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Please take a moment to send a brief letter to the San Francisco<br>
Chronicle responding to their awful article "New president in
Haiti<br>
liberates citizens with crackdown on crime" (Dec.3 ), which
perpetuates<br>
lies such as the following: "In the past, some human rights
activists<br>
have accused U.N. peacekeepers of firing indiscriminately during<br>
anti-gang crackdowns....U.N. officials, however, deny firing on<br>
civilians and argue that an early exit would leave Haiti vulnerable to
<br>
gang resurgence." For the complete article, go to<br>
<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/03/MNRDTHENC.DTL&hw=haiti&sn=001&sc=1000">
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/03/MNRDTHENC.DTL&hw=haiti&sn=001&sc=1000
</a><br><br>
Letters should be under 200 words and sent to<br>
<a href="mailto:letters@sfchronicle.com">letters@sfchronicle.com</a><br>
<br>
<br>
The Chronicle article looks at a narrow spectrum of violence in Haiti
<br>
with little historical perspective. <br><br>
As is often the case with mainstream coverage of Haiti, some of the<br>
more glaring problems with the piece are what it doesn't say: why
the<br>
UN mission was put in place (to legitimize the 2004 coup), who is <br>
responsible for the overwhelming majority of violence against poor<br>
people in Haiti (UN troops, police, paramilitaries, thugs freed from<br>
jail by coup figures), and the overwhelmingly pro-Lavalas nature of<br>
Cite Soleil and other poor neighborhoods. <br><br>
Nor does it address the root problems of the misery in Cite Soleil:<br>
peasants moved off their land as a result of "Washington
consensus"<br>
economic policies, then systematically denied basic human rights by <br>
the same rightist elites behind the kidnapping of President<br>
Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the overthrow of his democratically
elected<br>
government.<br><br>
<br>
SAMPLE LETTER:<br>
Re "New president in Haiti liberates citizens with crackdown on
crime" <br>
(Dec. 3): your coverage should address the broader context of
violence<br>
in Haiti. You should also acknowledge the overwhelming evidence of<br>
repeated UN killings of unarmed Haitian civilians.<br><br>
You do not mention that the Bush Administration (along with France and
<br>
Canada) helped orchestrate the 2004 coup which ousted the<br>
democratically-elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Instead<br>
of attacking poor neighborhoods with military assaults, as the UN<br>
regime in Haiti has done since 2004, Aristide worked hard to advance
<br>
social programs to provide jobs and opportunities for those
destitute<br>
neighborhoods. He was undercut at every turn by
Washington.<br><br>
MINUSTAH, the UN mission, was put in place to legitimize the
February<br>
2004 coup which was carried out with the direct support of the U.S.,<br>
France, and Canada.<br><br>
The U.S.-backed paramilitaries who participated in the 2004 coup
freed<br>
imprisoned right-wing death squad operative. These killers are
still<br>
free. Why not mention their role terrorizing Haiti's poor majority,
<br>
which still supports the return of forcibly expelled President<br>
Jean-Bertrand Aristide from South Africa? The UN has never made a<br>
serious attempt to disarm paramilitaries working against Aristide's<br>
Lavalas party base, by far the largest political grouping in Haiti.
<br><br>
<br>
++++<br>
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON UN IN HAITI:<br>
Eyewitnesses Describe Massacre by UN Troops in Haitian Slum<br>
July 11, 2005<br>
<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2005/7/11/eyewitnesses_describe_massacre_by_un_troops">
http://www.democracynow.org/2005/7/11/eyewitnesses_describe_massacre_by_un_troops</a>
<br><br>
+++++<br>
October 4, 2007<br>
The UN Occupation Continues<br>
<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/terrall10042007.html">
http://www.counterpunch.org/terrall10042007.html</a><br>
By Ben Terrall<br><br>
+++++<br>
<a href="http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HAC/10_14_6/10_14_6.html">
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HAC/10_14_6/10_14_6.html </a><br>
Thousands march in Haiti demanding end to reign of terror<br>
by Dave Welsh - Haiti Action Committee<br><br>
++++++++++<br><br>
Haiti: Revelations of UN's role in massacres<br>
Flashpoints Radio transcript — January 23 2007 <br>
<a href="http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/1_29_7.html">
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/1_29_7.html</a><br>
++++++<br><br>
2 minute trailer for Kevin Pina's documentary Haiti: We Must Kill the
Bandits: <br>
<a href="http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/5_8_7/5_8_7.html">
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/5_8_7/5_8_7.html</a><br>
Eyewitnesses Describe Massacre by UN Troops in Haitian Slum <br><br>
<br><br>
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