HAITI REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 2, 2005

The Haiti Report is a compilation and summary of events as described
in Haiti and international media. It does not reflect the opinions of
any individual or organization. This service is intended to create a
better understanding of the situation in Haiti by presenting the
reader with reports that provide a variety of perspectives on the
situation.


IN THIS REPORT:
- OPL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OUTLINES PARTY PLATFORM
- NEW BRAZILIAN COMMANDER OF UN MISSION
- VIOLENCE AGAINST HAITIANS IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
- CIVPOL ANNOUNCES NEW MEASURES TO CONTROL HAITIAN POLICE
- VENEZUELA OFFERS AID TO HAITI
- POLICE/CIVILIAN MACHETE ATTACK AT SOCCER GAME IN GRANDE RAVINE
- SHOOTINGS IN RABOTEAU, GONAIVES
- FORMER PARAMILITARY LEADER RELEASED
- UN PEACEKEEPER SHOT IN THE LEG
- JEAN-JUSTE AND LAVALAS PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS
- PARTIAL LIST OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
- SECRETARY GENERAL OF OAS SAYS HAITI IS UNGOVERNABLE
- INSECURITY CREATES DIFFERENT KIND OF EXODUS
- MIAMI HERALD EDITORIAL: KEEPING POLITICAL FOES IN JAIL DISCREDITS
INTERIM GOVERNMENT
- NEW YORK TIMES ON CITE SOLEIL


OPL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OUTLINES PARTY PLATFORM:
The organization of the People in Struggle (OPL) presented all of its
candidates Wednesday that will be representing the party in the
elections announced for the end of the year. The presentation was
made during a rally at the party's Pont-Morin headquarters. OPL's
candidate for president, Paul Denis, presented the main themes of
his administration, in the event he is elected. This government, he
said, would have four priority axes: creating conditions enabling
Haitians to enjoy their rights and freedoms, making it possible for
Haitians to live in dignity, building State institutions capable of
assuming the role of a public power, regulating the sectors of
activities, and defining as well as enforcing a normative framework.
This government would work to improve living conditions for all
Haitians, particularly, he said, the situation of the immense
majority of the excluded and abandoned population. Paul Denis
committed himself to see to it that intensive growth-related
production reinforces economic capacity and contributes to durable
development. He promised to ensure that the environment in which
Haitians live and develop receives the necessary attention and
protection to enable them to play their role in an effective and
sustainable manner.

Haïti needs enlightened and honest leadership, he said, to undertake
this task of regeneration, a leadership capable of making decisions
and inspiring the rebirth of hope at all levels of society. Haitian
presidents, he said, rarely complete their terms in office and as a
result almost never have time to implement their election campaign
promises. They are generally dragged from office by coups d'itat
which generally finish in bloodshed. Many believe that Haitian
political men do not make much of a practice of cultivating the idea
of the peaceful political transfer of power from one elected leader
to another: an elected president takes office today and the next day
they call for his departure, probably feeling that the presidential
term in office is too long. These same sectors also joke that
presidents who are "named" generally have much more chance to stay in
power than those who are "elected". (AHP, 8/31)


NEW BRAZILIAN COMMANDER OF UN MISSION:
Another Brazilian general was sworn in this Wednesday as military
head of the UN mission in Haiti, replacing General Augusto Heleno
Ribeiro. The new commander is Brigadier General Urano Texeira Da
Matta Bacellar. At the ceremony transferring command to General
Bacellar, the outgoing commander offered thanks to his government and
his colleagues on the UN force who placed their confidence in him for
such an ambitious task, he said. Heleno Ribeiro also thanked the
soldiers of MINUSTAH for "the good work they have performed in Haiti
since they arrived". The outgoing commander of the UN in Haiti said
he encountered great difficulties in Haiti and expressed hope that
the new commander will utilize all his competence to carry out his
mission successfully. For his part, the new commander, General Da
Matta Bacellar, promised to continue the work of maintaining order
that was begun by General Ribeiro. Mr. Valdès said he was equally
confident as to the capacity of the new commander to continue the
work of Mr. Heleno which consists, he said, of assuring security for
the Haitian people, notably on the occasion of the coming
elections. (AHP, 8/31)


VIOLENCE AGAINST HAITIANS IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:
Haitian and Dominican human rights and refugee advocacy organizations
reported Monday that more than 2,000 Haitians were expelled from the
Dominican Republic over a one month period. In a joint statement, the
groups asked the Dominican government to put an end to what it called
"these racist 20th century practices". The expelled Haitians were
arrested by the Dominican police and army, which based their actions
on the color of their skin, said the Support Group for Refugees and
the Jesuit Service for Refugee and Immigrants. The organizations
appealed to the Haitian government not to remain indifferent to these
abuses. Typically in these cases, the organizations reported, abuses
occur in the form of confiscation of identification documents
belonging to the Haitians, forced separations of families, rapes and
imprisonment in sub-human conditions. Sectors of the Dominican
extreme right wing have on several occasions stated in recent months
that they no longer intend to be more lenient toward the Haitians
than is their own government, emphasizing the fact that the Haitians,
particularly those from the shantytowns, are victims of repression in
their own country. (AHP, 8/23)

The Dominican Republic government on Thursday condemned the murders
of three Haitian immigrants set on fire and promised a full
investigation after long-held mistrust between the Caribbean island
neighbors erupted again in violence. The three young Haitians died on
Tuesday after a week in intensive care in a Santo Domingo hospital.
According to 20-year-old Haitian Bernius Pierre, who said he escaped
the torching, one of the attackers wore a police uniform and had a
handgun. "We reject and deplore this situation," said Rafael Nunez, a
spokesman for President Leonel Fernandez, whose country shares the
island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Activists defending the rights of up
to 1 million Haitian illegal immigrants in the Dominican Republic say
at least six have been murdered since May when four Haitians were
accused of killing shopkeeper Maritza Nunez in the border town of
Hatillo Palma, 166 miles (270 km) northwest of Santo Domingo.
Hundreds of Haitians, some believed to have proper immigration
documents, were rounded up by troops after the Nunez murder and
deported under the orders of Fernandez until international protests
persuaded the authorities to halt the expulsions. The deportations
were a reminder of the tensions between impoverished and turbulent
Haiti and the more developed Dominican Republic. Their relationship
was deeply scarred by the 1937 massacre of up to 30,000 Haitian
migrants in a campaign ordered by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo.
A Mass was celebrated on Thursday at a church in south Santo Domingo
near the area where the three Haitians were set on fire last week.
Pierre, speaking to a local newspaper through a translator, former
Haitian Consul Edwin Paraison, said the attackers demanded money.
They then tied them up, beat them, poured gasoline over them and set
their victims on fire. "I was saved by a miracle because they also
had me tied up. But I managed to get free while they were trying to
tie up another of the boys," he told El Nacional daily. The interim
government of Haiti, struggling to recover from an armed revolt last
year that toppled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has
demanded a full investigation. (Reuters, 8/25)

Haiti recalled its top diplomat to the Dominican Republic on Thursday
after three Haitian migrants were beaten and burned to death in an
attack that has added to growing tensions between the uneasy
Caribbean neighbors. The three men, ranging from 19 to 22 years old,
were attacked Aug. 16 near the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo,
where they worked, Dominican police said. According to the Dominican
Attorney General's Office, they had been drinking with a group of
Dominicans who later demanded money. When turn down, the Dominicans
attacked the Haitians, doused them with a flammable liquid and set
them ablaze. The men died days later. In response to the killings,
Haiti recalled its charge d'affaires "for consultation," said Jean
Daniel Lafontant, a spokesman for Haiti's Foreign Ministry. "The
Haitian interim government energetically condemns these criminal
acts. It deplores that such deeds have occurred at a time when
significant efforts are being made to lastingly improve relations
between the two countries," a Foreign Ministry statement said. The
Dominican National Police said Thursday it had formed a commission to
investigate the attack and find the killers. In May, the Dominican
government deported at least 2,000 Haitians following the killing of
a Dominican woman. No one was arrested the slaying, but Dominican
neighbors went on a retaliatory rampage, beheading two Haitian
migrants. Although Haitian migrants are considered a burden in a
country whose own citizens flee poverty by the thousands each year,
Dominican farm owners often truck in Haitians to work in the fields,
saying they need the cheap labor. (AP, 8/25)

A society that according to polls describes itself as racist, the
Dominican Republic is witnessing rising xenophobic hostility against
Haitians while at the same time seeing the arrival of an ever-
increasing number of Haitian immigrants. Thirteen Haitian immigrants
have been killed by Dominicans since May, according to the chairman
of this country's National Human Rights Committee, Virgilio Almanzar.
Dominicans were stunned last week by news of an incident on the
outskirts of Santo Domingo, where four young Haitian men were gagged,
doused with flammable liquid and then set ablaze. While one managed
to escape, the other three died in the burn unit of a hospital in the
capital. The Haitian government denounced that and other similar
deeds as "cruel and savage" expressions of racism. Port-au-Prince
also demanded firm action against the perpetrators to avert further
attacks on its citizens. Dominican authorities, however, have yet to
track down the perpetrators of the latest outrage. A source with the
Dominican National Human Rights Committee told EFE that the reports
about mistreatment of Haitians here could spark a conflict between
the two nations sharing the island of Hispaniola.

Seventeen civic groups joined recently in denouncing the wave of
"racist" violence against Haitians in the Dominican Republic and to
demand effective countermeasures from authorities. At least 3,000
Haitians were forcibly repatriated in May after the slaying of a
Dominican citizen - allegedly by Haitians - in the northern town of
Hatillo Palma sent local residents on a rampage through Haitian
communities, burning homes and beating immigrants. The scenario of
Hatillo Palma was reprised early this month in the northern community
of Pueblo Nuevo, where Dominicans set upon Haitians with machetes and
sticks after a 13-year-old local boy was killed, purportedly by a
Haitian. (EFE, 8/31)


CIVPOL ANNOUNCES NEW MEASURES TO CONTROL HAITIAN POLICE:
CIVPOL spokesperson Jean François Vizina announced Monday that new
measures will be adopted over the next two weeks designed, he said,
to provide for screening and improved control of the Haitian National
Police (PNH). A program of registration and identification of police
officers is planned, said, Mr. Vizina, as well as procedures to
control the weapons used by the national police. Photographic
identification and registration of fingerprints of police officers
are two important elements of the program, said the CIVPOL
spokesperson. The program will also make it possible to ascertain
with certainty the number of police officers employed in the force.
Referring to the recent issuance of checks to police officers who are
no longer employed by the PNH, Mr. Vizina anticipated that this
program will also address the problem of corruption plaguing the
police institution. UN Security Council Resolution 1608 provided
MINUSTAH with full authority over the Haitian national police.

The UN Mission as well as other sectors of the international
community have recently reacted with a great deal of embarrassment
following numerous cases of summary justice perpetrated by "attachis"
and in which sectors of the PNH have been accused of involvement.
However, the investigations announced by the Haitian authorities as
well as by MINUSTAH to shed light on the incident last week in which
several dozen people were hacked to death in the populist district of
Grand'Ravine on the pretext that they were bandits, have thus far
produced no results. (AHP, 8/29)


VENEZUELA OFFERS AID TO HAITI:
Venezuela, citing historical ties, has offered to assist Haiti in the
areas of energy, education and economic development, the head of the
United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Caribbean country, Juan
Gabriel Valdis, said. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez made
the offer in the margins of a meeting of foreign ministers from the
Rio Group of Latin American states, focusing on Haiti, last Thursday
and Friday in Bariloche, Argentina, he said. The Rio Group, some of
whose members have contributed troops to the UN Stabilization Mission
in Haiti (MINUSTAH), pledged to continue to support Haiti in its
efforts to surmount its current political, economic and social
crises, Mr. Valdis said. In this regard, he urged them to continue
providing support beyond the elections and for as long as it took to
make the advances gained in Haiti’s stabilization irreversible,
MINUSTAH said. (UN Daily News, 8/29)


POLICE/CIVILIAN MACHETE ATTACK AT SOCCER GAME IN GRANDE RAVINE:
The U.N. mission in Haiti has launched an inquiry into the lynching
of at least 20 people by vigilantes armed with machetes and by
Haitian police last weekend, U.N. officials said on Wednesday. During
a soccer game on Saturday funded by the U.S. Agency for International
Development and the interim Haitian government, hooded police and
individuals with machetes attacked people they called "bandits,"
according to residents of the Port-au-Prince slum of Martissant.
"Everybody gathered to watch the game, suddenly the police surrounded
the area and ordered everyone to lie on the ground," said Roland Roy,
a community leader in Martissant. "Then a group of people, armed with
machetes, who came with the police, started identifying people one by
one, saying here is a bandit, here is another one. They cut them with
machetes and killed a number of them," said Roy. He said up to 30
people died, some shot by police. Another community leader, Lionel
Mondestin, said at least 20 people were killed on Saturday during the
soccer game and on Sunday during another police operation. Many other
residents gave similar accounts. French Lt. Col. Philippe Espie, the
head of international police who are part of a U.N. force keeping the
peace since former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted by an
armed revolt last year, said the incident was being investigated and
would not be tolerated. "In the first place, we can only condemn what
happened. It is intolerable to accept that sort of situation where
people take justice into their own hands," Espie told Reuters. The
soccer game was part of a "tournament for peace," funded by USAID and
the interim Haitian government that took over after Aristide fled
into exile at the end of February 2004, organizers said. Once viewed
as a champion of Haiti's fledgling democracy, Aristide faced
increasing accusations of corruption and despotism. The head of a
U.N. human rights unit, Thierry Faggart, said his office was also
investigating the incident and several other cases of human rights
abuses blamed on police. Haiti's new police chief, Mario Andresol,
said he was ready to punish any officers, if their involvement were
confirmed. "We are here to protect the population, not to repress
them or kill them. Such behavior won't be tolerated while I'm there,"
Andresol told Reuters. Both the Haitian police and U.N. forces have
previously announced investigations into alleged abuses by police
officers. To date, no reports have been published. Dozens of people
have been hacked to death in vigilante justice that often accompanies
police operations in slums regarded as strongholds of support for
Aristide. The authorities blame Aristide supporters for violence that
has killed at least 700 people in the past year while Aristide's
Lavalas Family party says it is being persecuted. Haiti, the poorest
country in the Americas, is scheduled to hold elections in November.
(Reuters, 8/24)

This is a preliminary report on the basis of interviews with over 20
witnesses who gave credible, mutually consistent testimony,
corroborated by onsite investigations.
I. AUGUST 20 FOOTBALL MASSACRE
On Saturday, August 20, an estimated 4,000-6,000 persons were present
at l'Eglise Ste. Bernadette/l'Ecole Rose Mère, a church/school
complex in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Martissant, watching
summer vacation football (soccer) matches. The presence of national
team players had attracted an overflow crowd, and those who could not
find seats or standing room by the field watched from the top of the
nearby Mère Rose school building.

Witnesses report that several police officers accompanied by
civilians armed with machetes encircled the stadium perimeter, then
entered the field area. Witnesses report they initially believed the
police had come to provide security, but the police approached the
Disc Jockey running the entertainment system and told him to tell
everyone present to lie down on the ground.

At this point, witnesses report that someone, probably a civilian,
fired a single shot in the air, and several people ran to leave the
stadium. Chaos ensued, and witnesses report that the police shot
several individuals, including people who were trying to escape over
the walls of the stadium, and others who remained in the main area.

When the police stopped shooting, the armed civilians proceeded to
inspect the people lying on the ground, one after another. After
inspection by the civilians, some people were allowed to go, and
others were hacked with machetes by the civilians. The police and
civilian attackers claimed they were looking for gang members.

Many persons were hacked to death with machetes or hacked and then
shot by the police. Killings occurred inside of the stadium as well
as in several areas surrounding the church. Many witness report that
police ambulances carried away the dead bodies. Other people were
reported to have been arrested, but were later found in the morgue by
their family members. Other families report that three days later
they still have not found individuals who were taken away by police.

Estimates of the number of victims vary as several individuals were
taken away and bodies were scattered in several areas inside and
around the church. Bodies were reported in toilets in the stadium,
the grassy area at the edges of the stadium, on the basketball court,
in corridors around the church, around the walls of the stadium (some
were shot trying to escape over the walls), and in an area where an
electoral registration office is located. Witnesses believe some
people were suffocated in the stampede to leave the stadium. The
most common estimates of deaths range between 20 and 50.

II. AUGUST 21 HOUSE RAIDS
Witnesses report that on Sunday, August 21, at approximately 10 am,
police trucks with several officers in black and camouflage uniforms
and hoods arrived in Grande Ravine. They were accompanied by
approximately seven civilians armed with machetes. The group went to
the home of Arens Laguerre, a televison cameraman and anti-government
activist, who was illegally arrested in May 2004, and only released
after protests by press freedom organizations. Mr. Laguerre was able
to escape and witnessed subsequent events from a safe place. He and
other witnesses in the area heard the police and civilians with them
say "La se kay yon rat," ("there is the house of a rat"). Rat is a
derogatory term the police use to designate supporters of the Lavalas
movement.

The attackers continued up the hillside into the area of Ti Jasmin,
where they burned four homes. The machete-wielding civilians, some
of whom were recognized by witnesses as participants in the August 20
football massacre, went from home to home identifying individuals and
houses. Houses of suspected Lavalas supporters were ignited, and
their occupants dragged outside. Some people were shot, others were
hacked to death or severely wounded with machetes. At least 5-6
young men are believed to have been killed on the spot. Others were
arrested by the police and then handed over to civilians to be hacked
with machetes. The police are said to have loaded persons into a long
black Toyota Land cruiser used as an ambulance and removed them from
the scene. (Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, 8/24)

The police carried assault rifles and wore black masks. The gang they
accompanied had brand-new machetes. According to witnesses and U.N.
investigators, they stormed into a soccer match during halftime,
ordered everyone to lie on the ground and began shooting and hacking
people to death in broad daylight as several thousand spectators fled
for their lives. The Aug. 20 attack left at least six dead and has
raised fears among U.N. officials trying to stabilize this lawless
city that bands of police -- working with gangs and guided by some
unknown player in Haitian politics -- are ''cleaning up'' before
November's elections. ''This has been the case in almost every
election cycle,'' said Damien Onses-Cardona, a spokesman for the
United Nations' peacekeeping force. ``We are very alert because we
know the history of this kind of violence in this country.'' Haiti's
new police chief, Mario Andresol, said this week that several
officers were being questioned about the killings and would likely be
arrested, according to The Associated Press.

Historically, Haitian governments have done little to punish human
rights abusers in their ranks. And the current U.S.-backed government
-- which replaced that of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide when he
was ousted last year -- has drawn mounting criticism from
international organizations, diplomats, even the U.S. ambassador for
failing to stop the summary arrests and worse of Aristide supporters.
In the capital's vast slums, where support for Aristide's Lavalas
Family Party is strongest, residents complain that police in black
masks regularly execute young men. But since the alleged attacks
usually occur at night in places also terrorized by heavily armed
gangs -- often pro-Lavalas ones -- it has been difficult to separate
fact from fiction.

Now, U.N. Civilian Police and a U.N. human rights team are
investigating at least three alleged attacks by police. On Aug. 10,
black-masked police and machete-wielding thugs attacked a gang member
named Shaba in the neighborhood of Bel Air, killing him and at least
two others and burning their bodies, U.N. officials said. And on
Sunday, a similar police-backed mob torched five homes in the Grand
Ravine neighborhood, the officials said. But the attack on the soccer
match in Martissant, caught on videotape and broadcast by a local TV
station, was the most brazen, providing the biggest piece of evidence
yet for allegations of police brutality under the current
government. (Miami Herald, 9/1)


SHOOTINGS IN RABOTEAU, GONAIVES:
8 people were shot and injured this Friday, in the poor quarter of
Raboteau at the Gonaïves, during clashes between two rival gangs of
the city. According to our information, these violent incidents are
due to the bad distribution of a sum of money between the members of
the two gangs. In the mean time, members of the Front of Resistance
of the Gonaïves demonstrated in the City of Independence to demand
better living conditions from the interim authorities. The Front
members who accuse the people who got to power after Aristide’s
departure of exploiting them dishonestly asked that a job creation
policy be put in place for the population of this city to bring them
out of misery. "Our situation was a lot better with the Aristide
administration", many of them pointed out. The Front of Resistance of
the Gonaïves was among the groups who answered the call to arms
against Aristide during the uprising of the former opposition in
January and February 2004. Shots were exchanged between the police
and armed individuals during the demonstration. No one was killed or
injured however. (AHP, 8/26)


FORMER PARAMILITARY LEADER RELEASED:
In Haiti, the recent release of an imprisoned former paramilitary
leader has drawn condemnation from diplomats and human rights
activists. Many Haitians are expressing cynicism, saying their
country, with its history of violence and extreme poverty, has never
had justice. Some are skeptical that November elections will bring
significant change. Louis Jodel Chamblain was a co-leader of the
Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, or FRAPH, a
paramilitary group blamed for thousands of killings during the
military dictatorship that took over after driving President Jean-
Bertrand Aristide from power in 1991. Mr. Chamblain fled Haiti
seeking exile in the Dominican Republic after U.S. forces disbanded
FRAPH and restored Mr. Aristide to the presidency three years later.

He was convicted in absentia for the murder of a pro-Aristide
businessman and for ordering the massacre of an estimated two dozen
Aristide supporters in the northern town of Gonaives. In February
2004, as gang members and former soldiers swept through the country,
killing police officers and calling for Mr. Aristide's ouster, Mr.
Chamblain returned to Haiti to join their rebellion, which led to Mr.
Aristide's resignation and exile. Under Haitian law, those convicted
in absentia are entitled to a retrial, and in April of last year, Mr.
Chamblain turned himself in to Haitian police. His convictions were
overturned, but he remained behind bars during an investigation into
charges that he was responsible for the burning of a section of the
Aristide stronghold slum, Cite Soleil, in 1993. This month, the
courts declared there was not enough evidence to keep him in jail,
and he was released.

Meanwhile, Yvon Neptune, who was prime minister under Mr. Aristide,
remains in jail. He was arrested in June 2004, on charges he ordered
the killing of anti-Aristide activists in the coastal town of St.
Marc during the February 2003 uprising. Members of the U.S. Congress
have repeatedly called for Mr. Neptune's release, calling his
detention politically motivated and a human rights violation. (Voice
of America, 8/26)


UN PEACEKEEPER SHOT IN THE LEG:
A United Nations peacekeeper in Haiti was shot in the leg and
seriously wounded when his patrol came under fire from armed bands in
Port-au-Prince, the capital, yesterday as violence in the city
continued to raise serious concerns. The peacekeeper, a Peruvian, was
part of a patrol in the Cite Soleil area helping a group of people
who had been attacked by “bandits” throwing stones, the UN
Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) said today. “The blue
helmets reacted efficiently to this attack, forcing the bandits to
flee and seek refuge among the civilian population,” the mission
added. The Peruvian was seriously wounded in the left leg and
underwent surgery. Meanwhile, the UN police force in the strife-torn
country has strongly condemned a rash of lynchings in the city over
the past several weeks. “MINUSTAH expresses its very serious concern
over this new settling of accounts and firmly condemns these acts of
violence which are considered as crimes under Haiti’s constitution
and laws,” UN Police (UNPOL) spokesman Jean-Francois Vezina told a
news briefing yesterday. He called on “citizens who have participated
in these criminal acts” to end them at once. (UN Daily News, 8/25)


JEAN-JUSTE AND LAVALAS PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS:
The party of ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide said on
Monday it would boycott elections later this year if a parish priest
it views as its likely presidential candidate is not released from
jail. Gerald Gilles, a leader of a moderate faction of Haiti's
leading opposition party, the Lavalas Family, said Father Gerard Jean-
Juste was the most popular figure in the party. Jean-Juste was jailed
a month ago by the interim Haitian government in connection with the
murder of a journalist. "After several consultations, the masses that
we represent and the base of the party claim Father Jean-Juste as
their presidential candidate. So he will be our candidate," Gilles
told Reuters. "We say loud and clear (that) we'll boycott the
elections if Jean-Juste, and many other political prisoners that are
potential candidates for our party, are not released." Jean-Juste, a
fiery orator who has also lived in the United States and is well
known in Miami for defending Haitian immigrants' rights, has not
indicated if he would run in the elections scheduled for later this
year to restore democracy to the poor Caribbean country. The priest
has instead insisted that Aristide be allowed to return before
Lavalas take part in the elections. Aristide, himself a former
priest, was ousted in February 2004 after an armed revolt and amid
accusations of corruption and despotism. Haiti has been torn by
continuing political and criminal violence since Aristide's ouster,
despite the presence of more than 7,000 Brazilian-led U.N. troops and
international police. Jean-Juste was arrested on July 21 on
allegations he had played a role in the kidnapping and the killing on
July 14 of journalist Jacques Roche. The priest has rejected the
accusations and said he was in Miami when the crime was committed.
Like other senior Lavalas figures who have been put in prison by the
interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, Jean-Juste says
the accusations are politically motivated. Gilles and other leaders
of a moderate wing of Lavalas angered many party supporters when they
registered Lavalas for the elections, scheduled for November. But
party officials said they had made an effort to unify Lavalas and the
decision by moderates to designate Jean-Juste as their likely
presidential candidate was welcomed by more radical members. The
United Nations has also urged Lavalas to participate in the election.
(Reuters, 8/22)

A jailed Roman Catholic priest says he is waiting for the backing of
deposed leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide before he decides to run for
president in the fall. The Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, who has been in
jail since July without charges, has emerged as the most prominent
member of Aristide's Lavalas Family movement, which is still the most
popular political faction in this troubled nation. "If Aristide
approves my candidacy, I may accept the party's nomination," he told
The Associated Press on Tuesday from behind a fence at a visiting
area in Haiti's National Penitentiary. Jean-Juste's insistence on
Aristide's backing suggests the former president, who was ousted in a
bloody rebellion in 2004, retains a firm hold on his Lavalas movement
even from exile in South Africa. Jean-Juste has been detained in
connection with the kidnapping and slaying of prominent journalist
Jacques Roche though authorities have offered no proof. Amnesty
International has called the allegations "apparently trumped up
charges" and labeled the priest a "prisoner of conscience." The
priest, who was only permitted to speak with a reporter for three
minutes, said he couldn't discuss specifics, but said that his life
was in danger in the prison. He said that he fell unconscious for 20
minutes because of the heat in his cell and showed marks on his neck
that he claimed were from a beating by a mob before his July arrest.
A senior member of the Lavalas Family movement said Wednesday it may
boycott the elections if Jean-Juste is not released along with other
party figures in time to participate. "The masses of Lavalas Family
have asked for Jean-Juste to be our candidate, so he is our likely
presidential candidate," said Gerard Gilles, a former senator and a
party leader. Lavalas has been divided over whether to participate in
the elections -- the first since the rebellion that ousted Aristide.
"If we are pushed to boycott, these elections will be rubbish, they
will have no popular legitimacy," Gilles said in an interview. Jean-
Juste is one of hundreds of prisoners in Haiti who have been held
without sentence -- or in some cases, charges. Others include Yvon
Neptune, a former prime minister under Aristide who has been jailed
for more than a year without trial on charges of involvement in
political killings. The U.S.-backed interim government had faced
mounting international pressure to release Neptune, whose prolonged
detention had fueled allegations from Aristide loyalists of political
persecution and focused attention on the nation's crumbling judicial
system. Separately, U.N. peacekeeping troops came under fire
Wednesday as they tried to protect an electoral registration bureau
in the slum of Cite Soleil, underscoring how volatile the capital
remains. A peacekeeper from Peru was wounded in the leg. "We put up a
registration sign, and 10 minutes later we were under fire," said
U.N. electoral worker Ricardo Philion. (AP, 8/24)

After more than a month in jail, the health of Rev. Fr. Girard Jean
Juste is deteriorating. Once again I join my voice to the voices of
many calling for his release. His unlawful detention, alongside the
unlawful detention of thousands of political prisoners in Haiti,
demonstrates a clear determination to exclude Lavalas, or the huge
majority of Haitian people, from participating in free, fair and
democratic elections. Again we must ask: In 1994, who could have
expected free, fair and democratic elections in South Africa with
Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Oliver Tambo and other leaders and
members of the African National Congress in jail, exile or in hiding?
In Haiti, in order to have elections and not a “selection”, the
following steps must be taken:
1. The thousands of Lavalas who are in jail and in exile must be
free to return home.
2. The repression that has already killed over 10,000 people
must end immediately.
3. Then, there must be national dialogue.
Fr. Jean Juste too has echoed this call for dialogue and peace. He
must be freed. All the political prisoners must be freed. Dialogue
leading to peace through the restoration of constitutional order –
this is the will of the Haitian people. After 200 years of
independence it is clear that from this dialogue will emerge a new
Haiti. (Aristide, 8/31)


PARTIAL LIST OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES:
1. Himler Ribu (GREH) 2. Dany Toussaint (Modereh) 3. Guy Philippe
(FRN) 4. Dumarsais Micène Simius 5. Charles Henry Baker (G184) 6.
Samir Georges Mourra (MPH) 7. Bonivert Claude (PTH) 8. Rigaud
Duplan (PJP) 9. Paul Denis (OPL) 10. Girard Gourgues (MUP) 11.
Girald Gilles (FSD) 12. Evans Paul (CAD) 13. Lesly François Manigat
(RDNP) 14. Marc L. Bazin (MIDH) 15. Hubert de Ronceray (GFCD) 16.
Raynold Georges (Allah) 17. Evans Nicolas (URN) 18. Franck Romain
(Pacapalah) 19. Pastor Vladimir Jeanty (Paradis) 20. Pastor
Chavannes Jeunes (UNCRH) 21. Pastor Luc Misadieux (Mochrena) 22.
Pastor Jose Jacques Nicolas (Independant) 23. Girald Gilles (Fanmmi
Lavalas)


SECRETARY GENERAL OF OAS SAYS HAITI IS UNGOVERNABLE:
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Jose
Miguel Insulza, said Monday that Haiti is an ungovernable country
because it lacks democratic institutions able to guarantee its
governability. Mr. Insulza emphasized the fact that Haiti lacks a
professional police force capable of assuming its responsibilities
during this difficult and conflict-ridden period the country is
experiencing. The OAS head spoke during an academic conference
focusing on "inter-American challenges for the OAS" at the Latin
American Faculty of Social Sciences in Santiago, Chile. He advocated
permanent commitment to Haiti, urging the international community not
to abandon Haiti after the elections because, he said, the country is
desperately short of democratic institutions. What the international
community must avoid is to leave Haiti in the coming days, Insulza
insisted, adding that the rapid withdrawal of UN troops from Haiti
would result in a disaster. The UN Blue Helmets are scheduled to
leave gradually and in tandem with the implementation of a plan to
professionalize the national police, he said. He also emphasized that
Haiti's problem is not solely a military or police problem, but also
a problem of poverty affecting the majority of the population. Of the
$1.4 billion promised to Haiti in July 2004, only $400 million have
been disbursed to date, the senior OAS official complained. (AHP, 8/23)


INSECURITY CREATES DIFFERENT KIND OF EXODUS:
Because of the insecurity, once again an exodus is under way. This
time it's not just the sad stream of boat people that spikes at
moments of peak political or economic stress, nor is it the class of
bourgeoisie that has always had the financial means to live abroad.
It's the heart and soul of Haiti, the solid citizens who represent
the last surviving foundations of civil stability who, despite past
national traumas, vowed to stick it out in their homeland but are now
packing their bags for the first time. It's the lower middle class
(laborers) and the solid middle class (shopkeepers and entrepreneurs)
- the people who had a genuine economic stake in Haiti's future.
After years of being knocked down by the fall of one government and
rising up to the promises of the next, these patriotic and loyal
Haitians can no longer find a reason to be optimistic about that
stake. These are the people jamming outgoing flights of airlines that
fly in nearly empty to Port-au-Prince.

The most personal example I can offer is my Haitian husband, leader
of one of Haiti's most popular street bands. For seven years he's
shuttled back and forth from our home in Port-au-Prince to our home
in Miami; but for the past two months, since narrowly escaping death
after being sought by armed gunmen of a rival band who claimed he
should have been more politically vocal, he's been shuttling back and
forth across our living room, wondering if he can ever return to his
old life, or play music with his band again.

Then there's my Haitian mechanic friend who recently went into debt
to send his wife and three children to the US. He lives just south of
the National Palace, an area known for bustling street activity and
blaring music from buses. For the last four months he's not had a
single client come to his garage, and the street remains eerily
silent because of the rash of recent kidnappings.

A local street vendor of fried food I used to buy from was abducted
this summer and then released for a ransom of $100 - the equivalent
of several month's of income for her. But an elementary-school-age
child of friends of mine was kidnapped and only returned home after
his middle-class family scraped together every last dime they had and
could borrow to pay the $30,000 ransom. They also had to hand over
their new SUV.

Those are just the happy endings: Not everyone returns unscathed, or
alive.

A UNICEF dispatch denouncing the insecurity cited a case of an 11-
year-old girl who, because her family was unable to pay a ransom, was
blinded. And last month, the respected Haitian journalist and poet,
Jacques Roche, was kidnapped and murdered - and his tongue was cut
out. His assassination barely brushed the pages of the international
newspapers.

Times are so critical that my two closest Haitian friends - middle-
class people who I always thought of as part of Haiti's poto mitan
(the center pole of the voodoo temples) are also seriously
contemplating leaving Haiti for the first time in the turbulence of
the past 20 years. One, who runs a small handicrafts business, has
already been to the Dominican Republic scouting future employment
possibilities. The other, a construction entrepreneur, is spending
the summer in the safety of the US to figure out what his next step
should be. Many journalists have already left, as have aid workers.
The Peace Corps has been sent home and the US, as well as Canada and
France, has asked all non-essential personnel to leave. (Christian
Science Monitor, 8/23)


MIAMI HERALD EDITORIAL: KEEPING POLITICAL FOES IN JAIL DISCREDITS
INTERIM GOVERNMENT:
Haiti's interim government can't seem to get it right when it comes
to keeping the bad guys in jail and dealing fairly with political
opponents. Earlier this month, in a news conference marking the end
of his tour, U.S. Ambassador James Foley complained about the sudden
release from jail of Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a notorious gunman and
leader of the armed uprising that ousted former President Jean-
Bertrand Aristide, even as former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune remains
in jail without trial more than one year after his arrest. ''Imagine
the tarnished image of Haiti today, with a Chamblain released and a
former prime minister who continues to languish in jail,'' the
departing ambassador declared.

Not content with this black eye, the government has made matters
worse by arresting another vocal critic, Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, on
charges that he was responsible for the death of journalist Jacques
Roche in Haiti on July 15 even though Rev. Jean-Juste was reported to
be in Miami on that day. He was arrested, said a local police
official, because he aroused ''public clamor'' when he showed up at
the funeral for Mr. Roche amid a sea of political foes who blamed him
for the murder. This was an unwise and provocative move by Rev. Jean-
Juste, but that does not justify jailing him on trumped-up charges.
Given the predicament of Mr. Neptune, it creates the appearance that
the government of interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue is using
false imprisonment as a way to silence political foes during the
period leading up to elections this fall.

This does more than tarnish Haiti's image. It makes a mockery of the
legal system and discredits the government. To keep these prominent
opposition figures in jail during this vital period under dubious
charges will call into question the validity of the government that
emerges from elections. Better to allow the two men to regain their
political freedom. The best way for the government to silence its
critics is not to throw them in jail, but to admit that mistakes have
been made, correct them and remove an issue that threatens to cast a
permanent cloud on the upcoming elections. (Miami HeralD, 8/22)


NEW YORK TIMES ON CITE SOLEIL:
Sitting at the gateway of the nation's capital, Citi Soleil is a
broiling slum of shacks, dust and ditches filled with human waste. It
is home to several hundred thousand people who now live with
virtually no government services, no police and only an occasional
helping hand from international aid groups. Yet, with the first round
of national elections now scheduled for Nov. 13, what happens in Citi
Soleil is increasingly important to the world beyond its squalor. Not
only does it have one of the biggest blocs of potential voters - many
of whom back Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the ousted president - but it
also can generate the kind of violence that could disrupt those
elections.

For United Nations peacekeeping forces, bringing some semblance of
order to Citi Soleil and giving its residents a chance to vote in the
elections are seen as important steps in establishing a new, credible
government in Haiti. But while United Nations troops have managed to
set up command posts in sections of other poor, violent neighborhoods
like Bel Air, large parts of Citi Soleil - the country's biggest slum
- remain all but impenetrable . Citi Soleil is now so foreboding that
the international peacekeepers, who wear flak jackets and drive
armored personnel carriers, conduct no regular patrols in its densely
populated neighborhoods. In their last operation, about 400 United
Nations troops entered the slum on July 6 and ended up in a five-hour
gun battle with gangs who control the area. Numerous residents were
wounded in the cross-fire, and the incident has further embittered
many Aristide supporters as elections near.

"Citi Soleil is symbolic of Haiti's potential of creating a new
society that is inclusive rather than exclusive," said Robert
Maguire, director of international affairs programs at Trinity
University in Washington, D.C., and an expert on Haiti. He added that
if Citi Soleil is not part of the voting, "I think the elections will
be far less than credible." Gangs regularly monitor who comes and
goes on the only two roads leading into the slum, according to relief
workers. [On Aug. 24, a Peruvian soldier stationed on the edge of
Citi Soleil was shot by a sniper, according to a spokesman for the
United Nations force.]

On a recent mid-August day, local political leaders escorted
reporters for The New York Times into Citi Soleil, a largely treeless
tract of tin huts and crumbling cinderblock. With no running water,
drainage ditches are a rancid mix of human waste and garbage that
must be crossed by walking on stones or on a narrow bridge with
missing planks. The neighborhood leaders, all members of Fanmi
Lavalas, the political party founded by Mr. Aristide, wanted
reporters to see what they say is evidence of indiscriminate killings
by peacekeeping troops during the July 6 raid. These leaders blame
the international community, particularly the United States, for Mr.
Aristide's departure and for setting up an interim government that is
now supported by the United Nations.

According to the United Nations account of the raid, soldiers
responded to months of violence in Citi Soleil - much of it directed
at its own residents - by staging a predawn assault with armored
vehicles and helicopters. Their prime target: Emmanuel Wilmer, a gang
leader also known as Dread Wilmi. Mr. Wilmer and other gang members
were killed in the ensuing battle. In a cinderblock hut, baking in
Citi Soleil's midday heat, 13 residents of the neighborhood, brought
together by the political leaders, squeezed around a small wooden
bench to tell a different story. There, they laid out seven pictures
of people, including women and children, who they said had been
killed by United Nations troops.

"Here are the ones we had a chance to photograph before the dogs ate
them," said Reni Momplaisir, a local Fanmi Lavalas leader. Many
victims appeared to have been shot in the head, though who fired the
bullets - United Nations troops or gang members - could not be
independently verified. "Why do people die like that?" Mr. Momplaisir
said. "It's because there's no justice in Haiti." John Joël Joseph, a
Fanmi Lavalas leader, said dozens of residents were killed or wounded
during the raid. "This is an extremely sad day," he said. United
Nations officials said in a statement that an undetermined number of
innocent bystanders "may have been injured or even killed." They also
cited "unconfirmed but numerous reports" that gangs killed residents
after the troops left.

During the recent visit, several residents, including three children,
showed reporters what they said were wounds inflicted by peacekeeping
troops. Adeline Pierre, 28, said she had been pregnant and lost her
unborn baby after being shot. "They're on the ground and they're in
the air, coming after us," she said. "I was standing in front of my
house and I felt all of a sudden something hit my stomach," Ms.
Pierre said. Olivia Gayraud, the administrator of a free hospital run
by Doctors Without Borders, about a 20-minute drive from Citi Soleil,
said doctors there treated 27 gunshot victims from the raid, but that
the number of wounded was very likely to have been higher. Most were
children and women, Ms. Gayraud said, including a woman in her 28th
week of pregnancy who lost her baby. The hospital declined to
identify the woman because of privacy concerns.

Dr. Christophe Fournier, at Doctors Without Borders in New York, said
the clinic in Haiti had treated 1,132 gunshot victims since it opened
in December. Most appear to be victims of gang violence. But
according to Ms. Gayraud, most patients wounded July 6 said they had
been shot by international peacekeepers. Juan Gabriel Valdes, who
oversees United Nations operation in Haiti, acknowledged in an
interview that some bystanders were shot during the raid, but he also
accused gang members of using women and children as shields. The
attack was necessary, Mr. Valdes explained, "because this gang was
threatening the whole city and was attacking innocent people." He
said the operation took weeks to plan, and that it was changed three
times to try to minimize non-gang casualties. United Nations
officials said they are investigating the events of July 6, but
declined to provide further details.

Mr. Valdes said Citi Soleil has been particularly difficult to
penetrate because it is so big, the gangs so strong and living
conditions so wretched. He also said he lacks commando troops trained
and equipped for urban warfare. The Fanmi Lavalas leaders who showed
reporters around said they do not believe in violence and they
portrayed Mr. Wilmer as someone who tried to protect neighborhood
residents from a gang that threatened them. Human rights workers say
that some gangs - and there are a variety in Citi Soleil - are
terrorizing residents, and that rapes are a particular problem.
According to a report released this year by the University of Miami
School of Law, some violence in Citi Soleil had been stoked by
Haitian business interests who backed an anti-Aristide gang. The
leader of that gang was later killed. Mr. Valdes said the country was
awash in guns, some distributed by political parties and even by
"some members of the higher social sectors in this country." He
added, "The abundance of weapons in this country is a sickness of the
whole Haitian society."

When reporters from The Times walked through Citi Soleil, no weapons
were seen nor gunfire heard, which was very unusual, according to a
human rights worker who regularly visits the community. The worker
speculated that political leaders had helped to ensure that guns were
not visible during the visit. [United Nations troops stationed on the
outskirts of Citi Soleil say they are fired on daily from inside the
neighborhood, which has kept them from conducting regular operations
inside, Col. El Ouafi Boulbars, a spokesman for the United Nations
military force in Haiti, said in an interview in late August. "We can
do them but the problem is the collateral damage," he said.] That
violence is also hampering election preparations in Citi Soleil.

[Girard Le Chevallier, the United Nations chief electoral officer in
Haiti, said in late August that a voter registration center has been
open for several weeks in an industrial area on the edge of Citi
Soleil, but that is not where most people live. Mr. Le Chevallier
said a second center opened Aug. 25, in a more populated area of the
slum, and workers in one factory have also been registered.]
Registration ends Sept. 15 for national elections this fall.
Political leaders in Citi Soleil are deeply skeptical of elections,
having watched as Mr. Aristide, who twice took office in elections,
was twice removed - by a coup in 1991 and again in 2004, when, after
widespread protests and an armed rebellion, the United States flew
him out of the country. He is now in exile in South Africa.

In addition, members of his political party, Fanmi Lavalas, have been
jailed under the interim government, sometimes without due process,
according to the United Nations. The most prominent of these
prisoners is Yvon Neptune, Mr. Aristide's former prime minister.
"Fanmi Lavalas has always said that there's only one way to get power
in this country and that's the way of elections," said Mr. Joseph,
the party official. "But how can we talk about elections when all of
our party officials are in prison?" Other members of Mr. Aristide's
party - who call themselves simply Lavalas - support the elections
and are running for government posts. As the international community
tries to assert its authority in Citi Soleil, doctors and human
rights groups said in interviews that summary executions with
machetes were being carried out in other slums around Port-au-Prince.

"We have reports of executions that are supposedly performed by the
Haitian police," said Mr. Valdes, who added that an inquiry is under
way. Mr. Joseph, the Lavalas leader in Citi Soleil, said his
community needs help, not bullets. "What we don't understand," he
said, "is why those of us who are living here, who don't have money
to send our children to school, who don't have money to eat, who
can't sleep who don't have anything at all - why is it that the
international community doesn't come here to help us?" Little money
has reached Citi Soleil, international observers say, because of the
violence there and the desperate need for aid programs elsewhere in
Haiti. Mr. Valdes, the United Nations official in Haiti, said the
international community must respond to concerns like those of Mr.
Joseph. "Force is not a solution for the security problems in Haiti,"
he said. "You have to provide water, food, support in health, in
education. We have not been able to do that." Only last month, he
said, did the United Nations in Haiti get money to begin providing
some of that assistance in Citi Soleil. (NYTimes, 8/29)