Head wounds of 28 year old survivor of Gran Ravin lynching by machete
rampage by police and their attachés Aug. 20 Note severe lump on
right side
Thigh wounds of 28 year old survivor of lynching by machete, in severe
pain and psychologically traumatized.
Same 28 yr old victim with hand wounds affecting whole left arm.
Bullet wound in thigh of 17 year old survivor of lynching, currently in
hiding, fearful of going for follow-up treatment.
Arm wound from bullet of same 17 year old survivor of lynching.
St. Bernadette (not a catholic school but a public facility) sports/classroom
complex, site of massacre 8/20/05
Alley way used as escape route by fleeing fans of soccer game, some were
murdered here.
Entrance to St. Bernadette sports/classroom complex through which police
entered to conduct the massacre on Aug. 20. This entrance is separated
by a long driveway through a section of buildings from the main thoroughfare
where UN troops are regularly stationed, not within visible distance of
the soccer field
.
"Violence makes no sense, Let's make peace." One of many signs
on the Martissant soccer field walls.
Spectator stands at basketball court behind soccer field used to escape
over the back wall by fans fleeing slaughter, note special Civpol and
Human rights investigators in foreground who had to call in a special
patrol to assure witnesses they would be protected from Haitian National
Police. While they waited, they were ready to protect the witnesses themselves.
One of four humble, two room homes torched, residents dragged out and
terrorized by police and attachés on Sunday Aug. 21; witnesses
report several killings in this neighborhood on that day of people labeled
as Lavalas activists.
Remnants of burned 2 room house, clothing left behind, an act of terror
against Lavalas partisans by police and attachés.
Child's Creole lesson book left open on the floor of a house torched by
police and attachés.
Church doors show bullet holes after neighborhood rampage by police and
attachés burning houses and terrorizing even churches Sunday at
10 a.m. Aug. 21.
An amazing community water delivery system in Gran Ravin where leaders
have been working peacefully and positively for community development
and also are Lavalas leaders.
by Tom Luce, Pres. Hurah, Inc. (Human Rights Accompaniment in Haiti) http://www.hurah.webhop.org, 509-428-8676
Gran Ravin-Martissant, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti
August 27, 2005
Now that the shock of the unbelievably brazen broad daylight police and "attaché" massacre of innocent people from a poor, but 100% peaceful, community in Haiti's capital is taking hold here, we have a very nasty taste in our mouths of the strength of the movement toward a fascist police state in Haiti's future. Everyone here is stunned that the non-violent, development-minded, community of Gran Ravin-Martissant has been tossed into the cauldron of wholesale slaughter of people labeled with the death warrant of "pro-Aristide" supporter. On Aug. 20 upward to 50 innocent people were killed with machetes and/or shot by police and civilian thugs in the full view of 5000 soccer fans attending a “"peace"” celebration match in this inner-city poor neighborhood of Port-Au-Priince. On Sunday, Aug. 21, the same butchers went to a residential section, dragged women and children out of their homes, burned 4 homes and killed another several people.
There are no "armed-gangs" here to blame for
violence. This has been the “cover” for the past year that
authorities have used to go into other neighborhoods and carry out military
operations killing scores of innocent people. The main stream press constantly
reports that the problem in Haiti, threatening to disrupt the elections,
is this “armed-gang” presence. The main job of the U.N. forces
has been to "pacify" the violence-ridden poor neighborhoods
like Cité Soleil and Bel Air, meaning invading residential areas
with full blown military operations resulting in many innocent deaths.
But here in Gran Ravin-Martissant there are only citizens armed with the
conviction that poor people have rights and that they have the right to
determine their own future through democratic government. Fascist states
cannot allow even this kind of "armed" citizenry.
As you walk around Gran Ravin-Martissant there is a conviviality, an up-beat feeling to this poor community of 120,000 people, a majority of whom seem to be "pro-Aristide" supporters. This in spite of the abominable lynching atrocity that has just taken hold of their lives. An elder statesman of these people, a native and a volunteer leader, spoke today in eloquent French and with in-depth knowledge of Haitian politics and international involvement in Haiti at a gathering of victims and members of victim's families expressing his disbelief that something like this could have happened to his people. He has volunteered his time over the years to educate and motivate the young leaders of his community to use non-violence as the most powerful weapon to obtain their rights. He pointed out the many community benefit projects that have been undertaken with the cooperation of community leaders. He has been instrumental in bringing all the service organizations into play here. An example of this work is an amazing water distribution system that provides oodles of water for bathing and washing from stations on street corners with kids splashing themselves to cool off.
One of the stark symbols of the shredded fabric of the Lavalas-Aristide movement toward one of the basic human rights, that of universal access to education, stands high on one of the hills of Gran Ravin-Martissant. It is a four story modern building of classrooms, a high school built under the Aristide administration as part of its commitment to build "national schools," or public schools, open to all. One of the UN Civilian Police officers investigating the soccer massacre remarked that "this is a building on a par with any good school in the states." But it is empty, idle, and stripped of everything that could possibly be pried off its walls. A crying shame that such an effort also is rubbed into non-existence in a country where poor children cannot go to the private schools because they cannot afford private school tuition.
Private school advocates in Haiti have constructed a “National School Sponsor Fund (FDP) that is promoted internationally something like using a lottery to support education--without the major funding through public taxes for public schools. FDP promoters brag about the thousands of scholarships they provide to poor people. The truth is quite a distressing scene of thousands more children never getting a scholarship and never going to school. This is the beginning of the street kid tragedy and domestic child servant industry notorious in Haiti. There is no longer a movement for universal education now that Lavalas-Aristide people have been wiped out. The education system here is built around the impossible model of private schools which Lavalas-Aristide dared to challenge. Not a healthy thing to do in a fascist state.
The sinister hand of murderous terrorism has now clawed at the backs of these peaceful people. Our eloquent speaker spoke at length about how his community has taken special pains to avoid the violence that has occurred in other communities. His generation of leaders has always taught the upcoming generations that arms only beget more violence and while it is reasonable to take up arms in self-defense, there are other ways to defend oneself. The dread on his face weighting his words as he acknowledged the grave threat of violence facing his people was palpable. He nevertheless intends to persevere in his convictions about non-violence. His young leaders are not sitting idly by. They are well organized, connecting every zone of the community by cell phone, receiving constant calls pinpointing possible trouble brewing. But they are also very concerned about their own safety and they feel highly at risk of being targeted in subsequent waves of police vengeance. They are clearly Lavalas militants and that is a death sentence. Even the police chief of the zone is implicated by witnesses directly in the now infamous soccer game massacre Aug. 20th and the subsequent house burnings and further assassinations on Aug. 21. And known criminals have been identified by name by eye-witnesses as the "attachés" who carried out the soccer massacre. This is not, as has been reported in the AP and elsewhere, a case of armed gangs attacking other armed gangs. These are known criminals being used by the police to carry out a violent repression of a political party.
In downtown Port-Au-Prince and in Pétionville these days you can see banners stretching across the street that seem to be an open call to a fascist state. They say, "MINUSTAH (The UN mission) + Civpol (Civilian Police of the UN) = Problems, PNH (Haitian National Police) + the people = solutions." Now that we're witnessing a lynching style of taking care of "problems", at first somewhat hidden, but now with the Gran Ravin rampage in broad daylight with uniformed police and machetes engraved with PNH (Haitian National Police), these banners are spine tingling. The steamroller election machine is pushing forward consciously pushing aside the blatant persecution of the Lavalas party as irrelevant to holding credible elections. With people like former army colonel Himmler Rebu running for President on a campaign assuring the people that a re-established army will bring stability and prosperity to Haiti, there is growing evidence that a group of neo-fascists is lining up to capture the power of "elected" office for their minority views to be carried out. How else can the license-to-kill just exercised by the Haitian National Police be explained?
Some will say that it is a waste of time bothering with anyone in the U.N. Some will claim that the U.N. in Haiti, dominated by the US, Canada, and France, simply is directly supportive of the interim government and its outlaw practices. They point out, rightly, to the historic impotence of UN Troops in stopping Haitian police killing of innocents. They point out rightly that little if anything has resulted from investigations promised by UN authorities into the many atrocities committed here by state authorities.
In conversations, though, in the past several days with residents and witnesses of the soccer massacre, a distinct separation has been made between the Haitian National Police and the U.N. presence here. Witnesses generally feel secure with the U.N. troops. Not so with the Haitian Police, especially with the soccer massacre now a fait accompli. Witnesses do say that Sri Lankan UN Troops were observed close by the soccer field. The U.N. maintains an outpst at an intersection on a main thoroughfare running close by neighborhood where the soccer field is located. These eyewitnesses report that the Haitian police lied to the UN troops about their purpose in going to the soccer game. The Haitian police told the UN troops, according to witnesses, that there was a disturbance at the game and they were going there to handle it. Whether or not the U.N. troops actually were aware of what did take place is not clear at this point. Human rights investigators are demanding that the U.N. command deal with this question and take steps to secure the entire area and protect vulnerable witnesses from further Haitian police vengeance. The authorities agree that the role of the U.N. troops is to control the Haitian National Police.
Some human rights workers including Hurah's partner, AUMOHD point out that to abandon Hait to the Haitian Police is short sighted and will only lead to more suffering when and if a police state is installed by the upcoming fatally flawed elections. They point out that the world must keep applying unrelenting pressure on the UN to abide by their mandate. Those who are on the ground working hand-in-hand with Haitian militants like those in Gran Ravin-Martissant observed today that the only protection Lavalas militants recognize right now against the Hatian police is the UN. Within the various UN agencies there is solid support coming from the CIVPOL and the Human Rights Units. These people need all the backing they can get to do their job. They have put their lives on the line defending innocent people in Gran Ravin-Martissant. They are an antidote to the fascist police state rearing its ugly head in Haiti these days. To run them out of Haiti now would leave Haitians to a terrible fate.
1. Contact: Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur from the office of the UN High Commissioner for human rights in Geneva. His specific job is to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. e-mail urgent-action@ohchr.org, fax: 41 22 917 9006.
2. Contact the CIVPOL (U.N. Civilian Police) commissioner, Graham Muir, 011-509-244-0366 e-mail muir@un.org. His responsibility is to investigate and protect people from police abuse.
3. Contact Thierry Fagart, head of U.N. Human Rights in Haiti, 011-509-403-4012 e-mail fagart@un.org.
4. Contact Huntley Medley, CARICOM 226-9280, hmedley@caricom.org.
5. Contact Dr. Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), 202-458-6836 e-mail: jinsulza@oas.org and demand that he review the legitimacy of Haiti's elections
SAMPLE LETTER
TO: Commissioner Graham Muir; Human Rights Head, Thierry Fagart
Dear Sirs:
As part of my role in Haiti this August I have provided accompaniment services to our partner, AUMOHD, a Haitian human rights advocacy group with offices at 181 Autoroute de Delmas, 23, PAP, It's president is Evel Fanfan, 424-3334. AUMOHD has been called to investigate the massacre at the St. Bernadette soccer stadium and complex on Saturday Aug. 20 and the subsequent home burning and further slayings on Aug. 21. I have written two reports based on my own listening to eye-witnesses. You can see these articles by going to our website, http://www.hurah.webhop.org along with pictures.
I want to formally go on record supporting the work of your two offices, 1) in investigating the two related massacres, 2) in prosecuting those responsible; 3) in pursuing justice and restitution to those who suffered such terrible losses; 4)in determining the role or lack of involvement of the Sri Lankan MINUSTAH troops in this massacre; and 5)in developing a security plan to protect the residents of Gran Ravin Martissant from further revenge from the Haitian National Police.
Please be advised that I have contacted Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with the same requests.
These are huge jobs but on them rests the very credibility of the UN to have an honest peace-making role in Haiti. Gran Ravin Martissant has no "armed bandits." The fact that community leadership there is Lavalas should not be a death warrant for them. There can be no hiding the persecution of Lavalas partisans under the guise of "pacifying" armed gangs. This horrific tragedy has a twofold result, in addition to the merciless killing by state agents, it has gripped a non-violent, democratic community in a vice of fear and frustration bound to create more pressure for violence.
Thank you for your attention. I would appreciate a brief acknowledgement that you have received this request.
Sincerely,
Tom Luce