UN Troops Attack Port-au-Prince, Kill 23 People
16 Jul 2005 15:50 GMT
On July 6th, more than 300 heavily armed UN troops carried out a full-blown military attack on a densely-populated section of Port-au-Prince. Multiple sources confirm the "peacekeepers" killed at least 23 people. Eyewitnesses reported the UN troops used helicopters, tanks, machine guns and tear gas in the operation. Lt.General Augusto Heleno, the Brazilian commander of UN troops in Haiti, defended the operation as a "success." Among those killed were children, women, and men on their way to work. More info on the Haiti Action Committee website.
Bay Area school teacher Seth Donnelly, who was in Haiti as part of a labor/human rights delegation, interviewed Heleno after the massacre. Donnelly reports, "Lieutenant General Augusto Heleno initially challenged us as to why were we concerned about the rights of the 'outlaws,' and not the 'legal force.'" He seemed to write off community testimony as being part of community hostility and part of these "gang attacks" on U.N. forces. The subtext of what he was saying was that the Port-au-Prince community itself was an outlaw community. Democracy Now Report.
A coordinated series of actions is being planned across the U.S. and Canada, to demand an end to UN killings of Haitian civilians.
Links: UN Troops Attack Port-au-Prince, Kill 23 People | Calls mount for investigation into rights abuses by Haiti's police | Grandmother in prison one year for loyalty to Aristide | UN Betrayal in Port au Prince | Haitian Priest Receives Threatening Visits from Unidentified Intruder, Bullets | International Protests to Call Attention to Thousands of Haitian Political Prisoners | Shredding Haiti's Constitution: UN Betrayal in Port au Prince (EN - PT ) | Evidence mounts of a UN massacre in Haiti (EN - PT)
Free Haiti - Blog Campaign
CNTodd 16.Jul.2005 16:36
For the past 5 days a group of progressive bloggers have been working on a Free Haiti Campaign to help raise awareness in the United States and with the corporate owned media who still refuse to acknowledge what happened in 1994 and most recently on July 6.
http://cntodd.blogspot.com
If you would like to join the campaign, please visit:
If you are a blogger and decide to write on this crisis, please send us and e-mail or leave your url in the comments.
protest is not enough
£ 16.Jul.2005 17:01
The Fortress West fully turns its back on the rest of the world, fucking the third world to death.
We are only next. If I were to say poverty have been most screwed over by housing of late then maybe medicine is next.
Ever feel like we are doing their job for them?
Upcoming Haiti Events in the Washington D.C. Area
FreeHaiti 18.Jul.2005 20:41
Protest the Embassy of Brazil!!
Upcoming Haiti Events in the Washington D.C. Area
(A) July 21st - Protest at Embassy of Brazil , 3006 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington DC 20008 @ 1pm - 6pm
(B) July 25th - Kevin Pina/Betrayal of Democracy Film/Talk, Plymouth Congregational UCC, 5301 North Capitol Street at Missouri/Riggs, N.W. ) ,Washington, D.C. 7pm
(C) August 12th- Protest at Embassy of Haiti
No descontextualicemos la situación en Haití
José Manuel Ferreiro 18.Jul.2005 22:34
Parece imperativo hacer una investigación periodística seria antes de tratar este tipo de asuntos. Sobre todo cuando se escribe sin haber estado en Haití, sin conocer la situación que se vive allá, y sobretodo sin conocer al general Heleno, quien aparece como un carnicero en esta notita.
Lo que se describe es parte de un operativo de Naciones Unidas para acabar con líderes de pandillas (a quien Heleno refiere como "bandidos")quienes mantienen control de zonas de la población a punta de armas asesinatos y terror; y en vista que esto es lo unico que parece interesar para elaborar una noticia descontextualizada, llamo a que se haga un mínima investigación de cuantos civiles y niños han muerto por obra de estas "gangs", dirigidas por estos "dreds" a quienes Aristide dejó armados para controlar el país una vez que disolvió el ejército haitiano.
Soy chileno y nunca he tenido simpatía por los militares, pero en Enero y Febrero de este año tuve la oportunidad de ir a grabar un documental sobre la situación de Haití, la cual es mucho más compleja de lo que se piensa, y no se alcanza a comprender -como nos diría el mismo Heleno- aunque lleves 8 meses allá. Menos se comprenderá por un periodismo irresponsable y no presencial. Allá me cambió la visión que tenía de los militares, sobre todo de las fuerzas de paz, de quienes doy fe directa que hacen un trabajo -si bien imperfecto e incompleto- humanitario y consciente.
Tuve la suerte de conocer y entrevistar durante varias horas al mismo general Heleno, de quien guardo el mayor de los respetos, y es una de las personas ,más cultas, conscientes, y humanitarias que he conocido (sorpresa para el prejuicio que tenía yo hacia los militares), y creo que no hay mejor persona para el puesto que ocupa. Los dichos publicados responden al éxito de la misión (acabar con asesinos terroristas), y no al matar inocentes, por lo que esta descontextualización -costumbre del periodismo poco serio- raya en el sensacionalismo más desinformado y barato.
Vuelvo a hacer un llamado a investigar un poco de la historia reciente de Haití y de su profundos problemas, es un esfuerzo que los haitianos se merecen, y al que espero aportar.
Estás justificando la represión también en tu país?
Profesor J 19.Jul.2005 14:40
He quedado muy sorprendido de la nota de un chileno.
profesor_j@yahoo.com
http://clajadep.lahaine.org
No sólo en elogiar a uno de los responsables del nuevo plan de preparar tropas para invasiones blandas en el continente, plan que se está madurando justamente en el día de hoy en Brasilia con las prácticas de guerra virtual entre 16 países que atacan a otros dos (Cuba y Venezuela?) con el pretexto del terrorismo y la droga.
Ese mismo pretexto lo justifica este chileno diciendo que las bandas matan más personas.
Con eso lo que hace es justificar también la acción de los carabineros en su propio país, que con el pretexto del terrorismo atacan las comunidades mapuche y barrios de ciudades. Con el pretexto de la droga acosan a la juventud marginal.
En fin, si hay muertos bastará con decir que las bandas mataban más.
Vas a decir también que el Plan Z justificó el golpe militar?
Inconcebible.
Profesor J
This is from Aristide's supporters
Amenostoff 19.Jul.2005 15:05
This news is taken from haitiaction.net, which is clearly a supporter of dictator Artistide as on the welcome page, they wish him happy birthday.
Free expression is good so I use it. Don't support this action because it will only serve Aristide's supporters.
Seguir traduciendo
http://laluchita.blogspot.com 19.Jul.2005 15:08
Hola,
http://laluchita.blogspot.com
Soy un traductor del Proyecto Para Difundir Información Sobre Haití
Aquí es un ejemplo de mi trabajo
Andrés, debemos colaborar para seguir el trabajo de difundir esta información por el mundo latino. Podemos trabajar en el siguinte artículo?
colabora con la lucha
Leer y comprender es fundamental
José Manuel Ferreiro 23.Jul.2005 00:34
Me extraña el comentario del anónimo "profesor J". Pareciera que no leyó o no comprendió mi comentario. Raro si es que es efectivamente un profesor.
Creo que dejé bastante claro que nunca he simpatizado con los militares de mi país, ni con el plan Z ni nada de eso. El argumento de cuanta gente han matado las bandas lo di -como puede leerse más arriba- sólo para hacer ver que eso es lo único que importa para hacer periodismo sensacionalista, juego en el que no pienso entrar. Sólo llamo a poner atención y a informarse.
La violencia en Haití es pan de cada día. Y no la trajo Naciones Unidas precisamente.
Se nota que el "profesor J" nunca ha estado en un tiroteo de pandilleros partidarios de Aristide en pleno carnaval de Puerto Príncipe.
Hay que ver y saber para hablar.
Y leer bien para comentar lo escrito por otros.
Statement By Liberation News
Steven Argue 28.Jul.2005 02:35
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Liberation News denounces the slaughter that has been carried out in Haiti by the UN. We continue our calls since the beginning of the U.S. invasion and coup against Aristide to call for the withdrawal of all U.S. and U.N. troops.
We endorse the following actions sponsored by the Haiti Action Committee and its demands, minus their call to reinstall Aristide. We instead call for the self-determination of the Haitian people, which may or may not include the reinstatement of Aristide after the fall of the rightwing UN/death-squad government.
* Stop the UN "Peace-Keeping" Massacres in Haiti!
* End the UN Occupation of Haiti!
* Uphold the Right of the Haitian People to Self-Determination, Free From All Foreign Intervention!
The horrific role the UN has played in Haiti is a good negative lesson in why Liberation News was so adamant in our opposition to the Peace and Freedom Party’s presidential candidate’s call for the U.S. out and the U.N. in to Iraq and why this became one of a couple split issues from that party when the state chair of the party simultaneously tried to cover-up and defend that position.
Liberation News remains committed to the need for a revolutionary party in the United States that, unlike the Peace and Freedom Party, is clear on issues of war and peace in the battle against imperialism. We also stand for building a party that does not on principle ever endorse any candidate of the pro-war, pro-police state Democrat Party.
Instead we call for the Liberation of humanity and a ravaged planet from the scourge of capitalism and its wars. We reject both the Democrat and Republican Parties as capitalist parties of war, racism, union busting, sexism, homophobia, environmental degradation and corporate exploitation.
We instead seek to build revolutionary socialism as the working class alternative. In contrast to the Democratic Party, including its most left wing, we stand in firm opposition to all US/UN wars. We understand that the US wages wars for one reason: empire and arms sales that equal corporate profit. The myth of UN humanitarianism must be countered by the truth that the UN is used around the world to the service of imperialism.
The working class interests that Liberation News represents are those that do not want our sons and daughters to be sacrificed on the alter of war for corporate profit and who want our tax dollars to be spent on social programs at home. In addition we want the people of the world to live in freedom from the terror and exploitation of U.S. and European imperialism. We call for socialist revolution in America to end the dictatorial power of the wealthy, for a redistribution of the wealth, and for a planned economy run to meet human and environmental needs as the true road to ending imperialism and war.
Sincerely, Steven Argue for Liberation News
********************
[Simultaneous protests in other cities: Check w/your local activists for details or go to www.haitiaction.net]
* EMERGENCY PROTEST!
* STOP U.N. "PEACEKEEPER" MASSACRES IN HAITI!
On the morning of July 6, 2005, more than 350 heavily armed United Nations "peacekeeping" forces killed at least 23 unarmed people in the densely populated Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Cite Soleil. Some estimates indicate that 50 or more may have died. The UN Force Commander, Brazilian Lt. General Augusto Heleno, claims there was a "firefight," yet there were no UN deaths or injuries.
THIS WAS A MASSACRE. Photographic evidence and eyewitness testimony confirm that the U.N. murdered unarmed civilians, including a 4-year old child, shot through the head.
Cite Soleil has been the focus of attacks by both UN forces and the Haitian police because it remains a powerful base of support for the democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the Lavalas movement. The U.N. operation targeted and killed Emmanuel "Dred" Wilme, a well-known community leader in Cite Soleil, who had been in the forefront of the neighborhood's resistance to the illegal coup regime. The attack came just a few days after U.S. Ambassador to Haiti James Foley labeled Haitian grassroots activists as "terrorists" and "gang members", sending a clear signal that it was
now open season on civilians.
Since a U.S.-orchestrated coup overthrew the democratic government in February 2004, a United Nations force of 7500 troops has occupied Haiti. The U.N. has supported the coup regime, which has killed and imprisoned thousands of innocent people. As the U.N. mouths its concerns for human rights around the world, it attacks the poorest
communities in Haiti and backs up the violent repression carried out by the Haitian police. Brazil continues to do the bidding of the United States by heading-up this brutal U.N. military operation in Haiti.
On July 21, there will be coordinated protests in many U.S. and Canadian cities to condemn the U.N. massacre in Cite Soleil. Please join us!
END THE U.S./U.N. OCCUPATION OF HAITI!
RESTORE DEMOCRACY AND PRESIDENT ARISTIDE!
Thursday, July 21st
Gather: 4 P.M. - Powell and Market, San Francisco
March to Brazilian Consulate, 300 Montgomery: 4:30 P.M.
Followed by Picket at the Brazilian Consulate.
Sponsored by the HAITI ACTION COMMITTEE
For more information:
www.haitiaction.net haitiaction (at) yahoo.com 510.483.7481
NADA JUSTIFICA LA MUERTE DE UN SER HUMANO
COSME - PEACEKEEPER 31.Jul.2005 21:36
Como peacekeeper no puedo tolerar la muerte de un ser humani, como ser humano rechazo categoricamente todo tipo de violencia, de cualesquier lado que viniese, a cerca de este articulo, considero que antes de emitir cualquier juicio de valor se debe de analizar las dos versiones del hecho, por que las Naciones Unidas actuaron bajo el capitulo VII? por que la poblacion no puede alcanzar una paz por si solos? Que porcentaje de la poblacion esta a favor de la Mision de la NU en Haity y queporcentaje esta en contra?... Una vez establecidos estos parametros, sin ningun tipo de perjuicios y con una imparcialidad total se debera determinar los responsables, no movidos por pasiones, sino movidos por la razon.
COSME
PEACEKEEPER - ECUADOR
buscando la raiz
delosnervios 07.Aug.2005 20:35
De base puedo comprender cada una de las posturas que expresais.Pero creo no que haY perder de vista que la historia y el contexto internacional han asfixiado a ese pais de forma que han llegado a devorarse entre ellos. Es retorcido intervenir con las armas por delante un pais al limite bajo el pretexto de que no quedaba otra via posible de solución cuando tu eres el culpable original.Eso es cinismo.