Americas Watch Haiti April 28, 2005 Haiti urgent action: 5 protestors killed!
Rights Action re-circulates this information. The situation in Haiti continues to be awful. Courageous people and their organizations (some of which supported by Rights Action) in Haiti continue to work for human rights and a return to democracy, despite systemic repression committed by the current regime that is supported by the U.S.A., Canada, France, United Nations, etc. Please contact the groups referred to below, for more information. If you want on-off this elist: [EMAIL PROTECTED] IN THIS E-MAIL [distributed by the HLLN - Haitian Lawyers Leadership Haiti Resolution, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) ] 1. Note from Father Jean Juste on killing of 5 unarmed demonstrators calling for a return of President Aristide; 2. U.S. Congresswoman Waters demands that the Senate investigate weapons shipments to Haiti; 3. Prime Minister Yvon Neptune's Letter from Prison; 4. Letter Protesting Torture of Prime Minister Yvon Neptune; *** 1) FATHER JEAN JUSTE'S LETTER: Dear Friends, By 1:00 PM today, Wednesday April 27, 2005, Haitian Police have in cold blood shot on peaceful marchers, mostly President Aristide's supporters. The counting is still on. At least five young marchers have been shot dead in an area near Bourdon, East of Capital, Port-au-Prince. The wounded ones have not been counted yet. Some school children are wounded too. Please raise your voices against these acts of inhumanity. The march was organized by a group from Bel-Air. They were heading toward the headquarters of the MINUSTAH in Bourdon. The marchers were chanting: Aristide must come back; Freedom for the political prisoners; Democracy yes, Dictatorship no. Wait for more information later. There was absolutely no action from the peaceful marchers to provoke this massacre. OUR HUMAN RIGHTS SHOULD BE RESPECTED IN HAITI NOW. *** 2) PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release (323) 757-8900 April 27, 2005 CONGRESSWOMAN WATERS DEMANDS THAT THE SENATE INVESTIGATE ARMS SHIPMENTS TO HAITI UNDER THE TENURE OF JOHN BOLTON Washington, D.C. -- Today, Rep. Maxine Waters (CA-35) released a statement denouncing last year's shipment of thousands of weapons to Haiti by the U.S. Government, in violation of a 13-year-old arms embargo on Haiti, and demanding that the United States investigate why John Bolton allowed these weapons sales to occur while serving as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs. Her statement follows recent press reports that a State Department official admitted that the United States transported 2,657 weapons to Haiti last August to train and equip the Haitian National Police. These weapons included several M-14 rifles and sub-machine guns, as well as over 2000 revolvers and hundreds of pistols. The Congresswoman's statement follows: I am deeply disturbed to learn that, over the weekend, the U.S. State Department admitted that the United States shipped thousands of lethal weapons to Haiti last year, in violation of our government's 13-year-old embargo on arms shipments to Haiti and despite the dreadful human rights record of Haiti's unelected interim government. I call upon the United States Senate to investigate these arms shipments to Haiti, which occurred while John Bolton was serving as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs. It is critical that Senators determine why John Bolton allowed the arms embargo on Haiti to be violated before they vote on his nomination to the position of United States Ambassador to the United Nations. The arms embargo on Haiti was enforced throughout the administration of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically-elected President of Haiti. Because of the arms embargo, the democratically-elected government of Haiti could not purchase weapons from the United States to train and equip the Haitian police to carry out their law enforcement responsibilities. President Aristide was overthrown in a coup d'etat on February 29, 2004, by a group of heavily armed thugs and replaced by an illegitimate interim government that does not have the support of the Haitian people. Many of these thugs were former soldiers from the brutal Haitian army, which was disbanded ten years ago. Since the coup d'etat, violence and insecurity have escalated throughout Haiti. Groups of heavily-armed former soldiers roam Haiti freely, and the interim government has made no attempt to enforce the rule of law or disarm the former soldiers. The human rights record of the interim government of Haiti is horrendous. The Center for the Study of Human Rights at the University of Miami Law School reported that summary executions are a police tactic, and Amnesty International has expressed serious concerns about arbitrary arrests, ill-treatment in detention centers, and summary executions attributed to members of the Haitian National Police. Many of the thugs behind the coup d'etat have been incorporated into the police force, and it has been reported that some police officers funnel arms to paramilitary groups that are even more brutal. Given this record, it is highly likely that the weapons shipped to Haiti by the United States last August were used in the commission of human rights violations. Before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations votes on the nomination of John Bolton, the Committee must determine why he allowed the State Department to ship weapons to the illegitimate interim government of Haiti in violation of the arms embargo and despite evidence of serious human rights violations. *** 3) LETTER FROM YVON NEPTUNE: ENGLISH TRANSLATION [SERGE BELLEGARDE, GUY ANTOINE, MARILYN MASON]: [Marilyn Mason Note: Below is an English translation of former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune's recent letter from prison, after his transfer to the Pacot Annex on April 21st and after his harrowing, yet unfruitful, trip to St-Marc on April 22nd. It is followed by the Haitian Creole version, and then by URLs to photocopies of his handwritten letter. I would encourage you to distribute it broadly amongst your circle of contacts. Yvon Neptune merits our moral support and advocacy. Marilyn Mason, Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From the time I left the Prime Minister's residence on March 12, 2004, up until June 27, 2004, the source of my insecurity had been the Government itself. When the Government had me arrested on June 27, up until today, not only did this source of my insecurity increase and became more direct, but even worse, the Government deprived me of my freedom of movement, together with my freedom to speak freely, with all the length and breadth and depth that the Constitution allows for this right to be exercised. The hunger strike I began on February 20 was aimed at forcing the Government to set me free and to stop being the cause of my insecurity. Because of a promise the Government had made that it was going to liberate me, I accepted to put an end to my hunger strike and to go to the Argentine Hospital under the jurisdiction of the MINUSTAH/United Nations. Even while in that hospital, however, my insecurity continued because of the Government's continuing refusal to set me free. That is why, while I was in the Hospital managed by the Argentinians/MINUSTAH, I continued to resist so that the United Nations would not send me to the trap of the supposed Villa in Pacot, but rather, that it would require instead that the Government free me and stop threatening my life. It was in the context of the dilatory tactics of this wicked Government that I was obliged to resume my hunger strike with even more force and why I am continuing it in the prison in Pacot, still with the aim of regaining my freedom and my security. My friends, listen. On April 20, here is the information I had passed on: this plot aims at keeping me in prison by all means for as long as possible; that is one objective. The second objective is to take me, no matter what the conditions, to Saint-Marc to continue the political humiliation. Friends, listen: while I was already into the fifth day of my complete hunger strike, on Thursday afternoon, April 21, having given me guarantees that nothing would happen to me, the United Nations Forces took me, against my will, to a supposed Prison Villa in Pacot, close to the General Administration and Inspection Headquarters of the Police, despite the fact that I had explained to the UN Representative that this was a trap that the de facto Government had set up to implement the death plan it had for me. Above all, I told them that I would maintain my hunger strike in the supposed Prison Villa as long as I was not set free. My friends, on Friday April 22, early in the morning, a team of 7 to 10 executioners I recognized from the prison system burst in on me to take me to Saint-Marc. I felt my life was in danger in the presence of these executioners; I told them I had not eaten, nor drunk anything in five days, and I asked them to leave me in peace because I was weak. When they picked me up with force, put me outside, and tried to handcuff me, I resisted for my life and I bit one of the many arms trying to force handcuffs on my wrists. They drove me to Saint-Marc. I threw up all along the way. When we arrived in Saint-Marc, nothing was done. Supposedly, Mrs. Cluny Pierre Jules, the supposed Investigating Judge declared that she was not coming because she had not been previously notified. When the UN Representative received news of what the conditions were in Saint-Marc and of what kind of state I was in, he sent a helicopter to pick me up and take me back to Port-au-Prince, where I received some care in a UN ambulance which escorted me back to the supposed Prison Villa in Pacot. I am continuing my hunger strike, so that I can regain my freedom and my security and so that the de facto Government will stop threatening my life, while it continues to trample on my dignity. Yvon Neptune Former Prime Minister Member of Fanmi Lavalas Political Prisoner At the Prison in Pacot, Port-au-Prince URLs to photocopies of original (Kreyol) handwritten Yvon Neptune letter: 1) _http://haitiforever.com/neptune-letter-page1.jpg_ (http://haitiforever.com/neptune-letter-page1.jpg) 2) _http://haitiforever.com/neptune-letter-page2.jpg_ (http://haitiforever.com/neptune-letter-page2.jpg) *** 4) HLLN Note: Above, is a note from Father Jean-Juste on new killings by the U.S.- backed/ Canadian-trained Haitian police. Please raise your voices against not only the arming of this murderous regime in Haiti (see Congresswoman Waters press release); the current seige in Cite Soleil, where U.N. troops start shooting in the air while the populous was ASLEEP at 4 am in the morning, but continue to kill Haitians, force them to observe a curfew, identify themselves before entering their own homes and communities. Haiti is not at war with anyone. All Haitians did was vote and democratically elect a leader the U.S./Canada/France have a pathological hatred for. Please help us speak truth to power and demand that these powers stop criminalizing Haitians in order to summarily execute them in their own homes and communities. This U.N. sponsored bloodbath in Haiti must stop. Father Jean Juste is in grave danger of being assassinated by this death regime for his denouncing these killings. Please call on the U.S. government to stop this blood bath in Cite Soleil and elsewhere in Haiti and to protect the lives of Father Jean Juste, Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and other supporters of the rule of law and justice in Haiti. Also included in this e-mail [above] is a letter from Prime Minster Yvon Neptune about being beaten and abused in prison last Friday and a letter supporting Neptune that may be used as an example letter for those interested in denouncing Yvon Neptune's treatement/incarceration and to demand his and all political prisoners' immediate release. HLLN, April 27, 2005. ============================================================= Peace, No War War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate Not in our Name! And another world is possible! Information for antiwar movements, news across the World, please visit: http://www.PeaceNoWar.net Please Join PeaceNoWar Listserv, send e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit: http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/peacenowar Please Donate to Peace No War Network! 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