[News] Haiti: Stop the Repression, No impunity, No New Army

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*_Haiti: Stop the Repression._**_No impunity. NO NEW ARMY_* *__*

The people of Haiti need our solidarity in the face of the increasing 
violence of the fraudulently imposed government of Jovenel Moise.

Last Thursday July 14, 2017, in Petionville, Haiti, near Port-au-Prince, 
a young book vendor was shot to death by a police officer in front of 
horrified witnesses. The police used tear gas and batons against a crowd 
outraged by the murder and the quick, forcible removal of the body in a 
perceived attempt at a cover up. This is the latest of recent 
extra-judicial killings by the Haitian police and paramilitary forces.

The brutal killing occurred as the occupation government of Jovenel 
Moise, installed in the fraudulent elections of November 2016, is 
pushing to restore the brutal and corrupt Haitian military, which was 
disbanded by then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1995. Moise has 
stated that he wants the Army back within two years. Haitians remember 
the US-supported bloody rampage by former members of this army that 
claimed thousands of lives during the period of the 2004 coup d'etat 
against the elected government. The US/UN forces and occupation 
governments subsequently integrated many of these killers into the 
Haitian police and government paramilitary units.

This announcement takes place at a volatile moment in Haitian society. 
The Haitian police and other government paramilitary forces, accompanied 
by UN occupation forces, have carried out criminal attacks against 
protesting teachers, students, factory workers, market women, street 
vendors and others who are victims of government extortion, theft of 
land, money and merchandise.

·On July 10 - 12, 2017, during three days of peaceful protest for an 
increase in the minimum wage, Haitian police attacked the workers from 
the industrial park in Port-au-Prince with tear gas, batons and cannons 
shooting a liquid skin irritant. One of the beaten workers is a woman 
who had recently returned to work from giving birth.

·On June 12, the government-appointed rector of the Haitian State 
University used his car to hit and run over a protesting university 
student. The government prosecutor has ignored the complaint filed by 
the students against the rector and is instead pursuing the victim's 
colleagues in a blatant attempt to harass and intimidate them.

·In May 2017, units of the Haitian police and paramilitary forces again 
attacked the people of Arcahaie protesting the government's plan to 
remove the main revenue-generating district from the community, located 
about 30 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince.

·In May 2017, a food vendor in Petionville was killed after he was 
deliberately hit and run over by a car of the municipal paramilitary 
forces according to outraged witnesses.

·On March 20th, 2017, police officers were videotaped shooting at the 
car carrying President Aristide and Fanmi Lavalas presidential candidate 
Dr. Maryse Narcisse as they returned from court. The police officers 
were reportedly observed returning to the national palace; there was no 
condemnation of this blatant assassination attempt by the government.

Adding a newly organized Haitian Army to this mix is a sign that the 
Haitian government is planning on more repression. TheHaitian military’s 
purpose was to protect Haitian dictatorships and to attack any 
challenges by the Haitian people.Whether under the Duvalier 
dictatorships from 1957-1986 or when the military overthrew the 
democratically elected Aristide government in 1991, leading to the 
killing of over 5000 people, the military has been a central 
anti-democratic institution in Haitian society. When then-President 
Aristide disbanded the narco-trafficking Haitian military in 1995, the 
Army was eating up 40% of the national budget in a country with fewer 
than two doctors per 10,000 people.

Now this infamous military is being restored just as the United Nations 
is said to begin a staged withdrawal of its troops. This is similar to 
what happened following the U.S. occupation of Haiti from 1915-1934, a 
period in which 20,000 Haitians were killed. As the U.S. forces 
withdrew, they left in place a neo-colonial army with Haitian faces to 
do their bidding and continue the repression of popular discontent.

Haitians are saying NO to the restoration of an additional repressive 
military force.They are demanding an end to police terror and an end to 
impunity.We join their call.

*E-mail and phone-in campaign to:*

- Say No to the Restoration of the brutal Haitian military

- Hold the US and UN occupation accountable for the terror campaign by 
the Haitian police and security forces they train and supervise.

- Say No to impunity for police terror in Haiti

*Contact:*

-US State Department: HaitiSpecialCoordinator at state. 
<mailto:haitispecialcoordinator at state.gov>gov

- Your Member of Congress: 202-224 3121

-UN Mission in Haiti: minustah-info at un.org <mailto:minustah-info at un.org>

Sent by Haiti Action Committee

www.haitisolidarity.net <http://www.haitisolidarity.net>

-- 
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863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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