Actualité - Lame Ti Manchèt Accused of Role in Murder of Photographer Haiti Struggles to Defend Justice

Residents of Martissant, a sprawling poor section along the southern part of Port-au-Prince, have accused Lame Ti Manchèt (the Little Machete Army), a civilian vigilante group, of having a role in the killing of freelance photojournalist Jean-Rémy Badio on January 19 2006. According to SOS Journalistes, of which Badio was a member, he was assassinated after taking photos of the killers. They state that his family received multiple death threats. Agence Haitïenne de Presse (AHP) reports that according to Badio's close friends the victim had been the object of death threats from members of the vigilante group "the Little Machete Army" and that "residents of Martissant accuse the Little Machete Army of committing most of the killings in the area".

An early press release put out by the Paris based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) attempted to place the blame for the murder on not only Lame Ti Manchèt but also another group known as Baz Gran Ravine which has no reported involvement in the killing. RSF's Directrice générale in Canada Emily Jacquard wrote, "Two armed gangs - Lame Ti Manchèt (Little Machete Army) and Baz Gran Ravin (Big Ravine Base) - have been fighting for the control of Martissant for the past two years".

The report, without mentioning the resident's charges against Lame Ti Manchèt for having a role in the murder of Badio, also failed to mention that the overwhelming amount of documented political killings in Martissant over the last two years have been conducted by Lame Ti Manchèt, this includes a massacre of 21 people, the burning down of 300 homes 7/9/06, and a massacre carried out jointly with the Haitian police at a USAID sponsored soccer tournament 8/20/05. In contrast to massive evidence showing violent rampages by Lame Ti Manchèt, people on the ground in Martissant consistently explain that since 2004 the Baz Gran Ravin (Big Ravine Base) has served as a self-defense grouping.

Soon after the 2004 coup it is believed that Lame Ti Manchèt came into existence under the tutelage of the illegal Latortue regime whose mission was to "eliminate people hostile to the interim regime". (AHP 1/23/07) A young journalist Abdias Jean was executed, with a bullet in his head, by police of the interim government in January of 2005. RSF and other groups seen as partial to Haiti's interim authorities failed to report on the killing.

According to reports from AUMOHD, a human rights group active in Martisant, the 2006 massacre conducted by Lame Ti Manchèt "was meant as a smoke screen to provoke Baz Gran Ravine into a retaliation and thereby distract from the push to get police and civilians involved with Lame Ti Manchèt into jail. AUMOHD'S community human rights council (CHRC) coordinator, Esterne Bruner, was assassinated by Lame Ti Manchèt 9/21/06. But there has not been any retaliation reported. Instead the CHRC, non-violent and non-partisan, continues to prosecute all the killings".

The Institute for Justice and Democracy (IJDH) in Haiti observes, "The Little Machete Army will keep going until someone stops them. They carried out the August 2005 soccer game massacre with the help of police, and right near a MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) observation post. Then they struck again the next day, burning house after house. They did a series of attacks in the summer of 2006. But neither MINUSTAH nor the PNH will go in and arrest the leaders."

Footage from the August 2005 soccer game massacre appeared in New York Times author Walt Bogdanich's documentary "Haiti: Democracy Undone". It shows well equiped police officers, with Lame Ti Manchèt serving as police attaches, running into a screaming crowd.

Under international pressure from human rights groups, the PNH with the assistance of Sri Lankan MINUSTAH troop succesfully arrested and jailed fifteen members of the Haitian police department cited in the official police investigation as working with Lame Ti Manchèt. But the arrested individuals were released on personal recognizance in February of 2006. On October 19 2006 Judge Peres Paul issued his final judgment releasing all the police officers from any responsibility but named civilians in the case who he referred to criminal court.

Human rights organizations have decried Judge Peres Paul, who as a supporter of the interim government, released police officers that were known to be working with Lame Ti Manchèt. PNH chief Mario Andersol later criticized corruption among the judiciary, a group of whom went on strike in response. The civilian members of Lame Ti Manchèt referred to criminal court by Judge Peres Paul were Marck alias Ti Ink, Tél Kale, Kiki Ainsi Connu, Roland Toussaint, Frantz alias Gerald Gwo Lombrit, Roudy Kernisan alias commandante Roudy (head of Lame Ti Manchèt), Carlo alias Choupit, and Jean Yves alias Brown.

Guyler Delva of the Haitian Associaon of Journalists (AJH) has denounced the killing of Badio on numerous Haitian media outlets. Amnesty International has also issued a press release denouncing the killing of Badio. The Associate Press reports that Fred Blaise, a U.N. police spokesman, explained that gang members were suspected in the shooting but no arrests have been made. Following the recent murder of Badio, Haiti's Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis authorized MINUSTAH soldiers to increase patrols in Martissant.

Thousands have been killed in Haiti since the unconstitutional overthrow of its elected government in February 2004. A scientific study done through random spatial sampling and published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, found that between early 2004 to mid 2006, 4,000 people were killed by the interim government's forces and its armed supporters in the greater Port-au-Prince area. The second half of the study which its authors presented this month shows that the vast majority of those targeted were supporters of Lavalas and Lespwa.

(CounterPunch.com - Jeb Sprague)

Actualité - Invisible Violence: Ignoring murder in post-coup Haiti

In an eight-minute report (6/5/05) in which she rode in a U.N. armored personnel carrier and extolled the bravery of U.N. soldiers, NPR correspondent Lourdes Garcia-Navarro cited "human rights organizations" as saying that "things have improved since the Aristide days." The NPR report interviewed two members of the U.N. force, one U.S. police trainer, one Haitian police official and Gérard Latortue, the head of Haiti's unelected interim government. It neglected to quote any victims of the violence perpetrated by the Latortue regime or any human rights organizations critical of the governmental-sponsored violence—perhaps because they might have pointed out that such violence actually increased dramatically during Latortue's time in power.

After Haiti's democratically elected leader, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ousted in February 2004, the United States, Canada and France put into place an interim government made up of members of the opposition. Latortue, a wealthy Haitian-American, was installed as the head of this government.

On April 30, 2004, the United Nations, under U.N. Resolution 1542, established the U.N. Stabilization Mission to Haiti, known as MINUSTAH, grouping more than 9,000 military and police personnel from more than 40 countries under the leadership of Brazil and Canada. For more than 26 months, the interim government used former members of Haiti's disbanded military, along with U.N.-trained paramilitary police, to crack down on the slum-dwelling supporters of the ousted government and of Fanmi Lavalas, the political party which had voted Aristide into office. During this period, the mainstream U.S. press observed a virtual blackout on the state-sponsored violence perpetrated by the U.S.-backed interim Haitian government.

Aristide under fire

For more than two-and-a-half years prior to the 2004 coup, paramilitary rebels led by former Haitian police chief Guy Philippe had attacked Haiti from bases in the Dominican Republic. They killed civilians and government officials, targeted police stations, Haiti's largest dam and even the presidential palace, all sparking further violence. Government aid embargoes by both the Clinton and Bush administrations further stripped bare the foreign aid–dependent Haitian state.
Opposition-aligned political parties and anti-government "civil society" organizations, however, received tens of millions of dollars in training and support funds during that time from U.S., Canadian and European aid agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Canadian International Development Agency. With the Haitian currency, the gourde, plunging in value, poverty-stricken Haitians struggled under mounting prices and political destabilization.

Even under these conditions, the Aristide government continued to invest in education, medical training and a program to fight human trafficking, albeit with a yearly budget of approximately $300 million for a population of about 8 million. Daring to resist IMF calls to privatize its public industries while raising the minimum wage for Haitian garment industry workers and bringing suit against France for $21 billion in colonial reparations, the Aristide government accumulated powerful enemies.

Further political polarization resulted in violence, doggedly covered by the mainstream U.S. press throughout Aristide's second administration (2/01–2/04). One of Aristide's most widely publicized North American critics counted approximately 212 politically motivated deaths during Aristide's second government, attributing 50 of those killings to the opposition (Michael Deibert, Notes From the Last Testament).

Murderous operations

By contrast, a National Lawyers Guild investigation documented that "800 bodies" had been "dumped and buried" by the morgue in Port-au-Prince in just the first week following the coup; the usual number under Aristide was less than 100 a month (3/29–4/5/04). The University of Miami Human Rights Investigation, a 10-day survey (11/11–21/04) during the interim government, discovered piles of corpses in Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince—victims of state security and paramilitary forces (Boston Globe, 4/19/05). World Bank official Carolyn Antsey told this reporter that "thousands died" as a result of the February 2004 events.

Alternative press agencies, human rights organizations and independent investigations, including Amnesty International, the New York University School of Law, L'Agence Haïtienne de Presse (AHP) and Dr. Paul Farmer's Partners in Health, reported a concerted wave of interim government violence and persecution, while much of the U.S. mainstream press remained virtually silent.

Throughout 2004 and 2005, reports from the non-profit alternative news service Haiti Information Project (HIP) uncovered killings of Lavalas supporters carried out by members of the interim government's Haitian National Police (HNP). HIP (7/05) also documented murderous operations, with victims often shot in the head, committed by the Brazilian and Jordanian contingents of MINUSTAH. The University of Miami Human Rights Investigation, conducted by Boston immigration lawyer Thomas Griffin in mid-November 2004, documented mass murder by the HNP, mass graves, cramped prisons, no-medicine hospitals, corpse-strewn streets and maggot-infested morgues—the interim regime's means of dealing with the supporters of the ousted Aristide government. Nine months after Aristide was removed, Griffin wrote,

U.S. officials blame the crisis on armed gangs in the poor neighborhoods, not the official abuses and atrocities, nor the unconstitutional ouster of the elected president. Their support for the interim government is not surprising, as top officials, including the minister of justice, worked for U.S. government projects that undermined their elected predecessors. . . . U.N. police and soldiers, unable to speak the language of most Haitians. . . resort to heavy-handed incursions into the poorest neighborhoods that force intermittent peace at the expense of innocent residents. The injured prefer to die at home untreated rather than risk arrest at the hospital. Those who do reach the hospital soak in puddles of their own blood, ignored by doctors.

A few mainstream outlets occasionally reported on individual incidents of violence perpetrated by the interim government. The Miami Herald (3/1/05) reported: "Haitian police opened fire on peaceful protesters Monday, killing two, wounding others and scattering an estimated 2,000 people marching through the capital [on February 28] to mark the first anniversary of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's ouster. . . . Peacekeepers, whose orders are to support the police, stood by as the attack occurred. The police quickly disappeared, leaving the bodies on the street."

On March 24, 2005, the Associated Press wrote: "Police opened fire Thursday during a street march in Haiti's capital to demand the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Witnesses said at least one person was killed. . . . Associated Press reporters saw police firing into the air and toward protesters." Another AP dispatch (4/27/05) reported, "Police fired on protesters demanding the release of detainees loyal to Haiti's ousted president Wednesday, killing at least five demonstrators." On June 5, 2005, Reuters wrote, "As many as 25 people were killed in police raids on Friday and Saturday in the slums of Haiti's capital."

In one of the most graphic accounts to find its way into the mainstream press, the Miami Herald wrote (9/1/05):

The police carried assault rifles and wore black masks. The gang they accompanied had brand-new machetes. According to witnesses and U.N. investigators, they stormed into a soccer match during halftime, ordered everyone to lie on the ground and began shooting and hacking people to death in broad daylight as several thousand spectators fled for their lives. . . . Some were handcuffed and shot in the head by police, witnesses said. Others were hacked to death.

Missing the story

But such forthright reporting was exceptional, particularly in the most prominent news outlets. Studying the last two years of coverage by three leading mainstream U.S. newspapers—the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and USA Today—along with National Public Radio, Extra! found that 98.6 percent of the pieces related to Haiti ignored the role of state-sponsored violence and persecution. The few that did mention them provided a few isolated examples, usually working to discredit the documented incidents as partisan political allegations. The human rights reports citing a high number of political prisoners and killings by the interim government's HNP were rarely cited by the mainstream press.

Following the 2004 coup, press accounts based on interviews with interim government, MINUSTAH and U.S. government officials ensured that an official version of events prevailed. These media outlets demonized Lavalas supporters as "gangs" and "supporters of violence," and justified the foreign-backed destabilization and overthrow of the constitutional government.

The New York Times published 642 pieces that mentioned Haiti between March 1, 2004 and May 1, 2006—close to one a day. But only four dealt with the violence against and persecution of members and supporters of the former government. While the New York Times reported (10/26/04) on the imprisonment of Father Gerard Jean-Juste, a pro-Aristide priest imprisoned for political reasons, it failed to investigate the nearly 1,000 other political prisoners, many underfed and living in dilapidated jails for more than two years without being charged.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times had 244 pieces mentioning Haiti from March 1, 2004 to May 1, 2006, but only five discussed—briefly—the violent persecution of Lavalas supporters. At the same time, the paper managed to cover every single death of a MINUSTAH soldier.

Well over half of all the quotes in L.A. Times articles dealing entirely with Haiti came from official sources. One L.A. Times article covered the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune (7/5/05), but failed to mention the evidentiary weakness of the charges leveled against him by a U.S.-funded NGO (Baltimore Sun, 5/29/05), or that there were nearly a thousand other political prisoners languishing in the jails of the interim government.

With a smaller international section, USA Today had 13 articles specifically on Haiti between March 1, 2004 and May 1, 2006. Two (1/4/05, 9/27/05) were critical of the Latortue government, citing its involvement in human rights violations. One of these was followed by a rebuttal from Roger Noriega (1/12/05), then assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs and a primary architect of the 2004 coup. USA Today's pieces also showed an extreme source bias toward U.S. government and U.S.-installed interim government officials. In its articles, seven U.S. government officials, one U.N. official and 16 Haitian government officials were quoted, compared with only one human rights official and one member of Lavalas.

NPR, according to its website, had approximately 79 stories covering Haiti between March 1, 2004 and May 1, 2006. Only three mentioned violence against Lavalas supporters (10/4/04, 10/7/04, 1/25/06), all of these placing the majority of the blame on pro-Aristide "political and gang" violence, failing to interview victims of state-sponsored or U.N. violence. The role of MINUSTAH and the HNP was almost completely ignored.

The introductions of sources in articles covering Haiti illustrates the reliance on official sources: "diplomats say," "an anonymous diplomat says," "a source involved in the palace brainstorming," "a U.S. diplomat in Port-au-Prince said," "U.N. officials say," "Haitian police say," "USAID workers explain," "a member of Haiti's electoral council said," "the new commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force assured," "council members said," "interim officials say," "State Department officials say," etc. Rarely, if ever, do we read what the wounded, imprisoned and exiled say—the testimonies that don't sustain the official story.

(FAIR - Jeb Sprague)

Actualité - Canada's Governor General Plays Empire's Good Girl

Instead of standing up against the neo-colonial project (which includes the illegal occupation of her native Haiti), Michaelle Jean is helping slavery-built European empires cover up their crimes against the native peoples of Africa and of the Americas -- through a web of denial and projection.

Today, we read in the news....

African Slavery Apology Urged[1]

ACCRA, Ghana -- Michaelle Jean said yesterday Africa must recognize its own role in the slave trade to help turn the page on a shameful chapter in human history.

The Governor General used a state dinner to congratulate Ghana's government for offering such an apology and suggested other African countries should do the same.

She made the remarks on the eve of an emotional pilgrimage to a seaside fortress where thousands of slaves were shipped to the Americas. "The time has come to recapture that moment of African history in order to move ahead together," Jean said. "As it looks to the future, Ghana has shown that it is willing to confront the past.

"I am impressed by your government's decision to apologize for what was done hundreds of years ago by the people of this region involved in the slave trade."

"As a descendent of slaves, that touched me very much. I know that we cannot go back and solve past injustices. All we can do is learn from the lessons of the past, even the painful lessons, and use that knowledge to build a better future."

More than 15 million men, women and children were captured and sold to Europeans during the colonial age.

I wrote on the day of her inauguration "This is a perfect opportunity for people of conscience throughout Canada to remind the Representative of the British Crown in Canada that there is a huge outstanding debt of REPARATIONS owed by the British Crown to the native peoples of Canada and Africa."

The above article is problematic on many fronts. Historical falsehoods abound in it. For starters the 15 million figure advanced for the number of kidnapped and enslaved Africans is a gross underevaluation.[2] The portrayal of the Europeans as mere "buyers" of Africans captured and enslaved (presumably by their own) is more than deceitful, it is boldly indecent.

What I find most striking in this article is the shameful use Michaelle Jean allows to be made of her person and of the history of the people she truly belongs to, the displaced Africans who are spread the world over as a result of the Maafa.

It is my perception that during this emotional trip, Michaelle Jean is unfortunately playing the role of mere stooge to white supremacist imperialism as this beast is busy trying to rewrite history by turning the victims of its barbarism into culprits.

Projection has been the name of the imperialist game, from Columbus & Las Casas to Bush II & Ratzinger.

Who, in their right mind, would ever consider asking the Jewish People to apologize for the Holocaust on account that some Jews had collaborated with the Nazis, or the Russian Czars?

The real issue is REPARATIONS !!!!

When you contrast the speech made by Michaelle Jean and the statement made by Tony Blair during the same period,[3] you see the common trend: crocodile tears, projection, denial, to help the heirs of racial slavery profits to continue getting away with murder while paying lip service to those on whose backs the British & other white supremacist Empires were built and are still being maintained.

Back in 2005, I wrote: "The nomination of our compatriot Michaelle Jean also brings to greater focus this tendency of using 'gimmicks' to distract the people from the real issues. There is currently a major Canadian foreign affairs disaster unfolding in Haiti. Instead of firing a few of his dangerously incompetent advisors, the Prime Minister finds us all an interesting and convenient distraction.

Likewise, when the plight of the "wretched of the earth" starts becoming too much to ignore, we are all invited to simply "have a friend in Bono," and the band played on...

And so, a photo op here, a few tears there, the band continues to play....

Notes
1. "African slavery apology urged," Calgary Sun, November 29, 2006, http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/World/2006/11/29/2545254-sun.html.
2. See "Maafa," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maafa.
3. See: "British PM condemns African slave trade," http://www.nj.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-20/1164672595183600.xml&storylist=international

(Canada Haiti Action Network - Jean Saint-Vil)

Actualité - What Future for Haiti? An Interview with Patrick Elie

In February 2004, U.S. Marines whisked away then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from Haiti amid an armed rebellion led by disgruntled former soldiers and paramilitary actors. Despite the presence of a United Nations peacekeeping force, violence and poverty increased under the U.S.-backed interim government led by Interim Prime Minister Gérard Latortue, which courted the elite and its international backers while alienating Haiti’s overwhelming poor majority. The crisis hit a low point last December and January, with daily shootings in the poor neighborhood of Cité Soleil and an outbreak of kidnappings.

President René Préval’s electoral victory on February 7 suddenly brought peace and hope to Haiti for the first time in two years. Haiti’s poor flooded the polls to vote, and one week later they blockaded nearly every major road in the country to demand that the electoral council name Préval the victor in the first round. Préval has formed a coalition government and has courted all sides of the political spectrum, including both pro-Aristide militants from Cité Soleil as well as light-skinned elites. He has taken a similar approach in his foreign policy, seeking help from the United States and France but also Cuba and Venezuela. It is uncertain how long he will be able to juggle these different interests, and more than six months into his presidency, Préval continues to remain largely an enigma.

Patrick Elie has been an activist in Haiti since 1986, when the nation’s popular movements drove former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier from the country. In the late 1980s, he participated in these movements alongside René Préval, Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Antoine Izmery, among other pro-democracy activists struggling against the military governments that assumed power after Duvalier’s ouster. Elie was head of Aristide’s security detail during his first presidential campaign in 1990. When the former priest became the country’s first democratically elected leader, Elie assumed the position of anti-narcotics chief. He went into exile after the military coup and returned to become secretary of state for defense when Aristide was restored to power in 1994. Since 1995, he has not served in government but has remained politically active, and is a founding member of SOS (Citizens’ Watchdog Center), a group that seeks to promote the creation of a national network of grassroots organizations.

Interview with Patrick Elie and introduction by Reed Lindsay.

Reed Lindsay: How accurate is the characterization of Haiti as a country with a history or a culture of violence?

Patrick Elie: It is an image of Haiti that is grossly distorted. The so-called level of violence in Haiti pales in comparison with violence in at least half the countries in the world. Compare the history of Haiti with that of England, France and the U.S. and Germany. Don’t go back to the 1200s. Look back to 1804 and you have more violence in those countries than in Haiti. So the characterization of Haiti as a violent country is a bunch of hogwash. Why is there tension and instability in Haiti? It is simply because in Haiti you have 5 percent of the population controlling 60 percent of the national wealth, while 80 percent live in poverty. If you had such a situation in any other country you’d have a massacre or a civil war but that hasn’t happened in Haiti, which speaks to the self-restraint of the Haitian population. The instability of the last 20 to 25 years has been caused essentially by this elite as well as their foreign allies who cannot truly accept the principal of one citizen-one vote because it would mean that they would lose their privileges and influence. They have tried to quench the will of the poor majority of Haiti and tried to change the rules of the game because they’ve lost in elections. If it were up to the Haitian people (and when I say Haitian people I’m talking about the vast majority of Haitians who are poor) there would be both democracy and stability. If you look at recent history, the Haitian people have chosen to vote rather than to riot. They voted four times in a row for the same political family, the same political leaning, the same agenda. They consistently have picked both democracy and stability.

RL: How does the United States government’s role in Haiti compare to its role in other countries in Latin America?

PE: The role of the U.S. in Haiti is no different than what it is in other countries in Latin America in that the U.S. is interested in dominating Haiti and dictating its policy. That’s the reason why they cannot stand the idea of somebody being elected with a large majority because that means the government will not be easy to manipulate as one that has very little popular legitimacy and from the get-go this was the United States’ problem with Aristide and Lavalas. The role of the U.S. in all of Haitian history has been egregious. The U.S. occupied the country for 20 years from 1915 to 1934 and left us with a repressive army. But this pattern was not particular to Haiti. Go to the DR, and they did the same thing with Trujillo, and the same thing in Nicaragua with Somoza. When the U.S. said it would support democracies rather than military dictatorships, the Haitians did not play along because they did not want the type of democracy that the U.S. wanted to impose. The Haitians, that is, the 80 percent of Haitians who have been excluded for two centuries, wanted a true democracy, where they would define the agenda and get to pick who they wanted rather than be forced to choose between candidates they don’t like. Why has the U.S. occupied the country three times? There are many reasons. There are economic reasons, but even if you don’t concede to that, Haiti has been a powerful symbol for having overthrown slavery and becoming independent and for what it’s doing now, which is proving that the poorest people in the hemisphere, mostly illiterate, can know more about democracy than the people who are pretending to be beacons of civilization. And they can stand up to the will of the U.S. The movement that you see now in Latin America, the new large social movements that are sweeping away the traditional political parties, that also started in a way in Haiti. For the U.S., Haiti is an example that must be crushed, that must be made to fail. That’s the principal interest of the U.S. in Haiti.

RL: But the U.S. hasn’t been the only first world country to play a major role in Haiti in recent years. What about France and Canada?

PE: France’s role in Haiti is a direct result of the demand for reparation that President Aristide put forward. Also, I think France could never get over the defeat of 1804. In all of Haitian history, never has a French president set foot in Haiti. And Santo Domingue is probably the French colony that played the greatest role in French history. It was the richest colony by far, and caused them to lose Louisiana. With Canada, I can point to a number of reasons why they have switched directions in Haitian policy. One is that Canada is aligning its policy with that of the U.S. more and more after Iraq where they refused to participate because the Chretien government would have been defeated if Canada had gone into Iraq. Haiti was an easy way to please the U.S. Haiti’s a country with no army and no possibility to resist regime change.

RL: How would you characterize the role of Brazil, Argentina and Chile in the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti?

PE: The Latin American countries had their own reasons and interests. Brazil wants to be recognized as an emerging power and wanted a seat in the UN Security Council. For countries like Argentina and Chile, they wanted to show that they are countries that count. Despite the fact that I’m against the occupation, if I had to choose to be occupied by U.S. Marines, the French Legionnaires or the Latin American countries and the UN, I’d pick the latter, but the positive thing that could emerge from this crisis is that Latin America will discover Haiti and remember that Haiti is at the origin of their own independence. Also, I believe that Haiti will have the possibility of reorienting its diplomacy toward the Caribbean and Latin America rather than be prisoner of its destructive relationship with the United States.

RL: What about the allegations that UN troops tolerated and sometimes committed abuses in the poor neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince?

PE: I think there were some people within the UN that were truly sympathetic to the Haitian people. We cannot forget the excesses of the UN, especially in the popular neighborhoods like Cite Soleil. But we also must recognize that the UN troops did not go all out in military operations in poor neighborhoods as they were being encouraged to do by the Haitian elite and the governments of the U.S., France and Canada. As President Préval has said, I would like to see the UN mission continue. But we don’t need all those men with guns. We’d rather see doctors and technicians helping us.

RL: Can you evaluate the last two years of rule by the interim government of Primer Minister Gérard Latortue?

PE: I prefer to call it a de facto regime or puppet regime because that’s truly what it was. It was forced upon the Haitian people by the intervention of February 29, 2004, and it was formed with hostility. It was a government that was to be hostile to Lavalas and to help eliminate the movement from the political scene. It was a government that was a model of the kind of government that the three countries that intervened in Haiti would like to see at the helm of the country: a government that answers not to the population of the country but to foreign interests and international organizations like the IMF. As for an assessment of the last two years, I’m 56 years old, and these have easily been the most difficult and terrible years for the country I’ve ever seen.

First of all, there’s the level of repression against the poor people, against Lavalas. This government has allowed ex killers and killers from the army to integrate into the police into units that were nothing else but death squads and go into popular neighborhoods and assassinate people. And the economy has been a disaster. The thing the government did was fire 4,000 to 5000 people in a country with 70 percent unemployment. Of course this is not the type of government the Haitian people would like to see at the helm of the country.

RL: How does Haiti’s popular movement compare to those in other countries in Latin America?

PE: When Jean-Claude Duvalier was forced to leave the country in 1986, nobody expected that after 30 years of repression, the first 15 of which were sheer terror, that there would be this profound movement within the Haitian population that would turn into thousands of grassroots organizations. It was this movement that was the origin of the Haitian saga of the last 20 years. It was this movement rather than the political parties that stood up against the return of dictatorship. It was this movement that confronted the military government when it tried to control the election in 1987 and this movement that swept Aristide into power in 1990. And it was not the political parties, but again this movement that elected René Préval. Don’t believe for one minute that Lespwa [the coalition of political parties and organizations on whose ticket Préval ran for president] has been anything but a label that has been used for the election and a nice slogan, but it was that vast social movement that swept Préval into power. And I think that this movement that literally exploded onto the scene in 1986 preceded what we’ve seen in Venezuela, in Bolivia, and what may be appearing in Mexico and maybe it is the wave of the future for countries like Haiti in Latin America. Instead of trying to mimic countries of Europe, maybe we can forge regional tools for regional democracies. And I think that is what Haitians are trying to do.

RL: Has this popular movement grown stronger or weaker in the last 20 years?

PE: The popular movement in Haiti is very much alive, but it is already a bit better organized because it is battle scarred but battle hardened also. I’ve seen the crowds in 1986 and 1987, and the ones I’ve seen out lately are different. It’s already starting to resemble an army. There is more organization, there is more discipline, and I think there is more ability to stay the course. Of course, much remains to be done, for example, there is no substitute for a national coordination for such a movement. It should exist. For the moment, it is a very loose coordination. That’s where the new political leadership will emerge from. If anything, the last election signals the end of Haiti’s traditional political class. When I say traditional, I mean both those who come from the traditional right and the traditional left. You’ve seen the electoral results of the so-called socialists such as Paul Denis and Serge Gilles. They have been rejected by the Haitian people.

RL: What is the future of Aristide and his Fanmi Lavalas party in Haiti?

PE: Aristide has played a key historical role in the struggle of the Haitian people to define their own democracy, and I’m sure he will continue to be an influence in the future. Fanmi Lavalas is a political organization. But I don’t think it will be able to survive as a political organization simply because it really has no real autonomy. You could see how it became totally in disarray after president Aristide was kidnapped. It was what I would describe as a charismatic organization, one that depends strictly on its leader and after that you have nothing in terms of structure and in terms of capacity to formulate a political strategy. A new grassroots movement will have to form that comes from the street and grassroots mobilizations. Lavalas is this movement, but Lavalas and Fanmi Lavalas, although related, are different things. Fanmi Lavalas is a political organization. Lavalas is a political philosophy, not a party. Lavalas and the popular movement are one in the same. It was the name coined for it by President Aristide. But he did not invent the reality of it, he just put a name on it. He doesn’t own it. It owns him.

RL: What lessons can be drawn from the overthrow of Aristide in February 2004 and the ensuing two years?

PE: The lesson to be drawn is that it’s not enough to vote for somebody who is sympathetic to your cause. If you do not stay mobilized and define your political agenda and support that political agenda, what will happen is that either the president or the senators you elected are going to be extremely vulnerable to pressure exerted on them from the powers that be or they’ll start drifting to a more traditional type of power and start having their own agenda. And of course both things can happen. It’s obvious when you look at the last years of President Aristide, all the senators and deputies had their own personal agenda and were completely removed from what the people themselves wanted. So politicians, no matter what label they are under, have to be kept on a leash. And the leash is the grassroots movements permanently mobilized. That is one thing that the popular movement has learned.

RL: Would you include René Préval among the new group of leaders in Latin America who are pushing for regional integration and challenging U.S. hegemony in the region?

PE: Préval is a branch from the same tree. Préval started out like all of us, a Marxist, but he’s been really forged or transformed by the popular movement itself. He was very close to it. We went to school in the popular movement at the same time. He has a good feel for what the people of Haiti want and need. As a leader he does not have the charisma of Aristide, nor is he inclined or able to communicate with them the same way that President Aristide could. But I think that he has the trust of the Haitian people, which is very important. But if the Haitian people do not keep up their mobilization and continue to build it as a structured movement, he will fail. That is a certainty. He will fail because it is the fate of any leadership that is left by itself and does not have behind it a strong an organized people. He might be pushed so far away from the original agenda and what the people want that it would be the equivalent of him being overthrown.

RL: What will Préval be able to accomplish?

PE: From what Préval has indicated, he will address the problems of the poor majority of Haiti, including the most urgent issues such as terminating that exclusion, that quasi-apartheid that predominates in this country. His biggest obstacle might come from those within the Haitian elite and the traditional politicians, who will try to embrace him after failing to block his way. A president only has so much power, and he’s not the one actually doing everything. He depends on a team, and he depends on popular support.

The members of the elite and political parties could have too much influence. What they couldn’t win in the election, they could win by buddying up to Préval. I’ve heard that everywhere he’s gone, he’s gone with members of the moneyed elite. That’s all fine and dandy, he cannot actually govern against the elite all out, but he cannot govern for the elite either. I hope they won’t try to destabilize in the same way they tried to destabilize Aristide. The last two years have been such a fiasco, I don’t know if they have the stomach for something as terrible and disastrous. But Préval will certainly be facing a lot of pressure. And I think somehow the Haitian people know that. All I expect from his presidency is to have the space to organize rather than facing a truly hostile government. But he will be under a lot of constraints.

RL: How can Préval push through reforms that benefit the poor majority without the elite sabotaging his effort?

PE: We start maybe by having the kind of dialogue with the moneyed elite that the people of the South African majority had with the white minority when the one person-one vote principal was being adopted. Obviously the elite want some protection, but they will only have it by exchanging their privileges for rights. It is obvious that things cannot continue as they are, so if there are people who are reasonable within this elite, some compromise might be reached between them and the vast majority of people who have been excluded. The priorities should be set right. Education, health care, production. These should be the priorities. We must have a country that produces. The elite must be engaged in production of wealth rather than being truly parasites. Laws must be voted by the new parliament and be acted upon to close progressively that horrible gap that exists between the tiny elite and the huge majority. That’s the only way to go. And if the elite persist in trying to stand in the way of progress I think they will have to go the way of the Cuban elites that had a field day until Fidel came along. Maybe they are more ready to be persuaded after the last two years. It was the last desperate attempt to stem the flow of history. The last two years have not been particularly happy for the Haitian elites either. The Haitian people as a whole have suffered the consequences of Aristide’s overthrow.

Reed Lindsay is a freelance journalist who has been based in Port-au-Prince since October2004

(NACLA News - Reed Lindsay)

Actualité - Failed Solidarity: The ICFTU, AFL-CIO, ILO, and ORIT in Haiti

Franc-Parler publie un article d'enquête sur le Coup d'État de 2004 contre le gouvernement haïtien de l'époque et son président Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Certains syndicats étrangers ont participé aux tractations des grandes puissances dont le Canada, les états-Unis et la France pour renverser un gouvernement élu entre autre par le biais de financement allant à de soi-disants "organisations pour les droits humains."

On February 16, 2004 a group of foreign trade union officials arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, amongst them ORIT General Secretary Victor Baez, ICFTU Assistant General Secretary Mamounata Cisse and union leaders from France, Canada, Guyana and the Global Union Federation. The purpose of the delegation was to assist eleven trade unionists of the Coordination Syndicale Haitienne (CSH), accused by Haitian authorities as working to bring down the government. The labor delegation drew international coverage as Katia Gil, General Coordinator of Programs with ORIT explains, "We went to visit them in jail. We went with many newspapers and press, local and international agencies."(1) Just thirteen days after their arrival on February 29, 2004, Haiti's popularly elected Lavalas government was overthrown and its President Jean-Bertrand Aristide after being sent on a plane to Africa, declared he had been kidnapped by U.S. Marines. An interim government made up of elites drawn from the political opposition to the Aristide government was quickly put into place, supported by the United States, France, and Canada.

"Following the coup, more than 12,000 public sector employees, who had been hired under the Aristide government, were immediately fired without compensation," writes Isabel Macdonald, a Canadian journalist conducting interviews with laid off workers in Haiti.(2) The Associated Press on May 12, 2004 reported that Telecommunications D'Haiti (TELECO), the 90% government owned public telephone company, had announced plans to lay off 2,000 workers, half of its workforce.

In May of 2004 an investigative report from a labor-religious delegation sent to Haiti, initiated by the San Francisco Labor Council, spoke of a witch-hunt against supporters of the former government and of receiving reports from the "FTPH (Federation of Public Transport Workers of Haiti), of criminal attacks on over 100 of the buses that they had purchased for use in the bus cooperative operated by the union."(3) Sasha Kramer, a PhD student from California traveling in Haiti took photos of the demolished public buses. With death threats and arbitrary placements on police "wanted" lists, public sector employees and trade unionists, such as teachers, port workers, and bus drivers across Haiti were targeted. With an untold number of dead victims and political prisoners from the coup and the consequent twenty-six months of an unelected interim government, numerous human rights organizations decried state sponsored violence and persecution (March 2004- May 2006).

During the weeks prior to the 2004 coup a "general strike" was called by businesses and organizations associated with the opposition to the government, in which banks, gas stations, supermarkets, and specialty shops kept their doors closed, while the marketplaces of the poor remained open.(4) In a recent interview Duclos Benissoit, a founder of the Haiti Transportation Federation currently living in exile in New York, discussed his experience during the 2004 coup. "The people who stick their necks out, vocal resisters were targeted first. I was one of those people. I was opposed to any kind of "strike" called by the bosses. Unless called by labor, I told consumers to ignore the other 'strikes.' (Big business and national forces) didn't like this."(5)

The ICFTU delegation in February 2004, just prior to Aristide's ouster, as Katia Gil explains, "visited many people but only those involved with the opposition to the government of course." The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), claiming a membership of 157 million workers in 148 countries and territories, plays a leading role in investigating and drawing attention to labor abuse around the globe; but for the two years following the coup d'etat, the ICFTU did not make a single public statement or condemnation in regards to the massive labor persecution. The Organizacion Regional Interamericana de Trabajadores (ORIT) as the Latin American regional affiliate of the ICFTU , currently headquartered in Brazil, also remained silent.

CSH, the "ICFTU/ORIT's fraternal organization in Haiti" according to Victor Baez (6), was a member of the Group of 184, supporting the installation of the interim government. CSH Secretary-general Fritz Charles, whose organization was made up primarily of anti-Lavalas unions and labor organizations, such as the Duvalier sanctioned and formerly U.S. government funded Federation des Ouvriers Syndiques (FOS), explained, "We adhere to the Group of 184 because it is a broad organization of the civil society which preaches a social pact where we want to play our part, where we want to also support the claims present in our trade-union agenda, ratified by our general assembly."(7) The Group of 184 a Haitian organization of NGOs, business elites, and foreign financed human rights groups was the principal civil society organization that agitated for the downfall of the elected government and was headed up by one of Haiti's most notorious sweatshop owners, Andre Apaid, Jr. (8)

"Democracy Promotion" program monies through United States, Canadian, and European Union aid agencies were channeled nearly exclusively to groups and organizations that were critical of the elected government of Haiti. In some cases, this took the form of actively building the political opposition, such as many of those within the Group of 184 – in others, it was simply supporting and funding sectors and leaders who were sharp critics of the Haitian government. Fabiola Cordove, a program officer at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in Washington D.C., which funds numerous opposition affiliated groups, pointed out, "Aristide really had 70% of the popular support and then the 120 other parties had the thirty per cent split in one hundred and twenty different ways, which is basically impossible to compete with."9

While foreign governments and financial institutions heavily favored the elite opposition, the local and foreign media did as well. Similar to the media manipulation during the 2002 attempted coup in Venezuela, the Haitian media, owned overwhelming by opposition-affiliated elites, refused to air pro-government demonstrations. Instead they devoted large blocks of air time to coverage of the much smaller opposition marches, which one observer noted were led down the streets by "fancy BMW motorcycles and huge, square Mercedes Benz SUV’s." (10)

Haiti's government by early 2004 had been weakened and it’s impoverished masses of supporters, as well as its opposition, felt increasingly under attack. In the months and weeks before the large ICFTU led labor delegation arrived, chaos reigned as rebels, from the disbanded military, based in the Dominican Republic had begun an invasion of Haiti, equipped with new SUVs and, reportedly, airplanes. For years the same rebels had been running violent raids, into Haiti killing police, government officials, and civilians alike – sparking violence and reprisals. Even months before the inauguration of Aristide in February 2001, Port-au-Prince had been shaken by mysterious bombings. OAS officials admit they never worked to investigate the rebels or pressure the Dominican Republic to root them out. With the economic strangulation of a Bush Administration backed government aid embargo taking effect in 2000 and a small poorly armed police force, the difficulties of the Haitian government intensified. The CSH, like many other opposition groups affiliated with the Group of 184, had something the Haitian government did not have – foreign aid.

Fritz Charles explains that the CSH received assistance, support, and computers from ORIT and the International Labor Organization (ILO), which, though viewed as a labor organization, is in fact a tri-partite body of the UN which groups together trade union bodies, employer organizations, and governments. (11) Katia Gil of ORIT clarifies that “Since 2000, we have had support from International Solidarity funds from the ICFTU to help in a trade union education program, organizing workers in Haiti...we helped to build the CSH, and we provided part of the support for the CSH infrastructure, in order to create a place where the Haitian workers the CSH could plan and manage their own process." (12) The ICFTU continues to provide an undisclosed amount of funding for CSH programs.

Charles also refers to the ILO's financing of six seminars for the CSH conducted by Andre Lafontant Joseph (Secretary-general of the private school teachers Union, the CNEH). (13) Andre Lafontant Joseph, was the author of a major research report funded by the ILO on the Haitian labor movemen (14) and his union the Confederation Nationale des Educateurs d'Haiti (CNEH) took a leading role, following the coup, in working to undermine the public school teacher's in the north of Haiti. (15) According to Andre Lafontant Jospeh's ILO funded study, "ORIT" amongst others "encouraged more than about fifteen organizations to constitute the Trade-union Coordination Syndicale Haitienne (CSH)." (16)

According to Ana Jimenez, of the ILO's San Jose office, the ILO has provided "technical cooperation...a program that has the objective of fortifying the Haitian union movement, in particular the Coordination Syndicale Haïtienne (CSH). This program is assumed within the ordinary budget of the Office…which does not surpass US $70.000." (17) The ILO currently has two other projects in Haiti, a project in Gonaives worth US $413,00 (partially financed by the United Nations Development Program) and a Canadian government financed project working in the field of child labor with US$ 382,374.18 The AFL-CIO works closely with the ILO, as Harry G Kamberis, Senior advisor of the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center explains, "Through our representatives at the ILO we supported what the ILO tried to do as well." (19)

Kevin Skerrett, a researcher at the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) who previously visited Haiti as a Canadian labor delegate argues, "There is not much evidence to suggest that the CSH actually operates as a trade union at all. I have not seen any reports that they have engaged in any collective bargaining, or even have democratic meetings of affiliated unions during which policy positions are democratically decided. A number of the trade unionists that I spoke with in Haiti and in the post-coup exile-diaspora have suggested that the CSH was only formed in the late 90s, and with significant involvement of US and foreign agencies. While it continued to operate as a sort of "advocacy" group for Haitian workers, it is not clear that they became anything more than a small number of people that were part of the political opposition to the Preval and then Aristide governments." (20) Suffice to say; led by Fritz Charles, the CSH became the main platform for organizing labor leaders towards the platform of the Group of 184.

Meanwhile, in Canada, while the Canadian Labor Congress (CLC) denounced Canada's role in legitimizing the 2004 coup d’etat of the democratically elected government, (21) it failed to investigate the massive layoffs and persecution of public sector workers in Haiti. An April 2004 statement from the CLC committed itself to "monitoring" the human rights and workers rights situation in the coming months in Haiti, something which never occurred. (22)

From Brussels the ICFTU played a leading role in the year's leading up to the coup, circulating reports, heavily influenced by Haitian opposition elites, within the European labor movement – and to some extent the North American labor movement, that while informing the public of some real ongoing labor disputes, also forwarded unfounded allegations. For example, attributing to the Aristide government the killings of two labor advocates that took place in the rural area of Guacimal in 2002, near the northeastern town of St. Raphael, which were in fact (according to a newspaper whose reporter lost an eye in the assault) murders carried out by employees of a local landowner, not "government partisans" as one Aristide critic recently claimed. (23) Showing the echo effect of such allegations, an employee of the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center recently made the unsubstantiated claim that "Aristide flew over Guacimal in a helicopter, shooting at workers." (24)

While labor conditions remained extremely poor and corruption persisted, as foreign backed destabilization plunged Haiti's economy, the Aristide government took steps towards aiding labor. The minimum wage was increased from 36 Gourdes to 70 Gourdes a day in early 2003, the right to organize in the free trade zone was successfully negotiated, a provision of the labor code that sanctioned child domestic service was repealed, and legislation prohibiting human trafficking was passed. A 20-person police unit was set up to monitor cases of suspected human trafficking along the border, while steps were taken to promote access to education, offering a 70% subsidy to cover education supplies and calling on families who employ children to release them during school hours. The second Aristide administration (2000-2004) also refused to privatize public sector industries, requested by the IMF. Following the coup d'etat many of the labor reforms were suspended, with numerous employers reverting to the old minimum wage.

The ILO, ICFTU and ORIT were not the only labor organizations to support the opposition to the Aristide government and ignore the persecution of public sector workers following it’s overthrow. On March 1, 2004 the AFL-CIO released its sole statement in regards to the overthrow of democracy in Haiti, stating that the "current crisis in Haiti represents a failure of U.S. foreign policy." (25) Only weeks later, the AFL-CIO and its offshoot the Solidarity Center (American Center for International Labor Solidarity) began talks with the Batay Ouvriye (BO), an anti-Lavalas worker's organization that had agitated for the Aristide government to "leave the country." (26)

By mid-2005 the Solidarity Center had won two grants for its program with the BO.

The first grant for US $350,000 was awarded to the Solidarity Center in May of 2005 through the U.S. State Department's "Democracy Rights and Labor Department," while the second grant for US $99,965 came in September of 2005 from the NED, also receiving its funding from the U.S. State Department. (27) Teresa Casertano, regional director of the Americas for the Solidarity Center, managed the grants. She explains, "We provide a service that is an educational service, to train them, to share with them our knowledge and skills on trade union organizing…Organizing members, doing new member orientation, collective bargaining, contract enforcement, shop stewards." (28)

As part of the grant requirements, the Solidarity Center must submit quarterly evaluation reports to its funding sources, the NED and U.S. State Department. Casertano explains, "We wrote a proposal that was submitted. A very standard format with objectives, activities and evaluation procedures…So there was a grant agreement based on that, the State Department dispersed funds for those activities described…The specific grant has a quarterly reporting requirement...We then write that up and we submit it as a quarterly report." In this particular program with the Batay Ouvriye (BO), the U.S. State Department asked to extend the program, as Casertano explains, "They did ask us to extend it from a year long to 18 months with the same amount of funding and we agreed."

Kamberis explains further the cooperation between the U.S. State Department and the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center. "The State Department has annually a labor officer conference that we are invited to come and speak at and also when they have labor officer training programs they send the officers over to speak with us. We design our own programs and run them. But we do talk with the State Department. We exchange information and we help them with information on their annual labor and human rights reports."

Kamberis argues that there is a difference today between the activities of the Solidarity Center and its Cold War predecessors. "Since the end of the cold war the global trade union movement has become less ideological. What you see in Haiti the support for opposition labor organizations is just a coincidence...We are supporting the efforts of workers to organize. For example with the World-Bank, we worked to build labor rights conditionalities and that's what we have achieved in Haiti to help workers...I would say that working with the Batay Ouvriye does advance U.S. Strategic interests, because it helps to advance freedom of association in Haiti and that is a U.S. government objective, to allow workers to freely associate." In regards to the Solidarity Center's predecessor, AIFLD (American Institute for Free Labor Development), and it’s support for unions run through Duvalier's secret police in the 1980's Kamberis states, "We had programs under the Duvalier government that addressed the same thing: worker exploitation whether they were or were not Anti or Pro-Duvalier. That was not for us the issue." (29)

As the United States, Canada, and France played integral roles in overthrowing the Aristide government; those with close ties to Haiti - CARICOM and the African Union - refused to recognize the interim government put in its place. Unions such as the Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean spoke out against the coup. On March 1, 2004, the day following the coup, Errol McLeod, President of OWTU condemned the foreign role in occupying Haiti, stating "It was totally wrong for the US, France and Canada to determine that President Aristide was 'unfit to govern.'" (30)

There are numerous trade unions and labor organizations that did not join the political opposition movement, while none have received support from any of these four bodies. These organizations continue to support political interventions through groups that espouse the undemocratic removal of governments in selected countries (i.e. Haiti, Venezuela), at the expense of workers and in collaboration with the foreign policy of the Bush Administration.

The blind eye turned towards the major transgressions of the interim government can be partially explained by the vested interests that international labor organizations had in the participants of the coup and pre-coup destabilization campaign. Political parties of Western Europe that have strong ties to their countries large and influential trade unions such as Germany’s SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) have consistently supported Haitian political parties opposed to Lavalas such as the OPL (L'Organistation de Peuple en Lutte), a backer of austerity measures forwarded by the IMF. (31) While the majority of Haitians speak kreyol and live at abysmal subsistence levels; the French-speaking opposition aligned elite, many with European educations, were apt to form long term relations with foreign institutions already predisposed against popular democracy – so called "radical populism." The ICFTU released a statement on November 23, 2000, over two months prior to Aristide's inauguration, titled "Return To Dictatorship?" heavily reliant on OPL sources, labeling Haiti’s largest political party Lavalas as "much feared." (32) Another deeply partisan ICFTU Bulletin in May of 2001 cited OPL leaders Sauveur Pierre Etienne, Gerard Pierre, and Paul Denis, as well as a Convergence leader Evans Paul, with no mention of their heavy reliance on foreign government aid agencies. (33) In comparison to its overtly critical stance during the second Aristide Administration (2001-2004), not a single ICFTU bulletin decried coup and post-coup labor rights violations against public sector workers and trade unionist supporters of the ousted government. Dominique Esser, a New York based human rights advocate, argues that labor "persecution is a non-topic if it happens to elements of society that are not supported by those wealthy parties that are strongly intertwined with international union heavyweights." (34)

The most prominent international labor organizations active in Haiti, the ICFTU, AFL-CIO, ILO, and ORIT, working to support and strengthen labor unions that agitated for the ousting of Haiti's democratically elected government, have simultaneously refused to condemn the massive layoffs and persecution of public sector workers and trade unionists committed by its illegally-imposed successor. In response to questions over the Solidarity Center’s aloofness in regards to labor persecution resulting from the coup, Casertano states, "We make public statements. We make plenty of statements." In reference to post-coup labor persecution Katia Gil of ORIT explains, "We have not looked into that."

1 Telephone Interview on March 6, 2006.

2 http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/12_17_5/12_17_5.html Also listen to an interview with Isabel McDonald at http://www.wakeupwithcoop.org

3 http://dominionpaper.ca/weblog/2004/05/statement_on_the_
current_situation_of_workers_the_labor_movement_and_
human_rights_in_haiti_.html

4 Kevin Pina, "Haiti's Large Businesses Shutter Doors as the Poor Markets Remain Open" http://www.hatford-hwp.com/archives/43a/626.html

5 Journeying in the struggle together: An interview with Haitian labor leader Benissoit Duclos http://www.sfbayview.com/030106/journeying030106.shtml

6 http://cioslorit.org/detalle.php?item=948&leng=es

7 Translated from the CSH: Reporte De Actvidades Por La CSH: Haiti (2002-2003). January 10, 2003. http://cioslorit.org/detalle.php?item=616&leng=es The ILO recorded the unions that were members within the CSH in early 2004. The ILO's Provisional Record, Ninety-second Session, Geneva, 2004 states "CSH groups together the following workers' organizations: Federation des ouvriers syndiques (FOS), Confederation nationale des educateurs haitiens (CNEH), Confederation des ouvriers et des travailleurs haitiens (KOTA), Corps national des enseignants haitiens (CONEH), Syndicat national des travailleurs de la presse (SNTPH), Confederation independante des syndicats nationaux (CISN), Reseau national des femmes (RENAFANM), Rassemblement des petits planteurs (RASPA), Confederation generale des travailleurs (CGT), Groupe d'initiative des enseignants de lycee (GIEL), Mouvement des paysans haitiens (MOPA), Centrale autonome des travailleurs haitiens (CATH), Syndicat des chauffeurs coopérants federes (SCCF). http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc92/pdf/pr-6c.pdf

8 Choosudovsky's article "The Destabilization of Haiti" explains that Andy Apaid Jr., "owns Alpha Industries, one of Haiti's largest cheap labor export assembly lines established during the Duvalier era. His sweatshop factories produce textile products and assemble electronic products for a number of US firms including Sperry/Unisys, IBM, Remington and Honeywell. Apaid is the largest industrial employer in Haiti with a workforce of some 4000 workers. Wages paid in Andy Apaid's factories are as low as 68 cents a day. (Miami Times, 26 Feb 2004). The current minimum wage is of the order of $1.50 a day." http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO402D.html

9 Anthony Fenton, Declassified Documents: National Endowment for Democracy FY2005, Narco News, http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2006/2/15/205828/741

10 Corbett List Entry 27934. See http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/haiti.html

11 http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/norm/
sources/mne.htm

12 March 17, 2006 E-mail

13 http://cioslorit.org/detalle.php?item=616&leng=es

14 "Le Mouvement Sydnical Haitien: De ses origines aux debuts du 21eme siecle" Andre Lafontant Joseph (Premiere edition 2003)

15 "Proposal: Community Based Human Rights Advocacy in Haiti" http://www.hurah.revolt.org/Hurah/Fundraising/proposal.htm

16 "Le Mouvement Sydnical Haitien: De ses origines aux débuts du 21eme siecle" André Lafontant Joseph (Premiere edition 2003), Pg. 53. http://www.oit.or.cr/mdtsanjo/actrav/pdf/haiti/haiti.pdf "53 La premiere est a l'actif de l'ORIT, de la Fondation Friedrich Ebert et le Centre Petion Bolivar qui a la faveur d’un processus de dialogue et de réalisation d’activités conjointes, ont pu encourager plus d’une quinzaine d’organisations a constituer la Coordination Syndicale Haitienne.”

17 Transcript of ILO E-mails in possession of author.

18 Ibid.

19 Kamberis Interview/ February 2006. Kamberis headed the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center from 1997 to 2004, when he moved to Senior Advisor status. Barbara Shailor replaced Kamberis in 2004 as head of the Solidarity Center. For a recent analysis of the AFL-CIO’s foreign policy, see Kim Scipes, "Labor Imperialism Redux? The AFL-CIO's Foreign Policy Since 1995," Monthly Review, May 2005: 23-36, and on-line at http://www.monthlyreview.org/0505scipes.htm

20 Discussion conducted in February of 2006.

21 See the CLC's Executive Vice President Marie Clarke Walker speech http://canadianlabour.ca/index.php/Marie_Clarke_Walker/
Canadian_Peace_Alliance

22 http://canadianlabour.ca/index.php/Haiti/CLC_Statement_on_Hai

23 "Time to Support Haiti," April 25, 2006 http://www.henryjacksonsociety.org.uk/ Also see Haiti Progres, June 6, 2002 http://www.haitiprogres.com/2002/sm020605/eng06-05.html which explains that "the landowner's thugs killed with machetes and buried an elderly peasant couple who had been with BO's St. Michel delegation."

24 Notes on this conversation with the Solidarity Center's In-Country Haiti Organizer in possession of author (December, 2005. San Francisco). Also see http://www.quixote.org/hr/news/haitireport/7-12-2002.php

25 http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/thisistheaflcio/
ecouncil/ec03112004o.cfm

26 See my previous article "Batay Ouvriye's Smoking Gun" on Znet http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9505 and "Supporting a Leftist Opposition to Lavalas" on MRZine http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/sprague211105.html

27 This is acknowledged by Henry Kamberis, Teresa Casertano, and Barbara Shailor at the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center in a telephone interview conducted with this author in February of 2006. Transcript in possession of author. Also see NED grants for FY 2005 at http://inthenameofdemocracy.org/en/node/8. For an in-depth analysis of the relationship of the Solidarity Center with the NED, see Kim Scipes, "An Unholy Alliance: The AFL-CIO and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in Venezuela," ZNet, July 10, 2005

28 Telephone interview conducted in February of 2006.

29 Ibid. The estimates on the total amount of state sanctioned killings under the Duvalier Regimes (1957-1986) that I have found range from 30,000 to 60,000. For another account of how AFL-CIO foreign policy leaders work with the Bush Administration, see Kim Scipes, "AFL-CIO Foreign Policy Leaders Help Develop Bush's Foreign Policy, Target Foreign Unions for Political Control," Labor Notes, March 2005, http://www.labornotes.org/archives/2005/03/articles/e.html. Also see Tim Shorrock, "Labor's Cold War," The Nation, May 19, 2003, http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030519&s=shorrock

30 "No to U.S. Intervention in Haiti," Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU), March 1, 2004 http://www.owtu.org/owtu%20&%20haiti.htm

31 Haiti News ( haiti-news@listhost.uchicago.edu ) May 13, 2006. In February 2001 as Aristide was being inaugurated after his second democratic election, the OPL hosted a "counter-inauguration" in front of a handful of opposition officials in which Gerard Gourgue, a 75-year-old lawyer, was dubbed "provisional president." Gourgue called for the return of the disbanded military.

32 "Haiti: A Return to Dictatorship?" http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991211921&Language=EN

33 "Haiti: From Bad to Worse" http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991212264&Language=EN

34 Haiti News ( haiti-news@listhost.uchicago.edu ) May 13, 2006

(Labor Notes - Jeb Sprague)

Jeb Sprague is a graduate student, freelance journalist, and a correspondent for Pacifica Radio's Flashpoints. This article is in part based off a talk he gave at the 32nd Annual Conference of the South-West Labor Studies Association. Visit his blog.

Actualité - La lutte pour les droits humains et la souveraineté haïtienne continue

Frnanc-Parler poursuit sa converture de la lutte du peuple haïtien pour la souveraineté. Le 18 mai, c'était la Fête du Drapeau et le 19 mai l'anniversaire du décès du libérateur José Martí, deux dates d'une grande importance pour le peuple haïtien. Au même moment, la lutte d'Haïti pour que cesse l'ingérence des puissances étrangères dans les affaires du pays continue.

Hier, le 18 mai, était la Fête du Drapeau en Haïti et le président haïtien s'est rendu à l'Arcahaie pour rendre hommage à la grande bataille pour l'indépendance du pays. On rapporte qu'à l'Arcahaie le président René Préval a dit à la foule qu'en somme les Haïtiens veulent posséder leur pays, met tè a. En ce moment il y a des étrangers dans notre pays et nous devons donc travailler à la paix pour qu'ils quittent. On rapporte qu'il aurait demandé à tous les Haïtiens de considérer ceux qui ne veulent pas travailler pour la paix comme des traîtres. Les traîtres, aurait-il déclaré, sont «ceux qui ne veulent pas payer des impôts, ceux qui continuent à faire de la contrebande, à patauger dans la corruption».

Le Réseau de leadership des avocats haïtiens tente d'obtenir le texte intégral du discours à l'Arcahaie. Il importe par ailleurs de rapporter que le président Préval a officiellement nommé Jacques-Édouard Alexis au poste de premier ministre.

Jacques-Édouard Alexis était premier ministre d'Haïti dans le premier gouvernement du président Préval, du 26 mars 1999 au 7 février 2001. Il est diplômé de la faculté d'Agronomie et de Médecine vétérinaire de l'Université d'État d'Haïti et fut le premier recteur de l'université privée de Quisqueye de 1990 à 1995. Avant de devenir premier ministre dans le premier gouvernement Préval, il fut ministre de l'Éducation nationale, de la jeunesse et des Sports. Récemment Jacques-Édouard Alexis a fait les manchettes lorsque le Canada lui a refusé l'entrée alors qu'il faisait partie de l'équipe de l'Espwa du président Préval en visite au Canada. Les autorités canadiennes ont fini par lui accorder un visa, mais M. Alexis a refusé d'y aller sans recevoir des excuses officielles. Le Réseau a rappelé que M. Alexis, qui n'était pas homme à plaisanter, avait demandé, alors qu'il était premier ministre, qu'un représentant du gouvernement canadien ou un membre de la mission diplomatique, qui se serait ingéré dans les affaires intérieures d'Haïti, quitte le pays. Les observateurs avisés savent qu'en réalité le gouvernement du coup d'État, qui a aidé à imposer le corrompu Latortue et qui déformait la réalité pour atteindre ses fins, avait nié à M. Alexis un visa pour le Canada sous prétexte qu'il avait commis «des crimes contre l'humanité». Ces Haïtiens, qui connaissent M. Alexis, ont dit au Réseau qu'il s'agit d'un homme compétent, fier et direct qui ne se laisse pas facilement avoir. Cela ne fait évidemment pas l'affaire des hommes et des gouvernements du coup d'État qu'un homme d'État haïtien aussi expérimenté et respecté soit premier ministre. On croit que la raison pour laquelle le Canada a d'abord refusé d'accorder un visa à M. Alexis alors qu'il accompagnait l'équipe du président Préval était qu'il a jadis affirmé la souveraineté haïtienne et déclaré un représentant du gouvernement canadien persona non grata. Ce serait là, selon la plupart des Haïtiens qui discutent de la nomination sur les ondes de la radio aujourd'hui, son seul «crime contre l'humanité»!

Enfin, nous savons de certaines sources que le président Préval a demandé qu'on fasse une vérification complète des biens du Palais avant d'y emménager. Selon la radio haïtienne, le régime de Boca Raton imposé par les États-Unis aurait volé tous les objets de valeur avant de quitter le Palais, même les pierres murales, semble-t- il.

Le Réseau continue d'analyser les événements en Haïti et de faire campagne pour l'autodétermination et la souveraineté haïtiennes, mais nous saisissons l'occasion, aujourd'hui 19 mai 2006, pour honorer non seulement l'exploit des ancêtres haïtiens à l'Arcahaie, mais aussi tous ceux qui ont combattu pour les droits humains dans cet hémisphère. Le Réseau rappelle qu'à cette date en 1920, Benoît Batraville, le caco qui succéda à Charlemagne Péralte après qu'il fut assassiné par des marines américains en Haïti, durant la première occupation, fut également trahi, piégé par ses proches, et assassiné par les marines américains à Lascahobas. Aujourd'hui les Haïtiens rendent hommage à Benoît Batraville, qui fut non seulement un soldat de la résistance contre l'occupation mais un hougan, en tant qu'héros. On nous dit que, comme Charlemagne Péralte, la dépouille de Benoît Batraville fut mutilée à titre d'avertissement aux autres rebelles. Nous rappelons que Emmanuel Dred Wilme, l'Haïtien le plus recherché depuis Charlemagne Péralte et Benoît Batraville, qui fut assassiné le 6 juillet 2005 par les occupants actuels d'Haïti, avait insisté avant de mourir que ses ennemis ne s'emparent pas de son corps. Les résidents de Cité Soleil brûlèrent sa dépouille sur un bateau pour le renvoyer aux Ancêtres à la manière des anciens.

Le 19 mai est également le jour où José Martí, le grand libérateur cubain, fut tué. Tous ces hommes ont sacrifié leur vie pour faire avancer la cause des droits humains dans l'hémisphère occidental. [...]

Ces hommes femmes, Dessalines, Pétion, Toussaint, Marie Jeanne, Toya, Défilé, Claire Heureuse, Malcolm X, Charlemagne Péralte, Benoît Batraville, Emmanuel Dred Wilme, ont combattu et sont morts pour le principe proclamé dans la Déclaration universelle des droits de l'Homme: Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en droits.

Nous remercions tous ceux qui continuent de répondre à l'appel.

Pour ce qui est de la contribution contemporaine d'Haïti à la lutte hémisphérique pour «la liberté de tous», le Réseau de leadership des avocats haïtiens, à la fois en tant que panafricanistes et en tant que panaméricanistes, et suivant sur les pas de ces libérateurs dans l'Hémisphère occidental, proclamait en 1995, il y a plus de 10 ans:

«Il est horriblement cruel, bassement répugnant, inhumain et barbare que tout être humain, en raison de sa nationalité, de son appartenance à la race noire et de son passé révolutionnaire, soit incarcéré de force dans son pays, par des lois internationales ne s'appliquant qu'aux seuls Haïtiens. Les Haïtiens sont insultés, contraints à l'obéissance, forcés de vivre sans la liberté de s'associer à d'autres êtres humains dans le monde et privés des moyens d'affirmer le désir humain fondamental de voyager, de voir du pays ou de tout simplement contempler l'immensité, la majesté et la beauté infinie de la Nature. Aucun être humain n'est un étranger. Aucune loi qui emmure une nation de millions de noirs sur une île pendant plus de deux siècles parce qu'ils ont rompu leur asservissement américain et européen et sont de ce fait un mauvais exemple pour les autres peuples épris de liberté dans le monde, ne saurait être justifiée. Les Haïtiens ont suffisamment souffert de l'isolement. Il ne devrait y avoir qu'un seul passeport pour l'ensemble de l'hémisphère américain, en plus des passeports des États-nations. Voilà ce qu'est véritablement la mondialisation.

«En plus du droit de voyager librement, de la liberté de s'associer avec d'autres Haïtiens et les autres êtres humains de la planète -- l'accès juste et égal aux marchés mondiaux, aux prêts, au crédit, aux cultures et religions du monde; l'accès juste et égal à la contemplation de la majesté, la beauté et la divinité de la nature; le droit de vivre dans la dignité sans la répression gouvernementale ou l'ingérence internationale ou étrangère; l'accès à l'eau potable, à l'air non pollué, au logement abordable, à un salaire permettant de vivre, à la liberté de religion, aux possibilités d'emploi juste et équitable et à des soins de santé de base --, il s'agit de droits humains fondamentaux des Haïtiens, pas de charité. En Haïti, un système d'éducation et un système juridique et économique de conception haïtienne pour promouvoir et protéger la société, la souveraineté et la spiritualité haïtiennes, la psychologie du vodun, l'art, la musique et la culture haïtiens, sont un droit acquis de naissance de tout Haïtien. Les droits humains, politiques, économiques, de propriété, de déplacement, culturels et civils fondamentaux du peuple haïtien ne doivent pas être systématiquement éventrés au nom du 'libre-échange, justice, démocratie ou bon gouvernement' par la prétendue 'communauté internationale', ni systématiquement sapés par des 'réformes' conçues et appliquées par l'étranger ou des projets de la Banque mondiale, du FMI et de l'IFC.»

Aujourd'hui 19 mai, nous rendons hommage aux grandes luttes des guerriers des droits humains, José Martí, Malcolm X, Benoît Batraville et tous celles et ceux de l'Hémisphère occidental qui suivent leur pas, qui disent la vérité et qui risquent leur vie et leur liberté pour l'application de la justice et l'application égale des lois pour tous, sans considération de richesse ou de couleur de peau. Toutes les frontières sont de conception humaine et aucun être humain n'est un étranger.

(Marguerite Laurent - Réseau de leadership des avocats haïtiens)

Actualité - Haïti : Deuxième tour des élections législatives : les jeux sont faits?

Franc-Parler publie un article du journal Haïti-Progrès à propos du deuxième tour des élections législtaives en Haïti. Les résultats préliminaires laissent présager un Parlement plutôt fragmenter. Les grandes puissances et leurs alliés haïtiens n'ont toujours pas laissés tombés leurs ambitions impérialistes sur Haïti. La fraude et de nombreux incidents lors de ce second tour montrent que la partie n'est pas gagnée pour le peuple haïtien.

Finalement on en est arrivé au bout, ou presque, – il reste encore les municipales et les collectivités - de ces élections, avec le deuxième tour qui devrait permettre la formation d’un Parlement, quel qu’il soit. Mais le peuple haïtien n’est pas au bout de ses peines, comme il doit bien s’en douter depuis le début de ce processus électoral piégé d’un bout à l’autre.

Récapitulons: pour le premier tour, seulement deux députés sur les 99 avaient pu être élus et 83 autres devaient suivre avec ce deuxième tour, en attendant que les 14 restants pour qui le scrutin avait été annulé au premier tour et qui en étaient, eux, à nouveau au premier tour ce 21 avril, de même que pour les trois sénateurs du Nord-Est.

Pour le Sénat au moins 20 élus sont pratiquement connus, vu le nombre de procès-verbaux déjà comptabilisés par rapport au total, et Lespwa, la plate-forme du président élu est le parti ayant remporté le plus de sièges sans toutefois détenir une majorité.

En effet, suivant les résultats partiels fournis par le secrétaire général du CEP, Rosemond Pradel, Lespwa serait déjà assurés de 11 sénateurs dont: pour l’Ouest: Anacacis Jean Hector; pour l’Artibonite: Emmanuel Limagne; pour le département du Centre: Wilbert Jacques et Ultimo Compère; pour la Grand’anse: Maxime Roumer; pour les Nippes: Nènèl Cassis; pour le Nord: Kelly Bastien, Sémefils Gilles et René Samson. L’OPL en compterait déjà 4, Fusion, 3, Lavalas, 2, L’Artibonite en Action, 2.

Et pour la Chambre des députés, 20 candidats de Lespwa seraient en voie de l’emporter. C’est sans doute le parti à remporter le plus de sièges, un succès d’une certaine façon, mais même avec une éventuelle alliance avec les deux élus au Sénat du parti Lavalas, Evelyne Chéron et Rudy Hérivaux, c’est loin d’être suffisant pour une majorité à cette Chambre et encore plus éloigné pour la Chambre basse.

Et pour être confortable pour choisir un Premier ministre qui s’entendra avec le président de la République pour bâtir un programme sans faire face continuellement à de l’obstruction, c’est loin d’être suffisant.

D’ailleurs, plusieurs observateurs s’accordent pour faire remarquer que les autres élus se retrouvent pour la plupart parmi ceux qui avaient appuyé le coup d’État de février 2004. «Nous prévoyons qu’il va y avoir des problèmes au Parlement , disait Emile Jean-Baptiste de SOS, un groupe de réflexion politique, dans une interview le 25 avril à Radio Solidarité, le plan [du secteur pro-coup d’État de voler la présidence] aura échoué, cependant il a réussi pour le Parlement.»

Le déroulement du second tour semble confirmer ses soupçons. En effet, non seulement à peine un million de citoyens sur 3,5 millions détenteurs de la carte d’identité électorale sont allés aux urnes, mais une grande partie de ce million s’est vu empêché de le faire effectivement, puisque on leur disait que leurs noms ne se trouvaient pas sur la liste d’un centre donné et même qu’ils auraient dû «vérifier sur Internet»! En réalité le peuple aura d’une certaine façon boudé ce deuxième tour, comme s’il savait que s’il avait pu faire respecter son vote pour la présidentielle, l’effet de surprise de sa mobilisation ne jouerait plus cette fois-ci. Un observateur de l’Union européenne, Johan van Hecke a même indiqué une participation de 15 % et le CEP, 28 %, de toutes façons bien moindre que le 7 février dernier où elle se situait à plus de 60 %, malgré les embûches mises pour empêcher les habitants des quartiers populaires de voter.

Si le calme a généralement prévalu, à certains endroits on a connu certaines confrontations. Par exemple, à Grande-Saline, dans l’Artibonite, Bertin Désir, mandataire dans un bureau pour un parti a été abattu par son cousin, Ricardo Désir, observateur pour un rival. Au moins trois autres personnes ont été blessées et les élections ont dû être annulées pour la seconde fois dans cette circonscription.

Encore dans l’Artibonite, à Verrettes, Jean Beauvois Dorsonne, un candidat du parti de Youri Latortue (LAA) a pris le maquis après avoir blessé d’un coup de feu un observateur électoral national, Marc Michel, du Conseil national d’observation électorale (CNO).

À Pestel et à Moron, dans la Grand’Anse, ce sont les sbires du Front de l’ex-rebelle Guy Philippe qui menaçaient électeurs et officiers électoraux soit pour les forcer à voter pour leurs candidats, soit pour avoir le loisir de voter en plusieurs fois.

Tout en attendant les résultats définitifs d’ici la fin de cette semaine, on peut voir dès maintenant que la partie ne sera pas facile, puisque l’élu du peuple, comme on le disait plus haut, ne détiendra point la majorité, et quand même il en arriverait à des alliances, ce sera à la suite de marchandages à n’en plus finir et sans cesse à recommencer pour chaque législation. Car il est certain que ceux qui ont fait le coup d’État du 29 février 2004 ne sont pas prêts à accepter la reprise des revendications du peuple qu’ils ont voulu une autre fois écarter de la scène politique. Évidemment les jeux sont loin d’être faits d’un côté comme de l’autre, et ce ne sont pas les intimidations à l’effet qu’il veut faire régner la dictature de la rue qui empêchera le peuple haïtien de poursuivre sa lutte pour la justice sociale.

(Haïti-Progrès - 26 avril)

Actualité - Haïti : L'insécurité malgré les discours...

Franc-Parler publie un article d'Haïti-Progrès à propos de l'insécurité et des crimes commis par la Police nationale haïtienne (PNH), entraînée par la Gendarmerie Royale Canadienne, et la Minutstah, force d'occupation étrangère. Au lendemain du deuxième tour des élections en Haïti la question des violations des droits humains se pose toujours car la question de la souveraineté d'Haïti se pose encore avec acuité.

À cinq jours près du second tour des législatives le 21 avril, les mesures de sécurité promises par la Minustah et la Police nationale pour l’occasion sont loin de se matérialiser. Toutes les nuits sont ponctuées par une sérénade de coups de feu.

Et il semble que ceux qui sont supposé faire régner l’ordre sont les premiers à y contrevenir. C’est ainsi que le samedi 8 avril, les habitants du Bélair, dans la capitale, étaient sur le qui-vive quand un contingent brésilien de la Minustah a tiré plusieurs rafales à la rue Saint-Martin. Un vieillard a été blessé et a dû être transporté à l’hôpital. Ces Casques bleus, d’après les riverains, ont tiré parce qu’ils ont été offusqués en entendant une personne «bêler comme un cabri». Cela pourrait paraître étrange, mais c’est que depuis plusieurs mois les résidants se plaignaient que les soldats de la Minustah volaient des cabris un peu partout. Et depuis lors, paraît-il, ils bêlent à chaque fois qu’ils voient arriver les voleurs de cabris de la Minustah.

Le12 avril, près de l’ancien aéroport, au bas de Delmas, les corps nus et sans vie troués de balles de trois jeunes garçons ont été trouvés ligotés. Des détonations avaient été entendues dans le secteur durant la nuit. «J’ai entendu beaucoup de tirs pendant la nuit, mais je ne savais pas que des gens avaient été tués… c’est inacceptable qu’on puisse tirer sur des gens ligotés; surtout que rien ne prouve que ce sont des bandits», s’est indigné un citoyen. Toujours le 12 avril, le corps inerte d’un jeune baignait dans son sang au Champ-de-Mars.

Le lendemain, double meurtre à Delmas 62 sur la personne d’une dame et d’un homme âgé de 49 ans, Guilbaud Valcourt. La compagne de ce dernier, Carmélie Sainte-Elice, a expliqué que son époux qui se couche habituellement très tard, a été retrouvé agonisant vers quatre heures du matin baignant dans son sang et qu’il a expiré une fois arrivé à l’hôpital. Son fils aîné, Jean Richard Guilbaud, a pour sa part déclaré ignorer les circonstances dans lesquelles son père a été assassiné. Les deux crimes ont été commis à proximité d’un commissariat de police et n’auraient apparemment aucun lien, sauf que les assassins auraient eu tout le loisir d’exécuter leurs victimes, quand on apprend qu’ils ont eu le temps d’exercer leur sadisme en tirant une balle dans le vagin de la dame.

Pourtant, le chef de la Police nationale (PNH), Mario Andresol, se plaît de préférence à dénoncer à tort et à travers des gangs qu’il promet une fois de plus de combattre avec de nouvelles stratégies. «Haïti est un pays de gangs, on les retrouve partout dans l’administration publique: les douanes, l’immigration, la direction générale des impôts (DGI), le service de la circulation routière et toutes les instances publiques. Sitôt terminé l’assainissement au sein de la police --nous venons d’arrêter trois policiers--, nous allons nous mettre sur la piste des autres gangs» s’évertuait-il à répéter à la presse le 12 avril. Qui trop embrasse mal étreint, pourrait-on lui faire observer. Et tant qu’à faire le ménage, pourquoi ne commencerait-il pas par la tête, par Gérard Latortue dont l’installation de facto au pouvoir depuis deux ans n’a fait qu’amplifier tous les problèmes dans tous les domaines, spécialement l’insécurité. En attendant, à la veille du second tour, après tant de discours, on ne voit point de résultats sur le terrain.

(Haïti-Progrès)

Actualité - Renforcement de l'amitié haïtiano-cubaine et de la coopération

Franc-Parler publie un article d'Haïti-Progrès sur la récente visite du nouveau président haïtien René Préval à Cuba. Cuba livre un exemple modèle d'aide désintéressée à Haïti. Contrairement aux grandes puissances, Cuba ne tente pas de s'ingérer dans les affaires d'Haïti mais aide matériellement le peuple haïtien.

Après la République dominicaine, l’Amérique latine (Brésil, Argentine, Chili) et les Etats-Unis, à son quatrième voyage à l’étranger depuis son élection et avant son investiture le 14 mai prochain, c’est la République de Cuba qui accueillait René Préval pour une véritable visite empreinte de cordialité et riche de promesses.

Sur l’invitation du Président des Conseils d’Etat et des ministres de la République socialiste de Cuba Fidel Castro Ruz, le président élu René Garcia Préval est arrivé le mercredi 12 avril à Santiago de Cuba, où il a été reçu par le président de l’Assemblée nationale Ricardo Alarcon. Il commençait son séjour en terre cubaine en allant déposer une gerbe de fleurs sur la tombe du Héros national de Cuba, el «Apostol» José Marti, au cimetière de Santa Ifigenia de Santiago.

A la tête d’une délégation composée entre autres du ministre de facto de l’Agriculture Philippe Mathieu, de l’ambassadeur cubain en Haïti Raùl Baraza, de l’ex-ministre de l’Agriculture de son premier mandat François Séverin, de ses proches collaborateurs tels que l’ex-secrétaire d’État à la Sécurité Robert Manuel et d’artistes haïtiens tels que Don Kato, Jacques Sauveur Jean et Azor, il s’est rendu à l’Ecole des sciences médicales de l’Amérique latine pour s’entretenir avec les six cents étudiants haïtiens, boursiers du gouvernement cubain, qui suivent la carrière médicale dans ce Centre universitaire. René Préval était aussi arrivé avec 60 autres jeunes boursiers et une quarantaine de handicapés visuels, qui bénéficient de l’Opération Miracle mise sur pied par Cuba et le Venezuela, venus pour être soignés sans aucun frais. 700 cents Haïtiens ont déjà été soignés gratuitement dans le cadre de ce programme.

S’adressant aux journalistes, il a vanté les bienfaits de la coopération entre son pays et Cuba dans les domaines de la santé, de l’agriculture, de la pêche, de l’industrie sucrière, de la culture et de l’éducation. Il a annoncé que le principal objectif de sa visite consistait à revitaliser avec les autorités cubaines ces coopérations qui, a-t-il précisé, ont stagné depuis la fin de son premier mandat en 2001. Adressant ses remerciements au nom du peuple haïtien aux autorités cubaines pour la formation entre autres des jeunes cadres haïtiens, dont 128 diplômés ont déjà regagné Haïti, le président Préval a particulièrement insisté sur le dévouement manifesté par la brigade médicale cubaine, formée actuellement de 353 praticiens répartis dans 70 des 133 communes d’Haïti, qui apporte une contribution inestimable dans un pays dépourvu d’infrastructures sanitaires, de façon absolue dans les campagnes.

«Ils travaillent énormément. Ils ont effectué plus de 8 millions de consultations et plus de 100.000 opérations. En Haïti on dit après Dieu il y a les médecins cubains», a déclaré Préval.

Le lendemain 13 avril, il est arrivé vers les 6 heures de l’après-midi à l’aéroport José Marti de La Havane où l’attendait à sa descente d’avion le ministre Ricardo Cabrisas en compagnie de Alejandro Gonzàlez Galiano, directeur de la section Amérique latine et des Caraïbes au ministère des Relations extérieures.«C’est assez clair, disait Préval, que la coopération va continuer», ajoutant que «son ami Fidel et lui allaient voir toutes possibilités qui s’ouvrent à la coopération».

Il y eut ensuite l’accueil au Palais de la Révolution pour s’entretenir avec le Président Fidel Castro. Au terme de ces entretiens, dont l’un des points forts portait sur la question de l’électricité, le président Préval s’est montré optimiste quant aux retombées positives de cette rencontre réalisée en présence du vice-président cubain Carlos Lage, du chancelier Felipe Perez Roque et de plusieurs conseillers du nouveau président d’Haïti.

Préval a déclaré que le Président cubain s’est dit favorable pour envoyer immédiatement des techniciens en Haïti afin de trouver une solution à la grave crise énergétique. D’autres thèmes liés au renforcement de la coopération haïtiano-cubaine et d’autres questions bilatérales ont également constitué la toile de fond de ces entretiens. «Si Haïti ne s’intègre pas dans la région, elle aura de grandes difficultés à réaliser son développement. C’est pourquoi, nous allons faire tout notre possible pour avoir des relations politiques, économiques et culturelles avec cette région qui est la nôtre», a indiqué le nouveau président haïtien.

Le samedi 15 avril, le président Préval et sa délégation ont été reçus dans la province de Pinar del Rio par la première secrétaire du Parti communiste dans cette province, Maria de Carmen Concepción Gonzalez, qui a fait état des progrès accumulés par cette province dans le secteur énergétique, alors que celle-ci était considérée comme l’une des régions les plus pauvres de Cuba après la Révolution de 1959. René Préval et sa délégation ont été édifiés de constater comment le problème énergétique a pu être résolu dans la région qui est régulièrement frappée par des cyclones. Un système sectoriel permet d’éliminer progressivement les grandes centrales vieillotes et gaspilleuses d’énergie.

Un voyage plus que fructueux à tous les points de vue. Et le président Préval ne devait rentrer à Port-au-Prince que ce mardi 18 avril dans l’après-midi, puisqu’il avait profité de cette visite pour subir une intervention chirurgicale à Cuba pour une hernie.

À son arrivée à l’aéroport Toussaint-Louverture, il offrait une brève conférence de presse où il révélait des perspectives très prometteuses, indiquant que l’adhésion d’Haïti au programme Petrocaribe pour obtenir du pétrole à un prix préférentiel est «désormais acquise», suite à sa rencontre avec l’ambassadeur vénézuélien à La Havane qui est le frère du Président Chàvez.

Quant aux nouvelles avenues offertes par la coopération cubaine, il a fait part de l’arrivée sous peu des techniciens cubains à Port-au-Prince afin d’examiner la grave crise énergétique du pays, dont comme on l’expérimente quotidiennement même la capitale est privée pratiquement d’électricité malgré «l’assistance et les millions» de ladite communauté internationale! D’autre part Préval a aussi fait part que les 55 autres communes d’Haïti pourront bénéficier bientôt de l’aide médicale cubaine grâce à l’arrivée d’un autre contingent de médecins cubains. En fin de compte si la France et le Canada avaient voulu faire le dixième de l’apport cubain avec des médicaments, on pourrait juger de leur bonne foi en parlant d’aide et de coopération.

Par ailleurs, les visiteurs haïtiens auront sans doute aussi pu tirer leçon de la sobriété des dirigeants cubains qui ne se sentent pas obligés de rouler carrosse pour être utiles ni pour se sentir «importants» dans le style de certains personnages que l’on commence à revoir sur la scène politique…

(Haïti-Progrès)