24891: Mason: Yvon Neptune's Prison Letter from Pacot, April 2005 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

 From Marilyn Mason (MariLinc@aol.com <mailto:MariLinc@aol.com>)

Corbetters,

Below is an English translation of Prime Minister Yvon Neptune's recent
prison letter, after his transfer to the Pacot Annex and his harrowing
trip to St-Marc for no reason. It is followed by the Haitian Creole
version, and then by URLs to photocopies of his handwritten letter.

I would encourage you to distribute it broadly amongst your own circle
of contacts.

Yvon Neptune merits our moral support and advocacy.

Marilyn

********


*English translation [Serge Bellegarde, Guy Antoine, Marilyn Mason]:*

 From the time I left the Prime Minister’s residence on March 12, 2004,
up until June 27, 2004, the source of my insecurity had been the
Government itself. When the Government had me arrested on June 27, up
until today, not only did this source of my insecurity increase and
became more direct, but even worse, the Government deprived me of my
freedom of movement, together with my freedom to speak freely, with all
the length and breadth and depth that the Constitution allows for this
right to be exercised.

The hunger strike I began on February 20 was aimed at forcing the
Government to set me free and to stop being the cause of my insecurity.

Because of a promise the Government had made that it was going to
liberate me, I accepted to put an end to my hunger strike and to go to
the Argentine Hospital under the jurisdiction of the MINUSTAH/United
Nations.

Even while in that hospital, however, my insecurity continued because of
the Government’s continuing refusal to set me free.

That is why, while I was in the Hospital managed by the
Argentinians/MINUSTAH, I continued to resist so that the United Nations
would not send me to the trap of the supposed Villa in Pacot, but
rather, that it would require instead that the Government free me and
stop threatening my life. It was in the context of the dilatory tactics
of this wicked Government that I was obliged to resume my hunger strike
with even more force and why I am continuing it in the prison in Pacot,
still with the aim of regaining my freedom and my security.

My friends, listen. On April 20, here is the information I had passed
on: “… this plot aims at keeping me in prison by all means for as long
as possible; that is one objective. The second objective is to take me,
no matter what the conditions, to Saint-Marc to continue the political
humiliation…” Friends, listen: while I was already into the fifth day of
my complete hunger strike, on Thursday afternoon, April 21, having given
me guarantees that nothing would happen to me, the United Nations Forces
took me, against my will, to a supposed Prison Villa in Pacot, close to
the General Administration and Inspection Headquarters of the Police,
despite the fact that I had explained to the UN Representative that this
was a trap that the de facto Government had set up to implement the
death plan it had for me. Above all, I told them that I would maintain
my hunger strike in the supposed Prison Villa as long as I was not set free.

My friends, on Friday April 22, early in the morning, a team of 7 to 10
executioners I recognized from the prison system burst in on me to take
me to Saint-Marc. I felt my life was in danger in the presence of these
executioners; I told them I had not eaten, nor drunk anything in five
days, and I asked them to leave me in peace because I was weak. When
they picked me up with force, put me outside, and tried to handcuff me,
I resisted for my life and I bit one of the many arms trying to force
handcuffs on my wrists.

They drove me to Saint-Marc. I threw up all along the way. When we
arrived in Saint-Marc, nothing was done. Supposedly, Mrs. Cluny Pierre
Jules, the supposed Investigating Judge declared that she was not coming
because she had not been previously notified.

When the UN Representative received news of what the conditions were in
Saint-Marc and of what kind of state I was in, he sent a helicopter to
pick me up and take me back to Port-au-Prince, where I received some
care in a UN ambulance which escorted me back to the supposed Prison
Villa in Pacot.

I am continuing my hunger strike, so that I can regain my freedom and my
security and so that the de facto Government will stop threatening my
life, while it continues to trample on my dignity.

Yvon Neptune
Former Prime Minister
Member of Fanmi Lavalas
Political Prisoner
At the Prison in Pacot, Port-au-Prince


*URLs to photocopies of original handwritten letter:*

1) http://haitiforever.com/neptune-letter-page1.jpg

2) http://haitiforever.com/neptune-letter-page2.jpg




Marilyn Mason
The Creole Clearinghouse (TCC)
P.O. Box 181015
Boston, MA 02118
Tel.: 617-247-8885
Email: MariLinc@aol.com
Web: http://hometown.aol.com/CreoleCH/Index6.html

Creole LInks Page:
http://hometown.aol.com/MIT2Haiti/Index4.html

Marilyn's Publications Page:
http://hometown.aol.com/MariLinc/Index3.html