13818: Michel: Inquiry on painting and Vertiere

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Francois M Michel <sanba@juno.com>


I understand that the trend will be to half-mast the flag in Haiti. It
happened at least twice at Vertière and in Petit-Goâve, during protests
conducted by opponents of the President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Surprisingly enough, I learnt that at Vertières, yes Vertières, and on a
commemorative date such as "18 Novembre" it has been done by Himmler
Rébu, an ex-colonel of FAD'H.
Which General gave him such an order? If not from a general, who gave him
this mission to accomplish, he did not take the time, we must guess, to
fully analyze? After all, we know by hear say that the Colonel is
otherwise, an articulated patriot. Except that he MAY have a tendency to
topple government, or -as some say, but we do not want to believe- he may
have been part of the terror campaign, especially of the bombing of
December 1990 in Pétion-Ville, preceding the first coup against the
President.
Does anybody know of another time, or period, when "revolutionaries"
chose to half-mast the flag, instead of sending it floating high?
Just for the record: does anyone know why the Colonel has been with those
who wanted to topple Prosper Avril? Whether or not he ever amended with
his then-commander-in-chief? Whether or not he approved Dr. Mengele
Lafontant's failed coup, even before President Aristide ever took oath,
in January 2001? What did he ever say of the bloodiest coup d'état in
Haitian history under another Colonel, Raoul Cedras? How is it that the
Convergence that had never been pressured by any external force -not that
I know of- as opposed to President Aristide come so closely to terms with
militaries who never apologized for organizing the killing that we know
of?
And as a last question, who can tell about the colonel's view on the
actual flag? Maybe that can lead us to the accurate interpretation of the
new trend, which is half-masting the red and blue flag.