December 29, 2004
US-installed regime in Haiti
compensates former brutal military
Haiti Information Project
Port au Prince, Haiti (HIP)- The US-installed regime of Gerard
Latortue has begun making compensation payments to Haitis former
brutal military in an apparent move to reward them for their role in
overthrowing the democratically elected government of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
In a gesture rife with symbolism, the first payments were made to
former soldiers who had participated in a takeover of President
Aristides residence this past December 15. UN forces were said to have
convinced the former soldiers to leave without a single shot being
fired. Afterwards, the UN trucked them to a local police academy where
they were housed in preparation for Tuesdays ceremony. Thirty-three
former soldiers who participated in the takeover of Aristides compound
received the first in a series of checks that are said by the Latortue
regime to total about $5000 per soldier. About 6000 former soldiers are
said to be eligible for similar compensation.
The leader of the takeover of Aristides residence, Remissainthes
Ravix, remains at large despite the announcement of a warrant for his
arrest by the current regime following threats he made to kill Latortue
and the Chief of Police, Leon Charles.
Remissainthes has recently been heard giving in-studio interviews on
various radio stations throughout the capital even as the authorities
claim he is the subject of a nationwide manhunt.
While human rights groups expressed concern over the vetting process
for compensation fearing former soldiers who may have committed crimes
might be rewarded, reaction and condemnation from supporters of the
exiled president was swift. A member of a Lavalas organization who
spoke on condition of anonymity remarked angrily, First the UN lets
them takeover towns in the north allowing them to kill and arrest
members of Lavalas. Secondly, they allow the killers to enter the
capital and begin a campaign of terror against us with impunity.
Finally, the international community rewards their killing by
integrating them into the police and now, adding injustice to our
misery, they openly pay them off for committing human rights violations
against us. Is this what they mean by reconciliation? Is this what they
mean when they say they are creating a climate for us to participate in
the next elections?
Amid charges of UN complicity, the so-called rebels who ousted Aristide
still control several towns in northern Haiti and refuse to lay down
their weapons.
Representatives of Aristides Lavalas political party have condemned
the UN for allowing the former military to conduct murderous raids into
the poor neighborhoods of the capital where support for Aristide
remains strong. The disbanded army is also accused of killings, rapes
and torture under the 1991-1994 military regime of General Raoul
Cedras.
Violence in the capital of Port au Prince escalated dramatically since
Sept. 30, when the UN refused to intervene as the Haitian police fired
on unarmed demonstrators calling for the return of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide remains in exile in the Republic of
South Africa.
The Haiti Information Project (HIP) is a non-profit alternative news
service providing coverage and analysis of breaking developments in
Haiti.
Contact: haitiinformationproject@yahoo.com