Haitian police attacked the camp of armed anti-government former soldiers on Dec. 22 in the rural hamlet of Pernal, near the town of Belladères on the Central Plateau. Haitian authorities say the armed band fled. No official report of prisoners or casualties was available at press time, but it was expected soon.

A special unit of the Company of Intervention for the Maintenance of Order (CIMO) carried out the attack from three helicopters, which dropped bombs on the camp. The homes of several peasants in the area were destroyed in the attack, and livestock was killed, according to reports which the government denies.

Journalists who traveled to the area were unable to glean further information about the attack. Most peasants have fled the area, and those that remain are afraid to talk.

According to the Haitian Press Agency, about 50 heavily armed masked men occupied Pernal for several weeks. It is apparently the same group which launched deadly attacks against police stations and the National Palace on Jul. 28 and Dec. 17, 2001, escaping back to the neighboring Dominican Republic, from which the attacks were launched.

The gunmen identify themselves as former soldiers of the Armed Forces of Haïti (FADH), disbanded in 1995, and fly the red and black flag of the Duvalier dictatorship (1957-1986). In a Dec. 19 press conference, they announced that they had come to rally former soldiers and other sympathizers in an effort to overthrow President Jean Bertrand Aristide and reestablish the Haitian army.

«Just like the former soldiers, the Lavalassians are suffering but are not aware of their responsibility and think that they have to submit to Aristide," a former soldier declared at the press conference. "Therefore, we call on all soldiers and our supporters to awaken, because we have come to hasten the fall of Aristide.»

State Secretary of Communications Mario Dupuy branded the men "terrorists" and part of the destabilization campaign against Haiti. «Our information indicates that a group of heavily armed terrorists has taken refuge in Pernal on the Central Plateau and is terrorizing the population there," Dupuy said. "This is the same group that participated in the [Dec. 10] attack on the Lascahobas police post and which previously had killed the judge of Belladères Christophe Lozama (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 20, No. 40, 12/18/2002). Recall that during the attack on the post, they liberated four prisoners, two of whom were charged for involvement in the assassination of Judge Lozama. By doing this, they wanted to derail the investigation so it cannot be traced back to the intellectual authors of these violence acts.» Mario Dupuy implied that the Democratic Convergence opposition front was allying itself with former Duvalierist soldiers. «Certain sectors do not want to admit that it‚s up to the population to choose its leaders," he said. "The country cannot return to the brutal system of [the political prison] Fort Dimanche, or to the red and black flag.»

Jacques Maurice, one of Aristide‚s spokespersons, accused the armed group of extorting money and food from the citizens of Pernal, particularly those favoring the Lavalas. On Dec. 13, the former soldiers also attacked a CIMO convoy on its way to guard the funeral of the Judge Lozama, Maurice said.

Evans Paul, a Convergence leader, denied any links to the armed group on the Central Plateau, but stopped short of condemning them. «We must clarify that the Convergence is peaceful and we have never had a strategy of weapons," Paul said. "We are not associated with this armed group.»

However, it remains unclear who planted seven hand-made bombs around the capital‚s central square, the Champs de Mars, on Dec. 21. The police defused all the devices, as well as a fragmentation grenade found in the Nazon neighborhood on Dec. 22.

The government called for a "truce" during the holiday season from Dec. 21 to Jan. 8, saying that the police would not allow any political demonstrations ˆ pro or anti-government ˆ during this period. An opposition demonstration in Cap Haïtien on Dec. 22 was broken up by police with tear gas.

Meanwhile, opposition leaders traveled to the Dominican Republic to meet with representatives of the International Republican Institute (IRI), the Republican wing of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

«The National Popular Party (PPN) is not surprised that about fifty traitors took a plane on Wed. Dec. 18 to go meet on the other side of the border, reactionaries like [IRI Haitian representative] Stanley Lucas, [Florida-based anti-Aristide businessman] Olivier Nadal, and [former electoral council president] Léon Manus," said Ben Dupuy, PPN‚s secretary general. "IRI has bought these people, just like Conzé [the traitor who led U.S. Marines to assassinate resistance leader Charlemagne Péralte] sold his soul to the Americans in 1915. For a long time, the PPN has denounced the plots that are instigated from the Dominican Republic against Haïti. Under the regime of Jean Claude Duvalier, the bourgeoisie was in heaven; it‚s normal that today it is nostalgic for the return of Duvalierism and of the Macoute Army which knew how to repress the uprising of the underprivileged masses with blows from their Uzis. This is a corrupt "political class" that is always at the service of the ruling classes and colonists. Today, they are attempting a come-back. This macouto-bourgeoise alliance is waging an undeclared war against popular masses.»



Open Letter to President Aristide from a Son of Haiti

Ottawa, Canada, December 16, 2002

Brother President,

Outraged by the nonsensical and very dangerous political situation our people has been pushed into over the last decade, I write this urgent letter to you with the hope that it will contribute positively to our people's righteous struggle for uncompromising freedom, true justice and sustainable peace.

Brother president, as you so aptly mentioned in your latest speeches, the negative forces that are allowed to act out in our country aren't doing so against yourself but against the Haitian people. Therefore, as the duly elected chief representative of the Haitian people, you are presented the following questions for your thoughts and answer and the following recommendations for your analysis - with the ultimate aim of aiding our people's noble struggle.

First the questions:

1) Why have you not conducted a referendum (consulting the Haitian people - the ultimate authority!) to decide whether or not to redo the contested legislative and local elections - but instead caved in to the pressures of foreign forces (U.S., E.U., Canada etc.) and took this path of endless bargaining with obviously ill-intentioned foreigners and the opposition they are illegally, yet so openly sponsoring? Has this "bargaining" path not proven itself to be more dangerous and indeed detrimental to our peoples' noble aspirations?

2) When will you finally decide to stop paying interest on the IDB $150M loan that is still being illegally retained from the Haitian State? Is it not your obligation, as Head of State, to launch legal actions against this out-of-compliance organization?

3) When will your government finally release for the Haitian People's benefit, the FRAPH documents which the U.S. Forces stole and confiscated for over 6 years (1994-2000) in order to remove the names of American CIA agents alleged to have been involved in the coup-related massacres of 1991-1994? Is it not your responsibility, as Chief of State, to ensure the launch of formal legal actions against all criminals and organisations against which the Haitian State holds such seriously incriminating evidence?

4) Under what constitutional authority have you recently taken $ 2.4 M (U.S.) of the people's money to give to the foreign-sponsored opposition parties and the French Institute as per OAS Resolution 822? Aren't you by these actions facilitating more injustice against the Haitian people? How different is this from the 60 million Franc ransom Jean-Pierre Boyer, our former president, accepted to pay to France's zenglendo King Charles X as indemnity to the barbaric French slave-makers whom Dessalines (peace be unto him!) righteously kicked out of our land?

Now the recommendations:

1) Please act on the questions raised above brother President and inform the Haitian People of your actions so we may decide whether and how to support them.

2) Forget about the false promises of AID from the traditional enemies of our people. It is high time we wake up and realize that Santa Clauss is not only a mythical being but a cleverly conceived cover up for smiling thieves. If you need funds to run Haiti, brother President, turn to your People for help. We are not as poor as they say. We have a whole continent full of gold and diamonds. We are all over the globe. We only need to get our act together. Instead of wasting your time with the deceivingly-named World Bank, do call elder Mandela, brother Bill Cosby and sister Maya Angelou. Trust again in your global People's resourcefulness dear brother as you once did.

3) Never accept to negotiate this basic principle: there shall be no foreign occupation troops in the land of Jean-Jacques Dessalines (peace be unto him!) on January 1, 2004. This is not negotiable. We realize the "diplomatic skinheads" are working hard to render this inevitable. They are busy financing violent unrest in the country as they did on the eve of 1915. But you brother President, as Chief of State, must accept to lay your life for your people if necessary but not to let this sacrilege take place. NOT NEGOTIABLE .

Beyond these recommendations dear brother, I can only wish upon you the blessings of our 100 million "beloved" ancestors whose heritage we carry proudly and courageously. I wish upon you the blessings of our Creator, the true God of Imhotep, Malik Shabazz el Shabazz, Albert Einstein, Boukmann, Toussaint Louverture, Dessalines, Sanite Belair, Marijann, Paul Farmer, Kendall Clark, and of the newly born child in Site Solèy, Soweto or Wachington D.C. so that Her wisdom may help you convince our brothers and sisters to come together, as we once did at the sacred site of Bwa Kayiman. Yes, all our brothers and sisters from all political parties, all social classes, all walks of life to come together and solemnly pledge to live or die to defeat this ill-masqueraded neo-colonial slavery once and for all.

Haiti's "Vertières" is indeed, brother President, the cornerstone of worldwide African liberation. See you at home on January 1, 2004 !

Ashe!

Your brother who loves you and forever stands with our People in the struggle,

Jafrikayiti

"Uncompromising Freedom, True Justice and Sustainable Peace - we demand no more, we shall accept no less!"

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Jafrikayiti (Jean Saint-Vil) is author of "Viv Bondye ! Aba Relijyon!", published in 2000. His regular column "KozeNèfTankouZèFre" is published under the Port Haiti.com network (http://www.i-port.net/sd-in-j/ ). He is a recognized Ottawa community radio host (www.chuo.fm and CKCUFM.com). A B.Sc. (Hon. Biology) graduate of the University of Waterloo (Canada), he is a senior Program Officer at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).