Editor’s Note: A mayor from northern Haiti currently in hiding says that the Haitian army is back in force, shooting people and burning homes. How could this happen, he asks — and where are they getting the all the heavy weaponry?
CAP HAITIAN, Haiti–I am the mayor of Milo, a district of about 50,000 people near Cap Haitian. When I was elected nine years ago, at the age of 28, I was the youngest to serve in that office in Haiti’s modern history. I’ve traveled in the United States on speaking tours, telling Americans about how we were building democracy in Haiti under the Aristide government. In late February my district came under attack by anti-Aristide forces and I fled for my life. From where I am now — hiding in the woods — I see the old Haitian army is back.
De de ikke dreper, låser de inn i containere, fordi de brente ned fengslene. Den typen containere du setter på skip.
The situation is different here from what I hear about in Port-au-Prince, where you have the multinational force of American, Canadian, Chilean soldiers. In Cap Haitian you have the former Haitian military. There are no police any more, so they are the ones who are law. They come into your home. They take you, they beat you up, they kill you. They burn down homes. They do anything they want, because they are the only law in town.
Journalistene er i Port-au-Prince, men her i nord er det ingen som rapporterer hva som skjer, at det tidligere haitiske militæret dreper mennesker. De dreper rundt 50 mennesker om dagen i Cap Haitian. Det skjer ikke bare i den nordlige avdelingen, men også på det sentrale platået, i Artibone-regionen.
Kan du tenke deg at på mandag kl.2. det tidligere militæret erklærte et portforbud som skulle starte klokken 4? Bøndene, mange av dem er fattige og har ikke radio, så hvordan kunne de høre om dette portforbudet? Så hva skjedde ved 4-tiden? Det tidligere militæret gikk ut i gatene og alle de så på gata skjøt de. Dette er den typen ting som foregår. Kan du forestille deg dette?
We have people like myself, mayors and other members of the municipal government who have had to flee and are now sleeping in the woods, and have gone to the mountains. We have church members and priests who have been beaten and whose cars have been destroyed. These people are also in hiding. We could never have imagined that we would be going back to this situation that existed before. It is intolerable.
Since this whole thing started I haven’t seen my wife and my children. I have been in hiding. This cannot continue. This is a catastrophe for the north of Haiti and all the people of Haiti.
One has to ask, why is all of this happening? Is this because we used to have only 10 public high schools but now we have over 150? Is it because we made a democracy where people could go in the streets, protest, and be free to say whatever they want? Is it because black people in the country now, people who were poor and always kept out of the political life of the country, they have come out and have been participating in democracy? Is that why they have unleashed this terror on us? Is that what we are paying for?
Vi stiller disse spørsmålene: Er det fordi USA blokkerte internasjonal bistand til Haiti for å få folk til å reise seg mot presidenten, men det gjorde de aldri? Er det fordi folk her fortsetter å støtte presidenten deres? Er det derfor vi får all denne undertrykkelsen? Vi må stille de spørsmålene.
Vi lurer på om det er fordi hæren som pleide å eksistere før ble oppløst av president Aristide. I stedet for å forsvare folket, pleide den hæren å føre en krig mot oss. Er det fordi den hæren ikke lenger er der at noen har opprustet den og brakt den tilbake til Haiti med veldig kraftige våpen?
Nå gjør den gamle hæren det de pleide å gjøre før, bortsett fra med kraftigere våpen og med helikoptre. De drukner mennesker i havet. Det er det som skjer.
The press is reporting the looting that is taking place in Port au Prince but they are not reporting about the police stations that were burned and destroyed here in the north. They are not reporting on the number of schools that have been destroyed. They are not reporting on the burning of the airport in Cap Haitian and all the other things that were built under the government of President Aristide for the Haitian people.
I cannot understand how a group of disbanded military has access to such sophisticated equipment and heavy weaponry. They have two helicopters and they have two airplanes. They use the helicopter to transport their troops and they use them at night with spotlights to look for people in hiding. They are in the air and they have their troops on the ground.
Dette er spørsmålene vi stiller oss når vi gjemmer oss for de med våpen.
Mayor Jean Charles Moise spoke with PNS contributors Lyn Duff and Dennis Bernstein via cell phone. The interview originally aired on Pacifica Radio’s Flashpoints show (KPFA FM 94.1 in Berkeley, Calif.). Duff is a freelance writer who has reported widely on Haiti since 1995. Bernstein is the executive producer of Flashpoints.
CAP HAITIAN, Haiti–I am the mayor of Milo, a district of about 50,000 people near Cap Haitian. When I was elected nine years ago, at the age of 28, I was the youngest to serve in that office in Haiti’s modern history. I’ve traveled in the United States on speaking tours, telling Americans about how we were building democracy in Haiti under the Aristide government. In late February my district came under attack by anti-Aristide forces and I fled for my life. From where I am now — hiding in the woods — I see the old Haitian army is back.
De de ikke dreper, låser de inn i containere, fordi de brente ned fengslene. Den typen containere du setter på skip.
The situation is different here from what I hear about in Port-au-Prince, where you have the multinational force of American, Canadian, Chilean soldiers. In Cap Haitian you have the former Haitian military. There are no police any more, so they are the ones who are law. They come into your home. They take you, they beat you up, they kill you. They burn down homes. They do anything they want, because they are the only law in town.
Journalistene er i Port-au-Prince, men her i nord er det ingen som rapporterer hva som skjer, at det tidligere haitiske militæret dreper mennesker. De dreper rundt 50 mennesker om dagen i Cap Haitian. Det skjer ikke bare i den nordlige avdelingen, men også på det sentrale platået, i Artibone-regionen.
Kan du tenke deg at på mandag kl.2. det tidligere militæret erklærte et portforbud som skulle starte klokken 4? Bøndene, mange av dem er fattige og har ikke radio, så hvordan kunne de høre om dette portforbudet? Så hva skjedde ved 4-tiden? Det tidligere militæret gikk ut i gatene og alle de så på gata skjøt de. Dette er den typen ting som foregår. Kan du forestille deg dette?
We have people like myself, mayors and other members of the municipal government who have had to flee and are now sleeping in the woods, and have gone to the mountains. We have church members and priests who have been beaten and whose cars have been destroyed. These people are also in hiding. We could never have imagined that we would be going back to this situation that existed before. It is intolerable.
Since this whole thing started I haven’t seen my wife and my children. I have been in hiding. This cannot continue. This is a catastrophe for the north of Haiti and all the people of Haiti.
One has to ask, why is all of this happening? Is this because we used to have only 10 public high schools but now we have over 150? Is it because we made a democracy where people could go in the streets, protest, and be free to say whatever they want? Is it because black people in the country now, people who were poor and always kept out of the political life of the country, they have come out and have been participating in democracy? Is that why they have unleashed this terror on us? Is that what we are paying for?
Vi stiller disse spørsmålene: Er det fordi USA blokkerte internasjonal bistand til Haiti for å få folk til å reise seg mot presidenten, men det gjorde de aldri? Er det fordi folk her fortsetter å støtte presidenten deres? Er det derfor vi får all denne undertrykkelsen? Vi må stille de spørsmålene.
Vi lurer på om det er fordi hæren som pleide å eksistere før ble oppløst av president Aristide. I stedet for å forsvare folket, pleide den hæren å føre en krig mot oss. Er det fordi den hæren ikke lenger er der at noen har opprustet den og brakt den tilbake til Haiti med veldig kraftige våpen?
Nå gjør den gamle hæren det de pleide å gjøre før, bortsett fra med kraftigere våpen og med helikoptre. De drukner mennesker i havet. Det er det som skjer.
The press is reporting the looting that is taking place in Port au Prince but they are not reporting about the police stations that were burned and destroyed here in the north. They are not reporting on the number of schools that have been destroyed. They are not reporting on the burning of the airport in Cap Haitian and all the other things that were built under the government of President Aristide for the Haitian people.
I cannot understand how a group of disbanded military has access to such sophisticated equipment and heavy weaponry. They have two helicopters and they have two airplanes. They use the helicopter to transport their troops and they use them at night with spotlights to look for people in hiding. They are in the air and they have their troops on the ground.
Dette er spørsmålene vi stiller oss når vi gjemmer oss for de med våpen.
Mayor Jean Charles Moise spoke with PNS contributors Lyn Duff and Dennis Bernstein via cell phone. The interview originally aired on Pacifica Radio’s Flashpoints show (KPFA FM 94.1 in Berkeley, Calif.). Duff is a freelance writer who has reported widely on Haiti since 1995. Bernstein is the executive producer of Flashpoints.
ZNetwork finansieres utelukkende gjennom generøsiteten til leserne.
Donere