23208: URGENT ACTION: Stop Attacks on Labor and Human Rights Activists in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

Stop Attacks on Labor and Human Rights Activists in
Haiti

A new wave of repression has hit Haiti in response to
growing popular mobilizations against the U.S.-imposed
de facto government of Gerard LaTortue.  While the
election campaign in the United States proceeds with
no mention of Haiti, the grim impact of the
U.S.-sponsored coup continues  to be felt by the
Haitian people.

On Thursday, September 16, masked police commandos
attacked a union meeting at the Confederation of
Haitian Workers (CTH) local office in Port-au-Prince.
They arrested a dozen Haitian citizens, some of whom
are members of the religious community of St.-Jean
Bosco.  There was no police explanation for the
arrests.  Those arrested are now being held in
terrible conditions in a tiny cell where they barely
have room to sit.

The arrests were immediately denounced by leaders of
the CTH, including its director, Paul Loulou Chery.
Mr. Chery noted that this is yet another attack on the
right of Haitian workers to organize. Other union
spokespeople noted that the arrests were clearly
political, targeting known Lavalas activists.

In a second incident, at 1:00am on Saturday September
18, three heavily armed men invaded and ransacked the
offices of the Committee for the Protection of the
Rights of the Haitian People (CDPH). CDPH is a human
rights organization which has taken up the case of
many political prisoners in Haiti, including Prime
Minister Yvon Neptune and Annette Auguste (So Anne).
Its director, Ronald St. Jean, is a leading critic of
the de facto government’s human rights record. The
CDPH office has also been the site of recent press
conferences held by the Group for the Defense of
Political Prisoners, a newly formed organization made
up primarily of family members of those being held
illegally by the de facto government.

The three perpetrators, wearing olive khaki military
uniforms and brandishing large automatic weapons broke
into the office, tied up a night watchman, destroyed a
sound system used for press conferences, and broke
open desks and file cabinets, scattering papers and
literature on the floor.

This attack came a day after the de facto Prime
Minister, Gerard Latortue complained in an interview
with Radio Caraibes that critics of his government’s
human rights record are tarnishing his reputation
internationally and hampering Haiti’s diplomatic
relations.

We urge you to send a strong message to U.S. and U.N.
authorities and to the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights.  We will not sit in silence as union
activists and human rights workers in Haiti are
threatened, attacked and illegally detained.


FAX OR CALL Ambassador James Foley and UN Officials in
Haiti!
Demand an end to persecution of Haitian labor and
Lavalas activists!

<sum> U.S. Ambassador to Haiti: James B. Foley
<sum> PHONE: 011.222.0200 OR 011.222.0354
<sum> FAX: 011.509.223-9038 OR 011.509.223.1641
<sum> UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
<sum> PHONE: 011.509.244.9650.9660
<sum> FAX:      011.509.244.9366/67
<sum> ** Kofi Annan's Special UN Envoy to Haiti: Mr.
Juan Gabriel Valdes
<sum> ** UN Military Commander in Haiti: Lt. General
Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira
<sum> ** UN Commissioner for Human Rights in Haiti

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

Contact Haiti Action http://www.haitiaction.net
<http://www.haitiaction.net/>  for more information.