San Francisco Protests U.S. Support for Haitian Death Squads

Dozens of people gathered in downtown San Francisco at Powell and Market streets Thursday afternoon to protest U.S. support for the current murderous coup regime in Haiti. Given the key role Bush Administration officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, played in orchestrating the February 29, 2004 ouster of democratically-elected President Aristide, the explicit call of the action was for people to “take your anger to Bush and Powell.” The demonstration was organized by the S.F. Bay Area-based Haiti Action Committee and endorsed by Global Exchange, United for Peace and Justice, War Resisters League West, East Timor Action Network/San Francisco and Media Alliance.

Haiti Action Committee co-founder and respected local activist Pierre Labossiere described close ties that Bay Area churches and schools have had with projects in Haiti begun by peasant organizations under President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Now that the U.S.-backed death squads which forced President Aristide into exile have control over much of the country, many of the activists previously in close contact with friends in the Bay Area have either been killed or gone into hiding; Labossiere gave powerful descriptions of the heightened terror campaign against supporters of Aristide and his Lavalas Party, and pointed out that in Haiti, “Unless you vote for the elite or military thugs, it’s a crime, in effect to vote. Those who voted for Lavalas now have a death sentence over their heads.”

As demonstrators hoisted signs painted by local artist Miranda Bergman reading “End the occupation in Haiti, Iraq, Palestine and Everywhere,” “No U.S.Coup in Haiti, Bring Aristide Home,” and, on a vibrant, beautiful painting of a peasant under siege, “Haiti: The struggle continues,” East Bay educator Doug Spalding kicked off the march with bullhorn chants, starting with “U.S. Out of Haiti” and moving on to include Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and the Philippines, reflecting the spirit of international solidarity which animates Lavalas, Aristide’s political party. Demonstrators also carried cardboard coffins and crosses to symbolize the thousands of Haitians who have been killed by the U.S.-imposed government of “interim” Prime Minister Latortue.

As the march proceeded up Powell Street, the solidarity continued in stops to support locked out hotel workers at pickets in front of the Saint Francis, Crowne Plaza and the Grand Hyatt Hotels. Both hotel workers and Haiti solidarity activists were visibly charged up by the mutual support, and by the time the march approached the intersection of Bush and Powell, the march was around 100 strong.

After activists circled the intersection several times, pumping signs into the air to the appreciative honks of San Francisco drivers, Dominican Sister Stella Goodpasture, who recently visited Haiti as part of a human rights delegation, described last week’s arrest of activist priest Gerard Jean-Juste, who was beaten and dragged away from his church, where he was feeding hundreds of poor children. The lack of a warrant for the arrest did not prevent officers from shooting three children present at the church, including a boy who was shot in the head.

Brother Jahahara Amen-Ra Alkebulan-Ma'at, a longtime activist most recently with the American Friends Service Committee, also described his experiences in Haiti to the demonstrators amassed at the four corners of Bush and Powell. He noted that one of the rarely reported aspects of President Aristide’s last few years in office was his campaign to push France to pay $22 billion in restitution to Haiti. That sum is a calculation of the amount France stole from Haiti in the 1800s as “compensation” for giving up “property” (i.e. slaves who rebelled and founded the first independent black republic). Brother Jahahara recalled that the Haitian children who gave him a bookbag adorned with Aristide’s picture said they wanted their President back, adding that those children are also entitled to the full $22 billion France was willing to help oust Aristide to avoid paying.

This demonstration was part of a national campaign to restore democracy in Haiti and end the wave of state-sponsored repression of pro-Democracy leaders. Other actions were held this week in New York, Boston, Washington, Miami and Orlando.

See http://www.haitiaction.net for more information.