16227: Karshan: Letter to Associated Press re: mischaracterization of assailants in ambush (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

July 28, 2003

Associated Press
Regional Bureau
Puerto Rico

Attention:  Bureau Chief and Editor

Dear Bureau Chief and Editor:

I am writing to express my serious concern regarding your July 25th story
reporting on the ambush of a Ministry of Interior delegation in which four
government staff were killed and one critically wounded.

The use of the word "gang" in the title of the article, "Haiti Gang Kills
Four Gov't Officials" serves to minimize the gravity of the situation and
misleads your readership regarding the true nature of the attack.  The use of the
word "gang" inaccurately characterizes those who carried out this attack in the
same locality where for nine months a pattern of sustained terror and
continuous attacks have been waged by armed men who use Pernal in the border region of
the Central Plateau as their base.  The countless incidents include the murder
of twenty people, including a judge and police, abduction of doctors and a
foreign journalist, attacks on police stations, arson of the main hydroelectric
plant, and more.

The use of the word "gang" leads readers to believe that this planned ambush
of government officials was a random, isolated act committed by ordinary
criminals.  In the body of the article, the author further dilutes the situation by
stating that the "government alleges the attackers are 'the armed wing of the
opposition' when the terrorists themselves have previously identified
themselves to the press as former military men bent on violently overthrowing Haiti's
government.

It appears that virtually everyone except Associated Press has correctly
identified the assailants in this case.  Writing about the Central Plateau
tragedy, The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR), in their July 28th press
release described the incident as "an armed commando" attack, further stating,
"reportedly, this act was committed by the same anti-government group or
groups responsible for several other acts of armed violence in the Central Plateau
over the course of many months against government targets."

In response to this politically-motivated attack, NCHR went on to state that,
"All parties must adhere to the commitment of finding a peaceful resolution,
engaging in serious dialogue, not violent attacks against government
officials…" and went as far as to call on the opposition to "Vigorously condemn and
repudiate any acts of violence and sabotage, which will only contribute to the
Haitian people's misery."

The Prime Minister spoke on Friday immediately following the attack, and
prior to the release of your article, characterizing the act as "terrorist" and
having been carried out by "a group of terrorists aimed at destroying the
foundation of Haitian democracy."

To better understand the timing of this attack, Dr. Jean Claude Desgranges,
the Chief of Staff for the President, pointed out to the press that this attack
comes at the same time that the government has made headway in setting up a
new electoral council, which would get local and parliamentary elections off
the ground.  Similarly,  NCHR stated that, "The deterioration of the crisis at
this particular moment is all the more regrettable in light of some encouraging
progress that has been made over the past three months," and also pointed out
recent events that may enable Haiti to finally hold elections.

Lovinksy Pierre-Antoine, director of the Haiti based human rights group,
Fondation 30 Septembre, which represents victims of the September 30th coup
d'etat, said the  politically-motivated attack was designed to thwart the efforts
and progress by the government to resolve the political crisis, explaining that
elections are the only way out of the current political crisis.

Dany Fabien, chief of staff for the Secretary of State for Public Security at
the Ministry of Justice, called the assailants the "armed branch of the
opposition."  The Minister of Interior attributed the ambush to former soldiers who
he said, "are mobilizing an anti-people army and are operating under cover of
a particular opposition organization, the Force de Protection Citoyenne
headed by Judy C. Roy, who is presently being detained." (It is important to note
that earlier this year, after the destruction of the hydroelectric plant, the
police, acting on a tip, raided the home of Judith Roy finding a cache of
weapons along with detailed plans for attacking the National Palace and the
President's home with "battalions" composed of persons they had recruited to carry
out a coup d'etat.

Your choice of the word "gang" in your title, which was widely picked up
internationally, is particularly disturbing given that your office regularly
receives our releases, including the recent July 14th PRNewswire press release (see
below) in which the counsel for Haiti, Ira Kurzban, Esq., described in detail
the history, operations, and objectives of this 'contra' group which calls
itself San Manman, which literally translates to "motherless" but more
accurately implies "lawlessness and against the law."

In light of the wide distribution of your article it would appear that a new
article correcting the false perception generated is in order.  Given the
pattern of the attacks over the past nine months and the increasing frequency of
terrorism in the Central Plateau, which is widely reported inside Haiti, and
impacts on Haiti as a whole, your readers deserve to be accurately informed in a
manner that reflects the depth and ramifications of this grave situation.

Very truly yours,

Michelle Karshan
Foreign Press Liaison
National Palace
Haiti