January 30, 2005 Clifford Larose update:

The former director of APENA (National Prison Administration) during the Aristide government, Clifford Larose, was finally released after being incarcerated for two weeks. He has said he believes he is a victim of the Latortue regime's campaign to incarcerate in order to keep Lavalas outside the electoral process.

HLLN appreciates and thanks all our letter writers. Your letters helped to liberate Mr. Larose. Thank you.

Please keep on writing on behalf of the other prisoners in Haiti many of whom have been ordered released, but remain unlawfully imprisoned. Especially ask for the release of all performing artists, such as Jean Rénald Bruno, better known as Ti Pay, Annette Auguste (Sò Anne), and Yvon Antoine. Because there are no precise charges against them, said their lawyers, it appears that they have been arrested because of their presumed affiliation with Lavalas.

According to a recent AHP article " Jean Rénald Bruno and several other imprisoned artists participated in the 2004 Carnaval despite the armed anti-Aristide insurrection going on at that time.

Their merengue was especially critical of those who, as they said, wish to take power through devious means that the constitution does not recognize."

Please help these artists. Don't let them rot in Latortue's jails. Write to the Haitian Ambassador in Washington, the police chief in Haiti, the prosecutor for Port-au-Prince, the international human rights organizations, the U.S. State Dept and major and local media. Demand the release of all the political prisoners in Haiti, especially the artists, but also the release of many high-ranking Lavalas officials and activists locked away without having been brought before a judge as required by law. They include former Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert, the former government delegate in the South department, Jacques Mathelier, and Prime Minister Yvon Neptune.

Demand for Chief Public Prosecutor in Port-au-Prince, JEAN PIERRE DANIEL AUDAIN to immediately release all prisoners who have been ORDERED RELEASED by a judge, such as 70-year old grandmother, Annette Auguste; Prime Minister Yvon Neptune; Jacques Mathelier and the other political prisoners who have been ordered released by judges, but REMAIN IN PRISON.

Appeal also to Leon Charles, Haiti's National Police Director with copies of the letters to: the interim Gerard Latortue; Justice Minister Bernard Gousse; Police Commissioner David Beer, United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, and, UN Special Representative Juan Gabriel Valdes to denounce the prison killings in Haiti, call for an investigation, demand that the authorities provide security to all the other detainees, particularly prison detainees who have been threatened with beatings and executions if they talk about having witnessed the massacre and allow detainees access to their families, lawyers and to medical assistance if needed.

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U.S. Ambassador to Haiti: James B. Foley

Fax to: U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince - 011-509-223-9038 or 011-509-223-1641
State Department Haiti Desk, Washington - 202 -647-2901

Call: U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince - 011-509-223-4711
Anthony Beaver/John Mariz, State Department Haiti Desk - 202- 647-5088

Email: noriegarf@state.gov (Roger Noriega Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs; BanksD@state.gov (Dana Banks, Human Rights Officer, U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince)

UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
PHONE: 011.509.244.9650.9660
FAX: 011.509.244.9366/67
Or, Office of General Secretary (New York) - 212.963.4879

** Kofi Annan's Special UN Envoy to Haiti: Mr. Juan Gabriel Valdes
** UN Military Commander in Haiti: Lt. General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira
** UN Human Rights Office in Haiti: Mahamane Cisse-Guoro

Please Fax the MINUSTAH office Attention to the 3 listed above. Better yet, send 3 separate letters addressing them individually.

SEND COPIES TO AS MANY OF THESE PEOPLE AS YOU CAN

Fax No. (212) 963-4879
Hon. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General
United Nations
United Nations Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017

With Copies to: kongo-doudou@un.org (Toussaint Kongo-Doudou, Chief of Communications, United Nations Support Mission To Haiti)

See Amnesty International urgent action release for Haitian police contact information. Letters may be fashioned from our other urgent acation alerts or from the "Release political prisoners" urgent action alert page.

**********

ACTION ALERT - January 25, 2005
(The Spanish equivalent of this Urgent Action Alert follows the English below.)
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY

Demand Domincan Republic officials not extradite Haitian national, Clifford H. Larose, or any other exiles, back to Haiti's death regime

*

Please call, e-mail and fax letters the officials listed below. Demand Dominican officials not extradite Haitian national, Clifford H. Larose, to Haiti's abusive death regime, especially in light of the recent prison massacres in Haiti.(See Amnesty Internationals Alert on Prison Killings in Haiti. Those deported to Haiti to be put in prison right now are in grave danger of summary execution, especially if they are supporters of the Constitutional government these defacto authorities illegally replaced.

Tell the Dominican Republic: DON’T EXTRADITE CLIFFORD H. LAROSE AND OTHER HAITIAN POLITICAL EXILES AND REFUGEES! Save a life. Prevent more unmerited Haitian sufferings.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Since the February 29, 2004 coup d’état in Haiti, there is no rule of law in
Haiti. Pro-democracy and Lavalas activists have been hunted down by the
Haitian police and paramilitaries. More than 100,000 people have been forced
into hiding. More than 10, 000 people have been forced into exile in several
countries including the Dominican Republic.

Among those persons is Clifford H. Larose whose only crime is having been an official in President Aristide’s democratically elected government. Mr. Larose, who has been residing in the Dominican Republic, faces extradition based on the same vague, unsubstantiated charges and trumped up accusations holding elected officials like former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and others in Haiti's jails today.

In view of the Latorture regime's psychopathic agenda and witch hunt against all former Constitutional appointees, supporters and officials and the documented extra-judicial practices of the current defacto Minister of Justice, Bernard GOUSSE and police chief, LEON CHARLES, in Haiti, combined with the fact Mr. Clifford H. Larose used to run the National Penitentiary under the Constitutional government with no massacres whatsoever reported under his reign, Clifford H. Larose's return to Haiti is practically a certain death sentence.

All the current human rights investigative reports show detailed evidence of how under the Latortue/Gousse "Justice Apparatus" in Haiti (See Miami Law Center's recent human rights investigative report on Haiti ) even detainees/prisoners who have been before a judged and cleared of charges remain in prison based solely on the edicts and whims of Justice Minister Bernard Gousse; Haiti's National Police Director, Leon Charles; Police Commissioner, David Beer; Chief Public Prosecutor in Port-au-Prince, Jean Pierre Daniel Audain, and the U.S. imported Haitian Prime Minister, Gerald Latorture.

For further information on the human rights situation in Haiti, visit www.ijdh.org
and www.margueritelaurent.com/law/lawpress.html. For more information on
current events in Haiti, log onto www.haitiaction.net.

Please contact the following officials with the message NO TO THE
EXTRADITION OF CLIFFORD LAROSE and other political refugees.

DR. CARLOS SUBERO ISA, President, Supreme Court of Justice, telephone
1-809-533-3191 ext. 331 and 322; fax: 1-809-508-2724 o 1-809-532-2906;
e-mail: suprema.corte@verizon.net.do

LIC. DANILO MEDINA, Secretario De La Presidencia, telephone 1-809-695-8033
and 1-809-686-8204

LIC. CARLOS MORALES TRONCOSO, Secretario Relaciones Exteriores, telephone
1-809-533-1923, 1-809-535-6280 and 1-809-535-6848

Ms. SANDRINE DESAMOURS, UNHCR Republica Dominicana, telephone
1-809-732-7121, e-mail domsa@unhcr.ch

Sample letter:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing with regards to the case of Mr. Clifford Larose. Mr. Larose has
been legally living in the Dominican Republic. His only “crime” is having
been a civil servant to a democratically elected government of Haiti.
If he is extradited to Haiti, where there is currently no functioning
judicial system, Mr. Larose faces certain death at the hands of politically
motivated enemies.

I join with people of conscience throughout the Americas in demanding Mr.
Larose and other political exiles not be forcibly removed to Haiti, where
the rule of law has been subverted by a coup d’état.

Respectfully yours,

Name:  ____
City:  ______
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**** Spanish Version****

Comuníquele a la República Dominicana: NO EXTRADICIONE A CLIFFORD LAROSE Y
LOS OTROS EXILADOS.

Desde la fecha del golpe de estado del 29 de febrero del 2004, no existe un
estado de ley en Haïti. Activistas pro-democracia y partisanos del partido
Lavalas han sido perseguidos por la policía y por la fuerzas armadas
extajudiciales. Mas de 100,000 personas viven escondidos en Haïti. Mas de
10,000 personas viven en el exilio en muchos paises incluyendo la Republica
Dominicana.

Entre estos individuos se encuetra el Sr. Clifford H. Larose – su único
crimen, el ser un oficial en el gobierno legítimo del Presidente Aristide.
El Sr. Larose, quien ha estado viviendo legalmente en en la República
Dominicana enfrenta la extradidición por acusaciones falsas. ¡Su extradición
a Haïti es una una sentencia de muerte!

Para mas informacion sobre la situacion actual de derechos humanos en Haiti
visite a www.ijdh.org y www.margueritelaurent.com/law/lawpress.html. Para
mas información sobre la situación actual en Haïti: www.haitiaction.net

Por favor contacto los oficiales siguientes con el mensaje NO A LA
EXRADICION DE CLIFFORD LAROSE Y OTROS EXILADOS. Ver ejemplo mensaje abajo.

DR. CARLOS SUBERO ISA, Presidente Suprema Corte De Justicia, telefono
809)533-3191 ext. 331 Y 322; fax a: 1-809-508-2724 o 1-809-532-2906; corréo
electónico a : suprema.corte@verizon.net.do

LIC. DANILO MEDINA, Secretario De La Presidencia, telefono 1-809-695-8033 y
1-809-686-8204

LIC. CARLOS MORALES TRONCOSO, Secretario Relaciones Exteriores, telefono
1-809- 533-1923 o 1-809-535-6280 y 1-809-535-6848

Ms. SANDRINE DESAMOURS, UNHCR Republica Dominicana, telefono 1-809-732-7121,
corréo electónico a domsa@unhcr.ch

Estimado Señor o Señora:

Le escribo con respecto al caso del Sr. Clifford Larose. El Sr. Lasore ha
estado viviendo en la República Dominicana. Su único crimen es el hecho de
ser un empleado civil del gobierno democráticamente elegido deHaïti.

Si es extradicionado a Haïti, donde no existe un sistema jurídico legítimo,
el Sr. Larose entrentaría en pena de muerte por sus enemigos políticos.

Yo me úno al pueblo Pan-americano al exigir que el Sr. Larose y los otros
exilados políticos no sean mandados a Haïti, donde el mandato de la Ley ha
sido subvertido por un golpe de estado.

Respetuosamente,

Nombre:_________
Ciudad: ___________