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Dear HRW
I direct these questions to Dinah PoKemper and Guillermo Farias but perhaps others will be willing to reply.
Given that it is beyond dispute that 2004 coup in Haiti has made the country safe for one of the worst human rights abusers the region has ever seen – Jean Claude Duvalier – it seems especially appropriate that HRW answer my first two questions:
1) When a coup deposed Haiti's democratically elected government in 2004,
why didn't HRW condemn the coup, call on other countries not to recognize
the regime, invoke the OAS charter, and call for an investigation of the US
role? Many of these things were done by the community of Caribbean nations
(CARICOM). A third of the UN General Assembly called for an investigation
into the overthrow of Aristide. Why didn't HRW back them up?
2) Since 2004, why has HRW written about 20 times more about Venezuela than
about Haiti despite the fact that the coup in Haiti created a human rights
catastrophe in which thousands of political murders were perpetrated and
the jails filled with political prisoners?
My third question is about Bradley Manning.
3) Now that Amnesty International has publicly expressed its serious concern about the brutal conditions under which Manning is being held – and even launched a letter writing campaign on his behalf, will HRW finally breaks its silence about his case?
Joe Emersberger