Haitians confront new repression

Rosita Johnson

In the wake of the February 29 US-backed coup d'itat against 
Haiti's constitutionally elected President Jean-Bertrand 
Aristide, the Haitian people's living conditions and political 
freedoms have sharply deteriorated, eyewitnesses say.

Representatives of four delegations to Haiti held a press 
conference in the US on July 28 to inform the public of the 
situation there.

The current regime in Haiti, headed by businessman Gerard 
Latortue, was formed by an alliance of Aristide's non-elected 
political opposition and former right-wing Haitian Army officers 
and paramilitary death squads. These forces, in turn, have been 
backed by the US and French Governments.

US Attorney Tom Griffin travelled to Haiti with the National 
Lawyers Guild in late March and again in mid-April. He and his 
colleagues interviewed elected officials, members of the Fanmi 
Lavalas Party (Aristide's party), members of the opposition 
parties, police officers, and troops from the US, France, Canada 
and Chile. They also spoke with journalists, lawyers, trade 
unionists, community activists, religious leaders, former Haitian 
Army officers and ordinary Haitian citizens.

In addition to the capital, Port-au-Prince, they visited Les 
Cayes, Petit Goave, and Gran Goave, among other places.

Griffin said, "Overwhelming evidence shows that violence and 
threats are being directed at anyone who is or has been a 
supporter of President Aristide".

The delegation found that the interim government has failed to 
establish a credible judicial system and ignores the Haitian 
constitution.

Griffin described a visit to the morgue in Port-au-Prince. He and 
others interviewed the director and workers, who revealed that 
1000 bodies were brought there in March, ten times the normal 
amount. Many had been shot with their hands tied behind them and 
plastic bags over their heads.

The delegation interviewed two Haitian human rights groups, the 
Committee of Advocates for Respect of Individual Liberties 
(CARLI) and the National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR).

Both proved to be closely linked to the Latortue regime and both 
receive funding from US agencies and "private sources." CARLI 
furnishes a daily list of names of Lavalas Party supporters to be 
read on radio broadcasts as "human rights abusers", even though 
CARLI lawyers admit they had not investigated or spoken to the 
accused.

Interviews with community group leaders confirmed that Aristide 
supporters have been singled out to be murdered and their homes 
burned to the ground. Those not killed are in hiding and are 
pleading for protection or asylum in countries outside of Haiti. 
The 3600-member "multinational military force" patrols the slum 
area of Port-au-Prince, but does not protect Aristide supporters.

The panellists described the new economic hardships imposed on 
the Haitian people. All the government-sponsored food, shelter 
and literacy programs ended with the coup. Unemployment, a long-
term problem, has shot up to 70 percent. The average Haitian ate 
one meal per day before the coup, but now the prices of rice and 
other foods have doubled and most people, even those with jobs, 
are eating only about three times a week.

Dr Frantz Latour, director of the Haitian Community Center said, 
"Eighty-nine years ago today US Marines began a 19-year 
occupation of Haiti. But before leaving, the US created the 
Haitian Army to enforce US interests in Haiti. Today courageous 
citizens in Haiti, under the 33rd brutal coup, risk their lives 
to protest, and we will do the same."

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People's Weekly World