Aristide Gov't Will Investigate Revlut'ary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress

THIS PARA REPLACES EARLIER ONE:
In one of President Clinton's last presidential acts, the FRAPH documents
were handed over to the Government of Haiti in early 2000, with the condition
that their use be limited to legitimate criminal investigations, as opposed to
retribution. They have never been used in the investigation and prosecution of
crimes to date.



REVISED February 17, 2004
Press Release
Dated: February 16, 2004
Contact: Michelle Karshan, Foreign Press Liaison
National Palace, Haiti
Tel: (011509) 228-2058
Fax: (011509) 228-2171


PRESIDENT ARISTIDE SAYS HAITI'S JUSTICE SYSTEM MIGHT USE FRAPH DOCUMENTS IN
PURSUIT OF JUSTICE IN INVESTIGATION OF FRAPH LEADER, LOUIS-JODEL CHAMBLAIN





Port-au-Prince - During a press conference held at Haiti's National Palace
today regarding the humanitarian crisis caused by recent acts of terrorism,
President Aristide revealed that the Government of Haiti may need to unveil the
famous FRAPH documents. These documents and photos may be helpful in the
pursuit of justice with regard to a criminal investigation underway involving FRAPH
commander Louis-Jodel Chamblain, who emerged Friday as one of the terrorists
in Gonaives. The terrorists are currently holding the approximately 150,000
residents of Gonaives hostage. Their violence and blocking of roads has cut off
food, fuel and medical supplies to the Northern portion of the country.

Today, in discussing the violence in Gonaives and other towns, Aristide said
Haiti's justice system may need to refer to the FRAPH documents in the pursuit
of justice. He added that the names contained in the FRAPH documents are of
persons who were actively involved in FRAPH, as well as those who supported
it. President Aristide suggested that more than likely many of those same names
engaged in the terrorist activities from that period are also implicated in
the recent destablization and violence being waged today.

The criminal investigation the President referred to involves the Cite Soleil
fire, an arson committed during the coup d'etat period, in which Chamblain is
implicated. After trials were held on two other matters, Chamblain was
earlier convicted in the Raboteau Massacre, as well as the assassination of
businessman and Aristide supporter, Antoine Izmery. Both of these crimes occurred
during the three-year coup period. Chamblain is also named in the Cite Soleil
arson.

FRAPH, (Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress), a
paramilitary organization formed during the second half of the coup d'etat (1991-1994)
has been reported on and denounced by all international human rights groups
for their use of torture, assassination and rape against Aristide supporters
during that time.

FRAPH was founded by Emmanuel (Toto) Constant, who later revealed during a 60
Minutes interview that he met regularly with the CIA station chief in Haiti
at the time, advising him in advance of all upcoming FRAPH activities and also
stated that he received regular funds from the station chief.

An article by Blum and Nairn (see below) reveals that Constant stated that
after Aristide was ousted from Haiti during the 1991 coup d'etat a US Defense
Intelligence Agency officer, who he named, urged him to set up a front as a
balance to the Aristide movement. This led to the creation of FRAPH in August
1993. Chamblain was the second in command of FRAPH.

The FRAPH documents contain papers and photos seized by the US military
during their intervention in 1994 which led to the restoration of democracy and the
return of President Aristide a short time thereafter.

FRAPH maintained offices throughout Haiti and they wallpapered their offices
with "trophy photos" of their tortured and maimed victims. Human rights
organizations vary in their reporting of the numbers of persons killed during the
repression of the coup d'etat with the range being somewhere between 3,000 to
5,000 victims, a large percentage being attributed to the FRAPH paramilitary
thugs.

Immediately following the US intervention in Haiti in 1994 the US Embassy
spokesperson held a press conference in the central park of Port-au-Prince and
attempted to introduce the head of FRAPH, "Toto" Constant, to the press as a
legitimate leader of a legitimate opposition group. The staged event was quickly
derailed by Haitians who had just been liberated after three years of brutal
repression at the hands of Haiti's military and FRAPH. This attempt to
portray FRAPH as a legitimate political organization was immediately denounced and
rejected by human rights groups around the world, as well as by the press corps
who were all too familiar with the mutilated corpses resulting from FRAPH's
repressive maneuvers.

A highly publicized victim of FRAPH's handiwork was that of the machete
attack against Alerte Belance, who was dragged from her home in the middle of the
night because her husband had been an electoral worker in the 1990 elections
which brought President Aristide to power on February 7, 1991.

Belance was attacked by men who identified themselves as FRAPH and left for
dead on the national highway. After being assisted by a stunned motorist, she
underwent surgery to sew her severed face back together, which had been sliced
in half, and her arm had to be removed. She miraculously survived and
underwent years of physical rehabilitation.

Despite requests by the Government of Haiti that Toto Constant be returned to
Haiti to face the justice system, he remains at liberty in Queens, New York
and was granted a permit to work. The US government allowed Constant to enter
the United States in the mid 90s, although he was a known terrorist. The US
ordered his deportation but never moved to deport him and he remains untouched by
the Justice Department's human rights violator program, which has been
aggressively deporting other such characters.

The Government of Haiti formally requested that the US return the FRAPH
documents, arguing that they would be critical to the work of Haiti's Truth
Commission at the time and in the investigation of criminal acts committed during the
coup period. An international mobilization of individuals, human rights
organizations and haiti-interest groups, aggressively campaigned as well for the
return of the documents, however the US refused to hand over the documents.

In one of President Clinton's last presidential acts, the FRAPH documents
were handed over to the Government of Haiti in early 2000, with the condition
that their use be limited to legitimate criminal investigations, as opposed to
retribution. They have never been used in the investigation and prosecution of
crimes to date.

Please refer to these excellent articles on FRAPH:

David Grann for The Atlantic Monthly, June 2001 article Giving the Devil his
Due
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/06/grann.htm

Alan Nairn for The Nation in HAITI UNDER CLOAK
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Global_Secrets_Lies/ HaitiFeb96_Nairn.html

Alan Nairn, "Our Man in FRAPH: Behind Haiti's Paramilitaries",. The Nation,
24
October 1994, p. 460, referring to Emannuel Constant,. the head of FRAPH. 20.
...
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/Haiti_uned_WBlum.html

<A HREF="http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/394.hFRAPH genesis
FRAPH genesis...As described by investigate journalist Alan Nairn and
by William Blum: FRAPH, actually a front for the army,. . .spread ...
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/394.html

An Interview With Allan Nairn
... in The Nation, Nairn broke the story of the United States government's
role in establishing and funding the brutal Haitian paramilitary death squad,
FRAPH (the ...
http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/june95arnove.htm