12550: Guacimal detentions: Haiti Support Group open letter to Ambassador Azor-Charles (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

Here is the text of an open letter sent today by the Haiti Support Group to
Haiti's ambassador to Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the
European Union.


S.E. Mme YOLETTE AZOR-CHARLES
AMBASSADEUR D’HAÏTI PRÈS LE ROYAUME DE BELGIQUE ET L’UNION EUROPÉENNE
Ambassade de la République d'Haiti,
Avenue Louise 160,
1050 Bruxelles,
BELGIQUE

19 July 2002

Madame Ambassador,

    The British solidarity organisation, the Haiti Support Group, has today
sent you a copy of a petition signed by six hundred British people asking
President Aristide to intervene to obtain the immediate and unconditional
release of the six Batay Ouvriye union members (and three public transport
drivers) who have been incarcerated in prisons in Port-au-Prince since 29th
May.

    These six hundred people join with the Haiti Support Group in denouncing
the threats made against the unions affiliated to the First of May-Batay
Ouvriye union federation, and in calling for the arrest of all those
implicated in the murder of the two union members at Guacimal, St. Raphael,
on 27th May. -

    The Haiti Support Group asks you to convey, without any delay, our
concerns to President Aristide and Jean-Baptiste Brown, the Minister of
Justice. We are calling for immediate action on the part of the Haitian
authorities.

    If the illegal and prolonged detention of these union members continues,
the Haiti Support Group will not hesitate to mobilise its solidarity network
in Britain and the rest of Europe.

    Yours sincerely,

    Charles Arthur
    Director

    The Haiti Support Group
    PO Box 29623
    London E9 7XU
    United Kingdom


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The Haiti Support Group - solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for
justice, participatory democracy and equitable development, since 1992.
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