The other disaster In Haiti

Catholic New Times, Dec 5, 2004 by Thomas Gumbleton, Bill Quigley

In addition to the death and destruction caused by the recent hurricane and floods, there is another disaster going on in Haiti right now. It is a human-rights disaster.

We just returned from Haiti with a human-rights delegation for Pax Christi USA, the Catholic peace movement. Our media has made us aware of the human toll from the flooding. What we are not so aware of is that there has been a coup in Haiti that continues to take a substantial human toll, as well.

The forced exile of President Aristide earlier this year was effectively a coup that eliminated the constitutionally elected government of the people of Haiti. The elected government was replaced with an illegally appointed government of the minority with economic and military power, supported by the U.S., France and Canada.

As a result, human-rights conditions are worse in Haiti now than they have been in years. The democratically elected government leaders and their supporters are in prison or have been made into refugees in their own country, while former military personnel, gangs and rebels affiliated with those in power are often allowed to do as they please. We visited with several political prisoners in the National Penitentiary, including the highest officials of the government of President Aristide: Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, Minister of the Interior Jocelerme Privert, and the former Mayor of Port-au-Prince. The rule of law is being blatantly disregarded in their cases. For example, Minister Privert has been held in the prison for six months and has yet to see a judge for formal charges, which by law should happen within 48 hours of arrest.

Prime Minister Neptune, who was arrested days after giving an interview critical of the government, has been in prison since June 2004. Others are in similar straits.

We also visited the women's prison in Petion-Ville, where 51 women are kept in a poorly lit concrete structure, and met with activist Annette Auguste, a 69-year-old folk singer also called "So Anne" who supported President Aristide. She has been in prison since May 10, 2004. Auguste and all of her family of 15, including children as young as 12, 10 and five years old, were illegally arrested in her home by U.S. Marines. The Marines used grenades to break into the house in the middle of the night, forced black hoods onto the heads of all inside and bound their arms behind their backs with plastic handcuffs.

It is not just political opponents who are the victims of human-rights violations. Our delegation also visited a local police station in Port-au-Prince where 36 males were being kept in one concrete cell, 12 feet by 12 feet. None of them had been formally charged, none had a lawyer, none had seen a judge, and one had been in the cell since Sept. 4. There is no medical care, and no food is provided. What food there is must be brought by families.

Mixed in the same small cell were children, adults and people with mental problems and epilepsy. We met one 13-year-old boy and two 15-year-olds in the cell. Prisoners showed open sores on their legs; others showed injuries from physical brutality. Some told us no one in their family even knows they are in jail. They sleep standing up and leaning against the wall as there is not enough space for everyone to even sit down together, much less lay down.

The criminal law system, which has never worked well for the poor, is now being used for massive arrests in the poorest neighbourhoods. We are very concerned about the widespread re-emergence of the previously dissolved military.

The poor are targeted

We also met with many poor people in Port-au-Prince, including some who were forced out of communities outside the city as a result of the coup because they were perceived as supporters of President Aristide, of the Fanmi Lavalas party, or of human rights. Opponents of the elected government came to town, killed the chief of police, and burned down the police station and the prison. They then sought out supporters of the elected government, ransacked and burned their houses, placed black bags on their heads, executed them and dumped them in the river.

A woman and her family were attacked and had to flee because they were thought to have spoken to human-rights delegations and foreign journalists, and to have voiced criticism of the government. They have been sleeping on the roof of a friend's house. They showed us pictures of their burned homes, which were ransacked and destroyed by former soldiers and opposition gangs. One person who went back just the week before to take photos of the damaged homes was murdered for doing that.

People have lost businesses and property. They are now homeless and living in fear and hiding with anyone who will shelter them. They are refugees in their own country. There are hundreds more from their area in the same situation and thousands more from other small outlying communities. Journalists, human-rights workers, teachers, church workers, and union members are being threatened regularly and are clearly at risk. Nationally elected independent union leaders reported that the situation of workers has always been difficult with the bosses as adversaries, but now is worse because the government is aligned with the bosses and is also an adversary. The situation for workers is much, much worse since the exile of President Aristide.