Free Haiti’s Political Prisoners! Restore Democracy Now!

Free Haiti’s Political Prisoners! Restore Democracy Now!

Emergency Vigil March 28th at 4:30PM in UN Plaza, SF

Join Haiti Action Committee for a vigil on Monday, March 28th at 4:30PM in San Francisco’s UN Plaza near the Civic Center to protest the continued incarceration of a thousand political prisoners jailed for almost a year without charges in Haiti and to demand the restoration of Haiti’s legitimate government.

It has been a crime for Haitians to express their solidarity with President Aristide since the February 2004 coup, a crime punishable by summary execution in thousands of cases. Those who aren’t killed are put in jail just for expressing their support for Lavalas [Aristide’s party], even wearing Aristide t-shirts in peaceful demonstrations. Their continued imprisonment underscores the US government’s disregard for Haiti’s people and its constitution, and the complete dissolution of free speech, association and press in Haiti. This is the situation that has kept Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, Minister of Interior Jocelerme Privert, and Lavalas activist Annette Auguste, along with hundreds of grassroots activists, labor leaders and residents of poor neighborhoods jailed in miserable conditions.

The situation of the prisoners, dramatized by Prime Minister Neptune and Minister Privert’s recent hunger strike, is urgent. On March 7th, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) flew to Haiti to visit the Prime Minister in his prison cell just days before he was hospitalized in a coma. He refused to quit the hunger strike until the injustice of his confinement is addressed.

The vigil will continue through the night if it’s not raining, ending Tuesday afternoon with a 4PM rally.For more information, phone Haiti Action Committee at (510) 483-7481