14267: Ives: This Week in Haiti 20:42 1/1/2003 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

"This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI PROGRES
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and Creole, please contact us (tel) 718-434-8100,
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                           HAITI PROGRES
              "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

                      * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                       January 1 - 7, 2002
                         Vol. 20, No. 42

RADIO HAITI'S MICHÈLE MONTAS AMBUSHED NEAR HER HOME
SECURITY GUARD KILLED

On Dec. 25 at about 6 p.m., two armed men apparently attempted to ambush
Radio Haïti Inter director Michèle Montas, widow of slain station-founder
Jean Dominique, near her home in Pétionville, in the hills above the
capital Port-au-Prince. The two men exchanged fire with Montas' security
guards, killing one of them, Maxime Séïde, 29.

«I was driving and Maxime Séïde was accompanying me," Montas explained on
Radio Kiskeya. "Following the advice of Maxime, who was a very
conscientious man, we were not taking the usual way home. We arrived at the
house from a street above, but the individuals were clearly waiting for us
on a street below. I parked the car in the garage, and Maxime got out while
I entered the house; three minutes later, I heard the gate close violently
and immediately gunfire erupted. The shooting was so loud that it seemed to
me to be coming from inside the house. I put my mother on the ground to
protect her. At that point, I saw one of the security guards come in,
asking for a weapon that we have in the house. He said that two armed men
had threatened him and Maxime, telling them to stand aside so they could
enter the house. For my protection, the watchman had the lucidity to close
the gate immediately, unfortunately leaving Maxime outside. He was armed
but, I learned afterwards, that the men fired on him in front of the gate
while fleeing and killed him a few meters away.»

Montas feels that the attack is linked to the upcoming ruling on the Apr.
3, 2000 murders of her husband, journalist Jean Dominique, and Jean-Claude
Louissaint, who was the station's custodian. «I continually receive
threats," Montas said on Radio Métropole, "but for me what is clear is that
we are approaching the date for the publication of the ruling on the
assassination of Jean Dominique, and one knows that I am going to examine
the document meticulously, and that I would not to accept a ruling that
would not tell the truth and not name the backers of the crime.»

Investigating Judge Bernard St-Vil has been in charge of the case since
July 2002. His much anticipated report is due by the end of December. The
Port-au-Prince prosecutor, Josué Pierre-Louis said that as soon as he has
the ruling in hand, he will take no more than a month to bring it to trial.
He emphasized that judicial authorities want to bring this case, a thorn in
the government's side for over two and a half years, to closure.

The day after the shooting, the head of the Central Direction of the
Judicial Police (DCPJ), Jeannot François, came with the thesis that Maxime
Séïde may have been killed as part of a score being settled. «The
testimonies that we have received do not indicate that the assailants
wanted to force their way past the gate into the house of Madam Dominique
to be able to enter, nor that they fired at the gate or inside the
residence," François said in a press conference. "The first clues in the
investigation indicate that the individuals were set on killing Maxime
Séïde, since they shot him near to the gate and then while fleeing, they
fired at him again... I cannot say if this is a political crime. but I
think that it would be premature to say whether or not there is a link or
not with the murder of Jean Dominique. Did they want to get to Jean
Dominique's widow? Or did they want to settle a score with the security
guard? I cannot say exactly what happened.»

Following this declaration, Montas met with Chief François on Dec. 27.
Afterwards, she said that he regretted having commented hastily on the
shooting of Maxime Séïde. «He told me that after investigating in the
neighborhood of Maxime Séïde's residence, he only collected praise about
the victim," Montas said. "According to what he told me, people only said
that he was of good character, conscientious and on the up and up.»

Immediately after the attack, several governmental ministers rushed to
Montas' side including Justice Minister Calixte Delatour, Interior Minister
Jocelerme Privert, and government prosecutor Josué Pierre-Louis. Former
President René Préval also visited her.

«We learned with stupefaction of the assassination attempt against Michèle
Montas," said Mario Dupuy, State Secretary of Communications. "This action
has deeply affected us, since we know that her husband was killed for
denouncing certain things.  He fought so that the poor masses could
participate in the electoral process.  And now we learn that there is a
sector which wants to silence Madame Montas and to spill more blood in the
country." Dupuy said that a security contingent was being placed around her
residence in Pétionville and also around the radio station in Delmas.

Justice Minister Delatour warned unspecified people about interference in
the investigation. «This investigation will be completed and for that to
happen quickly, non-qualified individuals should avoid interfering so as
not to disrupt the work of investigators,» he declared.

During the inauguration of a public place in Tabarre on Dec. 26, President
Jean Bertrand Aristide condemned the attack against Montas and called on
judicial authorities to rapidly publish the ruling on the April 2000
killings. «We note that violence has once again knocked on the door of Jean
Dominique, who even though killed, is still living among us," Aristide
said. "They murdered Maxime Séïde, but justice must advance. Judicial
authorities must not be intimidated by this violence; they must follow
through with their work in all independence so that justice is
re-established. The ruling must be published so that one can see who is
guilty and who is not. The accomplices of the assassins must not prevent
the machinery of justice from working.»

Foreign diplomats also opined on the attack. «Liberty of the press is one
of the principal accomplishments of the democratic process in Haïti over
the past several years," said Bernard Valéro, assistant spokesperson for
the French Foreign Affairs Ministry, on Radio Métropole. "Everything should
be done to preserve it .»

The Association of the Haitian Journalists (AJH), the Circle of the Haitian
Professional Journalists (CJPH), and the Association of the Haitian Media
(ANMH) also all condemned the Chrismas attack. The AJH's Guyler C.  Delva
branded it an additional aggression against press freedom in the country,
calling on Haitian authorities to find and judge the authors and
accomplices of the crime. Human rights groups like the National Coalition
for Haitian Rights (NCHR) and the Platform of Haitian Human Rights
Organizations (POHPH) also issued declarations.

Predictably, the Democratic Convergence opposition front sought to suggest
that the government had a hand in the attack. «The journalist leads a fight
to find justice for Jean Dominique," said Convergence leader Evans Paul.
"Did those who attacked her want to close her mouth? Is this a message to
tell her that she will not find justice?"

But suggesting that the government was behind the attack seems far-fetched.
In a recent interview with the Miami Herald, Montas dismissed the
Democratic Convergence as a "patchwork of people and groups who have very
little in common" other than hatred for Aristide and insisted that Aristide
should "finish his term" of 5 years rather than step down as the
Convergence demands. "Although his popularity is not what it was, a
majority of the people are still with him," she said of Aristide.

WBAI HAITI SPECIAL ON JAN. 1

The Haitian Collective at WBAI will host a special on Haiti on WBAI 99.5 FM
in New York from 3 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, January 1, 2003, Haitian
Independence Day. The show will include interviews with a variety of guests
on th subject of Haitian independence and initiatives to commemorate Haiti'
s bicentennial in 2004. The program can be heard on the Internet at
www.wbai.org.

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