Year 2001: Imperialists bring Horror to Haiti
By Anthony Fenton
July 10, 2005
(Left Turn Magazine, go to: )


http://www.leftturn.org/Articles/Viewer.aspx?id=657&type=M
http://www.HAITIaction.com/News/AF/7_10_5/7_10_5.html

"Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions of culture, language, national feelings, religion and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of individuals belonging to such groups." (Quoted in Robert Davis and Mark Zannis, The Genocide Machine in Canada, p. 9)

Many apologists for the February 29, 2004 coup in Haiti claim that Aristide was a "dictator," an "authoritarian," or, that "he armed gangs," and "he was corrupt." Many also claim that he was subsumed by a "popular uprising" that was going to sweep him out of power. According to this narrative - which is echoed and maintained by the corporate media, Western governments, and the Haitian client regime among others - the U.S. Marines showed up at just the right time in the midst of widespread civil unrest that would surely have resulted in a "bloodbath" or worse, civil war.

Accordingly, the Marines and the U.S. embassy provided sage and timely wisdom to the embattled Aristide, convincing him to "resign" and agree to be flown to the Central African Republic (another former French colony), without first having the chance to address the Haitian citizenry. We are told that this was not a coup d'etat, but that Aristide willfully resigned, end of story. We make the reality, you abide by it.

NEW REALITY
The question was (and remains): who is willing to accept this reality?
The Canadians certainly are. They signed on to it immediately, as did the French, the EU, Brazil, Chile, Russia, China, and others. Within the societies of these countries, there was no great opposition to this new reality. Everyone who signed on to the new reality was handed a script from which to practice and read her or his new lines. Of course, we now have the benefit of a year of intensive research, independent investigations, and regular on the ground reporting, which demonstrate that this new reality was merely the logical consequence of years of preparation for the ultimate fall of Aristide and the popular Lavalas movement.

There are also those who did not initially accept this reality, and continue not to. Outside of Aristide, who immediately claimed that he was overthrown in a "modern-day" coup d'etat, and lives as the exiled President of Haiti in South Africa, many others oppose the new circumstances. Those who continue to defy the new imperial reality are, not surprisingly, those countries who would have the most at stake were this sort of intervention to become the international norm. 'If they get away with this in Haiti, who's to say that we're not next?' asks the 14-nation Caribbean Community, the 53-member African Union (representing approximately 1 billion people), Cuba, and most vocally perhaps, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

At the recent World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Chavez was vocal about his position on Haiti. According to a Workers' World report, he said "...that Jean-Bertrand Aristide is the legitimate president, kidnapped by the U.S. in the same way he was during the April 2002 coup in Venezuela. He mentioned that in the last meeting of the region presidents, he stated that any solution to the crisis in Haiti will have to incorporate Aristide, that the solution could not be in the hands of the United Nations or any group of presidents - who should not interfere in other nations' problems - but in the hands of the Haitian people."

HAITIAN PEOPLE
The most important group of people not to accept this newly imposed reality, of course, is the Haitian people. There have been numerous attempts at mass mobilizations calling for Aristide's return since he was removed. Haitian police or members of the former military have broken up most of these demonstrations with indiscriminate firing into large crowds of unarmed demonstrators. Several demonstrations have been dispersed by the mere presence of UN forces, who most Haitians see as an occupying force, not a peacekeeping one. One notable exception to this was on December 16th in Cap Haitien, when the Chilean forces there provided security for the more than 10,000 demonstrators calling for the return of Aristide and constitutional order. Photos and video of this demonstration and details of previous ones are available at www.haitiaction.net.

One of the primary purposes of the initial military occupation was to snuff out as many supporters of the constitution as possible under the guise of bringing "stability" through "disarmament." It only took a month or so to learn about massacres that had been carried out in poor neighborhoods, with many rumors and eyewitness reports implicating foreign soldiers in the targeted killings, creating the very bloodbath that Colin Powell insists that Aristide was avoiding by resigning.

There was a definite sense of urgency informing the efforts geared toward terrorizing the population. Only three weeks before Aristide was overthrown (February 7, 2004), over 100,000 Haitians took to the streets and gathered at the National Palace in support of his 5-year constitutional mandate. Here is where the real popular uprising took place. But there weren't any mainstream cameras there to report it, as they were virtually all in Gonaives covering the invasion of U.S. trained paramilitaries who had entered from the Dominican Republic.

The lone mainstream report in which the demonstrations merited a mention, was on NPR's February 9th edition of "All Things considered." When host Michele Norris asked reporter Gerry Hadden about what kind of support Aristide has, Hadden said, "It appears, you know, to be still quite strong in the capital. On February 7th, the third anniversary of his inauguration, there were tens of thousands of people who came out into the streets of Port-au-Prince to listen to his speech. He still seems to be able to muster large crowds at least here in the capital."

[Extensive footage of the February 7, 2004 demonstration can be found in Kevin Pina's documentary "Haiti: Betrayal of Democracy", and photos are available at www.haitiaction.net]

It was this massive support, which had also elected Aristide in a November
2000 landslide, that had to be quickly "pacified" by a collective effort of violent forces in Haiti. Not yet complete, this pacification continues while the world looks on.

OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG, see www.nlg.org) released two reports based on investigations that took place March 29-April 12, 2004. In short, "the delegation found overwhelming evidence that the victims of the threats and violence have been supporters of the elected government of President Aristide and the Fanmi Lavalas party" and that "[T]he threats have been carried out by former militaries and FRAPH members as well as other supporters of the opposition."

Based on interviews conducted at the state morgue in Port au Prince, NLG states: "[The morgue] Director admitted that 'many' bodies have come into the morgue since March 1, 2004, that are young men with their hands tied behind their backs, plastic bags over their heads, that have been shot." And further, "The Director admitted that 800 bodies were 'dumped and buried' by morgue on Sunday, March 7, 2004, and another 200 bodies dumped on Sunday, March 28, 2004. The 'usual' amount dumped is less than 100 per month." (See Griffin on Democracy Now!, April 12, 2004)

These reports were dismissed by authorities and consequently suppressed by the corporate media. The witch-hunt against known or suspected supporters of Aristide was not deemed newsworthy. Right-wing supporters of the coup, such as the Washington-based Haiti Democracy Project, even censored the NLG reports after having originally posted them on their website, claiming that the comprehensive investigations had a predetermined outcome and were therefore biased and tainted.

The censoring of these independent investigations (the NLG reports were the most extensive and graphic among several others, such as the Quixote Center, EPICA, and IA Center reports) is particularly revealing now that certain internal World Bank documents have been leaked. These reports corroborate the high body counts estimated by independent human rights organizations such as the NLG's. One such report, Semi-Annual Monitoring Report on Conflict-Affected Countries dated May 17, 2004, covering the period of September 2003-March 2004, states the cold facts inside the scripted narrative:

"Growing civil unrest followed by an armed rebellion...in February 2004 culminated with President Aristide resigning and fleeing the country. The social and economic impact of the upheaval over the past several months is still being assessed. Preliminary figures indicate that some 1,000 lives were directly and indirectly claimed by the violence."
A later report, dated July 2, 2004, in preparation for a meeting of the World Bank's board on July 8th, "Haiti Briefing Note," indicates a deepened crisis and acknowledges that things have deteriorated since Aristide was ousted: "The political conflict and armed uprising in early 2004 worsened Haiti's already difficult social and economic situation. Thousands of lives were lost and large segments of the population were affected by lawlessness and violence."

AID & DEBT
On the basis of this analysis, the donors' conference that the World Bank was providing these briefings for yielded a lengthy document which details the "reconstruction" of Haiti, and gathered pledges of over $1 billion from many Western countries; primarily Canada, the U.S. and the EU. In December, Canada, who are overseeing the facilitation of the resulting "Haiti Interim Cooperation Framework," gave the puppet regime $43 million dollars so that they could pay off an existing World Bank debt, in order to incur a new one totaling some $70 million.

Several governments, including the U.S., Canada, and the EU, deliberately withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from the Haitian government from the late 1990s until February 2004, working instead with favored NGOs. Now, despite the nightmarish human rights situation, every Western country and organization have determined that they will reengage the interim Haitian government with direct aid.

IFES
It has been concretely established by a more recent human rights investigation by Thomas Griffin, on behalf of the University of Miami School of Law, titled Haiti Human Rights Investigation: November 11-21, 2004 (download at www.haitiaction.net) that the United States used Haitian organizations to manufacture a perception of Aristide as a human rights abuser who was overseeing a corrupt justice system. A USAID-funded organization, the International Federation of Electoral Systems (IFES), operated under the guise of "strengthening transitional democracies.": "The premise of IFES' justice program was that President Aristide 'controlled everything' and, therefore, controlled the judges in Haiti...Because the judicial system was corrupt, so went the premise, Aristide must be the most corrupt."

IFES successfully co-opted human rights groups, lawyers, and journalists, and "set the groundwork" for the creation of the Group of 184 business-led political opposition to Aristide. The chairman of IFES, William Hybl, also sits on the Board of directors of the International Republican Institute (IRI), who were also providing financial and technical support to Aristide's political opposition, with National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funding. Two of IFES' administrators in Haiti stated, "that IFES/USAID workers in Haiti want to take credit for the ouster of Aristide, but cannot out of respect for the wishes of the U.S. government."

The current minister of justice Bernard Gousse, worked closely with IFES during the two years prior to Aristide's overthrow, and for USAID for many years before that. Gousse's cabinet minister, Philippe Vixamar, also consulted for IFES. Interviewed by Thomas Griffin in Haiti, Vixamar stated that he is presently on the payroll of the Canadian government. A representative of CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) later confirmed this, stating that Vixamar is working in an "advisory" capacity within the Haitian ministry of justice, on behalf of the Canadian government. Interim Haitian PM Gerard Latortue, as well as interim President Boniface Alexandre "both participated in IFES justice programs."

CANADA’S ROLE
With a wink and a nod, Canadian officials proclaim that they are committed to reforming Haiti's justice system. Canada's lead role in the administration of Haiti's occupation is not to be overstated. Canadian military personnel oversee UN military logistics, and a Canadian police officer commands the 1,400 strong Civilian Police contingent. 100 Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) work closely with the Haitian police - who have been committing summary executions in the open streets.

One month after the coup, on April 1st, 2004, it was revealed in parliamentary hearings that the U.S. had asked Canada to take a lead role in Haiti, because:
"Washington has its hands more than full with Afghanistan, Iraq...There is simply not the ability to concentrate...This is a chance for Canada to step up and provide that sort of focused attention and leadership, and the [Bush] administration would welcome this...[I]t's a sign of the interest and the openness in the United States to have Canada take a lead on this."

Alluding to the fact that Canada's leadership would also provide a veneer of legitimacy to the occupation, Carlo Dade of FOCAL, a government-funded hemispheric policy think tank (see www.focal.ca), states: "Canada also enjoys a perception in the region as a counterweight to what is viewed as heavy U.S. involvement in the region, a voice of moderation...".

Canada has extensive economic interests in Haiti as well, which are connected to incredibly lucrative projects ongoing in the Dominican Republic (DR). Canadian mining company Placer Dome, for example, holds a 25-year concession on the Pueblo Gold Mine Project, "one of the world's largest gold reserves." On the Haitian side, St. Genevieve Resources and KWG Resources have exclusive rights to exploit Haiti's copper and gold reserves, valued at several hundred million dollars. Another of many examples finds t-shirt empire Gildan Activewear overlapping their operations across the Haiti-DR border, with new investments expected to shortly reach $160 million. Gildan's primary subcontractor in Haiti is Andy Apaid, Jr., who not only led the Group of 184 political opposition to Aristide, but is now funding anti-Lavalas gangs in Port au Prince slums.

DEBT AND DEPENDENCY

While the reality being imposed on Haitians today is, in practical terms, new, the nature of it is consistent with Western policy toward Haiti since she gained her independence as the world's first free black republic in 1804. Earning the distinction as the hemisphere's first "threat of a good example," Haiti was automatically labeled a failed state, as slavery-practicing countries struggled to maintain the conditions of subjugation for profit in the hemisphere. They did not wish to see another Haiti, and went to great extremes in order to prevent this.

In 1825 the French government, on behalf of former slave owners, imposed an indemnity on Haiti in return for official recognition. In today's dollars, this debt equals approximately $21.7 billion. On April 7, 2003, on the anniversary of the death of Toussaint L'Ouverture, father of the Haitian revolution, Aristide called on France to pay Haiti reparations for imposing this indemnity. According to Aristide's attorney, Ira Kurzban, France took this very seriously, knowing also that Aristide was by no means bluffing and in fact had developed a strong legal case. Faced with another "threat of a good example," which could conceivably spread to other former colonies, France redoubled its efforts to bring Aristide down.

The U.S. did not recognize Haitian independence until 1863, just as the westward expanding American settlers were waging a genocidal war against indigenous populations. Backed by the principles of the Monroe Doctrine, the bloodthirsty Americans invaded Haiti in 1915, occupying the country for 19 years. Historically, this was the longest foreign military occupation of Haiti, but the present one, similarly premised on the notion that black Haitians are unable to govern themselves and therefore need to be taught how, figures to be a long one as well.

Numerous world leaders have wrung their hands lamenting that as a "failed state" Haiti is in need of a long-term presence to get it on the right track once and for all. The belief is that this long-term presence might somehow 'break the cycle' of violence, corruption, and coup d'etats.

Numerous foreign policy think tanks have ruminated over the 'possibility' of establishing a 'protectorate' in Haiti, like the old days. The irony therein, of course, is that this has been the plan all along, and the real reality finds that Haiti is not being governed by Haitians.

NEW SOLIDARITY
A new type of solidarity movement is emerging out of a growing awareness of the policies that are being carried out in Haiti, policies that can only be described as genocidal. All of the Western powers share a history of genocidal conquest. Ironically, this process began on the very island that Haitians occupy, in 1492. It should enrage but not surprise us that governments such as Canada and the United States, who have perfected the means of internal colonization through the subjugation and dehumanization of indigenous people, should export these methods to Haiti. Our role is to understand these realities and devise ways to dismantle them.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anthony Fenton is a Vancouver-based investigative writer, and activist. He can be reached at afenton@riseup.net.

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Eyewitnesses Describe Massacre by UN Troops in Haiti
by Democracy Now! | July 11, 2005

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/11/1351253
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Eyewitnesses Describe Massacre by UN Troops in Haitian Slum
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In Haiti, UN troops launched a pre-dawn raid on Cite Soleil, one of the most economically-depressed neighborhoods of Port au Prince. Local residents say it might have been the deadliest attack carried out by UN troops since they were stationed in the country last year. On Saturday hundreds of Haitians gatherer for the funeral of Emmanuel "Dread" Wilme -- a popular community leader who lives in Cite Soleil, one of the most economically-depressed neighborhoods of Port au Prince. Wilme was killed last Wednesday when UN troops attacked the neighborhood in a pre-dawn raid.

Although the raid has received little attention, local residents say it might have been the deadliest attack carried out by UN troops since they were stationed in the country last year.

According to residents the UN troops entered the area at about three in the morning and opened fire. Eyewitnesses reported the UN troops used helicopters, tanks, machine guns and tear gas in the operation. The UN has admitted that its troops killed at least five people. UN military spokesman Colonel Elouafi Boulbars told Agence France Presse, "The bandits tried to fight our men. They suffered serious losses and we found five bodies in what was left of a house." Local residents put the figure at no less than 20. Some estimates are even higher. Witnesses said innocent civilians were among the victims.

• Witnesses in Cite Soleil describe the UN raid.

Another local resident lost her husband in the raid. She described what happened on Wednesday.

• Cite Soleil resident describes her husband's death.

The United Nations has defended the operation by describing it as a necessary move to wipe out violent gang activity. Both the United Nations and the interim Haitian government have described the slain Dread Wilme as one of the country's top gang leaders. Cite Soleil is comprised largely of supporters of the Lavalas Party and ousted
Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide who was overthrown in a U.S.-backed coup 18 months ago. To local residents Dread Wilme was a community leader and the attacks were seen as politically motivated.

• Cite Soleil residents talk about Emmanuel "Dread" Wilme.

We are joined in our studio by Seth Donnelly. He visited Cite Soleil
hours after the killings and interviewed survivors. On Saturday he
attended Dread Wilme's funeral. Seth Donnelly was in Haiti as part of
a human rights delegation sponsored by the San Francisco Labor
Council.

• Seth Donnelly, San Francisco Labor Council.
http://www.sflaborcouncil.org/To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, call 1 (888) 999-3877.

_________________________________________________________________________
RUSH TRANSCRIPT


AMY GOODMAN: Witnesses said innocent civilians were among the victims.

RESIDENT OF CITE SOLEIL: A lot of innocent civilians were killed and there are even some people that they kill and just take them with them. One of the worst things that happened is that they killed like a mom with two of her children, and they are still -- the bodies are still there.

AMY GOODMAN: Another local resident lost her husband in the raid. She described what happened on Wednesday.

RESIDENT OF CITE SOLEIL: I'm working at night, so when I was back in the morning, so at noon when I was back from my work, I found him just in his blood. He was the only one here. And my three children are in the countryside because I have them in countryside. And he is a very old guy. So they just get inside and pulled him out under the bed and killed him.

AMY GOODMAN: The United Nations has defended the operation by describing it as a necessary move to wipe out violent gang activity. Both the United Nations and the interim Haitian government have described the slain Dread Wilme as one of the countries top gang leaders. Cite Soleil is comprised largely of supporters of Lavalas and ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide overthrown in the coup 18 months ago, February 29, 2004, the President, Aristide, has described as a U.S.-supported coup. He said he was kidnapped in the service of a coup backed by the United States. To local residents, Dread Wilme of Cite Soleil was a community leader. The attacks were seen as politically motivated.

RESIDENT OF CITE SOLEIL: So Dread Wilme grew up with us. So, Dread Wilme is one of the guys who grow up in the community and who wanted to work for peace, who wanted to have, like, an improvement for the community, and he had, like -- he had developed a good relationship with all the people in the neighborhood as a professional. So Dread Wilme was a protector for us; he was like our dad. So they keep saying that Dread Wilme was like a gang and he was involved in the killings, but we never see this. We in the community, we have seen him as a peaceful guy but never as someone who was involved in killings of people. So, we want to say thank you to [inaudible] because he was the one who make this happen.

AMY GOODMAN: We are now joined in our studio by Seth Donnelly, who went to Cite Soleil a day after the killings last Wednesday. He interviewed survivors. On Saturday, he attended Dread Wilme's funeral. Seth Donnelly was in Haiti as part of a human rights delegation that was sponsored by the San Francisco Labor Council. We welcome you to Democracy Now!

SETH DONNELLY: It is good to be here. Thank you, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, talk about what you learned, what you understand happened, what is the U.N.'s version of events. We tried to get the U.N. on. They did not respond to our calls.

SETH DONNELLY: Yeah. I'd like to start with the official version, and then we'll look at what the evidence of the massacre that contradicts the official version. I interviewed the top military command of the U.N. on Friday, July 8, with some Haitian colleagues, human rights workers. And Lieutenant General Augusto Heleno and Colonel Morano claimed that the operation was a success. They did state that about 300 U.N. troops led by a Jordanian contingent, surrounded Cite Soleil, which as you mentioned is one of the largest ghettos in Port-au-Prince. It’s one of the poorest neighborhoods in the world. And it has, even before this operation, it has been sealed off. According to locals, the U.N. had put shipping freight containers blocking various entrances into the community because it's been a hotbed of support for President Aristide. It is a Lavalas base of support, and there has been ongoing conflicts with U.N. and police in that community. So, the community was already relatively sealed off. But then the 300 troops came around 3:00 a.m. July 6, and then also according to U.N. high military command, they had 18 to 20 armed personal - armored personal carriers, which are basically like tanks without treads. They have cannons. And they had those choking off entrances and exits to and from the ghetto.

And then around 5:00 a.m., they launched the attack. They tried to locate Dread Wilme and capture him. They claimed he was killed. The community is acknowledging that he was killed. But the top level military command said they were unaware of any civilian casualties during the operation. So that was sort of – and they also mentioned that there was a helicopter that flew 3,000 feet overhead just for observation purposes, but it did not shoot down into the community.

What we found actually when we went into the community the day after the operation was widespread evidence that the troops had carried out a massacre. We found homes, which when we say homes, we are talking basically shacks of wood and tin, in many cases, riddled with machine gun blasts as well as tank fire. The holes in a lot of these homes were too large just to be bullets. They must have been tank-type shells penetrating the homes. We saw a church and a school completely riddled with machine gun blasts. And then the community came out.

Once we had passed through, and we were -- the community understood who we were, women, children, old and young, came out en masse and started to give us their testimony. They clearly were not being coerced by (quote/unquote) “gang leaders” or “gang elements.” They took us into their homes. They showed us bodies that still remained. They gave us very emotional testimony. People were hysterical still. And they all claimed that the U.N. forces had fired into their homes, had fired into their community, and people were saying at a minimum 20, if not more, people were killed.

Then there's a Haitian human rights worker who was actually on the scene when the operation occurred and has video footage that unfortunately we cannot yet release, but there is a plan at some point for that to be released to the public, that shows people being killed during the operation quite graphically.

Thirdly, we went to the local hospital that serves people from Cite Soleil. There's one hospital in Port-au-Prince, it's Medicine Without Borders, that doesn't charge a fee so very poor people can go to that hospital. And we asked them if they would share with us their records, which they did. And we got the impression that nobody from the U.N. had spoken to them. Perhaps they did but we felt like we were the first human rights workers making contact with the hospital after the operation. And sure enough, their records show an influx of civilian casualties. Starting at 11:00 a.m July 6, there is 26 people alone from Cite Soleil that came in suffering mostly from gunshot wounds. Out of that 26, 20 were women and children. One pregnant woman lost her child. And 50% of those 26 people had serious gunshot wounds to the stomach and had to go into major surgery right away.

Now, if the U.N. was committed to finding out the (quote/unquote) “collateral damage” of their operation, they would simply need to make a phone call or do what we did, which was to go to the one hospital in Port-au-Prince that serves the people of Cite Soleil or they could have spoken to the Red Cross in Cite Soleil, which admitted that they had transported 15 people out of there on tap-taps into the hospital. So the other --

AMY GOODMAN: Those are local buses? Local buses, tap-taps?

SETH DONNELLY: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: What did the U.N. military commander say when you were questioning him about your -- the eyewitness accounts that you heard?

SETH DONNELLY: Well, the Lieutenant General Augusto Heleno initially challenged us, our delegation, as to why were we concerned about the rights of the (quote/unquote) “outlaws,” the term that he used, and not the (quote/unquote) “legal force.” He seemed to write off community testimony as being part of community hostility and part of these (quote/unquote) “gang attacks” on U.N. forces. In that sense, I felt like he was sort of -- the subtext of what he was saying was that the community itself was an outlaw community, that the gang would presumably include all of these folks that came out to talk to us. Another -- the other military commander present suggested that some of the bodies that were shown to us were actually killed by (quote/unquote) “gangs,” and that we should try to have ballistics tests done on the bodies. I would be all for having ballistics tests done on those bodies, as well as getting more comprehensive forensic evidence from medical professionals.

AMY GOODMAN: Seth, you were also at the funeral of Dread Wilme on Saturday. Fears that there would be another U.N. attack?

SETH DONNELLY: Yeah. Hundreds turned out. Inside of Cite Soleil, I kept feeling like we were – it was sort of like a South African township during the apartheid days, cut off. And hundreds of people came out for this funeral. The way the community spoke about Dread Wilme – again, not just youth who, you know, often worked with Dread Wilme, but also the entire community, women and children, referred to him as a father figure or a protector. But there was twice during this funeral service where a rumor hit the crowd that U.N. troops were coming back. There was U.N. -- some APCs in the distance in Cite Soleil holding off checkpoints. And twice the rumor hit that they were about to roll on the crowd, and people fled in terror, including myself. It was a stampede running with the crowd, because you didn't know what was going to happen. That also was an indicator that something was very -- when you have hundreds of people fleeing in terror, it would indicate that something very wrong happened on July 6.

AMY GOODMAN: You're saying a lot of the eyewitnesses saw this as a political attack, Cite Soleil, long seen as a stronghold --

SETH DONNELLY: Oh, absolutely, the community is highly politicized, it is highly -- the community views itself locked in a long-term struggle for the restoration of President Aristide and for the removal of occupation forces from Haiti, and it views -- people view these attacks as part of the ongoing post-coup war on the poor majority that is occurring in Haiti, which, by the way, our delegation outside of this event in Cite Soleil found comprehensive evidence of an ongoing war on the poor majority on different levels that is being conducted by the coup regime itself, the interim government of Latortue

AMY GOODMAN: In other news from Haiti, paramilitary leader, Guy Philippe announced last week he plans to run in the upcoming Haitian presidential elections. Last year, he played a key role in the ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the president. Philippe, a former police chief who was trained by U.S. special forces in Ecuador in the late 1990s, involved with and has been accused of the masterminding of deadly attacks in Haiti. We're talking to Seth Donnelly. Last comments, Seth, as we wrap up right now about the significance of what happened in Cite Soleil last Wednesday.

SETH DONNELLY: Right, I certainly want to say that it’s one thing to describe this in words, but when a person actually enters Cite Soleil, and you see the open sewage streams, you see the shacks that -- how people are living, and then you think about 18 to 20 armored personnel carriers with tank-type cannons and you think about 300 troops with machine guns and a helicopter, by the way, which community people are saying fired down on them, and we did see what appears to be bullet holes in the roofs. It seems to me that this really was a Warsaw Ghetto-type attack on an impoverished community. And I do think this is emblematic of the ongoing war on the poor majority that is occurring in Haiti today, and it requires people in the United States to stand in solidarity with the people of Cite Soleil.

AMY GOODMAN: The U.S. has not sent military weapons to Haiti under the democratically elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide, but was documented sending hundreds, if not a thousand rifles under the leadership, if you could call it that, of Latortue.

SETH DONNELLY: Sure, and then they froze aid to Aristide, but now the Latortue government is, you know, receiving all sorts of money from the U.S. Then you have the -- you have the issue with what is the U.N. role here. The U.N. role, they’re in all of the very -- they're in fancy bourgeois hotels. They drive around in these fancy SUVs. they have resources but I don't see schools being built. I think it could arguably be stated that Cuban doctors sent by the Cuban government have done more for the people of Haiti than the entire administer of the U.N. mission in Haiti since the coup.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you very much for being with us, Seth Donnelly a member of the U.S. labor human rights delegation who has just returned from Haiti, reporting to us on what happened last Wednesday, a pre-raid dawn by U.N. forces in a very poor area of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, Cite Soleil, long seen as a Lavalas stronghold, stronghold of the supporters of the democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It looks like at least 20 dead, according to the reports on the ground.

SETH DONNELLY: Estimates from the community are getting much higher. Yeah. The person who was on the scene has given the estimate of 30, at least 25 confirmed dead as he sees it.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you very much, Seth, as we wrap up the show. Thank you.

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Emmanuel "Dread" Wilme - on "Wanted poster" of suspects wanted by the Haitian police.
Click photo for larger image

Emmanuel Dread Wilme Reported killled by UN troops July 6, 2005

(See Democracy Now!: Eyewitness report below)
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Demand a Stop to the killings in Cite Soleil
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Drèd Wilme was reported assassinated by the UN occupation forces in Haiti on Wednesday, July 7, 2005. But he's been falsely reported
dead before. Haitians with faith still know that long after the hired triggermen who are shooting the people of Cite Soleil and even at Wilme, are dust in the wind, Drèd Wilme's deeds, the people of Haiti's resistance to tyranny, will live on, in all Haitians, for all peoples on this globe, who resist Euro/US-led greed, racism and tyranny against the poor and African on this planet.

The Haitian resistance against the Western bicentennial re-colonization of Haiti lives on. Below, we bring again the voice of Drèd Wilme, speaking a few days after the Apaid-hired-gun, Labanye, was killed and the UN occupation troops themselves had entered Site Soleil to continue the Haitian extermination campaign begun when the U.S. Marines kidnapped President Aristide and exiled him from his country. Drèd Wilme was announced dead on July 7, 2005, the same day that US CIA asset and the real killer and Haitian bandit, Guy Phillipe, announced his candidacy for President of Haiti. Guy Phillipe is a terrorists to the majority of Haitians thus, naturally he's a "freedom fighter" for Roger Noreiga, James Foley, Haiti Democracy Project, NED, IRI and their Group 184 lackeys.

Drèd Wilme represent(ed) Haiti's manhood, its courage and commitment to liberty. He stood, as a lone fighter, a father to the Haitians in Site Soleil without defenders against the most powerfully armed nations on earth. Wilme lasted without resources for more than 16months evading the biggest manhunt in the Western Hemisphere led against Haitian self-determination by the alien and foreign occupying forces. But because Dred Wilme could not, like Guy Phillipe be bought off by a U.S. dollar, he was a terrorist for the aims of U.S. Ambassador Foley and right wing Cuban-American hater of indigenous self-rule, Roger Noreiga. Haitians throughout Haiti and the Diaspora embrace Wilme as they do Kapwa Lamò and Charlemagne Peralte. None of those calling Drèd Wilme "bandit" have ever shown he traveled outside his community to
attack either the foreigner who came to kill him in his own home, nor the morally repugnant Haitian bourgeoisie who paid assassins to destroy his community, his nation. In contrast to the bi-centennial Coup D'etat traitors, Drèd Wilme is known to the people in his community as a defender of the defenseless and poor. Again, we say, as we did last April, Wilme covered himself in glory because he added value in his own community, and if, in fact, he lives no more, he joins the line going back to that first Neg and Negès Ginen who can only - depi lan Guinen - live free or die. That unborn
spirit, that Haitian soul, cannot die. It's rising.

Ezili Danto
Li led li la
July 8, 2005
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Haiti Action Committee
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HAC/7_10_5.html
July 10, 2005

Haiti Action Committee condemns UN massacre in Haiti, demands an end to the killing

The Haiti Action Committee today condemned a July 6 massacre of
Haitian civilians in Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince carried out by UN
"peacekeepers".

Dave Welsh, a delegate with the San Francisco Labor Council who was
in Haiti as part of a labor/human rights delegation, said, "This
full-blown military attack on a densely-populated neighborhood, which
multiple sources confirm killed at least 23 people, is a crime."
Published estimates indicate that upwards of 50 may have been killed
and an indeterminate number wounded, and that more than 300 heavily
armed UN troops took part in the assault on the neighborhood.
The attack took place in Cite Soleil, an extremely poor area that is
staunchly supportive of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Aristide was forced from office by the U.S. embassy in collusion with
U.S.-backed paramilitaries on February 29, 2004 and is now in exile
in South Africa.

Seth Donnelly, a California teacher with the same delegation, visited
the scene of the massacre and spoke to traumatized survivors of the
attack. "This operation started early Wednesday morning at 3am, with
Jordanian and other troops on foot and in tanks and helicopters with
machine gun turrets. It was a full-scale attack. Survivors told us
that when they saw UN troops they felt that, unlike Haitian police,
they would not fire on civilians, but that the 'peacekeepers' soon
began shooting into houses and at civilians. "

The Labor/Human Rights Delegation from the United States, sponsored
by the San Francisco Labor Council, had been in Haiti since late June
to attend the Congress of the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH),
the country's largest labor organization, and met with hundreds of
Haitian workers, farmers and professionals, interviewing scores of
them about the current labor and human rights crisis in Haiti.
Pierre Labossiere of the Haiti Action Committee noted, "MINUSTAH [The
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti] apologized to the
Haitian police for its delayed arrival on the scene of an incident
where two Haitian police officers were killed on May 22, but it has
never once apologized for any of the many documented instances where
UN troops killed Haitian civilians. This latest attack, in which
people in their homes and on the way to work were killed for no
reason, is beyond the pale. Such atrocities must not be accepted by
the international community. Those responsible for these killings of
civilians must be brought to trial."

Labossiere concluded that the U.S.Embassy should immediately refrain
from more statements which provide a "green light" for slaughter of
civilians. "By recently calling grassroots activists 'gang members'
and 'terrorists', U.S. Ambassador James Foley sent a signal that it's
open season on civilians. This is especially Orwellian, since the
real terrorists in Haiti are the UN troops, the Haitian police and
the paramilitaries who are killing civilians. Under its most recent
mandate, the UN has supervision of the Haitian police. But instead of
stopping the killing of civilians, the UN is stepping up the
slaughter," said Labossiere.
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Cite Soleil Community Turns Out En Masse For Funeral of Dread Wilme

Credible Estimates of Civilian Casualties during July 6th UN Military Operation in Cite Soleil Continue to Mount

US Labor and Human Rights Delegation
July 9th, Port-au-Prince

For further information, contact Delegation Member Seth Donnelly: 650-814-8495
Hundreds of people of all ages turned out for the funeral of Dread Wilme, a leader of the Cite Soleil community in Port-au-Prince. Wilme was reportedly killed in a UN military operation in Cite Soleil during the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 6th. The funeral ceremony was held in the street and involved speeches by community activists, music, dancing, and carrying a coffin to the people. White banners were draped up and down one of the main streets in the community. Media, mostly Haitian, were present.

Speakers expressed respect for Wilme as someone who embodied the hopes of the community, someone who attempted to stand up for and protect his community. They vowed to continue the struggle for the rights of the poor in Haiti to healthcare, education, and democracy. In this spirit, they also vowed to fight for the return of President Aristide. One young female speaker stirred the crowd with her words affirming the dignity of the people of Cite Soleil and their rights to be treated as human beings.

Another speaker addressed the issue of kidnappings in Haiti, claiming that they were being used by the coup regime to scapegoat poor communities like Cite Soleil. Armed young men seemed to provide security for the ceremony.

At least twice during the service, people began to urgently run away, turning into a collective stampede, when rumors circulated that MINUSTAH forces were coming. MINUSTAH APCs (tanks) were stationed at several checkpoints in the neighborhood. People appeared to be terrified of MINUSTAH forces.

One older, Haitian-American woman who recently moved to Cite Soleil one month ago to practice her ministry gave an interview to a US human rights delegation and Haitian journalists, stating that the youth of Cite Soleil are not animals or "chimeres", but intelligent human beings who are struggling to deal with the most harsh oppression.

She described Dread Wilme as someone who worked on behalf of these youth, providing them with education and food when the larger society was willing to throw them away.
Credible Estimates of Casualties During the July 6th UN Military Operation in Cite Soleil

Continue to Mount

In contrast to the claim made by the UN high military command in Haiti that they were unaware of any civilian casualties from Cite Soleil during the July 6th operation, the staff at the Medecines Sans Frontieres Hospital in Port-au-Prince reported that they received a wave of wounded civilians from Cite Soleil on July 6th. This is one of the few, if not the only hospitals in Port-au-Prince where people can from Cite Soleil can go because it provides free health care.

Ali Besnaci, "Chef de Mission" of the Medecins Sans Frontieres program and hospital staff member Olivia Gayraud met with a US and Haitian human rights team on July 9th, sharing the hospital registry records with the team. The records indicate that on July 6th, starting at approximately 11 AM, the hospital received a total of 26 wounded people from Cite Soleil who were transported to the facility by Red Cross "tap taps" (local trucks). Of these 26, 20 were women and children and 6 were men. Half of the total number were seriously wounded by abdominal gun shot wounds and were routed into major surgery. One pregnant woman lost her baby. Other victims seem to be in recovery, according to the hospital staff. All reported that they had been wounded by UN military forces during the operation and some spoke of their homes being destroyed.

This number of 26 stands in contrast to the hospital's records of Cite Soleil residents admitted on other days when the figures are much lower, such as 2 people on July 7th and none on July 8th. One Haitian human rights worker present during the meeting with the hospital staff speculated that the number of men from Cite Soleil who were admitted to the hospital was low because many men would fear being arrested by the authorities while in the hospital.

Meanwhile, one Haitian journalist who was an eyewitness to the damages in Cite Soleil on the morning of July 26th claims that he personally saw 20 bodies, and that 5 additional victims were buried by their families, and that 5 families were searching for loved ones who have been missing since the morning of July 6th. Additionally, a Reuters reporter covering Dread Wilme's funeral told a human rights team that he had personally seen and taken pictures of 7 bodies when he entered Cite Soleil at some point after the operation. Moreover, he took video footage of gun shots through roofs in the community, indicating that perhaps there had been helicopter fire from UN forces, as many community members allege. The US human rights team also saw what appeared to be many gun shot holes through the roof of a community school and an adjacent building.

Another estimate on the death toll from one community member who spoke during the funeral ceremony ranges as high as 80 community members killed.