[IPSM] Protest UN Massacre in Haiti

[aaron at resist.ca]

International Day of Protest Against UN Massacre in Haiti

Montreal Action: March and Rally

On July 6th, a UN massacre took place in which as many as 80 people were 
murdered in Haiti’s biggest slum. (See article below). Miami, New York,
and  San Francisco (confirmed) as well as Los Angeles, Toronto,
Minneapolis &  Boston will join us in a coordinated, multi-city solidarity
action at  Brazilian consulates this week. The largest Brazilian union
federation  (CAUT) are also organising demonstrations on the same day,
calling for the  removal of Brazil’s occupying force from Haiti. Join
Montreal’s Haitian  community as they struggle to expose the Canadian
backed occupation of  Haiti.

Date: Thursday 21st July

Location: Dorchester Square; Peel & Rene Levesque (Metro Peel)

Time: Assembly at 3 P.M followed by march departing at 4 P.M. in direction
 of  Brazilian consulate at 2000 Mansfield (corner De Maisonneuve); rally 
till 6P.M.



Haiti's UN Occupation Forces Carry Out Massacre of Poor in Port-au-Prince

On Wednesday morning, July 6th, at approximately 3:00 AM, UN occupation 
forces in Haiti carried out a major military operation in the
working-class  neighborhood of Cite Soleil, one of the poorest in
Port-au-Prince and also a  stronghold of support for Haiti's majority
political party Lavalas and  President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Presumably,
the purpose of the operation  was to crack down on illegal "gang
activity", in particular on "gang" leader  Dread Wilme. In actuality, a US
trade union and human rights delegation in  Port-au-Prince discovered
evidence of a massacre conducted by the UN forces,  targeting the larger
community itself.

According to accounts from many different members of the community, many
of  whom chose to remain anonymous, as well as from journalists who were
on the  scene during the operation, UN forces surrounded two neighborhoods
within  Cite Soleil, Boisneuf and Project Drouillard, sealing off the
alleys with  tanks and troops.

Two helicopters flew overhead. At 4:30 AM, UN forces launched the
offensive,  shooting into houses, shacks, a church, and a school with
machine guns, tank  fire, and tear gas. Eyewitnesses reported that when
people fled to escape  the tear gas, UN troops gunned them down from the
back.

UN forces shot out electric transformers in the neighborhood. People were 
killed in their homes and also just outside of their homes, on the way to 
work. According to journalists and eyewitnesses, one man named Leon
Cherry,  age 46, was shot and killed on his way to work for a flower
company. Another  man, Mones Belizaire, was shot as he got ready to go
work in a local  sweatshop and subsequently died from a stomach infection.
A woman who was a  street vendor was shot in the head and killed
instantly.

One man was shot in his ribs while he was trying to brush his teeth.
Another  man was shot in the jaw as he left his house to try and get some
money for  his wife's medical costs; he endured a slow death.Yet another
man named Mira  was shot and killed while urinating in his home.

A mother, Sena Romelus, and her two young children were killed in their 
home, either by bullets or by a 83-CC grenade UN forces threw. Film
footage  of many of these deaths was shared with the US human rights
delegation.  Eyewitnesses claimed that the offensive overwhelmed the
community and that  there was not a "firefight", but rather a slaughter.
The operation was  primarily conducted by UN forces, with the Haitian
National Police this time  taking a back seat.

Seth Donnelly, a member of the US human rights delegation in
Port-au-Prince,  visited Cite Soleil with Haitian human rights workers on
Thursday afternoon,  July 7th. The team gathered testimony from many
members of the community,  young and old, men, women, and youth. All
verified the previous statements  we had received from journalists and
other eyewitness accounts.

These community members spoke of how they had been surrounded by tanks and
 troops that sealed off exits from the neighborhoods and then proceeded to
 assault the civilian population. The community allowed the team to film
the  evidence of the massacre, showing the homes -- in some cases made of
tin and  cardboard -- that had been riddled by bullets, tank fire and
helicopter  ammunition, as well as showing the team some of the corpses
still there,  including a mother and her two children.

The team also filmed a church and a school that had been riddled by 
ammunition. Reportedly, a preacher was among the victims killed. Some 
community members allowed the team to interview them, but not to film
their  faces for fear of their lives. People were traumutized and, in the
cases of  loved ones of victims, hysterical.

Many community members -- again young and old, men and women -- spoke
highly  of Dread Wilme, referring to him as their "protector" or "father",
and  expressed fear for the future. One member said that he heard that
another UN  operation against the community was planned for later Thursday
night or  early Friday morning.

Multiple community people indicated that they had counted at least 23
bodies  of people killed by the UN forces. Community members claimed that
UN forces  had taken away some of the bodies. Published estimates indicate
that upwards  of 50 may have been killed and an indeterminate number
wounded, and that  more than 300 heavily armed UN troops took part in the
assault on this  densely populated residential neighborhood.

"There was systematic firing on civilians," said one eyewitness to the 
killing. "All exits were cut off. The community was choked off, surrounded
 -- facing tanks coming from different angles, and overhead, helicopters
with  machine guns fired down on the people. The citizens were under
attack from  all sides and from the air. It was war on a community."

The Labor/Human Rights Delegation from the United States, sponsored by the
 San Francisco Labor Council, had been in Haiti since late last month to 
attend the Congress of the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH), the 
country's largest labor organization, and interviewed hundreds of Haitian 
workers, farmers and professionals about the current labor and human
rights  situation in Haiti.