NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6334

Text File | 1992-09-07 | 10.0 KB | 236 lines

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: HAITI: RESISTANCE AND DEMOCRACY Bulletin # 140
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: [e-mail]
Sender: [e-mail]
Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 03:39:57 GMT
Approved: [e-mail]
Lines: 220

/** reg.carib: 294.0 **/
** Topic: HAITI BULLETIN #140 **
** Written  9:33 am  Sep  5, 1992 by smalagodi in cdp:reg.carib **
HAITI: RESISTANCE AND DEMOCRACY
September 4, 1992       Bulletin # 140

Political Scene

Negotiations have started again: Francois Benoit meets
Father Antione Adrien at the OAS.

The first step in negotiations between the respective parties of
President Aristide and that of Marc Bazin began on Tuesday,
September 1 in Washington, in the presence of Mr. Baena
Soares, who initiated the meeting. A second meeting took
place the following day around 11 AM at the office of Baena
Soares. More than 7,000 Haitians demonstrated in front of the
OAS demanding the return to power of President Jean-
Bertrand Aristide.

The negotiations continued Thursday. Francois Benoit and
Antoine Adrien, who met for more than two hours at the OAS,
separated without making any statements to the press.
After the first session which took place on Tuesday,
September 1st at the OAS in Washington, Father Antoine
Adrien, representing President Aristide, made the following
statement:

"If the government led by the de-facto prime minister Marc
Bazin, if it has any kind of authority, then it must order all the
terrible repression that is devastating the country to stop."
This was Father Adrien's response to the declaration of
Bazin's representative Francois Benoit. According to a source
at the OAS, Benoit had let it be known that according to him,
President Aristide has legitimacy while Bazin has authority,
and that together they could arrive at a solution. [Radio Tropic
FM Sept, 2, 1992]

In a letter to the Secretary General of the OAS, Joao Clemente
Baena Soares, made public on Tuesday, September 1st in
Port-au-Prince, Marc Bazin said that a meeting between
himself and President Aristide was inevitable and that it was
the only means to find a peaceful solution to the Haitian crisis.
He also stated that the exploratory mission of his minister of
foreign affairs aims exclusively to prepare the date, location,
format and agenda of this meeting. In the same letter, Bazin
reiterated again the need to lift the embargo and other
economic sanctions against Haiti. [Radio Tropic FM Sept. 2,
1992]

An editorial in the government paper L'Union attacked the
recent OAS delegation, calling the OAS officials "racist, petty
colonizers who hate Black people." According to the editorial,
together with the armed forces of Haiti, "we said no to State
terrorism on September 30, 1991... These racists of the OAS
continue to hold us by the stomach."

The editorial continues to say that the OAS "is denying us the
right to refuse to be subjugated by popular democracy that was
installed in our country on February 7th 1991. ... Where then
do these racists want us to go? Don't they know that never
again will we agree to bend to their dictates." [Radio Metropole,
Sept. 3rd 1992]

Parliament

Two Senators denounce corruption of the de-facto government

On Wednesday, September 2nd, two Senators with data,
documents and papers as proof of their accusations
denounced secret transactions conducted from October 1991
to May 1992 where many millions of dollars were pocketed by
notorious contraband smugglers.

During this session, Senator Bernard Sansaricq presented
documents that proved his accusations that he made against
certain state officials, that 320,000 pounds of rice and beans
were spoiling at the customs house of Port-au-Prince.
Sansaricq said that 160,000 pounds of rice and 160,000
pounds of beans destined to be distributed in Cite Soleil have
been blocked at the customs of Port-au-Prince for two months.
This food aid comes from the international humanitarian
organization "World Food." He also accused the minister of
commerce of serving the interests of the monopolists who
oppose the lowering of the price of rice and beans on the
Haitian market [Radio Tropic FM, Sept. 3, 1992].

Human Rights

Gonaives

Arrest of Lucien Pardo and a French religious worker. On
Thursday, September 3rd, 1992 around 10:30 AM, Mr. Lucien
Pardo, a well-known person in Gonaives and the Artibonite
areas and a member of KONAKOM, was visiting Sister Ann
Camile Coyret of the Congregation of St. Joseph, where she
was in charge of a nutrition center. Sister Coyret is of French
nationality and has worked at the center for 10 years. As Mr.
Pardo was leaving, two military persons, one dressed in olive
green named Jacquelin Ebel and the other dressed in khaki
(whose name is unknown), intercepted and arrested Mr.
Pardo. They made him stand outside for about 1 hour in the
brutal sun. Then they went into the St. Joseph Center, which
is next to the archdiocese of Gonaives and searched the
premises without any judicial order. They found a young man
inside the center and they asked him to give details of the
meeting which had just taken place between Mr. Pardo and
Sister Coyret. The military later said there was no evidence
against them, and that the two could be released, which they
were.

It is important to note that this is the second arrest of Mr.
Pardo, the first being on April 8th, 1992.

Port-au-Prince

Arrest of three members of SAJ (Solidarity Among Youth).

Three members of SAJ, an organization of young
Catholics who are close to President Aristide were arrested
Tuesday, September 1st on Borgella Street, near the Post
Marchand neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.

They were Mrs. Yolette Etienne (33), Inelda Cesar (23) and
Jean Kedner Bazelais (33). They were arrested by ten armed
military personnel after a search conducted in the presence of
a justice in a pre-school called "Lekol Lakay" which is run by
the organization. Witnesses said that documents as well as
two conga drums were taken by the military. Houses in the
area of the pre-school were also searched.

According to residents of the neighborhood, the police
declared that they were looking for pictures of President
Aristide and anti-government leaflets.

According to Captain Joanis who was in charge of the
interrogation, the arrests were ordered by Major Michel
Francois.

These three people were released that same evening around
11:30 PM after many hours of detention at the offices of "anti-
gang" unit. They were ordered to return to the anti-gang unit
the next day.

In 1987, Mrs. Etienne was one of the seven young people who
took part in a hunger strike at the cathedral of Port-au-Prince
because they opposed the forced exile of Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, which had been ordered by Haitian church officials.

Canape-Vert

The decomposed body of a man, approximately 30 years old,
whose identity is not known, was discovered on the morning of
September 3rd. The body had evidence of bullet wounds and
was found in the area near the Canape-Vert Hospital.
Some witnesses who live in the neighborhood said that they
had heard automatic weapons fire the night before. [Radio
Tropic FM, September 3rd 1992]

Delmas

A welder known as "Mission" left his house 15 days ago to go
to work near Delmas 33. He never returned home. According
to his parents, Mission's wife lives in Petit-Goave. He went
every weekend to see her. Since they hadn't seen him for the
last two weeks, the parents thought he had been staying at his
wife's home. However, at the beginning of this week, they
received a small note from him through an ex-prisoner at the
military post of Cite Soleil. In the note, Mission explained that
he was in jail and he asked them to try to intercede with the
authorities to get him released. All inquiries that the parents
have made have not determined where he is being detained.

Provinces

Leogane: One death and seven arrests after a military operation.
Seven people were arrested, one person killed by
gunshot and a house with all its contents burned down on
Friday, August 28th during a military operation in the Long-Pre
area of Leogane.

According to witnesses, this operation came about after a
confrontation between some civilians and a member of the
military. The soldier called for the support of a military
detachment which arrived under the command of an army
officer called "Rache Pwel" (The Hair Puller), known as such
for his brutal behavior. According the same accounts, many
people were mistreated during this operation while many others
went into hiding. [AHP Sept. 1, 1992]

Repression in Ouanaminthe. According to a reporter for
Radio Tropic FM based in the North, many residents of
Ouanaminthe, including the teacher Lapierre Auguste, an
elderly former police agent of Dilere Maribou, a communal
section of Ouanaminthe, as well as members of peasant
organizations in the area were arrested by the military of
Ouanaminthe. The military accused the people of distributing
tracts favorable to President Aristide. The peasants are
detained at the military barracks at Ouanaminthe and there are
many doubts about their health.

Repression at La Montagne of Jean Rabel. On Sunday,
August 30th at La Montagne, 4th communal section of Jean
Rabel [site of the 1987 peasant massacre], the section chief
named Erilien Delien arrested many members of the
organization "Tet Kole" and beat them severely. Five of them
were able to run away and took refuge in Port-au-Prince. Since
he could not locate the escapees, he arrested Mrs. Sidolien,
the wife of one of those who were badly beaten.
According to a witness the section chief declared that,
concerning the negotiations in Washington "this is none of my
business. I have a job to do and I will do it."

###

These excerpts from "Resistance and Democracy" translated
and prepared in English by the South Florida Committee for
Democracy in Haiti.
This Bulletin depends entirely on you for distribution.
** End of text from cdp:reg.carib **