[News] Ron Daniel's Haiti cruise must disassociate with coup

[News at freedomarchives.org]

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:***
Statement Regarding Ron Daniel's cruising into Haiti

Urgent Action Requested
August 4, 2004

***
Ron Daniel's cruise must dissociate with Coup D'etat initiators and 
implementers, starting with Frandley Denis Julien
and the morally repugnant Group 184 business elites and their death squad 
supporters

Dear Friends,

Haitian pro-democracy activists hereby denounce Ron Daniel's apparent close 
association with those who supported the violent and illegal overthrow
of the Constitutional Government of Haiti. We urge Ron Daniel's cruise 
endorsers, organizers, funders and participants to  dissociate with Coup
initiators, implementers and supporters, starting with taking Frandley 
Denis Julien, Ron Daniel's cruise spokesperson in the North of Haiti, off the
cruise organizers' payroll. It is imperative that a public statement be 
issued, by cruise organizers, concerning this and clearly and unequivocally 
stating
that Haiti Support Project's "Cruising Into Haiti" is not only not an 
endorsement or recognition of the illegitimate Latortue government but cruise
organizers publicly disavow the February 29, 2004 Coup d'etat and are 
calling for an end to the widespread repression of the People of Haiti and the
occupation of Haiti by supporters of the Coup d'etat.

Decent folks worldwide who strongly support Haiti and its people's free 
expression and universally acknowledged democratic processes and principles
cannot simply ignore the ground situation in Haiti today and the lack of 
participation, on the part of the Haitian masses, in their own country's 
affairs,
including with Ron Daniel's "Cruising into Haiti" when it arrives in Haiti.

We therefore suggest a press conference with about five or six or more of 
the big name endorsers of the cruise ( such as, Rep. Conyers, Danny Glover,
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Suzan Taylor, Don Rojas of WBAI, Rev. Al Sharpton, 
former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, Katherine Dunham, Harry
Belafonte and/or Sonia Sanchez and other prominent leaders and 
personalities) be immediately convened, declaring that they are no longer 
going and
disassociating their names with the project because it cannot go into Haiti 
without dealing directly and being received by the illegal, U.S--installed
Latortue government whose on-going repression against the masses of Haitian 
people is well documented in recent human rights reports, just released
in July, 2004 by Amnesty International, Institute for Justice Democracy in 
Haiti, Haiti Information Project, the Haiti Accompaniment Project and
others.

All these reports should forthwith be made available to the press and 
cruise participants and endorsers who decide to continue with the cruise.

At the very least, these human rights reports, a method for including the 
participation of the average Haitian person in Haiti and a media advisory 
stating
dissociation with the bloody Coup implementers must be issued well before 
the cruise departs (August 14, 2004) by cruise organizers and endorsers. The
cruise is scheduled to arrive in Haiti August 19, 2004 aboard Royal 
Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas.
See: 
<http://www.cruisingintohistory.org/pressroom.htm>http://www.cruisingintohistory.org/pressroom.htm 
)

Cruise organizers must publicly disavow the February 29, 2004 Coup d'etat 
and call for an end to the widespread repression of the people of Haiti and
Haiti's occupation. That's the only way a cruise honoring Haiti's 
Revolution could makes any sense right now on the eve of Bwa Kayiman, 2004.

We urge everyone concerned about protecting and saving the life of the 
average Haitian person in Haiti this August, 2004 to call, write, fax Ron 
Daniels at
the Haiti Support Project (877-424-8404 phone. email: 
info at cruisingintohistory.org) or, at the Center For Constitutional Rights 
in New York (212-243-3805
phone, 212 243 2007 fax); Congressman John Conyers, Jr (202 225 5126 phone, 
202 225 0072 fax. e-mail: John.Conyers at mail.house.gov); Mr. Don Rojas of
WBAI (212-209-2800 phone, e-mail - drojas at wbai.org) and any of the cruise 
endorsers mentioned above, urging them and cruise organizers to denounce 
the Coup
d'etat, unequivocally support Haiti's resistance to tyranny and dissociate 
with Coup d'etat supporters such as Group 184, the Latortue regime, Guy 
Philippe
and his death squad members and all those responsible for the violent 
overthrow of the Constitutional government of Haiti and for the current 
repression of
the Haitian masses as evidenced in the aboved-referenced July 2004 human 
rights reports.

Marguerite Laurent, Esq.
Founder/Chair
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
August 4, 2004
Erzilidanto at aol.com
Website: Margueritelaurent.com

BACKGROUND INFORMATION and THE ROLE OF GROUP 184 IN THE RON
DANIEL's CRUISING INTO HISTORY: -

A July 21st, 2004 post by Frandley Denis Julien with reference to the 
"position" of the Ron Daniel's cruise participants and endorsersIn the post 
below,
Frandley Denis Julien, head of Group 184 in the North of Haiti, and the 
spokesperson for Ron Daniel's "Cruising into History", is describing the 
"purpose" and/or
"position" of the Ron Daniel's cruise!

Not good.

It is a celebration, Coup-supporter Denis Julien maintains, of Haiti's 
independence.

Mr. Frandley Denis Julien states, and we quote, in the original French, " 
Cruising into history » vise un double objectif, a ponctué Denis Julien. 
Premièrement, il
constitue un témoignage de la solidarité existant dans la communauté noire 
qui ne saurait rester indifférente aux 200 ans d'indépendance de la 
première république noire.
D'autre part, cette croisière sera une bonne occasion de vendre une image 
positive d'Haïti pour attirer les touristes. La chaîne américaine BET 
accompagnera les artistes
noir-américains qui feront le déplacement. " (See, 
<http://news.caribseek.com/Haiti/Haiti_Press_Network/article_274.shtml>http://news.caribseek.com/Haiti/Haiti_Press_Network/article_274.shtml 
)

Brief English translation of above: According to Frandley Denis Julien: 
Cruising into Haiti has two objectives. First, it testify to the solidarity 
that exists between the
Black community that won't remain indifferent to the 200 years of 
independence of the First Black Republic. And, secondly, this cruise will 
be a good occasion to sell
a positive image of Haiti to attract tourists! BET, the Black American TV 
network will accompany the African-Americans coming on the cruise."
(See, 
<http://news.caribseek.com/Haiti/Haiti_Press_Network/article_274.shtml>http://news.caribseek.com/Haiti/Haiti_Press_Network/article_274.shtml 
)

Fact is, today, the people of Haiti, are not free. The people of Haiti are 
being terrorized under an installed, imported U.S.-supported dictatorship 
that came to power
through force and in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Constitutional 
government. What sort of macabre "tourist" attraction is this that Ron 
Daniel's Cruising-into-
History would be promoting? At whose expense?

This appalling message Mr. Frandley Denis Julien delivers, on behalf of Ron 
Daniels' Cruising-Into-History, appears to implicate the African-American 
celebrities in a
blatant lie and dangerous propaganda.

Caricom, the African Union, Venezuela, the Congressional Black Caucus, all, 
have publicly DENOUNCED and refused to recognized the Latortue regime 
and/or ignore,
or endorse their brutal repression of the Haitian people. The OAS has even 
passed a resolution calling for an investigation into the Coup D'etat. 
Thus, for, Ron Daniels,
of the Haiti Support Project and Center For Constitutional Rights, to be 
either directly or indirectly endorsing this illegitimate government, to 
the point where his
representative, the head of Group 184 in the North, is announcing that, 
U.S. African-American celebrities, such as Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, 
Katherine Dunham,
Rev. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, et al, all, are coming to Haiti, to stand 
in solidarity and celebrate that Haiti is free for 200 years! This lie must 
be immediately denounced
by the celebrities mentioned below by name by Mr. Julien.

Haitians are not free today. Their elected leaders, have all been summarily 
removed and replaced by the un-electable Group 184 supporters and their 
death squad co-horts.

If cruise endorsers, organizers and supporters remain silent, especially 
after the Frandley Denis Julien post below has come to their attention and 
do not acknowledge they
are being used by this murderous Latortue regime, then their silence equals 
nothing-less than support for the current genocide (3,000 Haitians dead 
since Feb. 5, 2004) and
repression of Fanmi Lavalas supporters (jailing of Prime Minister Yvon 
Neptune and folksinger/humanitarian, So Ann, amongst others) and the 
(350,000 ) internal Haitian
refugees living in fear and in hiding in Haiti today.  Because of the Coup 
supporters, such as Ron Daniel's group 184 spokesperson, Frandley Julien 
Denis, there are tens of
thousands of Haitians right now in marronage, which is causing severe 
economic and social dislocation for those in hiding and for their hosts. 
And, for every Yvon Neptune
and So Ann that we know about, there is at least a hundred anonymous poor 
people in similar conditions, arbitrarily arrested and being retained in 
chains behind bars by the
coup initiators and supporters.

Mr. Frandley Denis Julien's free use, below in his July 21, 2004 post, of 
big names such as Mr. Danny Glover, Katherine Dunham, Harry Belafonte, 
Jesse Jackson, to
support this illegitimate Latortue government, as if the people of Haiti 
have not suffered a Coup D'etat, MUST NOT to unchallenged.

Haiti's constitutional rule advocates and friends must remind Mr. Ron 
Daniels and the endorsers and participants of Cruising Into History that if 
Ron Daniels and
TransAfricacould have issued a press release before joining the Haitian 
people in the celebration of their bi-centennial, under a Constitutional 
Government, back on January
1, 2004, basically when a minority was trying to usurp power from the 
majority of Haiti's African population - a press release stating that their 
institutional and personal
presence at Haiti's bicentennial celebration on January 1, 2004 and beyond, 
was NOT in support of the then Constitutional government, but in support of 
the "People of
Haiti", (See, Transafrica Forum's webpage at 
<http://www.transafricaforum.org/newsletter/news_jan1_04_200haiti.html>http://www.transafricaforum.org/newsletter/news_jan1_04_200haiti.html 
)

Then, what more should be done now that the sanctity of Haitian sovereignty 
has been violated and Group 184, the terrorist/death squads that supports 
them, et al, have,
through killing Haitian police, releasing murderers and convicted felons 
from prisons and burning down villages, and with foreign troop support, 
actually succeeded in
usurping power from the  peaceful majority of Haiti's African population.

It is imperative and will likely save Haitian lives for cruise organizers 
to state unequivocally their disassociation with the unconstitutional 
Latortue and all those who
participated in the violent overthrow of Haiti's democratic process. Cruise 
endorsers  and organizers shall cast a shadow on their participation and 
their institutions unless
they dissociates and openly denounce the current US-installed and 
unconstitutional Latortue Regime and its repression of the Haitian masses.

First, it would be most regrettable, if the pro-democracy celebrities 
endorsing Ron Daniel's cruise were not made aware of Mr. Daniels and Haiti 
Support Project's close
connections with the opposition that overthrew the Haitian people's 
Constitutional government as evidence by their Group 184 spokesperson in 
the North of Haiti.

Second, it would be irresponsible if said endorsers and organizers, went to 
Haiti, with no knowledge, as recently reported by Amnesty International, 
Institute for Justice
and Democracy in Haiti, Haiti Information Project, the Accompaniment 
Project and others, of the brutal state supported repression of the Haitian 
people under
Latortue/Group 184/Guy Phillipe's reign of terror since February 29, 2004.

Third, we believe these reports, by human rights monitors, just released 
this July, 2004, describing the widescale grassroots Haitian resistance and 
continuing repression
of the People of Haiti by the Coup d'etat government and its death squads 
should be distributed and made available to all participants, endorsers, 
and/or organizers of
Cruising Into History, who wish to be informed and educated about the 
current continuation of the Haitian Revolution they wish to celebrate.

Finally, it is our position, that is dangerous if not criminally negligent 
for the Ron Daniel's Cruising-into-History sponsors, participants and 
endorsers to ignore these
reports outlining the mayhem and chaos ruling Haiti today that was NOT 
present under the people's Constitutional government and to blithely enter 
Haiti to, as
Frandley Denis Julien, states below, as testimony of the "solidarity that 
exists between the Black community that won't remain indifferent to the 200 
years of
independence of the First Black Republic  and to use the cruise as a good 
occasion to sell a positive image of Haiti to attract tourists!"

If the descendants of those enslaved Africans who first put liberty into 
application in this Western Hemisphere, are today being hunted down, denied 
the right to
congregate, the right to freedom of speech, the right to participate in the 
freedom they inherited from their forefathers and mothers, the right to 
schooling, literacy,
freedom of religion, security of their person, a living wage; if they are 
fighting, bleeding, starving and dying to make real the Haitian 
Revolution's promise; if the people
of Haiti no longer even have structural democracy, never mind justice, 
transparency and participatory democracy, then what better objective could 
African-American
glitterati. could have then to come to Haiti, this August, 2004, during Bwa 
Kayiman, and publicly denounce these descendants' lost of even structural 
democracy and
stand firm with them for the application of democratic principles and 
processes.

If the trip is designed to both pay tribute to the history of Haiti and 
honor the contributions of the Haitian people to the world, then what 
better objective could there
be other than for Cruising-Into-History to come denouncing the Haitian 
people's brutal repression, providing press coverage and media light about 
the people's real
repression and glorious resistance to tyranny since the Coup d'etat while 
collectively celebrating the continued Haitian Revolution.

Marguerite Laurent, Esq.
Founder and Chair,
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
August 4, 2004
*****

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