HAITI NEWS ROUNDUP: OCTOBER 6 – 24, 2005 International donors half-way to fulfilling Haiti aid pledge Caribbean Net News Monday, October 24, 2005 BRUSSELS (AFP): International donors have given Haiti some 600 million dollars so far to see it through a transition phase and help its next government, they said in a joint declaration on Friday. The money is half the amount of one billion dollars promised under the interim cooperation framework (CCI) aimed at meeting the priorities of the violence-scarred and impoverished island state. "The meeting in Brussels has allowed us to underline that the engagements undertaken in respect of Haiti are confirmed and will be respected," the joint statement said. The donors also said they would extend the cooperation framework by a year until the end of 2007 to allow the new government, due to take office in February, "the time and the means to continue reforms." A new conference will take place at the end of next year to "mobilise the additional finances necessary for this extension." Haiti and the donors at the two-day conference in Brussels also reaffirmed that the "transfer of power to a new elected government must happen in line with the timeframe set out in the constitution; that is February 7, 2006." At a press conference earlier, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue promised that long-delayed general elections in Haiti, the first since the fall of president Jean Bertrand Aristide, would start in December. "The first round of the presidential and legislative elections will take place in December, probably in the first half of the month," he said. "The second round will take place in January, mid-January, probably at the same time as ... local elections," he said. The date for the elections has been changed four times, most recently last week when a November 20 date was pushed back because of technical problems. Latortue's remarks came three days after the UN Security Council stressed the need for Haiti to hold free and fair elections this year and to work with the UN mission there to organize the polls. The council expressed concern "regarding the risk of delays in the electoral process, and underlines international expectations that the first round of national elections should take place in 2005." It added that all efforts should be made to ensure that a democratically elected administration takes office in February. EU humanitarian aid commissioner Louis Michel said that Brussels had earmarked 18 million euros to help organise the elections. "The commission is preparing to send an election observer mission to follow and evaluate this process," he added. The election delays have surprised few given the complexities of Haiti's politics since Aristide fled into exile in November 2004 under the threat of an armed rebellion. Since then, the UN mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) -- a force of about 7,000 troops and police -- has struggled to maintain law and order. The electoral process is daunting. Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas and election materials destined for remote villages sometimes must be carried by animals due to the lack of roads and infrastructure. This Blatant Outrage Bahama Journal Oct. 24, 2005 We hope and pray that the day will come sooner rather than later when Bahamians begin to understand the power and truth in the injunction that some of us would do well to remember that many of our ancestors were once strangers in a strange land; that they were once refugees and slaves. Granted the major role Haitians have played and continue to play in the growth and development of The Bahamas and granted their close historical and family bonds with Bahamians, it seems only fair that Bahamians, Haitians and so-called ‘Haitian-Bahamians’ should be getting a clearer sense of what is happening in that beleaguered country. As that record would show, The Republic of Haiti is today being presided over by Gerard LaTortue- a United States backed strong man- who is currently overseeing a nasty horror show; replete with kidnappings, rape, imprisonment and murder. As the record would also show, supporters of exiled president Jean-Bertrand Aristide have been terrified and terrorized by the U.S. backed LaTortue administration. Some of these people have been killed, while others like Reverend Gerard Jean-Juste and Yvon Neptune have been locked up on trumped up charges. We are quite certain that the name Gerard Jean-Juste would not –as they say- ‘ring a bell’ with most Bahamians. The fact of the matter is that this priest - like Jean-Bertrand Aristide - is a man of the people in Haiti. Like Aristide, he has been persecuted and reviled. Like Aristide, Reverend Jean-Juste is paying a high price for his advocacy on behalf of the long- suffering Haitian people. Aristide is in exile; Jean-Juste is locked up in Haiti on what Amnesty International calls patently trumped up charges. In the meanwhile, the United States of America continues with the obscene pretense that there is nothing it can do about this situation. And countries like The Bahamas and its sister countries in the region refuse to speak up more forcefully, thus lending their voices to the defense of freedom, justice, dignity and human rights for the Haitian people. And then, there is everywhere else talks and idle chatter about elections and democracy and as to how these would put Haiti on the right path. Unfortunately, instead of enlightenment, the Bahamian public has been fed a steady diet of nonsense, superstitious claptrap, lies, slander and xenophobic hysteria; all patently designed to sow discord between poor working people. For the moment, these people seem to be succeeding. People are being frightened. And –unfortunately- the stage is being set for trouble between Haitians, Bahamians and Haitian-Bahamians. But since we are ever optimistic about the human capacity for good, we are convinced that the xenophobes and malcontents in our midst will –in time-be revealed for what they are; small-minded and ignorant. Meanwhile, we continue our commiseration with the struggles of the Haitian people. So, albeit belatedly, we join our voice to those of Rep. Maxine Waters and 28 other Members of Congress who sent a letter to President Bush urging him to take action to obtain the release of Father Gerard Jean- Juste from prison in Haiti. The letter was dated August 12th. 2005. The letter notes, "We write to express our profound concerns about the unjust imprisonment of Father Gerard Jean-Juste in Haiti. We urge you to take action at once to seek his immediate and unconditional release from prison. Copies of the letter were sent to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, United Nations Special Representative Juan Gabriel Valdés, and Ambassador James Foley, the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti. The text of the letter follows: "Father Jean-Juste is a widely-respected Catholic priest and a courageous advocate for peace and human rights in Haiti. During the 1970's, he founded the Haitian Refugee Center in Miami, Florida, where he worked to provide assistance to refugees who were fleeing persecution under the Duvalier regime. He returned to Haiti in 1991 and currently serves as the pastor of Saint Claire Church in Port- au-Prince and runs a soup kitchen for impoverished children in his parish. Fr. Jean-Juste has always spoken out forcefully against all forms of violence. "Father Jean-Juste was arrested on July 21, 2005, while attending the funeral for Jacques Roche, a Haitian journalist who was kidnapped, held for ransom and then murdered. Haitian police claimed he was arrested because a "public clamor" at the funeral accused him of murdering Jacques Roche, although he was in Miami at the time of the murder. He currently is being detained in the Haitian National Penitentiary." All right-thinking, decent and law-abiding people in The Bahamas –inclusive of ‘born’-Bahamians; paper-Bahamians and so-called ‘Haitian-Bahamians- should vehemently condemn this blatant outrage against justice. Waiting for justice in Haiti By Sasha Kramer The Stanford Daily Tuesday, October 18, 2005 On Jan. 29, 2005, Father Gerard Jean Juste spoke to a crowded room at Stanford. Now he sits behind bars with five other inmates, entering his 90th day as an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience in the Pacot Penitentiary in Port au Prince, Haiti. Juste, a beloved Catholic priest in Port au Prince and a close friend of exiled Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide, was arrested on July 21 after being assaulted by a mob at the funeral of well-known journalist Jaques Roche. After being removed from the church and taken to the police station “for his own safety,” Juste was placed behind bars and later accused of killing Roche, a baseless accusation given that the priest was in Miami at the time the journalist was murdered. For those who know Juste, it is not the alibi that proves his innocence; it is his character. For decades, Juste has struggled alongside the Haitian poor in the tradition of liberation theology. In addition to empowering thousands of parishioners with his sermons, Juste puts his words into action. His parish of St. Claire hosts numerous community programs, from a feeding program that provides four meals per week to 1,000 children, to a vocational summer camp. Juste is one of Haiti’s most outspoken advocates for nonviolent resistance and his arrest has alarmed human rights advocates and religious leaders across the world. Twenty months after the overthrow of Haiti’s democratically-elected government in February 2004, thousands of community organizers remain in hiding and in exile, police violence and impunity are rampant in poor neighborhoods in Port au Prince, social programs have been dismantled, the price of basic goods has skyrocketed and the prisons are overflowing with Aristide supporters.