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<h2>No to sham elections and US occupation</h2>
<h3>Open letter from Haiti human rights activists to US Congress</h3>
<h4>2014-10-14, Issue <a
href="http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/698">698</a><a
href="http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/93125"><br>
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/93125</a>
</h4>
<p>10 October 2014<br>
<br>
To: <br>
Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), Ranking Member, House Committee on
Foreign Affairs<br>
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl), Chairman, House Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Middle East and Central Asia<br>
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY)<br>
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balartz (R-FL)<br>
Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL)<br>
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)<br>
Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs<br>
Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ), Ranking Member, House Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere<br>
Matt Salmon (R-AZ), Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee
on the Western Hemisphere<br>
Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Member, House Appropriations
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs<br>
Rep. Joe Garcia (D-FL)<br>
Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL)<br>
Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-FL)<br>
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)<br>
Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Ranking Member, House Committee on
the Judiciary<br>
<br>
Dear Honorable Senators and Representatives,<br>
<br>
We would like to thank you for your work on behalf of the American
people to promote justice and democracy. However, we are writing
you to express our outrage over your <a
href="http://www.ezilidanto.com/zili/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/15USlawmakersWrite2HaitiSenate.pdf">letter</a>
dated September 15, 2014 to Senator Simon Dieuseul Desras,
President of the Haitian Senate. We, Haitians and
Haitian-Americans living in the Diaspora, appreciate your
concerns. Yet after reading your letter, we are more concerned
because it is clear that you have not been properly informed on
the real situation in Haiti. In that regard, we would like to
share with you some of the obstacles Haiti faces.<br>
<br>
The situation in Haiti is very bleak, and extremely serious.
Haitians living in Haiti are faced with an uncertain future. The
current regime that was imposed on the people of Haiti by the US
and allies through a fraudulent election in 2010, has moved the
clock backwards in all areas. This selection had the seal of
approval of former US President William Jefferson Clinton with the
support of his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton, then US Secretary of
State.<br>
<br>
If, we were to give a facade of legitimacy to the Martelly
selection by the US and its allies, one would suppose a legitimate
government is constitutionally obligated to organize local,
municipal and parliamentary elections. But it has been three (3)
years since President Martelly took office. Where are we and what
has happened? Essentially the powerful hand of international
lawmakers and global stakeholders, backed by UN privatized guns
for the benefit of US and trans-national corporate interests,
prevent the Haitian populace from handling issues that need to be
handled by Haitians.<br>
<br>
By chance, have you inquired why elections were not organized in
2011, 2012, and 2013? Currently, all local government officers
have been replaced with non-elected presidential henchmen called
Interim Executive Agents who are friends and supporters of the
Martelly-Lamothe regime. All the institutions necessary to conduct
free, fair, and democratic elections are under the control of the
executive branch of government.<br>
<br>
The justice system has been heavily politicized and is in a state
of paralysis. The Martelly-Lamothe regime has been using the
justice system to repress political opponents.<br>
<br>
In one instance, a Deputy in function was arrested and jailed in
clear violation of the Haitian constitution.<br>
<br>
In another instance, a judge investigating corruption charges
brought against president Martelly and his family died, allegedly
from the great pressure illegally exerted by the Martelly-Lamothe
regime for the judge to throw out the case.<br>
<br>
In yet another situation, Martelly’s Minister of Justice
personally went to a police station and ordered the release of the
wife of an individual who is a good friend of the president and
was put in jail under a judge’s order while conducting an
investigation into an alleged kidnapping.<br>
<br>
Where are the voices of concern from “the friends of Haiti” and/or
“the international human rights industry” against this
Martelly-Lamothe reign of terror?<br>
<br>
The police force is in a very precarious situation that is no
different than that of the justice system.<br>
<br>
The selected president feels so comfortable with US-Euro support
of his new Duvalierist regime that he publicly stated that “the
police is the armed wing of the government”.<br>
<br>
In the manner of Ferguson USA, this US and foreign-trained,
militarized police has been used to break-up peaceful protests
through the use of tear gas, beatings, chemical showers, rubber
bullets and other militarized police tools.<br>
<br>
Peaceful demonstrators are routinely arrested and thrown in jail.
These individuals are indefinitely kept imprisoned without a
hearing, trial or conviction. The near complete impunity of the
Haiti State, supported by the international “friends” of Haiti,
reign as if Haiti and the world were back in the Cold War days.<br>
<br>
This Haiti mass disenfranchisement and repression is a clear
violation of local, regional and international human rights.<br>
<br>
A growing number of political prisoners like the Florestal
Brothers whose only crime was to file a lawsuit against the
president’s family for corruption are abandoned and warehoused in
US occupied Haiti behind UN privatized colonial guns.<br>
<br>
The persecution of attorneys Andre Michel and Newton Saint-Juste
for denouncing corruption and for filing lawsuits against many
members of the government and the presidential family, evidences
the authoritarian nature of the new Duvalierist regime supported
by US lawmakers without dissent.<br>
<br>
Opposition members are constantly harassed and persecuted; even
former President Jean Bertrand Aristide has been targeted with an
illegal house arrest.<br>
<br>
Effectively, Haiti is functioning under the regime of “Legal
Bandits”, a moniker given to the current regime by the Haitian
public that US Lawmakers won’t hear.<br>
<br>
Those close to the Martelly regime routinely commit crimes and
walk free with impunity. One Senator close to the government beat
up an individual and broke his tooth. The Senator in question,
during a radio interview, said “I broke his tooth.” Yet, he was
found not guilty of any charges in the town of Jacmel where the
incident took place.<br>
<br>
Another close ally of President Martelly in Jacmel, spit on a
judge’s face. The judge was subsequently fired for no apparent
reason.<br>
<br>
A close friend and member of the President’s security team beat
up, punch, slaps anyone who get in his way. A group of innocent
students passed his car on their way to school; he pulled the
students car over, beat them up, and humiliated them in broad day
light. Afterwards, he drove the students to the next police
precinct and walked off. These are verified and documented
incidents of state terror.<br>
<br>
Most illegally, President Michel Martelly summarily issued a
presidential decree that charges $1.50 on every transfer that is
being sent to Haiti and also a .5-cent tax on all international
outgoing and incoming phone calls. The money collected from the
fees is supposed to cover expenses associated with the President
free school program. The law that would make this program legal
never made it to the Haitian parliament. From 2013 to present, an
alarming number of teachers have been on strike for not getting
paid. There is no accountability on how those monies are collected
and or spent. The Diaspora is not spared.<br>
<br>
Many Haitians are living in terror of losing their homes and their
family lands. Over 400 houses have been demolished in
Port-au-Prince by Martelly’s regime and only 17 homeowners
received compensation. At the same time, Prime Minister Laurent
Lamothe is taking over the Island of Ile a-Vache and evicting
residents from their lands. This situation is forcing a number of
Haitians to become homeless. It is understood that many of Haiti’s
land is being liquidated to foreigners. A May 10, 2013
presidential decree takes Haiti offshore islands for “tourism and
public utility” and will subject hundreds of thousands of Haitians
and impoverished peasants to possible eviction off their communal
properties or family-owned lands.<br>
<br>
The Prime Minister refused to show up in parliament to defend the
nation’s budget and explain the nation’s expenditures. All of
those things are happening under the eyes and noses of the
international community.<br>
<br>
Pamela White, the US Ambassador in Haiti, has not said a single
word to condemn these acts. It is likewise for Ms. Sandra Honore ,
the UN Representative in Haiti. The majority of the US newspapers
are completely silent, especially the Miami Herald.<br>
<br>
Former UN Secretary General, Boutros Boutros Ghali said, in 2003,
that “the United Nations is just an instrument at the service of
American policy”. And so are its peacekeeping missions.<br>
<br>
Since 2004, Haiti has been under military occupation by the United
Nations, which is, as Boutros Ghali and Haiti freedom fighters
have pointed out, nothing but a proxy for the United States to
impose its will and agenda on the majority of the Haitian people.<br>
<br>
One of the stated purposes of the United Nations in Haiti was to
promote democracy and build institutions in the society through
democratic elections. That mission has been a catastrophic
failure. Both elections held under their leadership in 2006 and in
2010 were deeply flawed and contested. It seems that the goal of
the international community and mostly the United States is to
have a “selection” where the majority of Haitians are excluded.
Unfortunately, the organization of American States (OAS) is used
to validate the election results. The international human rights
industry also remains mute on the US occupation in Haiti behind
privatized UN guns, Private Military and Security companies
(PMSCs) and the NGO charitable industrial complex.<br>
<br>
The Unites States Mission to Stabilize Haiti known as MINUSTAH has
destabilized Haiti since its arrival.<br>
<br>
MINUSTAH’s soldiers have killed, raped, infected Haitians with
cholera, and generally prevent Haitians from expressing their
democratic rights. This force replaces the old Haitian army and
paramilitary forces. More than 10,000 Haitians have lost their
lives in the cholera epidemic and over 850,000 have been infected,
taking Haiti from zero cholera cases in October 2010 to having the
world’s worst cholera epidemic. It is far from being over as more
Haitians continue to die with the disease. The cholera victims
have yet to be compensated. The United Nations refuses to take
responsibility for its soldiers committing genocide in Haiti. The
Obama administration, the respondeat superior here, sides with the
UN – its employee in Haiti- to continue the tradition of impunity
for the wealthy and powerful. It recently intervened in a Federal
class action lawsuit against the UN to recommend that the federal
judge find the UN immune from legal liability for importing
cholera to Haiti.<br>
<br>
Wouldn’t committed friends of Haiti demand justice for Haitians?
Write to UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon to urge for the United Nations
to pay damages to the cholera victims?<br>
<br>
Haitians have been calling for the UN troops to leave the country
for ten years now and they have to go. Why won’t US Lawmakers join
hands with the Haitians in supporting their call to end the
occupation?<br>
<br>
With regard to the electoral council, there is overwhelming
information circulating throughout the Haitian press daily stating
that the majority of Haitians have no confidence in the current
body. There was meager participation in the dialogue, and the
discussion to create this electoral body was not inclusive. The
process that created it has been contested since its inception.
The electoral body consists of nine (9) members, six (6) of whom
have been handpicked by President Martelly. There is no trust in
the government and the electoral body lacks credibility. Under
those conditions, can honest, fair and free elections be held in
the country? No.<br>
<br>
Haitians want free, fair, honest and democratic elections.
Haitians do not want pre-programed election results, prepared by
the international community and justified by the Organization of
American States (OAS) in Washington, DC. This was the case in 2006
and in 2010. Enough is enough. The neo-Duvalier reign of terror in
Haiti is unacceptable. Silence is complicity.<br>
<br>
The dissenting Haitian Senators respectfully demanded the
implementation of the Haitian constitution in the formation of the
Provisional Electoral Council. They have also requested that the
necessary conditions be put in place for honest and fair elections
be held. When one considers the current atmosphere in Haiti, the
blatant violation of human rights, fear and intimidation
perpetrated toward the opposition; the Senators’ positions are
justified. As legislators, you stand guard against any violations
of the US constitution. How come you are writing legislators in
another country asking them to violate their own laws?<br>
<br>
The United States of America has promoted dictatorship in Haiti,
overthrown democratically elected president Aristide and now,
again, is getting ready to organize another sham election while
they are calling themselves “friends of Haitians.”<br>
<br>
Which Haitians are they friends with? Conditions must be
established to have free, fair, credible and democratic elections
for all to participate. That means no occupation. That means that
Haitians must have control of their own resources to develop and
improve Haiti’s infrastructures, food security and self-reliance.
Right now, we are far from being there.<br>
<br>
We are sick and tired of the so-called “friends of Haiti” who time
after time have shown that they are the enemies of freedom and
democracy for the majority of Haitians. We hope that you will
invest the time to become fully knowledgeable about the
imperialist war against the Haiti masses and their natural
resources. Perhaps then, you will realize that your are on the
wrong path. The letter sent the wrong signal and we forcefully
condemned it.<br>
<br>
We, Haitians and Haitian-Americans in the diaspora, stand firm in
supporting democratic elections and the institutionalization of
the rule of law in Haiti. There can be no democracy, legitimate
elections or due application of local, regional or international
human rights laws while Haiti is under foreign occupation. We are
committed to defending the rights of the citizens of Haiti to
elect their government representatives freely and fairly. We are
ready to mobilize the Diaspora with our ballots as well as through
other peaceful means to put an end to this situation in order to
have real democracy in Haiti. This will enable the country to
prosper and become the paradise that we all know Haiti can be
without all this meddling and US hero/villain pathology and
thereby accomplishing the dreams of our forefathers of
establishing a truly independent nation.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
1. Jean Yves Point-du-Jour, Transportation Engineer Manager<br>
Maryland USA <a href="mailto:Youri44@hotmail.com">Youri44@hotmail.com</a><br>
<br>
2. Eugenia Charles, Democracy for Haiti<br>
<br>
3. Ezili Dantò, Human Rights Attorney, Haitian lawyers Leadership
Network, Free Haiti Movement (Author of “The Quiet Genocide in
Haiti/How is it wielded from FDR to Obama-The United Nations, a
criminal organization from Lumumba to Aristide)<br>
<br>
4. Thony Jean Tenor, Veye Yo-Miami, FL<br>
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