20094: Simidor: Haiti's Bloody Sunday (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Daniel Simidor <karioka9@mail.arczip.com>


Charles Baker, a representative member of the Haitian bourgeoisie, commented after Sunday’s Lavalas massacre in front of the National Palace in Port-au-Prince that: "The Marines need to change the rules of engagement.  They need to protect us or they need to go home and let us protect ourselves."

Mr. Baker’s comments are at once fair and scary.  Haitians in their various constituencies have the right to protest without the fear of violence.  Lavalas Prime-Minister Yvon Neptune shows his usual moral shabbiness by calling for a halt to public protests.  The occupation authority has the ability and the political obligation, by virtue of their presence in the country, to disarm both the armed Lavalas militias and the FRAPH/Cannibal/Fad’H rebels.

They have an obligation, as Dr. Seuss would put it, to do it here (in Port-au-Prince), and to do it there (in Gonaives and in Ouanaminthe).  In this climate of violence, it is sadly predictable that unless all-around disarmament is vigorously enforced, the so-called rebels will be quickly recycled as militias and death-squads in the service of the dominant families.

But back to the Lavalas massacre yesterday.  It was a planned and well-executed operation.  It involved both the commando that executed the crime, and the political command that ordered it.  To find the culprits, the occupation authority ought to question Yvon Neptune and several US nationals in Haiti who have boasted on this list of their excellent rapport with leaders of Lavalas militias.  An investigation into Sunday’s massacre ought to be relatively easy, because the Lavalas operatives were so drunk on power that they were often sloppy in covering their tracks.

But I for one will not hold my breath for the results.  Even at this early stage, it has been made abundantly clear that the Marines are not on the ground to protect the people or the democratic process in Haiti.   What they are there for is anyone’s guess.

Daniel Simidor