a411: Haiti: Lavalas party supporters threaten Haitian journalist (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

 Haiti: Lavalas party supporters threaten Haitian journalist
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Jan 18, 2002


The Lavalas organization Clean-up [Creole: Bale Wouze; Lavalas refers to
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Family party], based in
Saint-Marc, has made serious threats against the secretary general of the
Association of Haitian Journalists [AJH]. Clean-up's spokesman says that if
Guyler C. Delva [secretary-general of the AJH] dares to go to Saint-Marc, he
will deserve whatever happens to him. Figaro Desir says Clean-up is ready to
burn anyone who betrays Haiti. Desir is the spokesman for Clean-up in
Saint-Marc:
[Desir] On the eve of 2004 [bicentennial of Haitian independence], we say
and swear seven multiplied by 77 times that if he ever comes here, he will
deserve whatever happens to him. We have not used a middleman to deliver the
message. We have sent a clear message, and everybody knows what Clean-up can
do. If Guyler C. Delva ever dares to come to Saint-Marc, he will deserve
whatever happens to him.
[Unidentified correspondent] What are you blaming him for?
[Desir] Guyler C Delva. [pauses] All staunch Haitians [words indistinct]. He
came with a little hoodlum called Robert Menard [secretary-general of the
Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres, who visited Haiti last
week and accused the government of tolerating the persecution of reporters]
to sully Haitian soil on the eve of 2004. We do not accept that. They [the
former Haitian slaves who became rulers of the newly independent country in
1804] said: "Cut off their heads and burn their houses." As for us, we will
burn all the people and their properties.
Source: Signal FM Radio, Port-au-Prince, in Creole 1230 gmt 17 Jan 01
/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.