New massacre in Haiti-URGENT ACTION ALERT

 
Friends and comrades,
 
August 10, 2005 -- By now many of you have undoubtedly heard reports of on-going killings and massacres in poor neighhborhoods of Port-au-Prince, the latest one apparently conducted by the Haitian police last weekend through Monday August 8 in the community of Solino. According to Haitian media outlets, quoting Solino residents, many people were killed in a brutal invasion of a poor community reminiscent of the assault by UN troops on Cite Soleil on July 6th. The source said that so-called "attaches" or paramilitary death-squad elements participated with the police in the assault, which targeted supporters of the majority Lavalas political movement.
 
Haitian media organizations, quoting Solino residents, reported that machetes were being distributed out of a National Police car to individuals attached to the national police. Solino residents described in horrific detail the dismembered bodies of a number of people, particularly young women, with body parts being placed in black plastic bags, and that this morning in a ditch in Solino, dogs had broken into some of the bags to eat the body parts. Women are being targeted by police and the "attaches" because so many strong Lavalas community leaders are women, and because women are playing a leading role in the pro-democracy movement.
 
Now there are reports from Port-au-Prince that yet another assault on Cite Soleil is being planned, either by UN troops or by the police or both.  Bear in mind that by recent decree of the UN Security Council, MINUSTAH (the UN Mission in Haiti) is now officially in charge of the Haitian National Police, and therefore bears responsibility for the indiscriminate killings by the police in Solino this past weekend.
 
According to a community leader, "They are trying to dismantle the grassroots leadership of Lavalas by killing them -- in one neighborhood after another. This is all in preparation for the sham elections they have cooked up for this fall to try and legitimize the February 29, 2004 coup d'etat and the coup regime. By 'they' I mean the death-squad government and their US, UN, French and Canadian backers." 
 
Many believe these invasions by heavily armed troops and mass killings in the poor districts are aimed at preventing mass demonstrations by the poor majority calling for the return of their democratically elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, such as have occurred with regularity since the 2004 coup.
 
 
Action is Needed Now
Please act now and voice your protest to the relevant authorities. Call, email, or fax the following individuals
and demand:
 
1) an immediate halt to the violence by UN troops and the Haitian police against unarmed people in poor communities such as Cite Soleil, Bel Air and Solino.
 
2) an impartial and independent human rights investigation into the July 6th UN operation in Cite Soleil, the recent police operation in Solino this past week-end, and similar operations in poor, popular neighborhoods over the past year.
 
In addition to your US Congressional representatives, please contact the following:
 
US Govt. Officials:
James B. Foley
Ambassador to Haiti
phone: 011-509-222-0200, 222-0354, 222-0269, 222-0327
fax: 011-509-223-9038
UN Forces in Haiti:
Juan Gabriel Valdes
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to
Haiti
phone: 011-509-244-9650 or 9660
fax 011-509 244 3512.
David Beer
Commissioner of CIVPOL the UN Civilian Police in Haiti
phone: 011-509-525-5279
email: beer [at] un.org
fax: 011-509-244-9366.
UN Human Rights Officials:
Mahamane Cissé-Gouro
Port-au-Prince
cisse-gouro [at] un.org
011-509-403-4012
Thierry Fagart - fagart [at] un.org

Louise Arbour
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
ph:  41-22-917-9000
fax: 41-22-917-9011
email: ngochr [at] ohchr.org
Bacre Waly Ndiaye
Director—New York Office of the UN Office of the High
Commssioner for Human Rights
ph: 212-963-1583 or 212-963-5930
fax: 212-963-3463
Other Human Rights Groups:
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton St.
London
WCIXODW, UK
Contact: Gerardo email: Gducos [at] amnesty.org
Also, all Amnesty members should contact their local
chapters and organize these chapters to contact the
International Secretariat in London.
 
For more information contact the Haiti Action Committee,
510-483-1781, haitiaction [at] yahoo.com or visit http://www.haitiaction.net