[R-G] Fwd: [ezilidanto] Solèy di : Minista ban m peyi m | On Nov. 18, 2006 hundreds of thousands in Haiti demand departure of UN Troops | The UN Fails Haiti, Again | An Unsavory effort to discredit Haiti report| Police Chief, Michael Licius, accused of corruption, kidnappings and other crimes, resigns
aaron at istop.com
aaron at istop.com
Sat Nov 25 19:19:00 MST 2006
Forwarded From: "erzilidanto at yahoo.com" <erzilidanto at yahoo.com>
>
> Recommemded HLLN Link:
> 'If they shoot at us, they are doomed. If they don't shoot at us, they are
> doomed!' March, 2005 by Marguerite Laurent
> http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/doomed.html
>
>
> Coincidence or Intentional? - Is there an International plan to
depopulate
> and exterminate a large portion of Haiti's population?
> by Ezili Dantò, November 4, 2006
>
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/conspiracy.html#neocolon
>
>
> Expose the Lies
> http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/expose.html
>
>
> **********************in this post************************
>
> - Solèy di : Minista ban m peyi m by Berthony Dupont, Haiti Progres,
Nov. 21, 2008 (Kreyol)
>
> - Commémoration de Vertières : Cité Soleil dit à bas l’occupation by
Berthony Dupon, Haiti Proges, Nov. 21, 2006 (French)
>
>
> - An unsavory effort to discredit Haiti report by Tim Pelzer
>
>
> - Celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Vertières: diverse
sectors denounce the presence of a foreign force on the nation's soil,
November 20, 2006 (AHP)
>
>
> - The Clashes in Cité Soleil - The UN Fails Haiti, Again | Nov. 24. 2004
> http://www.counterpunch.org/ives11242006.html
>
>
> - Haitian police commander resigns after ignoring arrest warrant, AP
|International Herald Tribune| November 15, 2006
>
>
> ************************************************************
>
> Solèy di : Minista ban m peyi m by Berthony Dupont
>
> Haiti Progres, Nov. 21, 2006
>
>
> Vandredi 17 novanm lan, se pa t yon nouvèl mwen t ap tande, ni yon
jounal mwen t ap li, mwen te anndan Site Solèy nonsèlman pou m te
vizite katye popilè sa a men pou m te tou patisipe nan yon
manifestasyon ki ta pral fèt nan jounen an.
>
> Se lan yon machin jounal Ayiti Pwogrè ki make laprès nou te ye.
Depi nou parèt, kèk eklerè te fè n konnen Minista ap tire depi m maten
nan Site a. Nou kontinye antre, apèn nou rive bò mache a, efektivman
nou tande yon rafal bal ki pati epi se konsa nou wè plizyè cha Minista k
ap alevini epi k ap tire sou popilasyon an . Nou pa kontinye antre, nou fè
machin lan fè bak, epi n al kanpe anfas mache a, yon fason pou n te
kapab kontwole pi byen aksyon represif fòs okipasyon an t ap fè sou
malere ak malerez yo nan Site a.
>
> Manifestasyon an te sipoze kòmanse depi 10zè nan maten, li te onzè
pase moun yo potko kapab rasanble tèlman Minista t ap tire pasipala
sou yo. Yon fason pou anpeche yo sòti pou manifeste kòlè yo kont blan
yo.
>
> Imaj mwen te konstate nan moman sa a nan Site Solèy, se bagay yon
moun konn abitye wè nan televizyon, lè y ap montre w lagè nan peyi Irak
ak lè kolon Izrayelyen yo ap bonbade pèp Palestinyen yo, antre sou yo
ak gwo cha, kraze kay yo.epi tire sou yo. Se menm imaj sa a mwen t ap
viv nan Site Solèy. Gen yon momam menm, yon cha Minista vin kanpe
devan machin Ayiti Pwogrè a, epi san krent y ap simaye bal tankou
grenn lapli sou moun yo.
>
> Lè sa a, dlo koule nan je m, se pa paske mwen fèb, men mwen te
santi m lan yon sitiyasyon danjere epi mwen pat gen anyen lan men m,
mwen pat kab fè anyen pou m defann tèt mwen epitou patisipe djanm
nan rezistans lan ak popilasyon Site Solèy la. Represyon Minista ap fè
nan Site a fè m konprann byen, si yon moun ap viv nan kondisyon sa a,
nan lagè sa a, li oblije gen zam pou l defann tèt li, paske se yon veritab
lagè Minista deklare kont popilasyon Site Solèy la.
>
> Lan sans sa a, mwen vin konprann gouvènman Preval/Aleksi a tou pi
byen, ki wòl y ap jwe osèvis peyi enperyalis yo tankou Etazini, Lafrans ak
Kanada, lè y ap mande popilasyon Site Solèy la pou renmèt zam yo,
depi ou vle dezame yon moun oubyen yon pèp se paske li se lènmi ou.
>
> Men pawòl kèk militan nan Site a te pale ak nou: “ Nou te fè 2 lane ap
goumen ak yon pouvwa defakto (Latortue ak Boniface), kounyea nou eli
yon moun opouvwa, nou wont pou li, fòk Minista ale…”.
>
> Yon lòt te fè nou konnen “gen jèn pami nou la ki pa kapab menm ale
lekòl”li kontinye pale “mwen k ap pale ak ou, mwen se yon viktim
Minista, mwen genyen sè m ak frè m ki mouri anba bal Minista, se pou
sa m ap mande pou Minista ale, pou Minista bay pèp la mache piblik la
pou pèp la kapab defann manje pitit li”…
>
> Mache sa a, konpatriyòt la ap pale se yon bèl mache prezidan Aristid
te konstwi nan Site a, enben se limenm Minista pran fè baz li, epi yo
lage machann yo nan lari fatra a, e se youn nan revandikasyon pèp Site
Solèy la se pou Minista bay machann yo mache a, men deklarasyon yon
lòt konbatan nan Site a: jodi a pou mwenmenm se 17 novanm se yon
jou ki tèlman enpòtan pou mwenmenm patikilyèman ak pou tout
ayisyen san distenksyon, lè w ap pran egzanp jan zansèt nou yo te
goumen pou n te rive endepandan, se pa kounyea jodi 17 novanm lan
lavèy batay Vètyè, pou nou anvi fè yon manifestasyon pou n revandike
dwa nou, pou nou rele pou mekontantman nou, pou jan nou wè blan
yo ap maspinen nou. Yo touye, yo kraze, yo touye granmoun, yo touye
timoun, yo kraze lekòl, yo kraze lopital, yo kraze legliz…Y ap krazebrize
tout bagay …! Nou vin la pou n di moun sa yo ba nou teritwa nou, men
yo kanpe nan chak kafou nan Site Solèy ou jwenn 4 ou 5 chadegè y ap
tire pou yo fè jenosid sou nou. Nou menm nou prè oubyen yo elimine
nou nètalkole oubyen Janjak Desalin leve anpenpan, Kapwalamò leve,
Tousen Louvèti leve, lespri l sòti nan Fòdejou kote l ye a pou l retounen
an Ayiyi vin ede nou kontinye lit la afenke Peyi Dayiti soti nan sitiyasyon
sa a…Noumenm Ayisyen nou pa kapab ankò, swadizan y ap di nou
genyen desanzan endepandan, men nou pa lib ! nou pa endepandan!
Eske noumenm Ayisyen n ap kite blan yo antere nou? Jamè! Jamè! Nou
pap kapab kontinye konsa. Nou ta pito ale sou fòs Janjak Desalin nou
leve zonbi an, pran zo Desalin yo graje yo mete sou nou kòm parabal
pou nou goumen ak mechan sa yo, paske nou pap kapab kontinye
konsa ankò…
>
> Tout pandan kanmarad sa a t ap pale li te oblije rete tanzantan akòz
ba l Minista t ap tire bò kote nou te ye a. Gen yon malerez, yon machann
mabi ki te pran yon bal lan do l epi cha Minista a te pase kraze ti komès
li t ap fè nan mache. Selon say o te rapòte nou tou genyen yon timoun
lan Bwanèf ki te mouri jou vandredi maten an anba bal Minista.
>
> Li te vè midi konsa, lè manifestasyon an te finalman pran lari, nan
Solèy 17, moun yo te gen anpil pankat ak yon latriye bèl foto prezidan
Aristid. Yo te di grenadye alaso, yo monte pase devan baz Minista a nan
mache a, kote yo chante epi voye eslogan ak pawòl pimanbouk kont
Minista. Youn nan chante yo se: Vle pa vle fòk y ale! Vle pa vle fòk Minista
ale…! Pawòl sa a montre klè detèminasyon popilasyon Site Solèy la
pou yo dechouke Minista nan peyi a. Yo pa mande pou Minista ale
paske, li pa fè anyen tankou anpil lòt moun ap fè konprann, men rezon
pa yo prezans Minista se kontinyasyon koudeta 2004 la, prezans Minista
se sasinen Desalin yon lòt fwa ankò, plis represyon Minista ap fè sou
yo.
>
> Si nan peyi a gen lòt gwoup nou kapab site etidyan yo konsa, k t ap
mande Minista rache manyòk li, bay Ayiti blanch nan yon manifestasyon
yo te fè jou samdi 18 novanm lan; fòk nou siyale, yo pa sou menm
pozisyon ak konbatan Site Solèy yo. Etidyan yo, se yon fo nasyonalis ki
monte yo, nan yon entèvyou yo t ap bay radyo Melodi FM, lendi maten 20
novanm lan; yo te tou pwofite ap choute sou Aristid, komkwa Aristid t ap
fè represyon sou etidyan ak sou gwoup 184, Aristid t ap monte yon lame
bandi.
>
> Alòske pou moun Site Solèy yo aprè kesyon okipasyon an, lòt
revandikasyon ki enpòtan pou yo se retou prezidan Aristid,
revandikasyon sa a, yo pap negosye l ak kikeseswa, e ki korèk tou,
paske si Aristid pa tounen lan peyi a komsadwa se koudeta 2004 la k
ap kontinye. E si yo pa lage tout lòt prizonye politik yo se ankò politik
koudeta 2004 la k ap kontinye.
>
> Pou moun Site Solèy yo, kesyon retou Aristid la se yon kesyon ki chita
nan kad pou respekte yon prensip men tou anndan Site a, Aristid te
kòmanse ap kreye yon bann bagay esansyèl pou aleje soufrans mas
defavorize sa yo. Li te gentan bati kèk kay, li bati mache a ak yon plas
pou moun yo te pran ti detant yo, sitèn pou moun yo te jwenn dlo
elatriye. Se pa san rezon, malgre pwopagann boujwazi a kont Aristid li
toujou rete popilè lan mitan mas yo sitou moun Site Solèy yo
>
> Pou n fini n ap di sitiyasyon moun site Solèy yo mande pou tout
patriyòt konsekan reflechi sou li, gen anpil moun kit deyò ak anndan
peyi a ki ta renmen wè yon chanjman an Ayiti. Batay pou chanjman sa a,
li kòmanse nan Site a. Se kondisyon sosyal moun yo, ki lakòz se yo ki
premye viktim fòs okipasyon an. Se yo boujwazi malpouwont lan
bezwen detwi, se sa k fè moun sa yo, yo pa gen anyen pou yo pèdi si y
ap goumen pou peyi yo, okontrè y ap gen plis nan batay sa a, y ap
mennen menmjan ansyen esklav yo ki nan tan pa yo pat gen anyen tou
pou pèdi, sèl chans yo se te goumen pou yo sòti nan lesklavaj. E se sa
yo te fè kont lame dokipasyon fransè a, ki te vin ba nou libète ki fè jodi a,
nou kapab fyè rele tèt nou Ayisyen.
>
> Berthony Dupont
>
>
> **********************************************
> Commémoration de Vertières :
>
> Cité Soleil dit à bas l’occupation
>
>
>
> Le vendredi 17 novembre, j’étais présent à Cité Soleil non seulement
pour visiter la commune mais aussi pour participer à une manifestation
anti-occupation. Nous étions venus sur place à bord d’un véhicule de
Haïti-Progrès identifiée en tant que presse. Et dès notre arrivée nous
fûmes informé que depuis très tôt le matin, ce quartier populaire était la
proie de tirs de la part de la Minustah.
>
> Malgré ces avertissements, nous nous rendîmes du côté du
marché et là, après avoir été accueilli par une rafale d’arme
automatique, nous assistâmes à un défilé de chars de la Minustah qui
tiraient à bout portant. Nous fîmes marche arrière et nous nous
mettâmes afin de mieux contrôler la situation. C’est ainsi que j’ai pu voir
en direct l’action répressive de cette force d’occupation sur les
malheureux de la Cité Soleil.
>
> La manifestation était prévue pour 10 heures du matin, et il était
déjà onze heures et aucun rassemblement n’était possible suite à
l’action de la Minustah.
>
> Je ne peux m’empêcher de comparer cette situation que j’ai
vécu aux images télévisées des scènes de guerre en Irak ou mieux
encore les images d’agressions des colons Israéliens sur le peuple
Palestinien. A un moment de la durée l’un des chars vint se placer
directement devant le véhicule de Haïti-Progrès et arrosa d’une pluie de
balles tout ce qui bougeait.
>
> Je fus révolté, et des larmes ont coulé sur mes joues en
constatant mon impuissance face à ces abus révoltant et ceci m’aida
enfin à comprendre que les gens de Cité Soleil du fait qu’ils sont en
guerre déclarée avec la Minustah peuvent en aucun cas déposer et
remettre des armes. Situation oblige.
>
> Je compris, encore mieux, le rôle du gouvernement
Préval/Alexis au service des impérialistes comme les Etats-Unis, la
France et le Canada quand il demande à la population de Cité Soleil de
remettre les armes et de se laisser abattre sans résistance.
>
> «On a passé deux ans à combattre le pouvoir des de facto
(Latortue et Boniface). Aujourd’hui, nous avons élu quelqu’un au
pouvoir. Et nous avons vraiment honte de lui. La Minustah doit partir»
disait un manifestant.
>
> Un autre déclarait: «Il y a des jeunes parmi nous qui ne peuvent aller
à l’école. Moi qui vous parle, je suis une victime de la Minustah ; mon
frère et ma sœur ont été tué par les balles de la Minustah, c’est pour
cela que je demande leur départ et pour qu’elle puisse rendre aux
marchandes le marché occupé militairement».
>
> Le marché dont il parlait est celui qui fut construit par Jean Bertrand
Aristide à Cité Soleil et que maintenant les forces occupantes de l’Onu
utilisent en tant que base pour réprimer les gens du quartier.
>
> Un autre manifestant ne mâchait pas ces mots: «Aujourd’hui 17
novembre est un jour extrêmement important, pour moi
particulièrement, et pour tous les Haïtiens. Quand on se rappelle que
nos ancêtres se sont battus pour que nous soyons indépendants et
aujourd’hui pendant que nous manifestons pour revendiquer nos
droits, les blancs nous maltraitent. Ils tuent les vieillards, les enfants,
les femmes. Ils détruisent les écoles, les hôpitaux, les églises. Donc,
nous sommes là aujourd’hui afin qu’ils quittent le pays. Regardez, des
chars à chaque carrefour tirant partout. N’est-ce pas un génocide ?
Nous sommes prêts à mourir afin que le pays recouvre la liberté. Et
l’esprit de nos ancêtres viendront nous aider. On n’en peut plus. On
nous dit que nous sommes indépendant depuis deux cents ans. Mais
nous ne sommes pas libres, nous ne sommes pas indépendants…»
>
> Tout au long de cette interview, les rafales d’armes automatiques
crépitaient partout autour de nous provoquant l’arrêt de temps à autre
de notre interlocuteur. Je voyais venir vers nous une marchande atteinte
d’une balle au dos, après que son petit commerce eut été écrasé par
un des chars de la force d’occupation. On m’informait aussi qu’un
enfant avait reçu une balle dans le quartier de Bois-Neuf.
>
> Finalement, la manifestation a pu se mettre en branle vers midi (12
:00 pm). La population arborait de multiples pancartes et de belles et
grandes photos de l’ex-président Aristide et lançait des slogans
hostiles à la Minustah du genre : «Vle pa vle fòk li ale». En étant avec
eux, en participant avec les gens de Cité Soleil j’ai compris leur
détermination à chasser les occupants. Ils n’obéissent pas comme
certains à un réflexe d’inutilité de la Minustah, mais plutôt parce que
d’après eux la Minustah est la continuation de coup d’Etat de 2004, et
un remake de l’assassinat de Dessalines et aussi à cause de la
répression qu’ils subissent.
>
> Nous devons aussi signaler que d’autres groupes de gens ont
manifesté contre la Minustah, les étudiants ont eu le leur le 18
novembre. Mais ils ne sont pas sur la même longueur d’onde avec les
combattants de Cité Soleil. C’est une sorte de nationalisme au rabais
qu’ils projettent. Ce lundi 20 novembre 2006, sur les ondes de Mélodie
FM, ils ont profité pour attaquer Aristide parce que d’après eux il était
«répressif » face aux étudiants et le «Groupe des 184» d’André Apaid,
et qu’il montait une armée de bandits. On voit que ces étudiants sont
toujours sous l’obédience de la macouto-bourgeoisie.
>
> Mais, pour les habitants de Cité Soleil, à part leur lutte contre
l’occupation, ils exigent aussi le retour du président Aristide dans son
pays. Parce que s’il ne peut pas retourner au pays c’est la continuation
du coup d’Etat. De la même manière que si on ne libère pas les
prisonniers politiques c’est la politique des de facto qui continue à être
appliqué. Pour les habitants de Cité Soleil, le retour d’Aristide est une
question de principe. Malgré tout ce qu’on peut reprocher à ce dernier, il
essayait d’alléger la souffrance des démunis. Et c’est pourquoi, malgré
la propagande haineuse de la macouto-bourgeoisie et de la petite
bourgeoisie opportuniste à son endroit il reste toujours populaire
surtout à Cité Soleil.
>
> A propos de cette situation qui prévaut dans le pays, tout patriote
conséquent doit mûrement réfléchir. Les patriotes de l’intérieur et de
l’extérieur qui veulent voir un changement en Haïti doivent comprendre
ce qui se passe à Cité Soleil et pourquoi cette commune est devenu le
champ de bataille principale contre l’occupation avant que d’autres
points s’embrasent. C’est leur condition sociale qui est la principale
raison de leur combat et c’est pourquoi cette commune est la cible
préférée de la force d’occupation et de la classe dominante. Les
masses populaires ont le dos au mur, elles n’ont d’autres choix que de
se battre afin qu’elles puissent se libérer et accéder à un mieux être à
l’instar des esclaves de Saint Domingue.
>
>
>
> Berthony Dupont
>
> **********************************************
>
> An unsavory effort to discredit Haiti report
> By Tim Pelzer
>
> A London-based Haiti solidarity group with ties to shadowy
U.S./Canadian-backed nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that
participated in the campaign to destabilize the former center-left Haitian
government of President Jean-Bertrand
> Aristide is behind efforts to discredit a new report from the prestigious
British medical journal The Lancet.
>
> The Lancet study, “Human rights abuse and other criminal violations
in Port-au-Prince: a random survey of households,” written by Wayne
University of Social Work researchers Athena Kolbe and Royce Hutson,
was released in September. It reveals that 8,000 people were murdered
and 35,000 women raped in Port -au-Prince between Feb. 29, 2004,
and December 2005, the period immediately after the ouster of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Security forces belonging to the
U.S./Canadian/French imposed interim government as well as
anti-Lavalas gangs carried out a large share of these atrocities.
>
> Media coverage of the Lancet study began casting doubt on the validity
of the report. Charles Arthur of the London-based Haiti Support Group
was widely cited as claiming that the Lancet report is seriously marred
by bias because co-author Athena Kolbe had worked in an orphanage
set up by Aristide. She also worked as a journalist under the name Lyn
Duff, writing favorably of Aristide.
>
> Arthur maintains that Aristide supporters also raped and murdered
innocent people and that this is not reflected in the Lancet report. “I am
concerned The Lancet has unwittingly been used as part of the
pro-Aristide propaganda campaign,” he told the Toronto-based Globe
and Mail.
>
> According to sources who have requested anonymity, Arthur has been
pressuring the Lancet to re-evaluate the study, claiming that Kolbe used
fabricated data. Other U.S.- and Canadian-funded NGOs have also
complained to the Lancet.
>
> After weeks of pressure, Lancet editor Richard Horton asked Detroit’s
Wayne University to investigate whether a conflict of interest colored
Kolbe’s reporting.
>
> Arthur’s criticisms of the Lancet report, as well as his motivations,
must be viewed with suspicion. All other major human rights reports on
the period on Haiti, from Harvard and the University of Miami to the U.S.
National Lawyers Guild, support the Lancet study’s findings that Aristide
supporters were overwhelming the victims rather than the perpetrators
of human rights violations.
>
> When I asked Arthur about this via e-mail, he responded, “I am not
sure that the reports that you mention are entirely reliable (apart from
Amnesty) as they appear to see the undoubted violations committed by
agents of the interim government, former soldiers, right-wing gangs and
the Minustah (UN Stabilization Forces) but not the abuses committed by
FL [Fanmi Lavalas Party] supporters.” Instead he sent me extracts of
Amnesty International (AI) reports (October 8, 2004; July 28, 2005) that
make unsupported claims that gangs loyal to Aristide had killed many
people.
>
> Well after the coup against Aristide, human rights activists in Haiti
criticized Amnesty for not investigating and speaking out against the
repression carried out by the interim government and its allies.
>
> According to Marguerite Laurent of the New York-based Haitian
Lawyers Leadership Network, the organizations that Arthur promotes,
such as the Organization of People in Struggle (OPL), Platform to
Advocate for Alternative Development (PAPDA), Haitian Women’s
Solidarity Organization (SOFA) and Kayfanm “stood silent during the
horrific killings and illegal arrests of Lavalas supporters and rapes of
Haitian women and men after the 2004 coup d’etat.”
>
> “Arthur was losing his credibility,” she said. “This attack [against
Kolbe] puts his name back in the circle.”
>
> The groups that Arthur supports played a role in the
U.S./Canadian/French-led effort to destabilize and undermine the
elected Aristide government. OPL, PAPDA, SOFA and Kayfanm receive
funding from either the U.S. government-backed National Endowment
for Democracy, International Republican Institute, U.S. Agency for
> International Development (USAID) or the Canadian
government-backed Canadian International Development Agency.
>
> After U.S. Marines seized Aristide on Feb. 29, 2004, and flew him to
the Central African Republic, the interim government recruited heavily
from the U.S./Canadian-financed anti-Aristide opposition movement.
This included groups that Arthur supports. For instance, PAPDA leader
Yves Andre Wainwright became environment minister.
>
>
> Furthermore, the British-based organization Christian Aid provides
funding to Arthur’s Haiti Support Group. Christian Aid receives money
from the U.S. government through grants from USAID.
>
> Witnesses in London have also accused Arthur of distributing the
telephone numbers and home address of Kolbe, which resulted in
numerous death threats and two bomb scares that are under
investigation by US and British authorities.
>
> Arthur’s efforts to undermine the Lancet report deserves to be firmly
rejected.
>
>
>
> ********************************************************
>
> Celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Vertières: diverse
sectors denounce the presence of a foreign force on the nation's soil
>
> Port-au-Prince, November 20, 2006 (AHP); Haitian President René
Garcia Préval placed a wreath of flowers Saturday at the
Champ-de-Mars Square in Port-au-Prince to honor the memory of the
heroes of Vertières, in the presence of members of the diplomatic corps
and the government, including Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.
>
> November 18 marked the 203rd anniversary of the Battle of Vertières,
the last great battle of the indigenous army to liberate Haiti from
French-imposed slavery.
>
> Jacques Edouard Alexis highlighted to all Haitians on this occasion
what this battle represents symbolically for Haiti, that is, unity.
>
> He urged all sectors of national life to put aside their differences in
order to work together toward the establishment of a state truly
characterized by the rule of law.
>
> It is with bitterness, he observed, that we celebrate the 203rd
anniversary of the Battle of Vertières with the presence of a UN force on
our territory.
>
> He emphasized that the foreign forces did not come all by themselves.
We did everything possible, he said, to open the road to them. However,
he said, every effort must be made to rid the country of this occupation.
>
> The celebration of the 203rd anniversary of Vertières also prompted
demonstrations.
>
> Students from the School of Social Sciences called once more for the
departure of MINUSTAH, chanting slogans opposing their presence.
>
> Two of them were injured by gunshots fired by a security officer at a
private bank in the capital.
>
> This situation led them to chant slogans hostile to the wealthy classes
of the country. "The bourgeois shot at us; they should leave along with
MINUSTAH", shouted the students from the School of Social Sciences
who were allied through the anti-Aristide GNB campaign with the same
middle class they are now criticizing.
>
> The HPN agency reported that these students smashed the
windshields of several MINUSTAH vehicles and assaulted three
Philippine soldiers who were able to take refuge in one of the UN bases
in the center of the capital.
>
> Residents of the populist district of Cité Soleil also demonstrated
against the presence of the UN force which, they claimed, has seized all
of the funds that were supposedly disbursed on behalf of Haiti.
>
> They called for better living conditions and appealed to President
Rene Preval to focus on their situation.
>
> " President Préval is our president. It is we who enabled him to win.
He should not forget us merely to benefit those who opposed him in the
elections", said some of the protestors.
>
> In Cap-Haïtien, thousands of demonstrators also called for the
departure of the foreign troops.
>
> The protesters compared the presence of foreigners on Haitian soil to
a form of modern slavery.
>
> In Jacmel, a Te Deum mass was celebrated to commemorate the
203rd anniversary of the Battle of Vertières, in the presence of local
authorities.
>
> Father Rony Fabien, who led the mass, observed that despite this
battle, Haiti continues to live in slavery because it is occupied by foreign
soldiers.
>
> An evening discussion forum was also held with the participation of
politicians, social science professors and other city notables.
>
> In February 2004, when armed bands sowed death in most of the
country's big cities, looting and setting fire to police stations, President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide sought foreign aid to neutralize the attackers.
>
> This aid was refused. However, just several hours after President
Aristide's departure brought about under pressure from foreign quarters
in the morning of February 29, 2004, US Marines landed in Haiti and
were later replaced by a UN mission (MINUSTAH) that helped the
interim regime of Gérard Latortue stay in power for two years.
>
> AHP November 20, 2006 12:05 PM
>
> **********************************************
>
> November 24, 2006
> The Clashes in Cité Soleil
> The UN Fails Haiti, Again
>
> By KIM IVES
> http://www.counterpunch.org/ives11242006.html
>
> On Friday, November 18, 1803, the decisive battle of the Haitian
revolution was fought at Vertières, just outside the northern city of Cap
Français. There, General Jean-Jacques Dessalines led the
revolutionary army of former slaves to rout Napoleon's crack French
colonial legions.
>
> Two hundred and three years later, Haitians are again trying to drive
out foreign occupation troops, today mostly drawn from an assortment
of neo-colonies fighting under the United Nations' flag.
>
> On Friday, November 17, 2006, a major and symbolic confrontation of
this struggle unfolded in the dusty, bullet-riddled slum of Cité Soleil,
Port-au-Prince's largest.
>
> A demonstration commemorating the Battle of Vertières was planned
for 10 a.m. by Cité Soleil residents. But, beginning in the early morning
hours, troops of the U.N. Mission to Stabilize Haiti or MINUSTAH
surrounded the slum, peppering it with gunfire to intimidate the
demonstrators.
>
> "I arrived at the Cité Soleil market in a Haïti Progrès vehicle--clearly
marked as press--with three colleagues at about 10 a.m.," explained
Berthony Dupont who wrote a moving eye-witness account of the attack
in this week's edition of the newspaper, Haïti Progrès. "Immediately, we
heard bursts of automatic gunfire, and several U.N. armored vehicles
pulled in front of our car, shooting wildly into houses and alleys of the
slum. The residents responded with rocks and small-arms fire. The
scene reminded me of the televised reports I have seen from the war in
Iraq, or even more so, of Israeli attacks on the Palestinians in Gaza and
the West Bank."
>
> The U.N. tanks crashed through a marketplace, destroying small
merchants' stalls, Dupont said. He saw a bleeding, wounded market
woman whom a UN soldier had shot in the back. Residents told the
journalists that the UN troops had shot and killed a child in the
Bois-Neuf neighborhood several blocks away.
>
> "I found tears of anger and shame streaming down my face as I
impotently watched this scene unfold," Dupont said. "I understood then
and there that the people of Cité Soleil are in a state of war with the
MINUSTAH and cannot under any circumstances lay down their
weapons as the government and UN are asking. That would be
suicide."
>
> Despite the machine-gunfire coming from the U.N. tanks, the
journalists managed to weave their way into Cité Soleil and interview
some of the residents. "I've already lost a sister and a brother to the
MINUSTAH's bullets," a man in his twenties explained. "That's why I
want the MINUSTAH to leave Haiti immediately."
>
> Some 6,700 U.N. troops and 1,600 U.N. police are deployed
throughout Haiti under a Security Council mandate that lasts until
February 15, 2007. In June 2004, the MINUSTAH replaced the U.S.,
French and Canadian troops which invaded and occupied Haiti after
U.S. Special Forces soldiers kidnaped President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
from his home on February 29, 2004 and flew him into exile.
>
> President René Préval's government has invited the MINUSTAH to
stay in Haiti indefinitely, claiming the 5,300-member Haitian police force
cannot maintain order in Haiti. The U.S. Embassy is also pushing for a
long-term occupation, portraying Haiti as a state "at risk" of failure. But
many Haitians, particularly those in Cité Soleil, respond that the
MINUSTAH only creates instability and enforces injustice.
>
> "We spent two years fighting against the de facto government of
[Prime Minister Gérard] Latortue and [President Alexandre] Boniface,"
said a thin man in his thirties. "Now we have elected someone [Préval]
to power, but we are ashamed of his conduct."
>
> The MINUSTAH's base in Cité Soleil is a three-story cinder block
building whose doors and windows are completely filled with
sandbags. Soldiers dash from the hatches of UN tanks to the safety of
the base as if they are under attack rather than attacking.
>
> The base dominates Cité Soleil's principal market place, which has
been cleared of all commerce. It was renovated only three years ago by
President Aristide. One of the residents' principal demands is return of
the marketplace to the small merchants, who are now forced to hawk
amid the dust, garbage and exhaust fumes of the slum's roadsides.
>
> By around noon, skirmishing had died down enough that word went
out for the demonstration to start. Rara bands from three different
neighborhoods began playing and marching simultaneously. One
passed in front of the MINUSTAH base. Then all three converged with
over 1000 demonstrators to march through the streets of the
cordoned-off slum.
>
> "Today, on the eve of the anniversary of Vertières, we remember the
example of our ancestors who struggled for independence," said
Jean-Paul (whose last name is withheld for security reasons), a young
popular organization leader in Cité Soleil. "We want to demand our
rights, express our discontent with how the foreigners are abusing us.
They kill old people and children. They destroy homes, schools,
hospitals and churches. They destroy everything. We are demanding
that they return our territory to us."
>
> During the interview, automatic weapon fire from the five U.N. tanks in
the near-by intersection continued to crackle.
>
> "We are ready to die," Jean-Paul continued. "We call on Jean-Jacques
Dessalines to rise, Capois Lamort to rise, Toussaint Louverture to rise
from wherever they are to return to Haiti and help us continue this fight
so that Haiti can emerge from this situation. We are supposedly
independent, but we are not free! We are not independent! Can we
Haitians allow the foreigners to bury us? Never! Never!"
>
> As demonstrators poured into the streets for the demonstration, they
carried portraits of Aristide, still exiled in South Africa, and chanted
slogans: "No matter what, MINUSTAH must leave!"
>
> Other portraits seen on walls around Cité Soleil are of Emmanuel
"Dred" Wilmer, a local popular leader killed along with dozens of other
slum residents in a murderous MINUSTAH raid on July 6, 2005, and of
Che Guevara.
>
> Residents said that
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