<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<h1 id="seo_h1_tag" class="_5gmx"
data-testid="event-permalink-event-name">Haiti Report Back</h1>
<p><font size="+1"><b>Saturday at 3 PM – 5 PM <br>
</b><b><a class="_5xhk"
href="https://www.facebook.com/518valencia/?eid=ARBrimzWtSd_XO1CGfe8kFR3BNsLjzylmh7FYfFSwR1MpHgwmVFayGk5xNbsQG6HTJ88qW8hF6zLv6Hh"
data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=221708517872355&extragetparams=%7B%22eid%22%3A%22ARBrimzWtSd_XO1CGfe8kFR3BNsLjzylmh7FYfFSwR1MpHgwmVFayGk5xNbsQG6HTJ88qW8hF6zLv6Hh%22%7D"
data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" id="u_jsonp_7_h">518
Valencia: The Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics</a></b></font><span
data-testid="event_permalink_privacy"></span><br>
</p>
<p>Hosted by <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/HaitiActionCommittee/?eid=ARBj8R0CdMGnECKLGVCaZLxXt1MmRopvf7My-q3Oqcik6lWaOLXihVOW3RkI9sXu_GSA7pJHscBiZvyc"
data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=262983839885&extragetparams=%7B%22eid%22%3A%22ARBj8R0CdMGnECKLGVCaZLxXt1MmRopvf7My-q3Oqcik6lWaOLXihVOW3RkI9sXu_GSA7pJHscBiZvyc%22%7D"
data-hovercard-position="below">Haiti Action Committee</a></p>
<p><span>With Seth Donnelly - Haiti Action Committee; Pierre
Labossiere - Haiti Action Committee; Judith Mirkinson - National
Lawyers Guild; Margaret Prescod - Sojourner Truth Radio; Walter
Riley - Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. <br>
<br>
A delegation of Haiti solidarity and human rights activists
recently returned from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, will
report on the grassroots uprising and the brutal repression
trying to stop it. Their focus was on graduation ceremonies at
the University of the Aristide Foundation and meetings with
residents in the impoverished community of Lasalin. This
insurgent community is a stronghold of grassroots Lavalas
resistance and the scene of a state-sponsored massacre of
hundreds of people last November. You will hear a first-hand
report about this ongoing human rights crisis which has been
completely ignored by the United States, UN, international
community, diplomats and the mainstream media. Here is a brief
interview with Judith Mirkinson and Seth Donnelly on Sojourner
Truth Radio: <a target="_blank" href="https://bit.ly/2U3Vcd7"
rel="nofollow noopener">http://bit.ly/2U3Vcd7</a><br>
$10-20 no one turned away</span></p>
<p><span>_________________________________________________________________<br>
</span></p>
<div class="moz-forward-container">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
p.MsoCommentText, li.MsoCommentText, div.MsoCommentText
{mso-style-link:"Comment Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:#954F72;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoCommentSubject, li.MsoCommentSubject, div.MsoCommentSubject
{mso-style-link:"Comment Subject Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
font-weight:bold;}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
{mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
span.CommentTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Comment Text Char";
mso-style-link:"Comment Text";}
span.CommentSubjectChar
{mso-style-name:"Comment Subject Char";
mso-style-link:"Comment Subject";
font-weight:bold;}
span.BalloonTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char";
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text";
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
p.msochpdefault, li.msochpdefault, div.msochpdefault
{mso-style-name:msochpdefault;
margin-right:0in;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
span.apple-converted-space
{mso-style-name:apple-converted-space;}
span.UnresolvedMention
{mso-style-name:"Unresolved Mention";
color:#605E5C;
background:#E1DFDD;}
.MsoChpDefault
{font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:.5in .7in .5in .7in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<div class="WordSection1">
<div align="center">
<table class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse:collapse"
cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width:509.4pt;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"
width="849" valign="top">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center"
align="center"><b><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center"
align="center"><b><span
style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Human
Rights
Delegation Condemns Political Massacres Tied to
<br>
Haiti’s Government </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center"
align="center"><b><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Investigation
reveals attacks in
Lasalin, Tokyo and Site Vinsant neighborhoods, <br>
rather than simply gang warfare, were
retaliation for anti-government
protests</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">(Oakland,
Los Angeles and Boston, May 8, 2019)</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A
delegation including lawyers, activists and a
journalist investigating
reports of a months-long series of deadly attacks
in poor neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince,
were in Port au Price from April 24<sup>th</sup>
to April 27<sup>th</sup>.
After reviewing human rights reports, collecting
testimony from victims,
reviewing video filmed by journalists, they
concluded that the attacks were
perpetrated by police and gangs associated with
Haiti’s government, and were
done to punish neighborhood residents-- many of
whom identify as supporters
of the <i>Fanmi Lavalas </i>party—for playing a
leading role in a series of
demonstrations opposing government corruption,
mismanagement and brutality.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The
delegation investigated attacks that took place
from October 2018 to April
2019, that included the murder of dozens of
residents, rape, beatings and
other torture, burning of houses, threats, and
destruction of property. The
delegation interviewed eyewitnesses to the
attacks, victims, human rights
lawyers and former political leaders in Haiti.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Actor,
director and producer Danny Glover recalled
meeting the head of <i>Fanmi
Lavalas, </i>President Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
in exile during the early
1990s. He explained President Aristide had and
still has a dream for a better
future for Haiti, where education, healthcare and
justice were a right for
all, not a privilege for the few. Glover was
devastated by the stories he
heard about the massacres, about the burning of
homes, about the suffering of
women and children, the chopping up and burning
the bodies of men who are
then left to be eaten by animals. “Clearly these
are not random gang
attacks, but people who are being targeted because
they dare to stand up to
the present government and demand education,
healthcare and justice for
all.” Glover proclaimed that he is Haitian at
heart, that the country
played a central historic role in the ending of
slavery in all of the
Americas, and that we all owe a great debt to
Haiti. He promised to
stand with the Haitian people in their struggle
for justice and insisted that
everything possible must be done to end the
massacres and bring hope to the
Haitian people. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Margaret
Prescod, host of US-based Pacifica Radio’s
national broadcast “Sojourner
Truth,” whose focus areas are women’s rights and
anti-racism, added, “I have
been to Haiti twice in the past five weeks and
have been reporting on the
massacres. I have seen the devastation and
suffering of women and children,
the displacement from homes, the widespread impact
of the massacres, and the
starvation of entire communities. It is
unconscionable and likely one
of the largest human rights crises in the
Americas. In my first visit to Lasalin,
I went into a home where the skeleton of a
pregnant woman who was burned
alive was still there, as was the smell of death.
Children spoke to me of
their fathers being killed and their mothers now
left with nothing. In
this second visit, victims told us they are
targeted not only because their
communities are opposed to the present government,
but because they are
active supporters of <i>Fanmi Lavalas</i>, the
political organization headed
by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They
are asking for justice
and compensation, for the US to withdraw its
support for Haitian President
Jovenel Moïse whose election was widely reported
as fraudulent. They want
Jovenel Moïse to step down, and accountability for
the disappeared
PetroCaribe money which was stolen from the people
by the government. They
want free and fair elections. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;
background:white">Activist Pierre Labossi</span><span
style="font-family:
"Arial","sans-serif";color:#080E14;background:white">è</span><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;background:white">re
of
the Bay Area Haiti Action Committee explained “in
the midst of the
despair imposed on the population by Haiti’s
ruling establishment, a dynamic,
vibrant Haiti is struggling to emerge. The
corruption and brutality of
the US/UN-imposed PHTK governments now headed by
Jovenel Moïse leave no doubt
as to the Duvalierist roots and "Tonton Macoutes"
methods now being
used in the Port-au-Prince neighborhoods of
Lasalin, Tokyo, Site Vincent and
Kafoufey by the government's UN-supervised police
and their affiliated death
squads, their identity disguised by referring to
them as "gangs".
The survivors we met--mostly women-- spoke of
being beaten, burned, and
raped, witnessing their loved ones being killed
and their homes and
belongings stolen and burned. They spoke of their
loved ones being massacred
because their communities are Lavalas supporters,
and because Lasalin gave
birth to the Lavalas movement. The victims and
witnesses described being
active participants in bringing about the vision
of a Haiti of inclusion,
justice, peace and prosperity. Since the bloody
coup d’état in February 2004
led by the US, France and Canada, it has been a
15-year process by the
ensuing UN occupation to drag the Haitian people
back to the brutal
dictatorship, murder and corruption of the
Duvalier years. The world needs to
know the present-day reality in Haiti and to stand
in solidarity with the
Haitian people.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Civil
rights lawyer Walter Riley explained “I am
outraged by what I heard from
victims in my recent visit to Haiti. And I am
outraged that the taxpayers in
the United States are being used to prop up the
corrupt government of Jovenel
Moïse. The attacks on people in Lasalin began as
retaliation to
demonstrations calling for President Jovenel Moïse
to resign over stolen
billions of PetroCaribe money from Venezuela and
systemic corruption in
failed governance. We have testimony of witnesses
in the area and from
human rights organizations about the brutality,
the crimes against humanity.
We have eyewitness reports that these attacks are
not simply gangs as they
are being referred to by the press and the US
Embassy, but part of militias
backed by some in the Moïse administration. The
murder and brutality is
a policy of the Haitian government which is backed
by the United States.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;text-align:justify"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Brian
Concannon Human
rights lawyer added: “I have worked on political
violence cases in Haiti for
24 years and the witness reports from Lasalin,
Tokyo and Site Vincent are all
too similar to other notorious acts
of state-sponsored oppression,
including the 1987 attack on the St. Jean Bosco
church in Lasalin, attacks by
the Duvalier dictatorship and the 1994 Raboteau
massacre. With the Duvaliers’
Ton-Ton Macoutes, the FRAPH death squads and now
the violent groups under the
Moïse administration, the motive for each has been
silencing calls for
justice and democracy and terrorizing government
opponents, while disguising
government participation. The government is trying
to shoot its way out of a
political crisis generated by its corruption and
mismanagement. If we do not
ensure justice for Lasalin now, there will be more
victims.”</span> </p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> Global
Women's Strike/Bay Area <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:sf@allwomencount.net"><sf@allwomencount.net></a></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span><br>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedomarchives.org/">https://freedomarchives.org/</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>