23203: radtimes: Worsening conditions plague coup-ravaged Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

Fact-finding delegation reports:

Worsening conditions plague coup-ravaged Haiti

http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/haiti0923.php

By LeiLani Dowell
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Sept. 23, 2004

On May 18th, a 21-year-old truck driver was on a shopping trip for his
mother, when the bus he was on was stopped at a police checkpoint in
Portail St. Joseph in Haiti. Police let all the women off the bus and
arrested all the men, without warrant and without charge.

The next day this man, who asked that his name not be revealed, saw a
judge, who sent him to see a prosecutor. The prosecutor told him he would
send his case to another judge to decide whether to hold trial or release
him. He has not heard from anyone since, and as of Sept. 4 was still locked
up in the National Penitentiary at Port-au-Prince. He says he still doesn't
know why he's in prison.

This is just one of countless stories delegates on a four-day fact-finding
delegation in Haiti heard about the deteriorating human rights situation in
that country.

 From Sept. 3-6, delegates from both coasts of the United States met with
political prisoners, internal exiles, women's groups and labor leaders, who
all told of a worsening of conditions since the Feb. 29 U.S.
"coup-knapping" of democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The Caribbean nation is now occupied by a United Nations "peacekeeping"
force dominated by the U.S. and France.

Josué Renaud of the New England Coalition for Human Rights in Haiti, a
member of the delegation, told Workers World: "We are very concerned about
the situation of these political prisoners, including Sò Anne, Neptune and
Evert, arrested without warrants, under false charges. The government needs
to release them immediately."

Kim Ives of Haiti Progrès and the Haiti Support Network said, "Our visit
helped reveal the depth and breadth of repression in Haiti today. The
mainstream press, if they mention Haiti's political prisoners at all, focus
just on two: constitutional Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and Lavalas
activist Sò Anne. Our delegation revealed that there are scores of
prisoners in the National Penitentiary alone, not to mention the other
prisons around the country.

"We also uncovered that the problem of internal exile is much more
prevalent than generally known. We learned that violence ranging from
targeted killings to government-incited gang wars is driving thousands from
their homes."

Also participating in the delegation were Haitian journalist Robert
Benjamin, Catholic activist Kathy Boylan, radio program hosts Karine
Jean-Pierre and Joseph Chery, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark,
Steel Workers Local 8751 President Steve Gillis, filmmaker Katherine Kean,
Haitian unionist Ray Laforest and former U.S. Army Capt. Lawrence Rockwood.

Regime brings torture, prison, exile

According to the Office of International Lawyers in Haiti, the period
following the most recent coup has seen more beatings inside and outside of
the prisons, summary executions, internal exiles and rapes--which according
to one representative is "an instrument of choice for the present
administration."

The past three weeks have seen an extreme intensification of violence
throughout Haiti, with most of the country living in fear. Members of the
Commission of New Victims 2004 told the delegation that Evans Paul, leader
of the Democratic Convergence, an opposition group funded by the U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID), is financing gang wars. In
the areas of Delmas 2 and Delmas 4, approximately 50 people have been
killed, with another 200 families forced into hiding.

The delegation met with approximately 35 political prisoners, including
Annette "Sò Anne" Auguste, well-known Haitian singer and Lavalas activist;
Prime Minister Yvon Neptune; and Minister of the Interior Jocelerme Evert.
While each prisoner's narrative varied, many shared similar stories of
being arrested without warrants, held for months without any hearing, or of
judges ordering release and the order being ignored by prison officials.

Among those interviewed were union officials, former mayors, civil
engineers, and others. Many reported horrible conditions in the prisons,
with beatings, burnings, and rapes occurring in some precincts. Several
prisoners stated that U.S. officials were present during their arrests.
Most prisoners have some affiliation with the Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas
Party or live in areas known to be Lavalas strongholds.

Almost all prisoners are asked for money to bribe their way out of prison,
to the tune of $5,000 and up. While many of those arrested without warrants
and without cause either refuse the bribe or cannot afford it, the few true
murderers that are arrested easily bribe themselves out.

The delegation also met with representatives of the Coordination of Women
Victims in Haiti, a group that provides what limited support it can to
survivors of rape in the country. They told the delegation that rapes have
increased since the coup, that women are now reluctant to seek justice in
fear of their lives, and those who do come forward find that officials
refuse to take action against the perpetrators.

Almost everyone the delegation visited noted that all these violations are
accompanied by further economic hardships on those suffering them. Because
of the repression and forced exile, it is hard for many to find places to
sleep, or to secure money or food while on the run.

Many of the political prisoners interviewed said they were the main wage
earners in their families prior to their arrest. Conversely, inside the
prisons inmates are only fed once a day--meaning prisoners must rely on
now-exiled families to provide food.

U.S. role exposed

The hand of the United States in the deteriorating situation of the Haitian
people was evident. Former U.S. Army Capt. Lawrence Rockwood stated, "For
me personally, the most distressing information we received ... was the
role played by American officials. The allegations of the improper, if not
criminal, conduct of American officials include detainees being transported
and transferred in U.S. diplomatic vehicles, senior American officials in
Haitian jails directing activities, and even the incarceration of four
former [Haitian] government officials on a maritime vessel for 20 days with
the U.S. Coast Guard playing a direct physical role."

Rockwood placed direct responsibility for the situation in the hands of the
U.S. government.

U.S.-funded "human-rights groups" were also found to be contributors to the
atrocities being committed through out Haiti, with a biased approach that
ignores or reacts weakly to violations against Lavalas members and
supporters--those most affected. Many of the women's groups working in
Haiti won't service women associated with the Lavalas Party who have been
raped.

In addition, the delegation repeatedly heard testimony from individuals
stating that one of the most prominent groups--the National Coalition for
Haitian Rights--has actively accused innocent people in the media, calling
for their arrest, and issued a distorted report regarding the "massacre" in
St. Marc that Prime Minister Neptune is accused of involvement in.

While their report stated that 50 people had been murdered on Feb. 11,
several other reports, including those of the bourgeois press, stated that
four or five bodies had been found.

The complicity of U.S. corporations like Disney, Wal-Mart and J.C. Penney,
who have factories in Haiti, was also discussed during the delegation.

A representative of the Office of International Lawyers stated that
"definitely one reason [for the struggle against Aristide and Lavalas] was
that Aristide raised the minimum wage from about $1.00 to $2.40 a day...
The new prime minister has given corporations three years without taxes."

In addition, in the province of Ounaminthe, there are reports of the
military being used to repress workers' rights at the Grupo M factory.

Clark: 'A new struggle'

During a news conference held by the delegation on Sept. 6, Ramsey Clark
said, "We've come back to see the most sophisticated and violent effort to
destroy the capacity of the people to exercise their will to choose their
own leadership."

Clark discussed the current situation in the context of the 2004
bicentennial of the revolution against slavery, saying, "Haiti was able to
overcome the most powerful army at the time. Freedom from slavery is the
beginning of hope for all freedom, but today a new struggle has evolved."

He described lists some 20 pages long shown to the delegation by prisoners,
naming Lavalas supporters to be arrested or murdered. He said, "These are
the same sort of lists [previously] seen in Chile and other places."

One of the most inspirational visits the delegation had was the meeting
with Sò Anne.

Around midnight on May 10, U.S. Marines arrived at her house, killed her
two dogs, and handcuffed Sò Anne and her six children, aged 5 to 12,
putting bags over their heads and leaving them on for two hours until they
arrived at the medical school they had taken over as headquarters.

She was later brought to the Petion ville prison, where she remains and
where the delegation met her. She has no hearing date set for her trial.
Around the time of her arrest, activists in New York protested at the NCHR
office there, denouncing their silence regarding the arrest.

Sò Anne assured the delegation that she was "still strong, and still
fighting," and said that she's not scared to die, because if she did, it
would be for a good cause.

She lauded the upcoming Million Worker March in Washington, D.C., on Oct.
17, as did the leader of the Con fed e ration of Haitian Workers, who
expressed interest in having a simultaneous protest on that day. October 17
marks the anniversary of the assassination of Haitian leader Jean Jacques
Dessalines in 1806.

Resistance to the fierce attack on the people continues, in Haiti as well
as the United States.

LeiLani Dowell, who represented the International Action Center on the
delegation, is running for Congress in California's 8th Congressional
District on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket.

.