25631: Brianhaiti: (reply) Fwd: UN Occupation Forces Carry Out Massacre of Poor in Port-au-Prince (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Brianhaiti@aol.com


For Immediate Release:

[For more  information, contact Dave Welsh, from the Labor/Human
Rights Delegation to  Haiti, at 510-847-8657]


UN Occupation Forces Carry Out Massacre of  Poor in Port-au-Prince


On Wednesday morning, July 6th, at  approximately 3:00 AM, UN occupation
forces in Haiti carried out a major  military operation in the
working-class neighborhood of Cite Soleil, one of  the poorest in
Port-au-Prince and also a stronghold of support for Haiti's  majority
political party Lavalas and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.  Presumably,
the purpose of the operation was to crack down on illegal "gang  activity",
in particular on "gang" leader Dread Wilme. In actuality, a US  trade union
and human rights delegation in Port-au-Prince discovered evidence  of a
massacre conducted by the UN forces, targeting the larger  community
itself.

According to accounts from many different members of  the community, many
of whom chose to remain anonymous, as well as from  journalists who were on
the scene during the operation, UN forces surrounded  two neighborhoods
within Cite Soleil, Boisneuf and Project Drouillard,  sealing off the
alleys with tanks and troops.

Two helicopters flew  overhead. At 4:30 AM, UN forces launched the
offensive, shooting into houses,  shacks, a church, and a school with
machine guns, tank fire, and tear gas.  Eyewitnesses reported that when
people fled to escape the tear gas, UN troops  gunned them down from the
back.

UN forces shot out electric  transformers in the neighborhood. People were
killed in their homes and also  just outside of their homes, on the way to
work. According to journalists and  eyewitnesses, one man named Leon
Cherry, age 46, was shot and killed on his  way to work for a flower
company. Another man, Mones Belizaire, was shot as  he got ready to go work
in a local sweatshop and subsequently died from a  stomach infection. A
woman who was a street vendor was shot in the head and  killed instantly.

One man was shot in his ribs while he was trying to  brush his teeth.
Another man was shot in the jaw as he left his house to try  and get some
money for his wife's medical costs; he endured a slow death.Yet  another
man named Mira was shot and killed while urinating in his  home.

A mother, Sena Romelus, and her two young children were killed in  their
home, either by bullets or by a 83-CC grenade UN forces threw.  Film
footage of many of these deaths was shared with the US human  rights
delegation. Eyewitnesses claimed that the offensive overwhelmed  the
community and that there was not a "firefight", but rather a  slaughter.
The operation was primarily conducted by UN forces, with the  Haitian
National Police this time taking a back seat.

Seth Donnelly, a  member of the US human rights delegation in
Port-au-Prince, visited Cite  Soleil with Haitian human rights workers on
Thursday afternoon, July 7th. The  team gathered testimony from many
members of the community, young and old,  men, women, and youth. All
verified the previous statements we had received  from journalists and
other eyewitness accounts.

These community  members spoke of how they had been surrounded by tanks and
troops that sealed  off exits from the neighborhoods and then proceeded to
assault the civilian  population. The community allowed the team to film
the evidence of the  massacre, showing the homes -- in some cases made of
tin and cardboard --  that had been riddled by bullets, tank fire and
helicopter ammunition, as  well as showing the team some of the corpses
still there, including a mother  and her two children.

The team also filmed a church and a school that had  been riddled by
ammunition. Reportedly, a preacher was among the victims  killed. Some
community members allowed the team to interview them,  but  not to film
their faces for fear of their lives. People were traumutized and,  in the
cases of loved ones of victims, hysterical.

Many community  members -- again young and old, men and women -- spoke
highly of Dread Wilme,  referring to him as their "protector" or "father",
and expressed fear for the  future. One member said that he heard that
another UN operation against the  community was planned for later Thursday
night or early Friday  morning.

Multiple community people indicated that they had counted at  least 23
bodies of people killed by the UN forces. Community members claimed  that
UN forces had taken away some of the bodies. Published estimates  indicate
that upwards of 50 may have been killed and an indeterminate  number
wounded, and that more than 300 heavily armed UN troops took part in  the
assault on this densely populated residential neighborhood.

"There  was systematic firing on civilians," said one eyewitness to the
killing. "All  exits were cut off. The community was choked off,
surrounded -- facing tanks  coming from different angles, and overhead,
helicopters with machine guns  fired down on the people. The citizens were
under attack from all sides and  from the air. It was war on a community."

The Labor/Human Rights  Delegation from the United States, sponsored by the
San Francisco Labor  Council, had been in Haiti since late last month to
attend the Congress of  the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH), the
country's largest labor  organization, and interviewed hundreds of Haitian
workers, farmers and  professionals about the current labor and human
rights situation in  Haiti.




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