25050: Esser: (news) Haiti: a two-tier society (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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


Agence Haïtienne de Presse - AHP
http://www.ahphaiti.org/

May 3, 2005


Editorial
(unofficial translation)

Haiti: a two-tier society


The more years go by, the more good reasons we have to admit that we
had no reason to pretend to be shocked when this American diplomat,
his name must have been Guelbard, said during a trip in Haiti during
the 1991 coup d'état, that Haitians had missing chromosomes.

We are indeed a special species: We are a people who love its country
with fierce and passion as long as we aspire to be at the lead.  We
are hostile to human rights violations, to freedoms violations, to
arbitrary arrests, against abuses of all kinds, up until the day when
through some disloyal manoeuvre, the power of repression and evil
falls into our hands.

Then, good-bye the fight for a so-called more fair society: the
social contract will now be between us; they will participate in the
national dialogue only if they respect taboos. And chimè (poor people
from shantytowns) will have to remain in their Bantustans furthermore
since our collaborators promised us that they will help us hide these
summary executions to the end.

After all, they only get what they deserve. What in the world got
into them to have demands?

We are truly a two-tier society.

The case of former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune clearly shows this
reality.

President Aristide’s Prime Minister until Arisitide's hasty departure
on February 29, 2004, he was the one who was convinced by countries
from the international community, including the United States, to
carry out the transition. Yes, he was the one who welcomed Boniface
Alexandre's speech of oath as Provisional President, supported the
formation of the three-party committee that would give birth to the
Council of the Wise who officially chose Gérard Latortue as de facto
Prime Minister.

He did all that, accepting the risk of being under accusations of
supporting a coup d'état... And when he left the primature in March
2004 to let Latortue in, he decided to stay in his country, knowing
he had nothing to reproach himself.

And 4 longs months went by. In June, considering that the situation
was unbearable notably because of arrests considered illegal and
several cases of physical eliminations among activists of his Lavalas
party, he raised his voice to denounce the situation.

Right away, members and supporters of the former opposition showed
their claws and teeth. Two organizations known to be close to the
government stood out: RAMICOS and the NCHR. They put the word out
that Mr. Neptune was allegedly involved in a presumed massacre that
was reportedly perpetrated 6 months before in a town of  Saint-Marc
called La Scierie.

The danger was to become clearer when elements from the same sectors
announced on June 26th that a warrant of arrest was written against
the former Prime Minister. And it was him, Yvon Neptune, who called
the police right away to come and get him, knowing once again that he
had nothing to reproach himself.

Many wondered then why the NCHR, Neptune’s main accusing party, had
not opposed to the fact that he carried out the transition that gave
the provisional government. What numbers of foreign and local human
rights organizations call the pseudo massacre of La Scierie was
reportedly perpetrated on February 11, 2004. So, why wait so long
before talking about it?

For many, it seems evident that if we tried and keep trying to
discredit Yvon Neptune, it is because we fear that he would be a
handicap to those who are trying to reach the power legally (quote,
unquote). The NHCR would only be the instrument used clumsily.

In fact, there are no charges against Neptune. No investigation was
ever lead (it is still the case today) when the rumour of a mandate
went around as an experiment.

The only thing the main accusing party, the NCHR, reports is that as
prime minister,  Neptune had gone to Saint-Marc where armed bandits,
among whom were demobilized soldiers who were recently killed by the
national police, had taken by force a police station they set on fire
and plundered after killing policemen.

Ironically, we set ourselves against a man for purely political
reasons, while ex-prisoners, people who have been tried and sentenced
for their participation to real murders and massacres such as Jean
Tatoune, run the streets in impunity... there are also all the others
who were in prison before the large escapes organized by the
opposition at the time, notably the one on February 29, 2004.

These are neither legends nor stories.

The Latortue government is ill at ease with Neptune’s refusal to
leave the country for humanitarian reasons or as an exiled. The
former Prime Minister only wants to be released without conditions.
Otherwise, we could always try to use the presumed La Scierie
massacre to keep him far from his country.

The regime in place is between a rock and a hard place. On one side
are the one who urge it to release Neptune because there are no
charges against him and because he is incarcerated under the pressure
of his political adversaries. And on the other side are those forces
called fanatics who refuse to stop pushing the country towards the
abyss and to make it unbearable only because they are afraid to lose
face with the liberation of a man known to be one of the most honest
men of the country. These people consider they already went too far
and can’t backtrack, forgetting that the deeper they go into evil,
the more complicated their situation becomes and the more they
polarize the country uselessly.

Some think that if Prime Minister Latortue continues to walk straight
into the arbitrary, and to support abuses planned by organizations
and personalities who are only driven by groups’ interests, he could
one day be caught by justice, the right one, that could ask him for
explanation, especially on the executions committed in populist
districts and on the dispersals with much bloodshed of peaceful
demonstrations, as it was denounced at least once by Juan Gabriel
Valdez and other MINUSTHA leaders, who were reportedly told off since.

We are a two-tier society.

Last April 27th, at least 5 people who participated to a peaceful
demonstration attended by foreign and Haitian journalists were shot
by the police, according to several demonstrators and witnesses.

But all those who yesterday were hostile to the arbitrary and who are
trying today to involve former Prime Minister Neptune in a presumed
massacre, agreed to try to pass such a tragedy over in silence. But
the same people passed the word on shouting from rooftops for cases
of kidnappings, even though it is considered good manners to denounce
such a practice with the utmost rigor. Mais tous ceux qui hier encore
étaient hostiles à l'arbitraire et qui cherchent aujourd'hui

Regarding the April 27th repression, it is good to recall that
pro-governmental sectors did not hesitate to push the theory of a
confrontation between policemen and demonstrators that allegedly
lasted several hours, though they couldn’t say exactly how many
policemen were touched.

We are a two-tier society.

Just yesterday, the Haitian Catholic hierarchy followed the
government in putting forward the urgent and inescapable character of
the elections announced for this year, but this same Church lost its
sense of hearing, not hearing the cries of people from populist
districts. It is acting as Ponce Pilate, saying nothing about the
case of a man who, like the Man on Good Friday, seems to be
determined to drain his cup to the last drops.

What everyone needs to know is that there are many people who know
the truth about a series of facts and evils that are ravaging society
and make Haitians’ lives more complicated.

There must be people who know everything about all the violence that
is destroying us and making our lives miserable, people who know
everything about those who support summary executions and repression
in bloodshed of peaceful demonstrations, even though sometimes those
who know all of that often shut their eyes on the numerous disgusting
acts, when they are not encouraging them.

There must be people who know everything on kidnappings and
trafficking of all kinds. There must be people who know why La
Scierie was invented.

For reasons of interests or strategy, they may choose to let people
read only a few pages of the big book,

But be sure that other pages of the same book may open much sooner
than you think. And then the invincible will stop playing hard-liners
with their reality.

source:
Haiti-news list
https://listhost.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/haiti-news