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Another blow to democracy in homeland, local Haitians lament
'Le mal est Infini'. Aristide supporters blame world powers for failure to support elected president
"Aristide was kidnapped!" they screamed, draped in Haitian flags. "Election yes, coup no," said the placards they raised in defiance.
This angry group of about 200 protesters was not going to accept the official version of events - that Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned as president and left his country in chaos yesterday.
As Montrealers elsewhere began to discuss Haiti's post-Aristide future, those outside the U.S. consulate on St. Alexandre St. vowed to keep up the fight to bring Aristide back.
"France and the U.S. kidnapped him with a knife to his throat," said Rébert Ismaël. "But the resistance is organized in Haiti to show we will not accept this coup d'état, the 34th coup d'état in our country."
They denounced everyone, from George Bush (Sr. and Jr.,) to the local media for biased reporting. Prime Minister Paul Martin, "an accomplice to Bush assassin," and French President Jacques Chirac, who called for Aristide's resignation.
"We want to know why they took away our president," cried one angry woman, carrying a picture of Aristide, a former priest, now on his way to exile in an undetermined nation.
"I hope people in Port-au-Prince will defend themselves. They have all been armed to the teeth by the United States. They can't just cross their arms."
But the protesters weren't the only ones thinking of Haiti's future, as U.S. marines headed to Port-au-Prince for the third time in the last 15 years.
At a packed church service in St. Michel, members of Montreal's 100,000-strong Haitian community prayed for calm to return to the beleaguered nation.
"Haitians do not respect democracy," parishioner Evans Semé said. "If they had, Aristide would have fulfilled his mandate (until 2006). But I am not pro-Aristide, I am pro-democracy."
Others, meanwhile, tuned into radio station CPAM, based above a supermarket in St. Michel, for a day-long call-in show.
"The first (Aristide) government only lasted seven months (before there was a coup), and it looked promising," one speaker said. "But after 15 years he has not been able to get social justice and peace."
"Right now, who can we trust?" another caller asked. "There are no honest leaders."
Journalist Jean-Numa Goudou, who was forced to flee Port-au-Prince when pro-Aristide thugs burned down his house, said he wished he could transplant Canada's law and order to Haiti.
"We are waiting for the rebels to drop their weapons as they promised," Goudou said, not wanting to take sides. "But the opposition has many heads. They will fight among themselves and create a crisis in itself. Either way, 'le mal est infini,' as they say in Haiti."
csolyom [at] thegazette.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/story.asp?id=2A36C579-FA31-436F-A7EA-9604E854F679
This angry group of about 200 protesters was not going to accept the official version of events - that Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned as president and left his country in chaos yesterday.
As Montrealers elsewhere began to discuss Haiti's post-Aristide future, those outside the U.S. consulate on St. Alexandre St. vowed to keep up the fight to bring Aristide back.
"France and the U.S. kidnapped him with a knife to his throat," said Rébert Ismaël. "But the resistance is organized in Haiti to show we will not accept this coup d'état, the 34th coup d'état in our country."
They denounced everyone, from George Bush (Sr. and Jr.,) to the local media for biased reporting. Prime Minister Paul Martin, "an accomplice to Bush assassin," and French President Jacques Chirac, who called for Aristide's resignation.
"We want to know why they took away our president," cried one angry woman, carrying a picture of Aristide, a former priest, now on his way to exile in an undetermined nation.
"I hope people in Port-au-Prince will defend themselves. They have all been armed to the teeth by the United States. They can't just cross their arms."
But the protesters weren't the only ones thinking of Haiti's future, as U.S. marines headed to Port-au-Prince for the third time in the last 15 years.
At a packed church service in St. Michel, members of Montreal's 100,000-strong Haitian community prayed for calm to return to the beleaguered nation.
"Haitians do not respect democracy," parishioner Evans Semé said. "If they had, Aristide would have fulfilled his mandate (until 2006). But I am not pro-Aristide, I am pro-democracy."
Others, meanwhile, tuned into radio station CPAM, based above a supermarket in St. Michel, for a day-long call-in show.
"The first (Aristide) government only lasted seven months (before there was a coup), and it looked promising," one speaker said. "But after 15 years he has not been able to get social justice and peace."
"Right now, who can we trust?" another caller asked. "There are no honest leaders."
Journalist Jean-Numa Goudou, who was forced to flee Port-au-Prince when pro-Aristide thugs burned down his house, said he wished he could transplant Canada's law and order to Haiti.
"We are waiting for the rebels to drop their weapons as they promised," Goudou said, not wanting to take sides. "But the opposition has many heads. They will fight among themselves and create a crisis in itself. Either way, 'le mal est infini,' as they say in Haiti."
csolyom [at] thegazette.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/story.asp?id=2A36C579-FA31-436F-A7EA-9604E854F679
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ICFTU ONLINE...
Haiti: ICFTU welcomes release of union prisoners but expresses concern for their safety 1/3/2004
Brussels, 1 March 2004 (ICFTU OnLine): The release from prison in Port-au-Prince on 29th February of ten trade union activists held for over one month was warmly applauded today by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). The freeing of the prisoners (9 men, detained at the National Penitentiary and 1 woman, held in the women’s’ prison, Fort National) came in the wake of the abrupt departure of Haiti’s former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide earlier on Sunday.
The detainees had been arrested during an illegal raid by Haiti’s Police Nationale on the headquarters of the umbrella trade union group “Coordination Syndicale Haïtienne” (CSH) on 24 January 2004. They had been charged with “criminal conspiracy ” and “plotting against the internal security of the State ”; a charge carrying a sentence of imprisonment with forced labour for life.
An international trade union delegation, led by the ICFTU and its Regional Inter-American Organisation (ICFTU-ORIT), had forcefully rejected these charges after visiting the prisoners in jail in Port-au-Prince, less than a fortnight ago, and meeting with their lawyers, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Haiti representative. The 12-strong delegation, comprising trade union leaders from the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa, as well as representatives of Global Union Federations in the teaching (EI) and services (UNI) sectors, had made representations about their situation to the Minister of Justice. It had also met with the diplomatic corps in the Haitian capital, many national trade union organisations, the “Group of 184” democratic opposition platform and various other groups.
While welcoming the release of the 10 union detainees, the ICFTU is still preoccupied with their safety, a concern already put forward by the mission which had visited the island from 15 to 18 February. As confirmed yesterday by ICFTU-ORIT sources in Port-au-Prince, several Haitian labour leaders and activists still remain in hiding, while others went underground last night, fearing reprisals from Aristide’s ill-famed “Chimères” and other criminal elements.
In a letter sent this morning to the Acting President of Haiti, ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder demanded “clear and firm security guarantees for Haiti’s trade union and human rights’ activists and their relatives, as well as respect for labour and human rights in the future”. “We will pass on a similar demand to the governments of all countries involved in the UN security operation charged with re-establishing law and order in Haiti”, he said in Brussels today.
Ryder added the ICFTU would now also call on the international community, including regional bodies CARICOM and the Organisation of American States, to “provide meaningful re-construction and development assistance, with adequate safeguards against corruption and other abuses which have marred these efforts in the past. Helping Haitians to build democracy must be a priority for the international community.” The ICFTU said this recommendation was at the heart of its delegation’s mission report, which it has now decided to make publicly available, following the 10 union prisoners’ release yesterday.
The ICFTU represents over 150 million workers in 233 affiliated organisations in 152 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions: http://www.global-unions.org
For more information, please contact the ICFTU Press Department on +32 2 224 0206 or +32 476 621 018.
Haiti: ICFTU welcomes release of union prisoners but expresses concern for their safety 1/3/2004
Brussels, 1 March 2004 (ICFTU OnLine): The release from prison in Port-au-Prince on 29th February of ten trade union activists held for over one month was warmly applauded today by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). The freeing of the prisoners (9 men, detained at the National Penitentiary and 1 woman, held in the women’s’ prison, Fort National) came in the wake of the abrupt departure of Haiti’s former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide earlier on Sunday.
The detainees had been arrested during an illegal raid by Haiti’s Police Nationale on the headquarters of the umbrella trade union group “Coordination Syndicale Haïtienne” (CSH) on 24 January 2004. They had been charged with “criminal conspiracy ” and “plotting against the internal security of the State ”; a charge carrying a sentence of imprisonment with forced labour for life.
An international trade union delegation, led by the ICFTU and its Regional Inter-American Organisation (ICFTU-ORIT), had forcefully rejected these charges after visiting the prisoners in jail in Port-au-Prince, less than a fortnight ago, and meeting with their lawyers, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Haiti representative. The 12-strong delegation, comprising trade union leaders from the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa, as well as representatives of Global Union Federations in the teaching (EI) and services (UNI) sectors, had made representations about their situation to the Minister of Justice. It had also met with the diplomatic corps in the Haitian capital, many national trade union organisations, the “Group of 184” democratic opposition platform and various other groups.
While welcoming the release of the 10 union detainees, the ICFTU is still preoccupied with their safety, a concern already put forward by the mission which had visited the island from 15 to 18 February. As confirmed yesterday by ICFTU-ORIT sources in Port-au-Prince, several Haitian labour leaders and activists still remain in hiding, while others went underground last night, fearing reprisals from Aristide’s ill-famed “Chimères” and other criminal elements.
In a letter sent this morning to the Acting President of Haiti, ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder demanded “clear and firm security guarantees for Haiti’s trade union and human rights’ activists and their relatives, as well as respect for labour and human rights in the future”. “We will pass on a similar demand to the governments of all countries involved in the UN security operation charged with re-establishing law and order in Haiti”, he said in Brussels today.
Ryder added the ICFTU would now also call on the international community, including regional bodies CARICOM and the Organisation of American States, to “provide meaningful re-construction and development assistance, with adequate safeguards against corruption and other abuses which have marred these efforts in the past. Helping Haitians to build democracy must be a priority for the international community.” The ICFTU said this recommendation was at the heart of its delegation’s mission report, which it has now decided to make publicly available, following the 10 union prisoners’ release yesterday.
The ICFTU represents over 150 million workers in 233 affiliated organisations in 152 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions: http://www.global-unions.org
For more information, please contact the ICFTU Press Department on +32 2 224 0206 or +32 476 621 018.
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