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VIA WORKERS WORLD NEWS SERVICE
REPRINTED FROM THE FEB.1, 1996
ISSUE OF WORKERS WORLD NEWSPAPER
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Peasants are seizing land. Workers are protesting against the high cost of living and the sharp increase in terror crimes committed by right-wing thugs.
This is the scene in Haiti as Lavalas President-elect Rene Preval prepares to take office Feb. 7. He will replace outgoing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
In December, Preval won 87.9 percent of the vote in a U.S.-backed race marked by a very low turnout. In fact, according to the Provisional Electoral Council, only 28 percent of the electorate voted.
Preval, who supports the International Monetary Fund's structural-adjustment plan for Haiti, has formally asked the United Nations to extend its military occupation of that country for another six months.
Haiti Info reported Jan. 13: "The UN said the Security Council will consider the request and then issue a new mandate. One reason is because the U.S. has announced it will not be part of the force, although it may maintain an `engineering' unit and `Rapid Response Force' if asked."
The U.S./UN occupation was supposed to make Haiti more "secure." Despite these promises, however, crimes committed by former Macoutes known as "zenglendos" have reached their highest point since the occupation started in September 1994.
"Every morning brings chilling stories of nighttime assaults on homes, merchants, motorists or strollers," the newspaper Haiti Progress reported in its Jan. 17-23 issue.
For example, the beginning of January saw the shooting of Lavalas parliamentary deputy Harry Marsan and the killing in broad daylight of moneychanger Jean Delince in Port-au- Prince.
Although it has proved itself useless in stopping crimes committed by the zengledos, the new Haitian police force has brutally attacked demonstrators protesting police ineffectiveness.
The police were handpicked and trained by U.S. forces. It is made up of many recycled Macoutes.
On Jan. 16 in Gonaives, residents confronted the police after Noles "Ti Siga" Louis, a lottery merchant, was shot. "The townspeople set up flaming barricades to protest the killing, which was coordinated," reported Haiti Progress. "They also denounced the lack of disarmament of the zengledos."
Only days before in the town of L'Estere, demonstrators had blocked the main highway. They were angry at not having the electricity needed to irrigate their fields.
Police fired at the crowd, killing 10-year-old Eva Pierre in her home. Three other peasants were wounded.
In the town of Milot, the police and U.S./UN forces clashed with peasants who had seized a state-owned tobacco plantation. "Numerous other land occupations are taking place every day throughout Haiti, particularly in the north, as peasants seek to cultivate any land that appears vacant or belongs to the states," Haiti Progress reported.
Cite Soleil exploded Jan. 16 after police attacked a crowd demanding jobs at the state-owned cement plant. Four people, including two police officers, were injured.
Angry unemployed workers seized a police truck and demanded a hearing from the government.
Gunfire then erupted between the police and some Cite Soleil youths. Those shooting at the police were reportedly part of a group called the "Red army."
The group's origins and composition are not known, but its members have clashed with the Cite Soleil police before. According to reports, one resident was killed and four police officers wounded in the battle.
Cite Soleil activists have also been protesting against government inaction on rebuilding homes lost during an arson fire set by FRAPH, the brutal paramilitary terrorist group backed by the CIA.
Anti-imperialist solidarity with the Haitian people will grow more crucial in the months ahead as the liberation struggle in that oppressed Caribbean nation becomes more organized.
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