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.
Aqueles que não matam, trancam em contentores, porque incendiaram as cadeias. O tipo de contêiner que você coloca nos navios.
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.
Os jornalistas estão em Porto Príncipe, mas aqui no norte ninguém informa o que está acontecendo, que os ex-militares haitianos estão matando pessoas. Eles estão matando cerca de 50 pessoas por dia em Cap Haitian. Isto acontece não apenas no departamento norte, mas também no planalto central, na região de Artibone.
Já imaginou que na segunda-feira, às 2h, os ex-militares declararam toque de recolher que começaria às 4h? Os camponeses, muitos deles são pobres e não têm rádio, então como puderam saber deste toque de recolher? Então, o que aconteceu às 4h? Os ex-militares saíram às ruas e todos que viam nas ruas atiravam. Esse é o tipo de coisa que está acontecendo. Você pode imaginar isso?
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?
Colocamos estas questões: Será porque os Estados Unidos bloquearam a assistência internacional ao Haiti para fazer com que as pessoas se levantassem contra o presidente, mas nunca o fizeram? Será porque as pessoas aqui continuam a apoiar o seu presidente? É por isso que estamos recebendo toda essa repressão? Temos que fazer essas perguntas.
Perguntamo-nos se será porque o exército que existia antes foi dissolvido pelo Presidente Aristide. Em vez de defender o povo, aquele exército fazia guerra contra nós. Será porque esse exército já não existe que alguém o rearmou e o trouxe de volta ao Haiti com armas muito poderosas?
Agora o antigo exército está fazendo o que costumava fazer antes, exceto com armas mais poderosas e helicópteros. Eles estão afogando pessoas no mar. Isso é o que está acontecendo.
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.
Estas são as perguntas que nos fazemos enquanto nos escondemos daqueles que têm armas.
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.
Aqueles que não matam, trancam em contentores, porque incendiaram as cadeias. O tipo de contêiner que você coloca nos navios.
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.
Os jornalistas estão em Porto Príncipe, mas aqui no norte ninguém informa o que está acontecendo, que os ex-militares haitianos estão matando pessoas. Eles estão matando cerca de 50 pessoas por dia em Cap Haitian. Isto acontece não apenas no departamento norte, mas também no planalto central, na região de Artibone.
Já imaginou que na segunda-feira, às 2h, os ex-militares declararam toque de recolher que começaria às 4h? Os camponeses, muitos deles são pobres e não têm rádio, então como puderam saber deste toque de recolher? Então, o que aconteceu às 4h? Os ex-militares saíram às ruas e todos que viam nas ruas atiravam. Esse é o tipo de coisa que está acontecendo. Você pode imaginar isso?
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?
Colocamos estas questões: Será porque os Estados Unidos bloquearam a assistência internacional ao Haiti para fazer com que as pessoas se levantassem contra o presidente, mas nunca o fizeram? Será porque as pessoas aqui continuam a apoiar o seu presidente? É por isso que estamos recebendo toda essa repressão? Temos que fazer essas perguntas.
Perguntamo-nos se será porque o exército que existia antes foi dissolvido pelo Presidente Aristide. Em vez de defender o povo, aquele exército fazia guerra contra nós. Será porque esse exército já não existe que alguém o rearmou e o trouxe de volta ao Haiti com armas muito poderosas?
Agora o antigo exército está fazendo o que costumava fazer antes, exceto com armas mais poderosas e helicópteros. Eles estão afogando pessoas no mar. Isso é o que está acontecendo.
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.
Estas são as perguntas que nos fazemos enquanto nos escondemos daqueles que têm armas.
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.
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