17960: AHP News - January 14, 2004 - English translation (Unofficial) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: John Holmstead <cyberkismet2@yahoo.com>

Agence Haitian de Presse


AHP News - January 14, 2004 - English translation
(Unofficial)

Supporters of the opposition working as part of
RAMICOS attack Radio
Pyramide again in Saint-Marc


Port-au-Prince, January 14 2004 -(AHP)- Armed men who
belong to an organization named RAMICOS, which is
close to the opposition, sacked the facilities of
Radio Pyramide in Saint Marc on Wednesday.

This action was carried out at the conclusion of an
anti-government demonstration organized by supporters
of the opposition who chanted slogans hostile to the
sectors presumed to be close to the governing party.

They broke windows and other material at the station
while threatening to execute the station's general
manager,  Fritson Orius and his employees.

Mr. Orius may have survived only because of the
intervention by the police. The director of Radio
Pyramide had denounced the previous day in an
interview on Radio Solidarité the convening of a
meeting last weekend in Portail Montrouis by Marc
Antoine Adolphe, director of Radio Tête-à -Tête, for
the purpose of attacking the station again.

He sought to alert Haitians and the international
community to this danger.

Mr. Adolphe was at the head of a group of members of
the opposition group RAMICOS that had damaged
equipment last November at Radio Pyramide.

AHP January 14, 2004  4:00 PM

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide  presents an upbeat
report on the Special Summit of the Americas and
commits himself to organizing new elections in
the next six months.

Port-au-Prince, January 14 2004 -(AHP)- President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide provided a positive assessment
Wednesday of what happened at the Special Summit of
the Americas held January 12th and 13th in Mexico.

The president spoke upon his return from Monterrey.

At the conclusion of the Summit, the government
leaders adopted a resolution concerning steps to be
taken to strengthen the region's economy.

The leaders of the countries present at the summit
committed themselves through this document to enact
measures designed to combat poverty, improve the
economy and strengthen good governance in their
respective countries.

The resolution clearly stated that the heads of state
present at the meeting were elected democratically.

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide reaffirmed Tuesday
evening at Toussaint Louverture Airport his
determination to hold legislative elections
within the next six months in order to fill the
institutional vacuum created by the
expiration of the term of the 47th Legislature.

According to the Chief of State, holding elections is
indispensable to the survival of democratic
institutions and for the ratification of a series of
loan contracts agreed between the Haitian g9overnment
and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Mr. Aristide said he hopes that all sectors understand
the need for
the Consensus Provisional Electoral Council that is
responsible for organizing the next elections to
become operational.

However he deplored that some sectors are still
working for the continuation of economic sanctions
against Haiti. He can not understand, he said,
how those who say they want to lead the Haitian people
can support sanctions that are penalizing Haitians.

President Aristide reiterated his determination to
engage in discussions with the opposition sectors and
civil society on the basis of the proposal made by the
Catholic Church in November as to how to lead the
country out of the impasse.

He affirmed that he had held talks with several Heads
of State from the Americas, including President
Georges W. Bush. The bishops'  proposal offers
the actors in the crisis a good opportunity to
initiate a dialogue that would enable the necessary
reforms to be carried out at the level of the
State.

The president also once again expressed his desire to
open the government to sectors of the opposition and
civil society and declared that he is willing
to discuss the implementation of the four main points
contained in the resolution of the Haitian Conference
of Bishops.

Reacting to the statements of President Aristide, the
political coalition led by André Apaid Junior said it
prefers the zero option (in which President Aristide
steps down)

The leader of the KID (Democratic unity Convention),
Evans Paul,stated that the president is not qualified
to organize democratic elections in the country.

In addition, he blamed the government for the sabotage
of the transmitters of some ten media organizations of
various tendencies on Tuesday in
Boutilliers.

AHP January 14, 2004  11:00 AM

President Jean Bertrand Aristide condemns the sabotage
of the transmitters of several radio stations serving
the capital

Port-au-Prince, January 14 2004 -(AHP)- President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide condemned the sabotage Tuesday
of the transmitters of several radio stations
serving the capital that took place that same day.

Armed individuals who arrived aboard a vehicle
displaying a clearly identifiable license plate
damaged in broad daylight equipment belonging to
nearly ten stations of different orientations housed
on the property of Engineer Fritz Joassaint, in
Boutilliers.

According to the president, this act is intolerable in
a democratic society.
>The press should function freely, objectively and
without fear, he
said.
>
>Jean-Bertrand Aristide denounced this type of action
which was common
under
>the Duvalier dictatorships. He reaffirmed the
determination of the
>government to utilize the law to prevent the
repetition of similar
acts of
>violence.
>
>The Chief of State hopes that the media organizations
that were the
victims
>of the sabotage and all those who possess information
relating to
these
>incidents will collaborate in order to facilitate the
work of justice
>officials.
>
>He went on to also condemn the acts of violence
recently perpetrated,
>including the murder of  Edner Jeanty, the new
director of the police
in
>the
>North department,  as well as the killing of a
Lavalas activist in
>Miragoâne
>and the beating to death of a young Lavalas activist
on January 7
during an
>opposition demonstration.
>
>"These acts of violence are intolerable and
unacceptable", declared
>Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who said these recent events
were barbarous
acts.
>
>The president asked the justice and police
authorities to do
everything in
>their power to find the authors of these acts and
bring them to
justice.
>
>President Jean-Bertrand Aristide declared that he
recognizes the right
of
>each person to demonstrate, but everything must take
place with
respect for
>the law, pointing out that while demonstrators have
rights, they also
have
>responsibilities.
>
>AHP January 14, 2004  11:40 AM
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>A half million dollars will be needed to repair the
transmitters
belonging
>to the stations of diverse orientation that were
sabotaged in
Boutilliers,
>according to Engineer Fritz Joassin
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>Port-au-Prince, January 14 2004 -(AHP)- The owner of
the Electrocom
site
>attacked Tuesday in Boutilliers by armed men set the
damage Wednesday
that
>was suffered by the different radio and television
stations at
>approximately
>$500,000.
>
>According to Fritz Joassin, who took part in a press
conference held
by
>the
>ANMH (National Association of Haitian Media), Radio
Signal FM, Kiskeya
and
>Télé Timoun were the stations that were the hardest
hit and that will
be
>the
>most costly to repair in order to enable them to
resume broadcasting.
>
>Mr. Joassin said that he had already repaired Radio
Galaxie, Magik
Stéréo
>and Radio Timoun.
>
>For their part, ANMH officials asked that the
appropriate authorities
open
>an investigation to shed light on the incident.
>
>A member of the association, Sony Bastien, described
several lines of
>investigation that might, according to him, help the
justice and
police
>authorities carry out a proper investigation into the
sabotage.
>
>He gave the names of several individuals whom he
accused of
involvement in
>the incidents based on an interview with an
individual who wishes to
remain
>anonymous . The informant accused former deputy
Simson Libéris of
being
>behind the attack at Boutilliers based on a meeting
held in the hamlet
of
>"
>Grand ravine", an accusation that was rejected by
Mr. Libéris.
>
>The station's senior programmer, Lilianne
Pierre-Paul, had previously
>accused Secretary of State for Communication Mario
Dupuy and the
>government's Delegate in the West department, Marie
Antoinette
Gauthier, of
>having encouraged this attack.
>
>Another employee accused the director of a human
rights organization,
>Lovinski Pierre-Antoine, of bearing responsibility
for this attack.
>
>ANMH said it wishes to associate in a court action
with the public
>prosecutor in this case, and said it wished to alert
the international
>community about the situation of the press in Haiti.
>
>The director of the Haitian daily newspaper "Le
Nouvelliste", Max
Chauvet,
>declared that the completion of this investigation
would constitute,
in the
>view of the media, the best assistance of the
government.
>
>Several members and leaders of the Convergence and
the group of 184
were
>present at the ANMH news conference. At the event,
the leader of the
KID
>(Democratic unity Convention), Evans Paul condemned
the acts of
sabotage as
>an attack against freedom of the press in Haiti.
>
>Evans Paul asked supporters of the opposition and
other sectors of the
>population to help these stations find the resources
to enable them to
>resume working as soon as possible.
>
>AHP January 14, 2004  1:45 PM
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Former Deputy Simson Libéris rejects accusations made
against him and
calls
>on individuals who claim to have information
regarding the attack at
>Boutilliers to make themselves available to justice
officials.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>Port-au-Prince, January 14 2004 -(AHP)- The former
Deputy from the 3rd
>district of Port-au-Prince, Simson Libéris, on
Wednesday rejected the
>accusations made against him, he said, by individuals
interviewed by
Radio
>Kiskeya, who asked to remain anonymous. The station
was one of ten
that
>were
>sabotaged the previous day in  Boutilliers.
>
>According to the allegations, Simson Libéris planned
the sabotage of
the
>stations while at a meeting with mercenaries in
Grand-Ravine.
>
>Simson Libérus said he rejects these allegations. He
also deplored
that the
>station that carried out the interview was
responsible for the
broadcast of
>such serious accusations over the airwaves of another
radio station
without
>revealing the identity of the individuals
interviewed.
>
>According to Simson Libéris, the attack on the media
as well as the
charges
>made against him are part of a plan to tarnish the
image of the
government.
>
>He called for the opening of an investigation to shed
light on this
odious
>act. The individual interviewed who claims to have
information
regarding
>the
>attack at Boutilliers should be made available to
justice officials,
he
>added.
>
>For his part, the coordinator of the September 30
Foundation, Lovinsky
>Pierre Antoine, said that the authors of the attack
at Boutilliers are
>enemies of democracy, regardless of the sector they
may belong to.
>
>Mr. Pierre Antoine deplored however that some
officials of the
sabotaged
>media organizations had made accusations without
proof before an
>investigation had even been carried out.
>
>He also rejected the accusations made against him by
an employee of
one of
>the sabotaged stations belonging to ANMH, asserting
that he mad made a
>practice of preaching violence and intolerance.
>
>Lovinsky Pierre Antoine questioned the origin and
motivation behind
such an
>act, asking why the bandits had decided to work in
broad daylight.
>
>Why did the bandits keep the license plates on the
vehicles whereas
they
>should have hidden them, he wondered, suggesting that
the crime might
have
>been planned accordingly.
>
>"The Justice system should assume its
responsibilities of identifying
and
>punishing the authors of these acts", declared
Lovinsky Pierre
Antoine. He
>also asked officials from the stations that were
attacked not to put
the
>cart before the horse.
>
>Lovinsky Pierre Antoine  also criticized the behavior
of some sectors
of
>the
>opposition and some human rights groups who he said
practice a double
>standard with respect to acts of violence that take
place in Haiti.
>
>He said he regrets that the NCHR (National Coalition
for Haitian
Rights)
>accused the government the very day of this attack
before an
investigation
>into the incident had been started.
>
>For his part, the acting coordinator of Fanmi
Lavalas, Jonas Petit,
>described the attack at Boutilliers as crude and
treacherous. He went
on to
>denounce the absolute obscurantism (opposition to
enlightenment) of
some
>individuals who in the 21st century are promoting the
closing of
schools.
>
>Mr. Petit encouraged the president and his government
to remain
committed
>to
>democracy. In his view, holding elections is the only
democratic means
of
>bringing the country out of the impasse.
>
>The U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, James Foley, said that
he considered the
>attack on the media organizations to be an assault on
democracy.
>
>Stating that it was to early to know the origin of
this attack, he
>indicated
>that a free and independent press is important to the
advancement and
>development of any country.
>
>AHP January 14, 2004  2:30 PM
>-------------------------------------------


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