15995: Brown: Re: 15987: Schuller: Cedras and the School of Americas? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Hunt Brown <hunt.brown@wright.edu>

 From one of the School of Americas Watch web pages
(http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=343), I quote the entire section
on Haiti:

"Haiti

"In the eyes of most people throughout the world, my home country is
perceived as a place of repressive regimes, coupes detat, poverty and
despair. Indeed, Haiti has suffered through colonization by Spain and
France, US occupation, dictatorship supported by the wealthy, and
periods of cruel repression" -- Marie M. B. Racine, Ph. D., a Haitian
woman herself, lives in Washington, DC where she is an an active member
of the solidarity community for the peoples of the Caribbean and Central
America.

"Haiti has sent relatively few officers to train at the SOA, primarily
because SOA courses are offered in Spanish. Less than 50 Haitian
officers have attended the SOA since it was founded, but their presence
has been felt. In 1987, SOA graduate Gambetta Hyppolite ordered his
soldiers to fire on the Provincial Electoral Bureau in Gonaives as part
of a larger Army campaign to stop the democratic elections. In 1988, SOA
graduate Franck Romain masterminded the St. Jean Bosco massacre in which
12 prisoners were killed while attending mass and at least 77 were wounded.

"Haitian soldiers and officers have also trained at many other U.S.
facilities. For example General Raul Cedras, Defense Minister, and
Michel Francois, Port au Prince Police Chief are often believed to be
SOA graduates. In fact, however, they graduated from the U.S. Army
Infantry School, which is also located at Ft. Benning."

Hunt Brown