16579: This Week in Haiti 21:24 8/27/2003 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

" This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI PROGRES
newsweekly. To obtain the full paper with other news in French
and Creole, please contact us (tel) 718-434-8100,
(fax) 718-434-5551 or e-mail at <editor@haitiprogres.com>
Also check our website at <www.haitiprogres.com>.

                           HAITI PROGRES
              "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

                      * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                   August 26 - September 2, 2003
                          Vol. 21, No. 24

QUESTIONS SURROUND NEW NCHR REPORT

The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) alleges in a
report released on Aug. 19 that there is a corps of armed
civilian auxiliaries, known in Haiti as attachés, operating out
of several police stations around Haiti as part of a "government
strategy."

Published in French, the report singles out police stations in
towns around the country such as Pétion-Ville, Gonaïves, Cap-
Haïtien, Trou-du-Nord and Hinche as well as in Port-au-Prince
neighborhoods like Delmas 33, Carrefour, and Cité Soleil, as
places out of which the alleged attachés operate, carrying out
"torture" and "beatings." The NCHR even refers to certain zones
around the capital as "slaughterhouses," so numerous are the
attachés' supposed victims.

The report says that the attachés' "favorite targets are rich
merchants, businessmen, owners of brand-new vehicles, former
soldiers, opposition political militants, and Haitians who have
just returned from abroad."

These armed auxiliaries are grouped in "a special unit called the
Special Brigade (BS) and wear black T-shirts with a yellow BS on
the back," the NCHR charges. This "phenomenon of attachés,"
evident during three decades of Duvalierist and military
dictatorships, has returned since the "launching on June 28, 2001
of the zero tolerance operation," the report claims.

That operation, announced by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
called for rigor from policemen and judges in bringing to justice
zenglendos   as violent criminals are called   who have wrought
havoc in Haiti for years.

Haitian government spokesman Mario Dupuy denied that there were
attachés in the Haitian National Police (PNH) and counter-charged
that the NCHR was "attempting to destabilize the government by
undermining the morale of the police." The NCHR, a darling of
Washington's liberal establishment, has revealed itself over the
years to be politically hostile to the Aristide's government.

The NCHR report was issued shortly after a policeman, Jean Panel
Charles, deserted his post at the Delmas 33 station, supposedly
because he was unwilling to sanction the wrongdoings of the
supposed attachés there. One wonders if the timing was
coincidental.

The NCHR equates the alleged attachés with the FRAPH, a death-
squad which served the generals who carried out the 1991-94 coup
d'état, as well as the Duvalier dictatorship's infamous
Volunteers for National Security (VSN), informally known as the
Tonton Macoutes.

"After the fall of the Duvalier dynasty in February 1986, the
corps of the Volunteers for National Security was officially
dissolved," the report says. "Nobody thought that anybody would
revive, in whatever form, this form of state organization, this
way of governing with the support of armed bands."  The NCHR
charges that the Haitian government has "intentionally
maintained" the very lawlessness and anarchy, called in Haïti
"insecurity," which has destabilized it.

In an effort to lend weight to its accusations, the NCHR
published a copy of an identity card supposedly issued by Delmas
police chief, Emmanuel Mompremier, to a supposed attaché named
Fabe Fénol.

However, the title given to Fénol on the back of the card is
"Police Informant." Nothing on the card "proves" that he is an
attaché. Police forces around the world use informants. In the
U.S., for example, the FBI regularly infiltrates the criminal
gangs of the Mafia. Why shouldn't the PNH use the same methods to
combat the rampant banditry which plagues Haiti and which is used
as a tool of destabilization?

The NCHR published the names and photos of over a dozen of the
"cruelest" supposed attachés, without any proof of their heinous
acts other than asserting that they were "the most known."

The report also published the pictures of a half dozen other
civilians without establishing any link to this supposed attaché
force. The NCHR charges that these armed civilians (of which
there are thousands of all political persuasions in Haiti)
accompanied René Civil, the leader of the pro-Lavalas Popular
Power Youth (JPP), to Jacmel for the baptism of his nephew in
January 2002.

Civil reacted quickly to the report, saying he had absolutely no
idea who were the individuals shown in the photos. Curiously,
these individuals all seem to be posing with the same beat-up old
Uzi, which makes the "photo exposé" appear rather contrived.

But let's suppose for a moment that the photos were the fruit of
infiltration of PNH operations by the NCHR. Is it so unlikely
that a "fifth column" policeman who is ready to feed information
to a pro-Washington anti-government group like the NCHR might not
also be dealing with, say, the CIA? Shouldn't the Police
Inspector General look into this matter?

The NCHR also presents Mme. Judie C. Roy, imprisoned last month
in the Pétionville police station, as a "leader of an opposition
political party" and a victim of supposed attaché "torture." The
NCHR makes not a peep about the heavy arms and shirts inscribed
with the official name of an active anti-government guerilla
group   "Citizens' Protection Force"   found at her home. In
fact, apart from recent equivocal statements after the murder and
burning of four Interior Ministry employees, the NCHR has
remained mute about the numerous killings and other violent acts
of anti-government guerillas on the Central Plateau and in other
regions. This "human rights" organization generally turns a blind
eye to the subversive actions of the "armed wing" of the Haitian
opposition.

On Aug. 18, the NCHR also castigated the Haitian government's
recent moves to hold parliamentary elections in November and
December, invoking Organization of American States Resolution
822, a position completely in tune with the U.S. Embassy in
Haiti. The NCHR's press release says that "while acknowledging
the parliamentary void that will ensue in January should
elections not be held this year, NCHR notes that such void is the
result, for the most part, of the GOH's many missed opportunities
to address the issues surrounding elections and its failure to
respect its commitments," a position which completely obfuscates
the Washington-supported Haitian opposition's obstructionist
role.

It is worthwhile to recall a little of NCHR's background. Formed
in 1982 by U.S. lawyer Michael Hooper and another U.S. citizen of
Haitian origin, Jocelyn McCalla, the National Coalition for
Haitians Refugees focused primarily on refugee affairs.

In 1995, it changed "Refugees" to "Rights" in its name.

The NCHR is a close cousin of and has shared office space with
the liberal establishment's Human Rights Watch (HRW), which, like
the NCHR, scandalized Haitian activists by heaping blame on
Aristide for supposed human rights violations immediately after
the Sep. 30, 1991 coup, perfectly assisting Washington's campaign
of vilifying the victim. HRW's board (McCalla is an advisor)  has
been studded over the years with unrepentant former U.S.
government officials, such as ex-assistant secretary of state
Morton Abramowitz, ex-ambassador Warren Zimmerman, and Free
Europe/Radio Liberty communications director Paul Goble.

HRW and NCHR also receives financing from powerful capitalist
financier Georges Soros, known for his maverick defense of
globalization and the new world order. The Hungarian-born Soros
has accumulated more than $7 billion in ruthless currency
speculating and has financed anti-communist foundations
throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to promote
privatization and neoliberal policies. He also played a central
role in the U.S.-led campaign to dismantle Yugoslavia.

For years, progressives have viewed NCHR as far from impartial in
its role in Haiti. Under the guise of "human rights," it provides
the "moral" veil for Washington's merciless campaign of
undermining the Haitian people's struggle for democracy and
sovereignty.

All of these considerations should not in any way whitewash the
Haitian police. Of course, there are policemen who overstep their
authority and commit reprehensible acts against the people. Haïti
Progrès has always denounced the conduct of bad elements in the
police and called for their removal and judgement. However, the
NCHR's suspicious report tries to stigmatize the entire police
force and seems aimed at assisting U.S. imperialism's efforts to
demonize the government and destabilize the country. In this
sense, police authorities should clean up their institution and
explain clearly to the people what is going on inside it.

All articles copyrighted Haiti Progres, Inc. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED
Please credit Haiti Progres.

                               -30-