NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9835

Text File | 1993-01-07 | 4.3 KB | 103 lines

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From: [e-mail]  (Jon Harder)
Subject: CPT Action in Miami
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Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 22:43:55 GMT
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Information Bulletin
January 7, 1993

                   CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAMS
          INVITES PEOPLE TO FAST AT MIAMI DETENTION CENTER

               Note:  Kindly criculate the following
               information to churches, publications, and
               groups who may wish to organize local prayer
               and action initiatives.

More than 160 Haitians at Krome Detention Center near Miami
initiated a fast after the New Year 1993 to draw public
attention to their incarceration and the unwillingness of
the U S Immigration and Naturalization Service to grant
political asylum. A team of Christian Peacemakers is joining
the fast at the detention site, January 9 - 16 in response
to invitations from Haitians and Christians in the Miami
area.  The refugees are in the U S because of massive abuse
of human rights in Haiti.

In discussions with lawyers the 160 Haitians who are fasting
said that they will not end the protest until they receive
fair treatment.  Some of the strikers appear extremely weak
according to Cheryl Little a Maimi lawyer.  The Haitian
refugees complain that Cubans arrive in Miami fleeing
economic circumstances but are labeled political refugees.
Because of that the Cubans are protected and even treated as
heroes.

The team of Christian Peacemakers  will fast in support of
the Haitians at Krome Detention Center and provide volunteer
help for Haitian organizations and churches seeking to
address the unfair conditions.  Team members expect to
assist a campaign to increase media attention to Haitian
refugees.  The crisis of human abuse by the government in
Haiti is driving the refugees from their homeland.
Thousands have fled by boat.  Most  have been turned back at
sea by the U S Coast Guard.

Three thousand persons have died in Haiti in beatings and
summary executions since September 1991 when the military
seized power.  "This treatment of Haitian refugees is an
outrage", said  Hubert Brown, Hesston College, Hesston,
Kansas who recently returned from participating in a CPT
delegation to Haiti.

Elayne King, of the First Church of the Brethren in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania was a member of a recent CPT
delegation to Haiti. King, who will be joining the Maimi
CPT project  said the group expects to organize  daily
prayer meeting at the detention site. The first such meeting
is already being planned by area Mennonite and Brethren
churches for Sunday, January 10 Haitians have also requested
that the CPT Team provide help in organizing a
demonstration.

Congregations are encouraged to address the national
government through their legislators.  In the short term,
Haitian refugees on the high seas and in detention centers
deserve more human treatment. The Bible urges God's people
to open the land to sojourners. In the long term, the real
solution to the refugee question here lies in a restoration
of democracy in Haiti.

Our governments should be encouraged to bring the highest
level of diplomatic pressure  to focus on the Haitian
government.  Those efforts will be successful if they are
backed up by private groups and the prayers of committed
believers.  February 7 - 13 has been selected as Haiti
Solidarity Week,  an appropriate occasion for Haiti to
become a common focus in congregational life.

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a work of Mennonite and
Church of the Brethren congregations. Teams serve as a
presence and offer support and encouragement to people in
the struggle for justice.  For further information or to
participate contact CPT in Homestead, FL tel [phone] or
fax [phone] or at offices in Chicago and Minneapolis
(612-870-1501).


                   CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAMS
                        1821 w. Cullerton
                        Chicago, Il 60608
              tel. [phone] FAX [phone]