12020: Re: 12956: stanley honorat re: haiti's political and social climate (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

Stanley Honorat <shonorat@hotmail.com> absolutely floors me with his assertion:

<<i am not aware of a "cedras regime" that was spoken of.  i know that mr cedras was commander of fad'h during that time period, but i also know that there were 2 different presidents and 3 prime ministers during this period... please correct me if i am in error.>>

With pleasure!  During Cedras' tenure as head of the illegal military junta of 1991 - 1994, there was only one president - President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.  People like Jonassaint were puppets of the military, NOT democratically elected, constitutionally mandated heads of the executive branch!

<<this period of time is worse than any other over the last 25 years>>

Are people being murdered for their political or social development activities at a rate of over 50 per month?  In 1993 for several months, the rate of politically-motivated killing was over 80 people per month in Cite Soliel alone!

<<in reference to the comment about "zenglendos" being ex-fraph and attaches, i wonder how someone can be so sure of the identities of thieves and bandits.>>

You would be surprised what Mambos know!  Men who served as attaches, or who were part of FRAPH, have come to more than one peristyle seeking wangas to make them invisible or invulnerable during expeditions of pillaging, pilfering and purloining.  Furthermore, when these fellows meet their inevitable, untimely and bloody end, the cadaver is usually left on the ground for a while, even people who are not Houngans or Mambos see it, everyone sees who it is, and we know what that person's history has been.  It's no secret!

<<this information should be useful to the police and i urge you to tell them>>

Hah!  As if they don't already know.

<<Now, as for the bus rides into town and the fear involved, you are right about the corporal, but now, they may be afraid of inept, drug smuggling, politically motivated pnh officers>>

Horse hockey!  During the military regime I and other passangers were searched, made to get out of the bus, threatened, and generally mistreated many, many times.  I'll never forget the corporal who made a thorough search of my Tampax and MaxiPads - I guess he never saw things like that before.  This has not happened to me even once since 1994.

<<as for the days of rape and torture being over.  i say that those two things are still here today>>

When was the last time squads of armed men initiated rape campaigns to terrorize female family members of pro-democracy activists, or women involved in market cooperatives or literacy work?  Are female political prisoners kept in groups in prisons and subjected to nightly sexual assaults by men in uniform, or by male prisoners acting on the orders of prison guards?

COME ON!  It's about time some people started accepting responsibility, instead of trying to pretend that things were something other than what they were during the military regime.

Oh, one more thing - Honorat writes:

<<ps-in reference to the question of secret societies, i wonder.... if a society or group is secret in nature, does that not mean that the average person will not know about it (or else it would no longer be secret)?  so the affirmations that they do not exist seem odd to me, cause whether they do or not, they will remain secret.

The "secret societies" of the Sanpwel exist and everyone knows it.  The decisions we make regarding sanctions against criminal community members are made in secret.

The Sanpwel societes are NOT Vodou congregations, and there ARE NO "Vodou secret societies". Vodou congregations are public organizations and Vodou ceremonies are almost exclusively public events.

I hope that is clear now.

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra" - Good is rare
     Haitian proverb

The VODOU Page - http://members.aol.com/racine125/index.html