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</font><font face="Trebuchet MS" size=2>AHP News - April 20, 2005 -
English translation (Unofficial) <br><br>
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Thousands of Lavalas activists march from Bel-Air to Cité Soleil as an
act of solidarity with the inhabitants of the shantytown <br>
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<br>
Port-au-Prince, April 20, 2005 (AHP)- More than 10,000 Lavalas
activists demonstrated this Wednesday in Port-au-Prince to show
solidarity with the inhabitants of Cité Soleil, where more than 20 people
were killed during joint operations conducted by MINUSTAH and the Haitian
National Police. <br>
Organized at the initiative of the activists of Bel-Air, the
demonstration started out in front of the Church of Notre Dame du
Perpétuel Secours and concluded in Cité Soleil by way of the districts of
Tokio and Lasaline.<br><br>
Throughout their route, the protestors chanted slogans critical of the
interim authorities whom they accused of doing nothing to relieve the
misery of the population and of wishing to isolate the residents of poor
neighborhoods, notably Cité Soleil.<br>
They also called for "an end to political persecution, the release
of all political prisoners and the return of constitutional order".
<br>
In Cité Soleil, the marchers from Bel-Air were welcomed by a crowd of
people who were given bags of food. <br>
"We have made this gesture to show our solidarity with our brothers
in Cité Soleil who are currently suffering great hardships", said a
demonstrator. <br><br>
The march received protection from MINUSTAH soldiers. It proceeded into
all neighborhoods of Cité Soleil including Boston, which was
until recently under the control of Robenson Thomas, known as Labanyè,
who had a reputation for being strongly opposed to Lavalas.<br>
The demonstration was momentarily dispersed as UN soldiers fired their
guns. They appeared to be overtaken by events. <br>
The Cité Soleil residents welcomed the humanitarian initiative of the
Bel-Air activists who showed, they said, "that they sympathize with
our suffering by bringing us food and uniting their voices with ours to
demand an end to exclusion and suffering". <br><br>
A spokesperson for the Lavalas activists of Cité Soleil, John Joël
Joseph, denounced what he viewed as strong-arm tactics employed by UN
soldiers in their operations that have resulted in the deaths, he said,
of several dozens of Lavalas activists in the Cité.<br>
John Joël Joseph appealed to MINUSTAH to put an end to the repression
inflicted upon the people Cité Soleil since the death of Labanyè.
<br>
He saw the operations conducted in the Cité as revenge for the former
opposition to Aristide for whom Labanyè, worked, he said.<br><br>
MINUSTAH spokespeople affirmed this week that the more than 20 people
killed in Cité Soleil were all gang members working to thwart the UN
peacekeeping mission who were killed during armed clashes. <br>
School children followed along from Bel-Air to Cité Soleil. The
demonstration proceeded peacefully and without incident <br>
The spokesperson for the Bel-Air activists, Samba Boukman, offered a
positive assessment of the march and announced plans for another
demonstration on Friday April 22 to press for the release of all
political prisoners in Haiti. <br>
He accused the interim authorities of wishing to transform the populist
districts into “Bantustans”, as part of what Mr. Boukman called an
apartheid action by the government.<br><br>
AHP April 20, 2005 1:25 PM<br><br>
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Yvon Neptune resumes his hunger strike at the Argentine hospital and
affirms his desire to continue the strike until the de facto authorities
and the UN either release him unconditionally or play a direct role in
his death <br>
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Port-au-Prince, April 20, 2005 (AHP)- Former Prime Minister Yvon
Neptune announced Wednesday that as of Sunday April 17 he resumed the
hunger strike he had begun at the National Penitentiary to obtain his
release. <br>
Yvon Neptune was incarcerated for many months at the National
Penitentiary before being transferred to MINUSTAH's Argentine hospital to
receive treatment. <br>
Mr. Neptune turned himself in to justice officials following accusations
brought against him by the organizations NCHR and RAMICOSM relating to an
alleged massacre said to have been perpetrated in mid-February 2004 at La
Scierie, a Saint-Marc community. <br><br>
In a news release dated April 20, Yvon Neptune said that this time he is
waging a total hunger strike. <br>
"I will consume neither food nor liquid. I will continue the strike
until the de facto authorities proceed either to release me
unconditionally or participate directly in my death," said Mr.
Neptune. <br>
The former Prime Minister denounced what he called “the mental torture
that APENA officers continue to inflict” upon him as they constantly lurk
near him at the Argentine hospital.<br>
According to Mr. Neptune, the de facto authorities have been doing
everything they can to humiliate him as they seek to keep him in prison
as long as possible or to send him to St-Marc regardless of the
conditions. <br><br>
AHP April 20, 2005 12:45 PM<br>
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