27421: (news) RAW: Kevin Pina interviews the most-wanted man in Haiti: Amaral Duclona (excerpt) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Randall White <raw@haitiaction.org>

Kevin Pina interviews the most-wanted man in Haiti: Amaral Duclona

February 1, 2006

By the Haiti Information Project (HIP)

Amaral Duclona is Haiti's most wanted man.

That is, the most wanted by the U.S.-installed de facto government. His name flashes across television screens throughout the capital each night along with those of twelve other men accused as "bandits" in the sprawling seaside slum of Citè Soleil.

Amaral is in fact the leader of the anti-coup and anti-occupation resistance in Citè Soleil. He has taken up the mantle of his fallen friend and comrade, Emmanuel "Dread" Wilmer, who was gunned down by U.N. troops last July.

The U.S.-installed government and Haiti's elite now charge Amaral with killing Canadian police officer Mark Bourque in CitÈ Soleil last December. He vehemently denies the accusation.

Citè Soleil is home to over 300,000 Haitians who live in abject poverty. Children play among mountains of garbage and open sewage canals. Most are malnourished, as their parents, unable to find work amidst 80% unemployment, try desperately to keep their families alive.

Citè Soleil is also a bastion of support for ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In his first successful bid for the presidency in 1990, Aristide announced his candidacy in this shantytown. Following the violent military coup against Aristide on Sep. 30, 1991, CitÈ Soleil took the brunt of violence meted out by Gen. Raoul CÈdras' military dictatorship. During that three year coup, the Haitian army in league with the CIA-funded paramilitary death squad known as the Front for Advancement and Progress in Haiti (FRAPH) slaughtered thousands and burned down whole neighborhoods in the slum.

After President Aristide was ousted a second time on Feb. 29, 2004, Haitian police and paramilitary units made armed forays into Citè Soleil while occupying U.S. Marines did nothing to intervene. But soon, young men formed community self-defense brigades which began shooting it out with the police and paramilitaries, effectively driving them from the slum.

For the complete article with photos go to:
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/2_1_6/2_1_6.html