Worldwide protests: Haiti is not forgotten

Feb. 29, New York City.

While the Third International Day of Solidarity with the Haitian People Feb. 29 was indeed international—with at least 56 actions in 47 cities on four continents—the largest demonstration took place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, where 5,000 people came out to demand the return of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the end of the U.S.-U.N. occupation of Haiti, and the release of political prisoners still in jail even though they were imprisoned during the last coup against Aristide.

The National Cell for Reflection of the Lavalas Family Base Popular Organizations led the march, which began with a rally at St. Jean Bosco, the church where President Aristide used to preach. This grouping is a militant, activist section of Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas movement.

In Berkeley, Calif., the demonstration was held in front of a Marine recruiting station to point out the role the Marines played in the occupation of Haiti and the coups against Aristide.

In New York City, a group of protesters gathered in front of the Haitian Consulate and for the next four hours they pointed out to the passers-by on foot and on the buses that crowd Madison Ave. that the top Haitian diplomats in the United States were appointed because they supported the coup against Aristide.

The New York chapter of the Lavalas Family party, the Haiti Support Network (HSN) and KAKOLA, which organized the New York demonstration, said in a press release, “We are calling for the firing of all the putschists and Macoutes who still run Haiti’s consulates and embassies around the world.”

Ryan Mena, a young Dominican activist, said at the New York protest: “The liberation of Haiti would mean the liberation of my country, the Dominican Republic, since we share the island of Hispaniola. We must demand the end of the U.S.-U.N. occupation of Haiti.” Another speaker pointed out, “This demonstration and the 50 others throughout the world show that the struggles of the Haitian people have broad, worldwide support.”

Haiti’s president, Rene Preval, who has the authority to dismiss these diplomats and appoint new ones, saw his prime minister, Jacques Edouard Alexi, survive a vote of no confidence Feb. 29. While the parliamentarians express concern with the lack of progress in improving people’s living conditions—hunger, disease, unemployment and poverty are growing rapidly—they don’t appear willing to buck the U.S., Canadian and French imperialists strongly backing the Preval/Alexis team.

—Report and photo by G. Dunkel