18382: Pierre Jean: Fwd: Who is Fritz Joseph? (follow-up to Arthur email) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Pierre Jean <pierrejean2004@yahoo.com>

Well, for all of you curious about Fritz Joseph and
wondering why a former FRAPH chief would become
Lavalas Mayor of Cite Soleil, look no further. So, if
we are going to talk about Jean Tatoune, can anyone
explain why Lavalas would welcome in its ranks a
murderer like Fritz Joseph? Enquiring minds really
want to know.

By the way, I defy anyone on this list to attack Anne
Fuller's credentials.

<Beginning of Anne Fuller Article>

Political violence rules Cité Soleil
27 novembre 2003
ANNE FULLER

I was a monitor for Haiti’s 1990 elections, when
Jean-Bertrand Aristide won two-thirds of the popular
vote. It happened that my election eve was spent
watching the vote tallying in a classroom in Cité
Soleil, the vast shantytown built out onto landfill
near Port-au-Prince.

I remember buying rolls and butter and soft drinks for
the poll workers, who sat by candlelight counting and
recounting each paper ballot cast for president, for
legislators and local officials. Meticulous they were,
and Aristide and those on his ticket won all but about
five of the 190 votes counted in that station.

Cité Soleil was wild about the young priest who had
preached in the nearby St. Jean Bosco Church and
nearly lost his life there when thugs attacked it in
1988. The issue for monitors was whether, in an area
where support for Aristide was so strong, the popular
and charismatic priest would be allowed to win. It
felt like a historic moment.

In 2003, Aristide still looms large over Cité Soleil,
but the love has turned to bitterness. For years now,
young gangsters have been the president’s core
supporters there. Flattered by his attention, they
have made something of a living in politics and crime,
while holding Cité Soleil in fear. But early this
month, the leading gangs turned sharply against the
president.

What has happened ?

Cité Soleil suffered for its love of Aristide during
three years of military rule from 1991 to 1994. Bodies
turned up regularly in its streets, particularly after
the paramilitary organization called FRAPH formed. It
was a scary place. I would carry a box of condoms
during visits to pass for a family-planning worker.

FRAPH’s membership swelled as many people began to
lose hope that the military could be ousted ; whether
out of venial inclination, self-preservation or direct
pressure, many joined the paramilitary group. In Cité
Soleil, FRAPH’s coordinator was a local politico named
+++ Fritz Joseph +++.

Joseph was in charge when an arson fire around
Christmas 1993 destroyed hundreds of small homes and
killed at least a dozen people. Lawyers with the
Aristide government are still working on a lawsuit
against FRAPH for the fire and have called for the
U.S. government to extradite FRAPH chief Emmanuel
Constant to Haiti. But Joseph does not need to be
extradited ; Aristide appointed him mayor of Cité
Soleil in 2002.

How could Aristide have named a former FRAPH chief to
be mayor ? I still puzzle over this, but I think that
most of the answer lies in an essential continuity
between the FRAPH paramilitary force under military
rule and the gangs that back Aristide today. These
groups have never had much ideology, so for one to
support the army and the other the man who dissolved
it means little. What really matters is allegiance and
access to power and scarce resources.

Today, Joseph is finally being denounced, but it’s by
the gang members he helped nurture. They say that he
was behind the Oct. 31 killing of an influential
23-year-old thug and former Aristide loyalist
nicknamed ’’Colobri.’’ A new leading Aristide loyalist
has already emerged : Emmanuel ’’Dread’’ Wilmé. He is
only 22, but, as most of his predecessors, he likes to
call himself a political militant who faithfully
serves the president. How long will he survive ?

As for Cité Soleil, there is more violence here today
than during the military rule. It is poor, and its
residents lack many things. But what they need most is
peace and security. Thousands of people have fled,
with regret, missing what they say were the lower
rents and better grocery prices. Large swathes of Cité
Soleil today are barren and burned out, where small
homes have been destroyed, mostly in gang wars, and
the streets are thinly populated.

<Beginning of synopsis of The Nation article>
 
 Haiti,  1991-94.  Seven chief attaches arranged
killings and brought
victims to houses. Four of the seven worked for
Centers for Development and Health  (CDS), funded by
U.S. AID. One was Gros Sergo, and other was +++ Fritz
Joseph +++ who was chief FRAPH recruiter in Cite
Soleil. Two others are Marc Arthur and Gros Fanfan.
CDS files track every family in Cite Soleil. The
Nation,  10/24/1994, p. 461


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