#4450: Arthur comment on #4433: Reuters'ANALYSIS (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Charles Arthur <charlesarthur@hotmail.com>

In no way do I wish to belittle the use of violence, nor the murders that 
have taken place in Haiti recently, and please do not imagine that I am an 
apologist for Fanmi Lavalas' alleged involvement in this...
but, I feel it would be to everyone's advantage if what actually is 
happening in Haiti is reported more accurately, and in this context I was 
surprised to read in the recent Reuters'"ANALYSIS-Haiti stumbles through 
national elections" the following sentence:

"The run-up to the May election was marred by intimidation and
political violence in which more than 15 opposition candidates or party 
officials were killed."

Consulting the following sources: AP, Reuters, SICRAD, OAS EOM, and Amnesty 
International, I found these reported killings of opposition candidates or 
party officials in the period of mid-March to 21st May:

Banord Sanon, campaign director for his cousin, Louiseul Sanon,
Open the Gate (Parti Louvri Baryè) candidate for deputy for the
Barradères riding. Sanon was fatally shot as he was waiting for a taxi on 12 
May, in the area of Carrefour-Feuilles, Port-au-Prince.

Elam Senat, and his 23-year old son Edner, shot and killed by
unknown assailants shot on Sunday night, May 7, in the village of
Savanette northeast of the capital in Haiti's Center Department. Senat was a 
local leader for the opposition Espace de Concertation coalition party.

Merilus Deus, shot and hacked to death by unknown assailants in
Savanette in early April. Deus was a rural assembly candidate of the
Christian Movement for a New Haiti (Mochrena) party.

Légitime Athis, coordinator of the electoral campaign of the
Patriotic Movement for National Rescue (MPSN), and wife, were shot dead by 
unidentified assailants in the town of Petit-Goave in what their party 
leaders claimed were political killings.


This would seem to add up to a total of 4, plus 2 close relatives - neither 
4 nor 6 is the same number as 15.


For the record, there were other murders reported during this period, but 
the victims could not be interpreted as a opposition party officials. These 
killings included:

- May 6 shooting of former health minister and prominent physician Ary 
Bordes;
- early May murder of Père Lagneau Belot, priest of the Thomassique parish 
in the Plateau Central who was killed in Port-au-Prince. Père
Lagneau was also director of the Justice and Peace Commission human rights 
group;
- April 3 murder of Jean Dominique and his guard, Jean-Claude Louissaint at 
Radio Haiti Inter;
- end of March killings during riots in Port-au-Prince, including
4 people reportedly killed when the central market was burnt, and the slain 
gang leader, Jean Samedi, a former soldier, who was killed by
a machete blow.

The OAS also expressed its concern about the death in Grande Rivière du Nord 
on 29 March of OPL campaign coordinator Ferdinand Dorvil. The Mission was 
worried by a sudden death of this nature in the midst of an electoral 
campaign, but no subsequent information was forthcoming about the cause of 
his death.

Charles Arthur

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