[News] Haiti Action Committee Condemns Massacres at Bele - Support Haiti's Popular Movement

Mon Mar 20 12:12:37 EDT 2023

Haiti Action Committee Condemns Massacres Taking Place at Bele

Support Haiti’s Popular Movement! 
<https://haitisolidarity.net/haiti-the-truth-speaks-for-itself/>

Haiti Action Committee denounces the recent massacres, home burnings and 
disappearances that took place against residents of Bele, Solino and 
nearby neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. We strongly condemn ongoing U.S. 
support for the unelected puppet Ariel Henry regime which is widely 
opposed by the Haitian people. We call on the Biden Administration to 
stop arming, equipping, training and funding the Haitian National Police 
<https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1634574540117508096?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email>which 
is being deployed to terrorize the popular movement and which is 
complicit in the violent assault on residents of Bele and other 
neighborhoods.

According to witnesses and media reports, on February 28, 2023 members 
of the G9 federation of gangs/death squads armed with assault rifles 
launched an all-out attack against these neighborhoods, shooting 
residents, burning down their homes - some with the occupants inside, 
including a mother and child and others who were not able to escape. As 
of March 4th, 2023, over 60 were estimated to have been killed, with 
over 50 said to have been disappeared.

Similar to the Lasalin massacre in 2018, witnesses reported 
<https://twitter.com/HaitiInfoProj/status/1634716381496348673>seeing 
members of the Haitian National Police accompany the death squads, 
shooting residents, burning homes as well as transporting G9 federation 
death squads in armored police personnel carriers. In addition, 
government heavy machinery was observed demolishing houses. Appeals for 
help to the Ariel Henry government, including the chief of police, have 
remained unanswered as repeated killings and home burnings continued 
through March 8. All of this has taken place in downtown Port-au-Prince 
within earshot of Haitian and occupation authorities who remained 
silent. People in the neighborhoods are furious that for the past four 
years, they have been the victims of G9 snipers,resulting in a number of 
injuries and death in the area – and that no action was taken by the 
authorities.

The majority population has never stopped resisting the kidnapping/coup 
d'etat of February 29, 2004, against the popularly elected President 
Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the Fanmi Lavalas government. For the past 19 
years since that date followed by the start of the US-UN occupation, 
living conditions in the country have greatly worsened as corrupt puppet 
governments have slashed spending on healthcare and education, and have 
increased taxes while implementing policies that decreased real wages. 
Prices for food and basic necessities have more than quadrupled and fuel 
subsidies have been eliminated resulting in higher transportation costs 
and a spiraling rise in the overall cost of living.  Journalists, 
clergy, peasant-farmers, students, workers and others raising their 
voices in protest have been met with beatings, incarceration, rape, 
assassinations and mass killings. Like the notorious Lasalin massacre 
<https://www.nlg.org/report-the-lasalin-massacre-and-the-human-rights-crisis-in-haiti/>(see 
video 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6kQH-_IrAg&t=2s&ab_channel=TheRealNewsNetwork>), 
police, security forces and affiliated paramilitary forces commonly 
referred to as "gangs" are wrecking homes and accelerating land grabs.

Take action! Contact your Congresspersons and demand that they pressure 
the Biden Administration to immediately implement the following:

 1.

    Stop supporting Haitian dictator Ariel Henry

 2.

    Stop U.S. funding for the Haitian National Police and military.

 3.

    Stop the unconscionable attacks on refugees.

Email or phone U.S. House of Representatives - Telephone:  202-225-3121

Contact your representative 
<https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative#:~:text=If%20you%20know%20who%20your,the%20U.S.%20House%20switchboard%20operator.>

U.S. Senate - Telephone:  202-224-3121

Contact your Senator 
<http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm>

Sample script: /I’m calling on the United States to stop supporting the 
unelected dictator Ariel Henry in Haiti, whose government supports death 
squads that recently attacked the community of Bele in Port-au-Prince, 
using government equipment to destroy houses, in some cases burning 
people alive. I oppose any funding for the Haitian National Police and 
military, and call for a humane response to the refugee crisis that is 
only made more dire by the current political situation./

For more information:

Neocolonial Dictatorship, Paramilitary and Police Terror in Haiti 
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/12/02/us-tax-dollars-at-work-neocolonial-dictatorship-paramilitary-and-police-terror-in-haiti-today/>- 
Seth Donnelly, Haiti Action Committee

Haiti: The Truth Speaks For Itself 
<https://haitisolidarity.net/haiti-the-truth-speaks-for-itself/>- Robert 
Roth, Haiti Action Committee

19 Years After the Coup d’Etat 
<https://haitisolidarity.net/19-years-after-the-coup-detat-fanmi-lavalas/>- 
Fanmi Lavalas Feb. 28th Statement

Haiti Action Committee <http://www.haitisolidarity.net>  • Haiti 
Emergency Relief Fund <http://haitiemergencyrelief.org>

-- 
Haiti Action Committee
PO Box 2040
Berkeley,CA 94702
Website <https://haitisolidarity.net>
YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjujXAgb681TkRNdEo1hh5Q>
Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/HaitiActionCommittee>
Twitter <https://twitter.com/HaitiAction1>

Celebrating 30 years of solidarity with the anti-colonial grassroots 
struggle for dignity, democracy and self-determination of the Haitian 
people!

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