Haiti News

[Kitten]

Poverty, storn ravaged Haiti

GONAIVES, Haiti - The torrents of water theat raged down upon this city, killing over 700 people, are testimony to a man-made ecological disaster created by poverty. Haiti's once - verdant hills have been transformed into a denuded mooscape of bedrock cut by ravines. There's no topsoil left to hold back deadly floods because people dig rocks from riverbeds to build homes and chop down trees to cook.

[Bashment Girl]

I watched the news and I cried... that's hard to get me to cry watching TV. The peoples homes were flooded. They have created these huge graves to dump all the bodies that were previously just lying in the streets after the storm, they're also burning them which I found so depressing. Then I see all these babies and children suffering. It's awful and I wanted to help so my group in my office we're collecting reflief stuff specifically for Haiti because they're in for months of suffering. The newest concern is that te bacteria from the flooding will also start spreading disease. I don't know what else we can do here but at least we're trying to collect money, food and clothes here.

[AngelsKiss]

Yeah Bash its a tough situation for Haiti and Grenada. I must say lots of companies and individuals here in Canada are helping out. My company ha collected quiet a bit of money from staff members as well as put up money for the Caribbean.

On Pulse 24 (news) an 8 year old kid saw the news and wanted to do something for Haiti. He was able to collect $500.

Still with all the aid pouring in it won't ever be enough to drag Haiti out of poverty, just help out some.

[Bashment Girl]

Still with all the aid pouring in it won't ever be enough to drag Haiti out of poverty, just help out some.

That os the saddest part of all eh?

[Greatis]

hmmm the death toll is now 2000 not 700. The haitians are so restless now it is reported that the aide workers are being met with hostility.

[Bashment Girl]

hmmm the death toll is now 2000 not 700. The haitians are so restless now it is reported that the aide workers are being met with hostility.

2000 for Haiti ALONE?

[Greatis]

2000 for Haiti ALONE?

Yes it's rather sad.

[Bashment Girl]

Yes it's rather sad.

Holy! That's incredibly depressing! It really is! WOW.

[safiya]

Commission of Women Victims for Victims

International Women's Day, March 8, 2005

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

To contact: kofaviv@yahoo.ca


The Commission of Women Victims for Victims is a group of victims of political rape from the 1991-94 coup d'état working with new victims of rape and political rape. On the occasion of International Women's Day, we take the opportunity to speak out against violations of the rights of Haitian women and to demand justice for all women victims.

The Commission has received more than 100 cases of women who have been victims of rape in poor neighborhoods, including Village de Dieu, Martissant, Delmas 30, Delmas 13, Bel Air, LaSaline, Fort National, and Cité Soleil since September 30. The situation of these women victims is extremely critical. Many victims have had husbands killed or disappeared at the time of their rape. Several have had their homes burned and all of their possessions destroyed or stolen. These women are then forced to find a place for themselves and their children to stay. We have met with many women who have been sleeping outside in the mountains because they have no other place to stay.

We have seen many cases of several armed perpetrators raping one or more women in a home. Victims often cannot identify the aggressors when they enter into their home because their faces are masked. There are many cases of this nature in Cité Soleil, where many victims are forced to flee the area by boat without having any place to seek refuge.

The presence of MINUSTAH in poor neighborhoods has done little to prevent rapes from occurring on a daily basis. The number of cases we have received from Village de Dieu and Cité Soleil alone shows us that MINUSTAH has failed to provide real security for women in these areas.

The Commission of Women Victims for Victims condemns rape and all forms of violence against women. We call upon MINUSTAH to provide security in our neighborhoods to protect women from rape. We call upon the government and MINUSTAH to put in place measures of security to stop rape and other violence against women in popular neighborhoods. We demand an end to rape and justice for all women victims of rape.

[safiya]

[B]IT's TIME YOU KNOW WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN HAITI[/B]

Haiti Still Torn by Violence a Year After Aristide
Mon Feb 28, 5:39 PM ET

By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Armed gangs roam the slums, former soldiers control small towns and bystanders die in street gunfights -- a year after former President Jean-Bertand Aristide was pushed from power, Haiti remains politically unstable and plagued by violence.

In a sign of what ails the poorest country in the Americas, police opened fire on Monday on thousands of demonstrators who marched through the Port-au-Prince slum of Bel-Air to demand Aristide's return. Three people were killed, witnesses said.

At least 28 people have been killed in the slums over the past five days, bringing the death toll to 278 since September. Three soldiers from a Brazil-led U.N. peacekeeping force were wounded by gunfire last week.

An increasing number of political and social groups that opposed Aristide are disenchanted with the way the U.S.-backed interim government is running the troubled Caribbean state, which in its history has endured more than 30 coups.

"This government is only repeating the mistakes of the past. We did not fight Aristide's regime to have another one just like it," said Gerard Blot, a leader of one of a dozen political parties that have called on the government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue to resign.

Some Haitians in the slums, where Aristide still has significant support a year after he was pushed out by a bloody rebellion and foreign pressure, believe their economic lot has worsened.

"Last year, I sent all three of my children to school. This year I could only afford to send one," said Marjorie Jovin, 38, a resident of Village de Dieu, a pro-Aristide slum. "I can't even feed them."

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE...

Critics of the Latortue government have accused it of incompetence, human rights abuses and corruption, many of the same accusations leveled at Aristide, the former Roman Catholic priest who was seen as a hero of Haitian democracy when he helped unseat the Duvalier dictatorship in the 1980s.

Latortue has denied the accusations, in turn accusing his critics of being unable to adapt to democratic rule.

"They cannot accommodate themselves to the spirit of tolerance, national reconciliation we want in this country, and the fight against corruption we are leading," Latortue said.

Hundreds of Aristide allies, including ex-prime minister Yvon Neptune, have been jailed for months without trial in violation of Haitian law, according to human rights activists.

No one expected the interim government -- installed when Aristide fled on Feb. 29 in the face of a rebellion by armed gangs and soldiers who once belonged to Haiti's disbanded army -- to solve in one year the grinding poverty and violence Haiti has faced since independence from France 201 years ago.

But the disappointments stem from the fact that Haiti still suffers many of the ills for which Aristide was blamed.

RAMPANT VIOLENCE

Under Aristide, gangs of young toughs called the shots in the streets and authorities condoned political violence. The gangs are still armed and street violence is rampant.

Many of the ex-soldiers who killed police and civilians during the revolt have not been prosecuted. Some have even been named to the new administration.



Former rebel Winter Etienne was appointed port director in Gonaives, where the rebellion started.

Rebels still control parts of the country, with heavily armed soldiers occupying police stations in the southern town of Petit-Goave and in the Central Plateau.

Rebel chief Remissainthe Ravix has demanded Latortue reinstate the army Aristide disbanded in 1995. The government says a new, elected government should decide the matter.

There is a $30,000 reward for the capture of Ravix, but he is dismissive: "Who could dare arrest a military commander?"

Haiti's electoral council set legislative and presidential elections for Nov. 13. But some political leaders who opposed Aristide are concerned about the credibility of the process.

Micha Gaillard, a spokesman for the Democratic Movements' National Congress, called on the government to disarm groups carrying illegal weapons to stop them from scaring voters.

"Whether they are pro-Aristide gangs or former military, they all have to be disarmed, because they'll try to influence the election in places they control," Gaillard said.