(Support the People of Ile-a-Vache -- Need a Strong Response!)
by Ezili Dantò | 2/29/2014 | fb
Ilavach is a beautiful offshore Island in southern Haiti. The Haiti residents have lived at peace there, eating the fresh fruits, vegetables off the land, fishing and crafting beautiful art pieces. Enjoying natures' bounty, the sand, sky and sea. Selling to other local areas, without food, their extra food. In fact, up until recently Ilavach only had two policemen on the Island.
But the Obama crew is pushing for more privatization of Haiti assets and wealth.
So, last May 10, 2013 its puppet Martelly-Lamothe government UNILATERALLY, with no local participation, declared the entire island property of the state. Martelly, the US-picked Haiti president simply DECREED this. The people of Ilavach reject this plan to take their Island, their land to create a tourist haven for white folks and other foreigners. Categorically reject it and need our support. Haven't the people of Haiti been traumatized and destroyed enough?
The government want the island for hotels, luxurious beachside condos, private airport and golf courses — instead of providing needed services for the people like better schools, clean running water, roads, and electricity.
Konbit peyizan Ilavach (KOPI), the organization put together by the people of Ilavach to secure their interests say the taking of their lands is illegal and the development is not intended to benefit the island residents but foreigners. One resident says he'd rather continue to eat yams, fresh fish, fruits, vegetables off his own ancestral land than have to get a wage job on the Island to service Northern tourists. Haitians took down slavery in 1804 not to return to it in 2014.
Martelly created the local position - Ajan Egzekitif Enterimè or Interim EXECUTIVE agent. The name says it all. In Ilavach the person chosen by Martelly's government for this position is someone who previously ran for local office that residents say only got 100 votes. "He would not have been elected to represent the people of Ilavach if the people were allowed to vote" one resident said in a radio interview. But it is this man who is selling out the people of Ilavach. Pointing them out for intimidation, imprisonment and even death, says the residents, by Martelly-Lamothe government forces.
As I understand it, Stéphanie Balmir Villedrouin, the Minister of Tourism arrived on the Island to talk to the agitated residents. She came without the plan of development that the people asked to see and promised to return with the plan the government said would benefit the people. But then released a youtube video of the government vision for Ilavach. On that same day when the Haiti plan for Ilavach was released on youtube, 100 BIM soldiers - a special Haiti police squad, trained by the occupiers and created to protect foreigners - tourist- in particular, arrived on the Island. (Motorized Intervention Brigade - BMI)
Residents report that these non-local forces have been terrorizing the protestors, going to the school to intimidate their children, arresting the KOPI members, beating up the demonstrators, firing at the unarmed people. No international media is reporting.
HLLN has sent out an urgent action alert. The residents of Ilavach say Radyo VKM has been the only radio station to report on their desperate plight. Vwa Klodi Mizo on Radyo VKM in Southern Haiti has a wealth of information on their site and interviews with updated information.
We're getting more Haiti radio station to report. Lakou New York, Hugues Girard, Dady Chery, the Haitian Blogger and Elsie News are writing and posting about this. There may be more we're not aware of. But we're asking everyone, everyone to tell this story. Help stop the coming massacre of innocent people. This attempt to make landowning Haitians landless and without food sovereignty. Help stop this big business terror in Haiti.
The Ezili Network is asking Haitians in the Diaspora to call their families in Southern Haiti and Port au Prince, don't let the resident of Ilavach face the wrath and unbridled greed of the rabid elites alone. Tell their story. reach out to the media, circulate their words, the voices of the people of Ilavache.
Stand in solidarity with them especially during the days of carnival - this coming Sunday, March 2nd to Tuesday, March 4, 2014. Do not let the fascist US puppet government take the lands of the poor and give it to foreigners. This oppression and coming bloodbath must be stopped. Already the heretofore peaceful resident are being called "bandits." The government has arrested Carl Oza, Ayizan Silien and others including KOPI vice president, Jean Maltunès Lamy. (See, "Nòt pwotestasyon plizyè òganizasyon kont arestasyon ak anprizònman jean Matulnès Lamy"- Here)
Dady Chery transcribed the following statement, made by the president of KOPI in an interview with Vwa Klodi Mizo on RadyovKM:
"KOPI President Marc Lainé Donald (Jinal) said that KOPI still wants a recall of the May 10, 2013 decree that declared the entire island a zone of public utility. According to Jinal: “This is a lousy decree. This project reflects a macabre plan, a rat trap, a collective suicide, that aims to drive all the residents from the island. It is a cultural genocide that puts everyone in the island’s storm and dispossesses people of their lands. No one has the right to build on the island any more. If Ile à Vache is a hidden treasure, its people should enjoy it and get integrated into the proposed developments. We are craftsmen who have worked to beautify this corner of paradise that is so coveted by Lamothe’s administration.”
Listen to Jinal’s interview (in Kreyòl) with Radyo VKM below:
http://bit.ly/1lpDQ6H
(For more detailed information, go to -
1.- http://www.radyovkm.org/ (Kreyol);
2. - Emisyon Goute Sel 25 Fevriye Radio Vwa Klodi Mizo Aux Cayes, | Ileavache
https://soundcloud.com/radiovkm/emisyon-goute-sel-25-fevriye
3. - Share and circulate these English videos to give voice to the people of Ile-a-Vache http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI7MI0QAvhZnqZnbQIEgvyA and;
4. Dady Chery's: Haiti’s Peasants Fight Land Grab of Offshore Islands for Ecotourism http://bit.ly/K4IAhq)
***
More about Ile-a-Vache:
La Bonne Nouvelle Ile a Vache -- www.youtube.com
Île-à-Vache yon ti kwen paradi ki genyen 57e pi bèl plaj nan mond lan. -- www.youtube.com
End of Ezili Danto fb post
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First they came for the haitian peasants or "developing countries"... ironically the United States itself is now a full-fledged proxy state controlled by Wall Street.
The U.S. has intervened in Haiti on behalf of Wall Street. The first occasion was in 1914 when the U.S. Marines carted off all the gold from the Haitian national bank to Fort Knox. They held the government of Haiti's parliament hostage until they agreed to pass into law a decree to allow land ownership by foreigners. In the periods after two consecutive coups, the U.S. forced the privatization of most national businesses, including the national telephone company, cement factory and . Now their puppet American citizens Michel Martelly and Laurent Lamothe are attempting to evict Haitian peasants from their ancestral lands and plans are to build a tourist resort. If the government of Haiti can take the land of the people of Ile-a-Vache, they can sell off all of the land to developers on the pretext that there is no proof of ownership or really any pretext at all. So, don't make any plans to retire to your mom or dad's ancestral Lakou, the Martely/Lamothe government and the "international community" of corporate handlers may have plans for it.
Guns & Butter: Dress rehearsal for government privatization
* Guns & Butter is Produced and hosted by Bonnie Faulkner
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