12429: This Week in Haiti 20:15 6/26/2002 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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                           HAITI PROGRES
              "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

                      * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                      June 26 - July 2, 2002
                          Vol. 20, No. 15

PRESS AND RIGHTS GROUPS SLAM GOVERNMENT FOR GUACIMAL CRACKDOWN

On Jun. 25, human rights groups, peasant organizations, press
outlets, and unions joined together to denounce the Haitian
government's continued illegal imprisonment of nine peasants
arrested during a demonstration in Guacimal on May 27. (see Haïti
Progrès, Vol. 20, No. 11, 5/29/02)

In a press conference held at the offices of the National
Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR), the groups reproached the
government for jailing the peasants while catering to the thugs
who beat them. "After the attack we experienced in Guacimal on
May 27, the reactionary forces burned down the houses of several
union members, and they intend to step up their actions,"
explained Mr. Gérard Germain of the May 1 Workers Struggle
International Union. "The corrupt judicial branch, under orders
from the Executive, has tried to serve warrants on several of our
comrades, and the police have repeatedly visited several of our
members. In fact, nineteen of them are in hiding to avoid being
arrested."

Human rights groups all agreed that the Guacimal arrests were
illegal. "Despite the speeches in favor of democracy which those
in power make, they are acting outside of democratic norms in
this case," said Mr. Vilès Avilar of the NCHR.

Meanwhile, Eliphète St.Pierre of the Platform of Haitian Human
Rights Organizations denounced the conditions in which the
uncharged detainees were being held, while being denied medical
attention although they suffer from cardiac conditions, fevers,
and battered legs. "Should there be some people who enjoy
official favor, who should be above the law, while others cannot
even present their legitimate demands?" St. Pierre asked.

Darwin St. Julien, the Haïti Progrès journalist who was arrested
along with the nine peasants, denounced the disinformation
campaign being carried out by the official media -- in particular
the National Television of Haiti (TNH) and the recently
resuscitated government daily, Union -- in which the peasants are
accused of having been "heavily armed" with "weapons of war" and
"attacking the population." St. Julien was imprisoned for 13 days
before being released, along with Allan Deshommes of Radio
Atlantique,  following sharp outcry by Haitian and international
media watchdog groups. The journalists, like the peasants, had
been accused of being "terrorists."

St. Julien, who has not regained sight in his right eye where he
was struck by a machete on May 27, also described his ordeal
during the time he spent, uncharged,  in prison. "It was a daily
struggle just to eat in jail, and we had to sleep directly on the
ground," he explained.

The groups represented at the press conference included important
peasant organizations such as Kozepèp and special issue groups
like Echo the Voice of Jean Dominique, which is seeking justice
for that prominent journalist assassinated in Apr. 2000.

The joint press statement made by the groups reflects a new level
of unity and a growing consensus that the lawlessness and
aggressivity of the Lavalas Family party of President Jean-
Bertrand Aristide cannot be tolerated any longer.

Here is the joint press declaration of the groups:

Considering that after more than 48 hours, there are neither
charges nor indictment counts against the peasants they arrested
Monday, May 27, 2002 in Guacimal (St. Raphaël) and who are in
prison in Port-au-Prince;

Considering that the police arrested the peasants without a case,
without an order to arrest, without an order for transfer;

Considering that the police barged into the very courtroom of
Grande Rivière du Nord to snatch the people from the hands of
judges, according to the very own words of Mr. Smith Bertrand,
the prosecutor of Grande Rivière du Nord;

Considering that, under law, the people put in prison should be
only those convicted or those that the court has already heard;

Considering that journalists were arrested at the same time as
the peasants, then freed, and that such an act is a policy of
discrimination, while the government always trumpets that
"Everybody is a person";

Considering that the peasants in the prison have not yet received
medical care, while their state of health worsens with each
passing day;

Considering the wealth of information released by the
investigative reports of the Platform of Haitian Human Rights
Organizations and the National Coalition for Haitian Rights on
this case which dismantled piece by piece the disinformation
campaign of the authorities, the state media, and a certain other
media which would like to portray the peasants as assassins or
terrorists;

Considering the testimony of the released journalists who
accompanied the unionists and peasants as they exercised their
democratic rights;

We, the organizations signing this note, declare:

The arrest and detention of the peasants is an act which is
arbitrary and illegal and which violates the Constitution as well
as international conventions which the Haitian state has signed
and ratified. Thus we demand the immediate unconditional release
of the imprisoned Guacimal peasants, in the framework of the
Constitutional rights all citizens should be able to enjoy in
this country. It is time for the Haitian state to stop trampling
the rights of workers.

Signed: Antèn ouvriyè, Batay Nò, Batay Ouvriyè, Fondasyon Eko Vwa
Jean Dominique, Haïti Progrès, Kozepèp, National Coalition for
Haitian Rights, Platform for an Alternative Development (PAPDA),
Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations, Radio Atlantique,
SHKS.

All articles copyrighted Haiti Progres, Inc. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED
Please credit Haiti Progres.

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