|
|
.gif){kind=small} |
PRESS RELEASE
Picket Line in front of Haitian Consulate in New York Thursday June 27, 2002, 5-7 PM, 271 Madison Ave between 39th St and 40th St Consulate Tel. # :212-697-9767 Art work by RONNY EXUME
The local population came to the help of the injured workers accommodating them in their homes to get first-aid; the police came, searching the homes with the help of whistleblowers among the henchmen, and arrested 11 victims, among them 9 workers and the 2 journalists. They were taken to a jail in St. Raphael. The next day, May 28, 2002, a government helicopter at President Aristide's Palace came to fetch the prisoners. They were taken to the National Penitentiary and Fort National in Port Au Prince where they still are denied medical care. The two journalists have been released. However, the workers are kept in prison without any charges to this day. Following the arrests, the Lavalas Government through its local authorities in St. Raphael and its Secretary of State of Communications, Mario Dupuy, fed the press with misinformation and lies. They painted the workers as "terrorists" who tried to take up the private land of others. They came up with this sadistic image to cover up the massacre perpetrated against the workers by the bourgeoisie in Cap Haitian, the landowners, and the local lavalas authorities in St. Raphael. They orchestrated a blood bath on workers who were claiming their full legal rights and pursuing a usage in existence for fifty years. We are calling on progressives and other justice minded folks to come to a picket line in front of the Haitian Consulate Offices located at 271 Madison Ave between East 39th St and East 40th St in Manhattan on Thursday June 27, 2002 from 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. We are going to demand: We are going to demand: 1) The release of the jailed workers in Haiti 2) Immediate medical care for the incarcerated workers 3) Workers' access to Union Lawyers 4) Reparations for the injured workers, journalists and their families 5) Respect for the legal, constitutional and democratic rights of the workers to organize themselves 6) Recognition and Respect for the Workers' Unions 7) An end to the on-going repression, harassment and persecution of workers, their families, and supporters 8) Freedom of the Press and the rights of journalists to perform their duties without fear of political reprisals 9) The arrest and incarceration of the real criminals and murderers 10) A public self-criticism on the part of the lavalas government for the misinformation and the sadistically staged scenario in the press on the massacre. For more information, please call the Batay Ouvriye Solidarity Network/Global Sweatshop Coalition at 212-947-7744. home
|
about hk | headlines |
hk staff | archives |
top ten list | events |
who's who
downloads | e-mail |videos|radio| bulletin board | chat | links | subscription Contact
Us - We'd love to hear what you have to
say about our website. |
|
 |
|
||||
|
||||
On
Monday May 27, 2002, a large group of unionized workers who work on the
Guacimal Plantation and who are affiliated with the May First Federation-Batay
Ouvriye were resuming their work on the bitter orange plantations for
the start of the off-season. Since 1958, there was an agreement between
the workers and the owners after the land was bought from them that they
would be working the land in the off-seasons. It had become customary
law for the workers to do so every year for close to 50 years now. The
workers invited two union delegations, one from Cap-Haitian, and the other
from St. Michel de L'Atalaille to come to Guacimal for support in case
there were discussions with the watchmen on the field. Two journalists
came with the delegations, one from Haiti Progres Newspaper and the other
from Radio Atlantic to cover the beginning of the Off-Season work. An
overwhelming mob of henchmen headed by the local lavalas authorities in
the municipal councils, Casec and Asec, armed with machetes, clubs, rocks
and revolvers massacred the workers and the delegations of workers and
journalists that came on the field in Guacimal. The Lavalas gangs beheaded
two senior citizens, Francilien Exine and Ipharès Guerrier, members of
Batay Ouvriye, after chopping off their limbs then threw the body parts
into a ditch on the plantation.