27289: Haiti-Progres (News) This Week In Haiti 23:45 01/18/2006 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Haïti Progrès <editor@haiti-progres.com>

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                HAITI PROGRES
       "Le journal qui offre une alternative"

          * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

           January 18 - 24, 2006
             Vol. 23, No. 45

AS THE PPN WARNS OF VIOLENCE:
HAITI'S BOURGEOISIE CALLS FOR BLOOD


On Monday, Jan. 16, sweatshop magnate André Apaid's pro-coup "Group of
184" organized a small demonstration of about 200 people outside the
headquarters of the United Nations Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH)
in the capital's Bourdon district. The action was also supported by the
"Group of Democratic Agreement," an alliance of nine political parties
taking part in Haiti's upcoming elections, now scheduled for Feb. 7.

A week earlier, Haiti's bourgeoisie had called a general strike to
protest the MINUSTAH's "inaction "in the face of the crime wave gripping
Haiti (see HaVti ProgrPs, Vol. 23, No. 44, 1/11/2006). According to
bourgeois leaders like Apaid and Haitian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry head Réginald Boulos, Haiti's crime all emanates from the
capital's giant slum of Cité Soleil, which they claim is infested with
"bandits."

"It is necessary that the UN peace-keeping force of MINUSTAH take action
against the bandits of Cité Soleil to free the population there, which
has been taken hostage," Apaid told Radio Métropole in an interview just
before his picket line. "During this gathering in front of the MINUSTAH
headquarters, we will send a clear messages to the UN Secretary General
and to the Brazilian government that MINUSTAH has to take up its
responsibilities vis-a-vis the degradation of the security climate."

The picket, predictably, brought out a number of presidential
candidates, such as Serge Gilles of the Fusion of social democrats, Paul
Denis of the Organization of Struggling People (OPL), and independent
candidate Charles Henri Baker, another sweatshop owner and leader of the
"184." The latter read two letters addressed respectively to Brazilian
president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and to Kofi Annan, and then gave
them to MINUSTAH personnel.

"We completely support the Group of 184, which has called this picket,"
said Fusion's spokesman Micha Gaillard. "There must be peace in the head
so that fear does not prevent us from going to vote... We agree with
civil society [i.e. the bourgeoisie] which questions and wants to force
Minustah to take up its responsibilities."

In his letter to Kofi Annan, André Apaid charged that Cité Soleil's
"bandits" support "a presidential candidate," a veiled reference to
former president René Préval, whose popularity is unrivaled by any of
the other 34 candidates. This has "made impossible any true election
campaigning," Apaid said.

The day before the picket, Kofi Annan issued an official statement
condemning the bourgeoisie's "smear campaign" against the MINUSTAH and
his special representative, Juan Gabriel Valdés. "Kofi Annan invites the
provisional Haitian government to publicly condemn this smear campaign
which aims to discredit the work of the UN in Haiti and which could
carry serious consequences for the safety and security of Minustah
personnel," the note said. "This campaign of unjustified criticism also
threatens the construction of a society based on democratic values and
could put in danger the holding of free and fair elections."

Also on Jan. 16, Haiti's National Popular Party (PPN) held a press
conference denouncing Apaid and the bourgeoisie for overthrowing Haiti's
constitutional government with the US, France and Canada and "leading
the country into complete failure."

The PPN's Georges Honorat noted that the bourgeoisie accuses Cité Soleil
of being the source of Haiti's rash of kidnappings. But over the holiday
season, "more than a dozen kidnappings took place in [the bourgeois
district of] Pétionville and not in the vicinity Cité Soleil," Honorat
said.

He said that the people of Cité Soleil were not terrorists, but
terrorized. The bourgeoisie had enforced their general strike (in fact,
a lock-out) a week earlier by a terror campaign of "continuous shootings
of automatic weapons" around the capital, thereby "forcing the
population to remain in all day," Honorat said.

The PPN noted the complete disarray and confusion surrounding the
upcoming elections. Honorat speculated that Washington, if unable to
"select" a suitable candidate, will "proclaim Haiti a failed state
thereby justifying a more total supervision and occupation."

Calling the upcoming elections a "masquerade,' the PPN warned that
"there could be a repeat of November 29, 1987," when soldiers and Tonton
Macoutes aborted national elections with bloody massacres. "The PPN
urges those holding national identity [voting] cards to not take part in
the 'selection/elections' to avoid being victims... Do not go to the
slaughterhouse into which the occupiers want to lead you."

Honorat closed by saying that "the population must mobilize in a
peaceful way throughout the country to demand the release of all the
Lavalas political prisoners and the return of Lavalas political exiles,
including President Aristide, for there to be truly democratic, free and
honest elections."



LAWYERS ACROSS U.S. SEEK DEPORTATION MORATORIUM FOR HAITIANS

On Jan. 19, 2006, immigration attorneys and advocates in key cities
throughout the United States will simultaneously submit motions that all
deportation proceedings against Haitians be dropped.

The lawyers will ask immigration judges to administratively close
immigration cases involving Haitians due to the terrible human rights
conditions in Haiti.

The motion to dismiss the cases, written by Philadelphia-based attorney
Thomas Griffin and Colorado-based attorney Desiree Wayne, asserts that
an immediate decision "protecting Haitians from forced return is
imperative."

"Despite the ongoing chaos that continues in Haiti, including brutal
civil strife, documented bloody political conflict, indisputable
countrywide insecurity and the proven inability of the Haitian state to
protect its own people, the United States continues to refuse refuge to
fleeing Haitians," the motion states.

With a mandate previous wielded by the Attorney General, the Department
of Homeland Security can grant Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to
refugees from any troubled nation. TPS temporarily suspends the forced
repatriation of nationals to countries whose governments cannot protect
them from immediate threats to their lives, freedom, and welfare. "The
criteria are armed conflict, civil strife, and environmental disaster,"
explained Tom Griffin. "For any one of these reasons a country can get
TPS. Haiti qualifies under all three categories."

The "Motion to Stop Deportations to Haiti Campaign" involves some 200
lawyers and has been endorsed by dozens of human rights and activist
groups and individuals. It is an effort to "circumvent" the Bush
administration's refusal to grant TPS to Haitians.

The nationals from seven countries presently enjoy TPS: Burundi,
Liberia, Somalia, Sudan, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

The same day as the nationwide filings, press conferences will be held
in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Miami, and Philadelphia to
discuss the motions.

"We're also holding press conferences to put some pressure on the Bush
administration to grant Haitians TPS, which would be better than having
to resort to these motions," Griffin said.

The lawyers in the campaign are hoping to create a cascade effect, where
judges in one district will influence those in another to
administratively dismiss cases. "We decided to organize the filings on
one day was so it would have a greater impact," Griffin said.

Motion authors Griffin and Wayne are both well-placed to know the dire
situation of human rights in Haiti. Griffin was the author of a
celebrated human rights report on Haiti released by the University of
Miami Law School in January 2005, and is a former Federal investigator.
Desiree Wayne, a former Federal prosecutor, is the chief prosecutor for
the on-going International Tribunal on Haiti (see HaVti ProgrPs, Vol.
23, No. 37, 11/23/2005).

Among the dozens of organizations endorsing the campaign are Alternative
Chance, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Church World
Service Immigration and Refugee Program, Episcopal Migration Ministries,
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, Haiti Support Network (HSN), Haitian
Lawyers Association, Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees, Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society, Jesuit Refugee Service, National Council of
Churches of Christ USA, the Massachusetts chapter of the National
Lawyers Guild, and TransAfrica Forum.

It is also supported by many dozens of lawyers and law professors as
well as prominent individuals such as immigration author and expert Mark
Dow, Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, and Haitian health
crusader Dr. Paul Farmer.

For information on press conferences in different cities, contact:
Washington, D.C.: Joia Jefferson Nuri, (202) 223-1960,
Jnuri@transafricaforum.org; New York: Michelle Karshan, (786) 897-6572,
mkarshan@aol.com; Boston: Paromita Shah, (617)227-9727 x 1,
paromita@nationalimmigrationproject.org; Miami: Steven David Forester,
Esq., 786 877-6999, SteveForester@aol.com; and Philadelphia: Thomas M.
Griffin, Esq., (215) 925-4435 ext. 108, griffin@msgimmigration.com.

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