[News] Arrest Duvalier - Return Aristide

[Anti-Imperialist News]

From: haiti action <action.haiti at gmail.com>


Haiti Action Committee strongly supports the 
<http://ijdh.org/archives/16740>call by Institute 
for Justice and Democracy in Haiti/BAI and others 
for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Jean- 
Claude Duvalier. We also take this moment to 
support the Haitian people’s campaign to return 
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Haiti. It is 
unconscionable that the dictator Duvalier is now 
staying at a luxury hotel in Port-au-Prince while 
the twice-democratically elected President 
Aristide remains in forced exile in South Africa.

We have witnessed the return of former dictator 
Jean Claude “ Baby Doc” Duvalier to Haiti with 
disbelief and outrage. During his rule, from 1971 
to 1986, Duvalier launched a reign of terror 
against any form of political opposition. 
Thousands of Haitians were raped, murdered or 
disappeared. Over 3000 political prisoners were 
tortured and then killed at Fort Dimanche, Duvalier’ s torture chamber.

One former political prisoner, Rolande Michell, 
told The New York Times the following story about his incarceration:

"It is a bad place," said Mr. Michell. "They 
starved me, but I was fortunate. They starved men 
to death. They beat men to death. I saw them cut 
into the muscle of one man's leg so he would 
limp. You could hear men screaming all the time.

"They made me promise to be faithful to Duvalier. 
I promised so they would not kill me."

Haitians who lived through the Duvalier era carry 
these memories with them today. Duvalier’ s 
return sends them a chilling message – that in 
today’ s Haiti, Duvalierism is alive and will be 
tolerated as part of the political landscape.

It took a determined popular movement to oust 
Duvalier. It was this movement – representing the 
vast majority of Haitians -- that swept President 
Jean-Bertrand Aristide to an overwhelming 
electoral victory in 1990. And it is this 
movement that is 
<http://www.petitiononline.com/haitiwom/petition-sign.html>demanding 
his return today.

Ousted in a U.S.-orchestrated coup in 2004, 
President Aristide remains the most respected and 
trusted voice of the poor within Haiti. Perhaps 
that is why the current Haitian government, the 
U.S. State Department, and the United Nations – 
the same authorities that allowed the return of 
Duvalier – continue to block President Aristide’ s return.

A 2005 Wikileaks cable documents the US 
government "insistence that all efforts must be 
made to keep Aristide from returning to Haiti or 
influencing the political process.”

They are standing on the wrong side of history. 
It is time for President Aristide to return and 
time for Jean-Claude Duvalier to be held 
accountable for his crimes against the Haitian people.

SIGN THE PETITION FOR THE RETURN OF JEAN-BERTRAND 
ARISTIDE TO HAITI! 
<http://www.petitiononline.com/haitiwom/petition-sign.html>CLICK



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