Martelly explicitly threatens possible reprisals of “the street” against Haitian journalist

Haitian Journalists Condemn Martelly for Threats (AlterPresse article)

English translation of the statement posted on AlterPresse by Ronald Colbert, General Manager of the Board of Trustees:

Declaration of the Médialternatif Group, dated March 11, 2011

The Group Médialternatif (GM) takes very seriously the threats uttered to the editor and journalist of this agency affiliated with AlterPresse, Gotson Pierre, and consequently with the whole of the journalistic world, by the candidate for the [Haitian] presidency Joseph Michel Martelly, at the time of the televised debate of Wednesday March 9, 2011.

Questioned about his management abilities in light of a document made pubic concerning his debts to US banks and how that reflects on his ability to assume leadership responsibilities, Martelly launched into a fit of anger: “Kite L vini/voye yo voye L/M ap tan Li” ("Let's go! Bring them. Bring it. I'm ready.") Martelly explicitly evoked possible reprisals of “the street”.

Should it be believed that Martelly has a list of journalists who he does not favor who he believes are acting to discredit him?

The serious declarations of the candidate should be considered, rightly, as threats to the freedom of the press and of expression, which are assets going back to February 7, 1986, the fall of the sanguinary dictatorship of Duvalier.

The GM welcomes the vigilance of the national press and international community, which upholds these principles, and invites the community as a whole, as well as the entire enterprise to determine it's own conclusions from the aggressive position towards the media and journalists, taken by Martelly, who aspires to be the presidential chairman of the republic.

The Médialternatif Group reserves the right to take appropriate measures vis-a-vis the resurgence of institutional threats to the free exercise of the journalistic profession, guaranteed by the Constitution of March 29, 1987.

For the Board of trustees of the GM,
Ronald Colbert

Towards the end of the video above, Martelly shakes his fist at journalists declaring: "It's war. Let's go to war!"

Also relevant in this discussion of freedom of the press is the recent (suspicious) death of Jean Richard Loiuis Charles who was a journalist at Radio Kiskeya, in haiti.

Journalist Jean Richard Louis-Charles was killed on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011, an apparent the victim of an attempted robbery.

Louis-Charles is the first journalist to be killed in the Western Hemisphere this year according to Reporters Without Borders. RWB said they are "troubled" by the circumstances of Louis-Charles death and await the conclusions of the investigation. The other man killed at the scene was Jean Wilner Duperval, one of the three suspected robbers. According to Haitian police at the time, two accomplices were still being sought and they were to deploy undercover police to try to curb crime in the area.

Father of two children, Jean-Louis Richard Charles was shot twice in the head and neck Wednesday at noon at Capois Street (downtown Port-au-Prince) shortly after completing a transaction at a commercial bank.

His alleged killer, was identified as Jean Wilner Duperval, a prison escapee, who was immediately shot down by a plainclothes policeman.

According to the spokesman of the National Police, Frantz Lerebours, the man, who was actively sought, had escaped from the National Penitentiary, the civil prison in the capital, along with nearly 5,000 other prisoners in the minutes that followed the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010.

Radio Kiskeya (Feb. 11, 2011)

Sources:

Michel "Sweet Mickey"Martelly Declares War On Journalist (YouTube)

La Presse en Haïti doit prendre garde aux menaces de Michel Martelly ("The Press in Haiti must take care against threats made by Michel Martelly" (AlterPresse)

Haitian media should be wary of Michel Martelly’s threats (English)

La Presse en Haïti doit prendre garde aux menaces de Michel Martelly (Le Nouvelliste)

U.S. Must Stop Supporting Fraudulent Haitian Elections

Special representative to the secretary general of the United Nations and chief of the United Nations mission in Haiti Edmond Mulet visits a voting station in Leogane, a town an hour out of Port au Prince, Haiti. Voting stations opened this morning, November 28, 2010, for Haiti's elections. Photo Logan Abassi UN/MINUSTAH

The November 28 Haiti elections were a "massive fraud." They were not inclusive of all of Haiti's political parties -- particularly its largest party, Fanmi Lavalas.

The planned March 20 run-off is illegitimate. Both of the current "selected" candidates Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly protested the elections prior to being told separately by the UN that they were leading in the count!

According to Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), the OAS (Organization of American States) itself, which manipulated the results of the elections in order to allow Michel Martelly into the fraudulent run-off has not spoken out in support of their own flawed recommendations about the elections. That's because the left of center governments of Latin America, he says, do not support the OAS/UN/U.S./France/Canada attempts to control who gets elected in Haiti.

Surprisingly in January of this year, India took the unprecedented step of admonishing the UN for its involvement in elections in Haiti.

In early February of this year, a group of 12 presidential candidates have demanded the annulment of the Haiti elections.

[In mid-February, two candidates Jean Henry Céant and Yves Crystalline lodged an official complaint against the UN's Edmond Mulet for his interference in Haiti's elections. The two candidates want an investigation of Edmond Mulet for violating UN statutes. The candidates charge that the conduct, actions and statements of UN official Edmond Mulet, constitute a violation of Article 41-1 and paragraph 4-5 of the Vienna Convention.

Going against U.S. foreign policy is unusual for the Congressional Black Caucus and members of Congress, but these officials have also lodged complaints, firing-off letters to the State Department to call for the inclusion of Fanmi Lavalas and other excluded political parties from the ballot before the elections and for the annulment of the resulting fraudulent election.



Susan Rice, the U.S. permanent representative to the UN has threatened Haiti, saying the U.S. will stop aid if Haiti does not adopt the OAS' "recommendations" for the elections, i.e. putting their preferred candidate Michel "Sweet Mickey" Martelly on the ballot for a run-off.

The CEPR has reported that the OAS methods for calculating who should be in the run-off are arbitrary and flawed.

On January 21st, the U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley confirmed that some visas had been revoked and that Haitian officials were among those affected. This is in line with the usual threats that countries are subjected to who do not fall in line with U.S. demands.

Unfortunately, Preval and the rest of the Haitian government have acquiesced thus far to the bullying. Crucially, four out of the nine members of the CEP (Haiti's provisional electoral council) did not sign-off their approval of the November 28 elections, further de-legitimizing the scheduled March 20 run-off elections. A fifth member was absent and did not vote.

As we have pointed out previously, the English language media has all but ignored the news that – as reported by Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste – four CEP members may never have signed the document affirming the Council’s decision regarding the second round of elections. Given the major media's neglect in covering this story, one could be forgiven for thinking that the second round is a foregone conclusion, however in Haiti the controversy is very much still alive.

Last week, according to L'Agence Haitien de Presse (AHP), two presidential candidates, Jean Henry Ceant and Yves Cristalin filed a legal challenge that would require Richardson Dumel (the CEP spokesperson) to prove the authenticity of the document he read with the final results on February 3. After failing to come to court, on Friday the police were sent to bring him in. According to AHP, however, he has yet to present the evidence that was asked of him."

"In Haiti, Controversy over Election Continues; In U.S., Media Goes Silent"

Center for Economic and Policy Research | Tuesday, 15 February 2011

The remarkable exception to all the caving in by the Preval administration has been when he issued a new Haitian passport to Dr. Aristide! This is a very encouraging sign of independence. This resonates with many as a sign that Preval is coming to the realization that Haiti does not really need the U.S. in order to undertake reconstruction.

Not unrelated: It is rumored that his erstwhile Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive's new office digs are in the luxurious U.S. Embassy -- the 4th largest U.S. embassy in the world! Why is that?

Prime Minister Bellerive is playing second banana these days to Bill Clinton on the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC) and selling off Haiti's natural assets.

The Visa and other threatened sanctions by the U.S. State Department, Hillary Clinton's "friendly" visit, and Susan Rice's threat to withhold U.S. aid to Haiti aside, Preval must be sweating bullets knowing that last year, an OAS official, Brazilian Ricardo Seitenfus (who was later fired) revealed that the OAS had discussed forcing Preval to resign and planned to fly him out on a plane just as the U.S. had Aristide in 2004.

In reality, Venezuela alone has pledged and given more reconstruction money than the U.S. As Mark Weisbrot points out, the U.S. is no longer the only source of aid money. In less than twenty years, the geo-political dynamics will have changed. Some analysts have concluded that by 2020, China, India and the U.S., in that order, could be the biggest economies in the world.

The Haitian government should consider the big picture and reject the control the West is trying to have in Haitian internal affairs and say: Hell with the IHRC! Get out of Haiti MINUSTAH! Eh, get lost Canada! Au voir France!

In Haiti, A 7 Year Nightmare Continues as Duvalierist Clamour for "Reconciliation" & for Aristide's Condemnation

A Swat team escorts Jean-Claude Duvalier after his arrest. Duvalier is released before the day is over. Photo by Susan Phillips

These coup d'etat people have cognitive dissonance. They want Aristide "condemned" for crimes, but they don't seem to have an understanding of what constitutes "crimes against humanity."

Crimes against humanity are particularly heinous offenses that are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority. They include, murder; extermination; torture; rape; political, racial, or religious persecution and other inhumane acts and only reach the threshold of crimes against humanity if they are part of a widespread or systematic practice. Isolated inhumane acts of this nature may constitute grave infringements of human rights, or depending on the circumstances, war crimes, but would most likely fall short of being in the category of crimes against humanity.

"... after scouring Amnesty International reports, Peter Hallward, a UK based researcher, wrote “Amnesty International’s reports covering the years 2000-03 attribute a total of around 20 to 30 killings to the police and supporters of the FL [Aristide’s party] — a far cry from the 5,000 committed by the junta and its supporters in 1991-94, let alone the 50,000 usually attributed to the Duvalier dictatorships.”

-- "The Council on Hemispheric Affairs Deserves an F for Article on Haiti" by Joe Emersberger

The coup d'etat folks never fail to point out the death of Journalist Jean Dominique as one ordered by Aristide. A fact they choose to ignore or omit from the accusation is that Aristide was not president during the time of Jean Dominique's murder. Jean Dominique was assassinated under René Preval's first term.

Aristide was in office 7 months and then 1 year after his 1994 return, during which he put together elections. Also, since Aristide demobilized the military during his first term, he can hardly be said to have been in charge of the military apparatus of Haiti.

Aristide was duly re-elected in 2001, but the Duvalierist set up a parallel un-elected government. He was allowed 3 years in office before a second coup on February 29, 2004.

Who committed crimes against humanity in Haiti?

Crimes Against Humanity occurred under the Duvaliers from 1957 to 1986, when between 60,000 to 100,000 Haitians were assassinated, disappeared, jailed, tortured, raped...

Crimes Against Humanity occurred under the Raoul Cedras/Michel "Sweet Mickey" Francois/FRAPH death squads of the George H. W. Bush Sr sponsored 1991 coup, when 5,000 to 8,000 Haitians were slaughtered.

Crimes Against Humanity occurred under George W. Bush Jr. Haiti regime change. The crimes were perpetrated by the U.S. supported Group 184, the GNBist (gren nan bounda), Lame Timanchet, under the U.S. installed puppet government of Boca Raton native Gerard Latortue. All these atrocities occurring with firepower cover of US Marines first, then under the UN/MINUSTAH occupation, which began in June 2004. The 2004 coup d'etat resulted in the worst human rights violations in the Western Hemisphere, with between 14,000 to 20,000 innocent Haitians slaughtered.

For 7 years now, the Duvalierists and neo-Duvalierists have brought Haiti an unbroken nightmare, starting with kidnappings, which began after the kidnapping of President Aristide by U.S. forces out of Haiti.

7 years of apartheid, famine, exclusion; a slaughtering rampage; with no development, as the UN/MINUSTAH make a staggering $800 million plus a year in Haiti for 2010. The UN requested an additional 164 million for the cholera outbreak they imported into Haiti!

A 7 year nightmare as over 200,000 Haitians got infected and as 4,000 plus have died from MINUSTAH/UN imported cholera.

By the way, is the "international community" really interested in protecting "democracy" in Haiti? They cynically brought in a majority COMMUNIST country's military (Nepal), with similar infrastructure, educational and political issues to occupy Haiti where the democratic government was removed illegally.

Haiti has been made over into a training ground for the world's military forces and for the burgeoning mercenary military industry.

A 7 year nightmare continues for Haitians equal only to the time of Duvalier as USAID's NGOs reign; laundering public donation funds into private profit.

7 year nightmare while Eurasian Mines and Majesco, et al.. pillage and plunder Haiti's gold and copper resources in the North.

7 year nightmare as the people die of famine from Bill Clinton's food aid and subsidies for Arkansas farmers, which had all but destroyed Haiti's breadbasket even before the cholera was unleashed in the rural area by UN Nepalese military waste matter dumped into the Artibonite.

A 7 year nightmare as the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) do nothing to advance real development, but propose HOPE sweatshops, THEIR idea of "development" for Haiti.

A 7 year nightmare as rigged elections or elections-without-an-electorate ("selections") have been the norm.

A 7 year nightmare as almost 4,000 Haitians are indefinitely detained in prisons under MINUSTAH/UN occupied Haiti without EVER being charged for a crime, seeing a lawyer or any kind of due process at all.

Seven years of destabilizing Haiti to exclude the people, to pursue foreign profits and geopolitical interests and culminating in this attempt to bring back the pre-1986 dictatorship era of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.

Radyo Kiskeya Journalist: Jean Richard Louis-Charles: Executed 02.09.2011

Dr Aristide returning home is a start on the road to a sovereign Haiti, but be prepared for the Western countries who armed Guy Philippe and Jodel Chamblain to block his return.

Already the brutality has escalated and a young, promising journalist was executed today by someone on a motorcycle in broad daylight in front of school children.

Jean Richard Louis-Charles of Radyo Kiskeya was only 29 years old. He and a companion died today in a hail of bullets. RIP. He leaves behind a girlfriend and two daughters, Cynthia and Shelsy. His traumatized colleagues at Radyo Kiskeya put out a statement, which read in part:

"This sudden and tragic disappearance of a young man as promising as Jean Louis Charles Richard is a real disaster for the station, the press and the country. He has worked at the station since 2005. Next May would have been sevent anniversary of the collaboration.

Radio Kiskeya thanks all those in the press and all other sectors who expressed their sympathy during this extremely difficult time."

Aristide's passport was issued on Tuesday, February 8, 2011 and is in the hands of his lawyer Ira Kurzban.

Preval government in Haiti and it's Foreign Ministry abroad have failed since 2006 to answer the constant requests of Aristide and his supporters to allow his return by issuing a diplomatic passport. Now that the passport has finally been issued, Mr. P.J. Crowley of the U.S. State Department has declared that Aristide's return would be an "unfortunate distraction" and potentially divisive.

Is it up to the U.S. to decide which Haitian citizen can return home and which cannot? Foreigners must stop violating Haiti's constitution by butting into Haiti's sovereign affairs!

Not surprisingly, the U.S. had no such objection to the return of the brutal dictator "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who is accused of crimes against humanity, charged with corruption for stealing millions from the state before he was ousted by the people in 1986.

What a laughing stock the U.S. is making of itself this month because of their evident hypocrisy! In Haiti, in Egypt, and other locales where autocrats are part of their "client state" empire.

As David Sirota said in a recent article: "Just as you cannot be sorta pregnant, you cannot kinda support democracy, and only when it does what you want. That's not "supporting democracy"; that's imperialism. Indeed, the ideal of self-governance is as uncompromising as America's views on terrorism: You're either with democracy, or you're against it -- and as Martin Luther King noted, we are too often against it."

It's been 7 years since the 2004 Bush regime change in Haiti. Seven years of struggle for a real democracy is ENOUGH!

Preval's government has done the right thing in finally issuing the diplomatic passport to Dr. Aristide. Preval's government must show true courage now and annul the fraudulent elections in order to save Haiti's sovereignty.

HatTip to Ezili Danto of HLLN

_____________________

BACKGROUND:

• Political Fallacies: Aristide is as bad as or worse than the Duvaliers
  by Harry Comeau


• For what became of the charge that Aristide was part of drug trafficking in Haiti read this: Haiti: The Politics of Drugs | The Dominion

UPDATE -- Friday, Feb. 11 2011
According to Radyo Kiskeya: The radio's journalist, Jean Richard Louis-Charles, who was killed on Wednesday, was apparently the victim of an attempted robbery. Louis-Charles is the first journalist to be killed in the Western Hemisphere this year according to Reporters Without Borders. RWB said they are "troubled" by the circumstances of Louis-Charles death and await the conclusions of the investigation. The other man killed at the scene was Jean Wilner Duperval, one of the three suspected robbers. The two accomplices are still being sought. Police are deploying undercover police to try to curb crime in the area.

Father of two children, Jean-Louis Richard Charles was shot twice in the head and neck Wednesday at noon at the Capois Street (downtown Port-au-Prince) shortly after completing a transaction in a commercial bank.

His alleged killer, was identified as Jean Wilner Duperval, a prison escapee, who was immediately shot down by a plainclothes policeman.

According to the spokesman of the National Police, Frantz Lerebours, the man, who was actively sought, had escaped from the National Penitentiary, the civil prison in the capital, along with nearly 5,000 other prisoners in the minutes that followed the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010."

Haiti: A Humorous Presentation of the Truth

Why We Must Rape, er, help, Haiti by GlendaBeckk

Transcript of audio:

With everything going on in Egypt it's very easy for us Americans to overlook our poor neighbor to the south Haiti. Hahaha! Let's be honest it's very easy for us to overlook them no matter what. They're just so poor!

But alas we must pay them the slightest bit of intention, because their presidency is up for grabs. And whoever becomes their president could deeply impact our ability here in the U.S. to rape and pillage their people. Buhlluhh! I'm sorry, did I say rape and pillage! Uhh Erhhh, what I meant was profit their people!

The big news is that their former president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, finally was granted a passport to Haiti, and he is on his way back to Haiti, to presumably try to become president of Haiti.

A little background of Haiti, he's a former Catholic priest from the slums of Haiti who is absolutely loved by the Haitian poor, which is basically, the Haitian, everyone! He is also beloved by a lot of Americans -- but not the smart ones.

Because we know that with someone like him in power, it will be very difficult to rape Haiti. Whoa! I'm sorry, did I say, rape. I meant, take advantage of Haiti.

Because you see, Aristide is very anti foreign governments coming in and meddling about in Haiti's business. Which sucks for us!

And that's why smart Americans like George H. Bush and George W. Bush both arranged for Aristide to be covertly overthrown two of the times that he was previously president.

People of Haiti, I know you are looking for someone who understands your needs. Aristide is not the answer.

I now introduce you to Jean-Bertand Aristock! What's that you say. That looks like a sock puppet? No. It' not! This is a human being. And a Haitian human being. And furthermore a human being that a lot of Americans, here in the U.S., think would make a great president for you! Tell them Aristock. Tell them why you'd would make a great president.

Because I want it so that foreign countries, uh can rape Haiti.

Duhhh! What's that you said?

I want foreign countries to be able to rape Haiti.

No ahh! I'm sure that's not exactly what he means. I'm think what he is trying to say is that foreign countries can come in and set up businesses and to take advantage of cheap labor and so forth. Ok. That's not since I was.... Shhhhh! Ok.

Now. tell the people why they should vote for you?

Because I'm black.

Oh my god! I didn't even notice that! Because I don't see color!

People of Haiti, Aristock, not Aristide!

And if you do vote for Aristide, just a little warning, our military will probably have to make a pit stop in Haiti, just to make sure that nothing fraudulent transpired.


HatTip: GlendaBeckk