25689: Esser: (news) Growing Evidence of MINUSTAH Massacre - Summary of the US Labor and Human Rights Delegation (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

Growing Evidence of a Massacre by UN Occupation Forces in
Port-au-Prince Neighborhood of Cite Soleil

A Summary of Findings of the US Labor and Human Rights Delegation to Haiti

July 12th, 2005

Contact:
Seth Donnelly
ph: 650-814-8495
sethdonnelly2000@yahoo.com


Background Information:

The San Francisco Labor Council sent a small delegation of US trade
unionists and human rights workers to participate in the National
Congress of the Confederation of Haitian Workers, held in
Port-au-Prince July 1st and 2nd, as well as to investigate the labor
and human rights conditions in Haiti. Toward the end of our mission,
on July 6th, we received an eyewitness report from local Haitian
human rights workers that UN military forces had carried out a
massacre in one of Port-au-Prince's poorest neighborhoods, Cite
Soleil. We extended our trip to investigate the report.

Extending up from the capital's port, Cite Soleil is a vast ghetto --
reminiscent of the "townships" in South Africa under apartheid -- of
tin shacks, unpaved roads, open sewage streams, lack of stable
electricity and plumbing, as well as widespread malnutrition,
illiteracy, and disease. It is also a community of political
resistance, consisting of thousands of people -- young and old -- who
provide part of the militant base in Port-au-Prince of Lavalas,
Haiti's majority political party. Many residents of Cite Soleil
emphatically told us they will accept nothing less than the
restoration of the democratically elected government of President
Aristide.

Since the coup on February 29th, 2004 that toppled the Aristide
government, the people of Cite Soleil and other popular neighborhoods
in the capital have been the target of systematic repression --
including extrajudicial executions -- by the Haitian National Police.
Armed networks established by young adults in Cite Soleil -- labeled
"gangs" by the authorities -- have attempted to provide security for
a community facing almost daily incursions and shootings at the hands
of the National Police. The community networks also provide vital
social services such as education and food for the population.

The UN Mission in Haiti – MINUSTAH -- has insisted that these
networks turn in their arms, but has not shown the capability or
willingness to rein in the police units that have been terrorizing
the population of Cite Soleil. The grass-roots networks have refused
to disarm under the prevailing conditions, and have clashed with both
police and UN military forces on multiple occasions.


Investigation Methodology:

Our delegation, joined by Haitian human rights workers, carried out
the following steps to investigate the massacre allegation:

1) We viewed film footage taken by a Haitian who was on the scene
when the UN operation was occurring on July 6th and we also took down
his eye witness testimony.

2) We visited Cite Soleil on July 7th, the day after the UN military
operation there, conducted interviews with many community members,
videotaped these interviews, and also videotaped physical damage to
people's homes and neighborhood infrastructure, as well as corpses
still on the scene.

3) We carried out an interview the following day, July 8th, with the
military high command of MINUSTAH, Lt. General Augusto Heleno and
Colonel Morneau regarding the operation.

4) We paid a return visit to Cite Soleil on July 9th during the
community funeral service for a community leader slain during the
operation, gathered more information from community members, filmed
more infrastructure damage, and interviewed the Cite Soleil Red Cross
staff.

5) We interviewed the staff at Medecins Sans Frontieres, the primary
hospital in Port-au-Prince that serves the people of Cite Soleil.
[Unlike other hospitals, it does not charge a fee for service.] The
staff shared with our delegation their registry records on the number
of Cite Soleil residents treated on July 6th, the nature of their
wounds and treatment, and the comparison of this day to other recent
days.

In sharing our findings, we will not use the name of the Haitian
human rights workers or anyone currently living in Cite Soleil for
their protection.


Investigation Findings:

Our delegation uncovered extensive evidence that indicates there was
indeed a massacre conducted by UN military forces in Cite Soleil on
the morning of July 6th. We will first present the official version
of events, as rendered by the military command staff of MINUSTAH and
a MINUSTAH spokesperson. We will then proceed to share the evidence
we gathered that contradicts their version of events.

According to Lt. General Augusto Heleno and Colonel Morneau, a little
more than 300 UN troops, led by a Jordanian contingent, surrounded
Cite Soleil at approximately 3 AM on July 6th. They also surrounded
the community with 18-20 Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs), which
appear to be like tanks, mounted with a cannon, but do not have tank
treads. MINUSTAH military spokesperson Colonel Eloifi Boulbars stated
that the number of APCs involved in the operation was 41, as reported
by the Haitian media. Heleno and Morneau denied that the APCs used
cannons in the operation. They stated that one helicopter was used,
flying above the community at 3000 feet, for observation purposes
only. They stated that this helicopter did not fire ammunition down
into the community. They did not mention if grenades or tear gas were
used. The number of troops and APCs had effectively choked off ways
into and out of Cite Soleil by the time the operation began to unfold.

In our interview, Heleno and Morneau reported that the purpose of the
operation was to capture Dread Wilme, a leader of one of Cite
Soleil's armed community networks and viewed as a "gang" leader by
the UN occupation forces. They acknowledged the UN forces surrounded
the community and attempted to launch a surprise assault by a smaller
contingent of 10-15 UN soldiers, but that "gang" members fired on
them first, provoking a firefight. They claimed that the UN soldiers
"never fire first" in their operations. They claimed that the UN
forces launched the operation into the community at approximately
5:30 AM.

Both Heleno and Morneau said they did not know of any civilian
casualties, nor had they received reports of such casualties from the
Red Cross. According to Boulbars, again as reported in the Haitian
media, "numerous bandits were killed during the operation, including
five in the house of Dread Wilme." He stated to the media that bodies
were not recovered because soldiers had other things to do. No UN
soldiers were killed during the operation. Morneau suggested to us in
our interview that the corpses still in the community after the
operation could have been people killed by "gang" members and then
falsely blamed on the UN forces. He suggested that ballistics tests
be conducted on these bodies.

Lt. General Augusto Heleno defended the operation, asking the human
rights delegation why they only seemed to care about the rights
of the "outlaws" and not those of the "legal forces" in the country.

According to the eyewitness account from a Haitian (who shall remain
anonymous for this report) who was present in Cite Soleil during the
operation and who did get some film footage of the operation as it
unfolded, a very different picture emerges. Like the official UN
account, he reported that UN forces surrounded Cite Soleil, as stated
by UN military command staff, sealing off the alleys with tanks
[APCs] and troops. He reported that UN forces concentrated on the
Cite Soleil districts of Boisneuf and Project Drouillard. He further
reported that not one, but two helicopters flew overhead.

> From this point on, his account diverges considerably from the
official UN account. He reported that at 4:30 AM, UN forces launched
the offensive, shooting into houses, shacks, a church, and a school
with machine guns, APC cannons, and tear gas. The eyewitness 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 this account, 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 to 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, Sonia Romelus, and
her two young children were killed in their home, reportedly by UN
fire after UN forces lobbed a 83-CC gas grenade into their home.

The video footage taken by this eyewitness during the operation shows
many of these killings while they were occurring. While it does not
show images of the UN troops as they were firing into the community,
one can view at least 10 unarmed people either in the process of
being killed or who were already killed. Many were killed by
headshots, such as 31-year-old Leonce Chery moments after a gun shot
ripped off his jaw. Chery was clearly unarmed. There are audible
machine gun blasts occurring in the background. The video footage
also depicts the bodies of Sonia Romelus and her two young children,
lying in blood on the floor of their home. Apparently, Sonia was
killed by the same bullet that passed through the body of her
one-year old infant son Nelson. She was reportedly holding him as the
UN opened fire. Next to their two bodies is that of her four-old son
Stanley Romelus who was killed by a shot to the head. The video
footage shows a weeping Fredi Romelus, recounting how UN troops
lobbed a red smoke grenade into his house and then opened fire
killing his wife and two children. "They surrounded our house this
morning and I ran thinking my wife and the children were behind me.
They couldn't get out and the blan [UN] fired into the house." The
video also shows the grenade canister, apparently left in the house.

The eyewitness source claimed that the operation was primarily
conducted by UN forces, with the Haitian National Police this time
taking a back seat.

In summing up his testimony, the source claims to have personally
viewed 20 people killed by UN forces during and after the operation,
in addition to five people killed who were buried by their families
and yet another five people from the community who have been missing
since the operation was launched.

When our delegation, joined by other Haitian human rights workers,
entered Cite Soleil the day after the operation, in the afternoon of
July 7th, we gathered extensive evidence that corroborated his
testimony and further indicated that the people being killed in the
video footage were, in fact, killed by UN forces. The team gathered
testimony from many members of the community, young and old, men,
women, and youth.

Community residents said UN forces had reduced the entrances and
exits into and out of the ghetto by blocking a street with a large
shipping container. Our delegation filmed this blocked entrance.
Immediately prior to the UN military operation on July 6th in Cite
Soleil, there were scarcely more than two functioning pathways into
and out of the community.

Community members spoke of how they had been surrounded by tanks
[APCs] and troops that sealed off exits from the neighborhoods and
then proceeded to assault the civilian population. Reportedly, the
assault involved at least one, if not more, helicopters firing down
into the neighborhood. The community allowed the Labor/Human Rights
Delegation to film the evidence of the massacre, showing the homes --
in some cases made of tin and cardboard -- that had been riddled by
bullets, and what appear to be APC cannon fire and helicopter
ammunition, as well as showing the team some of the corpses still on
the scene, including a mother and her two children and one man whose
jaw had been blown off.

The team also filmed a church and a school that had been riddled by
ammunition. Allegedly, 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 traumatized and, in
the cases of loved ones of victims, hysterical. One woman spoke of
how her husband was shot and killed during the operation, leaving her
stranded alone to fend for three children.

Community members also guided us to two electrical transformers in
the neighborhood that had been destroyed, claiming that UN troops had
shot them and caused a blackout in the course of the operation.

Multiple community residents 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. Some
community estimates range even higher.

The team returned to Cite Soleil two days later, on July 9th, during
the community funeral ceremony for Dread Wilme in order to continue
the investigation. Hundreds of people from the community -- woman and
men, children and adults -- turned out for the funeral, held in a
street. Armed young adults attempted to provide "security" during the
ceremony. While they seemed to elicit no fear from the general
population, the UN military forces did. Twice during the ceremony, a
rumor traveled through the crowd that UN military forces, represented
by several APCs in the near distance, were moving on the ceremony.
People fled in terror, in a virtual stampede and then regrouped when
they realized that such an operation was not occurring.

During the ceremony, the team interviewed a Reuters reporter who
claimed to have filmed bullet holes in roofs in Cite Soleil, which he
concluded were caused by machine gun fire from a helicopter assault
during the operation. Our team subsequently filmed what appear to be
gun shot holes in the roof of a community school and the roof of a
nearby building. The Reuters reporter also reported that, while he
was not present during the UN operation, he personally filmed seven
dead bodies a day or two later.

In the early afternoon of July 9, the team left the ceremony and
interviewed a staff member of the Cite Soleil Red Cross. She informed
the team that the local Red Cross was not present during the UN
operation, but that the Red Cross had transported approximately 15
people to a local hospital two days later on Friday July 8th. She did
not know of how many, if any, people were killed during the
operation. Additionally, she reported that about one week prior to
the "operation", UN military forces had detained her, the President
of the local Red Cross, and at least one other local Red Cross member
and taken them to the local UN compound for interrogation. She
described the detention as intimidating.

After the interview with the local Red Cross, the team left Cite
Soleil and interviewed the staff at the Medicins Sans Frontieres
Hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince. This is one of the few, if not
the only hospitals in Port-au-Prince where people can from Cite
Soleil can go because it provides free health care unlike other
hospitals which charge a service fee. The staff at Medicins Sans
Frontieres shared with the team their hospital registry records
detailing the number of patients from Cite Soleil that the hospital
admitted and treated on July 6th. Starting at approximately 11 AM,
the hospital received a total of 26 wounded people from Cite Soleil
who were reportedly transported to the facility by Red Cross "tap
taps" (local minivans). Of these 26, 20 were women and children and 6
were men. Half of the total number were seriously wounded by
abdominal gun shot wounds and were routed into major surgery. One
pregnant woman lost her baby. Other victims seem to be in recovery,
according to the hospital staff. All reported that they had been
wounded by UN military forces during the operation and some spoke of
their homes being destroyed. This number of 26 stands in contrast to
the hospital's records of Cite Soleil residents admitted on other
days when the figures are much lower, such as 2 people on July 7th
and none on July 8th. One Haitian human rights worker present during
the meeting with the hospital staff speculated that the number of men
from Cite Soleil who were admitted to the hospital was low because
many men would fear being arrested by the authorities while in the
hospital.

In addition, a Red Cross staff member stated that on Friday, July
8th, the local Red Cross transported 15 victims from the UN operation
to a local hospital.

Putting all this evidence together, it is clear that there were
substantial civilian casualties from the UN operation that were
transported by the local Red Cross and by perhaps other means, to be
treated in a local hospital.


Conclusion:

In conclusion, the evidence of a massacre by UN military forces in
Cite Soleil is substantial and compelling. The eyewitness account of
the operation, and the film footage shot by Haitian human rights
workers who were on the scene during the operation; the extensive
videotaped testimony by community members themselves on July 7th,
coupled with tangible, physical damage to their homes and
infrastructure; the bodies still on the scene that we have on video;
the intense fear of the UN military forces evidenced by hundreds of
residents of Cite Soleil; the statements by the local Red Cross; and
finally the registry records of the relevant hospital -- all of these
pieces of evidence indicate that UN military forces in Haiti today
are not engaged in the work of "peacekeeping" as much as they are in
the business of repression.

Clearly, further investigation is required to determine the exact
number of victims from the operation, their identities, and the
reasons for their deaths. One can only wonder why UN forces in Haiti
have not, apparently, contacted the relevant hospital or dispatched
their own human rights team into Cite Soleil in order to assess the
true "collateral damage" resulting from this and other armed
incursions by the UN military forces.

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