5923: Simidor responds to Yeghoyan, Archim & Kharshian (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: karioka9@cs.com

There is no proof one way or another, Yeghoyan and Archim would have us 
believe, so we can't really say who's responsible for what in Haiti today. 
Not so.  We're not discussing the existence of God here.  We're not talking 
about mega-questions like Aristide and drugs, or who's responsible for the 
insecurity.  There is tangible proof of Lavalas responsibility is specific 
acts of political violence.  I've already named two of them: the Nov. 2 
attack against the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP) in Hinche, and the 
assassination attempt against Herve Denis in Saint Louis du Sud.  There is 
also ample evidence that the paramilitary squad leader Ronald Cadavre is 
covered with impunity at the highest level of the Lavalas hierarchy.  

Aristide's silence often speaks louder than words.  As I wrote in a previous 
post, Aristide as a political leader has a moral responsibility to speak out 
against all acts of violence committed in his name.  This is not to say the 
man should spend all his time denouncing the Chimères.  But Ronald Cadavre's 
attempted murder of a police commissioner at a pro-Aristide rally in front of 
the CEP, and the attack against MPP, led by a recently "elected" Lavalas 
mayor, are two instances where Aristide's silence hangs in the air like a 
threat.  His refusal or inability to rein in his shock troops is a 
contributing factor to the present climate of violence and terror.  This is 
an observable fact, all sanctimonious pronouncements about living and working 
with the poor in Haiti to the contrary.

Daniel Simidor