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<font size=3><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3><b>COUNTERPUNCH<br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#990000">Weekend Edition<br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3>October 22 / 24, 2004<br><br>
<br>
<i>I Held the Bullet in My Palm<br><br>
</i></font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#990000">MASKED HAITIAN
POLICE SHOOT CHILDREN WHILE ARRESTING PRIEST <br><br>
</b></font><font face="verdana" size=3>By BILL QUIGLEY<br><br>
<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley10222004.html">http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley10222004.html</a><br><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#990000">J</font><font face="verdana" size=3>eanine
(not her real name for reasons you will shortly understand) is a quiet 14
year old girl who lives with her family of 18 off a rutted dirt road near
the international airport in Port au Prince. Twice a week she walked the
mile or so to eat a meal at St. Claire's church.<br><br>
Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste is the pastor of St. Claire's. He has been in jail
for more than a week after his church was surrounded by heavily armed
masked men while feeding 600 children at his parish His arrest was
violent. The police ripped metal bars out of their concrete surroundings
and smashed the windows of the church house to enter. After beating and
handcuffing Fr. Jean-Juste, they dragged him out though the smashed
window, threw him into a car and raced off to jail.<br><br>
After the arrest, the people of the parish publicly complained and said
the masked police had even shot children. Haitian authorities flatly
denied any children were shot and no police inquiry into the arrest has
been made. <br><br>
Government-friendly media and US Embassy personnel also scoffed at the
reports of children being shot by police. They said the stories of the
children were products of the Haiti rumor mill and propaganda from the
opponents of Haiti's unelected government.<br><br>
Now the wounded children have appeared in public. They have real bandages
and real medical reports. <br><br>
And then there is the bullet.<br><br>
When I visit Jeanine, she sits on a wooden bench leaning far to her left.
Her mother tenderly turns her around and modestly lifts her daughter's
dark blue skirt to reveal a 4 inch jagged blue-stitched suture at the
bottom of her right buttock. <br><br>
Jeanine's older brother holds out a blood-stained gauze packet. Unfolding
it, I find the brassy bullet the doctors removed from Jeanine's backside
last week. <br><br>
Jeanine was shot in the backside while running away from the Haitian
police during the arrest of Fr. Jean-Juste after the feeding of the
children at St. Claire's. <br><br>
I held the bullet removed from Jeanine in my palm. It is a little less
than an inch long, brass colored, and very hard. Jeanine is still in
pain. Her family cannot afford to bring her back to the doctor.<br><br>
Two other children, two young boys, were also shot by the police during
the arrest of Fr. Jean-Juste One was shot in the head, one in the
shoulder. I met them as well. They were also seen by medical
authorities.<br><br>
Fr. Jean-Juste sits in the national penitentiary along with numerous
other political prisoners. He is officially charged with disturbing the
peace, a crime punishable by a fine of 40 cents. Amnesty International
condemned his arrest and also warns that his courageous Haitian lawyer
Mario Joseph may be in danger because of his human rights work.<br><br>
Meanwhile, the unelected authorities in Haiti are supported by the US
government. Both condemn the opposition, saying they are only interested
in violence.<br><br>
Why would masked Haitian police shoot a little girl in the backside? Why
would the police shoot the other two boys? Why deny they were shot? Why
beat and indefinitely imprison a priest? Why threaten his
lawyer?<br><br>
Makes you ask the question, which side in Haiti is really interested in
ruling by violence? Don't bother to ask Jeanine and the other children,
they know the answer.<br><br>
<b>Mario Joseph</b> and <b>Reynolds Georges</b> are the Haitian lawyers
representing Fr. Jean-Juste. They can be reachedat
</font><a href="http://www.ijdh.org/" eudora="autourl"><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#184B81"><u>www.ijdh.org</a></u></font><font face="verdana" size=3>.
<br><br>
<b>Bill Quigley</b> is a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans
School of Law. He writes from Port au Prince where he is one of the
lawyers representing Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste. He can be reached at
</font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#184B81"><u>duprestars@msn.com</u></font><font face="verdana" size=3>.<br>
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