20249: Simidor: Haitian lawsuits (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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


Mr. Aristide is suing the US and the French for kidnapping.  That’s well and good.  All the same, I hope the Haitian people will not be paying for these face-saving lawsuits.  I expect the new government in Port-au-Prince will soon notify the law firms involved (Gilbert Collard, Ira Kurzban, et al) that they no longer work for the Haitian government, and that any unearned portion of their retainers and legal fees is to be refunded promptly.  Aristide can well afford to pay his own lawyers.  Otherwise those fine dedicated gentlemen ought to be given a chance to work pro-bono for the causes they champion.

The French daily Le Figaro, in its 03/10/2004 edition, informs that Aristide had approved the distribution of thousands of weapons among his followers in the slums, in the days leading to his departure.  (That’s right, folks.  Count me among those who believe that the mainstream press reports factually on events. I look for the spin in the interpretation and the choice of stories that get published.)  Some of those weapons were in all likelihood used during last Sunday’s Lavalas massacre in front of the National Palace.  It is the responsibility of the human rights organizations in Haiti to help the wounded and the families of the dead in mounting a class action suit in Haitian courts against Mr. Aristide, as the instigator of this horrible crime.  The case of former Guatemala dictator Rios Montt, who is currently under house arrest in Guatemala for the death last July of a journalist, who was been chased by a violent mob of Montt supporters, is an excellent precedent for a similar case against Aristide.

And just because I hate to see a criminal escape from justice, I would also hope that an international organization, like Reporters Without Borders, would assist the family of Spanish journalist Ricardo Ortega, killed by Lavalas goons during last Sunday’s massacre in front of the Palace, in filing criminal charges against Aristide in international courts.  General Pinochet’s indictment in Spain in 1998 by investigating judge Baltazar Garcon also seems like an excellent precedent.  It is unlikely that General Bozize will honor an extradition request against Aristide.  But as a fugitive from justice, Mr. Aristide will be a little less palatable to his exalted supporters.

Daniel Simidor