18440: erzilidanto: I defy anyone to attack Anne Fuller's credentials -a challenged accepted (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Erzilidanto@aol.com

I am very curious and have given some thoughts to a post by Pierre Jean
dated Tuesday, February 10, 2004 9:05 AM

Subject: 18382: Pierre Jean: Fwd: Who is Fritz Joseph?


I believe the Pierre Jean post and Fuller article contains some truths mixed
in and slanted with certain overstatements. But if the slant/fabrications were
unintended, I would request my final question below is factually addressed.

Pierre Jean writes "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."

Mr. PierreJean,
I read the Anne Fuller report and your post. I have one question and few
comments.

Ms. Fuller, in her article, Political violence rules Cité Soleil dated
November 27, 2003, writes that:

"early this month, the leading gangs turned sharply against the president."

COMMENT ONE: If the leading gangs in Cite Soleil are, in fact, "sharply
against" Aristide, then, it follows that the opposition to Aristide may no longer
blame and brand Aristide for "supporting" their "chime" operations, if any, now
can they?

Ms. Anne Fuller writes: "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...."

"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 ."

"....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....

COMMENT TWO: Perhaps I may help with Ms. Fuller's puzzlement. I was in Haiti
when Aristide first got back. I am a Haitian-American lawyer who participated
in and observed the processes of that time. Haiti was not demilitarized and
the Haitian people where forced into integrating the old military with the new
U.S-trained police. That integration with those responsible for assassinating
the defenseless people doing the Coup was not our choice, Ms. Fuller, Mr.
Pierre. The U.S. and the international community pushed Aristide and therefore, the
Haitian public at large, to not only give asylum and amnesty to the military
junta responsible for the worst bloodbath in Haitian history. But, they also
forced the Haitian coup victims, in Cite Soleil, and all over Haiti and the
Diaspora, to reconcile with this injustice.

We had to LUMP it no matter how it stuck in our throats!! The U. S. gave
asylum to Toto Constant and absconded with the papers necessary to prosecute many
of the guilty for the 91-94 bloodbath. The process towards institutionalizing
the rule of law in Haiti has been blocked by the works of USAID consulting
firms like Checci, by the likes of a disbarred but U.S.-annointed US-lawyer
running our Judicial reforms, by the various neoliberalism mandates of the world
financial institutions, by a U.S--led embargo, by the lack of Haitian judicial
infrastructure because of 29-years of Duvalier dictatorship and what went on
since 1914; by the internal political divisions and fissures within Lavalas
which have been thoroughly exploited and widen from 1994 to 2004 by their own
incompetence and experience and especially by the right-wing and reactionary
interests opposed to social spending and development in Haiti.

Now, this is not to say that Aristide is not to blame for the state of
Haiti's judiciary and security.  Or, that i don't share Mr. Pierre's indignation (
"Can anyone explain why Lavalas would welcome in its ranks a murderer like
Fritz Joseph?")

Let's, for the purposes of this dialogue, though I have no independent
knowledge of this, take Mr. Pierre's word that he has legal evidence and proof that
Mr. Fritz Joseph is a murderer. His allegations seems to be corroborated by
the Nation article he cited, though I have not checked it independently.  But,
if these allegations are correct, Mr. Fritz Joseph should be tried, and, if
found guilty, put in jail just as Mr. Tatoune NEEDS to be put back in jail. No
questions about it there should not be double standards for those who support
Aristide who commit crimes and those who don't support Aristide and commit
crimes. All criminals, no matter, their political inclinations or affiliations need
to be behind bars! Period, no comma. I agree 100% with Mr. Pierre on this.

However, lets look at this allegation (in Ms. Fuller's article) of Aristide's
fault in not bringing about peace and security in Haiti a bit closer and
within a larger context. It is my contention that Aristide's measure of blame for
the state of Haiti's affairs today amounts to 2 years for the state of things
during his first term and the 3-years he's been in office in this second term.
...Those are the years Aristide is legally and morally responsible for. To be
fair and balanced, Aristide's share of blame for the non-development of peace
and security in Haiti should not go beyond those years of his stewardship.

But, can we say the same thing for the institutionalized but tragic "elite"
in Haiti. The families who are now in the opposition to the democratically
elected Haitian president but who have been running things, as imperial agents,
and/or for their own selfish interests with the help of the U.S. for generations
upon generations, even generations before Duvalier came to power? How much
more responsible are they, the Nadals, Boulos, Apaids, and their tragic ilk for
the devastating state Haiti is in today? What, other than racial apartheid,
military rule and Piat massacres, Raboteau Massacres, et have they offered Haiti
and why are these businessmen not MORE culpable, in real terms, than
hamstrung, resourcessless, reviled-by-the-greatest-power-on-earth Aristide?

Yes Aristide is responsible for the state of things during these last three
years.  But there is a backdrop here that may mitigate his level of
responsibility compared to the institutionalized tragic elites responsibility for failing
at promoting peace and security in Haiti, even further.  For, Aristide's
acquired "pragmatism," this "businessmen" attitude towards "balancing interests"
was fostered on him during his three years of miseducation in Washington. Like
Mandela, Aristide accepted the most cost-effective road to keeping his job,
though it wasn't and is not the most ethical or the moral high ground.  In the
long run, this is the backdrop that must not be forgotten  as we hold Aristide
responsible for not only the Duvaliarists appointments he has made throughout
his tenures, his Free trade zone concessions but also, for his "management"
of "murderers"  to quote Mr. Pierre Jean on the Fritz Joseph example. The
Haitian people may understand why Aristide made some of the concessions he has
made, but that doesn't mean we accepted reconciling with injustice. They are
unacceptable but we-Haitians of the peasant classes are constantly being forced to
live with the unacceptable - like the violent protests of Apaid and the
Convergence passing off, in the international corporate media, as peaceful in
intent, when they expressly call for forceful overthrow of a duly elected president.
Like our containment in poverty for over 200-years and the tragic elites and
"businessmen" complicity in this, our underdevelopment.

Yet and still, the fact does remain, it is unethical, if not technically
illegal, for Aristide or any leader of Haiti to pay-off criminals or reward them.
No matter how much pressure the international community puts on them to do so.
One cannot institutionalize the rule of law that way. From 1994 to now,
Haitians have tried it the "businessmen" and Internationals' way. it didn't. Look
at where we are now with Gonaive. It doesn't work to manage injustice. It must
be confronted, prevented, punished, eradicated.  Today, those responsible for
the current terror our people in Gonaive are living under and elsewhere are e
xperiencing should NOT go unpunshished in a court of law.

Haitians with some knowledge of the neo-colonial blueprint and some knowledge
of the alleged 2001 resignation of Chavez in Venezuela, today expect the U.S.
and mainstream press releases to now try and distance Apaid and their other
cohorts from these killings in Gonaive, Port-au-Prince, St. Marc, etc., But
that won't make us forget that last Thursday group 184 was jubilantly welcoming
the events in Gonaive and taking credit, or that they called for the boycott of
the commemoration of our ancestors' greatest achievement and their
demonstration led to the burning of many houses in Gonaive even before the arm terrorist
take-over from the "arm wing" of their opposition organization. As I said
above, criminals, no matter their political affiliation must face justice and the
current distancing from the bloodbath, that won't make us-law abiding
Haitians forget that on January 7, 2004 three Haitians died, in the course of an
illegally routed demonstrations supervised by Apaid and the Convergence leaders.
These homicides can be said to have flowed from the negligence of those who
illegally rerouted this demonstration for their own purposes. These three lives
count and one cannot blame Aristide for routes that where changes by Apaid and
others in the opposition -leading to the deaths of Haitians, both from the pro
and anti government camps.  Haitians will not reconcile with injustices any
longer.

Ms. Fuller writes:

"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 ?

Again, all Haitian life should be protected to the best of our abilities, no
matter their political affiliation and those who create an atmosphere of fear
and terror should be made accountable.



Finally, Ms. Fuller says "As for Cité Soleil, there is more violence here
today

than during the military rule. ..... what they need most is

peace and security."

COMMENT THREE: Peace, security, education, roads, health care, what the
majority of Haitians need most, requires that those not demilitarized back in 1994
and still committing violence are made accountable. But, I do question this
statement in Ms. Fuller's article: "As for Cité Soleil, there is more violence
here today

than during the military rule. ....."   I'd like to see the facts behind that
statement.

During the military rule of 1991-1994 more than 5000 Haitians where killed by
FRAPH, countless drowned in their attempt to flee on the shark-infested seas,
more than 50,000 passed through and where incarcerated in Guantanamo bay and
300,000 thousand Haitians were forced into hiding within Haiti because of the
military rule. I just return from the bicentennial celebrations in Haiti. i
didn't see one body or chopped-up face attributable to government police
actions, although I did here about the opposition's torture of Louvoi Petit. Up until
last Thursday's Gonaive OPPOSITION-TO ARTISTIDE-LED terrorist acts, the
numbers dead, in these last months, were at about 50 people primarily due to the
increased daily opposition-initiated demonstrations. So, how can there be MORE
violence in Cite Soleil today than in those bloody ever (1991-1994) Haitian
times? Please enlighten me with the body counts from 1994 to 2004 in Cite Soleil
and how they surpass the cataclysmic terror of the bloody
but elite/Boulos/Apaid/Nadal-supported Cedras-Fraph days? Inquiring minds
really

want to know.

Ezili Danto