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<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:24pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">What\u2019s
Behind The Crisis in Haiti?</span></p>
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<div><span
id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-7c7f46c0-7fff-bf3b-a977-a871fb5fa8a9">
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">by
Haiti Action Committee</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">On
February 29, 2004, the democratically elected government
of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti was
overthrown by a violent coup. This was the second
US-sponsored coup against a popularly elected Aristide
government, the first one taking place in 1991 after he
had served only eight months in office.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Orchestrated
by the United States, France and Canada, and then
sanctioned and enforced by a United Nations military
occupation, the 2004 coup forced President Aristide, his
wife and colleague, Mildred Trouillot Aristide, and
their two children into exile, and removed more than
8,000 elected officials. Thousands more were killed,
raped or forced to flee their homes. The country has
still not recovered.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">The
</span><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"> coup
</span><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:inherit;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">shattered
the work of the <a
href="https://haitisolidarity.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/We_Will_Not_Forget_2010.pdf"
moz-do-not-send="true">most progressive government</a>
in Haiti\u2019s history</span><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">. In
the period of governance by </span><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:inherit;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Fanmi
Lavalas</span><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">,
the party founded by President Aristide, more schools
were built than the total constructed between 1804 and
1994. Twenty percent of the country\u2019s budget was
mandated for education. Women\u2019s groups and popular
organizations helped coordinate a literacy campaign that
brought over 320,000 people, mostly women, into literacy
classes in over 20,000 literacy centers. The minimum
wage was doubled. A powerful initiative was undertaken
to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. Health clinics were
established in the poorest communities. The government
also launched an aggressive campaign to collect unpaid
taxes owed by the wealthy elite. Aristide disbanded the
notorious Haitian military, and empowered women\u2019s and
victims\u2019 groups to bring cases against the military for
its use of rape as a political weapon.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Liberation Serif";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><span
style="border:none;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;width:561px;height:340px"><img
src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcwtWzRaFfrKiF3YNAQ00AUkHLj_MEvRbdEHWMcKPvvnHIV1WHoNptSsEZgmCus8aEvMaPU08ev7Tvq7b73BZj_wuXcf4rA4h0hq1L_TZ5gsAJLenIAYUkBEJKM4iijHuRJoa3qzCwOw3lxMSDGkq0?key=zjZPWpABzfTYqTBm_hq3Y7EU"
style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"
moz-do-not-send="true" width="561" height="340"></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">After
the 2004 coup, Haitians courageously demonstrated their
support for Aristide and his </span><span
style="font-size:10pt;font-family:inherit;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Fanmi
Lavalas</span><span
style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"> political
party, raising five fingers in a call for him to
complete his five year term. Their resistance has never
stopped.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">The
Centuries-Old Assault on Haiti</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">The
2004 coup was the continuation of a centuries-old attack
on Haitian sovereignty. In 1791, 400,000 Africans
enslaved in Haiti rose up against French colonial rule,
launching a revolutionary war that culminated in Haiti\u2019s
independence in 1804, establishing the world\u2019s first
Black republic. From that moment on, Haiti has been in
the crosshairs of white supremacist imperial powers. The
United States led a worldwide boycott against Haiti and
refused to recognize the new republic until 1864,
knowing that Haiti was an inspiration to enslaved people
everywhere and posed a grave danger to the US\u2019s own
system of slavery. In 1825, French warships encircled
Port-au-Prince and forced Haiti to assume a debt to
France of 90 million gold francs (equivalent to $21.7
billion as calculated in 2003) as reparations to the
former slave owners for the \u201ccrime\u201d of freeing
themselves from slavery. With the first payment of the
debt, Haiti had to close its nascent public school
system. In 1915, the US invaded Haiti and occupied the
country for 19 years, taking over Haiti\u2019s banking
system, defeating a peasant-led insurgency and
installing one puppet regime after another, culminating
with the Duvalier dictatorships which terrorized the
country for close to 30 years. Today we see the same US
policies at work, once again devastating Haitian
society.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><span
class="gmail-Apple-tab-span"
style="text-wrap-mode: nowrap;"> </span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">The
Crisis in Haiti Today</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">The
current crisis in Haiti stands as a sharp rebuke to
those who plotted and carried out the coup in 2004, and
to the foreign occupation that has bedeviled Haiti ever
since. There are currently no elected officials in
Haiti, the result of years of rule by decree by imposed
and illegitimate governments. Under the watchful eyes of
the US and its so-called Core Group of foreign
occupiers, Haiti has descended into what grassroots
organizers have called a \u201chell on earth.\u201d </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">As
the year 2025 begins, people across the length and
breadth of Haiti have been demanding an end to the
terror unleashed by Viv Ansamn, a coalition of
paramilitary death squads aligned with and emboldened by
sectors of the business elite and government. Community
self-defense groups have formed to resist the incursions
of the death squads. In the last year alone, over 6000
Haitians have been killed by these paramilitaries, and
more than one million Haitians have had to flee their
homes. Nearly half the population is facing acute
hunger, as roads are blocked and markets attacked. Tens
of thousands of children have been unable to attend
schools. Gang rapes have become the norm as
paramilitaries escalate their attacks on opposition
communities. The despised Haitian Army, disbanded by
President Aristide in 1995, has been reconstituted,
readying itself to commit yet more human rights
violations.</span><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Liberation Serif";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">
And </span><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">a
recently formed transitional presidential council,
demanded for years by Fanmi Lavalas and other grassroots
organizations as a stepping stone towards free and fair
elections, has been sabotaged by the US State
Department, which has made sure it is dominated by the
same right-wing parties that have produced what Haitians
call a \u201cslow motion genocide.\u201d These parties have long
been in bed with the paramilitaries and show no interest
in stopping their assaults against the population. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Building
Solidarity</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">As
the Trump Administration takes hold, we are witnessing
renewed attacks on progressive and democratic forces
within Haiti, as well as the targeting of Haitians
living within US borders. Throughout their election
campaign, Trump and Vance demonized Haitians. Already,
as part of his attacks on migrants, Trump has issued
executive orders ending Temporary Protective Status
(TPS) for over 500,000 Haitians now in the United
States. And he has ended the Humanitarian Parole
Program for Nicaraguans, Haitians, Venezuelans and
Cubans, threatening hundreds of thousands more migrants
with deportation. Trump has vowed to detain 30,000
migrants in the infamous prison at Guantanamo Bay \u2013 and
we know that many of those detainees will be Haitians. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Haiti
Action Committee has stood with the popular movement in
Haiti since our founding in 1992. We have maintained our
solidarity through the 2004 coup, the deadly earthquake
of 2010, the joyous return of President Aristide in
2011, the stolen elections of 2015 and 2016, the
devastation unleashed by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and
the earthquake that struck Haiti\u2019s southern peninsula in
August 2021. We have continued to support Haitian
refugees who have fled the terror unleashed by one
US-backed reactionary regime after another. Now we are
standing with the Haitian grassroots movement as it
provides support to a population under daily attack,
defends communities, and continues to develop and
sustain programs to build a new, just and democratic
Haiti.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">This
is a time to buttress our solidarity. We hope you will
join us in our work. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Email
us at: </span><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline"><a
href="mailto:action.haiti@gmail.com"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">action.haiti@gmail.com</a></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">For
more information, </span><a
href="http://www.haitisolildarity.net/"
style="text-decoration-line:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">www.haitisolidarity.net</span></a><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">
or </span><a
href="https://www.facebook.com/HaitiActionCommittee/"
style="text-decoration-line:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">https://www.facebook.com/HaitiActionCommittee/</span></a></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:7pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">To
support the vital work of Haiti\u2019s grassroots movement,
please donate to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund at </span><a
href="http://www.haitiemergencyrelief.org/"
style="text-decoration-line:none" moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">www.haitiemergencyrelief.or</span></a><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif;color:rgb(68,68,68);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">g</span></p>
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<span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br>
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<div><span
style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font
size="1">
<div>
<div>Haiti Action Committee</div>
<div>PO Box 2040</div>
<div>Berkeley,CA <span>94702</span></div>
<div><span><a
href="https://haitisolidarity.net"
target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Website</a> <a
href="http://www.haitisolidarity.net" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">www.haitisolidarity.net</a><br>
</span></div>
<div><span><a
href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjujXAgb681TkRNdEo1hh5Q"
target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">YouTube</a><br>
</span></div>
<div><span><a
href="https://www.facebook.com/HaitiActionCommittee" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Facebook</a><br>
</span></div>
<div><span><a
href="https://twitter.com/HaitiAction1" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Twitter</a><br>
</span></div>
<div><span><br>
</span></div>
<div><span>33 years of solidarity with
the grassroots struggle for dignity,
democracy and self-determination of
the Haitian people! </span><a
href="https://haitisolidarity.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/We_Will_Not_Forget_2010.pdf"
target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">We Will Not
Forget the Achievements of Lavalas
in Haiti</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Please donate to the <a
href="https://haitiemergencyrelief.org/" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Haiti
Emergency Relief Fund</a> <a
href="http://www.haitiemergencyrelief.org" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">www.haitiemergencyrelief.org</a>
- all donations are tax-deductible and
support Haiti's grassroots struggle
for democracy </div>
</div>
</font></span></div>
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