25909: Haiti Progres (news) This Week In Haiti 23:21 8/3/2005 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Haïti Progrès <editor@haiti-progres.com>

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                      HAITI PROGRES
          "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

                  * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                    August 3 - 9, 2005
                      Vol. 23, No. 21



DE FACTO GOVERNMENT FREES DEATH SQUAD LEADER

The government of de facto Prime Minister Gérard Latortue has freed
Louis Jodel Chamblain, the second-in-command of the paramilitary militia
known as the Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress
(FRAPH), according to a prisoner rights activist.

Chamblain was also one of the commanders of the Washington-backed
"rebel" force which occupied several cities in Haiti's north just prior
to Feb. 29, 2004, when U.S. Special Forces soldiers kidnapped President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide from his home and flew him into exile.

Chamblain had been in the Pétionville jail since April 22, 2004, when he
made a deal with de facto authorities to be retried for convictions
which he received in absentia from Haitian courts in 2000. One
lightening 14-hour retrial, held in the dead of night on Aug. 17, 2004,
found him and co-defendant Jackson Joanis, former head of the Haitian
police's Antigang Unit, not guilty for the Sep. 11, 1993 murder of
pro-democracy activist Antoine Izméry (see HaVti ProgrPs, Vol. 22, No.
23, 8/18/2004).

Amnesty International called the retrial "a mockery" and an "insult to
justice."

Chamblain's release was announced Tuesday afternoon on Radio Ginen by
Ronald St. Jean of the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the
Haitian People (CDPH), who hailed the death-squad leader's liberation as
"a great step forward for democracy, justice and national
reconciliation." St. Jean had always characterized Chamblain as a
"political prisoner," despite his two convictions by Haitian courts, and
had repeatedly demanded his release, much to the dismay of the larger
human rights community and the Haitian popular democratic movement. St.
Jean also effusively praised new de facto Justice Minister Henri Dorléan
for freeing Chamblain.

"Chamblain's illegal release is a slap in the face to the hundreds of
people who have fought for justice in Haiti over the last decade,"
responded Brian Concannon of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in
Haiti (IJDH), who advised the constitutional Haitian government in its
prosecution of Chamblain. "It is an insult to the memory of the [April
1994] Raboteau massacre victims, and the 5,000 others killed by
Chamblain's FRAPH and the army during the de facto dictatorship."

Chamblain's release seems to be a calculated move by the de facto
government to make gestures of "reconciliation" to both pro-coup forces
as well as the Lavalas sector to attract participation in the
"elections" the de factos and occupation authorities want to hold from
October to December. So far, about 90% of the eligible Haitian voters
have refused to even obtain voter registration cards, despite a fierce
campaign to distribute them.

A gesture to the Lavalas will come soon, according to St. Jean. He
announced that the de facto regime would release later this week four
Lavalas-linked political prisoners: Father Gérard Jean-Juste, singer and
activist Annette "So An" Auguste, former security officer Anthony
Nazaire, and activist musician Yvon "Zapzap" Antoine.

"We ask all the other political prisoners to be patient," St. Jean said,
as if speaking on behalf of the de facto government. "Their turn will
come."

Among those that St. Jean said would be released during the month of
August are constitutional Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, constitutional
Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert, former deputy Amanus Mayette,
former delegate Jacques Mathelier, and former Miragoâne customs chief
Yves Metellus.

According to a well-placed source, Chamblain's lawyer claims at press
time (Aug. 2) that his client had not yet been freed, despite an order
for his release having been issued.



FORMER LAVALAS POPULAR ORGANIZATION LEADER ARRESTED IN DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC AND JAILED IN HAITI

Paul Raymond, a former leader of the Little Church community (TKL) of
St. Jean Bosco, was arrested by Dominican authorities at his home in
exile in Santo Domingo on Jul. 21 and then extradited the same day to
Haiti's de facto authorities.

He is now reportedly being held in Haiti's National Penitentiary.

Raymond's arrest signals a new level of cooperation between the
government of President Lionel Fernandez in the Dominican Republic and
Haiti's de facto authorities.

Raymond was reportedly on a list, drawn up by Haiti's de facto
government, of some thirty Haitians who sought refuge in the Dominican
Republic after the Feb. 29, 2004 Haitian coup d'état. Dominican
authorities are actively searching for the exiles, who include René
Civil, the leader of Youth Popular Power (JPP) and close associate of
Raymond. Dominican police have so far arrested four men, including
Raymond, and sent them back to Haiti, where they have been jailed.

Mario Exilomé, another Lavalas popular organization leader, was also
arrested and sent back to Haiti with Raymond.

Interviewed on Radio Kiskeya, Michaël Lycius, Haiti's police inspector
general, could not specify any charges against Raymond and his partisans
other than to say that "there are complaints lodged against those guys"
and that the police have "a lot of information" that "implicates those
guys in the acts of banditry around Port-au-Prince in particular." Asked
if there was a new accord between Haitian and Dominican authorities
which resulted in the arrests and extraditions, Lycius replied that
there was an agreement "that one calls international repressive
cooperation" between the police forces of the two nations.

Raymond is hated by the Haitian bourgeoisie for the fiery declarations
he made in defense of President Aristide's government. At a press
conference on Jan. 9, 2001, Raymond and Civil used particularly
bellicose language to challenge the bourgeois and imperialist forces
which were already drawing up battle lines to attack the newly elected
but not yet inaugurated Aristide government. U.S. Republican congressmen
Benjamin Gilman (R-NY) and Porter Goss (R-FL) felt compelled the next
day to issue a press release condemning Raymond's "threats" as
"unacceptable" and accuse Aristide of supporting them.

A collection of bourgeois-aligned Haitian radio stations issued a
statement condemning Raymond's remarks as "intimidation."

The bourgeoisie also blames Raymond and Civil for leading the popular
backlash that swept the capital after Dominican-based Haitian "rebels"
briefly took over the National Palace on Dec. 17, 2001, the second major
assault of the international destabilization campaign that eventually
toppled Aristide (see HaVti ProgrPs, Vol. 19, No. 40, 12/19/2001).

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