Troops invade home of Mayor of Milo

June 14, 2004
For Immediate Release

French soldiers and U.N. Troops invade the home Mayor of Milo, Jean Charles
Moise.

Early reports indicate that on June 14, 2004, at around 4:00 am in the
morning, a contingent of French soldiers along with some U.N. (blue helmet) soldiers
invaded the home of the duly elected Mayor of Milo, Jean Charles Moise.
According to sources close to Mayor Jean Charles Moise, on finding that he
was not home, the soldiers arrested his wife and took her into custody, and
possibly some other adults in his house, leaving his small underage children
without a mother.

The house was ransacked and damaged by the soldiers. Under Haitian law, even
with a warrant and judge (Juj de pe) present, no arrest may be made between
the hours of 6:pm and 6 am in Haiti.

To date, foreign troops in Haiti have absolutely refused to respect or be
bound to Haitian law, Constitution or sovereignty. The U.S. soldiers and now
French and U.N. soldiers seem to be establishing a record instead of terrorizing
suspects in the dead-of-night and treating Haitians, even 5-year old Haitian
children, as in the So Ann's home invasion, like criminals, especially if they
are affiliated with the Lavalas party in Haiti which still remains Haiti's
strongest and most popular democratic party and movement.

What is most disturbing about this pattern is the single-minded focus on
arresting primarily Lavalas voices with a well-known popular support base and
credible reputations. This pattern is continuing even under the new U.N.-led
troops with this current hunt for the Mayor of Milo. Said Mayor, Jean Charles Moise
, has been a frequent voice in the U.S. media denouncing the human right
abuses taking place in Haiti since the U.S. and France forced President Aristide
and the Constitutionally elected government out of office. (See Mayor Jean
Charles Moise's personal testimony "Haiti's Murderous Army Reborn" and at
testimonies (margueritelaurent.com) .

Please contact Kofi Annan at the UN, the French Mission at the UN, contact
Ambassador James Foley directly at the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince, call on
Secretary of State Colin Powell at the US State Department in Washington, call
the State Department (Haiti desk) and contact your Senators and Representatives.
Call early and call often.

Raise your voices to protest this illegal arrest of the Mayor's wife at 4:00
am in contravention of Haitian law. Protest the pattern of dead-of-night home
invations, practiced solely against Lavalas officials while Guy Phillipe, Jean
Tatoune and other known drug dealers, and convicted murderes run free in
Haiti. Denounce the un-reported mass killings of Haitian civilians since the Coup
D'etat, the reprisals, continued illegal arrests of popular leaders in the
Lavalas party and this current hunt for the Mayor of Milo, Jean Charles Moise by
foreign troops.

Haiti has had a long history of brutal political repression conducted by US
supported dictators and their paramilitaries in the dead of night. That is why
the law against such dead-of-night arrests was adopted by sincere and
conscious Haitian legislators who wished to stop this pattern of injustice - such
terrorizing, arbitrary and warrantless political arrests.

If the French soldiers and UN troops had a legitimate warrant to exercise, they should have exercised it at the appropriate hour and in accordance with the laws of the land and in accordance with their UN mission as peacekeepers.Call, fax and write Secretary-General Kofi Annan, ask whether UN soldiers are now taking the place of the former bloody Haitian military and FRAPH paramilitiries, who never abided by any Haitian law whatsoever. Demand a stop to these sorts of home invations in Haiti by foreign troops there as "peacekeepers." Demand the release of the Mayor's wife, due compensation for the ransacked and destroyed home and a stop to this seeming systematic witch hunts for only Lavalas officials in Haiti and abroad.

Marguerite Laurent
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network

Pierre Labossiere
Haiti Action Committee


CONTACT INFORMATION

Kofi Annan
Secretary General
United Nations
New York, NY USA
212-963-5012
inquiries@un.org

Ambassador James B. Foley
U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
phone: 509.223.7011 or 509.222.0200
fax: 509.223.9665
email: acspap@state.gov
Address and additional phones

Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State
fax: 202.647.2283 or 202.647.5169
phone: 202.647.5291 or 202.647.7098
email: contact here

Haiti Desk Officers, U.S. State Department:
Joseph Tilghman
fax: 202.647.2901
phone: 202.647.5088
email: tilghmanjf@state.gov

Lawrence Connell
fax: 202.647.2901
phone: 202.647.6765
email: ConnellLF@state.gov

Write your representative
Contact your congressional representatives by State at: Or, use the NYT elected representative guide to get contact info on your U.S. Congressional rep by zip code. Be sure to e-mail the mail the NY Times also.


Key Media Contacts

San Francisco Chronicle: letters@sfchronicle.com
* Letters editor: (415) 777-7176 or (415) 543-7708 (fax)

Reuters: www.reuters.com click on "contact us"
* American's Desk: (202) 898-8300 or (202) 898-8300

New York Times: Web online letter or eMail letters@nytimes.com
* Foreign Desk: (212) 556-7415
* Reporters who write on Haiti: LYDIA POLGREEN and TIM WEINER

Associated Press: pr@ap.org
or e-mail Ms. Paisley Dodd at pdodds@ap.org
* International Desk: (212) 621-1663

Miami Herald
Letters to the Editor or eMail HeraldEd@herald.com

Washington Times
* Foreign Desk: (202) 636-3222
* Reporter who writes on Haiti: Sibylla Brodzinsky

Washington Post
* Foreign Desk: (202) 334-7400
* Reporters who write on Haiti: Kevin Sullivan and Scott Wilson

LA Times
* Foreign Desk: (213) 237-4413
* Reporter who writes on Haiti: Carol J. Williams

ABC
* Foreign Desk: (212) 456-2800NBC
* Foreign Desk: (201) 583-5777CBS
* Foreign Desk: (212) 975-3019CNN
* International Desk: (404) 827-1519
* State Department Correspondent: Andrea Koppel (202)898-7515NPR
* Foreign Desk: (202) 513-2299

Key Congressional and Government Phone Numbers
* Congressional Switchboard - 800-839-5276 or 202-224-3121
* Nancy Pelosi - (SF) 415-556-4862; (DC) 202-225-4965
* Dianne Feinstein - (SF) 415-249-4777; (DC) 202-224-3841
* Barbara Boxer - (SF) 415-403-0100; (DC) 202-224-3553

* White House Comment line - 202-456-1111

* US State Department - 202-647-5291 or 202-647-7098(phone)
* 202-647-2283 or 202-647-5169 (fax)


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Letters to the Editor
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Letters to the Editor
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Associated Press:
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mfaul@ap.org

National Public Radio
Comment Line: 202 513-3232 weekdays 10:00am-5:00pm
(sometimes they play these on the air).

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Reuters:
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Boston Globe:
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Letters to the Editor
The Boston Globe
P.O. Box 2378
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Or by fax to (617) 929-2098

Los Angeles Times:
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South Florida Sun-Sentinel