As repression mounts in Haiti
Resistance & solidarity grow
By Pat Chin and G. Dunkel
New York
Activists from African American organizations, Venezuela's
Bolivarian Circles and their supporters picketed the Haitian
Consulate here Oct. 25 to demand an end to the bloody
imperialist occupation of Haiti and the return of exiled
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Endorsers of the "Emergency Rally in Support of the People
of Haiti" included the December 12 Movement; Patrice Lumumba
Coalition; Africans Helping Africans; People's Organization for
Pro gress; Black Telephone Workers for Justice; Roger
Toussaint, president of Transit Workers Local 100; Brenda
Stokely, president of AFSCME District Council 1707; the Africa
is Home Coalition; and the International Action Center.
White-House-backed repression in Haiti has expanded so
sharply that Hai tians weren't able to go out into the streets
for planned demonstrations the weekend of Oct. 16-17. But when
police and foreign occupation troops raided Bel Air and Martis
sant--poor neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince where support for
Aristide and his Fanmi Lavalas Party is strong--they were met
with gunfire and burning barricades.
Oct. 17 was the 198th anniversary of Jean-Jacques
Dessalines's assassination, and the 10th anniversary of
Aristide's return from the first U.S. coup against him in 1991.
The second putsch took place earlier this year, on Feb. 29,
when U.S. Marines kidnapped Aristide and flew him from the
country.
Haiti's Radio Metropole reported Oct. 18 that Aristide's
supporters had attempted to overrun the police station in
Martissant but were beaten back. One vehicle was set ablaze.
The resisters were reportedly from the Grand Ravine section of
Port-au-Prince. Heavy gunfire was heard throughout the weekend
around the capital.
Meanwhile, on Oct. 20, central Port-au-Prince and its
surroundings remained "the scene of burning roadblocks and
sporadic shooting...." There were "burning barricades across
Boulevard La Saline near the seafront and in Bel-Air, the
bastion of armed Aristide supporters. However, while traffic
was fluid in the commercial center, in Carrefour activities
were disrupted by an absence of public transport." (Haiti Press
Network)
The struggle continues
There's been an upsurge in resistance to the U.S.-installed
puppet regime headed by Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue
since the Sept. 30 police killing of two anti-coup protesters.
As a result, the de facto government is negotiating with the
U.S. State Department to purchase new weapons.
Any agreement will end a 13-year arms embargo Washington
instituted after the first coup against Aristide, which was
kept in place even after his return from exile.
The uprisings have also forced the International Monetary
Fund to cancel talks on loans to Haiti. And the United Nations
announced Oct. 21 that it will send 3,000 additional troops to
"stop violence" and prevent a flood of refugees.
(Bloomberg)
This will increase the Brazil-led UN force to 6,200 foreign
occupiers--whose goal is to crush Haiti's popular movement,
leaving the country open to unbridled capitalist
super-exploitation.
With protests growing in strength and militancy, Latortue
has accused South Africa--which has given Aristide and his
family refuge--of interfering in Haiti's internal affairs. But
President Thabo Mbeki sharply denied Latortue's charge that
Aristide is using South Africa as "a base to destabilize Haiti
by violent means." An official press statement also asserted
that "South Africa and President Mbeki cannot be taken as a
scapegoat for the failure of the de facto regime in Haiti to
restore peace and stability."
A huge contingent of flag-waving Haitians joined the Oct. 17
Million Worker March in Washington, D.C. Lavalas activist
Marlene Jean-Louis called for continued solidarity with Haiti
from the podium.
"More than 8,000 Haitian workers have lost their jobs since
Feb. 29 because of their political association," she told the
crowd. "The U.S. government along with the French and Canadian
governments have taken President Aristide out of Haiti because
they want to implement their own neoliberal plans in Haiti, and
also because Aristide is the first president in Haiti's history
to call for reparations for the Haitian people, the over $21
billion that France had forced us to pay in indemnities after
we won our independence.
"We will get it back. Even though Aristide is not in Haiti,
he is still the president of the people, and he is with us in
spirit, and we will continue to fight for his return."
On Oct. 18 there had been yet another protest at the Haitian
Consulate. Demonstrators demanded the release of the Rev.
Gerard Jean-Juste, who was brutally arrested in Haiti as he was
feeding hungry children, three of whom were reportedly shot.
Organized by the Committee Against Repression in Haiti, the
Haiti Support Network, Fanmi Lavalas (New York City), Haiti's
National Popular Party and Komite Chalo Jacklen, protesters
also called for an end to the occupation and bloody repression
of popular protest in Haiti.
Aftermath of floods
Four weeks after Tropical Storm Jeanne mercilessly lashed
northern Haiti, the streets of Gonaives are still filled with
water and mud. Most people there remain homeless. Food and
water distributions are sometimes canceled, and the number of
distribution points has been cut from four to two. Over 2,000
people were killed.
Latortue has done little or nothing to help the storm
victims. But he has vowed to crush Aristide's supporters, whom
he calls "terrorists."
His regime has arrested hundreds of people, including the
Rev. Jean-Juste, Gérard Gilles, Lavalas activist So
Anne, former Prime Minister Yvone Neptune and others. Many
people have been killed for being Aristide supporters.
The ex-soldiers and paramilitary death squad gangs the U.S.
trained, armed and bankrolled to overthrow Aristide have
proclaimed themselves as the Haitian army in small cities like
Petit-Goâve. (Washington Post, Oct. 15). They've sent
small detachments to Port-au-Prince to see if Latortue's White
House bosses will accept their reconstituting the army.
Given that body's murderous history, Latortue would no doubt
like to deploy a reconstituted army--the real
terrorists--against his opponents. But he and the Bush
administration have to worry about international reaction--and
opposition from the Haitian masses being propelled forward by
such a threat.
Haiti's bourgeoisie--who composed most of the "opposition"
to Aristide--locked out Haiti's work force on Oct. 15. The loss
of a day's pay was calculated to increase economic pressure and
stifle the people's will to fight back. But it failed.
The occupation regime has raised the price of basic
necessities. Yet only around 30 percent of the people work
steadily--and for a pittance.
They have shot people in the street during protests and in
the dead of night. But they haven't crushed the struggle to end
the occupation, free all political prisoners and obtain the
return of their democratically elected leader, President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
As the popular resistance continues to grow in Haiti, so too
does the solidarity movement in the United States. It's now
time to globalize the struggle.
Donations are needed to help the victims of Tropical Storm
Jeanne. Send checks payable to MUDHA or Haitian Women for
Haitian Refugees, 335 Maple Street, 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, NY
11225. For tax- deductible donations, make checks payable to
IFCO/MUDHA or IFCO/ HWHR. For more info, call (718)
735-4660.
Reprinted from the Nov. 4, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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