25427: Holmstead (News): FWD-ACTIVIST POURS FAKE BLOOD ON PETTIGREW: "Pettigrew Lies, Haitians Die!" (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

FROM: John Holmstead    <cyberkismet5@yahoo.com>


ACTIVIST POURS FAKE BLOOD ON PETTIGREW: "Pettigrew
Lies, Haitians Die!"
Haiti Action Montreal, vendredi, 17/06/2005 - 20:16
Communiqués | Démocratie
PIERRE PETTIGREW SPLATTERED WITH RED PAINT AT MONTREAL
CONFERENCE ON HAITI; A SYMBOL OF THE HAITIAN BLOOD ON
THE HANDS OF THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT

Statement of Arrested Activist Yves Engler below

MONTREAL, June 17 2005 ? Yves Engler, an activist with
Haiti Action Montreal, interrupted a press conference
at the Montreal International Conference on Haiti to
splatter red paint ? a symbol of Haitian blood -- on
the hands of Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre
Pettigrew. Shouting ?Pettigrew Lies, Haitians Die!?,
Engler was tackled to the floor by several RCMP agents
and arrested. He is currently being held at the prison
at 980 Guy (just south of Rene Levesque) where a crowd
of Haitian Montrealers and other solidarity activists
have already gathered to demand for his release.
Engler will appear before a judge tomorrow. Pettigrew
and his handlers are already trying to slander Engler
as one who has a longstanding personal grudge against
the Foreign Minister. Do not be fooled ? Engler and
Haiti Action Montreal formed in the aftermath of the
Febuary 29, 2004 coup that overthrew the elected
government, which Canada has supported ever since. It
was Engler?s attempt to bring this foreign policy
scandal to light, and put the Canadian-backed
suffering of the Haitian people to the forefront of
national attention.
Attached is a photo of today?s action. Many more to
follow. A full video recording of the action at the
press conference will be available shortly. Members of
the media interested in obtaining a copy of this video
or speaking to a spokesperson for Haiti Action
Montreal may call Aaron Maté at (514) 286-9275, Kevin
Skerrett at (613) 864-1590, or Jean Saint-Vil at (613)
661-8474.

Below is a statement written by Yves Engler shortly
before his arrest:


It is completely understandable that Canadians may be
offended by the action taken this afternoon. I only
ask them to consider whether they are offended by the
real blood that is being spilled in Haiti every day,
with the full support of Pierre Pettigrew and the
Canadian government. Mr. Pettigrew has said nothing to
condemn the overthrow of the democratically elected
government of Haiti in February 2004 -- not just
President Jean Bertrand Aristide, but the entire
elected government. Likewise, he has said nothing
about the barbaric actions of the Haitian police that
Canada is currently funding and training.
Mr. Pettigrew and the Canadian government have had
plenty of opportunity to learn about the horrors of
what they are supporting. In February, I personally
handed him a copy of an extensive report by the
University of Miami's Center for Human Rights. Copies
of the report will be handed out to members of the
media today. The report details the widespread abuses
of the Haitian police, and the sham of a judicial
system that Canada is directly funding.
Most recently, the Haitian Supreme Court ordered the
release of Louis Jodel Chamblain, convicted for the
1994 massacre of slum residents in Raboteau. The
former death-squad leader was acquitted in a hasty
overnight trial that Amnesty International denounced
as ?an insult to justice? and a ?mockery.? The
University of Miami reports that police and
paramilitaries ?routinely enter [poor neighborhoods]
to conduct operations which are often murderous
attacks" leaving victims that ³prefer to die at home
untreated rather than risk arrest at the hospital.
When I visited Haiti in December 2004, I heard many
gruesome testimonies of these operations first-hand.
At almost every major Haitian demonstration that has
called for the return of their democratically elected
President, Canada-trained police have shot and killed
protesters. It is tragically commonplace to read news
stories ?- few of which have found their way beyond
the back pages of the North American corporate media,
if reported at all -- that begin such as these:

? Associated Press, April 27 2005: ?Police fired on
protesters demanding the release of detainees loyal to
Haiti's ousted president Wednesday, killing at least
five demonstrators, U.N. officials and witnesses
said.?

? Associated Press, March 24 2005: ?Police opened fire
Thursday during a street march in Haiti's capital to
demand the return of ousted resident Jean-Bertrand
Aristide. Witnesses said at least one person was
killed.?

? Miami Herald, March 1 2005: ?Haitian police opened
fire on peaceful protesters Monday, killing two,
wounding others and scattering an estimated 2,000
people marching through the capital to mark the first
anniversary of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's
ouster.?

As Mr. Pettigrew continues his complete silence about
these abuses, and the mainstream media continues to
shield the public from knowing about them, we can no
longer remain silent. The fake blood on Mr.
Pettigrew?s suit can be removed; he can return to this
sham of an international conference and continue about
shmoozing and enjoying fancy meals with an
illegitimate government and its international
accomplices, including the US, France, the World Bank
and IMF. But they must know that there are concerned
citizens who will be standing up on behalf of the
starving, impoverished Haitians that they are doing
nothing to help.
Haiti is the poorest country in the hemisphere. It
needs our support, ? which we can give by simply
respecting its democracy, respecting the will of its
majority. The people of Haiti have suffered long
enough from foreign-backed tyranny. Canada should
immediately denounce the killings that it has been
supporting, and immediately call for the reinstatement
of Haiti?s democratically elected government. I ask
all Canadians to back this call. And lastly, I ask you
to open up your hearts and minds to the plight of
Haiti?s suffering poor, suffering that our government
is directly supporting, and suffering that together we
can stop.


Yves Engler, Haiti Action Montreal, June 17 2005.

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