Five young men murdered in Port-au-Prince slum

[seemslikeadream]

Haitian police patrol in a damaged pickup truck in the center of Port-au-Prince, Haiti Sunday, March 21, 2004


Canadian Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — As Canadian soldiers prepare to begin patrolling the streets of Port-au-Prince, young Haitian men continue to be killed in the poverty-stricken country.

Five men between the ages of 17 and 23 were found shot to death in the garbage-covered streets of the LaSaline slum Sunday morning. The bodies, their hands bound with wire and black garbage bags over their blood soaked heads, were taken by residents to a local morgue. The violence flared ahead of the arrival of more Canadian troops in the capital.

Ernseau Bolivar, 32, who described himself as a local communtiy leader said the men were executed by Haitian police.

"They came last night and took these boys away. We found them in the street this morning with their hands tied and black garbage bags covering their heads."

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1079922400635_20?s_name=&no_ads=




The bodies of three young Haitian men lie on the floor of a private morgue in the LaSaline district of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday March 21, 2004. Residents say five young men were taken away by Haitian police last night and their bound and hooded bodies found dead this morning with gunshot wounds to the head. (AP Photo/Ryan Remiorz, CP)




The hands of a young Haitian man remain bound behind his back in a private morgue in the LaSaline district of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday March 21, 2004. Residents say five young men were taken away by Haitian police last night and their bound and hooded bodies found dead this morning with gunshot wounds to the head. (AP Photo/Ryan Remiorz, CP)

[tlcandie]

1. Reminds me of what has and/or is being done to those arrested

in the ME...bags over head and hands tied behind back. Disgusting nevertheless!

[Octafish]

2. The Bush Organized Crime Family at work.

It's important to keep the streets clear of those who actually like Democracy.

[seemslikeadream]

3. Democracy ? Not for Josiméne, 10, a live-in maid

Me and Gigi

Self-portrait of Gigi taken with Josiméne the last time Gigi saw her. Since her days as a beat photographer for New York Newsday, Gigi Cohen has developed a highly individual and impressionistic style. Specializing in portraiture and documentary subjects such as incarceration, AIDS, and children's rights, her work has taken her around the globe.

Credit: Gigi Cohen Copyright: 2004


Haiti's Dark Secret: The Restavecs
Crossing the Line Between Chores and Slavery

March 20, 2004 -- Freelance producer Rachel Leventhal presents the moving story of one of Haiti's estimated 300,000 restavecs -- young children from the rural countryside literally sold to work for families in the poverty-stricken nation's urban areas.

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1779562



A Child Caring for Children

One of the two children Josiméne cares for argues and points at Josiméne while the girl's mother fixes her hair. Josiméne also bathes the children, cleans the two-room house, washes dishes, scrubs laundry by hand, runs errands, and sells small items from the family's informal store.

Credit: Gigi Cohen Copyright: 2004

[Judi Lynn]

4. And we thought ADULT Haitians were the ones taking so much punishment

working horrendous hours at almost NO MONEY whatsoever in the sweatshops, with NO BENEFITS whatsoever. Overtime would be a cruel joke to people making 22 to 28 cents an hour.

If that weren't bad enough, seemslikeadream jolts us awake with the news very small children are being used as servants in apparently even larger numbers, one being way too many.

I remember Tinoire's reference to a wealthy woman in Haiti ringing a bell by her bedside and obligating a young servant girl to run up one or two flights of stairs to give her water from the table by her bed, and I forgot it, temporarily, in the _Bush generated Haitian carnage which followed after she wrote that.

Very, very sad. Thanks for the photos of the two young girls, seemslikeadream. So astonishing adults will be so small they would gladly misuse the little ones who have no one to stand up for them. The world is starting to find out about small and selfish as illustrated for our education by our own right-wing interests, as they run amock, unchecked.

[seemslikeadream]

5. Thanks so much JudiLyn

Did you get a chance to listen to the interviews with Josimene? They are special.




A Picture of Me

Josiméne looks at a black and white Polaroid of herself. There are no mirrors in the two-room house where she works as a restavec, or live-in maid, for a family of four. Josiméne's family lives in a remote part of Haiti's interior, hours by car and foot from Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital.

Credit: Gigi Cohen Copyright: 2004

[Judi Lynn]

6. Unfortunately, my "RealOnePlayer" doesn't want to cooperate.

I think it has something to do with a firewall, but I'm not aware of how to correct the problem.

I did look at the photos, and pondered so sorrowfully over this:

My Only Dress

Josiméne shows off her only dress during a pause between chores. Her possessions also include two pairs of shorts, one skirt, a couple of shirts, a school uniform and flip flops.

Credit: Gigi Cohen Copyright: 2004

Unbearable.