21715: Esser: <To be Lavalas is to be a criminal> (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

San Francisco Bay View
http://www.sfbayview.com

May 5, 2004

‘To be Lavalas is to be a criminal’
by Charlie Hinton

Port-au-Prince, Haiti - Saturday I went for a walk through the Belair
neighborhood and was recognized by a young man I had met who is in
hiding. He invited me into a tiny living room, which he shares with
his wife and child, four other women - one blind - and another child.
There was no air circulation at all, making it stiflingly hot.

We talked for more than an hour about a wide range of issues,
including the U.S. presidential race, in which Haitians show a great
interest, because most hate Bush so much for overthrowing Aristide.
They offered us Cokes, and asked me to send copies of the photos I
took.

He and his wife can’t go home. They are staying with friends,
although the house is already too crowded. But that’s how it is in
occupied Haiti.

Daily life for most Haitians is incredibly hard. No electricity, no
running water, bad, insufficient and expensive public transportation,
breathing air filled with black smoke belching from broken down
vehicles, no jobs and grinding poverty. You don’t meet or see a lot
of old people - the average life expectancy is 47.

It wore me out in two weeks, and I can’t imagine what life might be
like for people with a lot fewer resources than I have. But the
people I met treated me so kindly, sharing with me their stories and
what little they had, especially anxious that word get out about
their situation.

Saturday and today we went to the Aristide Foundation and took
testimony from people from many regions, all with basically the same
story: the “rebels” have driven them out of their homes and they will
be killed if they return. What is going on is really a Lavalas
cleansing. As one person said, “To be Lavalas is to be a criminal.”

I’ve photographed pictures of tortured bodies, murdered sons and baby
daughters that fathers in hiding cannot see. People have such pride
and dignity. Very few people have asked me for anything, although I
know many of them have nothing and haven’t eaten.

Today was a huge meeting of Lavalas members - probably 400-500
people. The big issue is whether or not Lavalas should participate in
the new elections, planned for 2006. The occupation government is
demanding that Lavalas decide NOW whether they want to participate in
the electoral council that will conduct the elections.

Some of the more bourgeois elements are open to it, provided there is
adequate security, but based on the testimony I’ve heard, that’s a
pipe dream The base, however, is totally opposed to participating in
elections in any way. For them it’s Aristide or nothing, with a
passion and love that’s really impossible to describe. Many people
have asked me when he’s coming back. They have great hope that Kerry
will defeat Bush, and he’ll be able to come back. I’m very sanguine
in how I answer.

Perhaps the saddest story today was from a 61-year-old woman (who
looks over 70), who’s a Lavalas leader in Cite Soleil, the giant slum
in Port-au-Prince. The death squads came to her house, but she wasn’t
there, so they killed her son, who drove a van for the organization
she led. Her son was supporting her, so now she has nothing, and has
to depend on neighbors to feed her. She still lives in her home, and
she said, yes, she doesn’t care if they kill her because her son is
dead.

A most interesting discussion today was with Lydia Polgreen, the New
York Times correspondent who covered Haiti’s bicentennial. Adrianne
and I had a fairly heated discussion with her. She’s young, non-white
and very sure of herself. When I told her I was from the Haiti Action
Committee, she said, “Oh, you’re the ones who’ve been trashing me on
your website.” Following are notes from our conversation:

What she wrote in her article was that the crowd celebrating the
bicentennial was “smaller than anticipated,” but her editor changed
the article to say the crowd was “small.” When Ira Kurzban,
Aristide’s attorney, complained, they issued a retraction.

Polgreen firmly believes there was $250,000 cash in Aristide’s house
when he was taken by the U.S., but she doesn’t think he was
kidnapped. She says David Adams, a reporter for the St. Petersburg
Times, saw the money. She believes Aristide was basically running the
government on drug money - he had no other source of income, she says.

When I said that many people have told me that the “leaders of the
student opposition” were paid $50 each to participate in anti-Lavalas
demonstrations, she said that Lavalas paid its people too. “That’s
how things work in Haiti.” She said that because local transportation
is so expensive and people have no money, Lavalas actually paid the
people to come to the meeting today. Kevin and I asked Vital Lionel,
a former local radio programmer, who is poor and knows many of the
people present, and he said no way they were paid.

When I said that one of the main reasons France participated in the
coup and kidnapping was because of the Aristide government’s demand
for restitution of money France extorted from Haiti between
1826-1948, she said that it was no big deal, France wasn’t worried
about it at all, and there’s no international mechanism to enforce
it. She also said the Times reported many times on the demand for
restitution. Did anyone read any of that reporting? Also, she said
that the Times has made a big commitment to Haiti coverage by sending
her here for a month.

Then we really entered the twilight zone. I think her interpreter is
a big part of the problem and has a big anti-Lavalas bias. A number
of women from Cite Soleil approached us and started talking to me. I
asked the interpreter to help translate, and it seemed that she
really didn’t want to but couldn’t say no. So after a couple of
minutes I asked Lydia if she wanted to talk to them, and she said yes.

After listening to their horror stories of dead bodies and burned
houses, she asked if they had reported it to the international
forces? Apparently she is unaware of what it would take for a Haitian
woman, probably illiterate and with no money to ride a tap tap to
occupation headquarters, to trot up to the U.S. marines and try to
explain to them in Creole that death squads were killing their loved
ones. Or maybe they could just use their cell phones!

In conclusion, Lydia explained how hard it is to report on Haiti,
because everyone wants to see things as black and white, and her job
as a reporter is to be balanced. I suggested she filter things
through a historical perspective - like 1990 was the first democratic
election in Haiti’s history, creating democracy is messy, and the
United States hasn’t gone after Pakistan for human rights abuses or
dealing drugs. She knows, she knows.

Another bizarre note: we met a woman who has been hired on a USAID
contract to set up a center for trauma and torture survivors. She
seemed nice enough, but “didn’t want to know too much about the
situation here” so she could “be objective and treat victims from all
sides.” What can I say, except … good night.

Charlie Hinton is a member of the Haiti Action Committee,
www.haitiaction.net. Email him at lifewish@lmi.net
.