29785: Ives (news): Transcript of Annette "So An" Auguste on Democracy Now! Jan. 4 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: K M Ives <kives@toast.net>

DEMOCRACY NOW!
Thursday, January 4th, 2007
Haitian Folk-Singing Legend and ex-Political Prisoner So An Auguste on her 
Arrest by US Marines and the US Role in Haiti's Ongoing Turmoil

(Video or audio at this link)
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/04/159201

Popular Haitian-American folk singer and political activist Annette "So An" 
Auguste, was released in August after spending over two years in a Haitian 
jail. So An was jailed by US Marines shortly after the 2004 coup that ousted 
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. She joins us in our firehouse studio. 
[includes rush transcript]

On Monday, Haitians celebrated the 203rd anniversary of their country's 
independence. Over two centuries ago, on New Years' Day, 1804, Haiti became the 
first independent Black republic, and the only nation ever formed by a 
successful slave revolt.

It was almost exactly two centuries later, in February of two thousand four, 
that Haiti's first democratically elected leader after centuries of 
dictatorship, Jean Bertrand Aristide, was ousted in a US-backed coup. Following 
Aristide's removal, the interim government began a brutal crackdown on 
supporters of his political party, Lavalas. Many people were jailed, exiled, or 
killed. Among those jailed was legendary Haitian folk singer and political 
activist Annette Auguste, known as "So An." After two years in prison, So An 
was finally released this past August. We spoke to her on Democracy Now! the 
day of her release, and today So An joins us here in the firehouse.

Annette "So An" Auguste. Legendary Haitian folk singer, activist, and former 
political prisoner. So An spent over two years in a Haitian jail. She was 
jailed in 2004, shortly after the coup that ousted former Haitian President 
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

RUSH TRANSCRIPT

AMY GOODMAN: Today, So An joins us here in the firehouse, and we welcome you to 
Democracy Now!

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: It is wonderful to have you with us. We are also joined by Kim 
Ives, who will help translate. Thanks so much for being here. How does it feel 
not only to be out of jail right now in Haiti, but to have come to the United 
States?

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] First, I thank you. And everybody who struggled 
with us to get us out of jail, I say thank you to them, especially to Amy and 
Juan Gonzalez. I thank them a lot, because I know all the work you've done for 
democracy. Thank you very much.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you describe the day you were arrested? What was the scene? 
Who arrested you? When was it?

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] The day they arrested me, it was the Marines who 
arrested me, US Marines. It was a very dark day. It was with grenades they came 
into my house. The first grenade they threw blew off the head of my dog, which 
ended up in a tree. When they came, they said they were looking for guns, but 
they couldn't even find a big knife. They arrested me. I was hoping they would 
have somebody to translate for me, but they didn't have anybody to translate. 
It was just Americans.

America is a country that promotes about democracy all the time. It's not their 
prerogative to come and arrest somebody without a warrant. And they didn't just 
arrest me. They arrested everybody at my house, even a little five-year-old 
kid. They put handcuffs on all of them. To arrest somebody like that, with all 
your kids at home, it really traumatizes you. I thing those were injustices, 
and they should have reparations for that. It's not possible to come into 
somebody's house and do all that damage like that without reparation. They 
broke everything I had. Without any proof at all.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And once they jailed you, did they inform you of any charges? 
Did you ever go to trial on any charges? What happened during the period of 
your incarceration?

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] It's been two years. Nothing. At the end, when 
Preval became president, a decision was taken. Because the people who were 
there before, they wanted to bury me even deeper. Latortue.

JUAN GONZALEZ: So there were no legal proceedings during the entire time you 
were in prison?

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: No.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And upon your release, what has been your situation, your 
personal situation in Haiti?

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] My situation is even worse. A person living at 
their house normally, you leave prison, everything you had is gone. So the 
situation for me isn't good at all. And it's also not good for the people I 
used to help.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the position of those who support the ousted 
president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide? Do you feel they are targeted today?

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] Up until now, nothing has really changed. If you 
look, there's Rene Civil, another Lavalas activist, who they just arrested. The 
same thing is continuing. There's a lot of people in prison. A lot of people 
are still in prison. I don't consider myself free. A lot of people who were 
arrested under the same conditions I was are still in prison. Those people 
don't have anybody to speak for them. I have become the voice of the voiceless, 
because they have nobody to speak for them.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Last week on the show, we had a segment on the recent massacre 
in Cite Soleil that involved United Nations peacekeepers or United Nations 
occupation troops there. What has been the role of the United Nations troops 
there, and how do you and other Haitians regard their presence in your country?

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] This is a real aberration, I think, because they 
can't come in and kill people like that without them having proof that the 
people are -- I was there when the first attack happened on the 22nd. They came 
in. There was a tank which was broken down. They thought that the tank was 
going to shoot on them, so they were very happy when it didn't, and they 
thought it was a gift to them. And they took apart the tank, and then they shot 
everybody for that. Yeah, all the children there, are those kidnappers? Those 
60-year-old, 80-year-old people, are they kidnappers? They sent gas over 
everybody, and six people died the first day. Poison gas.

AMY GOODMAN: I'm looking at a report that says, according to Pierre Alexis, the 
Haitian Red Cross coordinator in Cite Soleil, the UN soldiers prevented the 
Haitian Red Cross from treating children injured during the assault and stopped 
Red Cross ambulances from entering the area. This was in the attack of December 
22nd.

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] They knew that if the Red Cross came in, they 
would see there were more people who had died, because that day more than 50 
people died.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you think has to happen right now in Haiti, So An Auguste?

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] Haiti is a country which is occupied. Everything 
that happens, those are the people who are in front. The United Nations troops 
are in front.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And in terms of the role of Preval, an ally of President 
Aristide for so long, why has he allowed this to go on?

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] He's a so-called friend of Aristide. Because if 
Aristide were in Preval's position, he would do everything possible and 
imaginable to make sure that Preval would return to the country. When you look 
at all those people that they call the freedom fighters, people like Guy 
Philippe and other of the rebel leaders who have done terrible crimes, they not 
only have taken over the country, but they're even candidates for the 
presidency. Since the people are those who elected Aristide, if they didn't 
feel that Aristide was in their very skins, they wouldn't still be asking for 
Aristide's return. With all those assassins in the country, why can't Aristide 
come back to his country?

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think President Aristide will return to Haiti from South 
Africa?

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] Haiti is President Aristide's country. We're 
going to struggle until he gets back.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think the US plays a large role in Haiti now? In 2004, when 
Aristide was ousted, he described to me, when we followed the delegation of 
Maxine Waters, the congress member from Los Angeles, and the founder of 
TransAfrica, Randall Robinson, when I followed them to the Central African 
Republic and they took the Aristides back to Jamaica, he described that it was 
the number two man in the US embassy who went and told him that he could die, 
thousands of Haitians could die, if he didn't leave. And then he was hustled 
onto this plane with US military and security and sent off to -- he didn't know 
where at the time, but it was the Central African Republic.

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] All those things were a way to have the monkey 
business go forward. In passing, I want to salute Maxine Waters and all the 
congressmen who fought for us a lot. President Aristide was a president elected 
constitutionally by the people. We can't say it was just the Americans who were 
responsible for Aristide being removed from Haiti. It was also the French who 
were involved, because we demanded restitution and reparations for slavery from 
France. This was the demand that really pushed them to kick Aristide out.

AMY GOODMAN: Your final statement to the American people?

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] I know that the American people are good people. 
The establishment shouldn't enter into things that don't concern them -- US 
establishment. They have to do things correctly, so people in the world will 
respect them the way they used to be respected. We say that the US people are 
good people, but the establishment, it is completely reactionary.

AMY GOODMAN: We're going to have to leave it there. So An, thank you very much 
for joining us in our studio.

ANNETTE AUGUSTE: [translated] And for me, to thank you, because you allow me to 
say a couple of words in America.

AMY GOODMAN: So An Auguste, very well-known in Haiti, throughout the world, 
Haitian folksinger and political activist, jailed for more than two years in 
Haiti, recently released.

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