[News] SOS Solidarity- HAITI ACTION ALERT

Fri Apr 22 16:19:36 EDT 2005

HAITI ACTION ALERT  

  HAITI ACTION ALERT

April 21, 2005

HAITIAN GRASSROOTS WOMAN ACTIVIST & LABOR LEADERS
ARRESTED, HARASSED BY POLICE

The situation in Haiti continues to be critical.
Since the US backed coup of February 29, 2004 followed
by the occupation of Haiti first by US Marines and
then by UN forces, approximately 10,000 Haitians have
been killed and over one thousand jailed.  Grassroots
leaders and other supporters of President Aristide are
under constant threat. Your help is urgently needed to
oppose the most recent arrest and harassment of
grassroots labor leaders, an attack clearly aimed at
undermining and silencing grassroots resistance to the
occupation, attempting to halt the right to travel
outside of Haiti, as well as stifling international
solidarity. This harassment violates the protections
of the right to organize workers contained in the
Haitian Constitution and numerous international
instruments to which Haiti is a party.  Lives are at
risk.  Please circulate this email widely, and see the
action suggestions below for other things you can do.

BACKGROUND:

Ginette Apollon, President of the National Commission
of Women Workers (CNFT) was illegally arrested on
April 19, 2005 at the Port-au-Prince International
Airport upon her return from the Encuentro Mundial de
Solidaridad Con la Revolucion Bolivariana in
Venezuela.  The Encuentro marked the third anniversary
of the reversal of the coup against President Chavez.
Ms. Apollon, a member of the Confederation des
Travailleurs Haïtiens (CTH), a mother and an activist
working with grassroots women, was invited to
Venezuela by INAMUJER, a Venezuelan women’s rights
organization. While there she met with Central
Latino-Americana de los Trabajadores (CLAT) with whom
CTH is affiliated. Apollon was questioned by police
about her trip to Venezuela, the purpose of her trip,
who she met with and more.

Also illegally arrested at the airport were Paul
Loulou Chéry, a prominent labor leader who is General
Coordinator of the Confederation of Haitian Workers
(CTH) along with his brother, Lamour Chéry; both were
at the airport to greet Ms Apollon. The police
illegally interrogated them all about their work as
labor leaders, and about their work supporting the
return of democracy to Haiti. Authorities confiscated
the cell phones of the arrestees, videos belonging to
Apollon, and the lap top computer of Chéry.

The police accused Apollon of receiving money abroad
to finance violence in Haiti; after demanding her
banking information, $23 in US currency and 350
gourdes in Haitian currency (less than $10 US) that
police discovered after a meticulous search.  The
activists were released after several hours, but had
to agree to be interrogated again the following day.
Ginette Apollon, who suffers from high blood pressure,
had to be hospitalized during the ordeal.  Apollon and
Chéry are mandated to return again to the police
station on Friday, April 21.

Both Apollon and Chéry are prominent critics of
Haiti’s interim regime, which was imposed by the U.S.
and France and dominated by Haitian elites. The
interim regime has raided union offices and arrested
activists who are supporters of President Aristide
without a warrant, and on the basis of vague charges.

What you can do:
Urgently contact the following and urge them to do
everything in their power to immediately stop the
harassment of Ginette Apollon and Paul Loulou Chéry:
HAITIAN INTERIM PRIME Minister Gerard Latortue, fax
011-509-249 5561 primaturehaiti at hotmail.com;
US AMBASSADOR TO HAITI, James B. Foley,
Fax 011509 - 223 9038         or 011-509-223-1641;

HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICER Dana Banks, BanksD at state.gov;
EMBASSY OF BRAZIL IN HAITI : Fax 011 -  509  256 
0990 L brasemb1 at transnethaiti.com or
brasemb2 at transnethaiti.com;
UNITED NATIONS STABILIZATION MISSION TO HAITI :
Mahamane Cisse-Gouro, Human Rights Director, 011 - 509
- 403 4012 or 011  509- 527 5274, cisse-gouro at un.org

Please add your name to this action alert (see form
below)
Email this action alert to all on your email lists and
ask them to send it to their email lists
Post this action alert on your web site
Send a donation

Time is of the essence if we do not immediately
demonstrate international rejection of the persecution
of these labor leaders/grassroots activists, the
interim Haitian government will go further.  For
Ginette Apollon, already in poor health, continued
harassment could be a death sentence.

Original signers to this action alert include:

Haiti Action Committee ;

Fondation 30 Septembre ;

Haitian Initiative For Democracy;

Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network;

Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti ;

Haiti Progress;

Haiti Support Network;

The Global Women’s Strike ;

Clement Payne Society/Barbados ;

Red Thread/Guyana ;

Danny Glover ;

Selma James ;

Margaret Prescod ;

Steve Gillis President, USWA Local 8751 Boston School
Bus Drivers' Union;

Kevin Skerrett, Senior Research Officer, Canadian
Union of Public Employees;

Ray Laforest, staff organizer DC 1707 AFFCME;

Walter Riley, Attorney-at-Law;

Barbara Rhine, Attorney-at-Law;

Dave Welsh, Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council;

Maureen Duignan, O.S.F.;

Dale Sorensen, Director, Marin Interfaith Task Force
on the Americas;

Claude Marks, Freedom Archives;

Jeff Ballinger, Executive Director, Press for Change;

Sylvia Tiwon, University of California, Berkeley;

Merlin Chowkwanyun, Columbia University;

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom -
DC Branch;

Ecumenical Program on Central America and the
Caribbean;

Sasha B. Kramer, Stanford University;

Yes, I support this action alert: NAME:
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in Haiti.

Please do not hit the reply button to respond to this
email, instead, please send on your endorsement an/or
questions by email   jyk4haiti at aol.com or phone
(510)483-7481

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Suggestion for a fax or email to the above listed
parties:

Date

I/We are writing to protest the illegal arrest and
forced interrogation of Ginette Apollon, President of
the National Commission of Women Workers (CNFT) and a
grassroots women’s rights activist, Paul Loulou Chery,
General Coordinator of the Confederation of Haitian
Workers (CTH) and Mr. Chery, (Loulou’s brother).  They
were arrested on Tuesday, March 19 at the airport as
Apollon was returning from an Encuentro she attended
in Venezuela at the invitation of INAMUJER a
Venezuelan Women’s Rights Organization.  The police
interrogated the arrestees about their solidarity work
for several hours on Tuesday and again on Wednesday,
and confiscated their telephones, a laptop computer
and some videos; they questioned Apollon about who she
met with in Venezuela and what she did there. Apollon,
who suffers from high blood pressure, had to be
hospitalized during the ordeal.  The interrogation is
scheduled to resume on Friday, April 21.

The arrests and interrogation can be seen as nothing
more than an attempt to silence grassroots and labor
union organizing, to undermine the right to travel
outside of Haiti, and to stifle international
solidarity.  This harassment violates the protections
of the right to organize workers contained in the
Haitian Constitution and numerous international
instruments to which Haiti is a party.  There is
growing concern around the world about this situation.

We ask that you assure that the interrogation of
Apollon, Chery and his brother and all other
harassment end immediately, and that grassroots
Haitians be allowed to exercise their right to
organize, protest and travel without interference from
police and/or other authorities.

Sincerely,

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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