[News] Haitians seized, abused by US Marines

[News at freedomarchives.org]

FROM: THE BLACK COMMENTATOR
ISSUE 90 – MAY 13, 2004


HAITIANS SEIZED, ABUSED BY U.S. MARINES
WOMEN, CHILDREN SUBJECTED TO HOOD TREATMENT
<http://www.blackcommentator.com/90/90_cover_haiti.html>http://www.blackcommentator.com/90/90_cover_haiti.html

At 12:30 in the morning of May 10, approximately 20 U.S. Marines executed a 
military assault on the Port-au-Prince home of 69-year-old ANNETTE AUGUSTE, 
a.k.a. SOUER ANNE.  Auguste’s residence is part of a compound that includes 
four other apartments that were also invaded by the U.S. military 
forces.  The troops covered the heads of 11 Haitians with black hoods and 
then forced them to lay face down on the ground while binding their wrists 
with plastic manacles behind their backs. The victims of this terrifying 
U.S. military invasion included five-year-old Chamyr Samedi, 10-year-old 
Kerlande Philippe, 12-year-old Loubahida Augustine, 14-year-old Luckman 
Augustine, and seven adults.

The Marines blew up a vehicle and a substantial part of AUGUSTE’S 
three-story house, leaving behind c4 and c5 explosives paraphernalia 
including blasting caps and igniters. Not a single member of the Haitian 
National Police force (PNH) or the de facto Haitian government was present 
when the U.S. forces attacked the residence, said the arrestees.

All the detainees except AUGUSTE were released after questioning.

According to Haitian law, as is the norm in any democratic country, no 
arrest can be made without a proper warrant issued by judicial 
authorities.  The Haitian Constitution requires that warrants only be 
executed between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. The lack of any 
legality within the context of Haitian law and the fact this was executed 
unilaterally by U.S. military forces raises serious questions of national 
sovereignty and the role of the U.S. military in Haiti today.

LESLY VOLTAIRE, one of the highest ranking LAVALAS officials remaining in 
Haiti, has consistently condemned the campaign of political persecution and 
arbitrary arrests against his political party. Voltaire stated:

“This was an illegal arrest done past midnight.  The law does not allow 
arrests after 6:00 p.m.  I strongly condemn this armed assault and believe 
that the charges against Annette Auguste are unfounded.  We are fighting 
for due process and this was not performed within the context of due 
process and Haitian law.  This is clearly a part of the campaign of 
persecution against Lavalas.  No Haitian police or authorities were 
present.  We must ask what are the rules of engagement for U.S. military 
authorities in Haiti and what right do they have to do this?  Is Haiti 
still a sovereign nation?”


MS. AUGUSTE is being held incommunicado at a U.S. military-controlled 
“special section” of the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince. Although 
the National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) claims to have visited her 
at the prison, this is disputed by her husband, WILFRID LAVAUD, who says 
the family has no knowledge of any such visit by the New York-based agency. 
LAVAUD also said that he does not consider NCHR to be a credible human 
rights organization because they have worked so closely in the past with 
the Haitian opposition to the constitutional government of President 
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

NCHR played a significant role in the media disinformation campaign that 
preceded the coup against President Aristide (see , October 30, 2003).

International journalists have been denied access to Ms. August. Spokesmen 
for Gerard Latortue's government claim they are “too busy” to respond to 
requests to see the prisoner.

Media for hire

Why was Annette Auguste targeted for this military-type assault by U.S. 
Marines? LAVALAS officials, who had been calling for the end of political 
persecution against their party, last week announced they would begin 
demonstrations on May 18 calling for the return of President 
Aristide.  Annette Auguste was active in supporting the Aristide 
government, and in helping to build Lavalas’ base of support among the poor 
majority in Haiti.  Many Lavalas activists see the attack against Ms. 
Auguste as a preemptive strike against their party by the Bush 
administration – a continuation of the destabilization campaign hatched in 
the U.S. State Department by Otto Reich and Roger Noriega, that eventually 
led to the forced departure of President Aristide.

The real question is, what right does a U.S. military assault team have to 
perform such an action in Haiti?  The Haitian media, controlled by the same 
forces that allied themselves with the Bush administration to forcibly 
remove President Aristide, allege that Ms. Auguste controlled violent 
factions associated with the Aristide government.  A second accusation, 
fielded by Radio Metropole, is that Ms. Auguste was organizing a 
clandestine operation aimed at launching armed assaults against U.S. 
military personnel in Haiti.  As per usual with the elite-controlled media, 
no corroboration or factual evidence was ever given to back up these 
claims, which are typically made by paid surrogates.

Guyler C. Delva, of the Association of Haitian Journalists, has publicly 
accused many of his colleagues of working as paid informants for the U.S. 
military in Haiti.  These are the same Haitian media that worked 
hand-in-glove with the campaign that removed President Aristide on February 29.

Relentless persecution

ANNETTE AUGUSTE, a naturalized U.S. citizen, has been a frequent target of 
the Haitian elite, due to her close ties with President Aristide.  She is 
the leader of PROP (Pouvwa Rasembleman Organizacion Popile), a popular 
Lavalas organization.  She is also a singer of Haitian folk songs and is 
open about her practice of voodoo, officially recognized as a national 
religion for the first time in Haitian history under the Aristide 
administration.  Ms. Auguste’s religious beliefs and practices have led to 
many unfounded, disparaging rumors and a campaign of demonization against her.

In the past, critics such as Yves A. Isidor, professor of Economics at the 
University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and Executive Editor of 
wehaitians.com, and Raymond Joseph of the Haiti Observateur, now the Chief 
Diplomatic Representative to America for Haiti, have accused MS. AUGUSTE of 
things as outrageous as human sacrifice.  Isidor authored a January 2, 
2001, article that charged Ms. Auguste was President Aristide’s “voodoo 
medium” and that she bathed him in human blood to curse George W. Bush and 
ensure the election of Vice President Al Gore in 2000.  No evidence or 
witnesses were cited as sources for this information.

Isidor’s grotesque article was picked up and embellished by Raymond 
Joseph.  Joseph added details regarding a ceremony where a newborn was 
sacrificed in a giant mortar with a heavy pestle.  Joseph contends that 
those who question the veracity of this allegation need only find support 
in the statement, “But who would have thought that men infected with the 
AIDS virus in South Africa believe that they can be healed by having 
intercourse with a young virgin!”  Joseph never actually states that Ms. 
Auguste was involved in the alleged sacrifice, but two paragraphs later, 
his reference to her as Aristide’s “voodoo medium” implies her presence 
there.  Joseph directly accuses Ms. Auguste of holding meetings at her home 
where criminal activities were planned – the nature of which was never 
revealed.

In a March 11, 2004, New York Sun article, Joseph lambasted California 
Congresswoman Maxine Waters for making three trips to Haiti in seven weeks, 
with the third trip being first-class.  Joseph asked, “Do American 
taxpayers have to pick up the tabs? Or is it the Haitian government robbing 
from the poor in the ‘poorest country in the Western Hemisphere’ to 
maintain Waters and company in luxurious style?”  Joseph provided no 
support or explanation for these allegations.  He simply sought to 
discredit Rep. Waters, never even offering the possible explanation that 
she paid for the tickets herself or upgraded with frequent flier miles. As 
a reward for his part in the campaign of lies and misinformation against 
Aristide and Lavalas, Joseph has been named the Boca Raton regime’s highest 
representative to the United States.

In his current position, Joseph is well placed to direct the U.S. Marines 
to the doors of people’s activists like ANNETTE AUGUSTE. His is the face 
that smiles when boots trample on hooded, helpless women and children.









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