Wave of protest condemns UN massacre of poor in Haiti

Wave of protest condemns UN massacre of poor in Haiti

by David Welsh
Special to the NNPA from the an Francisco Bay View
Originally posted 8/2/2005

SAN FRANCISCO (NNPA) – Emergency protests were held July 21 in Brazil, France and 13 U.S. and Canadian cities to express the world’s outrage at the massacre of at least 23 Haitian civilians on July 6 in the popular neighborhood of Cité Soleil by UN troops under Brazilian command. Demonstrations in Haiti and elsewhere continue this week.

Meanwhile in Haiti, Father Gerard Jean-Juste – who kicked off the international protest campaign two weeks ago at the Brazilian consulate in Miami – was beaten and arrested July 21 after speaking out against the coup regime.

The pastor of St. Claire’s Church in Port-au-Prince, he has been called the “Martin Luther King of Haiti” for his courageous defense of Haiti’s poor majority. Father Jean-Juste is now in solitary confinement at the National Penitentiary in the Haitian capital.

Amnesty International declared Father Jean-Juste a “prisoner of conscience, detained solely because he has peacefully exercised his right to freedom of expression.”

The United Nations responded to protests around the world by announcing it has decided to investigate the “alleged” killing of civilians by its troops.

These two significant developments come as a direct result of the coordinated demonstrations that took place July 21 in Washington, D.C., Ottawa, Miami, Montreal, New York, Toronto, San Francisco, Minneapolis, San Jose, Boston, Halifax, Winnipeg and Vancouver.

Protesters called for UN troops and Haitian police to stop the killings, for all UN soldiers from 20 nations to leave Haiti now and for the restoration of Haiti’s sovereignty and constitutional rule.

In Brazil a high-level, 15-member delegation, including leading members of Congress and union leaders from the CUT labor federation, rallied in front of Planalto Palace in the capital of Brasilia.

They presented a letter to President Lula da Silva, signed by numerous Brazilian labor leaders and well-known personages, calling for withdrawal of all Brazilian troops from Haiti and respect for Haiti’s sovereignty.

The letter to Lula was based on a report by the US Labor-Human Rights Delegation to Haiti about the July 6 killings (see “Protest UN ‘peacekeeper’ massacres in Haiti” in last week’s Bay View).

In San Francisco, 200 chanting people led by Haitian drums marched down Market Street, then snaked into the Montgomery Street financial district to the Brazilian consulate, chanting “Why is Brazil killing in Haiti?” and “U.S./UN, get out of Haiti.”

Earlier in the day, members of the Labor-Human Rights Delegation met with the Brazilian consul general for an hour. They presented a letter to President Lula, calling for an end to the UN occupation and killings in Haiti. A similar letter was presented at the Brazilian consulate in Miami and at their embassy in the Canadian capital of Ottawa by Haitian community leaders.

The international campaign – with protests in five countries – kicked off on July 13, when Father Gérard Jean-Juste flew from Haiti to Miami to lead a demonstration at the Brazilian consulate. He met with consular officials for nearly three hours to protest the Cité Soleil massacre by UN troops under Brazilian command.

The campaign picked up steam the following day, on July 14, when despite heavy repression and continued killings by UN forces, more than 5,000 people demonstrated in Cité Soleil to condemn the UN massacre in their neighborhood on July 6. They chanted for the return of President Aristide and demanded prison for the leaders and backers of the coup regime.

Also on July 14, Father Jean-Juste was “denounced” on a right-wing Haitian radio program in Florida, saying he was returning to Haiti on American Airlines, with the implicit threat that something bad might and should happen to him. The next day Jean-Juste was searched and questioned for 20 minutes by U.S. authorities at the Miami airport.

On arrival in Port-au-Prince, he was detained by Haitian National Police for two hours. A week later he was attacked and beaten while attending a funeral, re-arrested and sent to the National Penitentiary.

The citizens of Cité Soleil, Father Jean-Juste and the internationally coordinated demonstrations on July 21 are shining a spotlight on the crimes committed by the U.S./UN occupation on July 6 in Cité Soleil. Clearly the coup regime feels threatened by these revelations, and they are retaliating against our courageous brother.

Defending Father Jean-Juste – and demanding his immediate release – is an integral part of this campaign.
Organizers emphasized that UN troops, who have been in Haiti since June 2004, are there as a proxy force doing the bidding of the U.S. government – replacements for the U.S., French and Canadian troops who assisted in the Feb. 29, 2004, coup d’état that overthrew the constitutional government of President Aristide.

The movement is spreading. Philadelphia is demonstrating July 28, New York again July 28 at the Brazilian consulate and Paris again on July 30 at the Place de la République. Miami demonstrated again July 26 at the Haitian consulate demanding the release of Father Jean-Juste.

In Haiti, demonstrations were held July 25 in the Bel Air district of Port-au-Prince and July 26 in Cité Soleil, also demanding the release of Father Jean-Juste.

These popular neighborhoods have been staunch supporters of President Aristide and opponents of the coup regime.

In Brazil, a coalition is organizing public meetings and rallies in various cities, demanding that Brazil end its military involvement in Haiti. The coalition includes unions and top leaders affiliated with the CUT (Brazil’s largest labor federation), the Unified Black Movement (MNU) and Campanha Haiti (the Brazil Out of Haiti Campaign).

In San Francisco, Pierre Labossiere of the Haiti Action Committee, which organized the protest there, said, “The UN mission apologized to the Haitian police for its delayed arrival on the scene of an incident where two police officers were killed on May 22, but it has never once apologized for any of the many documented instances where its troops killed civilians.”

”Instead of stopping the killing of civilians, the UN,” which supervises the police, “is stepping up the slaughter. That must not be accepted by the international community.”