23030: Esser: Urgent Action Alert from the Haiti Action Committee (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser <torx@joimail.com>

DENOUNCE the BACKLASH AGAINST the POPULAR MOVEMENT in HAITI

Haiti is experiencing a renewed wave of repression and human rights
violations. In the wake of dramatic popular mobilizations on August
14th in Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haitian and Milot, reprisals have begun.
On August 15, approximately 80 members of Haiti's former military
carrying heavy-caliber weapons marched openly through the stree! ts
of Port-au-Prince in a show of force. On August 17, the bodies of
Septembre Luckner and his 10-year old brother were discovered burned
in Tomazeau. They had been kidnapped on August 16. Septembre Luckner
was a former police officer who had fought against heavily armed
anti-Aristide "rebels" in the Central Plateau during the period
leading up to the February coup. In addition, Benoit, an activist of
Fanmi Lavalas, was kidnapped near Kinam II in Petionville. He was
found hanged in Bas Delmas on August 17, his tongue cut off.

On August 17, Louis Jodel-Chamblain, the infamous leader of the FRAPH
death squads, and Jackson Joanis, a notorious human rights abuser
from the former Haitian Army, were acquitted of the brutal 1993
murder of prominent pro-Aristide businessmen Antoine Izmery. The
trial was a 14-hour farce, conducted in the middle of the night. Most
witnesses were too terrified to testify. These sham acquittals send a
clear message that violence and terror carry no penalty today in
Haiti.


Send a strong message to the UN 'peacekeeping forces' and the US
Embassy in Haiti that violence and terror will not be tolerated.
Protest the sham trial of Jodel Chamblain. We are all watching.


FAX OR CALL Ambassador James Foley and UN Officials in Haiti:

Demand the Haitian people's right to demonstrate is respected! Demand
an end to impunity for human rights violations!


James B. Foley, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti

PHONE: 011-509-222-0354
FAX: 011-509-223-9665


UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)

PHONE: 011-509-244.9650/9660
FAX: 011-509-244-9366/9667

** Kofi Annan's Special UN Envoy to Haiti: Mr. Juan Gabriel Valdes **
UN Military Commander in Haiti: Lt. General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro
Pereira ** UN Commissioner for Human Rights in Haiti: Mahamane
Cisse-Gouro


Please Fax the MINUSTAH office Attention to the 3 listed above.
Better yet, send 3 separate letters addressing them individually.


Thanks to all of those who responded to the previous urgent action.
You generated hundreds of faxes and calls to the U.S. Embassy and UN.
According to our human rights monitors on the ground, your action
helped the demonstrations (especially in Cap) to proceed without
provocation.
.