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<font size=3><br><br>
</font><font size=4><b><u>UN intervention has meant "death, terror
& lawlessness for the people of Haiti"<br>
</u></font><font size=6>U.N. occupation of Haiti intensifies<br>
</b></font><font size=3>By G. Dunkel<br>
Published Feb 2, 2007 11:01 PM EST<br><br>
Ever since the coup-kidnapping of the popular president of Haiti,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, on Feb. 29, 2004, this Caribbean country has been
occupied. First it was troops from the United States, France and Canada.
Then a U.N.-sanctioned and commanded force, mainly from Latin America and
called Minustah, took over and provided a cover for this imperialist
intervention.<br><br>
Minustah stands for the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti, but its
intervention has meant "death, terror and lawlessness for the people
of Haiti," as a statement from Fanmi Lavalas, Aristide's political
party, puts it.<br><br>
Even the U.S. State Department, in documents recently obtained by the
Haiti Information Project (HIP) about a U.N. raid in Cité Soleil in July
2005, admits that the U.N. troops used "excessive force," which
is like a butcher calling a slaughterhouse worker bloody.<br><br>
These attacks have continued. According to residents of Cité Soleil,
cited by HIP, U.N. forces attacked in the early morning of Dec. 22, 2006,
killing more than 30 people, including women and children. Yet they claim
to be "peacekeepers."<br><br>
The National Commission on Justice and Peace, sponsored by the Roman
Catholic bishops of Haiti, published a report on Jan. 23 acknowledging
that 539 people died from "armed violence" in October, November
and December. The deaths are concentrated in "the poor communities
of Martissant, Grande Ravine and Bolosse, the southern suburbs of Port au
Prince and in Cité Soleil to the north," according to the
commission's report. "In November and December [2006] Minustah and
the Haitian National Police (PNH) became more active in the struggle
against gangsters; their actions created victims, which in no way means
their victims were bandits," the report continues.<br><br>
The day after the report was published, 300 U.N. soldiers in 20 armored
personnel carriers, with bulldozers and helicopters, raided Cité Soleil
and demolished a "gang's hideout that had been used for criminal
attacks against Minustah posts," was the version given by U.N.
spokesperson Col. Abdesslam Elamarti, speaking to Haiti's AlterPress
service. Haiti en Marche reported that five residents of Cité Soleil were
killed in this attack.<br><br>
After centuries of Western hostility to this Black republic, most people
in Haiti are desperately poor. Even though Haitian police, who are
commanded by U.N. officers under a deal struck with the previous,
un-elected government, have flooded the streets of Port au Prince,
parents are so afraid of kidnapping that they did not send their children
to school after the winter holidays, according to Haïti-Progrès (Jan. 17
to 23).<br><br>
A number of Haitians living in the United States who usually go home for
the holidays didn't this year out of fear of being kidnapped for ransom
in Haiti. Some have told this reporter that they feel the cops are
involved, along with gangsters. There have been press reports that police
uniforms have been found in the possession of kidnappers.<br><br>
Henri Laforest, brother of well-known New York activist Ray Laforest, was
recently shot through the heart after leaving a bank in Haiti. It is not
clear whether the motive was robbery or political.<br><br>
Political activists are also angry that there are still political
prisoners who have not even been charged, although they were arrested as
much as two years ago. Some of the most prominent political prisoners,
like Sò Ann (Anne Auguste) have been released, but hundreds more are
still in jail. Fanmi Lavalas members who were fired because of their
political affiliations still haven't been rehired.<br><br>
Most importantly, Aristide is still in exile in South Africa, while the
gangsters and mass murderers who carried out the coup against him, with
the financial and organizational support of the U.S. government, are
walking around Port au Prince. The people of Haiti want their president
back.<br><br>
Given the U.N.'s occupation of Haiti, which is just a thin cover for the
role of the United States, France and Canada, and its worsening economic
situation, the Haiti Action Committee has called an internationally
coordinated day of protests on Feb.7. For information on these protests,
call 510-483-7481 in the U.S., or go to
<a href="http://www.haitiaction.net">www.haitiaction.net</a> or
<a href="http://www.haitisolidarity.net">www.haitisolidarity.net</a> .
Protests against the U.N. occupation are happening in 47 cities on
5 continents on Feb. 7, including South Africa, the Philippines, Europe
and many countries of Latin America.<br><br>
In New York, Fanmi Lavalas and other groups in the Haitian community have
called a major demonstration on Wednesday, Feb. 7 in front of the United
Nations from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Call 718-469-2078 for more information in
the New York metropolitan area.<br>
<br><br>
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