•  HOME 
  •  ARCHIVES 
  •  BOOKS 
  •  PDF ARCHIVE 
  •  WWP 
  •  SUBSCRIBE 
  •  DONATE 
  •  MUNDOOBRERO.ORG
  • Loading


Follow workers.org on
Twitter Facebook iGoogle




Yvon Neptune declares: Liberty or death

Published May 12, 2005 3:53 PM

Since the February 2004 coup-napping of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, organized by the United States government, thousands of Haitians have said “Liberty or death” by going out to protest in the streets, facing down Haitian cops and U.S., French, Canadian and United Nations occupation forces.


Yvon Neptune

Hundreds have been killed in these protests. But still the Haitian people fill the streets, not only in Port-au-Prince but in other cities and towns like Lenbe, where a militant protest took place April 15. (Haïti-Progrès, April 27)

The protesters are demanding the “phy sical return of President Aristide,” as well as a return to the constitution and justice.

Yvon Neptune, Aristide’s prime minister, stayed in Haiti after the coup, during the transition to the regime of Gerard Latortue, the de facto, U.S.-approved, illegal prime minister.

His efforts at compromise were spur ned by the new regime. He was quickly thrown into prison on accusations of participating in a massacre which many believe never happened. He has not been formally charged with any crime.

Those who know Neptune describe him as careful, quiet and courteous. LeiLani Dowell, a FIST organizer who was part of a U.S. delegation that visited him last September in the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, says Neptune made it clear then that he would not let the new puppet government force him to leave the country.

Neptune has been on a hunger strike since mid-April. He is demanding to either be freed or be brought before a judge and charged, which under Haitian law should have happened within 48 hours of his detention 18 months ago.

He has put his life on the line, demanding liberty while accepting death. His lawyer and doctors who have examined him say he is in his last days. He won’t accept Latortue’s proposal of exile. Neptune intends to stay in Haiti.

Being a prisoner, he can’t go into the streets to protest. But the hunger strike of this internationally regarded Haitian has put tremendous pressure on the Latortue government and its masters in Wash ington.

Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who knows both Aristide and Neptune personally, has issued a strong statement in his support. Amnesty International, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and relig i ous leaders like Bishop Thomas Gumble ton and Haitian priest Father Gérard Jean-Juste have called for Neptune’s release or trial.

On May 4, Thierry Fagart, who heads the UN “peacekeeping” mission’s human rights division in Haiti, called Neptune’s treatment “illegal.” Luigi Einaudi, acting secretary general of the Organization of American States, warned that the case had “serious moral and political implications for the Haitian government and for the international community.”

“The international community is giving lip service to human rights, but at the same time they’re supporting a murderous regime,” commented Brian Concannon, director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

The Haitian people won their freedom and liberty from French slave masters 200 years ago under a flag bearing the slogan “Liberty or death.” The protesters in the streets and Neptune in his jail cell know this tradition and its consequences. For liberty, self-determination and social justice, they are willing to risk death and suffering.

They need and deserve the solidarity of the real world community.