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Benjamin Melançon's Reporter's Notebook

 

Feb. 7: Crowds Protest for End of UN Occupation, Freeing of Political Prisoners

Posted by Benjamin Melançon - March 4, 2007 at 11:25 am
Fairly major crowds demonstrated for UN troops to leave, for the Preval administration to release political prisoners jailed during the coup regime, and for the return of ousted president Aristide.

(OK, I'm really slow at posting-- this browser window with the info after the jump has been open for a month.  Other copublishers very welcome to beat me to it– become a copublisher with a donation to the Fund for Authentic Journalism.)

Crowds estimated at well over 100,000 took to the streets of seven major cities throughout Haiti on February 7 to demand an end to the UN occupation, freedom for political prisoners and the return of exiled president Aristide. Lavalas is the political movement of Haiti's desperately poor majority and the political party of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide who was ousted on February 29, 2004 in a coup reportedly backed by the United States, France and Canada. Although the largest demonstrations took place in the capital of Port-au-Prince and Haiti's second largest city Cap Haitien, thousands were reported to have joined similar actions in Port de Paix, Hinche, La Kay, St. Marc and Miragoane. Smaller actions were also reported in the towns of Jacmel, Leogane and Gonaives. UN Special Envoy to Haiti Edmond Mulet had stated one week earlier, "[Demonstrations demanding the return of president Aristide] became 3,000 and the last ones maybe 75...50 people. So I see that this issue of former President Aristide is not present anymore in the political sphere in Haiti anymore, and his movement - familia Lavalas - is very much divided, weakened." Mulet made his comments during a roundtable forum sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) this past January 31 in Washington D.C. News of the demonstrations in Haiti has been met with a virtual press blackout by major corporate news organizations. Only the Associated Press (AP) filed a short dispatch on the protests in Port-au-Prince and they reported only "hundreds" attended the demonstration. AP photos also appeared on Yahoo News but appeared to have been carefully selected to minimize the number of participants in Haiti's capital.

Full article with photos at Haiti Information Project.

~ ben

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Similar protests last week on anniversary of coup

Submitted March 5, 2007 - 10:08 pm by Benjamin Melançon
Port-au-Prince, March 1, 2007 (AHP)- Thousands of people took to the streets of Port-au-Prince Wednesday, February 29, to call for the return to Haiti of all the political exiles on the occasion of the third anniversary of the forced departure of President Aristide.

The demonstrators said it is time for Mr. Aristide to return to his country, and called for the release of all of the political prisoners.  

Hundreds of cadres and activists of  Fanmi Lavalas were forced into exile or imprisoned by the Latortue regime which took power after the departure of Mr. Aristide, who is presently living in South Africa with his family.  

The protesters said that the Latortue government that was supposed to re-establish "democracy" was no more than a great catastrophe.  

Hundreds of people were killed in massacres that took place in the populist districts, while arbitrary arrests were the order of the day and hundreds of people still languish in the prisons for political reasons, they deplored. They cited a report in the British medical journal The Lancet indicating that an estimated 7,000 people may have been killed and tens of thousands of women raped under the Latortue regime.  

The demonstrators appealed to the constitutional government,  which they say they brought to power, not to walk in the footsteps of the Latortue government but rather to adopt measures likely to change living conditions for the population, and to act to free the political prisoners. They pointed out that while the political prisoners languish, many who have committed murders or were convicted of crimes or massacres are walking the streets with impunity.  

They further appealed to the government not to be complicit in the lethal raids of MINUSTAH in the populist districts through operations presented as efforts to "neutralize bandits and kidnappers".  

Demonstrations were also held in several provincial cities including Saint-Marc, where the deaths and arrests of many people were instigated by organizations close to the interim regime after the departure of President Aristide.  

A number of people have observed that the Lavalas demonstrations are the only successful ones in Port-au-Prince today, as Haitians are disenchanted with what they call the hypocrisy and false promises of the political leaders whom they accuse of being concerned only with the narrow interests of those close to them or of certain clans.  

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