This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI PROGRES
newsweekly. For the complete edition with other news in French
and Creole, please contact the paper at (tel) 718-434-8100,
(fax) 718-434-5551 or e-mail at editor@haitiprogres.com.
Also visit our website at <www.haitiprogres.com>.
HAITI PROGRES
"Le journal qui offre une alternative"
* THIS WEEK IN HAITI *
March 1 - 8, 2006
Vol. 23, No. 51
newsweekly. For the complete edition with other news in French
and Creole, please contact the paper at (tel) 718-434-8100,
(fax) 718-434-5551 or e-mail at editor@haitiprogres.com.
Also visit our website at <www.haitiprogres.com>.
HAITI PROGRES
"Le journal qui offre une alternative"
* THIS WEEK IN HAITI *
March 1 - 8, 2006
Vol. 23, No. 51
MIAMI COMMUNITY PREPARES FOR THIRD SESSION OF INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL ON
HAITI
As Haiti enters a new chapter with the Feb. 7 election of René Préval as
president, the question of justice for the thousands killed and wounded
by Haitian police, paramilitaries and foreign occupation troops before
and after the Feb. 29, 2004 coup d'état is coming to the fore.
In this context, on Saturday, March 11, the third session of the
International Tribunal on Haiti will be held in Miami, Florida at the
southern campus of Florida International University (FIU).
Among the witnesses to testify will be Father Gérard Jean-Juste, who was
a political prisoner of the de facto government for over six months
until his provisional release at the end of January (see Haiti Progres,
Vol. 23, No. 47, 2/1/2006).
Members of a Commission of Inquiry, who carried out a fact-finding
mission to Haiti last October, will present their findings and video
testimony of coup victims. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark
heads the Commission of Inquiry and will submit the final report from
its October visit.
The Tribunal held sessions in Washington, DC on Sep. 23 and in Boston on
Nov. 19, during which 15-member juries convicted five of the 22
officials and officers indicted by the Tribunal. They are: U.S. Marine
Brigadier General Ronald Coleman, Haitian Police Inspector Yves Gaspard,
former Haitian National Police Chief Léon Charles, former UN Mission to
Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH) military commander Brazilian Lt. General
Augusto Heleno Ribiero Pereira, and the Chilean MINUSTAH chief Juan
Gabriel Valdes.
The Tribunal will ask the International Criminal Court in The Hague to
prosecute those convicted during its sessions for crimes against
humanity. After Miami, the Tribunal plans at least two more sessions, in
Montreal and New York.
On the strength of evidence presented at the Tribunal's second session
in Boston, chief prosecutor Desiree Wayne said that she may indict two
or three more officials.
The third session will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. in the Margaret E.
Anliker Auditorium (GC140) of the Graham Center on FIU's University Park
Campus, 11200 S.W. 8th Street in Miami. It is hosted by the Bolivarian
Youth of FIU, from which many students are expected to attend.
Meanwhile, the Haitian community of Miami is also mobilizing. Free
round-trip bus transportation to the Tribunal will leave from the
community organization Veye Yo at 28 N.E. 54th Street, in the heart of
Miami's Little Haiti, at 4:30 p.m.
Over 15 massacres are outlined in the indictment before the Tribunal, to
which Chief Prosecutor Wayne may add the Feb. 13 incident where UN
troops fired on protestors demonstrating against election fraud, killing
two and wounding many more.
"It is imperative that the truth of these matters come out and be
known," Ramsey Clark said in his address to the second session. "We have
the power of the mind and the spirit to seek the truth, to find the
truth, where it is among those who have suffered directly and saw it and
know it... To define it in the most credible way possible, to reinforce
it in every way we can, to show that this is what happened, that these
are the facts: that's the challenge of this Tribunal and that's what it'
s trying to do."
In Miami, those who would like more information should contact: Veye Yo
(305) 756-1205, Haiti Solidarity (305) 582 4846, or Bolivarian Youth
(305) 576-1961.
A delegation from New York is also being organized. The cost for a plane
ticket and one night at a hotel is between $200 and $300. For more
information, contact Haiti Progres (718) 434-8100 or KAKOLA (718)
629-4050.
All articles copyrighted Haiti Progres, Inc. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED.
Please credit Haiti Progres.
HAITI
As Haiti enters a new chapter with the Feb. 7 election of René Préval as
president, the question of justice for the thousands killed and wounded
by Haitian police, paramilitaries and foreign occupation troops before
and after the Feb. 29, 2004 coup d'état is coming to the fore.
In this context, on Saturday, March 11, the third session of the
International Tribunal on Haiti will be held in Miami, Florida at the
southern campus of Florida International University (FIU).
Among the witnesses to testify will be Father Gérard Jean-Juste, who was
a political prisoner of the de facto government for over six months
until his provisional release at the end of January (see Haiti Progres,
Vol. 23, No. 47, 2/1/2006).
Members of a Commission of Inquiry, who carried out a fact-finding
mission to Haiti last October, will present their findings and video
testimony of coup victims. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark
heads the Commission of Inquiry and will submit the final report from
its October visit.
The Tribunal held sessions in Washington, DC on Sep. 23 and in Boston on
Nov. 19, during which 15-member juries convicted five of the 22
officials and officers indicted by the Tribunal. They are: U.S. Marine
Brigadier General Ronald Coleman, Haitian Police Inspector Yves Gaspard,
former Haitian National Police Chief Léon Charles, former UN Mission to
Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH) military commander Brazilian Lt. General
Augusto Heleno Ribiero Pereira, and the Chilean MINUSTAH chief Juan
Gabriel Valdes.
The Tribunal will ask the International Criminal Court in The Hague to
prosecute those convicted during its sessions for crimes against
humanity. After Miami, the Tribunal plans at least two more sessions, in
Montreal and New York.
On the strength of evidence presented at the Tribunal's second session
in Boston, chief prosecutor Desiree Wayne said that she may indict two
or three more officials.
The third session will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. in the Margaret E.
Anliker Auditorium (GC140) of the Graham Center on FIU's University Park
Campus, 11200 S.W. 8th Street in Miami. It is hosted by the Bolivarian
Youth of FIU, from which many students are expected to attend.
Meanwhile, the Haitian community of Miami is also mobilizing. Free
round-trip bus transportation to the Tribunal will leave from the
community organization Veye Yo at 28 N.E. 54th Street, in the heart of
Miami's Little Haiti, at 4:30 p.m.
Over 15 massacres are outlined in the indictment before the Tribunal, to
which Chief Prosecutor Wayne may add the Feb. 13 incident where UN
troops fired on protestors demonstrating against election fraud, killing
two and wounding many more.
"It is imperative that the truth of these matters come out and be
known," Ramsey Clark said in his address to the second session. "We have
the power of the mind and the spirit to seek the truth, to find the
truth, where it is among those who have suffered directly and saw it and
know it... To define it in the most credible way possible, to reinforce
it in every way we can, to show that this is what happened, that these
are the facts: that's the challenge of this Tribunal and that's what it'
s trying to do."
In Miami, those who would like more information should contact: Veye Yo
(305) 756-1205, Haiti Solidarity (305) 582 4846, or Bolivarian Youth
(305) 576-1961.
A delegation from New York is also being organized. The cost for a plane
ticket and one night at a hotel is between $200 and $300. For more
information, contact Haiti Progres (718) 434-8100 or KAKOLA (718)
629-4050.
All articles copyrighted Haiti Progres, Inc. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED.
Please credit Haiti Progres.
_______________________________________________________________