HLLN Statement
July 21, 2005

Open Letter Demanding a Stop to UN slaughter
of Haitian civilians in Site soleil, Haiti

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Demand a Stop to the killings in Cite Soleil
Please send appeals immediately
See Urgent Action Alert
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UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
President George W. Bush
President of the UN, Jan Eliasson
General Pereira, MINUSTAH
Toussaint Cong-Doudou, MINUSTAH
Juan Gabriel Valdes, MINUSTHA
Mahamane Cisse-Guoro, UN Human Rights office, Haiti
David Beer, Commissioner of CIVPOL
Ambassador Claude Boucher, Canada
M. Yves GAUDEUL, Ambassador of France in Haiti

Dear all Officials Concerned with Haiti:

Sirs/Madams,

As Haitians committed to protecting the civil, human and cultural rights of Haitians living at home and abroad and to seeing a Haiti ruled by Haitians that has institutionalized the rule of law and
democracy, we are shocked and appalled by the UN soldier's abuses and human rights violations in Site Soleil on July 6, 2005 and, in general in Haiti, since taking over from US Marine command. (See press release below of the coordinated July 21, 2005 multi-city and country campaign to raise world awareness of UN human rights abuses in Haiti.)

We have photographic evidence, videotape evidence and eyewitness testimony of the July 6, 2005 UN massacre of unarmed Haitians civilian in Haiti - mothers, fathers, youths, babies, shopkeepers, even the handicapped and pregnant women and an unborn fetus were killed or mowed down by UN bullets, tanks and firepower on July 6, 2005 in Site Soleil Haiti. Yet, the UN expresses no remorse, makes no move towards reparations, nor even presents the Haitian public with reports about
the arms it collected from this war operation on a community of more than 350-thousand Haitians who live in Site Soleil. Purportedly the UN is in Haiti to DISARM gangs, armed combatants and former soldiers to bring stability to Haiti and stop the Coup D'etat violence, bloodshed and mayhem begun by the ouster of President Aristide by Group 184 and other such rule-by-force former Duvalierists and their army thugs, who can only gain power in Haiti through unconstitutional means and sham elections.

For detailed information on the UN killings on July 6, 2005, go to:

Demand a Stop to the killings in Cite Soleil | Denounce the slaughter
of Haitian people by UN Troops:
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/presswork/protect.html

and,

http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/presswork/Protectcitesoleil.html

- Final Delegation Report on UN Massacre at Cite Soleil -Growing Evidence of a Massacre by UN Occupation forces in Port-au-Prince Neighborhood of Cite Soleil, July 12, 2005
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/human_rights_reports/unmassacre.html

and,

- Evidence mounts of a UN massacre in Haiti HIP, July 12, 2005 | For Photos go to: UN "peacekeepers" in Haiti accused of massacre, July 13, 2005
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/7_13_5/7_13_5.html

Please look.

The information on UN slaughter of Haitian civilians in Haiti is real. Don't deny it because it's too hard to compute, or it doesn't serve the powerful Coup D'etat country's interests.

As human beings we are all interrelated. To dehumanize a group of human beings in this way and deny them the right to life, personal dignity, freedom, justice, self-defense and self-determination, is to dehumanize us all and willingly submit to the trend towards internationally-sponsored barbarism by the richest, the most literate and "advance" of countries and citizens on this planet. There's no palpable future within these lines being traced in Haiti by the UN, US, Canada, France and their Haitian proxies. No moral foundation, no economic justice, no justice, period. No solid ground to stand upon and built from, whatsoever, especially when the UN, the world's best chance, many think, for peaceful coexistence are the very ones, acting as occupying force - killing unarmed civilians to silence peaceful protest against the Coup D'etat government.

The rivers of blood, the mounting Haitian corpses since the US/UN, Canada and France-supported bi-centennial Coup D'etat in Haiti on defenseless Haitian masses, announces our failures, all our failures as world citizens, as human beings. It graphically illustrates the level of real "advancement" in this 21st century. It denies the human family a future, something beyond walled fences behind large guns to bequeath to our children, to the planet, to humankind.

Please, we are all bound as human being to a common future. The cosmic injustices being rained down upon the poor people of Haiti is all the more atrocious because it's been programmed and orchestrated, for more than one year now, under the UN flag acting as proxies for Bush's racist war on the completely defenselessness Haitian masses.

Please take immediate action to end the use of UN troops as proxies for the US war on Haiti's poor masses. A true peacekeeping force would have handed power back to the legitimate, duly elected and constitutional government of Haiti long ago.

Marguerite Laurent, Esq.
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
July 21, 2005
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/law/lawpress.html

Lavarice Gaurdin, Veye Yo
Edwige Romulus, Chairman, Haitian-American Support Group of Central Florida, Inc.
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Coordinated Multi-City International Protests on Thursday, July 21, 2005

Emergency protests are set for Thursday, July 21 - in Brazil and 13 North American cities -to condemn the massacre of at least 23 Haitian civilians on July 6th in the popular neighborhood of Cite Soleil, by UN troops under Brazilian command. The protests call for UN troops and Haitian authorities to stop the killings; for all UN soldiers from 20 nations to leave Haiti now; and for the restoration of Haiti's sovereignty and constitutional rule.
Coordinated protests will take place July 21st in Washington, D.C. and Ottawa (at the Brazilian embassies); in Miami, Montreal, New York, Toronto and San Francisco (at Brazilian consulates general); as well as in Minneapolis, San Jose (California), Halifax (Nova Scotia), Vancouver, Winnipeg (Manitoba), and Boston. [See below for times and locations.]

In Brazil, unions and high-level leaders belonging to the CUT labor federation have organized a labor delegation to the capital of Brasilia, for an audience with President Lula da Silva on July 21st, to discuss their concern about the actions and presence of UN troops in Haiti, acting under Brazilian command. They will also rally in front of the Planalto Palace, seat of Brazil's federal government, and present a petition to Lula, signed by a long list of prominent Brazilians, demanding immediate withdrawal of all Brazilian troops from Haiti and respect for Haiti's sovereignty.

The labor delegation's rally and meeting with President Lula is timed to coincide with the coordinated demonstrations in North America, and will kick off a series of meetings and rallies in major Brazilian cities. These actions are being organized by a coalition that includes CUT unionists, the Movimento Negro Unificado [Unified Black Movement] and Campanha Haiti [Brazil Out of Haiti Campaign].

The Brazilian unionists made it clear they were taking up the demands of the Haitian community and solidarity movement in North America, based on the findings of the Labor/Human Rights Delegation to Haiti and eyewitness reports of the July 6th massacre. The CUT is the largest labor federation in Brazil.

Meanwhile, in Paris, the Haitian community will mount a demonstration July 30th at Place de la Republique, condemning the July 6th UN massacre of civilians in Cite Soleil, and demanding an end to the US/UN occupation of Haiti and the return of the democratically-elected government of President Aristide.

The international campaign -- with protests in five countries -- kicked off on July 13th, when Father Gerard Jean-Juste, pastor of St. Claire Church in Port-au-Prince, flew to Miami to lead a demonstration at the Brazilian consulate general in Miami. Jean-Juste and Haitian community leaders met with Brazilian diplomats for nearly three hours to protest the UN massacre in Cite Soleil.

The campaign picked up steam the following day, on July 14th, when despite heavy repression and continued killings by UN forces, more than 5,000 people demonstrated in Cite Soleil to condemn the UN massacre in their neighborhood on July 6th. They chanted for the return of President Aristide, and demanded prison for the leaders and backers of the coup regime.

Also on July 14th, Father Jean-Juste was 'denounced' on a right-wing Haitian radio program in Florida, saying he was returning to Haiti on American Airlines, with the implicit threat that something bad might and should happen to him.
The next day Jean-Juste was searched and questioned for 20 minutes by US authorities at the Miami airport. On arrival in Port-au-Prince he was detained by Haitian National Police for two hours and ordered to report to a judge to face possible criminal charges.

The citizens of Cite Soleil, Father Jean-Juste and the internationally coordinated demonstrations on July 21st are shining a spotlight on the crimes committed by the US/UN occupation on July 6th in Cite Soleil. Clearly the coup regime feels threatened by these revelations, and are retaliating against our courageous brother. Defending Fr. Jean-Juste is an integral part of this campaign.

Organizers emphasized that UN troops, who have been in Haiti since June 2004, are there as a proxy force doing the bidding of the US government -- replacements for the US, French and Canadian troops who assisted in the February 29, 2004 coup d'etat that overthrew the constitutional government of President Aristide.

Demonstrations in 13 cities on July 21 condemning UN massacre in Cite Soleil

Boston - Picket 5:30 to 8 pm at the Haitian Consulate, 545 Boylston Street

Halifax, Nova Scotia - Picket 5 pm at the US Consulate, 1969 Upper Water Street

Miami - Picket Brazilian Consulate, 80 SW 8th Street, Miami, at 11 a.m.

Minneapolis - Leaflet the light rail system in early pm....Meet 4:30 pm at LRT Station near Hennepin Govt Center, 3rd Av & 5th St....Walk at 5 pm to Federal Bldg, then march to the Star-Tribune (small park across the street) at 5th & Portland, to protest Haiti newspaper coverage.

Montreal - Assemble 3 pm, Dorchester Sq, Peel & Rene Levesque (Metro Peel)....March departing 4 pm to Brazilian Consulate, 2000 Mansfield (cor.DeMaisonneuve)....Rally till 6 pm.

New York - Picket 4-7 pm, Brazilian Consulate, 1185 Ave. of the Americas (6th Av), nr 47th St

Ottawa/Gatineau - Picket Brazilian embassy, 450 Wilbrod St (Sandy Hill district), Noon-1 pm

San Francisco - Assemble 4 pm Powell & Market (Powell St BART), March at 4:30 pm down Market Street to rally at Brazilian Consulate General, 300 Montgomery, till 6 pm

San Jose, California - Picket French consulate, 2 North 2nd St, 11:30-12:30 and 4-6 pm

Toronto - Picket the Brazilian Consulate General, 77 Bloor Street West, beginning 1 pm

Vancouver - Federal government offices and corporate media will be targeted. For locations and times, go to haitisolidaritybc@yahoo.ca

Washington, D.C. - Protest 12-5pm at Brazil embassy, 3009 Whitehaven St. NW (at Mass Av)

Winnipeg, Manitoba - Protest 1 pm at SNC-Lavalin, one of the biggest Canadian corporate profiteers from the occupation of Haiti, 1600 Van Ness (at St. James St near Polo Park mall)

For more information, contact:
Dave Welsh, Labor/Human Rights Delegation to Haiti - sub@sonic.net

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Forwarded by the Haitian Lawyers' Leadership Network
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"Men anpil chay pa lou" is Kreyol for - "Many hands make light a heavy
load."
Join our International Solidarity - The FreeHaitiMovement. For info,
see:

International Solitarity with Haiti: You are Not alone, Dessaline is Rising Worldwide!

and,

- Info for Sponsors

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