Cité Soleil, pro-Aristide forces under siege

Despite growing misery and hunger made worse by the deliberate actions of the current, illegal government in Haiti; despite summary executions by the Hai tian National Police (PNH) and United Nations occupation forces; despite the weapons the U.S. is shipping to the coup regime; despite the roundups aimed at removing the most militant supporters of deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from political activity—the people of Haiti have not wavered.

Aristide supporters in Port-au-Prince, April 30.

With each fresh outrage, Haitians grow more determined to end the occupation of their country. They want to be rid of the officials illegally installed after the U.S.-organized kidnapping of Aristide on Feb. 29, 2004, including de facto President Boniface Alexandre and Prime Minister Gerard Latortue. They want their constitution and their democratically-elected president restored.

Cité Soleil, a working-class area of Port-au-Prince and hotbed of Aristide support, has been isolated from the rest of Haiti since mid-April. Anyone entering or leaving is subjected to a body search by UN troops, backed up by the PNH.

The UN claims its aim is to thwart “bandits” in Cité Soleil. “Bandits” is the term the UN, the PNH and the U.S. now use to describe Aristide supporters.

Cité Soleil is often described as a poor neighborhood. But “neighborhood” hides the fact that 900,000 people live there—most in tiny, dilapidated houses in alleys so narrow that two people can’t walk side-by-side.

About 100 residents of Cité Soleil have been killed so far in this UN/PNH operation. The Associated Press reported that UN forces also killed five protesters outside their headquarters in Port-au-Prince April 27.

René Monplaisir, spokesperson for the Fanmi Lavalas party militants of Cité Soleil, said on April 15, “The UN soldiers, locked up in their armored tanks, shoot on all those who naively venture too close to their vehicles, regarding them as bandits.”

UN spokesperson Elouafi Boulbars warned residents to clear out of their homes. “I advise the inhabitants of Port-au-Prince and Cité Soleil in particular to move out of the hot zones during the exchanges of fire and to keep children from approaching these places. This will greatly facilitate our task.”

Bel Air is the other pro-Aristide stronghold in Port-au-Prince. On April 20, Bel Air residents decided to show their solidarity by breaking the blockade of Cité Soleil. About 10,000 gathered and marched through the capital, “escorted” by UN soldiers. When they got to Cité Soleil, the soldiers tried to break up the demonstration by firing into the air.

Many marchers didn’t flee. They kept bringing bags of food into Cité Soleil. One demonstrator said, “We are making this gesture of solidarity for our brothers and sisters in Cité Soleil who are undergoing such travails.”

U.S. lifts arms embargo

While the U.S. currently wants to operate in the background in Haiti, it has decided to lift the arms embargo it unilaterally imposed 13 years ago when Aristide won his first election, the Associated Press confirmed April 28.

Washington’s hand-picked puppet, Gerard Latortue, feels he doesn’t have enough firepower to handle the opposition from Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas, along with the challenges from the far-right Tonton Macoute death squads. The Macoutes want to reestablish the army and bring back the Duvalierist dictatorship that preceded Aristide’s first presidency.

Ginette Apollon, president of the National Commission of Women Work ers (CNFT), was arrested upon her return from the World Meeting in Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolu tion in Venezuela, along with her husband, Paul “Loulou” Chery, and brother-in-law Lamour Chery. Loulou is general coordinator of the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH), the largest trade union in Haiti.

Apollon was charged with bringing back money from Venezuela to finance violence in Haiti. When they searched Apollon and her luggage, police found just 350 Haitian gourds (about $13) and $23 U.S. dollars.

The three were released but their case remains open.