Lakou Lapè press release regarding Haiti Elections Crisis

Port-au-Prince December 11, 2015    

Lakou Lapè press release regarding Haiti Elections
 
Lakou Lapè is deeply disturbed to see how political conflicts and violence are spreading fear and mourning among the Haitian people.  What is happening in this generation is the same thing that was happening in previous generations: conflicts over power, conflicts over control of state resources, use of firearms to further the interests of small groups of people, use of state resources for causes that do not serve the interests of the population. All of these issues will not bring about anything good for anyone. When people’s lives do not matter, when tires are burning, when people’s properties are being destroyed in society, the poorest people will continue in deep poverty, the richer people will continue to be handicapped while living in anxiety. In such an atmosphere, economic activity in the country cannot develop itself as it should in order to produce more jobs and create wealth.

Even though Lakou Lapè recognizes the need for good elections in order for democracy to move forward, this is not what will solve Haiti's problems. As long as the Haitian people do not sit together to listen to each other, to discover what makes us one nation, and search for a common vision and principles so that we can function as one people, we are not going anywhere. We must meet by neighborhoods, by communes, by departments, poor, rich, middle class, peasants, light skinned people, black people, whatever might be our identity, in order to talk to each other, understand each other and come to an agreement. If we do not do this, we will keep on digging a hole to bury ourselves deeper.

Violence brings death. Dialogue and reconciliation is the way to life.  Let’s sit and talk.

 Vèsyon kreyòl
  
Lakou Lapè gen gwo kè kase lè li wè  kijan konfli politik ak zak vyolans ap simaye laperèz ak dèy nan mitan pèp Ayisyen. Sa ki ap pase jounen jodi a nan jenerasyon sa a se menm bagay ki tap fèt nan jenerasyon anvan yo : Batay pou pouvwa, batay pou akapare mwayen leta, sèvi ak zam pou fè avanse enterè ti gwoup moun, sèvi ak mwayen leta pou kòz ki pa sèvi popilasyon an. Tout bagay sa yo pap pote anyen ki bon pou pèsonn.  Lè lavi moun pa gen enpòtans, lè kawoutchou ap boule, lè byen moun ap detwi nan yon sosyete, moun ki pi pòv yo ap kontinye nan lamizè, moun ki pi rich yo ap toujou andikape nan viv kè sou biskèt. Nan yon klima konsa aktivite ekonomik nan peyi a paka devlope jan sa ta dwe fèt pou pote plis travay ak kreye richès. 

Menm si  Lakou Lapè rekonèt fok gen bon eleksyon pou demokrasi ka vanse, se pa sa ki pral rezoud pwoblèm Ayiti. Toutotan pèp ayisyen pa chita youn ak lòt pou tande youn lòt, pou yo dekouvri kisa ki fè nou se yon sèl nasyon, epi chache yon vizyon ak prensip pou nou fonksyone tankou yon sèl pèp, nou pa pral okenn kote. Fòk nou rankontre katye pa katye, komin pa komin, depatman pa depatman, pòv, rich, klas mwayèn, peyizan, moun wouj, mou nwa, kèlkeswa idantite nou pou nou pale youn ak lòt, pou nou konprann youn lot epi pou nou antann nou. Si nou pa fè sa, nap kontinye fouye twou pou nou antere tet nou pi fon. 

Vyolans se lanmò li pote. Dyalòg ak rekonsylyasyon se chimen lavi. Ann chita pale.


For Lakou Lapè :
 
Philippe R. Armand                        
Willhem Lemke                                   
Dominique Bazin
Almiracle Saint Fort                       
Olivier Taluy                                        
Franck Coughlan
Maryse Jumelle                            
Fabrice Burr Reynaud                         
Louino Robillard
Nadège R. Robertson                   
Régine D. Polynice                              
Lutès Célestin
Ernso Désir                                    
Manoune M. Rhode                     
Jean Rony Morisseau
Geneviève Bonny                   
Joram Guerrier                        
Jean-Claude Joseph
Sandra Rémy                                 
Frantz Larosilière                             
Frantz Edouard
Patrick Joseph 
                     
Louis-Henri Mars, Directeur Exécutif


Lakou Lapè
# 23 Rue des Marguerites Turgeau, Port-au-Prince  
Tel : (509) 2811 1804  
E-mail: lakoulape@hotmail.com  
Site Web : www.lakoulape.org 

Jeune Haiti

On this day in 1964, Louis Drouin and Marcel Numa, the last 2 surviving members Jeune Haiti, a group of 13 young Haitian men who had landed on the island from the United States in hopes of freeing it from the tyranny of François Duvalier, were executed at the wall of the Grand Cimetière in Port-au-Prince. Their comrades who had fallen before them in the Grand Anse were Max Armand, Jacques Armand, Gérald Marie Brierre, Miko Chandler, Charles Forbin, Jean Gerdes, Réginald Jourdan, Yvon Laraque, Roland Rigaud, Gusley Villedrouin and Jacques Wadestrandt. Everyone should know their names. I see a lot of talk about bravery and courage these days but that is what you are looking at right here. Today, Haiti remains in tumult and their dream unrealized. But it's still worth fighting for.

Statement of Haiti Presidentail Candidates Against Results of 25 October 2015 elections

Communiqué de presse en date du 6 novembre 2015, signé par 7 candidats, dont Jude Celestin et Moise Jean Charles, classés respectivement 2e et 3e dans les résultats préliminaires officiels

Nous, signataires de la présente, candidats à la Présidence engagés dans le processus électoral devant conduire à l’installation du nouveau Président élu le 7 février 2016 :

Prenons acte de la publication, par le CEP, des résultats des élections du 25 octobre 2015 sans tenir compte de la demande de formation d’une commission d’enquête indépendante chargée d’épurer le vote des nombreux cas de fraude et de bourrage d’urnes dénoncés ;

Les résultats tels que publiés sont de nature à consacrer le principe antidémocratique selon lequel « ceux qui votent ne décident de rien ». La publication de ces résultats fait penser à la période des élections officielles des régimes dictatoriaux organisés sous la houlette du ministère de l’intérieur et constitue une menace pour la stabilité du pays. Il s’agit là d’un dangereux retour au passé, d’une gigantesque marche arrière susceptible de saper les fondements de l’Etat et de plonger le pays dans l’anarchie et le chaos

Les résultats tels que publiés sont donc inacceptables.

En réitérant notre volonté de tout entreprendre, dans le cadre des droits consacrés par la constitution, pour faire respecter la volonté populaire, nous invitons le CEP, à mettre en place la commission d’enquête indépendante sollicitée dans le communiqué du 3 novembre pour crédibiliser le processus avant qu’il ne soit trop tard.

Suivent les signatures :

Sauveur Pierre ETIENNE

Moise JEAN-CHARLES

Jude CELESTIN

Jean-Henry CEANT

Steven I. BENOIT

Charles Henry BAKER

ERIC JEAN BAPTISTE

Samuel MADISTIN

Notes from the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti

10 years ago this month, my first book, Notes from the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti, was published by Seven Stories Press. An account of Haiti from 1994 to 2004 and pivotal sections of its history that preceded that time, it was my attempt to tell everything I knew that had happened there to the letter, letting the chips fall were they may, and to give a voice to so many, from the lanes of Cité Soleil to the mountains of the Plateau Central, who had shown me Haiti and helped me begin to understand what the struggle was all about. A decade later, "Notes" keeps popping up in the most unexpected places and pissing off all the right people. Happy 10th birthday, little book.

Haïti Littéraire, 1963

De gauche à droite : Réginald Crosley, et puis les membres d'Haïti Littéraire en 1963 : Villard Denis (aka Davertige), Anthony Phelps, René Philoctète, Marie Vieux Chauvet, Roland Morisseau et Serge Legagneur.
Photo prise par Jean-Claude Carrié à la résidence Chauvet au Bourdon Park.
© Photo Mambo Carrié-Phelps

RIP Max Beauvoir

Max Beauvoir, a great poto mitan in the temple of vodou, has passed. I enjoyed visiting his peristyle in Mariani in Port-au-Prince in the early 2000s, and he was an inexhaustible resource for knowledge about Haiti's religion. L'ap danse ak lwa yo, kounye-a.

Haiti's CEP sanctions 14 for election-related violence

Haiti's CEP has sanctioned 14 candidates for election-related violence, including former deputy Arnel Bélizaire for opening fire with an automatic weapon in the vicinity of a voting centre in Cité Soleil's Drouillard quarter.

Read their statement in full here.