28555: Anonymous (news) Dominican Intelligence & Latortue (Article)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/06/26/18283078.php


Dominican intelligence served Gerard Latortue's transitional regime

Santo-Domingo, 22 June 2006 (AHP) Dominican intelligence agents received
funds from the public treasury of Gérard Latortue¹s interim regime at
the
request of Vice-Consul Harry Joseph, according to correspondences and
reports addressed directly by him to the former provisional Prime
Minister.

According to a copy of a correspondence dated 3 February 2005 that was
addressed to Mr. Latortue, Harry Joseph, a former New York radio host,
noted that ³following an invitation from the Director General of the
DNI,
Major Ochoa was designated to work with us with regards to any issue
that
relates to the National Security of Haiti in the Dominican Republic.²

The correspondence indicates that, ³Our new Chancellor, promptly
advised of the matter, rapidly moved to send Mr. Jacky Nau to
represent him" (Mr. Nau is a former member of the Haitian army and
former police commissioner). This was probably done at a meeting with
a number of Dominican officials, although this
isn¹t specified in the correspondence.

³The team that will be working with us needs four cell-phones, vehicles,
motor fuel, as well as funds amounting to four-thousand eight-hundred
dollars (US$ 4,800.00).

The correspondence, signed by Vice-Consul Harry Joseph, adds: ³tomorrow,
Friday, you will receive a visit from Mr. Jean Bertin and this
Sunday, in
the company of DNI agents, we will carry out an operation in Dajabon
where
we suspect that René Civil and Paul Raymond are being sheltered. Mr.
Jacky
Nau, will be able to furnish you with more information.²

On another occasion, Vice-Consul Joseph directed to the Premiership a
memo
dated 14 January 2005 bearing the title ³Intelligence Report/National
Security.² The note states that, ³The Dominican Republic constitutes a
true bastion for those belonging to the Lavalas power structure.
Almost all the
insecurity prevailing in Haiti is being stoked by these individuals.²

These findings were denounced by ?Espacio Insular,¹ the online Dominican
news-agency specializing in Haitian-Dominican relations, in an article
that was published this Thursday on the heels of International Refugee
Day.

The article denounces, ³the campaign of persecution conducted by Mr.
Joseph against Haitian citizens who fled their country for political
reasons following the forced departure of President Aristide (29
February
2004)²

Among the functionaries implicated in the affair, the agency cites
former
Justice Minister Calixte Delatour, former ONA Director General Joseph F.
Oliva, former APENA Director Clifford Larose, former deputy Nahum
Marcelus
and several former Police Commissioners.

According to ?Espacio Insular¹ the intelligence services of the
Dominican
to them based on false information that even high-ranking Dominican
authorities never confirmed or denied publicly.

Interior and Police Minister Mr. Franklyn Almeida and the Secretary of
State of the Armed Forces Sigfrido Pared Perez in fact qualified as
?false¹
statements by Mr. Joseph according to which 75 members of the Fanmi
Lavalas party who were in Jamaica had made it to Dominican territory
where
they were preparing attacks against the interim regime.

The same could be said about rumors concerning the arrival in the
Dominican Republic of 10 South African mercenaries who were allegedly
given the mission of assassinating political personalities and
businessmen
in Haiti.

More than 80 out of the roughly 700 personalities that entered the
Dominican Republic following the departure of Aristide are mentioned in
Harry Joseph¹s reports to the de facto authorities.

The majority of these people had difficulties not only obtaining refugee
status in the Dominican Republic, but also had to live clandestinely for
fear of being arrested. This was in direct contrast to former rebels
against the Aristide government who were able under the Mejía
government to use Dominican territory to launch
attacks against the established authorities in Haiti without major
inconveniences.

Espacio Insular revealed that ³Youri Latortue, the cousin of the ex-
Prime
Minister, administered a monthly National Security Fund estimated to be
valued at millions of gourdes; a part of which was directed to espionage
work geared at Haitian refugees in the Dominican Republic.²

Youri Latortue, a current Haitian senator supported by the
International Republican Institute (IRI), which trained and funded
those aggitated for the 2004 coup, has been implicated in various
scandals. In the recent past, Joel Deeb, a Haitian-American arms
dealer who has reportedly brokered deals with Youri Latortue since
the February 29, 2004 ouster of President Jean Bertrand Aristide,
states that Youri Latortue is a drug smuggling ?Kingpin,? with ?close
ties? to paramilitary leader Guy Philippe. For more information see
"Have the Latortues Kidnapped Democracy in Haiti?" http://
www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8165


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