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<b><big>Stop The Attacks on President Aristide and Haiti’s Grassroots
Movement</big></b>
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<p>The people of Haiti stand for justice, but they are against the
misuse of the justice system forpolitical persecution. That is why they
have come out by the thousands today, in support of former President
Aristide.</p>
<p>This Wednesday, May 8, tens of thousands of Haitians gathered at the
Palace of Justice in Port-au-Prince to support former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was summoned<br>
to court to be questioned about a thirteen-year-old murder
investigation. Mr. Aristide<br>
was “invited” to appear in court by Judge Ivikiel Dabrezil, the tenth
judge appointed to<br>
investigate the murder of internationally known journalist, Jean
Leopold Dominique, who<br>
was shot in the courtyard of his radio station in 2000.</p>
<p>Members of Haiti’s most popular political party, Lavalas, as well as
international<br>
supporters, view this “invitation” as the latest effort in what has
been an ongoing assault<br>
against Haiti’s grassroots democratic movement and its principal
leader. The Haiti Action<br>
Committee includes itself amongst those who denounce unequivocally
these attacks.</p>
<p>Since his return two years ago from forced exile, President Aristide
has reopened the<br>
University of the Aristide Foundation’s Medical School (UNIFA). On
September 26, 2011<br>
the Medical School once again opened its doors, seven years after the
school’s forced<br>
closure by the U.S.-orchestrated coup in 2004. Currently over 200
future Haitian doctors<br>
are in attendance at the school. Now a nursing school has opened as
well. This is just the<br>
beginning of an initiative to improve healthcare for all Haitians.</p>
<p>Ever since Aristide and his family returned to Haiti, he has been a
particular target of<br>
Michel Martelly – who assumed the office of President in March 2011 as
the result of<br>
fraudulent elections – and the occupation-installed Martelly
administration. Two months<br>
ago, Aristide was summoned to court in two separate cases. In Haiti, it
is implicit that<br>
these ridiculous allegations are attempts to discredit President
Aristide’s reputation and<br>
delegitimize his current work. The efforts to link him in any way to
the assassination of<br>
Jean Dominique – a journalist beloved by the people for his unbending
criticism of U.S.<br>
interference in Haiti – are equally outrageous.</p>
<p>Aristide has always been an advocate of the poor, and a proponent of
an educational<br>
system that includes the poorest. Because he has been such an
unwavering voice for the<br>
people’s movement, he is considered a threat to the U.S./UN occupation
and the Martelly<br>
administration, which is in the process of bringing back the repressive
institutions of the<br>
Duvalier regime, including the paramilitary and Haitian Army.</p>
<p>Yet, as ever, grassroots organizations throughout Haiti have a clear
understanding of<br>
the repressive nature of the May 8 summons. This attack against
Aristide represents an<br>
attack against the entire democratic grassroots movement. Nevertheless,
they accepted<br>
the “invitation” on their own terms and planned full-scale support of
Aristide today, when<br>
thousands joined him at the Judicial Palace. Refusing to be
intimidated, the organizations<br>
announced peaceful actions today, which they have chosen to mark as the
beginning of asustained campaign for the people’s full participation in
the running of their country.</p>
<div><em>The Haiti Action Committee stands in solidarity with the
people of Haiti as they struggle to<br>
regain national sovereignty, rebuild their democracy, and end the
U.S./UN occupation.</em></div>
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<div>Sent by Haiti Action Committee</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.haitisolidarity.net">www.haitisolidarity.net</a>
and on FACEBOOK</div>
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<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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