INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
New police massacre of the poor in Solino quarter of Haitian capital |
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by Peter Garden Guerilla News Network Entered into the database on Thursday, August 11th, 2005 @ 01:55:04 MST |
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August 10, 2005—By now many of you have undoubtedly heard reports of on-going
killings and massacres in poor neighhborhoods of Port-au-Prince, the latest one
apparently conducted by the Haitian police last weekend through Monday August
8 in the community of Solino. According to Haitian media outlets, quoting Solino
residents, many people were killed in a brutal invasion of a poor community reminiscent
of the assault by UN troops on Cite Soleil on July 6th. The source said that so-called
“attaches” or paramilitary death-squad elements participated with
the police in the assault, which targeted supporters of the majority Lavalas political
movement. Haitian media organizations, quoting Solino residents, reported that machetes
were being distributed out of a National Police car to individuals attached
to the national police. Solino residents described in horrific detail the dismembered
bodies of a number of people, particularly young women, with body parts being
placed in black plastic bags, and that this morning in a ditch in Solino, dogs
had broken into some of the bags to eat the body parts. Women are being targeted
by police and the “attaches” because so many strong Lavalas community
leaders are women, and because women are playing a leading role in the pro-democracy
movement. Now there are reports from Port-au-Prince that yet another assault on Cite
Soleil is being planned, either by UN troops or by the police or both. Bear
in mind that by recent decree of the UN Security Council, MINUSTAH (the UN Mission
in Haiti) is now officially in charge of the Haitian National Police, and therefore
bears responsibility for the indiscriminate killings by the police in Solino
this past weekend. According to a community leader, “They are trying to dismantle the grassroots
leadership of Lavalas by killing them—in one neighborhood after another.
This is all in preparation for the sham elections they have cooked up for this
fall to try and legitimize the February 29, 2004 coup d’etat and the coup
regime. By ‘they’ I mean the death-squad government and their US,
UN, French and Canadian backers.” Many believe these invasions by heavily armed troops and mass killings in the
poor districts are aimed at preventing mass demonstrations by the poor majority
calling for the return of their democratically elected President, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, such as have occurred with regularity since the 2004 coup. Action is Needed Now Please act now and voice your protest to the relevant authorities. Call, email,
or fax the following individuals and demand: 1) an immediate halt to the violence by UN troops and the Haitian police against
unarmed people in poor communities such as Cite Soleil, Bel Air and Solino. 2) an impartial and independent human rights investigation into the July 6th
UN operation in Cite Soleil, the recent police operation in Solino this past
week-end, and similar perations in poor, popular neighborhoods over the past
year. In addition to your US Congressional representatives, please contact the following: US Govt. Officials: UN Forces in Haiti: David Beer UN Human Rights Officials: Louise Arbour Bacre Waly Ndiaye Other Human Rights Groups: Also, all Amnesty members should contact their local For more information contact the Haiti Action Committee, |