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Posted Saturday at 5:59 a.m., March 29, 2001
Our Excellency Gourgue eloquently addresses nation on Constitution Day Gerard Gourgue, a Haitian provisional president, who was installed in that post on Feb. 7th by Haiti's democratic opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, after the Caribbean country's chief bandit Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his political godson Rene Preval, an unarticulated man with a reputation for drinking vodka for breakfast, held a series of largely fraudulent elections last year, in a Constitution Day national address Thursday indirectly blamed radical leftist Aristide for last week political violence in Haiti. The violence nearly claimed the lives of about 200 children who were attending classes at a grade school owned by our Excellency Gourgue after it was ordered burned to the ground by radical leftist Aristide, and left many Haitians either paralyzed or dead. In addition to millions of dollars lost because businesses remained closed for days, the country further experienced environmental problems, resulting from the large number of used car tires burned by radical leftist Aristide's bandits. And so, a few months earlier radical leftist Aristide's bandits attacked a Roman Catholic priest and parishioners in the town of Cavaillon. The even ordered them to stop praying thinking that they were asking God to kill him. In that speech, attention was first paid to the number of times the constitution had been violated since it was first voted by Haitians in a referendum on March 29, 1987. Our Excellency Gourgue called on all Haitians to make violence history. "Only when all the sons and daughters of this country sit together and work out their differences can they talk about national reconciliation. In so doing Haiti can become a free country, an independent country," he said. As the speech progressed, our Excellency Gourgue said: "I am letting you all my brothers and sisters know, those of you who have been talking about the possibility of a civil war in this country that it will not prove beneficial at all for us. A civil war will bring us back to the violence this country experienced, from 1806 to 1915." From 1806 to 1915 tens of thousands of Haitians had lost their lives through political violence, which ultimately led to the first U.S. occupation of the country. That occupation lasted 19 years. After informing the nation that he had days ago formed a Negotiation Committee, he said "I am still opened to serious and honest negotiations so together we Haitians can rescue Haiti from the mess it has long been in." "We are for peace! Not violence! Not civil war! We hope those responsible for the last week violence make an effort to understand the meaning of peace, what we all Haitians can gain from peace," said our Excellency Gourgue, as he concluded his remarkable address.
Posted at 12:39 a.m., Thursday, March 29, 2001
Haitian-American medical doctor and professor files claim against Los Angeles Police Dr. Angelo E. Gousse, 37, a Haitian-American Miami physician and one of the few physicians trained in pelvic flow reconstruction, filed a claim Tuesday with the Los Angeles City Attorney against the Los Angeles Police, which he said pulled him over on Feb.11th on interstate 10, then falsely arrested him. The claim called for unspecified damages for wrist and arm nerve damage, which it said resulted from the handcuffs that were tightened on Dr. Gousse by the arresting officer. The injuries suffered, said the claim, have since left Dr. Gousse unable to drive, play with his two children, including performing the surgical procedures in which he specializes. The Feb.11th arrest took place while Dr. Gousse was enroute from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was a participant in a tribute to an urology professor, to his Los Angeles International Airport-area hotel room. Dr.Gousse, who is also an assistant professor of Urology at the University of Miami said racial profiling, according to the claim, was what prompted the officer to first pull him over and then took him out of the circulation in handcuffs. Dr. Gousse, who seems determined to push as hard as possible his case against the Los Angeles Police and also obtains justice for others said outside Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday "I want to stand up for justice, to stand up for an end to racial profiling." Added Dr. Gousse, "We cannot allow this to continue."
An anticipated large protest against radical leftist Aristide on Haiti's constitutional day Since Haiti voted its constitution, the 24th in its nearly 200 troubled years history, on March 29th, 1987 the country, like in previous years, has known only dictatorship, suggesting that most of its 298 articles have been repeatedly violated. The constitution, which was written to help Haiti bury its horrible past, was not long ago considered like a shirt, not suit, which military tyrants like Henrie Namphy and Prosper Avril and many others could put on and took off at their whim. Unfortunately, what Haitians have been hearing from radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide who first came to power in 1991 and has since he himself seen the constitution as a statement of aspirations rather than bidding declarations of principles is "The Constitution is what I say it is." For example, last year he held a series of largely fraudulent elections. Still, opposition leaders were prevented from participating in those elections. Many opposition leaders and supporters alike were either kidnapped or killed for speaking out against him. The continuing violation of the constitution by radical leftist Aristide, as the events of last week suggest when he attempted to burn a school building that belonged to Gerard Gourgue, Haiti's provisional president, and where about 200 children were attending classes clearly demonstrates the laws, as it provides for, are neither institutional nor implemented, they are useless, but not when he needs to use them against opposition leaders and others assumed to be his opponents. As radical leftist Aristide was threatened opposition leaders with arrest, torture, and death last week he compared himself to Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43), a Roman and statesman, a leading figure during the last years of the Republic.However, he completely forgot that the brutal assassination of Cicero was the result of his dictatorial habitudes. Given the track record of Aristide, one can easily consider him as a brigand, a chief bandit and backwater state tyrant. But in a brief message last night he urged Haitians to peacefully celebrate Constitutional Day. That's a trap, that's dangerous because he had previously appealed for peace and minutes later killed a great many of his political opponents A given number of Haitians are expected to respond to Haiti's democratic opposition call, better known as the Convergence Democratique, today, Constitutional Day, for an anti-radical leftist Aristide's protest in the trash-filled and pothole capital city of Port-au-Prince, especially to say down with his dictatorship of the proletariat! Down with his nurtured abject poverty!.and many others. Also, Convergence Democratique leaders, including supporters, will convene at their headquarters, which radical leftist Aristide's bandits nearly burned to the ground last week, to reflect on all the violations of the constitution by radical leftist Aristide. Their moment of reflection on the constitution, which they call "Constitution Reflection Day," however, is not expected to pass without regrettable incidents since radical leftist Aristide's bandits said Wednesday they, too, will organize their own meeting and take to the streets. In another development, several foreign ambassadors, stationed in Haiti, or the diplomatic corps, as it is known in diplomatic jargon, met Wednesday with radical leftist Aristide in the nation palace, where he has since Feb. 7th taken illegal residency, expressing their concerns and also blaming him for instituting a climate of terror in the country, where darkness a few days ago further became the norm because Venezuela applied the money recently sent by de facto authorities to pay for a new shipment of petroleum product to a previous account that was long overdue. Not a surprise at all when it comes to radical leftist Aristide and predecessor Rene Preval, his inept and always inebriated political godson.
Our spokesperson and executive editor, Prof. Yves A. Isidor, to appear on Boston's Haitian-American radio magazine show Saturday Prof. Yves A. Isidor and Mr. Jean Borgat, a senior member of RDNP, a serious Haitian political party will appear on the Boston's Haitian-American radio magazine show called Tout Moun Ladan, literally translated "We are all included," this coming Saturday. Their appearance on the said radio show, which is broadcast on the 1600AM band, is expected to last about two hours, from 11 p.m to 1:00 a.m. (EST). Their subjects of discussion will include politics and economics in Haiti. The last time they appeared on "Tout Moun Ladan," which is hosted by Mr. Mathieu and Madame Gerthy Lahens, was on March 17th, 2001. So educative was that show listeners immediately demanded that they again appear on the air.
Posted at 7:35 p.m., Monday, March 26, 2001 Radical leftist Aristide orders Gourgue burned alive A press release received from Haiti's democratic opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, Sunday said during a meeting organized and presided by Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide Saturday at his private residence in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Tabare he ordered his bandits to burn alive Gerard Gourgue and than drag his body on the streets of the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The plan, said the press release, beginning Sunday night bandits will first be stationed at all strategic points (east, west, north, and south) of the capital city of Port-au-Prince. They will burn used car tires, including the private residence of Gourgue, a provisional president who was installed on Feb.7th by Haiti's democratic opposition after a series of largely fraudulent elections held last year by radical leftist Aristide and his political godson Rene Preval. Two schools owned by Gourgue will also be burned to the ground. Peaceful citizens will be stoned and empty bottles thrown at them, further said the press release. However, if the capital city of Port-au-Prince were calmed today but in many provincial cities radical leftist Aristide's bandits shot peaceful citizens, destroyed private properties, and burned used car tires.. In the western provincial city of Petit-Goave, bandits Saturday opened fire and wounded five opposition supporters who were participating in an anti-dictatorship, but peaceful demonstration. In Gonaive, they stoned and smeared with human excrement several churches on the assumption that their reverends were not supporters of radical leftist Aristide. Bandits also burned used car tires in both cities, including a truck, which was set ablaze, and its two drivers wounded by gun shots after they ignored the criminals' warning to stop. The latest wave of violence came just a few days after radical leftist Aristide ordered his bandits to burn to the ground a primary school owned by Gourgue while about 200 children were inside the building attending classes.
Only in Haiti, radical leftist Aristide forces Judge out of office
| Amnesty International Urgent Action |
| UA 65/01 Fear for Safety - 16 March, 2001 |
| Haiti |
| OSSAGNOL SERVIL |
| A judge has been forced out of office by the local mayor, who has |
| threatened to kill him. He is now in hiding, in fear for his life. |
Ossagnol Servil was the judge de paix (justice of the peace) in the town of Maissade, in Haiti's Central Plateau. In October 2000, he issued an arrest warrant for men accused of theft. The men were supporters of the town's mayor, Wilo Joseph, who reportedly began threatening to kill M. Servil. In October, the mayor and his supporters led a demonstration outside the courthouse, burning car tires, ransacking the judge's offices and reportedly demanding that he be sacked and replaced with someone more sympathetic to the mayor's political party. Two months later, M. Servil was dismissed by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. On 27 February, M. Servil's cousin was reportedly attacked by three relatives of another local official. Police reportedly arrested the three but released them later after Mayor Joseph and a group of his supporters came to the police station and demanded that they be freed.
| BACKGROUND INFORMATION |
Many of the newly-elected mayors, such as Wilo Joseph, have formed armed gangs to help run the areas they control, who act in the name of Fanmi Lavalas, or Lavalas Family.As in Maissade, these groups threaten to destroy the rule of law and the authority of the police. Although they claim to represent Fanmi Lavalas, they are controlled only loosely, if at all, by central government. The new mayors and their gangs have recently closed courts in several towns in the Central Plateau.
A Haitian-American reportedly on his way to the White House Haitian-American Pierre Richard Prosper, 37, a graduate of Boston College and Pepperdine Law School, reportedly will soon be appointed Special Adviser for war crimes by U.S. President George W. Bush. Until recently, the son of two New York City Haitian medical doctors was a prosecutor for the International Tribunal. In Rwanda, where he was assigned, he was not only instrumental to the Tribunal's procedural efforts to find Jean-Paul Akayesu, a former Rwandan Prime Minister, guilty of crimes against humanity, but himself read the verdict.
Posted at 12:01 p.m., Sunday, March 25, 2001
Radical leftist Aristide's de facto Minister of Justice reportedly resigns his post In a serious country, the role of parliament is to vote into law bills submitted by its members or committees. Unfortunately, not so in Haiti. Late last week, Haiti's de facto parliament issued an ultimatum, which it called resolution, ordering de facto Justice Minister Gary Lissade to take Gerard Gourgue, a provisional president, who was installed on February 7th by the democratic opposition, out of the circulation. De facto Justice Minster Lissade, who also received a direct order from radical leftist Aristide, after he ordered his bandits to burn alive about 200 children who where attending classes late last week at a school owned by Gourgue, reportedly resigned his post Saturday.
Haiti reportedly to be the subject of discussion at the U.S. State Department Monday A few days after radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide ordered his bandits to burn alive about 200 children who were attending classes at a school owned by Gerard Gourgue, a provisional president who was installed by Haiti's democratic opposition on February 7th, and kidnap opposition leaders, the United States State Department reportedly will meet Monday on Haiti, and a decision about what (i.e. a blanket of economic and political sanctions) exactly to be done about the dirt poor country is expected.
Posted at 2:27 p.m., Friday, March 23, 2001
In Haiti, a de facto Senate calls for the arrest of democratic opposition leaders Haiti's de facto Senate (15 of the 27 members) Thursday passed a resolution, calling for the arrest of President Gerard Gourgue and other democratic opposition leaders on the so-called ground "Usurpation of title, within the next 24 hours. President Gourgue was installed on Feb.7th as an alternative President of the Republic of Haiti's by the country's democratic opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique. Private Radio Metropole reported Thursday the de facto Senate, which counts many drug baron, such as Dany Toussaint, Florel Celestin and Joseph Medard as its members, will call for the resignation of de facto Justice Minister Gary Lissade and de facto Interior Minister Henry Claude Menard, who is said was the the one leading a group of terrorists responsible for the kidnapping of Clinton Knox, the U.S. Ambassador stationed in Haiti, in the 1960s, if they did not abide by the contents of the resolution. In the meantime, President Gourgue, who looked relaxed, and whose wife Paula Castor Gourgue is the sister of Suzy Castor, the wife of prominent professor Gerard Pierre-Charles, who heads the Organization of People in Struggle, the dominant member of the Convergence Democratique, was walking in the backyard of his home Thursday, as armed men watched over him and his family. Students and supporters referred to him as "Your Excellency." "I am the president of all Haitians, including Aristide," he said. Certainly, he is. Added Gourgue, arresting me would be the most beautiful gift Aristide could give me and the other Haitians who cannot wait for democracy to arrive in this country." As an incalculable number of supporters continued to stop by President Gourgue's 400-students-plus school Thursday to pay respect, the former professor of international law, who counts among his former students de facto Prime Minister Jean-Marie "Ponpon" Cherestal and de facto Justice Minister Gary Lissade, said: "This would be the last drop of water that breaks the dam. They can't come here and tell me what the laws are. I've spent more than 30 years teaching law. I'm an encyclopedia." "Acta, non verba" (acts, not words)," further said President Gourgue, using Latin quotes and verses from 17th Century French playwrights, as he called on radical leftist Aristide to stop behaving as a backwater state tyrant. As we were finishing writing this piece a press release received from the Convergence Democratique said an warrant for the arrest of President Gourgue was signed on Mars 21st, about 9:15 p.m, by de facto government commissioner Josue Pieere-Louis.
Updated at 8:35 p.m., Thursday, March 22, 2001
Abner Louima to receive nearly $9 million from New York City
If you will soon be looking for a big loan, and we mean big, big loan, Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant, who was sodomized with a plunger and broom-stick, kicked and punched several times by four New York City police officers, on August 9,1997, after he was mistakenly arrested by an officer from that city police force who believed he was the one who punched him in the face while trying to reestablish order at a Brooklyn nightclub, where a fight ensued after an argument between two female patrons, will certainly be the man to go to. Louima, the City of New York, the police union, along with the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, today reportedly reached an agreement over the September 1997 police brutality case, permanently putting an end to the civil lawsuit brought against the latter three by his celebrity and lead-attorney Johnnie Cockran. According to the lawsuit, "The union and several of its officials had adopted a strategy of obstruction after the assault and had suppressed admissions of criminal behavior from police officers." It also contended that the city and the police union have promoted an atmosphere in which the very worst police officers feel assured that evidence of misdeeds depriving citizens of their civil rights, no matter how awful, will be hidden by P.B.A. representatives and the 'code of silence.'" After a conference before Magistrate Judge Cheryl L. Pollack of United States District Court in the New York City section of Brooklyn, involving several of Louima's lawyers, Wednesday, an agreement will be signed, said Thursday the City of New York and attorneys involved in the high profile case. He will then be paid nearly $9 million, mainly for injuries received from one of the most police brutalities case ever in the United States. The City's of New York's share will be $7 million, and the police union's nearly $1.6 million. The police officers who sodomized and tortured Louima in a Brooklyn station house in 1997, which left him partially paralyzed, were all convicted, including the chief perpetrator, Justin Volpe, who afterward was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison
Posted at 2:52 a.m., Thursday, March 22, 2001
In troubled Haiti, first a chief bandit appeals for peace; then contradicts himself when he threatens democratic opposition leaders with arrest, torture, and death Under pressure from the international community, including the United States and France, Haiti's former colonial power, which in a communiqué distributed Wednesday by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, blamed radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide for the four-days violence in Haiti, the poorest in the Americas, by dirt port fanatics, many of them paid supporters, demanding the arrest of Gerard Gourgue and other members of the Caribbean country's democratic opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, on the so-called ground of "usurpation of title." Hours after France urged radical leftist Aristide to prove that he had a sense of responsibility, he apparently appealed for peace Wednesday in a taped speech, which was distributed to radio stations in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. As usual, the speech was badly written and structured, but did not condemn the four-days violence, which began Saturday, and left four people dead and more than 18, many of them badly injured. The speech, which seemed was, rather, written by a fifth grade student, also came after continuing severe criticism by the international press. "Haitian people because you want peace that does not mean you have the right to violate the law. The law is the law. Peace and justice are the two tires of the democracy," said radical leftist Aristide, who sounded more like a fifth class comedian. But more than that, radical leftist Aristide said: "I want all political parties to continue, but peacefully, to fight for their rights." "Members of any political party who want to meet with their president he will be willing to do so," further said radical leftist Aristide, who most likely will never be able to bring himself to behave like a democrat other remaining a tyrant worthy of Stalin, Castro, Hussein, to name only these ones, that he has always been. But in a direct attack on Convergence Democratique members radical leftist Aristide called its members "enemies of the Republic," and vowed to move against them if they continue to refuse to recognize him as president. The speech, delivered Wednesday by radical leftist Aristide, as usual, significantly lacked in substance. Its contents gave no reasons to Convergence Democratique members and others, to thrust the man, the tyrant, who orchestrated the four-days violence in the Caribbean country. In a prompt rebuttal, Convergence Democratique, through President Gourgue, had a few harsh words, if you may call them so, for tyrant Aristide. "The words of Aristide, whose sole purpose is turning Haiti into a jungle, as the four days of violence orchestrated by him further suggest, are meaningless to us members of the opposition." In a communiqué issued afterward by radical leftist Aristide he said "The enemies of the Republic have refused to lay down their weapons, and they will be forced to do so." Gourgue was installed on Feb.7th as an alternative president by Convergence Democratique. His ascendancy to the office of the presidency was the result of fictive results published by radical leftist Aristide, also a drug baron, and his political godson Rene Preval, for a series of largely fraudulent elections held last year, including the Nov. 26th presidential election, which he claimed to win with nearly 92 percent of the vote cast. Less than 5 percent of Haitians who were of voting age participated in the presidential masquerade. Not a surprise at all. Then came a press conference given by radical leftist Aristide's de facto Interior Minister, Henry Claude Menard, who is said to have been the one leading a group of terrorists responsible for the kidnapping of U.S. Ambassador Clinton Knox, stationed in Haiti in the 1960s. He has for more than a third time in a week threatened Convergence Democratique senior members with arrest, torture, and death. "I am warning members of the opposition. They better shut their mouths. This is my last warning to them. If they refuse to shut up and continue to speak out against President Aristide I will be forced to act against them. They will be the only ones responsible for whatever happens to them," he said. Asked by a journalist to explain what he meant by "They will be the only ones responsible for whatever happens to them." He said "Anything, including death is possible." There was a prompt explicit reaction from Convergence Democratique leaders. "We are not going to let ourselves be intimidated by threats made by a criminal, a tyrant, and bandit like Aristide. We will continue to mobilize against the dictatorship of Aristide until there is democracy in this country. We ask all countries, friends of Haiti, to support the democratic cause in this country," said Paul Denis, a Convergence Democratique spokesperson. "Aristide did not say anything about his people who were attacking us. He failed to address the many issues forming the basis for the long political crisis. The same dictator who orchestrated the violence now wants to blame us for it. Basically he did not say anything," said Sauveur Pierre Etienne, a Convergence Democratique spokesperson. Many feminist and other civic groups, which until a few years ago supported him, also blamed radical leftist Aristide for the four- days violence. "This is unacceptable. Aristide, through his bandits attempted to burn to the ground the building housing a grade school owned by Atty. Gerard Gourgue while more than 50 pupils were inside the edifice attending classes. We can hardly comprehend it. The same Aristide, the same man who, years ago blamed military leaders and others for killing school children is now himself doing the same exact thing. Enough is enough," they said in a statement made public Wednesday. What exactly happened during the four days of violence carried out by radical leftist Aristide's bandits? There are plenty of violent acts for us to report. Bandits fatally shot a man after he shouted "Down with Aristide!" Further was the violence, his brother was severely beaten while trying to carry him to the hospital. Radical leftist Aristide's bandits threw Wednesday evening a grenade at the private residence of opposition politician, also the son of the late prominent Haitian historian Roger Gaillard, Michya Gaillard. Fortunately no one was injured. On Tuesday, an opposition supporter participating in a peaceful demonstration was shot dead by bandits in the west coast city of St.-Marc. In a scene reminiscent to a December violent attack carried out by a Lavalas or pro-radical leftist Aristide mayor's on the town of Cavaillon parish priest and a multitude of churchgoers, two mayors, both members of Aristide's Lavalas Family party or terrorist-drug group, as it is now called by most Haitians, led an attack on Convergence Democratique offices in central Hinche. Two Convergence supporters were fatally shot. Radical leftist Aristide's bandits also attacked Wednesday Convergence Democratic supporters outside of Hinche, in central Haiti. Several members of Haiti's largest peasant organization "Mouvement Paysan Papaye," including Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, the mouvement leader, were wounded by gunfire while participating in anti-radical leftist Aristide's demonstration. Schools and stores, partially remained closed Wednesday. However, the country may again be paralyzed in the next few days, affecting further the never-healthy economy and causing more environmental problems, by radical leftist Aristide's bandits who said Wednesday "If Convergence Democratique members are not arrested by Thursday we will again take to the streets and burn used tires and everything else, including Convergence members."
Port-au-Prince was hit by heavy rains last night, further causing environment problems; since debris, resulting from the used tires burned by radical leftist Aristide's bandits over the past five days could be found everywhere.
See article below for more and relevant information. Go to French Forum for a press release, dated March 22, from Convergence Democratique.
Updated at 6:49 p.m., Tuesday, March 20, 2001
Again, radical leftist Aristide's bandits fire at opposition headquarters; three people wounded They did it again. Radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's bandits opened fire today at Haiti's democratic opposition headquarters. Three people hit by gunfire were wounded. In other scenes that could be described as radical leftist Aristide's habitual thuggishness, bandits stoned opposition headquarters, burned used tires in front of it, polluting further Port-au-Prince skies, and blocked most main roads in the capital city of 2 million people. All these violent acts against Haiti's democratic opposition, however, were not enough. The private residence and a secondary school owned by President Gerard Gourgue, who bandits have since Saturday been calling for his arrest on the so-called ground "usurpation of title," was also fired at. Bandits threw Molotov cocktails toward it but were later dispersed by police, which many neutral witnesses said took too much time to intervene, meaning more than an hour.. And it took the intervention of the police to prevent radical leftist Aristide's bandits from burning to the ground a grade school owned by President Gourgue in the Port-au-Prince section of Martissant. "We are coming back. We will burn Convergence headquarters, too," said the bandits, who were also trucked to opposition headquarters in state-owned vehicles and given rocks and Molotov cocktails. Added the bandits,"Don't worry, President Aristide has already told us to burn alive all Convergence leaders and we will do it," which was followed by self-applause. In downtown Port-au-Prince, another group of bandits said: "We demand that Aristide arrests Gerard Gourgue and other opposition leaders. If not," they said, "we will burn them all alive. "Economist Herve Denis, who is not a member of the Convergence Democratique, however, in a radio interview blamed radical leftist Aristide for the violence. "Aristide does not believe in democracy. He is not a democrat. All he knows about is violence. He wants to consolidate his dictatorship by any means necessary, including paying bandits to burn opponents alive, to assassinate anyone who is opposed to his tyrannical regime," a view that reflected that of Evans Paul, an opposition leader, who also said "Lavalas," a reference to radical leftist Aristide, "represented a threat to democracy." He called upon the international community to help the Convergence Democratique rescue Haiti from the grips of radical leftist Aristide's dictatorship of the proletariat. The U.S. Ambassador, Brian Dean Curran, too, had something important to say, as the violence carried out by radical leftist Aristide's bandits forced citizens to stay indoors. "In the name of the U.S. government I call for peace, and ask the police to respect the rights of peaceful demonstrators." Hours later, the U.S. State Department through its spokesperson, Richard Boucher, issued a written statement calling for calm in the troubled Caribbean country. "We call on the government of Haiti and its security forces to respect and protect the democratic and constitutional right of all citizens to assemble peacefully and express their political opinions." So too did the Organization of American States (OAS) issue a statement condemning the continuing wave of violence. It urged all concerned parties to refrain themselves from engaging in violent acts or making statements that could exacerbate tension and minimize the possibility to find a peaceful solution to the long political crisis. However, in what seemed to be new orders received from radical leftist Aristide, bandits again stoned Convergence Democratique headquarters and attempted to burn the building that housed it to the ground, but this time early Tuesday evening, said neighbors who called radio stations to report that their homes were also being hit by rocks and feared for their safety. Gourgue, who was installed as an alternative president on Feb.7 by the opposition after fictive results were published for a series of elections held last year, today called upon the international community, including the U.S., the European Union, and Canada, to support the opposition democratic cause so dictatorship may be history in Haiti. President Gourgue denounced a radical leftist Aristide's plan to assassinate him and eight other opposition leaders, all members of the Convergence Democratique executive board of directors. In a country where 85 percent of the estimated 7.8 million citizens who happen to be of age 6 or more cannot read, nor write schools remained close today for a second day in succession. So were stores, as radical leftist Aristide's bandits continued to terrorize the entire populace. Motorists stayed off the streets for fear of being burned alive by radical leftist Aristide's bandits or their cars set on fire, perhaps both. Tensions may become more pronounced in the next few days after tens of thousands peasants in central Haiti take to the streets to protest radical leftist Aristide's dictatorship of the proletariat. In another tragic development, Elie Jean-Baptiste, aged 24, a businessman, was shot dead Saturday at the Dominican Republic-Haiti border by a Dominican Republic Army Corporal, Santos Cabrera Rosario, after the small businessman, who he accused of pulling a knife on him, refused to pay a bribe of 15 Haitian Gourdes (U.S.0.91 cents), as demanded, rather 10 Haitian Gourges or U.S.0.71 cents. Send a message of support to President Gourgue and Haiti's democratic opposition. President's gourgue: gegourgue@yahoo.com; Haiti's democratic opposition:h_deronceray@yahoo.com.
Posted at 1:25 a.m., Tuesday, March 20, 2001
A radical leftist Aristide's plan to assassinate Haiti's democratic opposition leaders, including President Gourgue Not for the first time. According to a press release, dated Mars 19th, received from Haiti's democratic opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, a meeting was held Sunday evening at Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Arisitide's sumptuous residence, in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Tabare, and the issue on the agenda was there should be no more opposition parties in Haiti. "Assassinating Gerard Gourgue," a reference to Haiti's provisional president "and eight other senior opposition leaders should prevent the opposition virus," angrily said radical leftist Aristide, "from being further spreading in this country." Angrily added radical leftist Aristide, "I mean, I mean, I mean, within the next 24 hours, tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. the latest." Participants at the meeting responded in unison "yes president, we want to kill them all right now. We will kill them all. It is time for us to finish with that opposition problem. The assassination plan, however, failed Monday morning, about 9:00 a.m., because none of the persons targeted were present at opposition's headquarters. Still, several shots were fired at the building by well armed men who identified themselves as radical leftist Aristide's Lavalas Family party members. More than four opposition supporters were wounded, as bandits burned used tires in front of the building while stoning it. The press release went on to say bandits have been posted in the vicinity of foreign embassies and at the Haitian-Republic Dominican Republic border to assassinate opposition leaders trying to flee the country. Bandits received on March 16th large sums of money from the de facto Interior Minister. In what seemed to be a Mafia ceremony induction bandits pledged their unconditional support to radical leftist Aristide and promised to kill as many opposition leaders as possible.
Posted at 4:28 p.m., Monday, March 19, 2001
Radical leftist Aristide's bandits open fire on Haiti's democratic opposition headquarters
In a scene reminiscent to the burning of the old Haitian Cathedral, in 1991, and a multitude of other criminal acts, including politically motivated killings, carried out by bandits at the urging of Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide, several shots were fired this morning, about 9:00 a.m., by heavily armed individuals, who identified themselves as members of his Lavalas Family party, at Haiti's democratic opposition headquarters, situated in the Port-au-Prince section of Pont-Morin or Morin Bridge. The building housing Haiti's democratic opposition headquarters was also stoned, attacked with empty bottles, as bandits burned used tires in front of it. A great many supporters and officials of Haiti's democratic opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, were stoned, too. More than three of them were severely wounded after they were hit with empty bottles being thrown by bandits. The chaotic situation forced citizens to stay indoors. Schools and stores were closed. The car windshields of a few citizens found driving on the streets were smashed, also by bandits. The bandits, who since Saturday have been burning used tires, have demanded that radical leftist Aristide, who was not duly elected in a November 26th election, as were members of his so-called Lavalas Family party who were fraudulently elected last year as senators and deputies, takes out of the circulation members of Haiti's democratic opposition, including prominent Atty. and professor Gerard Gourgue, who on February 7th was installed as Haiti's provisional president by the opposition. Even before the burning of used tires started Saturday, radical leftist Aristide threatened opposition leaders with arrest, to be followed by torture and death.
Marie Desir and Claire Taylor, dames extraordinnaires Last year, Marie and Claire were both students at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. Marie, was a Haitian-American and Claire, an African-American. They enrolled in the same classes at the great American public university. In class, they repudiated the idea that they were solely attending an institution of higher learning to acquire the skills needed to win in an unregulated marketplace. Driven by a desire to use their new skills to educate the Haitian community, to educate members of other communities, and convince their professors, including many of their friends, that they were intellectually curious or adventurous, together they founded in March of last year a radio magazine program, and named it "Braasse Lide." "Brasse Lide," which has since been broadcast on the Boston's Haitian-owned radio station "Radio Energy," literally means let's talk, let's exchange ideas together. True, there were good reasons to believe that "Brasse Lide" was going to be a continuing success without precedent. This, can be attributed to Marie and Claire who have since its birth served in the capacity of hosts and efficiently covered a large range of issues, all important to the well-being of the Haitian community and others. Those issues include: health care, drug prevention, economics, teenage delinquency, both U.S. and Haitian politics, immigration laws, and education. Often, their guests include: university professors, medical doctors, sociologists, psychologists, both city and state elected officials, both non-elected city and state officials, community leaders, activists, and ordinary citizens. So beneficial "Brasse Lide" has been proven to the Boston's Haitian community and others that a significant number of people (i.e., Haitians, both White and African-Americans), certainly in a sense of gratitude and encouragement, gathered at Marie's house in Boston Saturday night for "une fete" or party, marking its first anniversary. Participants included: university professors, community activists, attorneys, city officials, ordinary citizens, and community newsmedia representatives. The brief, but eloquent speeches of Marie and Claire thanking participants for joining them in celebrating the first anniversary of "Brasse Lide" were followed by quite a few others, also eloquent. In abundance was delicious Haitian food, were drinks that one of the guests said, but first gestured, the party should be, rather, named a "week at Brasse Lide," suggesting that there was enough food and drinks to feed everybody for a whole week.
Updated at 4:41 p.m., Friday, March 16, 2001
Factions within radical leftist Aristide's Lavalas Family party assassinate prominent radio journalist
The Inter-American Society of Press published this week a document about the April 3rd brutal assassination of prominent Haitian radio journalist and Executive Director-owner of radio Haiti-Inter, Jean Leopold Dominique. The association, which counts many Latin American journalists as its members, said "factions within radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas party brutally murdered Dominique." "The investigation of Dominique's murder, which has since suffered many setbacks, resulting, in part, from threats made against judges and witnesses certainly demonstrate that those responsible for Dominique's murder think they can kill with total impunity," said the document. "The Dominique's case is a characteristic of the atmosphere of violence in the country, and not long ago members of the Lavalas governing party threatened to kill journalists, provoking opposition leaders," said the document, which was signed by Anilo Arbilla, Executive Director of the weekly Busqueda, published in Montevideo, Uruguay. The document said the association will continue to follow the evolution of Dominique's case while encouraging the government of Haiti and others to respect freedom of the press. Haiti will figure on the association's agenda at its annual assembly this year. Executive editor's notes. It has since been known that Dominique was brutally murdered on the orders of radical leftist Aristide. Still, he and his political godson, Rene Preval, went to the funeral. The latter even cried in public while embracing one of the victim's daughters, giving the impression that she was his latest mistress. He told journalists how much he will miss him. Both tyrants even had the audacity to tell the victim's wife and children that justice was right at the door. "We will find the killer or killers," they said. However, nearly one year after the brutal murder, which only added to that of prominent Atty. Mireille Durocher Bertin, an opponent of radical leftist Aristide, in 1995, and thousands of others, de facto Senator, senior member of radical leftist Aristide's Lavalas Family party and well known drug baron Dany Toussaint, who days before the murder made death threats against Dominique and attempted to burn to the ground the building housing his station has yet to be taken out of the circulation. He has ignored many summons received from the judge in charge of the case to appear in court. Many of his friends and colleagues, including paid bandits, have made death threats against the judge. Sure the presence of radical leftist Aristide and tyrant Preval at Dominique's funeral was a scene reminiscent to Josef Stalin's. He enlisted the help of a medical doctor to assassinate then Soviet Union's Minister of War he considered to be an opponent. Stalin, who died in 1953, not only went to the funeral of the victim who succeeded Leon Trotsky in that ministerial post, but later had monuments erected in his honor in the Minsk capital city of Belarus, then part of the Soviet Union and where he was born. Trotsky, who first was one of leaders of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917), and whose policy for permanent revolution led to his dismissal from the Politburo by Stalin (1926) was eventually exiled from the then Soviet Union, now again Russia, (1929). He moved to Mexico in 1937, and was assassinated there three years later. The above analysis is a testimony that radical leftist Aristide, who is now in the process of determining how the late Haitian dictator Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier ended up proclaiming himself president-for-life, is a good student of Stalin who killed about five millions of his fellow citizens.
Radical leftist Aristide threaten democratic opposition leaders with arrest. Haiti's de facto Minister of Interior Henry Claude Menard said Thursday "opposition leaders should expect to be summoned to court, arrested, perhaps tortured, for holding illegal office." Added de facto Minister Menard, "In fact the arrest of President Aristide's opponents has already started." He referred to Atty. Gerard Dalvius and former military major, a radical leftist Aristide's opponent who last week organized a large demonstration. "A warrant has been issued for his arrest," he said.
Posted at 2:36 a.m., Friday, March 16, 2001
U.S. Customs officials tell Haitian toothpaste man you cannot fool us
Garcia Jacob Saint-Jean, a Haitian national, apparently had excellent reasons to take pride in trying to pass Wednesday for a toothpaste entrepreneur after his Haiti's outbound flight landed at the U.S. Miami International Airport. In his bags, he told U.S. Customs officials, were 163 toothpaste's he planned to sell during his visit in Miami. He was taken out of the circulation in handcuffs and chains after Customs officials found out the contents of the163 tubes to be, rather, cocaine, with a market value of U.S.$350,000.
A call to organize a national conference on Haiti Concern is growing in the Dominican Republic over the plight of the Haitian people, who radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide and consorts are continuing to cause to endure abject poverty. Armendo Armenteros, President of the Dominican International Committee in Solidarity with Haiti, called upon Dominican Republic President, Hipolito Mejia, early this week to organize a conference on Haiti in an effort to find a solution to the multitude of problems facing the country.
Radical leftist Aristide's bandits attack Haiti's democratic opposition supporters; about 12 people wounded "We demand the resignation of Aristide! Aristide is a thief! Aristide is a liar! We do not want Aristide! These, in fact, were some of the words that could be read on cardboard signs carried by Haiti's democratic opposition supporters who gathered Wednesday in front of the Organization of American States' office in Petionville, a Port-au-Prince suburb, to demand that new legislative and presidential elections be organized. Radical Jean-Bertrand Aristide's bandits attacked opposition protesters, lobbing stones and rubble at them. About a dozen of opposition supporters were wounded. One radical leftist Aristide's bandit was taken away in handcuffs by the police for carrying a gun without a permit. "Today's violent attack carried out by Aristide's criminals suggests he does not want to respect democratic norms," said opposition spokesperson Dr. Hubert de Ronceray. Meanwhile, de facto Haiti's foreign minister, Joseph Philippe Antonio, was at OAS Headquarters, in Washington, D.C., making a fool of himself. He proposed to hold a special election for ten senators who were fraudulently elected last year. Sure words put in his mouth by radical leftist Aristide who, has already made the same promise only to later prove he is a pathological liar. Members of an opposition delegation, who Tuesday evening met with U.S. outgoing Assistant-Secretary for InterAmerican Affairs, Peter Romero, denounced the misdeeds of radical leftist Aristide in a press conference Wednesday at OAS Headquarters. Radical leftist Aristide's bandits and opposition supporters clashed Thursday after the latter stepped on a banner of tyrant Aristide, shouting "Aristide is a criminal. He must face the bar of justice," in Port-au-Prince.
Peasants threaten de facto Minister of Agriculture Wednesday was a bad day for radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's de facto Minister of Agriculture, Sebastien Hilaire. During a visit in Haiti's Artibonite Valley peasants, armed with machetes, complained about the pronounced lack of irrigated land. "We can guaranty you that you will be responsible if we lost our crops," they told the visitor, who is said to be now sleeping with most Haitian women working in the ministry of agriculture.
Posted at 9:01 p.m., Tuesday, March 13, 2001
Haitian President Gerard Gourgue and Haiti's democratic opposition leaders, hommes serieux
For Haitian President Gerard Gourgue and Haiti's democratic opposition leaders, the affairs of Haiti are too important to remain inactive, as radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide continues to consolidate his dictatorship of the proletariat. A few days ago, President Gourgue formed a few committees, and the purpose they will serve is: first enumerating the number of crimes, including the broad daylight assassination of prominent Atty. Mireille Durocher Bertin, in 1995, and prominent radio Journalist Jean Leopold Dominique, last year, committed by radical leftist Aristide and his Lavalas government, and then analyze the multiplying effect of those crimes. On Wednesday, a delegation, composing of opposition leaders Evans Paul, Paul Denis, and Ariel Henrys, are to meet in Washington, DC. with officials of the Organization of American States (OAS) to further expose radical leftist Aristide's dictatorship of the proletariat. "We are going to tell truth about the Haitian political crisis," said Monday Serge Gilles, a democratic opposition spokesperson. Added Gilles, "We will center on the May 21st election, which results published for afterward were fictive. We will also denounce the Lavalas dictatorship of the proletariat." According to Gilles, members of the delegation will hold a press conference at OAS headquarters to further expose radical leftist Aristide's misdeeds. Gilles urged all Haitians residing in Washington, D.C., including those living in U.S other cities, to show support during the delegation's visit at the OAS. Yet, on Wednesday, all will not be rosy in Port-au-Prince as well for radical leftist Aristide, whose dictatorship of the proletariat members will be at OAS headquarters, too. The democratic opposition has organized a sit-in for that day, and such act of civil disobedience will take place in front of the Port-au-Prince OAS office.
Posted at 2:31 a.m., Saturday, March 10, 2001
Boston's Haitian man has a new home
Jhonny Toussaint, 30, until Thursday a resident of the of the city of Boston's Hyde Park section, was more than a taxi driver. Regrettably, he was also a go-between for those willing to pay money to obtain taxi driver's licenses and a Boston police officer. According to a Massachusetts Norfolk County court documents, Toussaint collected about $20,000 from Boston area Haitians who could not pass the city of Boston's Taxi driving test. He later turned the cash over to former Boston police officer David Corbin in exchange for passing applicants for taxi driver's licenses. Driving a taxi was the only honorable way for those Haitians to earn some money to support their families. He pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy, extortion, and bribery. He was sentenced Thursday to a year and one day in Prison. Corbin, who was convicted earlier has long been out of the circulation, suggesting that he is serving a one-year and three-month sentence.
Posted at 5:49 p.m., Friday, March 9, 2001
U.S. embassy's spokesperson private residence in Haiti bombed
It was last year when the private residence of Haiti's Canadian Ambassador, Giles Bernier, and that of a European Union Representative, were bombed by unidentified bandits. During that year, the walls of the U.S embassy in the Caribbean country of the same name, facing the street where it is still situated, were smeared with human excrement, and the wife of the Spanish Ambassador, was wounded, the latter two by radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's bandits. Two homemade bombs found Thursday in the front yard of the U.S. embassy spokesperson, Daniel Witman, in Port-au-Prince, suggests that bandits are still at work and are likely to bomb other foreign missions in the near future. The Thursday bomb attack resulted in no lost of human lives. The private residence of spokesperson Witman suffered no damage, including structural, he said on the day of the attack.
OAS mission arrives in Haiti
An Organization of American States (OAS) mission, headed by the organization of the same name Vice Secretary-General, Luigi Einaudi, arrived in Haiti early today, and hopes to find a solution to the long Haitian political crisis. During Vice Secretary-General Einaudi's short visit in the troubled Caribbean country, the poorest in the Americas, he will meet with Haiti's democratic opposition, including provisional President Gerard Gourgue, and seven Ambassadors of the countries, which call themselves friends of Haiti. Vice Secretary-General Einaudi will also confer with radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his de facto Prime Minister, Jean Marie Cherestal.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, pathological liar, say U.S. Congressmen
Wednesday should have been a good day for Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide, especially after he hand-picked late last week members of a so-called electoral council, which he this week officially formed with the sole purpose of pleasing the U.S. administration of President George Bush, and to later obtain (hopefully) more than 500 million dollars in multilateral aid that he has been told donors are still waiting for political and economic reforms to take place in Haiti before they can start disbursing the above amount of money.. But, the electoral council formed by radical leftist Aristide has since its birth bred mounting of public anger among the Haitians, and the international community itself is not satisfied at all. It wants a lot more to be done, if a solution to the long Haitian political crisis is to be found. In interviews with the Voice of America Wednesday, two U.S. Congressmen, Porter Goss (R-FL) and William Delahunt (R-MA) said: "Mr. Aristide remains a person we cannot thrust because he has on many occasions affixed his signature at the bottom of a document, promising to abide by the provisions of the document and within days be the person to violate it." As the Congressmen's interview progressed, they said "Members of Haiti's democratic opposition," better known as the Convergence Democratique "is not included in the new electoral Council formed by Mr. Aristide.". Also of concern to the U.S. Congressmen, was the May 21st election, which only radical leftist Lavalas Family party members were said to win but others, opposition candidates, not only lost but did very poorly. "Our position concerning the May 21st vote remains the same. The problem involving the ten senators, who were supposed to go into a run-off election, but were declared winners, must be addressed." In another development, an official of the International Monetary Fund said this week "Before we can even think about lending money to Haiti again it needs to address the problems involving the May 21st election. The swearing-in last late last week of Jean-Marie Cherestal as Haiti's new Prime Minister is certainly not enough."
Updated at 8:19 p.m., March 7, 2001
Three Haitians and one American receive long prison sentences for trafficking in cocaine
When you belong to the underground economy and the industry of choice is narcotics there is always a high possibility (on a scale of zero to ten, with zero as no possibility at all and ten high possibility), that you will one day first be taken out of the circulation by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents and then sentence to years in prison by a judge after you are found guilty in a court of law of possessing drugs with intent to distribute. A Florida Broward County judge, Ursula Ungaro-Banages, sentenced Monday three Haitian nationals and one American citizen to long prison sentences, days after they were all found guilty of transporting about 90 kilos of cocaine from the Bahamas to the U.S. Haitian national Antonin Voight, a shareholder of Air D'Ayiti or Haiti Air, a small Haitian airline, will spend the next 19 years and 7 months in prison. His wife, Anicette Voight, will regain her liberty after serving a sentence of 15 years and 8 months. Another Haitian national, Raymond Joseph, will spend 12 years and 7 months behind bars. Robert Karns, the American defendant, who collaborated with prosecutors, will regain his liberty even before the Voights and Joseph complete half of their sentences. He was sentenced to five years in prison, with a possibility for parole. Karns's daughter, Jennifer Karns Alexander, a professor at the University of Minnesota, was in court during the long trial. So, too, was his pastor, Erik Jerested, of the first Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale, where he recently told the congregation that he had committed a sin by trafficking in narcotics with the purpose of generating some income to save his bankrupt business. All of the convicted men were arrested on June 24th 2000 by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents and local police minutes after their Air d'Ayyiti or Haiti's Air plane, which first made a stop in the Bahamas after leaving Haiti, landed at the Florida's Opa Locka airport, not too far from Miami, with 90 kilos of cocaine onboard.Voight's wife, Anicette, a Miami resident, was arrested when she went to the airport to meet her husband.
Posted at 2:59 a.m., Wednesday, March 7, 2001
Waitress jailed for not serving judge French fries
If you work in a third world country restaurant in the capacity of a waiter or waitress, not serving a judge French fries can land you in jail. This, was exactly what happened in Kenya about two weeks a ago when a waitress was accused of not serving a judge French fries. As was the enraged Kenyan judge, who later returned to the restaurant, where the waitress worked, and with an exorbitant number of police officers who took her away in handcuffs, a Haitian judge, Claudy Garssant disembarked Tuesday on the Haitian bogus parliament with a large number of police officers, with the purpose of having an employee of that institution, who he accused of insulting him in a traffic accident, arrested. Though he was told to hit the door by the bogus members of that parliament, still he later had the employee arrested.
Posted at 5:06 p.m., Tuesday, March 6, 2001
A large demonstration in Haiti
Thousands of Haitians, all members of Haiti's former army, which has long been decreed inexistant, took to the streets of Port-au-Prince today demanding that Haiti again forms an institution of the same. The protesters, who said that the government of Haiti still owes them money, demanded that they immediately be paid. The protesters, who were briefly stoned by radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's bandits, voiced their support for Haiti's democratic opposition. "Long live Gerard Gourgue!," a reference to Haiti's provisional president, they shouted. The protesters, led by former military major and Atty., Gerald Dalvius, also shouted "Down with the bandits! Down with Lavalas!" What exactly they were saying was down with chief bandit Aristide.
Paris-based Haitian group wants economic sanctions on Haiti lifted
A Paris-based Haitian group has not been too happy lately. In a petition sent this week to the European Union, the group said the economic sanctions, including $44.4 million that the country was to receive, imposed on Haiti on January 31st of this year by the union of the same name will cause major economic problems for the Caribbean country, the poorest in the Americas. Added the group, it was not fair for the European Union to impose economic sanctions on Haiti, where citizens leave in subhuman conditions, still are trying to resolve grave public health problems, which are connected to malnutrition, lack of access to safe drinking water, lack of electricity, lack of decent housing, and public education for the majority of them. According to the group, the European Union has accused the Haitian government of violating the rights of citizens and holding fraudulent elections, such as the May 21st vote. It has also accused the Haitian government of violating several accords, among those the "Accord de Cotonou." As many African's heads of state have already done, said the group, we demand that the European Union go over its January 31st decision, when it unjustly suspended its economic aid for Haiti. Our position.We wonder where those people went to school. Whether they understand what the concept democracy means. Not only they seem not to be honest people, but based on the contents of their petition it is easy to understand they are not capable of comprehending that radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide is the main cause of the Haitian problem, as his many dictatorial acts suggest. There is no democracy in Haiti, but a dictatorship of the proletariat. Radical leftist Aristide and his political godson Rene Preval held a series of largely fraudulent elections last year. A multitude of opposition leaders and supporters have either been killed or kidnapped. All have been well documented by the international community. As radical leftist Aristide continues to consolidate his dictatorship of the proletariat one can only expect more Haitians to be either kidnapped, tortured, or killed in broad day light, and abject poverty to remain the norm. We urge the European Union to leave the sanctions imposed on Haiti on January 31st in place, if possible impose more sanctions of the same on tyrant Aristide and his illegal Lavalas regime.
Posted at 1:01 a.m., Tuesday, March 6, 2001
A biography of Gerard Gourgue, provisional president of the Republic of Haiti
Who can help rescue Haiti from years of radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's dictatorship of the proletariat? The answer is Gerard Gourgue. Historians will remember him as the man who improved the quality of life of Haitians. So will they remember him as one of the very few highly educated Haitians of his time. A press release, dated February 6, 2001, received from our excellency Gourgue's office reflects a large part of his achievements. Sure do we believe you will take pleasure in learning a great deal about him before your sons and/or daughters can do so, perhaps only through the work of historians. Mr. Gerard Gourgue, 75, is an eminent intellectual, a lawyer, a human rights fighter, a democracy champion, and political colossus. Also, he is a graduate of the University of Haiti and the University of Paris, France, where he acquired additional skills in criminology and penal law. Over the past twenty five years, Mr. Gourgue has worked arduously in a number of capacities in his country of Haiti. These include: professor of law at the State University of Haiti, High School Headmaster and senior political adviser to the late presidential candidate Clement Jumelle. Has he performed at a superior level? Sure all of the students, for example, he has become a mentor for at the State University of Haiti will attest to that, and without reservations. During the ferocious reign of the late Haitian dictator Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, he was one of the very few Haitians to have publicly denounced the regime perpetual gross human rights violations. Mr. Gourgue, who in 1978 became president of Haiti's Human Rights League, was later severely beaten by Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier's thugs, as he and colleagues were promoting human rights and democracy at a conference they organized. As were many of his colleagues, participants suffered the same fate, too. Mr. Gourgue, who has written many serious books, among them "A Study of Haiti's Penal System," in 1986 became a senior member of Haiti's National Council of Government after dictator-for-life Jean-Claude Duvalier fled to France abroad a U.S. c-141 military transport plane. Also, he was the Justice Minister of the council of the same. Judging the council to be undemocratic, he later resigned. At the age of 75, the distinguished jurist could have long retired from the cause of human rights, from the cause of democracy in Haiti. But so impressive were his human rights credentials Haiti's democratic opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, not long ago chose him as the country's provisional President. It is because of his long and unparalleled career for the cause of human rights and democracy in Haiti that millions of his fellow compatriots, rather, call him the human rights president, the democracy president, words that translate into hope, words that inspire confidence. Millions of Haitians are well aware of the multitude of economic and political problems, most of them caused by radical leftist Aristide and his political godson Rene Preval, that define today's Haiti. Still, they are more than ever convinced that President Gourgue will in the near future help the Caribbean country that is Haiti become a democratic state for the first time in its nearly 200 years history, find an honorable place in the pantheon of nations, where abject poverty is the exception. "Given his proven background he will certainly submit himself to the rigors of those Herculean tasks and succeed, though he will experience some difficulties, and the fruits of such anticipated success will be defined as a regain of a long lost of dignity, a nation (Haiti), where citizens are proud of themselves," said an American scholar.
Six drown, 17 missing after sailboat hits Haiti's seabed
Death has often robbed Haiti of its sons and daughters. When they are not shot dead by radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's bandits they loose their lives after their boat sink. The latter happened again Monday after heavy winds sank a sailboat carrying about 30 Haitians, including a load of cement, off Haiti's Southeastern coast. But if seven of the 30 passengers were lucky enough to be rescued it was not so for the remaining ones. Six people drowned and 17 others were missing.
Posted at 6:30 p.m., Monday, March 5, 2001
Haitian Consul asks Dominican Republic to grant Haitians amnesty
It was not unusual for the invited guests to show up at the Haitian National Palace grand ballroom and not find expensive liquors, among them wine, in great quantity, there. That, in fact, was on February 7th, after a merely symbolic change of power took place between leftist Rene Preval and radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The often-inebriated leftist Preval, Haiti's then outgoing President, and the guests, barely touched the expensive wine bottles. They, rather, drank so much hard liquors that some of them had to excuse themselves before the farcical inaugural presidential reception was over, said a man who pleaded with us for anonymity. For us to help you understand why wine was not leftist Preval and the guests' preferred alcoholic drink is to quote Alexandre Dumas, a great French thinker. "Wine," said Dumas, "is the intellectual part of the meal." Sure, it is an indication that those in attendance were not people of high culture. Still, said the man, they were all calling themselves philosophers, meaning that they finished High School. Meanwhile, the majority of Haitians did not even have dirt water to drink, to bath in. Millions of them were starving to death. Thousands of those Haitians fled to the neighboring Dominican Republic, hoping to have the opportunity to eat a simple daily meal, to keep themselves going, to stay alive. But, as the Haitians have since found, they are not lucky, and most likely will never be. They are considered to be threats, as the contiguous country's Army General, Jose Miguel Angel Soto Jiminez, told Listin Diaro, a daily newspaper, in late February. More than 150,000 of the estimated 1 million Haitians living in that country, nearly all of them without proper legal documents (i.e., visas) have already been deported to Haiti. However, Edwin Paraison, the Haitian Consul, in the Dominican Republic has not only believed he can convince authorities of that country to put an end to the mass deportation of his fellow citizens to Haiti but also grant them all an amnesty. Late last month, during a conference organized by Batey Relief, a human rights group in the Dominican Republic, he made what was, in effect, an appeal to authorities of that country to grant all Haitians living there an amnesty, making them all permanent legal residents. "There is no other solution to the Haitian-Dominican Republic problems other than granting all Haitians living in this country an amnesty," he said. Added Consul Paraison, who completely forgot that it was first the responsibility of the government of Haiti to create as many economic opportunities as possible in the Caribbean country so citizens would not have to flee perpetual abject poverty at home for the Dominican Republic, in search of a better life. Though he did not explain how, but he said "granting all of the Haitians living in the Dominican Republic permanent residency will prove beneficial to both the Dominican Republic and Haiti." If you may call them that, Consul Paraison had a few more unpleasant words for Dominican Republic authorities. "Haitian workers are no longer confined exclusively to the Bateys," meaning that they are no longer forced to work only on sugar plantations. "They can be found working in the construction industry, and their contribution to the Dominican Republic economy is enormous. Since it is so, I must say they are not public charges for the Dominican Republic, as the authorities often claim." Other panelists included: Dominican Republic sociologist Ruben Sillie and the country's Executive Director of the National Council of Sugar Industry, Victor Manuel Baez. The conference was attended by about 200 people, including representatives of human rights groups from many countries, and moderated by New York-based prominent Haitian author, Edwige Danticart.
Posted at 7:12 p.m., Friday, March 2, 2001
The old patterns persist, a de facto Prime Minister for Haiti
Less than a month after radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former slum priest who was expelled from the priestwood for insubordination, was said to be sworn in as president of Haiti after he was elected in a sham election, Jean-Marie Cherestal, whom he recently designated as his Prime Minister, was sworn in today as Premier, after he was confirmed early this week by Haiti's bogus parliament, suggesting that the list of de facto government officials is getting longer everyday, as the Haitian people continue to experience abject poverty. Marc L. Bazin, who was a de facto Prime Minister in the mid-1990s, and the only member of his Movement to Institute Democracy in Haiti, was installed as minister of planning and external cooperation, meaning that he again became a de facto. Responding to journalists' questions about how he felt joining a Cherestal's de facto government, opportunist Bazin, who since the mid-1990s has been unemployed and sounded like a little boy unable to contend his happiness after his daddy gave him candies, said "I might be late becoming a son of Aristide, anyway I am now one of them. I feel at home being part of this government."
Toxic fruit kills 39 in Haiti
It was not long ago that a UN report said that Haiti was the third hungriest country in the world after Afghanistan and Somalia. Many of its citizens, having very little or nothing at all to eat, have been forced to eat ackee, a popular fruit, but toxic when unripe. The said fruit, which is often used in Caribbean cuisine, has since mid-February killed at least 39 Haitians in the Northern province of the country. In the meantime, radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide continues to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat, enriching himself at the expense, also of other Haitians (more than 62 percent of the estimated 7.8 million Haitians is underfed), who will soon probably lost their lives after eating ackee, too. In another development, a radio journalist was kidnapped and then severely beaten by radical leftist Aristide's bandits for criticizing the latter politics. He was released this week after spending 10 days in captivity.
Not a good student at all, Haiti gets bad grade for narcotics from U.S.
Not only drugs have continued to threat the very basis of Haitian society but since Haiti remained a transshipment point for South American drugs entering the U.S. for the year 2000 the latter country once again assigned an extremely bad grade (F) to the Caribbean country, as exerts from its International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2000, released March 1, suggests.
| Demand Reduction |
The GOH does not operate a demand reduction or public awareness program. Anecdotal reports indicate that local consumption is rising as traffickers increasingly pay their personnel in product. There have been many reports of local citizens seizing cocaine before it could be delivered to the individual in charge of transit through Haiti. Cocaine is widely known as "mama from heaven" throughout Haiti, as it has become a source of income for entire towns. Stolen drugs are re-sold to dealers who then either sell them locally or send them to the United States.
| Law Enforcement Efforts |
High level GHO officials of the Preval administration and members of the National Assembly are also suspected of ties with narcotraffickers.
| Drug flow and transit |
Cocaine flow through Haiti decreased from 13 percent to 8 percent of the total detected flow in 2000. Law enforcement actions, particularly U.S. Customs seizures of cocaine abroad Haitian freighters moored in the Miami River, account for some of this decrease. The largest factor may be the difficulties traffickers experienced in moving drugs through Haiti because of poor infrastructure or the seizure of drugs by rival traffickers or other criminals. Air shipments dropped significantly in 2000, particularly after several aircraft crashed trying to land on makeshifts runways. Most Colombian cocaine transiting Haiti arrives on the southern coastal freighters, container ships and small non-commercial boats. After cocaine enters Haiti, there are several methods of onward shipment. Some cocaine transits to the north coast and continues its journey in Haitian freighters or in containers bound for the U.S.. Cocaine is the principal business in some coastal towns, including those on the northern side of the southern claw. Some crosses the border to the Dominican Republic to to be loaded into containers or small vessels bound for North America or Europe. Some is transshipped to Puerto Rico and then shipped via container cargo vessels or commercial airlines to North America or Europe.
| The Road Ahead |
Despite this year's decline, little of which can be attributed to the efforts of the GOH, the quantity of drugs transiting Haiti is still far too high. This trade threatens the stability and integrity of Haitian institutions and will ruin countless lives in Haiti and elsewhere. At the regional level, it should joint the Caribbean Action Task Force (CFATF), strengthen significantly counternarcotics cooperation with the neighboring Dominican Republic, and participate in regional counternarcotics interdiction exercises. Haiti also needs to establish a financial investigations unit that is able to analyze and investigate suspected money laundering. These law enforcement activities should be combined with education initiatives designed to convince Haiti's youth of the risks and consequences of addiction and to change public perceptions that engaging in drug trafficking is an acceptable means to escape poverty. International assistance can play a strong part in assisting Haiti in confronting the drug trade. Such assistance, however, is valueless and will not be forthcoming unless Haiti moves decisively to strengthen law enforcement and judicial institutions, particularly to root out and establish effective internal controls against corruption. Without taking basic measures such as reinvigorating the Inspector General function of the Haitian National Police and enacting and implementing fully tough anticorruption statuses, Haiti's and the international community's efforts to fight illegal drugs there will be destined to ineffective.
Sunk by gross human rights violations, Haiti gets bad report card from U.S. You simply mention "human rights practices in Haiti" to someone he or she often ends up questioning you about political and other extrajudicial killing, disappearance and arbitrary arrests, detention, or exile, as radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide continues to consolidate his dictatorship of the proletariat. As the reader(s) of this article will later learn, the U.S. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2000, released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (February 2001) provide several revealing lessons about human rights conditions in the Caribbean country that is Haiti. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
| Disappearance |
| Torture or other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment |
| Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile |
| Freedom of Speech and Press |
| Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association |
| Respect for Political Rights: The right of Citizens to Change Their Government |
| Wehaitians.com, the scholarly journal of democracy and human rights |
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