles, was busy tweeting about Haitian news of the protests throughout the morning despite claiming to be on vacation. Ironically, Charles had been among the first the same day to endorse Ambassador White's new twitter account with the now famous hash-tag #FF or Follow Friday. Ambassador White responded by heaping praise upon her for an article she recently wrote about a multimillion-dollar Haiti seaport project. The US Ambassador genuflected "@jacquiecharles wonderful piece in the Miami Herald, thank you for comprehensive reporting."

Unfortunately, Charles "comprehensive reporting" did not include a single word written for the The Miami Herald about the protests against Martelly rocking Haiti. Not a word published despite her clear knowledge of events including tweeting a picture of Martelly and the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti "at a new University outside O' Cap, where tires r burning."

To say that The Miami Herald was conspicuously absent in covering what has to be the largest protests against corruption in Haiti in recent memory is an understatement. This is especially true in light of The Miami Herald's zealous and extensive coverage of past political scandal and corruption allegedly involving former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Writing about government kickbacks in a telecommunications scandal in Haiti dating back to the early 2000s, The Miami Herald printed on July 10, "Aristide is not identified by name in the indictment. But defense attorneys say “Official B” referenced in the corruption indictment is indeed the ex-president." Reuters would later write of The Miami Herald's assertion, "A lawyer for Aristide vehemently denied the allegation, which could not be independently confirmed." Without a shred of evidence, The Miami Herald would then go so far as to try to connect Aristide to the assassination of the father of one of the defendants in the case, "He was assassinated just days after The Miami Herald reported in March that the son was cooperating with the Justice Department in a related kickback probe into deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide." Yes, The Miami Herald is well-known for its own brand of "comprehensive reporting" about corruption in Haiti.

With all the great interest and attention The Miami Herald paid to past corruption cases in Haiti, would it be too much to expect they might ink something, anything, about recent large anti-corruption protests in the country? Apparently not when the US Ambassador is obsessed with burning tires harming Haiti's image with foreign investors or when demonstrators are targeting Martelly and his cronies.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/10/2890083/ex-haiti-official-sentenced-to.html#storylink=cpy

Martelly stacking the deck for the next elections in Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 02:11:00 +0000

Martelly stacking the deck for the next elections in Haiti

Kevin Pina interviews Haitian political analyst Frantz Jerome on the details of just how Michel Martelly, aka Sweet Mickey, has stacked the new Permanent Election Council (CEP) in his favor before the next round of balloting in Haiti.

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Tribute to missing human rights activist in Haiti: Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 05:58:00 +0000

Flashpoints recognizes and pays tribute to missing human rights activist in Haiti: Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine. August 12th marked the five year anniversary of his kidnapping and disappearance. Kevin Pina interviews Haitian grassroots activist Jocelyn Gaye in NY for more about the life of Lovinsky.

(PLAY PROGRAM)

Son of Dr. Louis Roy, "Father of Haiti's 1987 constitution", condemns new amendments

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 03:35:00 +0000

Kevin Pina interviews Sebastien Roy, the son of "the father of Haiti's constitution" for Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio. Segment first aired on July 2, 2012.

Haiti's new "Constitutional Amendments" re-establishes Laws arbitrarily limiting the basic rights and liberties of citizens

Haiti's President Martelly recently published a french-language Decree putting in "force" a lenghty and troubling series of Amendments to the country's 1987 Constitution (all the while disregarding the legal and still in force 1987 Creole version)

Amongst these amendments is the abrogation of article 297 of the 1987 Constitution, which repealed all arbitrary Laws and Decrees adopted during the infamous and bloody Duvalier dictatorship. This article had taken the pains to single out 4 specific and notorioulsy arbitrary and discriminatory laws that had marked Haiti's social and political history.

1987 Constitution: ARTICLE 297:All laws, all decree laws, all decrees arbitrarily limiting the basic rights and liberties of citizens, in particular:

a. The decree law of September 5, 1935 on supertitious beliefs; (thereby banning Vaudou once again)

b. The law of August 2, 1977 establishing the Court of State Security (Tribunal de la Sureté de l'État).

c. The law of July 28, 1975 placing the lands of the Artibonite Valley in a special status; (thereby negating the fledging national efforts at agrarian reform)

d. The law of April 29, 1969 condemning all imported doctrines; (thereby attacking freedom of thought and expression, political association of freedom of association)

Are and shall remain repealed.

Through this specific amendment to the 1987 Constitution, The Martelly-Lamothe Government has thereby legally re-instituted all these Laws.

It may be of interest to examine the consequence of the re-establishment of just one of these Laws, the law of April 29, 1969 condemning all imported doctrines, and it's vigourous condemnation done at the time by the Inter-Commission of Human Rights of the Organization of American States (7 sept. 1988):

RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF INVESTIGATION, OPINION, EXPRESSION AND DISSEMINATION OF IDEAS, AND RIGHT TO RELIGIOUSFREEDOM AND FREEDOM OF WORSHIP

The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man

Article III:Every person has the right freely to profess a religious faith and to manifest and practice it both in public and private.

Article IV:Every person has the right to freedom of investigation, of opinion, and of the expression and dissemination of ideas, by any medium whatsoever.

1 A. Freedom of investigation, opinion, expression and dissemination

1. Article 26 of the 1957 Constitution sets forth the right to freedom of expression in the following terms:

Everyone has the right to express his opinion on any matter and in any means within his power. The expression of thought, whatever form it takes, may not be subject to prior censorship except when a state of war has been declared.

Abuses of the right to freedom of speech shall be defined and punished by law, but this shall not infringe upon the right of the freedom of speech. The underlined phrase was deleted from the 1964/1971 text currently in force (Article 26).

Current Haitian legislation contains a number of legal provisions that place considerable restrictions on the freedom of speech. The most important of these is Duvalier's Law of April 28, 1969:

Article 1. Communist activities, no matter what their form, are hereby declared crimes against the security of the State: all verbal or written, public or private expressions of communist teaching; all propagation of communist or anarchist doctrine by lectures, speeches, conversations, reading, public or private meetings; by tracts, placards, periodicals, newspaper articles, brochures, books, pictures, all written correspondence or verbal contact with local or foreign associations, or with persons involved in spreading communist or anarchist ideas, and receiving, collecting or providing funds directly or indirectly for the propagation of such ideas;

Article 2. All those, in whatever capacity: bookseller; owner or manager of a printing establishment; owner, manager or lessor of public or private meeting halls; owner, lessor or lessee of residences, religious minister, missionary, preacher, professor, primary school teacher, etc., who may have suggested or facilitated execution of such crimes, or harbored or given assistance to the authors of those crimes shall be declared guilty of the very same crimes;

Article 3. Individuals prosecuted under Articles 1 and 2 of the present law shall be tried before a permanent military court martial proceeding;

Article 4.The authors of an accomplices in crimes listed above shall receive the death penalty, and their goods and chattels shall be confiscated and sold for the benefit of the State;

Article 5. All individuals seized in flagrante delicto engaged in anarchist or terrorist activities are declared outlaws;

Article 6. The present law repeals all laws or provisions of laws, all decrees or provisions of decrees, all decree-laws or provisions of decree-laws that are contrary to it, and it shall be diligently executed by the State Secretaries for the Interior, Defense and/or Justice, as appropriate.

Done in the Legislature, Port-au-Prince, this 28th day of April 1969, in the 166th year of Independence.

*****

The above provisions punish the mere expression of certain ideas or the mere profession, even in private, of certain articles of political belief by the death penalty. No specific action against the duly constituted powers of the state nor the creation of a danger for those powers is needed to make it a crime. Secondly, there is no specific legal definition of the ideologies condemned by this law.

In short, the very broad principle of power granted under Article 2 can only serve as a brake or obstacle to free expression and dissemination of ideas in general. The same latitude is found in the decree of August 6, 1958 which punishes with imprisonment “authors and propagators of false information and rumors that could disturb the peace.”

The dissemination of ideas by the broadcast media or written press is regulated, in addition to the aforementioned provisions, by a decree-law of June 13, 1950 and by a decree of August 26, 1957

The former decree-law imposes fines and prison on the press for insulting or libeling the President of the Republic, but the truth of the allegation may not be used as a defense (Articles 7 and 13). The second decree takes up the theme of the earlier decree, and calls for additional sentences for authors of “designs, engravings, pictures, writings or any other mode of expression of though (which) is intended to undermine the authority of one or more members of the constituent bodies of the State” (Articles 2 and 3).

Jean-Sebastien Roy
Tel: (809) 359-6085 / (809)685-7431 Republique Dominicaine
(509) 3862-8237 Haiti

Prime Minister's disconnect with the poor in Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:11:00 +0000

This article shows the US has circumvented Haiti's constitution a second time to manipulate the political landscape to install candidates of their choosing, not the Haitian people.

The first time was prior to the second round of presidential elections in June 2010 when the US and their allies in the "international community" intervened to allow the comic musician known for dancing naked on stage, Michel Martelly, to run against Mirlande Manigat.

Martelly's regime has been steeped in controversy since he won the elections with less than 14% of ballots cast by the overall electorate in one of the lowest voter turnouts in Haitian history. Martelly has since provided protection to former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier from prosecution for human rights violations. Recently, one of Latin America's most respected journalists, Nuria Piera, revealed that Martelly personally received more than $2.5 million in bribes for providing non-bid reconstruction contracts to companies in the Dominican Republic.

Now, Bill Clinton and the US Embassy flaunt Haiti's sovereignty yet again by openly pressuring parliament to accept controversial businessman Laurent Lamothe as prime minister despite his not meeting eligibility requirements.

According to Top Billing Magazine, Laurent Lamothe was born in Miami, Florida and moved in 2007 to Cape Town, South Africa with his wife Jenny and their two children. Based on Lamothe's own admission to the author of this article, he is not a Haitian citizen.

What is also on display in this article is the lavish lifestyle Lamothe is accustomed to living despite being foisted upon a country where the average citizen earns less than $2 per day. It is nothing less than a recipe for disaster in a country known for its Morally Repugnant Elite or MREs supported politically by a relatively well-off and conservative American expatriate community. Both of these sectors continue to enforce a system akin to apartheid in Haiti where the chasm between the haves and the have-nots continues to widen.

ARTICLE 157: To be appointed Prime Minister, a person must: 1. Be a native-born Haitian, and never have renounced Haitian nationality; 2. Have attained thirty (30) years of age; 3. Enjoy civil and political rights and never have been sentenced to death, personal restraint or penal servitude or the loss of civil rights; 4. Own real property in Haiti and practice a profession there; 5. Have resided in the county for five (5) consecutive years; 6. Have been relieved of his responsibilities if he has been handling public fund National Magazine says Laurent Lamothe not Born in Haiti

UN Liberating Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:34:00 +0000

Resistance against the UN military occupation of Haiti has continued to grow and gain more attention over the past few years. In this article, published in the scholastic journal Mute magazine in 2006, Kevin Pina traces the roots of this resistance to the US-backed coup that ousted Aristide on February 29, 2004.

HAITI ARCHIVES: The CIA & police training scandal in Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:49:00 +0000

Editor's Note: On occasion we re-publish articles that are important to the historical and public record, especially when they are difficult to find. After reading this article you may not be surprised it has all but disappeared from the Internet. We would like to thank the author Sam Skolnick for his kind permission to republish his article on the Haiti Information Project (HIP) blog.

March 1, 1999

EX-DOJ OFFICIAL CLAIMS BID TO KEEP CIA OUT OF POLICE TRAINING

PROGRAM COST HER A JOB


By Sam Skolnik

The former director of the Justice Department program that trains foreign

police officers has alleged that she was forced from her post after raising

concerns that department officials refused to protect her office's law

enforcement mission from possible CIA encroachment.


Janice Stromsem, until last month director of the International Criminal

Investigative Training Assistance Program, has filed a grievance with the

department's equal employment opportunity office, claiming that her efforts

to implement a policy preventing ICITAP's staff from engaging in

intelligence activities resulted in her ultimately being removed from her

job.


The ICITAP program has spawned several complaints from disgruntled

employees. But the issues raised by Stromsem are especially sensitive, given

Cold War- era concerns about keeping domestic law enforcement free of

international espionage.


That historic divide is a flashpoint at ICITAP, a 13-year-old program whose

staffers work to win trust among newly emerging, often unstable

democracies many of which have been of great interest to American

intelligence in the past.


The line between law enforcement and intelligence has been blurring in

recent years, causing tensions among U.S. government agencies. The most

recent: allegations that U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq were working in

concert with the CIA.


Stromsem filed her EEO action in December 1998, but the underlying incident

at the heart of her grievance dates back to 1996.


That year, she claims, her efforts to implement a policy walling ICITAP

staffers off from intelligence-gathering activities was rejected by Mark

Richard, a powerful career attorney in the department's Criminal Division.

In the fall of 1998, Stromsem claims, she was contacted about the matter by

the office of Inspector General Michael Bromwich, which has been probing a

series of allegations of misconduct at ICITAP and its sister office, the

Office of Professional Development and Training (OPDAT), which trains

foreign prosecutors. Stromsem told Bromwich about the aborted

anti-intelligence policy, and provided documents to back her claim,

according to her attorney, Irving Kator of D.C.'s Kator, Scott & Parks.


Following that contact, Bromwich called in Richard, according to Kator. Soon

after that meeting, Stromsem was told she would be leaving ICITAP, Kator

contends.


HOLDER DENIES CONNECTION


In an interview late last week, Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said

that there was no cause and effect involved in Stromsem's departure from the

ICITAP program.


"Bottom line, there was no linkage between the IG investigation and Janice

Stromsem's removal, " Holder says.


Asked the department's view on whether programs like ICITAP should ever be

open to intelligence agency participation, Holder says: "We cannot comment

on intelligence activities regarding ICITAP , no matter how unfounded the

allegations might be. We reaffirm the exclusive mission of ICITAP is

international training and nation building."


Stromsem, now an official at the Global Bureau of the U.S. Agency for

International Development (AID), and Richard both decline comment.


A CIA spokeswoman also declines comment.


One U.S. government official, who asks not to be identified, says that "the

CIA is not in any way involved in ICITAP . If you were to report that, you

would be wrong."


RECRUITING IN HAITI


Stromsem is not the only one who has voiced concerns that intelligence

agents have sought to infiltrate ICITAP, a $25 million operation with some

40 staffers fanned out across the Caribbean, Latin America, the former

Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe.


According to four former ICITAP staffers and one State Department official,

the CIA has from time to time sought to recruit staffers, contractors, and

trainees affiliated with the program in countries such as Haiti and El

Salvador, where ICITAP has trained thousands of police officers.


One former ICITAP contractor in Haiti says bluntly that he and other

instructors were informed by students "that they were solicited by U.S.

intelligence services."


Charles Allen, a legal adviser to the Richardson, Texas, police department

who worked for ICITAP in 1995, says the practice, in which intelligence

agents would approach the students during off hours and weekends to try to

recruit them, "was wrong."


"When we went to Haiti, we went with the understanding that the country had

never had a democratic government or civilian police force, " says Allen.

Intelligence recruiting was "not good for those cadets, not good for Haiti,

and not good for the program. We were to make civilian police out of them,

not spies."


Further, The Nation magazine reported in February 1996 that the CIA had

placed agents in the Haitian National Police, which was rebuilt after the

1994 U.S. invasion and the installment of Washington-backed ruler Jean-

Bertrand Aristide. The magazine reported that those CIA recruitments took

place during ICITAP training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.


There was no specific ICITAP policy in place to prevent them from doing so.


In late 1995, Stromsem decided to write a policy that would set in stone

what had been an unwritten rule prohibiting ICITAP staffers from

communicating with agents of the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, or

any other covert intelligence gathering group.


"It is critical for the credibility of the program and for the legitimacy of

U.S. Government efforts in overseas police reform that ICITAP personnel and

contractors be exclusively dedicated to fulfilling ICITAP's mission goals

and objectives, " states the executive summary of the proposal, a copy of

which was obtained by Legal Times. "It is manifestly evident that any

connection between representatives of ICITAP and any internal intelligence

gathering organization would be detrimental to our mission, and would be an

especially sensitive issue with many countries with which we expect to be

dealing in the future."


The proposal also contended that the Foreign Assistance Act of 1960

specifies that no foreign aid money can be used to provide assistance to

U.S. intelligence agencies.


Though it is a Justice Department program, ICITAP receives most of its funds

from the State Department_i.e., from foreign assistance money.


PROPOSAL REJECTED


Stromsem presented the proposed initiative to Richard in March 1996,

according to internal DOJ memorandums.


But Richard, then Stromsem's supervisor, wrote to her on April 25, 1996,

saying, "I have serious concerns about this statement and do not want to see

it moved on without further discussions, " according to an internal DOJ

document.


Richard's decision to nix the proposal was firmed up in a meeting the

following day, according to two participants in the meeting, which included

Richard, Stromsem, and at least three other Criminal Division officials.


Richard said he did not want to preclude putting ICITAP resources at the

disposal of intelligence agencies_including the CIA_when needed, according

to the two participants, who asked not to be named.


In a Jan. 7, 1999, letter to Deputy Attorney General Holder, Stromsem's

attorney wrote that " Stromsem was surprised when Mark Richard . . . refused

to approve the memo. Consequently, the directive was never transmitted to

ICITAP staff and the issue of the use of ICITAP employees for intelligence

work was never dealt with directly."


Kator claims that despite Stromsem's positive job appraisals, Richard forced

her out of ICITAP after four years at its helm, denied her a raise she is

owed, and bad-mouthed her to potential new employers.


Kator says he has received no reply to his letter to Holder. A senior

Justice official says that Holder did respond to Kator in January, adding

that the letter was forwarded to the IG, in accordance with standard

procedure.


Bromwich is apparently interested in probing the question of alleged CIA

involvement in ICITAP, according to two government officials who have been

questioned by the inspector general's office. The officials say his

investigators first raised the issue with them.


Paul Martin, a spokesman for the inspector general, declines comment on the

status of the investigation.


STROMSEM INVESTIGATED


Stromsem_who Kator says will also likely file a whistleblower complaint soon

at the Office of Special Counsel_may herself be a target of the IG's

inquiry.


Although no actions have been taken against her as a result of the wide-

ranging ICITAP probe, Stromsem, according to three Justice officials

familiar with the matter, may be under investigation for relatively minor

allegations of workplace harassment and other charges.


(Stemming largely from the complaints of a pair of whistleblowers, the

inquiry has grown significantly in the last two years and involves

allegations ranging from security breaches to contracting abuses to visa

fraud to hiring irregularities and workplace harassment. (See "Blowing

Whistles at DOJ, " Sept. 21, 1998, Page 2.) The investigation was first

reported by Insight, a weekly news magazine published by The Washington

Times Corp., in September 1997.)


Stromsem does have at least one high-powered backer, however. Sen. Edward

Kennedy (D-Mass.) wrote Holder on Jan. 19, urging him to take the necessary

steps to ensure that Stromsem is treated fairly.


And at least one official at the State Department supports many of

Stromsem's claims.


"As much as we wanted her to continue on as ICITAP director, it was clear

they were making life difficult for her at Justice, " says the official, who

asks not to be named. "Jan has the complete and absolute confidence of the

State Department and AID."


POLICY DEBATED


Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, a civil

liberties group, says Richard and other higher-ups at Justice may have

concluded that in the larger national interests of fighting terrorism and

international drug smuggling, it is necessary to keep open the option of

allowing the CIA into programs that on their face have nothing to do with

intelligence gathering.


But Martin warns that there can be "all sorts of terrible effects" when

intelligence agencies are allowed to recruit in programs like ICITAP.


"It can be positively detrimental to the rule of law in countries that for

the first time are trying to build their own intelligence agencies and do

away with the legacies of secret police, " Martin says. She adds that the

suspicion of CIA involvement "is best addressed by the U.S. government being

forthright. It's best to draw a bright line."


Two former ICITAP staffers, who ask not to be identified, concur.


"I didn't sign up to work for the CIA, " says one former staffer. Richard's

decision to reject the intelligence policy "conceptually subverted the need

for an ICITAP."


Former intelligence community officials say, however, that if the CIA has

attempted to gather intelligence or recruit agents through ICITAP, it likely

had good reasons to do so.


Stewart Baker, general counsel of the National Security Agency from 1992 to

1994, says that it's generally not unhealthy for law enforcement and the

intelligence community to be working more closely.


"That's a Cold War notion, that intelligence gathering is dark and dirty,

and law enforcement is just about catching crooks. That world is gone, "

says Baker, a partner at D.C.'s Steptoe & Johnson.


Jeffrey Smith, general counsel of the CIA from 1995 to 1996, and his

predecessor, Elizabeth Rindskopf, decline comment on the allegations

surrounding ICITAP.


But they note that they worked with the general counsel of the Peace Corps

to ensure adherence to the corps' rigid policy of walling off CIA contacts.

(Stromsem used the Peace Corps model in developing her policy proposal,

according to one ex-ICITAP employee.)


Regarding the Peace Corps, "We bent over backwards there to make sure we

were very correct, " says Rindskopf, who is of counsel at the D.C. office of

St. Louis' Bryan Cave. "It seems to me to be the wise policy."


RICHARD CLOSE TO RENO, CIA


Whatever the propriety of the policy or lack thereof, there is little

question that Stromsem's allegations are having an impact at the

department_in no small part because they involve one of its most powerful

and important behind-the-scenes players.


Richard has several adamant defenders, both inside and outside the

department. Even members of the civil liberties community say he is a smart

and honorable prosecutor.


Richard, a Brooklyn native who has spent more than 30 years at the

department, reportedly has the ear of Attorney General Janet Reno.


"Mark Richard has been a longtime official of DOJ, " says Holder. "I've

known him for 23 years. He's a totally dedicated, selfless public servant."


He also has friends in the intelligence community. In fact, he is regarded

as one of Justice's top experts on intelligence, having co-written a report

with Rindskopf, the former CIA general counsel, in May 1995 on improving

ties between Main Justice and the CIA.


Some of his detractors at the department say quietly that Richard carries

the water at Justice for the Langley spymasters.


But Smith, the former CIA general counsel, disagrees.


"Believe me, when I was out there, he took some skin off my back, " says

Smith, now a partner at D.C.'s Arnold & Porter. "He has no problem sticking

up for the Justice Department."


RICHARD'S DUTIES CHANGE


Richard is recovering from lung surgery and is now working part time; his

supervisors expect him to resume full-time duties before too long. But his

portfolio has changed. According to an internal department memo dated Jan.

26, Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General James Robinson has assumed

direct oversight responsibility over ICITAP and OPDAT_taking them away from

Richard. The Jan. 26 memo came less than three weeks after Kator's letter

landed on Eric Holder's desk.


Richard Rossman, chief of staff to AAG Robinson, says Stromsem's departure

from ICITAP and Richard's removal from the program's oversight are not

related to the IG investigation.


"I can assure you that the IG investigation had nothing to do with these

decisions, " says Rossman. "That, I'm adamant about."


Robinson, Rossman says, is interested in education programs, having served

as dean at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit before coming to

Justice, and came up with the idea of taking charge of the policing programs

on his own.


What's more, says Rossman, "the whole international training thing is

mushrooming into an important part of what we do here."


In fact, international police training long predates the appearance of

ICITAP in 1986. And there may be some cautionary lessons there for the

department.


In 1962, Congress created the Office of Public Safety as an adjunct to AID

to formally incorporate police assistance into foreign aid programs.


In 1974, Congress terminated that program amid charges that U.S. trainers

condoned the use of police brutality and torture_and were too closely

identified with the CIA.

Experts: History of campaign to discredit Aristide

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 05:37:00 +0000

Flashpoints Senior Producer Kevin Pina interviews Burt Wides, an expert on US intelligence operations in Haiti. Joining the discussion is former president Aristide's attorney, Ira Kurzban, about recent "revelations" in the press linking him to drug probes, assassinations and corruption. .

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Burt Wides has worked on national security policy issues for more than four decades, serving as chief counsel to Senator Philip Hart, Senator Edward Kennedy, and Senator Paul Sarbanes; as Special Counsel to President Jimmy Carter; and as senior counsel to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers. Among other responsibilities held during that time, he was chief of investigations for the Church Committee, which set the standard for modern-day oversight of the intelligence community, and then was director of the President's Intelligence Oversight Board. He began his government career by working on strategic weapons planning in the Office of the Secretary of Defense during the Kennedy Administration, and he also has represented a variety of high-profile clients on controversial matters as an attorney in private practice.

IRA J. KURZBAN is a partner in the law firm of Kurzban, Kurzban, Weinger & Tetzeli, P.A., of Miami, Florida. Ira Kurzban, has argued several cases in the United States Supreme Court and has been recognized by Newsweek, Time and Esquire Magazines, as well as the National Law Journal and the American Lawyer for his work on behalf of immigrants and refugees. He is the author of Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook, the most widely used one-volume immigration source in the United States.

Jean Ristil: The People's Journalist of Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:17:00 +0000

RIP Jean Ristil

December 12, 1981 - February 25, 2012

Jean Ristil: The People's Journalist of Haiti

by Kevin Pina

I'm sure we all know someone that works tirelessly on behalf of their convictions never caring much about recognition as others around them receive the attention, credibility and accolades. Jean Ristil was exactly that kind of unique soul who cared less about his own recognition than what others were actually doing for his community and his people. Although Jean Ristil was no stranger to being marginalized by those who felt more entitled, it didn't matter to him because in the end talk was cheap and life was more precious. Growing up and living in Cite Soleil in Haiti, Jean knew never to judge anyone, Haitian or foreigner, by what they said or claimed but by what they actually did for others.

Jean Ristil was a people's journalist, unafraid to take chances to show the world the truth about Haiti and Cite Soleil. During the dark days of repression and murder against Lavalas supporters between 2004-2006, we were part of a team that formed an underground network to collect and distribute information from the grassroots in Haiti to the rest of the world.

Jean Ristil was one of the most courageous people I've ever known. When no one else would dare to report on police raids and indiscriminate killings in neighborhoods like Cite de Dieu, Cite Militaire and Bel Air, Jean Ristil would pack his camera and run, not walk, to get the photographic evidence. He knew that since the corporate media and human rights organizations had turned a blind eye to Haiti, in the end all the world would ever see was the photographic evidence we provided of the killings.

Jean Ristil also watched my back on countless occasions while I was videotaping massive Lavalas protests during this period where the police would simply start shooting at people randomly to sow terror. When the US Marines or the UN troops moved against him I would intervene and when the Haitian police came against me he would come to my aid sometimes telling them I was a "stupid blan reporter who didn't know any better." I remember one time it was clear that one particular Haitian SWAT officer knew exactly who I was and what I was doing when Jean played the "stupid blan" card. The SWAT cop lifted his black ski mask to look closely at the press badges hanging from our necks then smiled and waved us on saying, "I know who you two are. Get out of here." To this day I like to think there was a begrudging tone of respect in that policeman's response for the loyalty Jean and I regularly showed each other in the field.

Jean Ristil was an organic intellectual with nerves of steel. I remember a conversation Jean and I had in June 2005 one month before the UN massacre he documented in Cite Soleil. We were discussing what to do about the injured and dying shot by the UN and the Haitian police we were confronting on a daily basis. Was it better to help them if we could or to stay detached to document what was going on. It was a painful discussion with both of us changing sides and positions many times. In the end we decided that if we thought we could actually help save a life we would, but that if someone was clearly dying of their wounds we would be honoring them more if we documented their death. Our thinking was that no one would ever know these people in the poor neighborhoods of Haiti had ever lived save for our documenting their deaths for the world. A month later during the UN raid in his community of Cite Soleil on July 6, 2005, Jean would be put to the test. As Leonce Chery lay dying of a single shot to his jaw from a high-powered rifle, Jean stayed with him until the end. It took seven minutes for Leonce to bleed out and die and Jean captured every second of his excruciating death on camera. Yes, Jean Ristil was a courageous soul who didn't suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome but learned to live with acute traumatic stress in his everyday existence in Cite Soleil. His was a soul and personality of iron.

On September 9, 2005, Jean Ristil would once again jump into the breach. It was already a strange day when I received a frantic phone call from Jean saying that the police were searching Father Gerard Jean-Juste's residence at St. Claire's church in Ti Place Cazeau. Jean-Juste was being held in prison and Jean Ristil was convinced the police were going to try to plant guns in the church to justify his arrest. "Pina, you've got to come now!" he yelled over the telephone. Jean was waiting for me as I arrived and followed me as I jumped a fence and began filming the police searching Jean-Juste's bedroom. A judge accompanied by several large police wearing black ski masks grabbed my arm and tried to take my camera calling me a "White Lavalas Bandit!" I quickly spun to protect my camera yelling "I have the right to film!" as the judge's own momentum sent him flying to the floor in a heap. I yelled to Jean to leave as the police rushed me. The judge, in a screaming and spitting fury, ordered me arrested on the spot. Jean Ristil was out in front of the church videotaping as they escorted me out in handcuffs. Suddenly the judge turns to one of the masked policemen and tells them, "Take this one too. He's with the blan" and now both of us are handcuffed and thrown into the back of a jeep. Jean Ristil spent two days in jail thinking they would keep him longer because he was Haitian and let me go because I had a US passport. When it turned out they let him go a day earlier and the judge ordered me to stay behind bars "until I decide your fate for disrespecting me," Jean Ristil said to me as he left the jail, "Don't worry. You're Haitian now, we'll make sure nothing happens to you."

Kevin Pina and Jean Ristil behind bars in Haiti on September 10, 2005.

For all of his time spent documenting suffering and death, Jean Ristil refused to let it define him. Jean celebrated life in the present and had a clear vision of the life he wanted for the children of Cite Soleil in the future. I remember when Jean Ristil founded the organization Kole Zepòl Sove Ti Moun, Cite Soleil to help orphaned children in his community. Jean said he didn't want foreigners to come in and take the children out of their community to put them on display in their orphanage to raise money for their projects. Neither did he want them to end up as part of the scandalous system of adoption in Haiti that he saw as tantamount to human trafficking. No, Jean Ristil's idea was far simpler and direct. If you really wanted to support Haiti and Cite Soleil than support local families to adopt the orphans in the community. Support them to improve their lives even as they open their arms and hearts to children in their community left parent-less largely due to structural and state-sponsored violence. It was a unique and creative approach that is an example of the way Jean Ristil approached problems in Cite Soleil and in Haiti, with a clear sense of history.

Jean Ristil was that rare person that serves as a bridge between grassroots activism and journalism in the world. Yes, he was truly the people's journalist of Haiti but what others said or didn't say about his work didn't seem to matter as much to Jean Ristil as it does to others. In the end, the only thing that seemed to really matter to Jean was what he was going to do next for his community and for Haiti.

"Dirty dancing" Martelly seen as "unpresidential"

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:42:00 +0000

Video released purporting homophobic "dirty dancing" parody performed by president Michel Martelly during recent carnaval in Les Cayes

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The same day prime minister Garry Conille resigns as prime minister of Haiti a controversial video surfaces purportedly from the recent Haitian carnival celebrations held in the southern city of Les Cayes. The video shows current Haitian president Michel Martelly performing a "dirty dance" routine with another man intended to mock homosexuals. At one point the president says "your afraid of my d**k, let me give it to you." The president of Haiti continues the routine to the clear disbelief of many in the audience. He ends the fiasco with "I didn't want to f**k you anyway because your ass is too boney."

Most Haitians, including Martelly supporters that have watched the video circulating on YouTube, have reacted with embarrassment and dismay. "This can only make us look worse in the eyes of others. No matter what, he is supposed to respect the fact that he is the president of Haiti," responded 26 year-old Martine Lescot from New York who describes herself as a Martelly supporter.

The timing of the video is seen as damaging to Martelly as it comes on the heels of the resignation of Conille who openly disagreed with the president over cooperating with a parliamentary investigation into his nationality.

DOC: Uprooting the Ton Ton Macoutes in Haiti/dechoukaj VSN

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:06:00 +0000

A must see documentary to understand the depth of the betrayal of the Haitian people by Michel "Sweet Mickey" Martelly as he rehabilitates and defends Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.

An excellent but roughly edited documentary film covering the bloody legacy of the Duvalier family in Haiti.

1. Documentaire réalisé en 1986 par les frères Denis (Haïti)

Images inédites, le nec plus ultra des reportages réalisés à l'époque.

Who's protecting Duvalier from prosecution for rights abuses in Haiti?

noreply@blogger.com (Haiti Information Project (HIP)) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:55:00 +0000

Former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier is greeted by former
president and UN Special Envoy to Haiti Bill Clinton at a commemoration
for earthquake victims on January 12, 2012.

Margaret Prescod interviews Kevin Pina about charges of human rights abuses being dropped against former dictator of Haiti Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. Pina also discusses the role of Clinton and actor Sean Penn in providing legitimacy to the current government of Michel Martelly even as it seeks to rehabilitate Duvalier and protect him from prosecution.

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