23433: Esser: Resistance in the Slums of Port-au-Prince (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

The Black Commentator - BC
http://blackcommentator.org/

October 14 2004
Issue 109


A Clandestine Interview from Haiti: Resistance in the Slums of
Port-au-Prince

Backed by United Nations so-called peacekeepers, the U.S.-installed
Haitian regime continues its siege of poor neighborhoods in the
capital, Port au Prince, in an attempt to crush ousted President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s Lavalas party. The following is the result
of a clandestine interview with a woman called Nancy, conducted last
Sunday in the slum of Bel Air.

Nancy is a member of the Cell of Reflection of Family Lavalas. The
interview took place under extremely difficult and dangerous
conditions. Nancy’s remarks were then edited to safeguard her and the
journalist’s anonymity.  BC stands behind their credibility.



First you should realize that they have been trying to starve the
poor in Haiti since President Aristide was kidnapped on February
29th. Do you know how much rice and beans cost now in the market?
Families are starving while a few families that import goods are
getting rich off the pennies we have to spend on food. They have
killed us since then and driven us into hiding. Have you ever tried
to feed your family while you are running from the police and you
have no job? They have arrested our leaders or driven them into
exile. They have cornered us and taken our dignity away so that now
we realize we have no where left to go.

We see that the situation in the streets, our situation, we who are
part of the Cell of Reflection of Family Lavalas, we see that in all
the poor neighborhoods there is not a day that goes by that the
government does not squeeze us. The repression is much worse. And now
the de facto Prime Minister [Gerard Latortue] has said he is going to
sign a contract with the former military to kill us one by one. In a
secret meeting he had with the Minister of justice, a friend inside
heard Latortue estimate that it would be necessary to kill 25,000
people in the capital, in the capital alone to stop the calls for the
return of President Aristide. September 30th was the beginning of
this initiative where Latortue unleashed his forces that are
comprised of new units of SWAT, USP, CIMO and the police where the
killers of the former military had already been integrated. It was
they who began firing on unarmed demonstrators while the Brazilians
and the United Nations stood by to let them kill us.

This was only one part of their strategy that day. On September 30th
they had extra squads of former military work hand-in-hand with these
militarized forces of the police to enter Bel Air, Cite Soleil, La
Saline, Grand Ravine, Delmas 2, Martissant and many other poor
neighborhoods to kill a lot of people. On September 30th many people
were killed, especially in Bel Air. The former military had already
set up operations in Bel Air and Cite Soleil without our knowledge
before the demonstration had started.  We did not know that they had
quietly entered certain houses very early in the morning and held the
occupants at gunpoint waiting for the right moment to strike. After
the killing started they broke into many more houses shooting and
beating people who had stayed at home. They also broke everything
they could and stole anything of value while we were running from the
bullets of the police. Later in the afternoon the police entered the
poor neighborhoods and arrested everyone they could get their hands
on.  This is how the violence of September 30th began and it became a
question of defending our neighborhoods and our community from the
violence of Latortue’s police and the former military. What do we
have to lose by defending ourselves since they are determined to kill
us anyway?

In the days that followed we would not allow them to enter our
communities and continue the killing. They tried several times on
their own and we would not let them enter. So they set up on the
outskirts of our neighborhoods and began to arrest everybody in
sight. Outside of Bel Air we have seen them force three year-olds and
four year-olds to the ground. There are many people here who do not
know where they have taken their family members after they arrest
them. All of this because Latortue and Bush were afraid of the
numbers of people they knew we would mobilize to demand Aristide’s
return on September 30th. There is no other explanation.

Since then, Latortue has made it clear we do not have the right to
live and we are no better than animals that deserve to be
slaughtered. We are not counted as human beings in Haitian society
because we are poor and uneducated even though we are the majority of
the population. With President Aristide this was not the case and for
this reason we are determined there will never be peace in Haiti
until he returns. Our brothers, our sisters, our fathers, our sons
and our cousins are all willing to die before we will accept this
misery caused by a government that was put into power by foreigners
and that does not accept us as human beings. We will never stop and
there can be no peace until President Aristide returns. They can call
us bandits and thieves all they want but they know the truth and this
is why they are in a process of exterminating us today.

Bush and the United Nations know the truth as well. They know that
without the Brazilians they could not have entered Bel Air. They know
that without the Jordanians they could never keep us from the
National Palace. Without the UN forces this phony government would
not last a week. That is why we call them occupation forces and it is
criminal for them to prop up this killing machine that is trying to
destroy us. It is an insult to see them occupying the streets in
front of our National Palace to keep in place a government that was
not chosen by the people. They should be ashamed of themselves and
wonder how they would feel if the same thing were done to them in
their country. We believe that if the people in their countries knew
the truth they would ask them to come home. We pray we will not have
to fight them but they are part of the killing machine right now and
it is a question of survival for us. We have no choice but to defend
ourselves and our communities against their tanks and their guns.

It is clear they will kill many more of us in the weeks to come. The
streets of Bel Air and Cite Soleil will turn red from all the blood
Latortue intends to spill but we will no longer just stand like
zombies and let them kill us. We will continue to demand the return
of our elected president and we will defend ourselves against them
when they come to kill us. We are not animals, we are not bandits and
we did not start this killing. They did.

Take this to the American people and let them know we think that what
Bush is doing in Haiti is criminal. He had a choice of supporting our
democracy and our votes but he chose to throw them away. He sided
with criminals and the rich against us instead of choosing dialogue
and reconciliation. We do not blame the American people and it is a
lie that we intend to harm them in Haiti. We love our children and we
love life as much as they do but we must defend our right to exist in
the face of these criminals who are determined to exterminate us.
.