tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111975950044318592.post8718208780140782972..comments2022-03-26T06:16:35.014-04:00Comments on Michael Deibert's Haiti Blog: After Charles Taylor, Justice for Haiti?Michael Deiberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04810256309168860637noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111975950044318592.post-35415442340150572942012-04-28T08:55:08.313-04:002012-04-28T08:55:08.313-04:00Hi Billy, and thanks for your email.
As I mention...Hi Billy, and thanks for your email.<br /><br />As I mention in my article, there is indeed a victims group, the Association des Victimes du Genocide de la Scierie (AVIGES), and a human rights group, RNDDH, pushing for justice in the case of the St. Marc massacre but, being made up of the poor and disenfranchised, how much interest do you think the Haitian judiciary and international community has paid to their calls for justice? Almost none.<br /><br />I don’t know if you read French or not, but if you do I would point you to a letter - http://michaeldeibert.blogspot.com/2007/06/open-letter-to-louis-joinet-from.html<br /> - written by Charlienor Thompson, the coordinator of AVIGES, to Louis Joinet, the United Nations' independent expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti at the time. In it, the feelings of abandonment of the people of St. March by the international community in general and the United Nations are summed-up in heart-rending fashion. Thompson wrote of how “we, the victims, who live in Haiti and who have lodged a complaint with the judicial system of our country for more than three years, remain confused and ask ourselves who cares about our case?"<br /><br />Thompson goes on to ask:<br /><br />"How can we expect justice? Who can testify freely while murderers are free and move with impunity? The majority of people in Saint Marc are afraid. Even those who were direct victims of the acts mentioned above are frightened. The victims are eager to flee the city and witnesses to hide. When will we enjoy the benefits of justice that we demand? In the present circumstances, in what form will it come?"<br /><br />In terms of the countless other crimes committed by the Aristide government against the people of Haiti, I would recommend my book Notes from the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti (Seven Stories Press, 2005), or, if you don’t feel like plowing through the 500 pages, here is a useful primer:<br /><br />http://michaeldeibert.blogspot.com/2011/03/note-on-jean-bertrand-aristides-return.html<br /><br />Alternatively, I would recommend Never the Hope Itself: Love and Ghosts in Latin America and Haiti by Gerry Hadden, who covered Haiti from 2000 until 2004 as the correspondent for National Public Radio, or the film GNB Kont Atilla by the renowned Haitian filmmaker Arnold Antonin. For a vivid depiction of the Aristide government's use and fostering of armed gangs (including those using minors) you can read my book or watch Asger Leth’s film Ghosts of Cité Soleil. This article may also be of interest:<br /><br />http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article5681<br /><br />All best,<br /><br />MDMichael Deiberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04810256309168860637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111975950044318592.post-80513848169815557822012-04-27T20:12:49.281-04:002012-04-27T20:12:49.281-04:00I am aware that there is an uproar over the droppe...I am aware that there is an uproar over the dropped case against Duvalier for crimes against humanity (his acquittal saw him being photographed triumphantly alongside another mass murderer and similar beneficiary of impunity, his friend Louis Jodel Chamblain).<br /><br />But there are no such charges against Aristide (the post-2004 interim government tried to bring a case against him, and I believe it was thrown out by their judges), as far as I can see no significant calls to charge him as such, and only the possibility of charging him for corruption -- a possibility which apparently has triggered angry protests by thousands upon thousands of his supporters. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/03/2012315228528891.html "If the government plans to arrest [Aristide], we're going to burn the country down" (protestor). What are your thoughts on his enduring popularity among so many of the poor in Haiti?<br /><br />Prior to 2004, there were certainly some armed pro-Aristide groups that committed acts of political violence (though the quantity certainly paled in comparison to 5,000+ killed by the rebels, the post-coup police, and the UN troops). Still, it seems to me that this happened in an environment where Aristide was losing control over the situation, rather than a case of violence being directly ordered by Aristide himself. Are the claims of his complicity merely a rumor spread by the likes of Roger Noriega (as he's done with Venezuela/Chavez just the same), the US state dept, and local elites? Certainly they've not formed the basis for a credible charge that could be brought against Aristide in court?Billy Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08568902881173988327noreply@blogger.com