12163: Haitian Refugees (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Yannick Etienne <batayouvriye@hotmail.com>

The question of Haitian refugees has been brought to our attention.
It is our experience that Haitian workers are every bit as much persecuted
today as during the Duvalier era.
As we speak, hundreds of workers from the Guacimal/St Raphael area are in
hiding, given their persecution by police and government officials at the
beck and call of capitalist interests (Cointreau of France, Novella/Zephir
bourgeois of Cap-Haitian, local landlords).
Their potential demands of asylum are as legitimate as those of the Coup or
duvalierist times.
We could add cases such as those of the workers arbitrarily fired and
persecuted at the World Food Program, the Novella Coffee Export, Laroche
Cement Block, etc... etc... All seeked arbitration in vain whether at the
Bureau of Social Affairs or in Tribunals. Their voices have been stifled on
national radio stations and in the press... All are today faced with grim
misery and utter disillusionment.
Stating that there is no political persecution in Haiti today is delusive in
the face of the numerous Haitian workers today obliged to lay in hiding due
to direct and indirect political persecution.


Batay Ouvriye, B.P. 13326, Delmas, Haïti
Tel: 509-222-6719
Http://www.ifrance.com/syndicats-bo-haiti


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