22933: Haitian Action: Activists Across U.S. Launch Week of Protests to Support Non-Violent Demonstrations in Hait (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Haiti Action Committee <haitiaction@yahoo.com>

Haiti Action Committee
For Immediate Release
Contact: Leslie Fleming 510 558 0371
lesliefleming@mindspring.com
Robert Roth 415-297-7869, mirk1@mindspring.com

 Activists Across U.S. Launch Week of Protests to
Support Non-Violent Demonstrations in Haiti

August 10 – Beginning a week of non-violent
demonstrations in the United States, representatives
of the Bay Area-based Haiti Action Committee today
called for people of conscience to support the Haitian
people’s ongoing struggle for basic freedoms.

Candlelight vigils, pickets and teach-ins are planned
throughout the United States in support of he Haiti
demonstrations held in Cap-Haitien and Milot in
Northern Haiti from August 12 – August 14.  That
region has seen brutal crackdowns on the nonviolent
mass movement Lavalas.

A candlelit march to demand an end to the persecution
of Mayor Jean Charles Moise and other Lavalas members
in Milot, and the return of President Aristide, will
take place at 9pm on Friday August 13, starting from
the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
Church at the corner of Cedar and Bonita in North
Berkeley. The vigil will follow the “How did you
Become an Activist”  series at the church. Noted media
activist Maria Gilardin will be speaking before the
vigil.

Robert Roth, a San Francisco educator who recently
participated in a human rights delegation to Haiti,
said, “The democratically-elected Mayor of Milot, Jean
Charles Moise, is now in hiding after soldiers
illegally stormed his home in the middle of the night
on June 14. In 1998, Mayor Moise visited California,
where he was received by the Board of Supervisors of
Alameda County and the Mayors and City Council members
of Oakland, Berkeley and Davis. These cities
proclaimed a day in Mayor Moise’s honor, recognizing
his extraordinary contribution to the Haitian people’s
struggle for justice and democracy.”

Roth added, “actions in Cap-Haitien and Milot will
include a Caravan of Justice, in which people will
place candles at sites of military attacks on
civilians.  This cycle of protest will conclude with a
march on August 14, commemorating the beginning of the
Haitian Revolution. Due to the extreme repression in
the region, there will be international human rights
observers to monitor the protests and help insure
safety of participants.”
.
The Haiti Action Committee called on U.S. residents to
pressure their Representatives to support H.R. 3919,
The Responsibility to Uncover the Truth About Haiti
Act. Introduced by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, that
bill  calls for an independent bipartisan commission
to uncover the facts about the Bush Administration's
involvement in the February 29, 2004 coup d'etat in
Haiti.

Background:

On February 29 representatives of the Bush
Administration kidnapped the democratically elected
president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and flew
him to the Central African Republic. President
Aristide now lives in involuntary exile in South
Africa. The Haitian people overwhelmingly elected him
twice, only to see both terms of office brutally
interrupted by military coups.

President Aristide’s ouster was the culmination of a
U.S.-led destabilization campaign which included
withholding of loans, funding of political opposition
groups, and arming and training of former military
officials and death squad leaders.

Since the military insurgency began in late January,
militias have murdered hundreds of people, burned
hundreds of homes, and forced tens of thousands of
activists in President Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas Party
to flee for their lives. Food prices have skyrocketed,
with the price of rice doubling, creating an
unspeakably horrible situation for the overwhelming
majority of Haitians.

An occupation force led by the United States, France,
Canada, and Chile replaced Haiti's legal government
and installed as President a Haitian exile, Gerard
Latortue, who had not set foot in Haiti for 15 years.
UN "peacekeepers" lend undeserved legitimacy to the
coup government. Former military officials currently
control the police, while formerly exiled and jailed
death squad leaders again spread terror.

The U.S.-engineered coup in Haiti is in clear
violation of international and federal laws. The
Caribbean CARICOM countries and Africa Union have
repeatedly condemned this removal of Haiti’s
democratically elected president.

For further information: www.haitiaction.net