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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><b><i><span style="font-size:18pt"><font
color="#000000" face="Times">Stop The Attacks On
Former Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the Lavalas
Movement</font></span></i></b></p>
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color="#000000" face="Times"> </font></span></i></b></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><b><span style="font-size:16pt"><font
color="#000000" face="Times">An Urgent Call from Haiti
Action Committee</font></span></b></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times"><font
color="#000000" size="3">On August 13, the Haitian
government summoned former
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to court on corruption
charges.</font><span><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font
color="#000000" size="3">This summons is part of a
chilling pattern of
repression aimed at destroying Aristide’s political party,
Fanmi Lavalas, as
the country approaches new legislative elections. We
denounce it in the
strongest possible terms.</font></font></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times"><font
color="#000000" size="3">On March 18, 2011, tens of
thousands of people followed
President Aristide’s car as it drove from the airport to
his home, following his
return from seven years of forced exile.</font><span><font
color="#000000" size="3">
</font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">They then
climbed over the walls into the courtyard of the
Aristides’ residence
to continue an emotional and heart-felt greeting for
Haiti’s first
democratically elected president, overthrown in a
U.S.-orchestrated coup in
2004.</font><span><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font
color="#000000" size="3">In his speech at the airport,
President Aristide focused on education and the importance
of inclusion for all
Haitians in the process of restoring democracy. </font></font></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times"><font
color="#000000" size="3">Since his return, President
Aristide has done exactly what
he promised to do – reopen the University of the Aristide
Foundation (UNIFA).
On September 26, 2011 the Medical School once again opened
its doors.</font><span><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font></span><font
color="#000000" size="3">Today, there are over 900
students studying
medicine, nursing and law at a University whose mission is
to provide higher
education to all sectors of Haitian society, not just the
children of the rich.
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Times"
size="3">And yet, in spite of this powerful and important
work,
Aristide and other Lavalas leaders and activists remain the
target of
government harassment and attack. This is not surprising;
after all, the
Haitian government of Michel Martelly came to power after
elections with a
historically low turnout in which Fanmi Lavalas, Haiti’s
most popular political
party, was banned from participation. </font></p>
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size="3"> </font></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times"><font
color="#000000" size="3">Martelly has embraced Jean-Claude
“Baby Doc” Duvalier, the
former Haitian dictator. Human rights organizations
estimate that the Duvaliers
– “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” – were responsible for the
deaths of over 30,000
Haitian citizens during their 29-year rule. While Duvalier
now lives freely in
Haiti and was honored by Martelly at the January 1</font><sup><font
color="#000000">st</font></sup><font color="#000000"
size="3"> 2014 Haitian
Independence Day celebrations, President Aristide and the
democratic movement
are under assault.</font></font></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Times"
size="3">For over a decade, U.S. and Haitian authorities
have
periodically threatened President Aristide with indictment
and “tried” him in the
pages of a compliant media. None of these charges has stuck,
for the simple
reason that they are all lies. This is the third time since
his return in 2011
that Haitian authorities have trumpeted charges against
President Aristide.
Each time, after sensational headlines, the cases were
unceremoniously shelved
after an initial hearing and interview, before President
Aristide could even
challenge the accusations. </font></p>
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size="3"> </font></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times"><font
color="#000000" size="3">The politicized nature of the
charges is further evidenced
by the history of the judge in the case, Lamarre
Bélizaire. The Port-au-Prince
Bar Association has suspended Bélizaire for ten years from
the practice of law
(the suspension to begin once he steps down as judge) for
using the court to
persecute opponents of the Martelly regime.</font><span><font
color="#000000" size="3">
</font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">This latest
summons is one more example of a government determined to
derail any opposition.</font></font></p>
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<p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000" face="Times"
size="3">Each time these charges are trotted out, the goal
is to
defame Aristide, weaken Lavalas and endanger the vital
educational work that he
has led since his return. Haiti’s grassroots movement knows
that each new
rumored indictment is part of a campaign to intimidate and
silence them. When President
Aristide was last called to court, thousands of people
surrounded the
courthouse, chanting: “If they call our brother, they call
all of us.”
Yesterday, once again, people took to the streets to show
him their support. </font></p>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times"><font
color="#000000" size="3">We echo their voices. Enough is
enough. It is time for
education, health care, and democratic development in
Haiti, not a resurgence
of political repression.</font><span><font color="#000000"
size="3"> </font></span><font color="#000000" size="3">We
call on the
Haitian government to withdraw this warrant.</font></font></div>
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<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000"
face="Times" size="3"><em>Sent by Haiti Action Committee</em></font></div>
<div style="margin:0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#000000"
face="Times" size="3"><em><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.haitisolidarity.net">www.haitisolidarity.net</a>
and on FACEBOOK</em></font></div>
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face="Times" size="3"><em></em></font><br>
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<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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