Urgent SOS For Haiti

*Demand Restitution and Reparations Now 
*Demand the Right to Asylum for Haitian Refugees
*Demand Stop the Flow of US Made Weapons
 
In 1804, the Haitian revolution successfully destroyed slavery in Haiti and won independence from France. In 1825, the French government sent warships to force the Haitians to pay their former French enslavers 150 million gold francs for their “lost property” or face an invasion. Paying off this “debt,” which was taken over by Citibank and estimated in today’s market to be up to 115 billion dollars, is what impoverished Haiti. In 2003, President Jean Bertrand Aristide demanded that France pay restitution. Nine months later he was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by France, US and Canada.

Today in Haiti, slow motion genocide is deepening as paramilitary death squads, funded by the Haitian elite and equipped with US-made weapons, are running rampant. Massacres and systematic rape are relentless. One million people have been internally displaced and more than half of the population is suffering from acute hunger. Now the Trump administration plans to deport half a million Haitian migrants back to this situation by the end of the summer.

Facing all this, the popular movement continues to fight back, but our solidarity is critical. May 18th is celebrated throughout the Haitian diaspora in commemoration of the creation of the Haitian flag in 1804. Join Haiti Action Committee for this International Day of Protest.