27237: Wharram (news) UN whitewashes massacre amid new attacks in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Bruce Wharram


Centro de Medios Independientes Valparaíso

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UN whitewashes massacre amid new attacks in Haiti
by Haiti Information Project (HIP) Saturday, Jan. 14, 2006 at 12:21 PM
HIP@teledyol.net

    "This is Apaid, Boulos and Baker working to force the U.N. to come in
here and commit another massacre like they did on July 6" declared Joel in a
familiar refrain heard throughout Cite Soleil.

UN whitewashes massa...
1_11_6.jpg, image/jpeg, 416x277

January 14, 2006

Haitian Strike, terror and Dead Generals

HIP - Haiti ? "It was a campaign of fear. Didn't you hear the radio? They
told people that if they left their homes they would be arrested by the
police and the U.N.," stated Jean Joseph Joel, a representative of the
National Commission of the Family Lavalas Cell of Reflection. Joel made the
comment from Cite Soleil on January 9, the same day the Haitian Chamber of
Commerce had called a national strike to condemn insecurity in Haiti and a
recent spate of kidnappings throughout the capital. Roadblocks manned by the
Haitian National Police and the U.N. went up throughout the capital on
January 9 and traffic remained sparse as most residents stayed in their
homes.

Joel made his comments from Cite Soleil, a bastion of support for ousted
president Aristide and current presidential candidate Rene Garcia Preval. It
has served as a launching site for massive demonstrations demanding the
return of Aristide and most recently as a staging ground for large Preval
campaign rallies. Residents of Cite Soleil accuse Haiti's business community
of pressuring U.N. forces to commit a massacre there on July 6, 2005.

The January 9 strike came two days after the death of the commander of U.N.
military forces in Haiti Lt. Gen. Urano Bacellar. His death was initially
reported as a suicide but U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti Juan Gabriel Valdes
has implied in recent interviews to the Haitian press that it may have been
an assassination by forces trying to disrupt the electoral process. And
finally, the right-wing opposition of president Mbeki in South Africa with
ties to Haiti's elite ridiculously implied that a sniper from their country,
at the behest of Aristide, killed the general.

For their part, the Brazilian police have officially stated that they
consider the death a "suicide" citing their own autopsy results. The
investigation into all of the evidence continues.

For Joel and most residents of Cite Soleil, the Chamber's call to shut down
businesses and transportation is an ominous and frightening portent of
things to come. They do not see the strike as a call for national unity to
combat crime and violence; rather they view it as another attempt by Haiti's
wealthy elite, and those attempting to forestall upcoming elections, to
force the U.N. to launch military attacks against the neighborhood. They see
it as a repeat of events that led to the massacre of July 6, 2005.

"This is Apaid, Boulos and Baker working to force the U.N. to come in here
and commit another massacre like they did on July 6" declared Joel in a
familiar refrain heard throughout Cite Soleil. Andy Apaid is a wealthy
sweatshop owner and the leader of an organization that dropped the 0 from
Haiti's year of independence, 1804, to create a civil society organization
named Group 184 that was heavily funded by the United States, France and
Canada. The Group 184 helped to build opposition to Aristide's government
and Apaid was among the first to refer to para-military forces that invaded
Haiti from the Dominican Republic as freedom fighters as they killed police
officers and Lavalas officials in their bid to oust Aristide. Dr. Reginald
Boulos is the president of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce who is implicated
in the death of 60 children after his company, Pharval Pharmaceuticals,
produced a poisonous cough syrup distributed throughout poor neighborhoods
of the capital. Boulos had also pushed the U.N. to make armed incursions
into pro-Aristide neighborhoods last May that many view as having led to the
massacre in Cite Soleil on July 6. Charles Henry Baker, another sweatshop
owner, helped to create the Group 184 and is currently a presidential
candidate seen as the preferred choice of Haiti's wealthy elite and business
community.

"Why do they keep postponing these elections when everyone knows that Preval
is the people's choice? Why are they afraid of democracy when they claim
that removing Aristide was for democracy? We still believe they kidnapped
our president and forced him out. Now we stand ready to vote again for
Preval and they keep delaying the vote. Is it because they want to rob us of
our democratic rights once again? Is it because so many people are getting
rich from the coup of Feb. 2004 that the international community is so blind
they can't see the truth?" asked Joel.

"Don't go there. There are killers and bad people."

As the jeep of journalists approached the two Armored Personnel Vehicles
(APVs), manned by Jordanian soldiers and two Haitian police officers, they
motioned for them to stop. Everyone got out of the car to have their
identification checked as the soldiers assured themselves that the lone
Haitian driver was not kidnapping them. The journalists were about to enter
the fabled land of poverty and misery that has been targeted recently as a
repository for kidnapping victims in the Haitian press and mainstream
international media. One of the Jordanian soldiers cautioned, "Be careful.
Don't go there. There are killers and bad people."

After being followed by another APV, the Haitian driver finally negotiated
his way to the central marketplace in Cite Soleil on a street named Bwa
Neuf. Bwa Neuf is the site of a monument erected in honor of another
supposed Lavalas "bandit", Emmanuel "Dread" Wilme. U.N. forces assassinated
Wilme and four of his armed lieutenants on July 6 and residents accuse them
of targeting unarmed civilians during the raid. Dread, as residents of Cite
Soleil refer him to, was an orphan who grew up in La Famni Selavi, the
organization founded by Aristide to help homeless street children. Like so
many others, he saw his parents killed by the military following the coup
that ousted Aristide in 1991. While the US-installed government, the Haitian
elite and the U.N. demonized Dread as a criminal, the impoverished residents
of Cite Soleil put their pennies together and built a monument to his
memory.

"They killed my wife and have left me to take care of our nine children."

Bwa Neuf is patrolled by several APVs 24-hours a day. Residents claim that
at any given hour wherever people congregate to talk about the community or
share ideas with one another, they open fire with automatic weapons.
According to the testimony of residents, four women were killed by U.N.
forces in the marketplace of Bwa Neuf on January 6. Dieunord Edme, 51
years-old, described how his wife Annette Moleon, 45 years-old, was gunned
down by U.N. forces on that day from a passing APV: "They started shooting
everywhere for no reason. They killed my wife and have left me to take care
of our nine children. Why did they do that?"

The fear was palpable as residents of Haiti's poorest neighborhood continued
to surround the group of journalists to respond to the news that the U.N.
had announced the results of an investigation into the events of July 6.
APVs passed by several times and residents said the only reason they didn't
open fire was because of the presence of white foreigners. Yet so many
killings by U.N. forces have gone unreported by the press and human rights
organizations. For example, Zapada Price, a man described as "fou" (crazy)
by the community, ventured too close to the U.N. checkpoint. His body lay on
the road for four days because every time his family came to collect the
corpse U.N. forces reportedly fired at them as well.

"The blue helmuts are lying. They killed so many people and I praise God
that I am alive to call them liars," shouted 30 year-old Edline Pierre-Louis
who was 6 months pregnant when the U.N. opened fire on July 6. Showing us
the scars on her stomach, she exclaimed, "I lost my unborn baby to U.N.
forces on July 6. If they say there was not a massacre then tell me where is
my child? Where is my brother who bled to death in the street? The U.N. is
lying. They are the ones embarrassing themselves with this lie. Look at how
many victims have come forth to tell you the truth."

On Jan. 8, residents of Cite Soleil also spoke against a campaign by Haiti's
wealthy elite to destroy them because of their fidelity to the cause of
ousted president Aristide and their support for the campaign of Rene Preval.
"My brother has been shot and killed by the U.N., my cousin was shot and
killed by the U.N. on July 6. The U.N. is lying. Look at my stomach and the
operation they performed to save my life. The U.N. is lying!" stated Amavil
Joudain. He was shot in the stomach by U.N. forces on July 6, 2005. Other
victims of July 6 who gave testimony to journalists included:

* Pierre Samson, 37, bullet in the stomach
* Carole Janvier, 52, bullet to the chest
* Mimose Gabriel, 52, home fired upon, stray bullet to the
stomach
* Leonise Cenard, 46, bullet to the stomach.

During the raid of July 6, not a single ambulance or medical unit
accompanied U.N. forces as they opened fire in the community with what was
described by residents as "a hail of bullets." The U.N. ultimately relied
upon witnesses and testimony presented to them by the Haitian police and
human rights "expert" Jean-Claude Bajeux to dismiss the evidence. Bajeux is
a member of the Group 184 and known for his bias and visceral hatred of
Lavalas. The U.N. to date has never interviewed nor spoken to a single
resident of Cite Soleil. Despite direct testimony by victims of the July 6
U.N. military incursion, the official report by the MINUSTAH forces
concluded: "The targeted victims were either individuals suspected of having
been the informants of MINUSTAH, or of the people who imprudently expressed
their joy at the announcement of the supposed disappearance of Dread Wilmé
and some of his close associates." In other words, the U.N. ultimately
concluded that the victims were shot and killed by members of Lavalas in
retaliation for informing and expressing "joy" for their [the U.N.'s]
military incursion.

The U.N.'s dismissal of the testimony of victims of July 6 and the recent
pressure applied for another raid in Cite Soleil by virtue of the strike
called by the Haitian Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 8 was foreshadowed by
another dark event on December 30, 2005. The Canadian government,
responsible for the reformation of Haiti's corrupt judiciary, stood by and
watched without comment as Judge Jean Pérs Paul ordered the release of the
following individuals implicated in kidnapping in Haiti but never mentioned
by the Chamber of Commerce during their strike:

* Stantley Handal
* Wilfrid Francois, Haitian police officer Agent 1
* Sony Lambert, Haitian police officer Agent 3
* Rénald Cinéus, Haitian police officer Agent 4.

Handal is a member of one of Haiti's wealthiest families that supported the
ouster of Aristide in 1991 and 2004. He was initially arrested along with
eight members of Haiti's police force for running a kidnapping ring after he
attempted to use a stolen credit card taken from one of his victims. The
judge that released them, Jean Pérs Paul, is responsible for keeping Father
Gerard Jean-Juste behind bars and for the arrest of journalists Kevin Pina
and Jean Ristil on September 9, 2005. The police officer responsible for the
initial investigation into Handal's case has reportedly been forced into
hiding. The U.N. and the Canadian government have not commented on the case
since Jean Pérs Paul ordered the suspects released.

www.haitiaction.net

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