[IPSM] THURS 3pm: Protest UN Massacre in Haiti

[Dru Oja Jay]

International Day of Protest Against UN Massacre in Haiti
Montreal Action: March and Rally

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.

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.

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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.