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<p class="hometitle"><span class="hometitle">WE STAND WITH OUR SISTER
A STATEMENT FROM HAITI ACTION COMMITTEE</span></p>
<span class="subtitle">STOP THE ATTACKS ON MYRLANDE LIBERIS-PAVERT AND
THE LAVALAS MOVEMENT</span><br>
<br>
<b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.haitisolidarity.net/article.php?id=592">http://www.haitisolidarity.net/article.php?id=592</a></small></small></b><br>
<span class="homebody">
<p class="homebody"><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">On
Friday, January 17, it was reported by news agencies that a Haitian
judge investigating the assassination of Jean Dominique, a crusading
Haitian journalist who was killed in 2000, recommended the indictment
of former Senator Myrlande Liberis-Pavert, a founder and former
director of the Aristide Foundation for Democracy, along with eight
others. </font> </p>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">No legal documents
to sustain these charges have been made public. From press accounts it
appears that the only “evidence” in the case is the testimony of a
single informant, a former member of Haiti’s security forces who was
convicted on drug trafficking charges in the United States in 2005. </font></p>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">By contrast,
Myrlande Liberis-Pavert, who maintains her innocence, is one of the
most beloved leaders of the Lavalas movement, someone who has fought
for a democratic Haiti, and for the rights of Haitian women and
children, since she was a teenager. We believe the attempt to link her
in any way with the murder of Jean Domenique, a pro-democracy
journalist who was a vocal critic of both the Haitian elite and the
U.S. role in Haiti, is defamation, pure and simple. The attack on her
is an attack on the grassroots movement in Haiti. We denounce it in the
strongest possible terms.
</font></p>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">Ms. Liberis-Pavert
has dedicated her life to the poor of Haiti. Her father was murdered by
the Tonton Macoutes, the dreaded paramilitary death squads of the
dictator, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier. As a teenager, she was an
active member of the congregation at St. Jean Bosco, a center of
Haiti’s struggle to end decades of rule by the Duvaliers and the
Haitian military. She was a founding member of SAJ (Solidarite an jen)
the youth movement that helped lead the national student strike which
finally overthrew Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier in 1987.
</font></p>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">Myrlande worked
closely with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from 1994-2004 at the
palace, and then as the administrator of the Aristide Foundation for
Democracy. An educator throughout her entire adult life, she founded
dozens of schools, administered several literacy campaigns, and helped
open community stores that benefited hundreds of thousands of people
throughout Haiti. She has been a leading advocate for the rights of
women and for women’s education and economic empowerment. Ms.
Liberis-Pavert was elected to the Senate in 2000, representing
Port-au-Prince on the Fanmi Lavalas ticket. The target of numerous
death threats, she was forced into exile during the violent 2004 coup
that overthrew the democratically elected Aristide government. </font></p>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">The public
defamation of Ms. Liberis-Pavert continues a pattern of slander and
attack aimed at those associated with Fanmi Lavalas. The goal is to
undermine Fanmi Lavalas, the most popular political party in Haiti, as
the country approaches new legislative elections and to continue to
tarnish the image of President Aristide himself. </font></p>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">Since Aristide’s
return, he has led the reopening of the University of the Aristide
Foundation (UNIFA). On September 26, 2011 the Medical School once again
opened its doors – this time to a new class of 126 future Haitian
doctors. Today, there are over 600 medical students, more than 200
nursing students and a new group of law students. And this is just the
beginning of a determined initiative to improve health care for all
Haitians, which has become even more urgent now with a cholera epidemic
still sweeping the country.
</font></p>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">The Haitian
government of Michel Martelly came to power after a staged “election”
in which Fanmi Lavalas was banned from participation. Martelly has
embraced Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the brutal former dictator,
who lives freely in Haiti and recently occupied a place of honor at the
January 1st 2014 Haitian Independence Day celebrations. Human rights
organizations estimate that the Duvaliers – “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” –
ordered the deaths of 20,000 to 30,000 Haitian citizens during their
29-year rule. While grassroots leaders and activists are targeted,
“Baby Doc” is allowed free rein in the country he terrorized for so
many years.
</font></p>
<p><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">Myrlande
Liberis-Pavert is our sister. We call on the Haitian government to end
this inquisition against her and the Lavalas movement.
</font> </p>
</span>
<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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