21885: Esser: Haitians Seized and Abused by U.S. Marines (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Haitians Seized
Abused by U.S. Marines

Women, Children Subjected
to Hood Treatment

by the Haiti Information Project

May 12, 2004
Port-au-Prince, Haiti

At 12:30 a.m. on the morning of May 10, a Special Forces squad of
approximately 20 U.S. Marines executed a military assault on the home
of 69-year-old Annette Auguste
(www.haitiaction.net/News/about/SoAnne.html), a.k.a. So Anne.
Auguste’s residence is part of a compound that includes four other
apartments that were also invaded by the U.S. military forces. The
troops forcefully covered the heads of eleven Haitians with black
hoods and then forced them to the lay face down on the ground while
binding their wrists with plastic manacles behind their backs. The
victims of this terrifying U.S. military invasion included
five-year-old Chamyr Samedi, 10-year-old Kerlande Philippe,
12-year-old Loubahida Auguste, 14-year-old Luckmar Auguste and seven
adults.

Evidence gathered at the site included paraphernalia left behind,
such as blasting caps, igniters for explosive devices that terrorized
the occupants when the troops invaded the residence. There was not a
single member of the Haitian National Police (PNH) force or the de
facto Haitian government present, according to the arrestees, when
the U.S. forces unilaterally attacked the residence. According to
Haitian law, as is the norm in any democratic country, no arrest can
be made without a proper warrant issued by judicial authorities. The
Haitian Constitution requires that warrants only be executed between
the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. The lack of any legality within
the context of Haitian law and the fact this was executed
unilaterally by U.S. military forces in Haiti raises serious
questions of national sovereignty and the role of U.S. military
forces in Haiti today.

Lesly Voltaire, one of the highest ranking Lavalas officials
remaining in Haiti, has consistently condemned the campaign of
political persecution and arbitrary arrests against his political
party. Voltaire stated, “This was an illegal arrest done past
midnight. The law does not allow arrests after 6:00 p.m. I strongly
condemn this armed assault and believe that the charges against
Annette Auguste are unfounded. We are fighting for due process and
this was not performed within the context of due process and Haitian
law. This is clearly a part of the campaign of persecution against
Lavalas. No Haitian police or authorities were present. We must ask
what are the rules of engagement for U.S. military authorities in
Haiti and what right do they have to do this? Is Haiti still a
sovereign nation?”

Ms. Auguste is detained incommunicado at the National Penitentiary in
Port-au-Prince despite the claim of National Coalition for Haitian
Rights (NCHR) that they visited her at the prison. This claim by NCHR
is disputed by her husband, Wilfrid Lavaud, who says he has no
knowledge that NCHR visited Ms. Auguste. He stated that if NCHR did
visit her, they did so without the knowledge of the family. Her
husband also stated that he does not consider NCHR to be a credible
human rights organization because they have worked so closely with
the Haitian opposition to the constitutional government of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the past. NCHR has played a significant
role in the media disinformation campaign regarding the events
surrounding the coup and Lavalas in general:

see article Propaganda War Intensifies Against Haiti as Opposition
Grabs for Power (www.blackcommentator.com/62/62_haiti_1.html)
by Kevin Pina

also NLG - Haiti Delegation Report
(www.nlg.org/programs/international/Haiti_delegation_report1.pdf)

It should be also be noted that other international journalists
attempted to visit Auguste at the National Penitentiary but were
spurned by the current Latorture government, citing that they were
“too busy” to respond to requests to see her.

Why was Annette Auguste targeted for this military-type assault by
U.S. Marines in Haiti? One week ago, Lavalas officials, who had been
calling for the end of political persecution and repression against
their party had publicly announced they would begin demonstrations
calling for the return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide beginning
on May 18. Given the important role that Annette Auguste has played
in supporting the constitutional government of Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, and helping to build the base of support among the majority
of the poor in Haiti for that cause, many in Lavalas see this attack
against Annette Auguste as a preemptive strike by the Bush
administration to continue the destabilization campaign begun by Otto
Reich and Roger Noriega that eventually led to the forced departure
of President Aristide.

The real question is what right does a special military assault team
of U.S. forces in Haiti have to perform such an action. In typical
fashion, the Haitian media controlled by the same forces that had
allied themselves with the Bush administration to forcibly remove
President Aristide have reported several uncorroborated accusations
justifying this action. Among them is the tried-and-true claim that
Annette Auguste controlled violent factions associated with the
constitutional government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A
second accusation fielded by Radio Metropole is that Ms.Auguste was
organizing a clandestine operation aimed at performing armed assaults
against U.S. military personnel in Haiti. As per usual with the
Haitian media, controlled by the wealthy elite, no corroboration or
factual evidence was ever given to back up these claims made by their
paid surrogates. Guyler C. Delva of the Association of Haitian
Journalists has actually accused many Haitian journalists of working
as paid informants for U.S. military operations and the Haitian
police in Haiti. These are the same media in Haiti that actively
worked hand-in-hand with the campaign to destabilize the
constitutional government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide that led to his
forcible removal on February 29, 2004.

These types of accusations against Lavalas, and particularly against
Annette Auguste, are not new. Ms. Auguste, a naturalized U.S.
citizen, has been a frequent target for persecution due to her close
ties with President Aristide. She is the leader of PROP (Pouvwa
Rasembleman Organizacion Popile), a popular Lavalas organization. She
is also a singer of Haitian folk songs and is open about her practice
of voodoo, officially recognized as a national religion for the first
time in Haitian history under the Aristide administration. Ms.
Auguste’s religious beliefs and practices have led to many unfounded,
disparaging rumors and a campaign of demonization against her.

In the past, critics such as Yves A. Isidor, professor of Economics
at the University of Massachusetts—Dartmouth and Executive Editor of
wehaitians.com, and Raymond Joseph of the Haiti Observateur, now the
Chief Diplomatic Representative to America for Haiti, have accused
Ms. Auguste of things as outrageous as human sacrifice. Isidor
authored a January 2, 2001, article
(www.wehaitians.com/Aristide,%20the%20man.html) that charged Ms.
Auguste was President Aristide’s “voodoo medium” and that she bathed
him in human blood to curse George W. Bush and ensure the election of
Vice President Al Gore in 2000. No evidence or witnesses were cited
as sources for this information.

This article was picked up and embellished by Raymond Joseph
(www.haiti-info.com/article.php3?id_article=446 ), Joseph added
details regarding a ceremony where a newborn was sacrificed in a
giant mortar with a heavy pestle. Joseph contends that those who
question the veracity of this allegation need only find support in
the statement, “But who would have thought that men infected with the
AIDS virus in South Africa believe that they can be healed by having
intercourse with a young virgin!” Joseph never actually states that
Ms. Auguste was involved in the alleged sacrifice, but two paragraphs
later, his reference to her as Aristide’s “voodoo medium” implies her
presence there. Joseph directly accuses Ms. Auguste of holding
meetings at her home where criminal activities, the nature of which
is never revealed, were planned.

Joseph recently demonstrated his “journalistic” attempts when he
lambasted Representative Maxine Waters in a March 11, 2004, article
in The New York Sun because Rep. Waters had made three trips to Haiti
in seven weeks, with the third trip being first-class. Joseph asked,
“Do American taxpayers have to pick up the tabs? Or is it the Haitian
government robbing from the poor in the ‘poorest country in the
Western Hemisphere’ to maintain Waters and company in luxurious
style?” Joseph provided no support or explanation for these
allegations. He simply sought to discredit Rep. Waters, never even
offering the possible explanation that she paid for the tickets
herself or upgraded with frequent flier miles. As a reward for his
part in the destabilization campaign of lies and misinformation
against Aristide and Lavalas, Ramond Joseph has been named the
highest diplomatic representative of the Boca Raton regime to the
United States. We are sure he, along with Otto Reich and Roger
Noriega, have much in common when it comes to the current witch-hunt
and political persecution against Haiti’s undeniably largest
political party representing the majority of the poor.


Addendum

Annette Auguste (http://www.haitiaction.net/News/about/SoAnne.html),
a.k.a. Soeur Anne (Sister Anne), is being robbed of her Legal
Permanent Resident (LPR) status in the United States due to this
arrest by the U.S. Marines. It has been widely reported in the past
that Ms. Auguste is a naturalized U.S. citizen; however, these are
rumors designed to destroy her political career in Haiti. The Haitian
Constitution requires that members of the government be only citizens
of Haiti. In an attempt to destroy the political careers of leading
Lavalas members, opposition organizations used media outlets such as
Radio Caraïbe to report that they were actually United States
citizens. The deception went so far as to include fake passport
numbers. Ms. Auguste’s husband confirms that she only has LPR status
and is not a naturalized citizen.

Ms. Auguste is required to travel to the United States every six
months to renew her LPR status. An operation in February delayed her
ability to make the trip and her doctor provided her with
documentation that would grant her an extra three months for
recovery. However, her detention is keeping her in Haiti beyond the
time she was granted for recovery, and as a result, she will lose her
status in the U.S.

Ms. Auguste’s older sister is a United States citizen and lives in
the same compound as Souer Anne. The Marines stormed into the elder
Auguste’s residence at the same time they raided Souer Anne’s home.
She demanded that they leave and stated that she was a U.S. citizen.
They told her to get out of their way and that they were looking for
Annette Auguste. She clearly explained that Souer Anne lived next
door, but they did not leave until after doing an extensive amount of
damages to her home. She has demanded restitution from the U.S.
Embassy.

Restitution and damages have also been demanded from the U.S. Embassy
for Souer Anne. They have denied this request and will not release
her from U.S. custody in the National Penitentiary. According to her
husband, rumors are circulating that the U.S. is accusing Ms. Auguste
of collaborating with Al Q’aeda and that they are planning on trying
her in the United States. There is serious concern for her safety and
Haiti’s sovereignty.

Emergency Action Alert

Demand the immediate release of Anne Auguste (So Anne):
www.haitiaction.net/News/hac5_11_5.html
.