Citing multiple sources, the report states, “Labanye has a large United States flag draped in front of his headquarters under which he forces victims to kneel and beg for their lives before killing them.”
Haiti: the forgotten milestone in Bush’s crusade for “freedom”
By Bill Van Auken
12 March 2005
The anniversary of Washington’s “liberation” of Haiti came and went at the end of last month—also with little notice from the US media. In the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, masked cops fired tear gas and then live ammunition into a February 28 march of several thousand demanding Aristide’s return. When the shooting stopped, three lay dead and several more were severely wounded.
The incident was part of a wave of killing that has continued throughout the country over the past year, escalating around the anniversary of the coup. Large parts of Haiti remain under the control of right-wing ex-army thugs whose rampage last year set the stage for the US military intervention. These forces kill, torture and rape with impunity.
In the capital and its surrounding area, the killing and repression are carried out by a combination of local forces and United Nations troops. The UN came to Washington’s aid last summer, providing military units from Brazil, Uruguay, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other countries to replace the Marines, who were badly needed to suppress resistance to the US occupation of Iraq. Haitian government security forces are augmented by privately funded death squads that operate unhindered in pro-Aristide slums like Cité Soleil, Cité de Dieu, Bel Air and La Saline.
An “inhuman horror” is the way a recent report issued by the University of Miami’s Center for Human Rights describes the situation since the US intervention last year. The report provides ample information as well as appalling photographic evidence to back up this assessment.
http://www.law.miami.edu/cshr/CSHR_Report_02082005_v2.pdfhttp://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/mar2005/hait-m12.shtml
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