24066: Haiti Progres (news) This Week in Haiti 22:44 1/12/2005 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

"This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI PROGRES
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and Creole, please contact the paper at (tel) 718-434-8100,
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                          HAITI PROGRES
              "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

                      * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                        January 12 - 18, 2005
                          Vol. 22, No. 44

DESPITE VIOLENCE, DE FACTOS PUSHING FOR OCCUPATION ELECTIONS

The U.S.-installed illegal government of de facto prime minister Gérard
Latortue is on the verge of setting a time-table for elections this
year, but a growing insurrection and increasing repression make any
genuine campaigning and polling highly unlikely.

Nonetheless, foreign occupation authorities are putting on a brave
face."I think that several countries in the world have held elections in
much more difficult conditions than those which we have in Haiti," said
Juan Gabriel Valdez, the UN Secretary General's representative in Haiti,
on Jan. 6. "We are convinced that the security conditions that we will
have for the elections will be good."

But growing violence in Haiti's teeming shanty towns suggests otherwise.
The Haitian National Police (PNH) and the foreign troops of the UN
Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti (MINUSTAH) have done little to
maintain law and order in desperately poor neighborhoods of the capital
where politically-driven gang warfare is intense.

For example, since mid-December, rival bands from La Saline and Fort
Touron have had fierce and bloody confrontations, resulting in about 20
deaths and an exodus of families from those neighborhoods. Neither the
PNH or MINUSTAH have taken any measures to stop the warring.

The fighting is for control of the capital's Croix-des-Bossales public
market, Haiti's largest commercial center. Ironically, this conflict
zone is smack dab in the middle of four police posts: La Saline, Portail
Saint Joseph, Parlément and Cafétéria. Area residents say that the new
Municipal Commission, presided over by the capital's de facto mayor
Carline Simon, has appointed members of the Fort Touron group to run,
sweep and repair the market, replacing employees from La Saline.

While turning a blind eye to such conflicts, the PNH and MINUSTAH
systematically work together in operations to target and attack supposed
Lavalas militants around the capital. On Jan. 4, during a joint
PNH/MINUSTAH operation in Cité de Dieu near Bicentennaire, five people,
including a young girl named Angela, were killed, and 74 others
arrested. As outrage grew over Angela's killing, police spokeswoman
Jessie Cameau Coicou denied it happened, saying only four "bandits" had
been shot. Pro-Lavalas gunmen are always termed "bandits." Their armed
opponents, usually masked ex-soldiers, often work with the police and
are being paid millions of dollars in "compensation" by the de facto
government (see HaVti ProgrPs, Vol. 22, No. 43, 1/5/2005).

On Jan. 5, the police arrested several young people around Fort National
including a certain Jimmy Charles. His parents have expressed fear for
his life, since he is the head of an anti-coup popular organization in
the area.

On Jan. 7, in the Bois Neuf sector of Cité Soleil, the PNH, backed by
the blue helmets, carried out a sweep in which 96 people were arrested.
The same day, in Carrefour, the police killed three supposed "bandits."
According to Coicou, the victims were involved in police killings and
robberies in the metropolitan region.

On Jan. 6, Samba Boukman, a popular organization leader in Belair,
issued a call for a non-stop popular mobilization until Feb. 7, the
anniversary of the Duvalier regime's overthrow. He called for the
release of all political prisoners (estimated now at about 700), the
removal of the de facto regime, and the physical return of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was kidnapped and exiled by U.S. soldiers on
Feb. 29, 2004.

Unfortunately, Samba Boukman, who is the spokesman for the Coordination
of the Popular Base, also called for the "MINUSTAH to carry out a
thorough disarmament campaign" and for "the formation of an honest and
credible Provisional Electoral Council." This differs from the calls of
the National Cell for Reflection of Popular Organizations of the Lavalas
Family Base Popular Base, which demands an immediate end to Haiti's
foreign military occupation by MINUSTAH and a return to constitutional
government and sovereignty before any elections are held.

Last month, the National Popular Party (PPN) also condemned the
occupation authorities' plan to hold elections (see HaVti ProgrPs, Vol.
21, No. 42, 12/29/2004). "There is no constitutional order so no
elections can be held in the country," the PPN said.

But on Jan. 6, a new head of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) was
named. Pierre Richard Duchemin, representing the Catholic Church,
replaced Roselaure Julien, who resigned in November calling the CEP's
intrigues and mission a "burlesque comedy" (see HaVti ProgrPs, Vol. 22,
No. 35, 11/10/2005).

On Jan. 5, Rosemond Pradel, the CEP's secretary general, announced that
an electoral decree has been drafted and will soon be published. He said
that in one or two months voter registration will begin and that voters
will get a new electoral card, valid for 8 years.

Pradel also said that the de facto CEP would establish a new permanent
agency called the Office of Voter Registration, replacing the
Departmental Electoral Offices (BED), the Communal Electoral Offices
(BEC), and Registration Bureaus (BIV) of previous elections since 1987.
According to Pradel, this new agency would allow the CEP to organize an
election in 90 days as constitutionally stipulated and each polling
would cost less money. Pradel said that the agency would "continue its
task of registering people even after elections are held, correcting
voter rolls and databases, so that the elections following those of 2005
will be less costly. We will no longer have to spend $40 or $45 million
to organized elections." He predicted that future governments would not
have to ask for foreign aid to finance elections.

Still most of Haiti remains skeptical that elections can or should be
held in 2005. Even conservatives like Archbishop Louis Kébreau, head of
the Catholic Church's Bishops Conference(CEH), expressed doubts. "We
must not be guided by our emotions," he said. "We must be realistic and
ask in what climate elections can be carried out. Because one can
prepare them, but will we really be up to the task? Is the team
preparing them really aware of what is at stake?"

But Duchemin remained upbeat. "The time is for action," he declared.
"From this day on, it will be my personal commitment to constantly look
at the stakes and to rise to the challenge."

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