<div dir="ltr">
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<font size="1"><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/10/28/stop-the-massacres-in-haiti-end-u-s-and-un-support-for-the-criminal-regime-of-jovenel-moise/">https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/10/28/stop-the-massacres-in-haiti-end-u-s-and-un-support-for-the-criminal-regime-of-jovenel-moise/</a>
</font>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Stop the Massacres in Haiti! End U.S. and UN Support for the Criminal Regime of Jovenel Moise</h1>
<span class="gmail-post_author_intro">by</span> <span class="gmail-post_author"><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/author/htctn3912ee/" rel="nofollow">Haiti Action Committee - October 28, 2020</a></span>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div>
<p>The human rights crisis under the US-backed dictatorship of Jovenel
Moise has continued to widen and deepen with the proliferation of
“Tonton Macoutes” style death squad repression across the country.</p>
<p>On October 2nd, 2020, university student leader, law student, and
teacher-in-training Gregory Saint-Hilaire was shot in the back inside
of the university by Jovenel Moise’s special security unit within
the Haitian police that had illegally invaded the campus. Saint-Hilaire
was an outspoken pro-democracy activist who had been calling upon
students and faculty to denounce government corruption, massacres, and
Haiti’s rapid descent into dictatorship. After being shot Saint-Hilaire
was prevented from receiving medical care for 4 hours or more and died.
The next day, university students accused the Haitian police
of involvement in setting the school library on fire.</p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_129472" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img src="http://uziiw38pmyg1ai60732c4011-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/dropzone/2020/10/Screen-Shot-2020-10-26-at-4.18.33-PM.png" alt="" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="317" height="452"></p><p id="gmail-caption-attachment-129472" class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Gregory
Saint-Hilaire holding a protest sign that reads “Down with Weapons!
Long Live Education!” “Weapons” refers to the weaponization of the
police and paramilitary groups like G-9.</p></div>
<p>Gregory Saint-Hilaire’s murder came on the heels of the assassination
of Monferrier Dorval, a well-respected Haitian lawyer, constitutional
scholar, and head of the Port-au-Prince bar association, who was killed
on August 28th, 2020, literally within hours of speaking out against the
regime in a radio broadcast.</p>
<p>As noted by US Representative Maxine Waters in a powerful letter of
protest directed to US Ambassador Michele Sison on October 5th,
2020, “Dorval had previously signed a statement denouncing more than
two dozen presidential decrees signed by Moïse and calling for them to
be recalled. Dorval’s murder followed the murder of at least two other
prominent Haitians, Radio Caraibes host Frantz Adrien Bony and
Haitian businessman Michel Saieh; all three were killed over a
two-day period.”</p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_129473" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a><img src="http://uziiw38pmyg1ai60732c4011-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/dropzone/2020/10/Screen-Shot-2020-10-26-at-4.18.46-PM.png" alt="" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="259" height="452"></a></p><p id="gmail-caption-attachment-129473" class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Gregory Saint-Hilaire and Monferrier Dorval, assassinated by the regime for their outspoken activism.</p></div>
<div id="gmail-attachment_129474" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img src="http://uziiw38pmyg1ai60732c4011-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/dropzone/2020/10/Screen-Shot-2020-10-26-at-4.18.57-PM.png" alt="" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="370" height="452"></p><p id="gmail-caption-attachment-129474" class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Merijouna Fleurimont, killed by the G-9 death squad.</p></div>
<p>Meanwhile, massacres, extrajudicial killings, and the burning of
houses by the regime’s surrogate “G-9” death squad in popular,
impoverished Port-au-Prince neighborhoods such as Sity Soleil, Lasalin,
Tokyo, and Bel Air have become regular occurrences. G-9 refers to
a highly armed network of paramilitary affiliates of the
regime (labeled “gangs” in the media) led by former police officer Jimmy
Cherizier, aka “Barbecue”. Even children and pregnant women have not
been spared by the G-9 during these massacres. In Cite Soleil, on July
12th, 2020, Merijouna Fleurimont, an 8-month old baby, was shot in the
head and killed by the G-9 death squad in the course of its assault on
the community.</p>
<p>Two weeks later, also in Cite Soleil, 27-year old Gyrlande Polis, 8
months pregnant, was shot and killed by the G-9 death squad. Due to the
lack of healthcare, her unborn baby also died. As with the notorious
Lasalin massacre on November 13th, 2018– perpetrated by G-9 leader
Cherizier along with paramilitary affiliates and police officers of the
regime– these more recent massacres are targeting unarmed civilians in
popular neighborhoods that are bases of Lavalas opposition to the
regime.[1] Lavalas is the mass movement for democracy and human rights
in Haiti led by the poor majority.</p>
<p>Working-class women in popular neighborhoods are subjected to rape by
regime forces as part of their war on the Haitian poor. One example
among countless such crimes was the murder of Christella [last name
witheld due to security concerns] on August 24th, 2020 in Lasalin.
She resisted rape by a G9 death squad member and he shot her in the head
in front of her child. This provoked outrage in the Haitian popular
movement and social media, but received no coverage whatsoever here in
the US media.</p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_129459" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img src="http://uziiw38pmyg1ai60732c4011-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/dropzone/2020/10/word-image-17.png" alt="" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="330" height="452"></p><p id="gmail-caption-attachment-129459" class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Christella, killed by a G-9 death squad member after she resisted being raped.</p></div>
<p>A video titled “Victims of the Regime of Jovenel Moise (2017 to
present)” represents a “Say Their Names” musical tribute with the
refrain “Na sonje (let’s remember).” It provides a partial list of the
many killed by Jovenel Moise’s security forces. The video includes part
of an interview with Gregory Saint-Hilaire.</p>
<p>While the regime has escalated its repression and killings, the US
government has increased its level of funding for and provision of
weapons to the regime’s US-trained police. As reported on August 31st,
2020 by the Center for Economic and Policy Research: “Earlier this month
[August], the State Department notified Congress that it
was reallocating $8 million from last year’s budget to support the HNP
[Haitian National Police]. Since Trump took office, the US has nearly
quadrupled its support to Haiti’s — from $2.8 million in 2016 to more
than $12.4 million last year. With the recent reallocation, the
figure this year will likely be even higher. US funding for the Haitian
police constitutes more than 10 percent of the institution’s overall
budget.”[2]</p>
<p>The US government continues to provide key support for the
regime, propping up its power despite massive, unyielding protests by
the Haitian people. The US government continues to support the regime’s
plan to hold illegitimate elections and maintain its death grip despite
the fact that truly fair and free elections are impossible under such a
regime.</p>
<p>Likewise, the UN continues to provide critical international support
for the regime that is a malignant outgrowth of the US/ UN occupation of
Haiti following the US-backed coup d’etat against President Aristide on
February 29th, 2004. In an appalling statement, the UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres credited “the strengthening of G9 control in
parts of the [Port-au-Prince] metropolitan area”with an
alleged reduction in intentional homicides of 12% between June 1 and
August 31. Undoubtedly, the alleged reduction in “intentional homicides”
does not include the victims of G-9 massacres like Gyrlande Polis. In
contrast to the UN Secretary General’s whitewashing of the violence in
Haiti, even The Washington Post noted on August 14th, 2020, that:</p>
<blockquote><p>“But for his long-suffering countrymen, Cherizier’s G9 is
evoking the horrors of the Tontons Macoutes, the government-backed
paramilitaries that terrorized Haiti for decades under dictator François
“Papa Doc” Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude.”[3]</p></blockquote>
<p>The Haitian people are engaged in a life-and-death struggle for
genuine human rights and national liberation. Now, more than ever, our
solidarity is needed.</p>
<p><strong>Contact:</strong></p>
<p>+ Michele Sison, US Ambassador to Haiti – phone: 011-509-2229-8000; email: <a href="mailto:sisonmj@state.gov">sisonmj@state.gov</a>;</p>
<p>+ Michael Kozak, Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of
Western Hemispheric Affairs, US State Dept – phone: 202-647-6575;
email: <a href="mailto:kozakmg@state.gov">kozakmg@state.gov</a>; tweet: @WHAAsstSecty</p>
<p>Demand that the UN Stop Supporting the G-9 Death Squad and the Dictatorship of Jovenel Moise!</p>
<p><strong>Contact:</strong></p>
<p>+ UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres – phone: 212-963-1234; tweet: @antonioguterres</p>
<p>For more info, go to <a href="http://www.www.haitisolidarity.net/">www.haitisolidarity.net</a></p>
<p><strong>Notes.</strong></p>
<p>[1]Report: T<a href="https://www.nlg.org/report-the-lasalin-massacre-and-the-human-rights-crisis-in-haiti/">he Lasalin Massacre and the Human Rights Crisis in Haiti</a>. (2019, July 16); “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6kQH-_IrAg&ab_channel=TheRealNewsNetwork">Special Report: Massacres in Haiti</a>” (April 14th, 2019) by Margaret Prescod.</p>
<p>[2] “<a href="https://cepr.net/state-department-awarded-contract-to-politically-connected-security-firm/">State Department Awarded Contract to Politically Connected Security Firm</a>” (2020, September 23).</p>
<p>[3] Ingrid Arnesen, A. (2020, August 18). “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/haiti-moise-coronavirus-barbecue/2020/08/14/2554fce4-cf4d-11ea-8c55-61e7fa5e82ab_story.html">In Haiti, Coronavirus and a Man Named Barbecue Test the Rule of Law</a>”</p>
</div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>