Our Mess in Haiti

[seemslikeadream]

Saturday, April 3, 2004; Page A22


In his March 23 op-ed column on Haiti, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said, "Boniface Alexandre's appointment as interim president was dictated by the succession procedure outlined in Haiti's constitution. This reliance on the rule of law is a marked change for Haitian leadership. . . ."



In urging President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's resignation without a legislature to ratify the interim president, the Bush administration played a role in nullifying the Haitian constitution and disregarding the rule of law. Article 149 of the 1987 Haitian constitution outlines the process by which the interim president is appointed, and it includes the ratification of the legislature and the election of a new president within 45 to 90 days. Because of the breakdown in government, there is no legislature, no plan for elections and no president who can rule constitutionally.

Our country must respond to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti not only because doing so is a moral imperative but because it is a crisis we helped create.

SHERROD BROWN

U.S. Representative (D-Ohio)

Washington

The writer is a member of the House International Relations
Committee.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46683-2004Apr2.html

[saigon68]

1. Who the hell is writing the

op-ed column on Haiti, for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R).

And what the Hell is he messing in foreign policy for?

[Broadslidin]

2. Jeb Bush and Otto Reich Can Be Frequently Be Found in El Salvador.

Following newspapers in El Salvador, Mr. Bush and Mr. Reich
have also been frequently seen meeting with the fascist politicians
currently in control of El Salvador.

So many in color front page photos of a beaming Jeb Bush,
promoting feudalism in El Salvador.

[seemslikeadream]

3. Guns smuggled from South Florida arming Haitians

Guns smuggled from South Florida arming Haitians

By Jake Bergman and Oriana Zill de Granados
Special to the Sun-Sentinel

March 6, 2004


The political unrest in Haiti, with its graphic daily images of gunfire and street violence, is focusing attention once again on the island's South Florida gun connection.

Behind drugs, gun cases now occupy most of the attention of federal prosecutors in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, statistics show. The U.S. Attorney's Office does not keep track of the intended destination of smuggled guns.

But the ATF has said that 25 percent of the gun-smuggling cases handled by its Miami office during the past three years have involved firearms destined for Haiti. The island is the top foreign destination for guns exported illegally from South Florida.

"The movement of guns from South Florida to Haiti has been going on for a long time, and these cases are almost always linked to unrest in Haiti," said Daniel McBride, who heads technical services for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. McBride was in charge of the Miami office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms office during the 1990s, when dozens of Haitian gunrunners were prosecuted.

more
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sfl-gunsmar06,0,3843975.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[seemslikeadream]

4. And Colin lets this guy run free in Brooklyn

Laurelton protestors urge arrest of ex-Haitian leader


04/01/2004



Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron (far r.) joins protesters marching toward the reputed Laurelton home of Emmanuel "Toto" Constant.

Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron (far r.) joins protesters marching toward the reputed Laurelton home of Emmanuel "Toto" Constant.
Several dozen protesters attended a march in Laurelton Saturday to demand the arrest of a former Haitian paramilitary leader said to be living in the neighborhood and wanted in his country.

"Toto must go! Toto must go!" they shouted as they walked up 225th Street to the man's reputed residence near 137th Avenue. The protesters carried wanted posters of the man with charges of "murder" and a "rape."


Emmanuel "Toto" Constant, co-founder of the Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress, or FRAPH, is accused of human rights abuses during the early 1990s in Haiti, where he was convicted in absentia in 1994 for a massacre that year.

"Why is it that in the middle of the war on terror we have a known terrorist living in New York?" asked Ron Daniels, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a Manhattan-based group that helped organize the protest.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11223384&BRD=1079&PAG=461&de...


Constant tied to voodoo


BY RON HOWELL
STAFF WRITER

March 31, 2004


Emmanuel Constant, wanted in connection with a massacre in Haiti, apparently has been seeking inner peace in the practice of voodoo, say local Haitians who have seen him at ceremonies.

Several practitioners said Constant was initiated into the voodoo belief system - which combines elements of Catholicism with African-based traditions - about a year ago

But a decade ago, when Constant led an alleged right-wing terror group in Haiti, he had invoked what he referred to as the power of voodoo for political purposes. He threatened to use a magical powder against U.S. soldiers attempting to restore then-exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. The U.S. soldiers eventually came with Aristide and Constant fled to New York.


The United States permits Constant to stay even though he was convicted in Haiti for a 1994 massacre of two dozen Haitians.

Critics say Constant is being allowed to remain because he was once a CIA informant, a relationship Constant has acknowledged.

more

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-nytoto313730688mar31,0...


Campaign to Deport Constant - Who is Toto Constant?


Emmanuel "Toto" Constant was the founder and head of FRAPH, first the "Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti," later "Armed Revolutionary Front of the Haitian People." FRAPH was Haiti's most prominent paramilitary organization during the de facto regime. Constant was also a close advisor to the dictatorship, and maintained an office in the military headquarters. U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher called FRAPH "a paramilitary organization whose members were responsible for numerous human rights violations in Haiti in 1993 and 1994." A less restrained U.S. Embassy cable called FRAPH a group of "gun carrying crazies", eager to "use violence against all who oppose it." Numerous monitors, including the United Nations, the Organization of American States, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented the multitude of atrocities committed by FRAPH.

FRAPH did not target only Haitians. In October, 1993, when the U.S.S. Harlan County arrived in Port-au-Prince with troops ready to implement a U.S.-brokered peace accord, Constant organized a violent FRAPH demonstration. Demonstrators carried guns, sticks and machetes, and some shouted, in English, "Kill whites! Kill whites!" A year later, when U.S. troops returned to finally oust the dictatorship, Constant ordered that "ach FRAPH man must put down one American soldier." When U.S. troops stormed the FRAPH headquarters, Constant threatened journalists with: "Everybody who is reporting the situation bad... by the grace of God, they will end up in the ground."

Despite these atrocities, Mr. Constant has received the continued support and protection of the U.S. Government. Government sources have confirmed Constant's claim that the CIA encouraged him to form FRAPH, and provided him with financial and strategic assistance. U.S. soldiers arriving in Haiti to oust the de facto dictatorship were told that FRAPH was a legitimate political party that needed to be respected and protected. In the intervention's first days the U.S. Embassy arranged a press conference outside the Presidential Palace for Constant to announce his transition to politics. The conference was cut short, because even a cordon of U.S. soldiers could not protect Constant from the enraged crowd (for more information on this and other aspects of the Constant/U.S. relationship, see David Grann "Giving The Devil His Due" included in this packet).

Constant fled to the U.S. in late 1994, when a Haitian judge called him in for questioning. After a public outcry, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service initiated deportation proceedings. A judge ordered Constant deported to Haiti in September, 1995, because "his continued presence in the United States sends the message that the United States actively endorses his position and undermines the United States' mission in Haiti." That order has never been executed. Shortly after it was issued, Constant discussed his relationship with the CIA on CBS' Sixty Minutes, which led to a secret agreement exchanging Constant's continued presence in the U.S. for his silence.

http://haitireborn.org/campaigns/toto-constant /

Feb. 14, 2004. 07:43 PM


Haitian rebels take two towns



GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) — Haitian rebels brought in reinforcements from the neighbouring Dominican Republic, including a former soldier who led death squads in the 1980s and a police chief accused of fomenting a coup, witnesses said Saturday, as police fled two more northern towns.

A 20-man commando arrived from the Dominican Republic, led by Louis Jodel Chamblain, a soldier who headed army death squads in 1987, and Emmanuel Constant, co-leader of a militia known as the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, or FRAPH, which killed and maimed dozens between 1992 and 1994, witnesses in Gonaives said. Chamblain fled to the Dominican Republic after 1994, while Constant went to New York City.

Guy Philippe, a former police chief who fled to the Dominican Republic after being accused by the Haitian government of fomenting a coup in 2002, also arrived in Gonaives to help the rebels prepare for an expected government showdown. It was unclear when the commando arrived.

The rebels launched a bloody uprising nine days ago from Gonaives, 100 kilometres northwest of the capital Port-au-Prince, and Haiti's fourth-largest city. Some 50 people have been killed.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout...


AI REPORT 1997: HAITI

In September, police reportedly found an arms cache and evidence of plans to assassinate government officials at the home of Emmanuel Constant, former leader of the paramilitary organization Front pour l'avancement et le progrès d'Haïti (fraph), Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, who had fled to the usa in Decem-ber 1994. Two men were arrested at the scene, including a former army sergeant. By December, some 34 people report-edly remained in detention on suspicion of plotting against the authorities and engaging in other related activities, but had not been brought to trial.


http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aireport/ar97/AMR36.htm




Letter to Attorney General Janet Reno and Secretary Madeleine Albright
Re: Emmanuel "Toto" Constant
New York, December 11, 2000
Dear Attorney General Reno and Secretary Albright:

Our organizations are writing to request that the United States government execute the outstanding final deportation order obtained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) against Emmanuel "Toto" Constant in December 1995. Constant is wanted by Haitian prosecutors for serious human rights crimes in Haiti.

The Center for Constitutional Rights made this request to Attorney General Reno on August 4 and September 25, 2000, but has yet to receive a reply. Human Rights Watch has similarly written on several occasions to Secretary Albright without response

As you know, Constant was a founder and secretary general of the paramilitary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH). FRAPH members were responsible for human rights atrocities under the military government that ruled Haiti from 1991 to 1994, including extrajudicial executions, torture, and rape.

In February 1995 Constant's presence in the United States had become public and U.S. officials were pressured to arrest him. On March 29, 1995 Secretary of State Warren Christopher wrote Attorney General Reno an extraordinary letter requesting Constant's "expeditious deportation from the United States." Citing the Immigration and Nationality Act, Secretary Christopher "concluded that the continued presence and activities of Emmanuel Mario Constant ... in the United States ... would . . . cast doubt upon the seriousness of our resolve to combat human rights violations . . . I also request that you take all steps possible to effect his deportation to Haiti." Secretary Christopher understood Constant's role in Haiti's terror:

is officially regarded by the Department of State as an illegitimate paramilitary organization whose members were responsible for numerous human rights violations in Haiti in 1993 and 1994 . . . Mr Constant is one of the co-founders and current President of FRAPH. He was instrumental in sustaining the repression that prevailed in Haiti under the illegal military led regime ...

http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/12/constant1211.htm


How America Determines Friends and Foes

Noam Chomsky
The Toronto Star, March 14, 2004

The arrests were followed by what amounted to a show trial in Miami. The Five were sentenced, three to life sentences (for espionage; and the leader, Gerardo Hernandez, also for conspiracy to murder), after convictions that are now being appealed.

Meanwhile, people regarded by the FBI and Justice Department as dangerous terrorists live happily in the United States and continue to plot and implement crimes.

The list of terrorists-in-residence in the United States also includes Emmanuel Constant from Haiti, known as Toto, a former paramilitary leader from the Duvalier era. Constant is the founder of the FRAPH (Front for Advancement of Progress in Haiti), the paramilitary group that carried out most of the state terror in the early 1990s under the military junta that overthrew president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

At last report, Constant was living in Queens, N.Y.

The United States has refused Haiti's request for extradition. The reason, it is generally assumed, is that Constant might reveal ties between Washington and the military junta that killed 4,000 to 5,000 Haitians, with Constant's paramilitary forces playing the leading role.

The gangsters leading the current coup in Haiti include FRAPH leaders.

http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20040314.htm