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id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-d8b10d48-7fff-9f00-6a4f-f7a6ed7d39e2"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">For Immediate Release:</span></p>
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style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:15pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">July 28th Protests Across the SF Bay Area Demand that Biden Stop Supporting Dictatorship in Haiti</span></p>
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style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">On July 28th, marking the 106th anniversary of the </span><a
href="https://haitisolidarity.net/in-the-news/the-first-us-occupation-of-haiti-1915-1934/"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">US Marine invasion of Haiti</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, human rights protesters displayed banners across major freeways in the SF Bay Area, including highways 101, 580, and 280. Under the slogan # Stop US Intervention in Haiti, the banners called for an end to US government support for the ruling PHTK dictatorship in Haiti that came to power through </span><a
href="https://cepr.net/documents/publications/haiti-2011-01.pdf"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">the fraudulent election</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> of Michel Martelly in 2010. The PHTK dictatorship maintained its grip on power through the </span><a
href="http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2016/1/for-us-in-haiti-black-votes-dont-matter.html"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">fraudulent election</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> of </span><a
href="https://haitisolidarity.net/in-the-news/electoral-coup/"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Jovenel Moise in 2016</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, and remains in power today despite the recent assassination of Moise. Both elections were held under UN occupation and sponsored by the US government.</span></p>
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style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="border:medium none;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;width:720px;height:463px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Kf5vKbljFd27HovZgVF1CRAM5nRhHMd_M44ArUmyWfnYVJDp91w1MWDxZkQnZfNaPUJbMPYsQElgl3WlldDGJYWE7bdo-k1fSaxia5RypYOARWeWFm1QU4g-3ebzypJMIuLw4U2R" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" moz-do-not-send="true" width="720" height="463"></span></span></p>
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style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Freeway banner drop on July 28th, 2021 in Oakland, California over highway 580</span></p>
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style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The freeway banner drops were done in conjunction with protests on the east coast, along with those in Haiti, making the following demands on the Biden Administration:</span></p>
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<ol style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px">
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:decimal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt" role="presentation"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Cut off all US aid for the Haitian police once and for all.</span></p></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:decimal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt" role="presentation"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Stop supporting the PHTK regime regardless of who the new figurehead becomes.</span></p></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:decimal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt" role="presentation"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">End US support for sham elections and the Constitutional referendum organized by the PHTK regime this September.</span></p></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:decimal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt" role="presentation"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Support the right of the Haitian people to form, through their own popular movement, their own </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzRk6knuNK8&t=4s&ab_channel=KiyoshiTaylor" style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Sali Piblik</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> transition government free from US interference. No US military intervention in Haiti. </span></p></li>
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<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Throughout its reign, the Haitian people have taken to the streets by the hundreds of thousands, again and again, to oppose the PHTK dictatorship, facing live ammunition, tear gas, arbitrary arrest, torture, rape, and extrajudicial killings by the Haitian National Police (HNP)-- trained by UN occupation officials in Haiti and by the US police, including the NYPD. The HNP has likewise been </span><a
href="https://cepr.net/state-department-awarded-contract-to-politically-connected-security-firm/"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">funded</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> by the US government to the tune of millions of dollars per year, with US funding increasing under the Trump Administration, a move correlating with increasing human rights violations by the HNP. The Biden Administration has likewise continued this support for a police force clearly implicated in </span><a
href="http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Killing_With_Impunity-1.pdf"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">massacres</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> in poor neighborhoods, such as </span><a
href="https://www.nlg.org/report-the-lasalin-massacre-and-the-human-rights-crisis-in-haiti/"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Lasalin</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> and </span><a
href="https://www.miamiherald.com/article250400641.html"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Bel Air</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. Police and regime-backed paralimitlary violence have displaced </span><a
href="https://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/haiti-displacement-port-au-prince-situation-report-no-1-8-june-2021"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">thousands</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> of people who have been forced from their neighborhoods after their homes have been burned down and their relatives and neighbors have been massacred. </span></p>
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<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Since the assassination of Jovenel Moise, the Biden Administration has continued to support the PHTK regime to maintain its grip in power, calling for increased funding for the regime’s police. Additionally, the Biden Administration continues to back the regime’s plans to hold elections this September, against the wishes of the Haitian majority who recognize clearly that no fair and free elections are possible under the PHTK dictatorship.</span></p>
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<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">According to Pierre Labossiere, co-founder of the SF Bay-Area based Haiti Action Committee: “The Haitian people are in the streets, demanding their basic human rights, genuine democracy, and the right to true independence from foreign domination. We cannot allow tax dollars to perpetuate misery and massacres in Haiti. Black Lives Matter! From Haiti to the Bay!”</span></p>
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<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The function of the PHTK dictatorship is to favor upper class and corporate interests at the expense of the poor majority. The regime is notorious for the massive </span><a
href="https://www.npr.org/2019/06/11/731640235/protesters-demand-resignation-of-haitian-president-over-corruption-allegations"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">looting of public funds</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, for facilitating </span><a
href="https://capiremov.org/en/experience/women-resist-land-grabbing-and-free-zone-in-haiti/"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">land grabs</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> and </span><a
href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/haitian-farmers-file-complaint-at-inter-american-development-bank-for-financing-caracol-industrial-park-project-that-caused-displacement/"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">the dispossession of Haitian farmers</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, as well as for further enabling the plunder of Haiti’s </span><a
href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-major-natural-resources-of-haiti.html"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">vast natural resources</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> (gold, petroleum, bauxite and more) by domestic oligarchs and foreign corporations. The “open” investment climate supported by the PHTK regime is noted in this 2018 US State Department Report on </span><a
href="https://ht.usembassy.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/100/Haiti_Country-Commercial-Guide.pdf"
style="text-decoration:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"doing business in Haiti".</span></a></p>
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<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">US support for the PHTK dictatorship is consistent with the long track record of US intervention in Haiti, from opposing the Haitian revolution in 1804 to invading and occupying Haiti in the early 20th century, from propping up the Duvalier dictatorship between the 1950s and 1980s to backing two violent coup d’etats against the democratically elected, popular President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991 and again in 2004. The PHTK dictatorship is the institutionalization of this last coup, waging a one-sided war of repression-- funded by US tax dollars-- against the popular movement led by Fanmi Lavalas, the political party based on speaking to the needs of the poor majority.</span></p>
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