Fact-finding delegation reports:
Worsening conditions plague coup-ravaged Haiti
By LeiLani Dowell
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
On May 18th, a 21-year-old truck driver was on a shopping
trip for his mother, when the bus he was on was stopped at a
police checkpoint in Portail St. Joseph in Haiti. Police let
all the women off the bus and arrested all the men, without
warrant and without charge.
The next day this man, who asked that his name not be
revealed, saw a judge, who sent him to see a prosecutor. The
prosecutor told him he would send his case to another judge to
decide whether to hold trial or release him. He has not heard
from anyone since, and as of Sept. 4 was still locked up in the
National Penitentiary at Port-au-Prince. He says he still
doesn't know why he's in prison.
This is just one of countless stories delegates on a
four-day fact-finding delegation in Haiti heard about the
deteriorating human rights situation in that country.
From Sept. 3-6, delegates from both coasts of the United
States met with political prisoners, internal exiles, women's
groups and labor leaders, who all told of a worsening of
conditions since the Feb. 29 U.S. "coup-knapping" of
democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
The Caribbean nation is now occupied by a United Nations
"peacekeeping" force dominated by the U.S. and France.
Josué Renaud of the New England Coalition for Human
Rights in Haiti, a member of the delegation, told Workers
World: "We are very concerned about the situation of these
political prisoners, including Sò Anne, Neptune and
Evert, arrested without warrants, under false charges. The
government needs to release them immediately."
Kim Ives of Haiti Progrès and the Haiti Support
Network said, "Our visit helped reveal the depth and breadth of
repression in Haiti today. The mainstream press, if they
mention Haiti's political prisoners at all, focus just on two:
constitutional Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and Lavalas activist
Sò Anne. Our delegation revealed that there are scores
of prisoners in the National Penitentiary alone, not to mention
the other prisons around the country.
"We also uncovered that the problem of internal exile is
much more prevalent than generally known. We learned that
violence ranging from targeted killings to government-incited
gang wars is driving thousands from their homes."
Also participating in the delegation were Haitian journalist
Robert Benjamin, Catholic activist Kathy Boylan, radio program
hosts Karine Jean-Pierre and Joseph Chery, former U.S. Attorney
General Ramsey Clark, Steel Workers Local 8751 President Steve
Gillis, filmmaker Katherine Kean, Haitian unionist Ray Laforest
and former U.S. Army Capt. Lawrence Rockwood.
Regime brings torture, prison, exile
According to the Office of International Lawyers in Haiti,
the period following the most recent coup has seen more
beatings inside and outside of the prisons, summary executions,
internal exiles and rapes--which according to one
representative is "an instrument of choice for the present
administration."
The past three weeks have seen an extreme intensification of
violence throughout Haiti, with most of the country living in
fear. Members of the Commission of New Victims 2004 told the
delegation that Evans Paul, leader of the Democratic
Convergence, an opposition group funded by the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID), is financing gang wars. In
the areas of Delmas 2 and Delmas 4, approximately 50 people
have been killed, with another 200 families forced into
hiding.
The delegation met with approximately 35 political
prisoners, including Annette "Sò Anne" Auguste,
well-known Haitian singer and Lavalas activist; Prime Minister
Yvon Neptune; and Minister of the Interior Jocelerme Evert.
While each prisoner's narrative varied, many shared similar
stories of being arrested without warrants, held for months
without any hearing, or of judges ordering release and the
order being ignored by prison officials.
Among those interviewed were union officials, former mayors,
civil engineers, and others. Many reported horrible conditions
in the prisons, with beatings, burnings, and rapes occurring in
some precincts. Several prisoners stated that U.S. officials
were present during their arrests. Most prisoners have some
affiliation with the Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas Party or live in
areas known to be Lavalas strongholds.
Almost all prisoners are asked for money to bribe their way
out of prison, to the tune of $5,000 and up. While many of
those arrested without warrants and without cause either refuse
the bribe or cannot afford it, the few true murderers that are
arrested easily bribe themselves out.
The delegation also met with representatives of the
Coordination of Women Victims in Haiti, a group that provides
what limited support it can to survivors of rape in the
country. They told the delegation that rapes have increased
since the coup, that women are now reluctant to seek justice in
fear of their lives, and those who do come forward find that
officials refuse to take action against the perpetrators.
Almost everyone the delegation visited noted that all these
violations are accompanied by further economic hardships on
those suffering them. Because of the repression and forced
exile, it is hard for many to find places to sleep, or to
secure money or food while on the run.
Many of the political prisoners interviewed said they were
the main wage earners in their families prior to their arrest.
Conversely, inside the prisons inmates are only fed once a
day--meaning prisoners must rely on now-exiled families to
provide food.
U.S. role exposed
The hand of the United States in the deteriorating situation
of the Haitian people was evident. Former U.S. Army Capt.
Lawrence Rockwood stated, "For me personally, the most
distressing information we received ... was the role played by
American officials. The allegations of the improper, if not
criminal, conduct of American officials include detainees being
transported and transferred in U.S. diplomatic vehicles, senior
American officials in Haitian jails directing activities, and
even the incarceration of four former [Haitian] government
officials on a maritime vessel for 20 days with the U.S. Coast
Guard playing a direct physical role."
Rockwood placed direct responsibility for the situation in
the hands of the U.S. government.
U.S.-funded "human-rights groups" were also found to be
contributors to the atrocities being committed through out
Haiti, with a biased approach that ignores or reacts weakly to
violations against Lavalas members and supporters--those most
affected. Many of the women's groups working in Haiti won't
service women associated with the Lavalas Party who have been
raped.
In addition, the delegation repeatedly heard testimony from
individuals stating that one of the most prominent groups--the
National Coalition for Haitian Rights--has actively accused
innocent people in the media, calling for their arrest, and
issued a distorted report regarding the "massacre" in St. Marc
that Prime Minister Neptune is accused of involvement in.
While their report stated that 50 people had been murdered
on Feb. 11, several other reports, including those of the
bourgeois press, stated that four or five bodies had been
found.
The complicity of U.S. corporations like Disney, Wal-Mart
and J.C. Penney, who have factories in Haiti, was also
discussed during the delegation.
A representative of the Office of International Lawyers
stated that "definitely one reason [for the struggle against
Aristide and Lavalas] was that Aristide raised the minimum wage
from about $1.00 to $2.40 a day... The new prime minister has
given corporations three years without taxes."
In addition, in the province of Ounaminthe, there are
reports of the military being used to repress workers' rights
at the Grupo M factory.
Clark: 'A new struggle'
During a news conference held by the delegation on Sept. 6,
Ramsey Clark said, "We've come back to see the most
sophisticated and violent effort to destroy the capacity of the
people to exercise their will to choose their own
leadership."
Clark discussed the current situation in the context of the
2004 bicentennial of the revolution against slavery, saying,
"Haiti was able to overcome the most powerful army at the time.
Freedom from slavery is the beginning of hope for all freedom,
but today a new struggle has evolved."
He described lists some 20 pages long shown to the
delegation by prisoners, naming Lavalas supporters to be
arrested or murdered. He said, "These are the same sort of
lists [previously] seen in Chile and other places."
One of the most inspirational visits the delegation had was
the meeting with Sò Anne.
Around midnight on May 10, U.S. Marines arrived at her
house, killed her two dogs, and handcuffed Sò Anne and
her six children, aged 5 to 12, putting bags over their heads
and leaving them on for two hours until they arrived at the
medical school they had taken over as headquarters.
She was later brought to the Petion ville prison, where she
remains and where the delegation met her. She has no hearing
date set for her trial. Around the time of her arrest,
activists in New York protested at the NCHR office there,
denouncing their silence regarding the arrest.
Sò Anne assured the delegation that she was "still
strong, and still fighting," and said that she's not scared to
die, because if she did, it would be for a good cause.
She lauded the upcoming Million Worker March in Washington,
D.C., on Oct. 17, as did the leader of the Con fed e ration of
Haitian Workers, who expressed interest in having a
simultaneous protest on that day. October 17 marks the
anniversary of the assassination of Haitian leader Jean Jacques
Dessalines in 1806.
Resistance to the fierce attack on the people continues, in
Haiti as well as the United States.
LeiLani Dowell, who represented the International
Action Center on the delegation, is running for Congress in
California's 8th Congressional District on the Peace and
Freedom Party ticket.
Reprinted from the Sept. 23, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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