how the USAID took the aristide administration apart from the inside
*i don’t know which is more despicably shameful , the way the Us , France and Canada hobbled and then took the Aristide administration apart under the guise of providing aid , or the equally shameful way that under the guise of providing objective truth to the American people , the Us media has ignored Bush’s blatant and illegal destruction of a democratically elected government in Haiti .
as i understand it , members of Lavalas and their supporters are being “disappeared” almost daily by the reconstituted haitian “army” and the “ton ton macoute” death squads …and right under the noses of the international “peacekeeping” force .
why is it that when america artificially inseminates “democracy” whether in haiti , iraq , or elsewhere , that sick version of imposed “democracy ” and death squads usually go hand in hand ?
New Human Rights Report
Exposes De Facto Terror
(The second of two installments)
We continue this week with the publication of extracts from "Haiti: Human Rights Investigation, November 11-21,2004," written by immigration lawyer Tom Griffin and published by the University of Miami Law School. The full report can be downloaded from http://www.law.miami.edu/cshr/.
The Unlawful Return of the Haitian Army: In Pétionville, investigators confirmed the repeated, highly consistent reports from neighborhoods under siege that former soldiers have reunited, calling themselves the "Haitian Army." The soldiers insist that the army be reinstated and included in any discussion of Haiti's future. These heavily armed soldiers assist HNP operations, and conduct their own, in the poorest and most densely populated neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. They dress in green military fatigues or camouflage, and green helmets and carry large military guns.(...)
The investigators went to the Pétionville base where 300 heavily armed and uniformed irregular FADH soldiers were milling about, some sporting swords and carrying gas masks in addition to automatic rifles. They have been given a large apartment building for their use, and neighborhood residents supply their food and spending money and wash their clothes. All soldiers interviewed stated that Pétionville's residents "love us very much." (...)
Investigators interviewed the second in command, Commander Jean-Baptiste Joseph, age 42. Commander Joseph stated that a force of 5,000 of the irregular FADH soldiers is currently on "active duty" throughout Haiti. In addition to the 300 soldiers stationed in Pétionville, Joseph stated that the irregular FADH has established large bases in Ouanaminthe, Cap Haïtien, Fort Liberté, Jérémie, Petit Goave, and Jacmel. Joseph stated that FADH opened its base in Pétionville on February 29, 2004, the day of President Aristide's ouster, but that the high command did not arrive until the end of October. He stated that FADH is in Pétionville upon the "invitation of the residents of Pétionville."
Joseph stated that the Army is standing by in Pétionville until the Government gives them what they demand: official authority to provide security to the city. He stated that his soldiers do, however, go out "whenever they receive a call."
Joseph did not explain what responding to a call meant, because the interview was interrupted by a heavy-set man in civilian clothes who burst into the room and announced that help was needed in La Saline. Commander Joseph then apologized, put on his helmet, grabbed a semi-automatic rifle, and jogged out the door and down the steps of the building.
The man who had interrupted (...) then told the investigators, in unaccented English, that "our men have been attacked" while providing back-up security to the APN, Haiti's official port police unit. (...)
Subsequently, the man shouted commands as approximately 100 soldiers lined up. A group of about 20 were chosen to ride in an SUV and a pick-up truck to respond to the report. Some of the chosen men blessed themselves while others yelled, "we are going to kill all the 'rat pa kaka,'" a dehumanizing term for the poor young men assumed to support Lavalas and the return of President Aristide. The soldiers sped away, large firearms in full view, driving several miles through Port-au-Prince to La Saline. One of the trucks had no license plate. The other operation truck displayed official government plates. The English speaking officer refused to provide other details about the irregular FADH's work, but stated that he learned English because he was "fully trained in warfare in the United States." He gave his name as "Jean André." (...)
Haitian Political Prisoners: In response to reports of hundreds of political prisoners -- arrested for suspected support of the elected, constitutional government, or for criticism of the interim government -- the investigators visited prisoners in two jails, and spoke with a respected defense lawyer.
The investigators made repeated visits to the single, 9-feet by 9-feet jail cell at the HNP Anti-Gang Unit headquarters across from the National Palace. On the first visit, there were 42 prisoners in the cell, some already there for as long as 30 days. None had been brought before a magistrate, as required within 48 hours of arrest under the Haitian Constitution. All stated they were arrested for supporting Lavalas. All appeared to be extremely impoverished and many had no shoes or shirts.Several of the prisoners appeared to have been beaten and were severely injured, and none had been seen by any medical professionals. (...)
The Role of the United States in the Current Crisis:
The U.S. has been a strong supporter of the interim government, providing substantial political and financial assistance. In order to obtain more insight into the U.S. role, investigators spoke with officials at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, and with employees of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), which implemented a series of civil society projects as a subcontractor of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
IFES is a U.S.-based tax-exempt organization that claims to provide "targeted technical assistance to strengthen transitional democracies." It has worked in Haiti since 1990. IFES' most recent Haiti projects are "Civil Society Strengthening Project for Judicial Independence and Justice" and "Victims of Organized Violence Program." Investigators separately interviewed two Haitian administrators of IFES' projects in Port-au-Prince, and an American who formerly directed the Victims Program.
The administrators reported that USAID awarded IFES a series of contracts for millions of dollars, often as the sole bidder, and gave IFES substantial logistical assistance in Haiti. The administrators stated that they, and IFES, considered the programs to be an avenue to exposing, and then ending corruption in the Haitian government. They felt that President Aristide was corrupt, and that their job was to nurture civil society institutions that could provide a counterweight to the elected authorities.
The principle focus of IFES' programs was the Haitian justice system. The justice program began in about 2001 with an initial budget of $3.5 million. Its purpose was, in the words of the administrators, "to advocate for the independence of judges from the executive branch via the formation of a range of coalitions from various societal institutions." The IFES programs involved many people now prominent in Haitian politics. For example, Minister of Justice Bernard Gousse and his cabinet member Philippe Vixamar were IFES consultants for several years. Among other things, Gousse was a "sensitization" speaker, wrote key reports, spoke at conferences, and played a leading role in the IFES exchange program for lawyers and judges at Tulane University in Louisiana in April 2003, and at seminars in Minnesota and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. (...) Gerard Latortue and Interim President Boniface Alexandre both participated in IFES justice programs. Latortue, a former UN official and a resident of Boca Raton Florida before becoming Prime Minister, was part of the association that IFES formed to include the Haitian diaspora in the United States. According to the administrators, he led the Haitian Resources Development Foundation (HRDF), a Miami-based group that claims to "initiate and/or support projects and programs aimed at developing economic and cultural resources in Haiti."
The premise of IFES' justice program was that President Aristide "controlled everything" and therefore controlled the judges in Haiti in contravention of the constitutional separation of powers. Because the judicial system was corrupt, so went the premise, Aristide must be the most corrupt. IFES' initially undertook to form a network of organizations that could concentrate opposition to the perceived corruption of the judiciary by the Aristide government. IFES formed new associations and established relationships with existing ones, making them more cohesive with a formally planned program of "sensitization" - what the administrators called "opening their eyes" to IFES' viewpoint that Aristide was corrupting the justice system. Through various programs -- that included catered meals, accommodations, entertainment, and payment of a cash "per diem" -- IFES "sensitized" attendees to the problems with the justice system under Aristide and insisted that they act as a united group for greatest effect.
The administrators reported that IFES set up the Coalition for Reform of the Law and Judiciary ("CHREDEJ" in French) as an umbrella organization. It helped judges and prosecutors establish a formal nationwide professional association, the Association Nationale de la Magistrature Haïtienne (ANAMAH). It pulled the fifteen regional bar associations into the nationwide Federation des Barreaux d' Haiti (FBH). The administrators reported that one of the speakers for the "sensitization" program for Haitian judges and lawyers was Louis Aucoin, a law professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Massachusetts, who has worked on USAID justice programs in Haiti since the mid-1990's.
The administrators reported that IFES used the same formula to establish formal associations of "private sector" and "business sector" groups in order to "provide economic force" to the opposition movement. IFES included a program to "sensitize" media and journalist groups, and to "use all the radio stations in Haiti" to publicize Aristide's corruption. Ultimately, they said, IFES stretched into "human rights" efforts, and then formed the Fédération des Etudiants Universitaires d'Haïti (FEUH), a "student group" based at the state university in Port-au-Prince. IFES even went so far as to bid for a mental health treatment contract to run a victims program in Haiti. According to the American who was hired by IFES to run the mental health treatment component of the program, she became disenchanted with IFES in Haiti after concluding that (i) IFES had no concept of how to run a mental health program and seemed only to want USAID contract money, and (ii) IFES was more concerned with political gains than with helping Haitians in need.
The administrators reported that IFES, through its creation or "sensitization" of associations, set the groundwork for the establishment and nurturing of the Group of 184 -- the business-centered coalition led by factory owner Andy Apaid that played a major role in Aristide's ouster. In fact, according to the Haitian administrators, when Andy Apaid's Group of 184 held a meeting in Cité Soleil in July 2003, the IFES leadership presented a program explaining that, under Aristide, "prosecutors won't prosecute."
When the Group of 184 wanted to introduce its "new Social Contract" at the Inisyativ Sitwayen ("Citizens' Initiative") presentation in Cap Haïtien, IFES financed it. The administrators stated that this group became "the first association to effectively resist Aristide." They stated that IFES rented the space for the meeting, paid for the logistics and sound system, funded all activities at the forum, and paid a "per diem" cash benefit to attendees.
As IFES' Haiti program was snowballing in October 2003, it began a campaign to use human rights abuses as a way to highlight Aristide's purported corruption.IFES enlisted the Comité des Avocats Pour le Respect des Libertés Individuelles (the Lawyer's Committee for Individual Rights, or CARLI), and gave the small, volunteer-based organization $54,000 to set up, operate, and publicize a telephone "hotline" for receiving human rights abuse complaints. IFES' plan required CARLI to issue monthly written reports detailing the alleged abuses, and to publish the names of alleged abusers to the police, the U.S. Embassy, the OAS, and other domestic and international organizations. (...)
The administrators stated that "we [IFES] put Aristide in a bad situation." They stated that IFES united "all forces against Aristide" because Aristide had co-opted the judicial system so that there were "no arrests and no prosecutions for offenders who supported him." They believed that violence by Aristide supporters during a demonstration at the state university on December 5, 2003, was the "mistake" that put him "over the top" and effectively signaled the end of his government. At the demonstration, university rector Pierre-Marie Michel Paquiot had his legs broken by thugs reported to be pro-Aristide demonstrators.
The administrators say that the University had been brought to the boiling point by FEUH, IFES' "sensitized" association of university students. They said that IFES had held "sensitization" meetings at the University that became anti-Aristide rallies.
When Rector Paquiot was attacked, it was IFES, along with Latortue's HRDF in Florida, that arranged to have the Rector flown out of Haiti within days, along with an IFES escort. On March 1, 2004, less than 24 hours after Aristide's ouster, IFES held a meeting in Washington. According to a witness, Paquiot was presented, in a wheelchair, to energize IFES's call for an "increased presence" in Haiti.
The administrators claimed that President Aristide's other serious mistake was the murder of Amiot "Cubain" Métayer, a prominent leader in Gonaïves. IFES took the position that President Aristide had Métayer killed. After the killing, violence broke out in Gonaïves and, according to the administrators, Bernard Gousse wanted to be there to support the victims. He traveled to Gonaives in a USAID-marked vehicle "for protection" and under the auspices of a "medical association" that IFES had formed or "sensitized," known as IMEDH. Asked to clarify whether Gousse went to Gonaïves in support of all victims of violence or a particular group, the administrators stated that "Gousse wanted to be with the rebels."
According to IFES administrators, the organization's Haitian staff members were directed to attend and observe all political demonstrations during the months leading up to President Aristide's ouster, on an "unofficial" basis. They were also required to write weekly "political situation reports" based on their observations and to provide these reports to the local office of USAID and IFES headquarters. The investigators obtained copies of some of the reports, which are available upon request. The administrators were asked why Aristide, as president, could not simply stop IFES from acting or exclude IFES from Haiti. The administrators stated that IFES was bootstrapped to USAID, and that Aristide had to allow IFES to operate or else he would have had to forego humanitarian and other assistance from USAID. This would have damaged relationships with his own people who needed USAID services, and further alienated Washington, they said.
(...) The administrators stated that the ouster of Aristide "was not the objective of the IFES program, but it was the result."
Interview of U.S. Embassy Officials: Officials of the U.S. Embassy granted interviews on the condition that their names not be used. They conceded that the human rights situation is "extremely grave." (...)
The officials stated that the conditions in Haiti were "much better" than they were under President Aristide, but they did not explain how they were better. The Embassy officials admitted that they do not investigate human rights conditions first hand, and do not visit victims or detainees. (...) They emphasized that Haitian Police officers had been beheaded in a slum gang operation called "Operation Baghdad."
In response to inquiries about "Operation Baghdad," the officials stated that they (i) did not know any names of the beheaded police officers, (ii) were unsure whether it was "gangs" or Prime Minister Latortue who coined the term "Operation Baghdad," and (iii) did not know that Haiti's most widely read daily paper, the pro-government Le Nouvelliste had a regular section called "Operation Baghdad" dedicated to stories about slum violence. The officials also said that they were unaware of reports from sources, including CARLI (...), that the beheadings are believed to have involved only two HNP victims, and that the perpetrators were reported to be former soldiers, not Lavalas supporters.
Embassy officials stated that the situation would improve if the United Nations forces were augmented. They stated that the UN forces are not doing a good enough job because they are not using their authority to apply deadly force. (...)
Tom Griffin will speak about his findings at a mass rally on Feb. 27 at 5 p.m. at Clara Barton High School, 901 Classon Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. Journalist Kevin Pina's new documentary "Haiti: The Betrayal of Democracy" will also be screened. For more information, call 718-434-8100.
as i understand it , members of Lavalas and their supporters are being “disappeared” almost daily by the reconstituted haitian “army” and the “ton ton macoute” death squads …and right under the noses of the international “peacekeeping” force .
why is it that when america artificially inseminates “democracy” whether in haiti , iraq , or elsewhere , that sick version of imposed “democracy ” and death squads usually go hand in hand ?
New Human Rights Report
Exposes De Facto Terror
(The second of two installments)
We continue this week with the publication of extracts from "Haiti: Human Rights Investigation, November 11-21,2004," written by immigration lawyer Tom Griffin and published by the University of Miami Law School. The full report can be downloaded from http://www.law.miami.edu/cshr/.
The Unlawful Return of the Haitian Army: In Pétionville, investigators confirmed the repeated, highly consistent reports from neighborhoods under siege that former soldiers have reunited, calling themselves the "Haitian Army." The soldiers insist that the army be reinstated and included in any discussion of Haiti's future. These heavily armed soldiers assist HNP operations, and conduct their own, in the poorest and most densely populated neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. They dress in green military fatigues or camouflage, and green helmets and carry large military guns.(...)
The investigators went to the Pétionville base where 300 heavily armed and uniformed irregular FADH soldiers were milling about, some sporting swords and carrying gas masks in addition to automatic rifles. They have been given a large apartment building for their use, and neighborhood residents supply their food and spending money and wash their clothes. All soldiers interviewed stated that Pétionville's residents "love us very much." (...)
Investigators interviewed the second in command, Commander Jean-Baptiste Joseph, age 42. Commander Joseph stated that a force of 5,000 of the irregular FADH soldiers is currently on "active duty" throughout Haiti. In addition to the 300 soldiers stationed in Pétionville, Joseph stated that the irregular FADH has established large bases in Ouanaminthe, Cap Haïtien, Fort Liberté, Jérémie, Petit Goave, and Jacmel. Joseph stated that FADH opened its base in Pétionville on February 29, 2004, the day of President Aristide's ouster, but that the high command did not arrive until the end of October. He stated that FADH is in Pétionville upon the "invitation of the residents of Pétionville."
Joseph stated that the Army is standing by in Pétionville until the Government gives them what they demand: official authority to provide security to the city. He stated that his soldiers do, however, go out "whenever they receive a call."
Joseph did not explain what responding to a call meant, because the interview was interrupted by a heavy-set man in civilian clothes who burst into the room and announced that help was needed in La Saline. Commander Joseph then apologized, put on his helmet, grabbed a semi-automatic rifle, and jogged out the door and down the steps of the building.
The man who had interrupted (...) then told the investigators, in unaccented English, that "our men have been attacked" while providing back-up security to the APN, Haiti's official port police unit. (...)
Subsequently, the man shouted commands as approximately 100 soldiers lined up. A group of about 20 were chosen to ride in an SUV and a pick-up truck to respond to the report. Some of the chosen men blessed themselves while others yelled, "we are going to kill all the 'rat pa kaka,'" a dehumanizing term for the poor young men assumed to support Lavalas and the return of President Aristide. The soldiers sped away, large firearms in full view, driving several miles through Port-au-Prince to La Saline. One of the trucks had no license plate. The other operation truck displayed official government plates. The English speaking officer refused to provide other details about the irregular FADH's work, but stated that he learned English because he was "fully trained in warfare in the United States." He gave his name as "Jean André." (...)
Haitian Political Prisoners: In response to reports of hundreds of political prisoners -- arrested for suspected support of the elected, constitutional government, or for criticism of the interim government -- the investigators visited prisoners in two jails, and spoke with a respected defense lawyer.
The investigators made repeated visits to the single, 9-feet by 9-feet jail cell at the HNP Anti-Gang Unit headquarters across from the National Palace. On the first visit, there were 42 prisoners in the cell, some already there for as long as 30 days. None had been brought before a magistrate, as required within 48 hours of arrest under the Haitian Constitution. All stated they were arrested for supporting Lavalas. All appeared to be extremely impoverished and many had no shoes or shirts.Several of the prisoners appeared to have been beaten and were severely injured, and none had been seen by any medical professionals. (...)
The Role of the United States in the Current Crisis:
The U.S. has been a strong supporter of the interim government, providing substantial political and financial assistance. In order to obtain more insight into the U.S. role, investigators spoke with officials at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, and with employees of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), which implemented a series of civil society projects as a subcontractor of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
IFES is a U.S.-based tax-exempt organization that claims to provide "targeted technical assistance to strengthen transitional democracies." It has worked in Haiti since 1990. IFES' most recent Haiti projects are "Civil Society Strengthening Project for Judicial Independence and Justice" and "Victims of Organized Violence Program." Investigators separately interviewed two Haitian administrators of IFES' projects in Port-au-Prince, and an American who formerly directed the Victims Program.
The administrators reported that USAID awarded IFES a series of contracts for millions of dollars, often as the sole bidder, and gave IFES substantial logistical assistance in Haiti. The administrators stated that they, and IFES, considered the programs to be an avenue to exposing, and then ending corruption in the Haitian government. They felt that President Aristide was corrupt, and that their job was to nurture civil society institutions that could provide a counterweight to the elected authorities.
The principle focus of IFES' programs was the Haitian justice system. The justice program began in about 2001 with an initial budget of $3.5 million. Its purpose was, in the words of the administrators, "to advocate for the independence of judges from the executive branch via the formation of a range of coalitions from various societal institutions." The IFES programs involved many people now prominent in Haitian politics. For example, Minister of Justice Bernard Gousse and his cabinet member Philippe Vixamar were IFES consultants for several years. Among other things, Gousse was a "sensitization" speaker, wrote key reports, spoke at conferences, and played a leading role in the IFES exchange program for lawyers and judges at Tulane University in Louisiana in April 2003, and at seminars in Minnesota and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. (...) Gerard Latortue and Interim President Boniface Alexandre both participated in IFES justice programs. Latortue, a former UN official and a resident of Boca Raton Florida before becoming Prime Minister, was part of the association that IFES formed to include the Haitian diaspora in the United States. According to the administrators, he led the Haitian Resources Development Foundation (HRDF), a Miami-based group that claims to "initiate and/or support projects and programs aimed at developing economic and cultural resources in Haiti."
The premise of IFES' justice program was that President Aristide "controlled everything" and therefore controlled the judges in Haiti in contravention of the constitutional separation of powers. Because the judicial system was corrupt, so went the premise, Aristide must be the most corrupt. IFES' initially undertook to form a network of organizations that could concentrate opposition to the perceived corruption of the judiciary by the Aristide government. IFES formed new associations and established relationships with existing ones, making them more cohesive with a formally planned program of "sensitization" - what the administrators called "opening their eyes" to IFES' viewpoint that Aristide was corrupting the justice system. Through various programs -- that included catered meals, accommodations, entertainment, and payment of a cash "per diem" -- IFES "sensitized" attendees to the problems with the justice system under Aristide and insisted that they act as a united group for greatest effect.
The administrators reported that IFES set up the Coalition for Reform of the Law and Judiciary ("CHREDEJ" in French) as an umbrella organization. It helped judges and prosecutors establish a formal nationwide professional association, the Association Nationale de la Magistrature Haïtienne (ANAMAH). It pulled the fifteen regional bar associations into the nationwide Federation des Barreaux d' Haiti (FBH). The administrators reported that one of the speakers for the "sensitization" program for Haitian judges and lawyers was Louis Aucoin, a law professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Massachusetts, who has worked on USAID justice programs in Haiti since the mid-1990's.
The administrators reported that IFES used the same formula to establish formal associations of "private sector" and "business sector" groups in order to "provide economic force" to the opposition movement. IFES included a program to "sensitize" media and journalist groups, and to "use all the radio stations in Haiti" to publicize Aristide's corruption. Ultimately, they said, IFES stretched into "human rights" efforts, and then formed the Fédération des Etudiants Universitaires d'Haïti (FEUH), a "student group" based at the state university in Port-au-Prince. IFES even went so far as to bid for a mental health treatment contract to run a victims program in Haiti. According to the American who was hired by IFES to run the mental health treatment component of the program, she became disenchanted with IFES in Haiti after concluding that (i) IFES had no concept of how to run a mental health program and seemed only to want USAID contract money, and (ii) IFES was more concerned with political gains than with helping Haitians in need.
The administrators reported that IFES, through its creation or "sensitization" of associations, set the groundwork for the establishment and nurturing of the Group of 184 -- the business-centered coalition led by factory owner Andy Apaid that played a major role in Aristide's ouster. In fact, according to the Haitian administrators, when Andy Apaid's Group of 184 held a meeting in Cité Soleil in July 2003, the IFES leadership presented a program explaining that, under Aristide, "prosecutors won't prosecute."
When the Group of 184 wanted to introduce its "new Social Contract" at the Inisyativ Sitwayen ("Citizens' Initiative") presentation in Cap Haïtien, IFES financed it. The administrators stated that this group became "the first association to effectively resist Aristide." They stated that IFES rented the space for the meeting, paid for the logistics and sound system, funded all activities at the forum, and paid a "per diem" cash benefit to attendees.
As IFES' Haiti program was snowballing in October 2003, it began a campaign to use human rights abuses as a way to highlight Aristide's purported corruption.IFES enlisted the Comité des Avocats Pour le Respect des Libertés Individuelles (the Lawyer's Committee for Individual Rights, or CARLI), and gave the small, volunteer-based organization $54,000 to set up, operate, and publicize a telephone "hotline" for receiving human rights abuse complaints. IFES' plan required CARLI to issue monthly written reports detailing the alleged abuses, and to publish the names of alleged abusers to the police, the U.S. Embassy, the OAS, and other domestic and international organizations. (...)
The administrators stated that "we [IFES] put Aristide in a bad situation." They stated that IFES united "all forces against Aristide" because Aristide had co-opted the judicial system so that there were "no arrests and no prosecutions for offenders who supported him." They believed that violence by Aristide supporters during a demonstration at the state university on December 5, 2003, was the "mistake" that put him "over the top" and effectively signaled the end of his government. At the demonstration, university rector Pierre-Marie Michel Paquiot had his legs broken by thugs reported to be pro-Aristide demonstrators.
The administrators say that the University had been brought to the boiling point by FEUH, IFES' "sensitized" association of university students. They said that IFES had held "sensitization" meetings at the University that became anti-Aristide rallies.
When Rector Paquiot was attacked, it was IFES, along with Latortue's HRDF in Florida, that arranged to have the Rector flown out of Haiti within days, along with an IFES escort. On March 1, 2004, less than 24 hours after Aristide's ouster, IFES held a meeting in Washington. According to a witness, Paquiot was presented, in a wheelchair, to energize IFES's call for an "increased presence" in Haiti.
The administrators claimed that President Aristide's other serious mistake was the murder of Amiot "Cubain" Métayer, a prominent leader in Gonaïves. IFES took the position that President Aristide had Métayer killed. After the killing, violence broke out in Gonaïves and, according to the administrators, Bernard Gousse wanted to be there to support the victims. He traveled to Gonaives in a USAID-marked vehicle "for protection" and under the auspices of a "medical association" that IFES had formed or "sensitized," known as IMEDH. Asked to clarify whether Gousse went to Gonaïves in support of all victims of violence or a particular group, the administrators stated that "Gousse wanted to be with the rebels."
According to IFES administrators, the organization's Haitian staff members were directed to attend and observe all political demonstrations during the months leading up to President Aristide's ouster, on an "unofficial" basis. They were also required to write weekly "political situation reports" based on their observations and to provide these reports to the local office of USAID and IFES headquarters. The investigators obtained copies of some of the reports, which are available upon request. The administrators were asked why Aristide, as president, could not simply stop IFES from acting or exclude IFES from Haiti. The administrators stated that IFES was bootstrapped to USAID, and that Aristide had to allow IFES to operate or else he would have had to forego humanitarian and other assistance from USAID. This would have damaged relationships with his own people who needed USAID services, and further alienated Washington, they said.
(...) The administrators stated that the ouster of Aristide "was not the objective of the IFES program, but it was the result."
They further stated that IFES/USAID workers in Haiti want to take credit for the ouster of Aristide, but cannot "out of respect for the wishes of the U.S. government."
Interview of U.S. Embassy Officials: Officials of the U.S. Embassy granted interviews on the condition that their names not be used. They conceded that the human rights situation is "extremely grave." (...)
The officials stated that the conditions in Haiti were "much better" than they were under President Aristide, but they did not explain how they were better. The Embassy officials admitted that they do not investigate human rights conditions first hand, and do not visit victims or detainees. (...) They emphasized that Haitian Police officers had been beheaded in a slum gang operation called "Operation Baghdad."
In response to inquiries about "Operation Baghdad," the officials stated that they (i) did not know any names of the beheaded police officers, (ii) were unsure whether it was "gangs" or Prime Minister Latortue who coined the term "Operation Baghdad," and (iii) did not know that Haiti's most widely read daily paper, the pro-government Le Nouvelliste had a regular section called "Operation Baghdad" dedicated to stories about slum violence. The officials also said that they were unaware of reports from sources, including CARLI (...), that the beheadings are believed to have involved only two HNP victims, and that the perpetrators were reported to be former soldiers, not Lavalas supporters.
Embassy officials stated that the situation would improve if the United Nations forces were augmented. They stated that the UN forces are not doing a good enough job because they are not using their authority to apply deadly force. (...)
Tom Griffin will speak about his findings at a mass rally on Feb. 27 at 5 p.m. at Clara Barton High School, 901 Classon Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. Journalist Kevin Pina's new documentary "Haiti: The Betrayal of Democracy" will also be screened. For more information, call 718-434-8100.
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