23772: (pub) Hermantin: Letter to the Editor- Correction (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted November 10, 2004

Dear Editor:

Your article, "Haitian to be deported" by Luisa Yanez states that Marc
Kernizan, a former Haitian military police major and convicted murderer "is
a well-known supporter of ousted President Aristide."  I have worked on
human rights in Haiti for eight years, including the case against Mr.
Kernizan, and never once heard anyone suggest that Mr. Kernizan supported
President Aristide.  To the contrary, Mr. Kernizan was a leader of the de
facto regime that ousted President Aristide from 1991 to 1994.   The man
Kernizan was convicted of killing, Antoine Izmery, was a supporter of
President Aristide.  He was killed, in part, for organizing a commemoration
of the 1988 St. Jean Bosco massacre, which was an attack on a church where
then Father Aristide was saying mass.  Kernizan's 1995 murder conviction
took place under Mr. Aristide's administration.

Basic fact-checking with anyone familiar with human rights in Haiti, or the
Herald's own reporting from the 1990's, would have revealed this error.

Sincerely,

Brian Concannon Jr.
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti