[News] Haiti: The Chronicle, the BBC, and media distortions

[News at freedomarchives.org]

From: Haiti Action Committee <haitiaction at yahoo.com>
Subject: Fwd: The Chronicle, the BBC, and media distortions
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 16:50:43 -0800 (PST)

On Monday 1/19, the San Francisco Chronicle carried a page 3 above-the-fold 
article about Haiti with a color photo, claiming Haitian gunmen had killed 
a marcher at a protest calling for the resignation of the democratically 
elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.  Following is the report of the 
Haiti-based Agence Haitienne de Presse - AHP (Haitian Press Agency) 
www.ahphaiti.org, with a COMPLETELY REVERSED SCENARIO of what happened, 
REPORTS FROM HAITI CLAIM NO ONE DIED IN THE DEMONSTRATION, AND THE 
CHRONICLE ARTICLE IS A LIE.

This article is one more example of the international media campaign to 
discredit the Aristide government and Haiti's democracy.  The BBC carried a 
story this weekend saying that Aristide is "ruling by decree" as if he is 
some kind of dicatator, without providing any context that explained he is 
ruling by decree, because the Washington-backed opposition has prevented 
elections from taking place by withholding their participation in the 
elections council, despite stated promises. The reason they want to prevent 
elections from taking place is because THEY KNOW THEY WILL LOSE, hence an 
increase in violence and calls for "resignation," instead of a call for 
constitutionally mandated elections.

As we read these headlines and listen to the lies on the radio (yes, 
sometimes even on dear old KPFA) the Haiti Action Committee encourages you 
to keep in mind the sequence of events leading up to the imposition of the 
Pinochet dictatorship in Chile in 1973. After failing to prevent Allende 
from taking power, the United States launched a campaign of destabilization 
and the withholding of loans and financial aid, except to the military, as 
has happened in Haiti since the 2000 elections (only no military exists in 
Haiti.). Our government also paid anti-government labor unions to go on 
strike. A recent letter to the Miami Herald said, "As long as every 
political party leader is also the chief executive of a non-governmental 
organization receiving hefty foreign donations, and as long as playing 
victim of the current government can facilitate a U.S. visa, faking 
political persecution will remain an incentive."

The parallels with Haiti are clear, and we are at a particularly dangerous 
time, because like in Chile, the United States have turned to supporting a 
violent opposition to get rid of Aristide. In 1994 after they restored 
Aristide to power, the U.S. occupation troops refused to disarm the death 
squads, it is no surprise that at this time, the situation is becoming more 
violent.


Haiti Action Committee

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


AHP News - January 18, 2004 - English translation (Unofficial)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supporters of the Group of 184 hold a new and violent demonstration in 
which they attack the government television station and a public market
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Port-au-Prince, January 18, 2004 (AHP) - Demonstrators from the group of 
184 opposition political coalition violently attacked a government 
television station this Sunday.

They launched volleys of stones at the offices of the station, smashing a 
number of the building's windows, accusing the State-owned television 
station of broadcasting reports critical of their group directed by André 
Apaid Junior.

The opposition demonstrators also attacked small shopkeepers at a public 
market located a few yards from the television station. They threw 
merchandise onto the ground and damaged the stalls of the vendors, beating 
some of them in the process.

Some witnesses present said that the attack was aimed at intimidating the 
small shopkeepers at the public markets who have not been following the 
call to strike issued by the opposition.

The violence against the station and the market vendors was committed in 
the presence of several officials of the Group of 184, which enjoys the 
support of organizations, students, professors, a media organization named 
ANMH, and other sectors.

The opposition officials sought to justify the violence by claiming that 
some shots were fired in their direction, however no demonstrators were 
reported to have been injured.

After the violence had been committed, officials of the Group of 184 told 
their activists to go home. Television cameras were at the scene to cover 
the event.

At the same time, the instigators of the demonstration, including Charles 
Henry Baker and former Senator Paul Denis denied any connection with the 
violence which they attributed to Lavalas "chimè" (poor people from the 
shantytowns).

In reality, some police officers present at the scene felt compelled to 
fire their guns into the air to disperse the perpetrators of the vandalism.

The supporters of the Group of 184 have decided to begin their 
demonstrations outside churches ever since the most recent statement by 
Bishop Dumas at the Saint-Pierre Church in Petion-ville on January 12th in 
which he called on the group of 184 to continue its campaign, believing 
that the latest proposal by the Haitian Conference of Bishops was out of date.

Opposition officials and demonstrators hassled reporters from Radio 
Solidariité, accusing them of not participating in the group of 184's 
movement to oust President Aristide.

The opposition demonstrations have been accompanied by serious violence 
since the January 1st, 2004 bicentennial celebrations commemorating Haiti's 
independence, an event that drew hundreds of thousands of people including 
international figures, government delegations and foreign diplomats inside 
and outside the National Palace.

On that day, the supporters of the Group of 184 destroyed government and 
private vehicles by setting fire to them and throwing rocks, erecting 
barricades composed of flaming tires, and destroying the goods of market 
vendors in the Christ Roy district.

At the same time, a disinformation campaign was launched by the opposition 
including assertions that President Aristide had not been able to travel to 
Gonaïves, the City of Independence, and that armed individuals had opened 
fire on South African President Thabo Mbeki in Gonaïves, although he was 
not even there.

This past Friday, opposition supporters including students made off with a 
coffin which they exploited the entire day following a funeral for Maxime 
Déselmour, who was killed on January 7th, and whom they presented as a 
student at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Their objective, according to some of the demonstrators, was to make their 
way inside the National Palace with the coffin. Other demonstrators said 
they only wanted to pass by the seat of the presidency. But the police 
prevented them from breaching the special security zone around the palace.

It was necessary for the national and international Red Cross to intervene 
to persuade them to turn over the coffin from the funeral for Maxime 
Déselmour to his parents who said they were very much upset at the behavior 
of the students in particular.

Several sectors of society accused the opposition demonstrators of wishing 
to continue their demonstration until they could provoke a confrontation.

Several diplomatic missions including that of the United States and the 
Special Mission of the OAS in Haiti recently praised the good security 
measures employed by the government in connection with the demonstrations 
by the opposition.

However, at the same time, supporters of the governing party have been 
killed, notably in Miragoâne, and property belonging to several supporters 
or presumed supporters of Lavalas, including two radio stations, was 
destroyed in Saint Marc by opposition demonstrators.

In Port-au-Prince, one television and eight radio stations of varying 
tendencies were sabotaged in the capital on Wednesday under circumstances 
that that remain unclear. The police have opened an investigation into the 
incident.

Diplomatic missions reportedly expressed concern at the violent tendency to 
demonstrations by the opposition. In Monterrey, last Wednesday, senior 
American officials including President George W. Bush and Secretary of 
State Colin Powell said that in their view, the Haitian crisis must be 
resolved through dialogue. They rejected any use of violence.


AHP January 18, 2004  2:10 PM




The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20040120/dc350645/attachment.htm>