24888: Brianhaiti@aol.com: (news) Half Hour For Haiti: Support Labor Leaders Harassed By Police (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Brianhaiti@aol.com

Half-Hour for Haiti, April 26, 2005:
Speak Up for Labor Leaders Harassed by Police


Thank you to everyone who responded to last week's Half-Hour for Haiti action
from the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH).  AHP reports a
strong increase in sign-up for their news summaries and in financial support.
This week we are asking you to pitch in on a campaign launched last Friday to
support labor leaders under attack.

Last Tuesday, April 19, 2005, Haitian police made an illegal warrantless
arrest of Ginette Apollon, President of the National Commission of Women
Workers
(CNFT), and Paul Loulou Chéry, President of the Confederation of Haitian
Workers (CTH). They were arrested  at the airport, as Apollon was returning
from a
labor solidarity conference in Venezuela.  The police questioned them about
their solidarity work for several hours on Tuesday, and called them in for
more
questioning on Wednesday and Friday.  After Friday's interrogation, Apollon
and
Chéry were allowed to go pending police review of the interrogation notes.
The police confiscated their telephones and a laptop computer.  Apollon, who
suffers from high blood pressure, needed to be hospitalized during Tuesday's
ordeal.

The timing of the arrests, the questions asked and the materials confiscated
all indicate that Apollon and Chéry are being harassed because of their labor
organizing work and their critiques of the Interim Government of Haiti's human
rights record.

An international campaign to support Apollon and Chéry issued the action
alert below last Thursday, asking individuals and organizations to sign onto
the
alert to show support for human rights in Haiti. To sign on to the alert, just
send an email with your name and address to Jyk4haiti@aol.com.  Contact
information for the U.S. and Brazilian Embassies in Haiti, the Haitian
Government
and the United Nations is below.

For more background information, visit the Half-Hour For Haiti section of
www.ijdh.org.

Thanks again for supporting justice in Haiti.

Brian Concannon Jr.
__________________________________________________________________________

Haitian leaders arrested and harassed by police
HAITI ACTION ALERT
HAITIAN GRASSROOTS WOMAN ACTIVIST & LABOR LEADERS ARRESTED, HARASSED BY
POLICE

The situation in Haiti continues to be critical. Since the US backed coup of
February 29, 2004 followed by the occupation of Haiti first by US Marines and
then by UN forces, approximately 10,000 Haitians have been killed and over one
thousand jailed. Grassroots leaders and other supporters of President
Aristide are under constant threat. Your help is urgently needed to oppose the
most
recent arrest and harassment of grassroots labor leaders, an attack clearly
aimed at undermining and silencing grassroots resistance to the occupation,
attempting to halt the right to travel outside of Haiti, as well as stifling
international solidarity. This harassment violates the protections of the
right to
organize workers contained in the Haitian Constitution and numerous
international instruments to which Haiti is a party. Lives are at risk. Please
circulate
this email widely, and see the action suggestions below for other things you
can do.

BACKGROUND:
Ginette Apollon, President of the National Commission of Women Workers (CNFT)
was illegally arrested on April 19, 2005 at the Port-au-Prince International
Airport upon her return from the Encuentro Mundial de Solidaridad Con la
Revolucion Bolivariana in Venezuela. The Encuentro marked the third
anniversary of
the reversal of the coup against President Chavez. Ms. Apollon, a member of
the Confederation des Travailleurs Haitiens (CTH), a mother and an activist
working with grassroots women, was invited to Venezuela by INAMUJER, a
Venezuelan
women's rights organization. While there she met with Central Latino-Americana
de los Trabajadores (CLAT) with whom CTH is affiliated. Apollon was
questioned by police about her trip to Venezuela, the purpose of her trip, who
she met
with and more.

Also illegally arrested at the airport were Paul Loulou Chéry, a prominent
labor leader who is General Coordinator of the Confederation of Haitian
Workers
(CTH) along with his brother, Lamour Chéry; both were at the airport to greet
Ms Apollon. The police illegally interrogated them all about their work as
labor leaders, and about their work supporting the return of democracy to
Haiti.
Authorities confiscated the cell phones of the arrestees, videos belonging to
Apollon, and the lap top computer of Chéry.
The police accused Apollon of receiving money abroad to finance violence in
Haiti; after demanding her banking information, $23 in US currency and 350
gourdes in Haitian currency (less than $10 US) that police discovered after a
meticulous search. The activists were released after several hours, but had to
agree to be interrogated again the following day. Ginette Apollon, who suffers
from high blood pressure, had to be hospitalized during the ordeal. Apollon
and
Chéry are mandated to return again to the police station on Friday, April 21.

Both Apollon and Chéry are prominent critics of Haiti's interim regime, which
was imposed by the U.S. and France and dominated by Haitian elites. The
interim regime has raided union offices and arrested activists who are
supporters
of President Aristide without a warrant, and on the basis of vague charges.

What you can do:

Urgently contact the following and urge them to do everything in their power
to immediately stop the harassment of Ginette Apollon and Paul Loulou Chéry:

HAITIAN INTERIM PRIME Minister Gerard Latortue, fax 011-509-249 5561
primaturehaiti@hotmail.com;
US AMBASSADOR TO HAITI, James B. Foley, Fax 011-509 - 223 9038 or
011-509-223-1641;
HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICER Dana Banks, BanksD@state.gov;

EMBASSY OF BRAZIL IN HAITI : Fax 011 - 509 - 256 - 0990 L
brasemb1@transnethaiti.com or brasemb2@transnethaiti.com;

UNITED NATIONS STABILIZATION MISSION TO HAITI : Mahamane Cisse-Gouro, Human
Rights Director,
011 - 509 - 403 4012 or 011 - 509- 527 5274, cisse-gouro@un.org
· Please add your name to this action alert (see form below)
· Email this action alert to all on your email lists and ask them to send it
to their email lists
· Post this action alert on your web site
· Send a donation

Time is of the essence if we do not immediately demonstrate international
rejection of the persecution of these labor leaders/grassroots activists, the
interim Haitian government will go further. For Ginette Apollon, already in
poor
health, continued harassment could be a death sentence.

Original signers to this action alert include:
· Haiti Action Committee ;
· Fondation 30 Septembre ;
· Haitian Initiative For Democracy;
· Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network;
· Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti ;
· Haiti Progress;
· Haiti Support Network;
· The Global Women's Strike ;
· Clement Payne Society/Barbados ;
· Red Thread/Guyana ;
· Danny Glover ;
· Selma James ;
· Margaret Prescod ;
· Steve Gillis President, USWA Local 8751 Boston School Bus Drivers' Union;
· Kevin Skerrett, Senior Research Officer, Canadian Union of Public
Employees;
· Ray Laforest, staff organizer DC 1707 AFFCME;
· Walter Riley, Attorney-at-Law;
· Barbara Rhine, Attorney-at-Law;
· Dave Welsh, Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council;
· Maureen Duignan, O.S.F.;
· Dale Sorensen, Director, Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas;
· Claude Marks, Freedom Archives;
· Jeff Ballinger, Executive Director, Press for Change;
· Sylvia Tiwon, University of California, Berkeley;
· Merlin Chowkwanyun, Columbia University;
· Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - DC Branch;
· Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean;
· Sasha B. Kramer, Stanford University;

Yes, I support this action alert:
NAME: -----------------------------------------------------------
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Please keep me up to date on the developing situation in Haiti.

Please send on your endorsement an/or questions by email jyk4haiti@aol.com or
phone (510)483-7481

Suggestion for a fax or email to the above listed parties:
Date
I/We are writing to protest the illegal arrest and forced interrogation of
Ginette Apollon, President of the National Commission of Women Workers (CNFT)
and a grassroots women's rights activist, Paul Loulou Chery, General
Coordinator
of the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH) and Mr. Chery, (Loulou's
brother). They were arrested on Tuesday, March 19 at the airport as Apollon
was
returning from an Encuentro she attended in Venezuela at the invitation of
INAMUJER a Venezuelan Women's Rights Organization. The police interrogated the
arrestees about their solidarity work for several hours on Tuesday and again
on
Wednesday, and confiscated their telephones, a laptop computer and some
videos;
they questioned Apollon about who she met with in Venezuela and what she did
there. Apollon, who suffers from high blood pressure, had to be hospitalized
during the ordeal. The interrogation is scheduled to resume on Friday, April
21.

The arrests and interrogation can be seen as nothing more than an attempt to
silence grassroots and labor union organizing, to undermine the right to
travel outside of Haiti, and to stifle international solidarity. This
harassment
violates the protections of the right to organize workers contained in the
Haitian Constitution and numerous international instruments to which Haiti is
a
party. There is growing concern around the world about this situation.

We ask that you assure that the interrogation of Apollon, Chery and his
brother and all other harassment end immediately, and that grassroots Haitians
be
allowed to exercise their right to organize, protest and travel without
interference from police and/or other authorities.

Sincerely,

----- End forwarded message -----