Indicted death squad leader holds campaign meeting in Haiti  12/23/2009 Haiti Action: "Haitian activists in Port au Prince are accusing the Obama administration of turning a blind-eye to the political activities of alleged criminal bosses in Haiti while backing a ruling to exclude the widely popular Fanmi Lavalas party. The party of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, known as Fanmi Lavalas, was barred by current Haitian president Rene Preval's handpicked election council from participating in parliamentary elections scheduled for Feb. 2010. The accusations made against the Obama administration by community leaders in Haiti stems from a recent meeting of the Front for National Reconstruction (FRN) held at a hotel in downtown Port au Prince on Dec. 19. The FRN gathering of former paramilitary commanders who helped oust former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a bloody takeover in 2004 was officiated by their party leader Guy Philippe. He was indicted on Nov. 22, 2005 for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and money laundering. Lawyers contacted in Miami confirmed that the indictment is still open and that Philippe remains on a wanted list of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) of the United States."

Rep. Waters blasts Haiti's President, says upcoming election is a setback for democracy  12/23/2009 Haiti Action: "US Congresswoman Maxine Waters blasted Haiti President René Préval this morning in a letter condemning the recent decision of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) to exclude more than a dozen political parties from the Parliamentary elections scheduled for February and March 2010. Her letter criticizes the unconstitutional CEP — handpicked by Préval — and the violation of the right of Haitian citizens to vote in free and fair elections."

Haiti’s largest political party banned from election process  12/15/2009 Open Salon: "The last elections, in April/June of 2009, where the Fanmi Lavalas political party was excluded, saw a turnout of from 3% to 11% in Haiti, depending on who you talk to. Still, that the majority of Haitians are EXCLUDED from participating in elections is of no great concern to key stakeholders like UN Envoy Bill Clinton, George Soros, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama."

It's not All about That!: Wyclef Jean is fronting in Haiti  12/10/2009 Haiti Action Net: posted in 2004: "Wyclef Jean has entered the dismal political reality of Haiti, a direct result of Bush administration policy in overthrowing a democratically elected government, by echoing the U.S.-installed government's position recently that ousted president Jean-Bertrand-Aristide is responsible for the latest round of violence. Wyclef is quoted in Reuters, "Those guys really believe in Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They are not going to stop unless Aristide says the word". TRANSLATED: Aristide is behind the violence and all he has to do is give the word and the violence would end tomorrow."

TRAVESTY in Haiti : A true account of Christian missions, orphanages, fraud, food aid and drug trafficking  12/10/2009 Marguerite Laurent

AP misrepresents reality of Lavalas exclusion in Haiti elections  11/27/2009 Haiti Action: "AP falsely equivocates the disqualification of Preval's LESPWA party with the second banning of Lavalas from participation in the electoral process. They fail to provide any background or analysis of Preval withdrawing his support for LESPWA a month earlier and since sponsoring a new coalition called INITE. The new Preval-backed INITE coalition was on the accepted list of political parties and organizations allowed to participate in the next parliamentary elections scheduled for early 2010."

The Caribbean and Latin America at the Rendezvous of History  10/19/2009 Stabroek News: "The occupation of Haiti and the Bolivarian Alliance open a new window on to the historical landscape of the Caribbean and continental America. To understand the deeper significance of recent events we must go back 200 years, to early 19th century Haiti. In spring 1806 Francisco de Miranda – a man second in importance only to Símon Bolívar in the history of Latin American independence – arrived in Haiti, seeking support for an uprising against Spain. In Haiti he procured ships and found time to sketch the national flag of the future republic of Venezuela. The new flag was first hoisted in the Haitian city of Jacmel on March 12, 1806, a date still celebrated as “National Flag Day” in Venezuela."

SOROS Focuses on Security in Haiti's Cité Soleil Slum  8/21/2009 Haiti Action: "A recent piece written by Ruxandra Guidi for the Soros funded America's Quarterly clearly represents the perspective of MINUSTAH and USAID. It's bias is clear early on, "Shortly after Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in 2004 (under pressure from the U.S. and Canada due to a sharp rise in organized violence)." Only those who supported Aristide being taken out of his bed in the middle of the night and forced onto a plane and exile abroad continue to falsely repeat the unproven assertion of a "sharp rise in organized violence." It's a familiar narrative that is uncritically recycled and designed to justify the ouster of Haiti's democratically president on Feb. 29, 2004."

The Bwa Kay Iman uprising against slavery  8/11/2009 Jafrik Ayiti: "The following prayer has been attributed to Boukman officiating at the Bwa Kay Iman ceremony: "The god who created the earth; who created the sun that gives us light. The god who holds up the ocean; who makes the thunder roar. Our God who has ears to hear. You who are hidden in the clouds; who watch us from where you are. You see all that the white has made us suffer. The white man's god asks him to commit crimes. But the god within us wants to do good. Our god, who is so good, so just, He orders us to revenge our wrongs. It's He who will direct our arms and bring us the victory. It's He who will assist us. We all should throw away the image of the white men's god who is so pitiless. Listen to the voice for liberty that speaks in all our hearts."

Lavalas and Haiti's Student Union Unite  7/27/2009 Counterpunch

Second vote boycott in Haiti succeeds  6/24/2009 SF Bay View: "What if they held an election and nobody came? For Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), that is no longer a hypothetical question. It is exactly what happened on Sunday, June 21, when the CEP tried to hold run-offs for 12 of 30 Haitian Senate seats. Polling stations around Haiti had even fewer voters than they had on April 19, when Haitians massively boycotted the election’s first round by respecting the Lavalas Family party’s call for “Operation Closed Doors, Empty Streets.” The CEP had disqualified the party, Haiti’s largest, on arbitrary and unjustified technicalities (see Haïti Liberté, Vol. 2, No. 40, 4/22/2009). The CEP claimed there was 11 percent participation in the April 19 vote. Most Haitians scoff at that figure, estimating participation at closer to 1 percent."

Haiti’s voters support Lavalas, boycott election  6/22/2009 SF Bay View

A funeral and a boycott: ‘The struggle continues’ in Haiti  6/20/2009 SF Bay View: "The procession and demonstration were suddenly interrupted by gunfire that could be heard from around the corner. Witnesses report that Brazilian soldiers with the U.N. military mission opened fire after attempting to arrest one of the mourners. The U.N. has since denied the shooting and claims that the victim had been killed by either a rock thrown by the crowd or a blunt instrument. Eyewitnesses on the scene have countered that the U.N. is trying to cover up the affair as it promises to heighten tensions before Sunday’s elections."

Cynthia McKinney Reports From Haiti  4/22/2009 Pan-African News Wire

What is Canada Doing in Haiti?  4/20/2009 Global Research: "Two days after the coup, in an interview given to journalists Kevin Pina and Andrea Nicastro, Prime Minister Yvon Neptune declared: “The resignation of the President is not constitutional because he did that under duress and threat. The chief of the Supreme Court was brought here into my office by representatives of the international community. I was not invited or present when he was sworn in”.[28] In sharp contrast to the CIDA-funded reports produced by NCHR-Haiti, the above statement goes a long way to explain the true motivations behind the illegal incarceration and torment suffered by Haiti’s constitutional Prime Minister during the post-coup period when “Haitian” justice and prison systems effectively fell under Canadian control. While Mr. Neptune was being punished in jail for his refusal to condone the coup, Paul Martin went to Haiti in November 2004. This was the first ever official visit of a Canadian Prime Minister to Haiti. During his visit, Martin, who dubs himself a proud champion of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine, was quoted by Agence France Press as saying that “there are no political prisoners in Haiti.”[29] Haiti’s Prime Minister, Yvon Neptune, was eventually freed under René Préval’s presidency. His release occurred after all risk was effectively cleared that dozens of illegally incarcerated top leaders of Fanmi Lavalas would register and win the foreign controlled elections of 2006."

UN tells Aristide party to fight in Haiti election  3/14/2009 AP: "A U.N. Security Council delegation praised the party of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Saturday for fighting to overturn the disqualification of its Senate candidates, saying it could help avert a potentially dangerous crisis. Haiti's provisional electoral council has barred Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party from participating in next month's Senate elections for largely technical reasons, angering supporters who have threatened to sabotage the vote. Observers fear the council's decision could lead to violence."

Desire to reconnect rekindles Vodou among younger Haitian-Americans  2/6/2009 Sun Sentinel

Haiti policy statement for President Obama and Congress by Marguerite Laurent, Esq., president, Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network  1/27/2009 SF Bay View

What Is Washington's Role in Haiti's Food Crisis?  7/7/2008 Alternet

Haitian recipients of USAID/IRI/NED/EU to destabilize, starve democracy and foment violence and Coup D'etat, mostly under the guise of "democracy or justice and peace enhancement programs  6/1/2008 Marguerite Laurent: "The subcontracted Haitians below have sold the nation to foreigners and their NGOs in exchange for visas, jobs and a few "trickle down" dollars."

International coalition rallies for Haiti  4/25/2008 McClatchy: "Alarmed that Haiti's hard-won stability could be swept away by the food crisis, a broad coalition of international donors and countries is rallying to assist President René Préval with emergency grants and soft loans. On Thursday, an international delegation led by the head of the Organization of American States and top officials from the United States, Canada, the European Union, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina traveled to Haiti to meet with Préval, who is attempting to form a new government after his prime minister was forced out following riots over rising food prices."

A Policy of Heartlessness - Losing Haiti  4/17/2008 Counterpunch: "MINUSTAH, the UN mission in Haiti, was put in place to defend the U.S.-backed coup regime which ousted the democratically-elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. After the coup, thousands of pro-Aristide dissidents were killed, raped or forced into exile, thousands more jailed without charge. Last August, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon visited the sprawling seaside slum of Cite Soleil and boasted, "In an operation lasting six weeks, amid fierce firefights, UN forces took control of the slum." He told reporters, "I am convinced that Haiti is at a turning point. Long the poorest country in the western hemisphere, seemingly forever mired in political turmoil, it at long last has a golden chance to begin to rebuild itself. With the help of the international community - and the UN in particular - it can." Ban Ki Moon went on to warn against the UN leaving "too soon" and pushed for a renewed mandate for MINUSTAH. But Brazilian soldier Tailon Ruppenthal is less starry eyed about MINUSTAH. In a recent memoir of his tour of duty, Rupenthal writes, "After a few months even getting out of bed is hard. You remember that you will cross paths with all those people who are starving but there's nothing you can do." The Brazilian, who now suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome, concludes, "we are losing the real war: against poverty Only the fight against poverty will bring peace. When will they see that?"

Letter from Port-Au-Prince - The Food Riots in Haiti  4/16/2008 Counterpunch: "The American Embassy has been silent. The mass media has been talking about food riots around the world and saying thats what's going on in Haiti, but the reality is, though a Coup d'Etat has been avoided, the Alexis government has fallen. The Embassy doesn't always wish to understand Haiti. Its not their fault. You can't blame people for being incompetent, you can only blame their bosses for failing to identify their incompetence for whatever personal political agenda."

Is starvation contagious?  4/13/2008 Jamaica Observer: "Few people, much less their governments, appear to be concerned about what is happening in Haiti, next to Cuba our nearest neighbour and, in historical terms, the people who paved the way for our freedom from slavery and implemented for the first time anywhere in the world, the idea of universal human rights."

UN council deplores Haiti violence, calls for aid  4/8/2008 Reuters

Marguerite Laurent  3/20/2008 MargeriteLaurent.com: "...Members of the elite are now contemplating a sort of 'final solution' that amounts to little less than a strategy of open warfare - the use of foreign and domestic troops to kill off the poorest of the poor, pure and simple"

Alternatives International and the “Massacre” that Wasn’t North American and European Nonprofits Promote Elitist, Revisionist Vision of 2004 Haiti Coup Aftermath  2/29/2008 NarcoNews: "NGOs contributed greatly to the destabilization campaign prior to the coup, [1] leading to a human rights catastrophe in which thousands who supported Aristide’s deposed government and lived in Haiti’s poorest slums were murdered. It isn’t surprising that a report produced by Alternatives and FRIDE would depict the work of UN troops in Haiti as benevolent, but it is surprising that the report descended into flagrant bigotry and slander."

Damning the Flood: Haiti, Aristide, and the Politics of Containment - Peter Hallward Untangles the Truth About Haiti From a Web of Lies  2/19/2008 Global Research

Rally and rolling fast call for liberation of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine  12/26/2007 Amnesty International

Amnesty International breaks its silence: Issues statement on Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine  12/25/2007 NarcoNews: "Amnesty International finally broke its silence and released an official statement regarding leading human rights activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine who has been missing for four months in Haiti, and was the subject of Joe Emersberger's recent story here. "Human rights activists have been trying to convince them for months," Emersberger's fellow HaitiAnalysis researcher and publisher Jeb Sprague tells Narco News. "But now just a few days after the Narco News piece they actually finally do something.""

Haiti: Leading Human Rights Activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine Missing for Four Months  12/13/2007 NarcoNews: "A former member of Amnesty’s U.S. national board, Mike Levy, recently observed “I am disappointed that AI has failed to respond to Mr. Pierre-Antoine’s abduction. AI is clearly aware of his high profile as one of Haiti’s leading human rights activists and that he has received threats in the past in connection with his work.” An AI official in the USA told the website HaitiAnalysis that only Amnesty’s UK office can issue a statement of concern about Lovinsky Pierre Antoine’s case. In early November Amnesty’s UK office said it was considering making a public statement about Pierre Antoine’s disappearance but the group has yet to issue any public statement. Meanwhile, HRW, while having found time and energy over the past two years to defend Venezuelans from legal reprisals for participating in the coup d’état that briefly ousted their country’s elected president Hugo Chávez in April of 2002, has had nothing to say about the disappearance of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine."

Did He Jump or Was He Pushed? Aristide and the 2004 Coup in Haiti  12/7/2007 Haiti Analysis

With Help From Cuba, Haiti Tries A Switch To Compact Fluorescent Lights  11/28/2007 Haiti Analysis

An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, from Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President  11/11/2007 Randall Robinson: Robinson site has information about book tours, interviews, reviews. To obtain a copy of Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President see Amazon.com.

Report Back From Haiti: Building Democracy from the Grassroots  11/10/2007 Malcolm X Grassroots Movement: "This summer, members of the Haiti Action Committee, along with Dr. Akinyele Umoja of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, traveled to Haiti. We met with grassroots activists, political prisoners and human rights workers. We heard the continuing calls for the return of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. We saw close-up the resistance to the U.S./U.N. occupation."

New UN envoy sees long Haiti mission  11/9/2007 AP: "Hedi Annabi, in his first interview since assuming control of a 7,800-member U.N. force and hundreds of international staff in Haiti, told The Associated Press that the U.N. mission has made great strides, but will not seek to leave the volatile country anytime soon. "The security situation is extremely fragile. And if we were to downsize dramatically there would be a vacuum that would be immediately backfilled by the same people that were there when we got started," said Annabi, sitting in his office in the hills above Port-au-Prince. When asked how long that might take, Annabi said: "You don't create a security force, a police force, in two or three years. ... It takes 10, 15, 20 years.""

Sri Lankan peacekeepers in Haiti sex scandal  11/3/2007 afp: "More than 110 Sri Lankan peacekeepers serving with the UN mission in Haiti are to be sent back home over charges that they sexually exploited people, including minors, in the impoverished nation, the United Nations said on Friday. It was the latest in a series of such scandals to besmirch the world body. The accused from Sri Lanka’s 950-strong contingent in the UN mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) “will be repatriated on disciplinary grounds on Saturday,” UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said in a statement. Nick Birnback, a spokesman for the UN department of peacekeeping operations (DPKO), said 111 soldiers and three officers would be sent home, updating an earlier figure of 108 given by Montas… This was part of a “zero tolerance” policy regarding sexual misconduct, including a “non-fraternization” rule that bars UN peacekeepers from having sex with locals. The policy was adopted after revelations in December 2004 that peacekeepers in DRC were involved in the sexual abuse of 13-year-old girls in exchange for eggs, milk or cash sums as low as one dollar."

Disappearing Democracy in Haiti  11/1/2007 GNN: "Three years after their elected president Jean Bertrand Aristide, was overthrown by a band of U.S.-trained adventurers, Haitians continue to deal with the consequences. Violence persists, both within desperately impoverished communities and directed at those who resist the UN-supported government, with frequent raids being undertaken by UN forces on opposition strongholds like Port au Prince’s Cite Soleil. Thousands have died since Aristide was deposed, mostly under the two-year dictatorship of Gerard Latortue. A study published by The Lancet reported in 2006 that in the 22 months after Aristide’s removal, over 8,000 people died violently with over 35,000 women and girls being raped. The whole country was essentially raped, with the connivance of the UN mandated MINUSTAH security forces, leaving a trail of fear, resentment, psychological scars and, with the police now staffed by many ex-participants in the 1991 coup (which also targeted Aristide), a budding police state. It’s been quite an intervention, and it’s completely off the rails."

One Lavalas official freed in Haiti, second remains missing  10/31/2007 HIP: "An official with ousted president Jean Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas political movement was released this morning after being held for three days by unknown captors. Dr. Maryse Narcisse was taken at gunpoint on Saturday from in front of her home and was the second high-profile figure of the Lavalas movement abducted in the past three months. Mr. Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine was last seen on the evening of August 12 after meeting with a US human rights delegation visiting Haiti. He was abducted following his announcement of his intention to file as a Lavalas candidate in the next round of parliamentary elections in Haiti. He has not been heard from since."

Haiti: Abduction of Leaders of Largest Political Party Raise Fears  10/29/2007 Global Research: "An official with ousted president Jean Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas political movement was abducted at gunpoint Saturday, October 27, 2007. Dr. Maryse Narcisse acted as spokesperson for exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and belongs to the five-member Executive Committee for Fanmi Lavalas. She was taken at gunpoint in front of her home in the area of Petion-Ville in Haiti's capital early Saturday evening. Narcisse is the second high-profile figure of the Lavalas movement abducted in the past three months. Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine was last seen on the evening of Sunday, August 12, 2007 after meeting with a US human rights delegation visiting Haiti. He has not been heard from since. Mr. Pierre-Antoine was abducted shortly after he had announced his intention to file as a Lavalas candidate for the next round of parliamentary elections in Haiti."

Haiti: The Kidnapping of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide  10/23/2007 The Dominion: [scroll down the Dominion's page for text] "A key piece of evidence presented in the book is the statement Robinson took from Aristide's helicopter pilot, Frantz Gabriel, in 2005. Other than President Aristide, his wife, and Haitian security personnel at the President's home, Gabriel was the only eyewitness to Aristide's abduction on the morning of February 29th, 2004. Canada's ambassador to Haiti, Claude Boucher, has stated publicly that there was no coup d'état in Haiti and that the Haitian President left of his own accord. Colin Powell, who was US Secretary of State at the time of Aristide's removal, has made similar denials. According to the CBC, Powell called "allegations of a coup d'etat and kidnapping 'baseless and absurd,' saying Aristide asked for American assistance to leave Haiti." "He came back to us and said it was his decision, based on what the security people were also telling him about the deteriorating situation, that he should leave," Powell told the press." [Article contains extensive testimony from the pilot. To obtain a copy of Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President see Amazon.com.]

Randall Robinson on Haiti's Tortured Past, Troubling Present  10/18/2007 WaPo: "In his latest work, Robinson offers a passionate retelling of the history of Haiti and the circumstances surrounding the rise and fall of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Using history, eyewitness accounts and his own role as a monitor for parliamentary elections, Robinson has created a worthy account, in his trademark incensed style, of how American and European policies have harmed, rather than helped, Haiti… Haiti's successful slave revolt will always be an affront to Western countries, he believes, but should be an inspiration to Africans and African Americans. "Haitians have a culture that slaves once bled to defend. . . . For this, Haitians are reviled by a white world that the rest of us broken souls have long since succumbed to imitate," he writes. But Robinson is most appalled at the way Aristide and his wife (he resigned from the priesthood in 1994) were removed from the country in 2004. By far the most gripping and enlightening sections of the book are ones in which Robinson, relying on interviews with Aristide's helicopter pilot, Frantz Gabriel, describes how U.S. troops whisked Aristide out of the country. Gabriel arrived at the president's house at 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 29, after getting a call from security guard who sensed that something strange was happening and told him to come. When he got there, he found the president alone, but soon U.S. officials pulled into the driveway. One walked into the living room and told Aristide, "I'm the one that has to announce to you that you've got to go." The Aristides were driven to the airport in a convoy of 10 white Suburbans; they boarded a plane and, after some uncertainty as to where they would be taken, were flown to the Central African Republic. Robinson spoke to Aristide nearly daily after the forced exit and traveled to Africa along with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) to find out what had happened." To obtain a copy of Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President see Amazon.com

NED Publishes 2007 Grants and Experts Go Wild for US-Democracy  9/16/2007 Free Haiti

The power of history: Haiti by Mumia Abu-Jamal  8/29/2007 SF Bay View

MINUSTAH Hospitality  8/15/2007 Free Haiti: "Evel Fanfan (a committed and well known human rights organizer of AUMOHD who has been threatened on numerous occasions) was nearby. He observed that this was a common practice for the UN troops. MINUSTAH regularly harasses Haitian journalists and poor people, forcing them to allow a MINUSTAH soldier with a camera to take a close-up photo of their face, a form of data collection for UNOPS intelligence, he explained. Two young Haitian journalists from Cite Soleil told me that MINUSTAH tightly censors those journalists they allow into UN gatherings in Port-au-Prince."

Real reason for Haiti raid  7/29/2007 HIP: "There were new suggestions this week that a raid 10 days ago by Haiti's police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration may have been an attempt to silence one of the leaders of a 2004 coup that toppled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide - a coup many believe was orchestrated by the United States. Guy Philippe, the target of the raid, avoided capture and is now in hiding. He has since been heard on Haitian radio claiming his attempted arrest was for political reasons. Between his alleged drug affiliations and human rights abuses, Philippe has few friends in the government of current Haitian President Rene Preval or in the United States. But according to a report this week by Kevin Pina, writing for the Haiti Information Project, there may be another explanation for the DEA grab. According to Pina, on May 27, after the arrest of Wilfort Ferdinand, another coup participant, Philippe went on Haitian radio and "began to name names of business and political leaders who backed the paramilitary insurgency against Aristide's government by providing arms, ammunition and logistical support." "High on (Philippe's) list," Pina continued, "was Andy Apaid, the leader of the civil society organization called the Group 184." Seven weeks after Philippe's radio broadcast, the DEA went after him."

Real reason for Haiti raid  7/26/2007 Haiti Action: "Between his alleged drug affiliations and human rights abuses, Philippe has few friends in the government of current Haitian President Rene Preval or in the United States. But according to a report this week by Kevin Pina, writing for the Haiti Information Project, there may be another explanation for the DEA grab. According to Pina, on May 27, after the arrest of Wilfort Ferdinand, another coup participant, Philippe went on Haitian radio and "began to name names of business and political leaders who backed the paramilitary insurgency against Aristide's government by providing arms, ammunition and logistical support." "High on (Philippe's) list," Pina continued, "was Andy Apaid, the leader of the civil society organization called the Group 184." Seven weeks after Philippe's radio broadcast, the DEA went after him. In July 2004, Salon reported that Group 184, along with a group called the Democratic Convergence, was supported by the International Republican Institute, dominated by Bush loyalists and funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, the U.S. Agency for International Development and conservative groups."

MINUSTAH Intimidates Journalist on World Press Freedom Day  5/8/2007 Haitian Analysis

U.S. denies threat on Haitian aid, visas  12/8/2006 AP: "The U.S. Embassy on Friday denied that Haiti's government was threatened with the suspension of aid and travel visas if it tried to block the United States from deporting convicted Haitian criminals back to their homeland. U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Shaila B. Manyam told The Associated Press that Haitian officials were only informed that U.S. law allows the blocking of visas for officials from any country that refuses to accept its citizens after they have been convicted of crimes… In an appearance Thursday before the Haitian legislature, Alexis criticized the long-standing U.S. policy of deporting newly released Haitian convicts, blaming them for killings and kidnappings in the impoverished Caribbean nation. He also said the U.S. planned to increase the number of criminals deported back to Haiti each month from 25 to 100. Alexis told legislators he was warned that Haitians officials who don't cooperate risked a suspension in U.S. aid and loss of travel privileges to the United States."

Shots Fired at Anti - U.N. Rally in Haiti  11/18/2006 AP: "Gunfire rang out Saturday during a street protest by university students demanding the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers from Haiti, and witnesses said two demonstrators were wounded. About 100 protesters were marching through Port-au-Prince's downtown when gunfire erupted, scattering demonstrators. Witnesses said a security guard at a nearby bank fired the shots and was later arrested by police after protesters threatened to lynch him. It was not clear what prompted the shooting."

"You Are a Dog. You Should Die!" - Death Threats Against Lancet's Haiti Human Rights Investigator  9/16/2006 Counterpunch: "A Haitian resident of London, who wishes to remain anonymous due to the death threats, explains that on Sept. 2 Charles Arthur told her and several other people that "We need to find this woman?s phone number so people can contact her and complain to her directly." The following day a flyer emblazed with Kolbe's photo was released titled "Who is Athena Kolbe?" Respond to Fanmi Lavalas Propaganda!!!!" Another witness, wishing to go unnamed due to the fear of being targeted, explains that Arthur was responsible for distributing the fliers. The flyer's text is identical to portions of Arthur's letter to the Lancet, which he posted online. It ends by encouraging people to "ask her why she is hiding her affiliation with Fanmi Lavalas" and gives Kolbe's phone numbers, email address, home address, and the address and phone number of her family members. The calls began the next day, Kolbe explains, as she received over a dozen. One caller with a "clearly Haitian accent" called her a "Lavalas chimere" saying, "Do you know what we do to Lavalas chimere? You deserve to die painfully. We know where you are. We know who you are." In a later call she was threatened with rape, evisceration and death, said a police official. The harassment is being investigated by the FBI who have given the Wayne State University researchers "several options" to find the callers, says Hutson."

Former Haitian army colonel fatally shot  9/15/2006 AP: "PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A former army commander twice accused of plotting to overthrow Haiti's government was shot to death in an upscale suburb of the capital, police said Friday. Ex-Col. Guy Francois was killed Thursday night, said judiciary police chief Michael Lucius. Police have no motive or suspects in the killing. Francois's body was found slumped behind the wheel of his car in Petionville, a wealthy neighborhood in the hills overlooking Port-au-Prince, radio Kiskeya reported. Francois, who is the brother of Dr. M. Rony Francois, Florida's health secretary, was accused of helping plot a December 2001 attack that then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said was an attempted coup. Francois spent two years in prison for his alleged role despite maintaining his innocence."

Shocking Lancet Study: 8,000 Murders, 35,000 Rapes and Sexual Assaults in Haiti During U.S.-Backed Coup Regime After Aristide Ouster  8/31/2006 Democracy Now

Haitian Political Prisoner So Anne Released After Over 2 Years in Haitian Jail  8/15/2006 Democracy Now

Haitian terrorist arrested on Long Island  7/13/2006 WW4 Report

Seeking an "Even Playing Field": Washington and UN Work to Undermine Lavalas  4/13/2006 NarcoNews

The Puzzling Alliance of Chavannes Jean-Baptiste and Charles Henri Baker - Haitian Election Aftermath  3/2/2006 Counterpunch: "Imagine in U.S. politics if Cesar Chavez had suddenly endorsed and collaborated with George Wallace in his Presidential campaign, and the United Farm Workers had joined racist white plantation owners in their last-ditch effort to maintain total apartheid in the U.S. South. This is not an inappropriate comparison to the recent bizarre alliance in Haiti between Chavannes Jean-Baptiste's powerful and genuinely grassroots peasant organization, MPP (Papaye Peasant's Movement) and Charles Henri Baker, the elite owner of a Haitian garment industry sweatshop. Despite years of fighting U.S. economic polices toward Haiti, from the Creole Pig fiasco under the Duvaliers to the disastrous neoliberalism of the past decade, Chavannes and the MPP now uncritically support openly neo-liberalist and Duvalierist members of the tiny, mostly "blanc" (light-skinned, Francophone), Haitian elite, who are in turn supported by U.S. right-wing groups like the IRI (International Republican Institute), funded by USAID. Perhaps just as bizarre has been the continuing uncritical support (at least until now) by MPP's U.S. funder, Grassroots International. GI consistently takes a strong stand against what it calls the U.S. "death plan," structural adjustment and the whole World Bank neo-liberal program, yet remained silent for years after Chavannes and MPP became closely linked to precisely the U.S. "death plan" agenda, in their growing support for the successful overthrow of the Aristide government, and their close alliance with opposition groups with a neoliberal agenda and worse."

Averting Election Theft in Haiti By Rep. Maxine Waters,  2/17/2006 Alternet

En Haití desenmascaran a una reportera NED  2/16/2006 Jiribilla

Election Material Found in Haitian Dump  2/15/2006 AP: "Associated Press reporters saw hundreds of empty ballot boxes, at least one vote tally sheet and several empty bags — numbered and signed by the heads of polling stations — strewn across the fly-infested dump five miles north of Port-au-Prince. "That's extraordinary," U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst said. Catherine Sung, a U.N. electoral adviser who works at the main vote tabulation center, said the discovery of empty bags was troubling because they were not supposed to be thrown out. When shown photographs of the bags, Sung said three of them were the kind used to carry invalid and blank ballots."

Haiti: Chaos, Suppression and Fraud  2/15/2006 Counterpunch: "In a better world, Mr. Preval would be happy to go into a runoff with a 48.7% share, assured that he could attract 1.3% of the voters more easily than his opponent, Leslie Manigat, could attract 38%. Mr. Manigat might even save his country time and money by conceding an obviously futile contest. But this is Haiti, where electoral support does not always translate into political power. Mr. Preval and his supporters know that the vote only came close to 50% because the votes of Haiti’s poor- who overwhelmingly voted for Mr. Preval- had been systematically suppressed through a series of irregularities, from the voter registration last summer through election day. They draw a line from this vote suppression through questionable tabulation practices, and see it pointing towards a second round somehow stolen from them." [Some of the vote suppression tactics described in this article resemble those used in the USA.]

Declassified Documents: National Endowment for Democracy FY2005  2/15/2006 NarcoNews: Mostly on Haiti, but also Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, & Cuba.

Left, Right, Left, Right: Running off With Haiti's Democracy  2/15/2006 Zmag: "Further insight into the 'socialist coalition' is found in IRI reports from 2000 and 2001 for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), obtained through FOIA by journalist Jeremy Bigwood. These reports describe how prominent members of opposition parties OPL and KONAKOM, Irvelt Cherie and Victor Benoit respectively, attended meetings with the IRI and U.S. officials in Washington, along with other prominent Haitians including Rudy Boulos, a wealthy business elite who would later help found the Washington-based Haiti Democracy Project, an anti-Aristide lobby group and think tank, and the foreign public relations arm of the Group of 184 and Democratic Convergence opposition bloc. Interestingly, Boulos resigned from his seat on the Board of the HDP in order to run for Senate in the NorthEast department with the Fusion, the party which comprise part of the "socialist coalition" and "agreement for modernity and democracy" signed with Haiti's right-wing parties in November. We should also recall that another Haiti Democracy Project Board member, Timothy Carney, also resigned in order to take over as interim Ambassador to Haiti. Carney has long been a fierce defender of the IRI's activities in Haiti and an ally of Haiti's elite. It was while he was U.S. Ambassador to Haiti in 1998-99 under Clinton that the IRI was forced to shut down its operations there, and set up shop in the Dominican Republic under the leadership of IRI Program Officer Stanley Lucas. In a recent NYT article, the IRI and Stanley Lucas were singled out as, in effect, 'rogue elements' straying from an otherwise benign U.S. 'democracy promotion' program for Haiti. Nowhere in the extensive NYT piece, nor in the IRI-led propaganda melee that has ensued, is there mention of an across-the-board strategy coordinated by the State Department, the NED, USAID, among other foreign actors, to collectively foster the conditions for elite rule in Haiti in strict accordance with the dictates of neoliberal globalization. One example of the coordinated effort to help build and consolidate an opposition to Aristide and Lavalas came from a current program officer for the National Endowment for Democracy. I spoke to Fabiola Cordova in December, 2005. She had just recently taken over at the NED's Washington office after some staff turnover in the Latin American and Caribbean division. Her experience in Haiti came from a six month job as an in-country program officer for the National Democratic Institute (NDI), one of the four core grantees of the NED. With combined grants coming from NED, the State Department, and USAID, NDI's budget for "democracy promotion" is over $100 million a year."

Haiti's frontrunner rejects electoral results, calls for more protests  2/14/2006 AFP: "Massive protests two years ago turned into a popular uprising that forced Jean Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's last elected president, to flee. Haiti has been rocked by turmoil since, but the violence eased shortly before last week's elections." [The "massive protests" were hardly a popular uprising, organised as they were by the narco military and paramilitary working for the elite.]

Election Protests Mount In Haiti; Luxury Hotel Stormed  2/14/2006 All Headline News: "At least one supporter of Preval was killed. News service journalists saw the body of a man, wearing a blood-soaked T-shirt bearing an image of Preval, in the street in the Tabarre neighborhood. Witnesses say that U.N. peacekeepers opened fire on the crowd, but a U.N. spokesman denies the allegations. Witnesses say Jordanian U.N. peacekeepers opened fire, killing two and wounding four… Thousands of protesters stormed the Hotel Montana, where the country's election council had its press center, breaking through a gate and spilling into the luxury resort's garden, lobby and hallways. South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in Haiti for a previously scheduled visit, attempted to disperse the crowd from a balcony at the hotel, but many among the protesters had no idea who he was. "If you shoot at us, we're going to burn all this down,'' the crowd chanted as U.N. gunships hovered overhead. Many believed that members of the country's election council were staying at the hotel and demanded to speak to the council's director general, Jacques Bernard."

Allegations Cloud Haitian Vote Count  2/13/2006 Washington Post: "But allegations by a member of Haiti's electoral commission about vote-tampering roiled the capital of Port-au-Prince, where thousands protested outside the hotel where commission members have been releasing partial results since Thursday. Electoral commissioner Pierre Richard Duchemin, whose comments were broadcast widely on radio, accused the commission of manipulating the count and refusing to tell the public that Preval had 52 percent of the vote, enough to avert a runoff and take the presidency. "According to me, there's a certain level of manipulation," Duchemin told the Associated Press, adding that "there is an effort to stop people from asking questions" about the tabulation process. The slow pace of counting ballots has tipped what was seen as Haiti's most successful election ever -- a huge, peaceful turnout of voters despite a chaotic start to balloting -- into another volatile crisis. On Sunday, the crowd in the capital blocked streets leading to the Hotel Montana, making it nearly impossible for commission members to attend a news briefing. Preval, who lives in a small white stucco house on the town square here, a six-hour drive from the turmoil of the capital, remained confident that he was about to complete a remarkable political comeback after five years of retirement. But he was suspicious of the electoral commission. At one point, he stepped onto his porch, dancing across the tile floor and singing, " Yo vole vot nuo " -- in lyric Creole, "They're stealing our votes.""

AP Blog on Haiti Elections  2/12/2006 AP

America's Historic Debt to Haiti  2/10/2006 Consortium News: "Though the Haitian resistance had blunted Napoleon’s planned penetration of the American mainland, Jefferson reacted to the bloodshed by imposing a stiff economic embargo on the island nation. In 1806, Dessalines was brutally assassinated, touching off a cycle of political violence that would haunt Haiti for the next two centuries. By 1803, a frustrated Napoleon – denied his foothold in the New World – agreed to sell New Orleans and the Louisiana territories to Jefferson. Ironically, the Louisiana Purchase, which opened the heart of the present United States to American settlement, had been made possible despite Jefferson’s misguided collaboration with Napoleon. “By their long and bitter struggle for independence, St. Domingue’s blacks were instrumental in allowing the United States to more than double the size of its territory,” wrote Stanford University professor John Chester Miller in his book, The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery. But, Miller observed, “the decisive contribution made by the black freedom fighters … went almost unnoticed by the Jeffersonian administration.”"

Haiti's leading presidential candidates  2/7/2006 CNN

Haitian People Turn Out in Force for Democracy  2/7/2006 NarcoNews

Haiti Pre-Election Update  2/6/2006 NarcoNews: "In addition to its own violence and failing to control the violence of others, in addition to jailing a popular choice for president and hundreds of other political leaders (including the elected prime minister), the coup government further damaged the delayed elections by drastically reduceing the number of polling stations compared to previous years. Through it all, the leading candidate by far is a former President – the only one ever to serve a full term, from 1996 to 2001 – and Aristide ally, René Préval. The coup regime promises just over 800 polling stations in the nation of more than seven million. Haiti will have nearly 5,000 eligible voters per polling station, while India and at least some United States counties aim for under 1,000."

FOIAs Reveal IRI working with OPL to facilitate the creation of an anti-Lavalas socialist coalition. FOIAs also reveal USAID $3m program with UNOPS to "even the playing field".  2/5/2006 Free Haiti: "Recent FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests to USAID show that the International Republican Insitute (IRI) facilitated the creation of a socialist coalition between OPL, PANPRA, KONAKOM, and Ayiti Kapab. Research also shows that Marc Bazin's "moderate lavalas" candidacy has also been facilitated and supported by the IRI."

Haiti: Hopes for a Peaceful Alternative as the UN Plans to Invade Cité Soleil - An Interview with Frank Eaton, Filmmaker and Kidnapping Victim  1/26/2006 NarcoNews

Letter from a Haitian Prison By Fr. GERARD JEAN-JUSTE  1/24/2006 Counterpunch

U.S. Gvt. Channels Millions Through National Endowment for Democracy to Fund Anti-Lavalas Groups in Haiti  1/23/2006 Democracy Now: "The NED operates with an annual budget of $80 million dollars from U.S. Congress and the State Department. In Venezuela, it’s given money to several political opponents of President Hugo Chavez. With elections underway in Haiti, it’s reportedly doing the same to groups linked to the country’s tiny elite and former military. Last week Democracy Now! interviewed Anthony Fenton about NED’s activities in Haiti and across the Caribbean and Latin America. Fenton is an independent journalist and co-author of the book “Canada in Haiti: Waging War On The Poor Majority.” He has interviewed several top governmental and non-governmental officials dealing with Haiti as well as leading members of Haiti’s business community. Last month, he helped expose an NED-funded journalist who was filing stories for the Associated Press from Haiti. The Associated Press subsequently terminated its relationship with the journalist."

SA sniper in Haiti hit?  1/10/2006 News 24, South Africa: "The latest reports in the Dominican media questioned the feasibility of suicide as no bullet casing was found near the body. Reports in El Nacional newspaper said that Bacellar was sitting reading on his hotel-room balcony when he died. His book was in his lap. He would have been an easy target for a sniper."

Batay Ouvriye's Smoking Gun  1/10/2006 Znet: "Recently declassified National Endowment for Democracy (NED) documents reveal that a "leftist" workers' organization, Batay Ouvriye (BO), which promoted and called for the overthrow of the constitutionally elected government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was the targeted beneficiary of a US $99,965 NED grant routed through the AFL-CIO's American Center for International Solidarity (ACILS). Listed in NED's "Summary of Projects Approved in FY 2005" for Haiti, the grant states, "ACILS will work with the May 1st Union Federation- Batay Ouvriye [ESPM-BO] to train workers to organize and educate fellow workers."

Mystery Surrounds Death of U.N. Official in Haiti  1/9/2006 Ohmy News: "His body was found in his apartment in Port Au Prince, the Haitian capital, Jan. 7, with a gunshot wound to the head. According to Lieutenant-colonel Fernando da Cunha Matos of the Brazilian Forces in Haiti, Bacellar was the victim of an accident. International news agencies were reporting the next morning that Bacellar committed suicide, though he did not display any signs of depression during his last days."

Haiti: UN Commander dead in Haiti amid pressure from elite  1/8/2006 Haiti Action: "According to several sources in the Haitian press, Bacellar had participated in a tense meeting with the president of Haiti's Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Reginald Boulos, and Group 184 leader Andy Apaid the night before. Bacellar's death comes on the heels of Boulos's announcement of a nationwide general strike on Monday aimed at forcing the UN mission to get tough with bandits in Cite Soleil. The term "Bandits" is often seen as a code word for Lavalas supporters, and Cite Soleil has served as a launching site for massive demonstrations demanding the return of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Mario Andresol, the current Chief of Police, representing the US-installed government of Gerard Latortue, recently alleged that the community was also being used by Columbian drug traffickers and "certain political forces" to hide victims of a recent spate of kidnappings in the capital… Following the death of Lt. Gen. Bacellar, the U.N. named controversial Chilean Gen. Eduardo Aldunate Herman as the interim commander… On October 17th, the Chilean Government admitted that Gen. Eduardo Aldunate, second in command of its military forces in Haiti, was linked to the disbanded National Intelligence Central (CNI), oppressive military forces that operated under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). The charge was initially denied by the Minister of Defense and the Army Chief… he associations are made more grave in light comments by rebel leader turned Haitian Police force top, Guy Philippe, stating his admiration of the former dictator, adding, "Pinochet made Chile what it is.""

Heleno knew something his successor found out too late  1/8/2006 soc.culture.haiti: "January 5, in the midst of widespread rumours that Haiti's right wing elite will get its wish granted for a massive attack on Cité Soleil, a reliable source informs me that Cité Soleil have been declared off limits to journalists - something will come down this week-end. January 6 U.N. Security Council meets to discuss Haiti.... January 7 Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar is found dead at Hotel Montana. (According to several press reports, this death comes in the heal of a heated debate with Mr. Valdes, the Civilian head of the MINUSTAH, the night before)."

Gen Bacellars Reason For Suicide - Did The Greedy Vampires Kill The UN Commander?  1/7/2006 Haiti Elections Archives '05: The author of the first piece is Charles Henry Baker, a wealthy sweatshop owner and prominent member of the Group 184: "There is no suspicion of foul play in General Urano Texeira da Matta Bacellar's death, it is being investigated but people recognize it to be a suicide. As for why General Bacellar would committ suicide, the current theory is that he had ordered the kidnapping of an American citizen who was eventually freed after a ransom was paid, American authorithies while investigating caught and questioned the kidnappers who revealed that they were acting on orders of General Bacellar himself; realizing that the USA closing in on him, Bacellar committed suicide."

Haiti in the News
Archive: 1/06-12/09

Contacting AfroCubaWeb

Copyright © 1997 AfroCubaWeb, S.A.

	AfroCubaWeb

Haiti in the News Archive: 1/06-12/09

Contacting AfroCubaWeb

Copyright © 1997 AfroCubaWeb, S.A.

Haiti in the News
Archive: 1/06-12/09