22853: Fenton: RE: 22846: Re: 22842: radtimes: Continuing Repression by Coup Government (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Anthony Fenton <apfenton@ualberta.ca>

"Now, if this is indeed what is meant, that the second fall of Aristide has
precipitated a more brutal campaign of human rights abuse in Haiti than
the first, then this claim simply cannot stand in the face of the evidence."

I'm not sure what VISHNUSURF means by "cannot stand in the face of the
evidence" here. He/she must not have seen, for example, the IJDH report,
which can be downloaded here:
http://haitiaction.net/News/IJDH/IJDH.html.

On July 29th the Commander of the Canadian Forces in Haiti, Lt.-Colonel
corroborated the testimony [during a well-attended Canadian media
teleconference call] of State Morgue employees who reported burying at
least 1000 bodies by March 28th. Said Col. Davis "I don't deny that these
things have taken place."  Col. Davis was also referring to the March 12th
massacre in Belair that he was asked about. Davis did not dispute the
eyewitness testimony that claims between 35-60 people were killed in
this night time military operation, or that all but 2 of these bodies were
hauled away in ambulances that the occupying forces brought with them
in anticipation of the carnage. Far from denying the March 12 massacre,
Davis actually defended the actions of the miltiaries: "The only people
here at the time were the French and a single US battalion...the 5 previous
evenings they had taken ambush attacks...you need to appreciate what
the battalion was attempting to do, what it came here to do...it was chaotic
on a night to night basis. Killings? Absolutely...Within a matter of days we
had clamped down on things."

If you look back at the mainstream news reports you'll find conflicting
stories concerning this evening's activities, which, it seems were not
supposed to be reported in the first place. You'll learn, for instance, that
the two people "officially" killed, namely Louis Frantzy, 18, and Rony
Ippolyte, 30, according to eyewitnesses, were unarmed at the time. You'll
also learn that eyewitnesses reported that several more people were
killed. Unfortunately neither the mainstream journalists nor the NCHR
thought it was a good idea to follow up on this eyewitness testimony to
verify what exactly happened on this March 12 late-night attack in Belair.
The NCHR's Pierre Esperrance has since admitted to confirming at least
4 deaths on the night of March 12 [it took over a month for the NCHR to go
into Belair and investigate, and the NCHR has admitted that they are
afraid of going into poor neighborhoods because nobody trusts them].
Where were these other 2 bodies? And why wasn't this reported at the
time? And why weren't the people wounded during this operation
interviewed by the mainstream media?

Many questions abound that few people seem to have the courage or
honesty to answer. It sure is easy to dismiss these reports as "lacking
credibility" or having spurious "methodologies". One would think that
widespread human rights abuses aren't the logical consequence of
regime change everywhere it happens in the world. Look around the
world, look at history and find an antecedent that is inconsistent with this
truism. Why would it be any different in the case of Haiti today?

For those [in denial] wondering why/if the good colonel Davis would admit
to such things, you can rest assured that he maintained the shameful
denial that you are all placating your guilt with, that although thousands of
people have died since February 29th, "there has been no evidence of a
"cleansing" of Lavalas partisans."