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<font face="Verdana" size="2"><u><strong>Haitians in the Streets</strong></u></font><font
face="Verdana" size="2"><u><strong> - Battle the Elites</strong></u></font><font
face="Verdana" size="2"><u><strong></strong></u></font>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana" size="2">Since
massive street demonstrations forced Michel Martelly to
leave the presidency as scheduled on February 7, a
provisional government led by Jocelerme Privert seeks to
hold elections for the presidency. The current Haitian
parliament approved the appointment of a provisional prime
minister and cabinet on March 27, and the provisional
government will now move to the question of elections.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana" size="2">The
question is: under what terms will the elections be held?
Will they be a US-mandated “run-off” of the 2 candidates
selected in the previous corrupt round of voting, as the
“international community” and the Haitian elites demand,
or will the process start with a verification of the
previous round to investigate voting and financial fraud
as an outraged electorate in the streets demands.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana" size="2">Privert
recently acceded to their call and named an investigation
commission to look into the fraudulent elections, raising
much alarm from the US/UN occupation forces and their
local minions. Reports of electoral corruption are coming
out in the open in Haiti, and the press is implicating a
number of the actors known as the “international
community.” </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana" size="2">Privert
also named a new Electoral Commission under the leadership
of Leopold Berlanger, a USAID-funded agent who was
denounced for electoral corruption by famed journalist
Jean Dominique in his final editorial before he was
assassinated. Their first step was to publish the
municipal results of the fraudulent October 25th
elections. This alarming move created more outrage and
condemnation from the popular movement demanding
transparent elections.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana" size="2">Because
Martelly refused to hold elections throughout his
administration, feeding the resurgence of Duvalierism in
Haiti, Haitians began to demonstrate to demand elections.
When Martelly finally agreed to hold elections in 2015 for
Parliament on August 9 and for Parliament and president on
October 25, his party and allied forces corrupted the
process through ballot box violence and various forms of
voter supression.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana" size="2">The
announced result of the presidential race was a “run-off”
between a businessman from Martelly’s party that few
voters knew or voted for and a close associate of previous
president Preval. These results had Maryse Narcisse, the
candidate of the Fanmi Lavalas Party founded by former
president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, finishing fourth.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana" size="2">The
Electoral Commission scheduled two dates for a “run-off,”
but the corruption, <u><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://sentinel.ht/2015/11/12/un-coord-implicated-in-electoral-fraud-allegations/"
target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext">reportedly
coordinated by UN (and former Martelly government)
official Sylvain Coté</span></a>,</u> was so
patently apparent that huge numbers of Haitians
demonstrated in the streets daily, and even the second
candidate refused to participate, causing voting to be
cancelled both dates. Demonstrators discovered legitimate
ballots on their way to being destroyed. A National Palace
official was involved in a vehicle accident in which
pre-filled-out ballots marked for the candidate of
Martelly’s party were spilled onto the road, and
credentials given to ruling party officials on a massive
scale led to ballot box stuffing. </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana" size="2">A
compromise agreement, negotiated through a Parliament
chosen in this same fraudulent electoral process, led to
Martelly leaving office as scheduled and the formation of
the interim Privert government mandated to hold the
“run-off” on April 24. Of the interim candidates offered,
Privert, the Minister of Interior during Aristide’s second
term who served 26 months in prison after the 2004 coup,
was the candidate most acceptable to the protesters
demonstrating in the streets. </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana" size="2">These
demonstrators, however, were not included in this
“agreement.” They believe Narcisse actually won the first
round of the election, and would win a large majority in
any honest election. They demand a full-scale independent
investigation of the election, an audit of the Martelly
government, and an end to interference in Haitian affairs
by the so-called Core Group of nations. Narcisse, the
Fanmi Lavalas candidate, has also initiated a legal
challenge both within Haiti and at the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana" size="2">The United
States is using its influence in the IMF and the World
Bank to coerce Haiti into accepting the fraudulent
“run-off” by withholding aid unless Haiti agrees to hold
the election. U.S. State Department Special Coordinator
for Haiti Kenneth Merten has issued threats, and on April
15 three reactionary Republican US Senators, including
Marco Rubio, wrote a bullying letter to Secretary of State
John Kerry demanding that the “run-off” election take
place as scheduled on April 24 (in 9 days!) and calling
for repressive actions against those in the streets
demanding fair elections. </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana" size="2">The UN
MINUSTAH army continues to occupy Haiti, enabling the
ongoing plunder of Haiti’s land, resources, and labor to
benefit international investors and Haitian elites, while
the cheated voters in the streets demand real democracy
and an economy that benefits the majority. They believe
that behind the lofty rhetoric of the United States call
for "stability" lies a massive cover-up of economic crimes
and electoral corruption that have greatly contributed to
their impoverishment. To win independence and abolish
slavery in 1804, Haitians had to defeat the armies of
Spain, England, and finally Napoleon. <em>Have times
really changed that much?</em></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana">Sent by Haiti Action
Committee</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.haitisolidarity.net"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.haitisolidarity.net">www.haitisolidarity.net</a></a>
and on FACEBOOK</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Verdana">@HaitiAction1</font></p>
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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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