[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
28968: please post this anonymously : Paul Raymond: "activist" or Aristide goon? (fwd)
How pro-Aristide factions are supporting
former OP criminal Paul Raymond
Paul Raymond: "activist" or Aristide goon?
On July 25, 2005, a surprising unsigned post appeared on www.haitiaction.org, a
pro-Aristide website. Entitled "Haiti: Pro-democracy activists deported from
the Dominican Republic", the piece decries the lawful extradition of Paul
Raymond to Haiti. It paints Raymond, a well-known Aristide supporter as an
exemplary, peaceful community activist, to wit: "... a prominent Haitian
grassroots leader and tireless defender of Haiti's poor ...", "... a founding
member and coordinator of Haiti's base community church, Ti Kominote Legliz
(TKL) ...", "... a well-known proponent of liberation theology and an activist
in the popular movement calling for the return of President Aristide and
constitutional democracy ..."
Mr. Raymond may well have been a member of the base community church, and we
may accept that he had at one time been a proponent of liberation theology. But
his deeds and pronouncements while Aristide was in a power certainly belie any
notion that Mr. Raymond had stayed faithful to his original beliefs. It is
surprising that, with his long record of incendiary, hateful and downright
murderous language, coupled with an untold number of violent and illegal acts,
that haitiaction.org would even call for the release of this criminal.
One of the controversial aspects of liberation theology is that one of its
strands does teach violence as a means to break free of "oppression". Indeed,
certain liberation theologians "will in some cases regard a particular action
(e.g., killing) as sin if it is committed by an oppressor, but not if it is
committed by the oppressed in the struggle to remove inequities. The removal of
inequities is believed to result in the removal of the occasion of sin [i.e.,
the oppressor] as well." ( Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand
Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983), 592 ) We need to question, however, whether
any of Paul Raymond's violent acts fit within the "acceptable" context of
violence preached by some liberation theologians. A more general question is,
to what extent is liberation theology not just a means to achieve "revenge"
rather than an attempt to establish a more balanced society? Did Aristide mean
to right the wrongs of exclusion and oppression, or did he use
liberation theology simply to elevate himself and his cronies to power?
Perhaps we should take a stroll down memory lane and revisit Paul Raymond's
activities.
February 21, 2001
Haiti Torn by Hope and Hatred As Aristide Returns to Power
Washington Post Foreign Service | Friday, February 2, 2001; Page A01
By EDWARD CODY
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- The death threat came in a chilling Creole
_expression. Unless the opposition to President-elect Jean-Bertrand Aristide
backed off, righteous crowds would kill 80 of Haiti's establishment
politicians, journalists and clerics, turning their "blood to ink, their skin
to parchment and their skulls to inkwells."
Twenty Haitian reporters were summoned to hear the warning read out on Jan. 9
at St. Jean Bosco, a burned-out church whose shell remains a monument to
Aristide's days there as a liberation theology priest. Paul Raymond, a militant
in the slum's "Little Church Community," named the opposition figures one by
one, as several dozen activists affiliated with Aristide's Lavalas political
movement shouted, "Long Live Aristide! Long Live Aristide!"
Realizing the significance of what they had just heard, the reporters rushed
back to their radio and television stations. By nightfall, Port-au-Prince, the
Haitian capital, was buzzing with the news. Opposition politicians demanded
Raymond's arrest. Foreign embassies and the papal nuncio issued condemnations.
People waited for Aristide to emerge from his luxurious home to disavow the
threat made in his name. But they waited in vain.
[...]
October 18, 2001
Letter from NCHR to Jean-Marie Cherestal, Prime Minister
[...]
3. The Refusal to Execute Certain Warrants
Several individuals close to the ruling powers are the objects of judicial
proceedings. One can name, among others, the case of Richard (Chacha) SALOMON,
René CIVIL of "Jan l Pase l Pase" (JPP), Paul RAYMOND of Ti Kominite Legliz
(TKL) of St. Jean Bosco, and Ronald CAMILLE, known as Ronald CADAVRE, currently
the new "Bos Pent" .
These individuals are being "actively sought-after" by the police for the
investigation surrounding the assassination of the director of Radio Haiti
Inter, Jean Léopold DOMINIQUE and the station's guard Jean Claude LOUISSANT,
and for the murder of Fritzner JEAN aka Bobo. Nevertheless, these men circulate
without worry throughout the capital and make public appearances in areas
patrolled by police officers.
The police have given all the pretexts for not executing these warrants. In the
past, did Haitians not witness the actions of a general in the Army, soliciting
the intervention of the Court of Cassation regarding a warrant, in order to
justify the Army's refusal to arrest Dr. Roger LAFONTANT ? What has changed?
Are we in the presence of a new Roger LAFONTANT? A new version of the Haitian
Army that now uses a different name? Is the National Police - like the army -
an institution that consumes nearly eighty percent (80%) of the budget for the
Ministry of Justice, nothing more than an auxiliary of the public powers?
These are just some of the dark areas on which the CSPN must shed some light.
The Haitian population needs to know; it has the right to know.
[...]
October 30, 2001
Letter from the Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POPDH)
The Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH) brings to the
attention of the national and international community the existence of a list
of fifteen human rights workers threatened with assassination, including:
Pierre ESPERANCE, Treasurer (POHDH) and Executive Director (National Commission
on Human Rights/NCHR), Viles ALIZAR, Program Director, NCHR; Serge BORDENAVE,
Secretary General of POHDH; Jean Simon SAINT HUBERT, Executive Secretary of
POHDH. This threat is RELATED to denunciations made by the Platform and the
NCHR related to political influence on the National Police of Haiti, and to the
ongoing grave violations of human rights in Haiti.
The POHDH takes this threat very seriously. In March 1999, POHDH treasurer,
Pierre ESPERANCE, was the subject of an assassination attempt that had been
previously announced in leaflets thrown in the courtyard of the institution.
The POHDH recalls that for some time now, leaders of Haitian Human Rights
Organizations have been the objects of threats for their criticism of President
Jean Bertrand Aristide's executive order calling for "Zero Tolerance" of
lawlessness. Paul RAYMOND and Rene CIVIL, two individuals close to the centers
of power of the President's Lavalas movement, have demanded that the movement
apply the rule of zero tolerance to defenders of human rights.
The POHDH denounces this situation, which brings back memories of the DUVALIERS
and their military governments. The POHDH reminds the authorities that the
Haitian people were not responsible for the military coup of the 16th of
December 1990 and resisted that coup d'Etat and the surge in political
assassinations based on a belief in real democracy and scrupulous respect for
human rights. The assassination of defenders of human rights is not the
solution to the multiple problems which are facing the country, but a simple
attempt to destroy the thermometer which indicates the degree of human rights
violations in the country.
Faced with these circumstances, the POHDH demands that the government apply the
Declaration of Paris, which compels it to assure protection for defenders of
human rights.
Serge BORDENAVE
Secretary General
July 1, 2002
OAS Report on the December 17, 2001 Events
[...]
M. Joseph Guyler Delva déclina devant la Commission les détails des menaces
qu’il avait reçues. Il indiqua spécifiquement les menaces de mort que lui
avaient faites les dirigeants des Organisations Populaires qui s’identifient
avec Fanmi Lavalas. Par exemple, M. René Civil l’a accusé publiquement de
travailler dans l’intérêt des «colons blancs». Le 11 janvier 2002, il dût
quitter précipitamment l’Hôtel Plaza à Port-au-Prince où il prononçait une
conférence sur «La liberté de la presse en Haïti» en compagnie de M. Robert
Ménard de «Journalistes sans frontières». Tous les deux furent contraints de
s’enfuir car M. René Civil et M. Paul Raymond, accompagnés des membres de leurs
groupes manifestaient devant l’hôtel et y pénétrèrent pour les attaquer. Les
dirigeants des Organisations Populaires susmentionnées soutenaient que ce genre
de conférences discréditait le Gouvernement. M. Delva informa que Paul Raymond
l’avait accusé d’être un agent de M. Ménard, et que lui et M. Ménard
avaient distribué des armes à travers le pays pour déstabiliser le
Gouvernement. Toutes ces accusations n’avaient pour objectif que de justifier
le traitement qu’ils voulaient lui réserver.
http://haitianmofo.blogspot.com/2005/07/how-pro-aristide-factions-are.html