21491: Esser: Fanmi Lavalas denounces the continuation of the witch-hunt (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Agence Haďtienne de Presse

April 19, 2004

Fanmi Lavalas denounces the continuation of the witch-hunt

Port-au-Prince, April 19, 2004  -(AHP)- The hunt for activists and
supporters of Fanmi Lavalas is continuing in several regions of the
country including Petit-Goâve, close to two months after the
departure into exile of President  Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

 From March 1st until now, the City of Faustin Soulouque has been
under the control of former members of the Haitian military,
ex-rebels and members of what used to be the opposition to President
Aristide.

The Lavalas activists who have survived have had to go into hiding,
leaving their homes in flames, said two Lavalas activists who have
taken refuge in Port-au-Prince, Luc Mésidor and Jean Fritz Flerimont.

They declared that they sought refuge in Port-au-Prince to escape
the climate of violence established in Petit-Goâve by heavily-armed
men led by an individual named "Ti Kendé" who has proclaimed himself
the city's new police commissioner.

Teachers, jurists and other professionals have also had to go into
hiding, said the two young men.

They asked Haitian human rights organizations to have the courage to
conduct an investigation into the situation in  Petit-Goâve in order
to expose the abuses by the men of Ti Kendé, who continue, they say,
to hold the population hostage.
.