a1254: This Week in Haiti 19:52 3/13/2002 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

"This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI PROGRES
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                           HAITI PROGRES
              "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

                      * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                        March 13 - 19, 2002
                          Vol. 19, No. 52


PORT-DE-PAIX: DEADLY RIOTS CONVULSE CITY AFTER KILLING

On Mar. 5, this northwestern city exploded in angry clashes
between rampaging crowds and the police, in which one person died
and many were wounded.

On that morning, a National Port Aurthority (APN) security agent
fatally shot an unarmed teenage cart pusher (bouretye) during an
argument at the port. When people in the city learned of the
shooting, an enraged crowd tracked down the security agent and
killed him.

By 9 a.m. the city was paralyzed. Schools and businesses closed,
tires were burned, and roads were blocked. The police engaged in
fierce confrontations with the crowds. Several protesters were
wounded by police gunfire, and four policemen were wounded by
thrown rocks.

One throng overran the port itself, smashing cars and trashing
APN offices.

The following day, Mar. 6, the city was more or less calm.


CÔTE DE FER: THREE PEOPLE DIE IN BLAZE

Lorèze Morelis tells a tragic tale. Her husband, Dovilas Norzil,
was killed when his brothers, Thovilis and Moranvil Norzil, set
fire to the couple's home in the southeastern commune of Côte de
Fer, in the rural section know as Jamais Vu (Never Seen) on Feb.
6. The fire also claimed the lives of their two daughters, Fayka,
8, and Géraldine, 13. An inter-family land dispute sparked the
deadly arson, she says.

Worse yet, there has been no funeral or burial for her family
because administrators at the morgue of Port-au-Prince's General
Hospital will not release the bodies until they receive certain
paperwork from Justice Dept. officials in the southeast,
according to Mme. Morelis. She is now appealing to authorities to
help her bury her family.

The two alleged arsonists are being held in the Côtes de Fer
jail, awaiting transfer to the prison in Jacmel, where they will
be held pending trial.


GONAÏVES: "SERVICE PLUS" CLOSES IT DOORS

Service Plus, a 7-year-old nationwide transport cooperative whose
blue and white school buses are now ubiquitous in Haiti, has
stopped its service to Gonaïves due to gang warfare and violence
directed against it, according to the company's director, Duclos
Bénissoit.

For months, the hot, dry city has been wracked by violence
between two armed gangs, similar to that which plagues Cité
Soleil, the capital's largest shantytown. Bénissoit says he'll
wait for this fighting to die down before he resumes service to
the city.

Also, the bus line has been the object of several attacks. "They
burned one of our buses on its way from L'Estère," a town about
20 kilometers south of the city, Bénissoit said. "What is
strangest about this affair is that now they have attacked us in
our offices. They cut the telephone, pillaged the office, stole
everything we had, and set fire to the buses which were in the
courtyard." He accuses rival bus owners who ply the profitable
Gonaïves/Port-au-Prince route of being behind the attacks. "They
want to do some things which they know they cannot do as long as
Service Plus exists," he said.

At least 16 Service Plus buses are now out of commission,
according to Bénissoit. "We had a total of 176 buses, in the
provinces and Port-au-Prince," he explained. "We lost 4 of them,
which were burned. That means we now have 172, and in Port-au-
Prince we have around 50 or 60 functioning."  He said that the
repairs of the vehicles are not easy because the company must buy
parts overseas, which is very expensive.


BROOKLYN: WEEKEND AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY

This Fri. and Sat., there will be events in Brooklyn to protest
police brutality and commemorate its most recent victims: Patrick
Dorismond and Georgy Louisgene.

Two years ago, Patrick Dorismond, 26, was gunned down in
Manhattan by NYPD officer Anthony Vasquez after he refused drugs
in a street sting operation (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 18, No. 1,
3/22/00). Two months ago, Georgy Louisgene, 23, was gunned down
in Brooklyn by NYPD officers James Muirhead and Joe Thompson
after he pleaded with them for help (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 19,
No. 45, 1/23/02). The cops have not been charged in any way in
either of these shootings. Meanwhile, three of the cops
implicated in the precinct-house torture of Abner Louima, and its
ensuing cover-up, had their jury convictions overturned by a
three-person appeals court on Feb. 28, further enraging the
Haitian community (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 19, No. 51, 3/6/02).

On Mar. 15 at 7 p.m., the Georgy Louisgene Justice Committee will
hold a forum at P.S. 399 (corner of Albermarle Rd. & Rogers Ave.)
featuring Brian Figeroux, one of Abner Louima's original
attorneys, community activist Richie Perez, families of victims
of police abuse, and the attorneys representing the Louisgene
family. "It is very important for people to open their eyes to
see what is going on in our community," said Abby Louis Jeune,
Georgy's sister. "So this will be an event to inform people." For
more information, contact the Committee at 718-284-2255 or
JusticeForGeorgy@yahoo.com.

On Mar. 16 at 5:30 p.m., the Dorismond family will hold a mass
commemorating the death of their son at St. Francis Church
(corner of Maple St. and Nostrand Ave.). "By remembering Patrick,
we can begin the process of his finding peace," Marie Dorismond,
the victim's mother, told Haïti Progrès. "But he hasn't yet found
peace because he hasn't yet found justice."



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