14099: Pina responds to Chamberlain (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: kevin pina <kpinbox@hotmail.com>



Mr. Chamberlain has referred to me in the past as a "government apologist"
and now he bestows upon me the mantle of "abuser of the press."  It seems
that anyone who would dare challenge his preconceived notion of events
unfolding in Haiti is to be subject to labeling and ridicule.  While his
personal agenda remains unclear to many, his tactics are not. While
apologizing for the biases of corporate journalists in Haiti he
simultaneously vilifies any independent voice and attempt to set the record
straight.

FACT: There was a massive outpouring of support in the streets of the
capital for President Aristide and Lavalas on November 25, 2002. The largest
number cited in AP and Reuters for a demonstration in front of Haiti’s
national palace on November 25, 2002, was 2000 persons. Photos taken by
independent journalists show that the crowd was in fact far greater then the
numbers cited. The only photos filed by corporate news organizations on
November 25th were of much smaller anti-Aristide demonstrations and NOT ONE
PHOTO of the much larger pro-Lavalas demonstration was EVER published by
them.

FACT: Mike Norton reported that Lavalas demonstrators had stoned students at
a state university facility as the marchers of November 25th passed by.
Independent video footage of the altercation and eyewitness accounts
confirms it was the students within the university compound who stoned the
Lavalas demonstration as it passed.

FACT: Gerald Khawly, a prominent businessman, was shot and killed on
December 6, 2002. Gerald Khawly owned one of the few gasoline stations open
on December 4, 2002 during a "general strike" called by the Convergence. He
was shot dead in front of the very gas station that remained opened on the
day of the strike. Not one mention of this was made by AP and Reuters.


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