(Below is the table of contents and stories from the most recent issue of Haiti Info, the newsletter of the Haitian Information Bureau. The lead story from each bi-weekly issue is posted in this conference. To receive the entire newsletter, you may subscribe by email, fax or mail. See the subscription information at the end of this entry). * * * HAITI INFO * * * News direct from the people and organizations of Haiti's grassroots democratic movement 3 December 1994, Vol. 3, #5 Contents: Stories: AFTER THREE WEEKS: MICHEL & REY REPORT Getting ready for "aid," Structural Adjustment and Elections ARISTIDE TRIES TO ASSURE "POPULAR" SECTORS ABUSES CONTINUE: U.S. Troops Willingly Assist NORTH VIGILANT - Protests Amry, Tries Soldiers TROOPS ARREST DEMOCRATIC & POPULAR ACTIVIST WOMEN PROTEST: Demand Justice, Reparations LA GONAVE ORGANIZES - Shocking Biased U.S. Troops Arrive HAITI COMMISSION DEMANDS JUSTICE GROUPS PROTEST TRASH REPUBLICAN VICTORY: U.S. Democracy Sick LEADERS DEMAND JUSTICE ARISTIDE PRIEST NO MORE [No Close-Up or Development News this issue] Stories: AFTER THREE WEEKS: MICHEL & REY REPORT Getting ready for "aid," Structural Adjustment and Elections PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec. 2 - The elections projected for December will be delayed for months, but within 15 days Haiti will pay its back interest and the multilateral programs - including the projected "structural adjustment program" (SAP) - will start up by the beginning of the year. In press conferences on Nov. 25 and Nov. 29, Prime Minister Smarck Michel and Finance Minister Marie Michele Rey announced the broad brush strokes for their coming 14 months in office: hundreds of millions of dollars worth of multilateral loans and "aid," an SAP which will include the cutting of over 20,000 jobs, sale of state utilities and factories and elimination of services, and country- wide elections. State Devastated, Debts Climbing Michel reported that he and his cabinet - now 18 ministers and eight secretaries - found offices with no telephones or desks, state parking lots with no state vehicles. Thousands of employees are owed 14 months' salaries (approximately US$7.3 million dollars worth). The de facto regimes swelled the public administration from 20,000 to 43,000 and ran up a combined deficit of over three billion gourdes (over US$225 million). However, despite the presence in Haiti of those responsible for the devastation, Michel did not announce any plans to prosecute them or attempt to recuperate state property. Rather, on Nov. 25, Rey noted that the government will pay its bills in part with "budgetary support" from the Interamerican Development Bank (BID) and several other funders. However, that support - over US$100 million - is in the formof loans, and will be added to the country's debt, about US$900 million before the coup d'etat. Soon, Haiti will pay its overdue interest, US$83 million, with US$13 million of its own and US$70 million from "friends." With that, and the signature of a "letter of intent" with the International Monetary Fund this month, US$230 million worth of frozen projects will be relaunched. The government will then return to Paris on Jan. 30 for another meeting with multi- and bilateral funders in order to approve an updated version of the "Paris plan" which will unleash almost US$600 million. [See recent issues.] Michel noted that state receipts were low in October (US$4.42 million) and the cost of living was high because of "incertitude" and said he wanted to "reassure people they can buy, to show that we made a clear choice, so they can find their confidence again." Michel's Economic Program: SAP The choice Michel and his government have made is clear. Michel said he plans to "integrate" Haiti more into the "international economy." In fact, Haiti is already "integrated" and also quite dependant, but the government's plans will make it even more so. The state will also cut back on the meagre services it provides and yield to the private and "non-governmental" sector. "We have a state that does not want to... give services... it wants to control, to supervise," Michel explained. Michel also discussed the need to cut employees from the payroll and begin to sell off state assets. Moving from the terms "privatization" and "democratization," Michel now calls it "equatization" of assets. "Equity" is the new byword and means that "all people will have the same chance" and "that means we will suppress subsidies" because "when you subsidize a product, it's just a few people who profit... we will give everyone a chance." Local products like peasant-grown corn and rice are currently partially protected from external (especially U.S.) competition. Elections Put Off For Months Michel's government is rushing to line up loans and "aid," but not the much-needed elections. Michel shocked journalists when he announced they will not take place in December or January as the president wanted. He said "mechanically it's not possible," until 14 to 22 weeks after the formation of an electoral council. Over 2,000 parliamentary and local positions, including all the deputies' terms, expired yesterday, but have been prolonged until early February. After that date, Michel said he will manage the country by ruling "with decrees." That prospect and the US$24 million U.S.-led "elections program" which will have at least three months to influence the public are cause for concern among supporters of democracy in Haiti. ABUSES CONTINUE: U.S. Troops Willingly Assist PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec. 1 - U.S.-led "multinational" troops, Haitian soldiers and paramilitary thugs are threatening, harassing and illegally arresting people all over the country. A growing number of outraged organizations and individuals are denouncing the U.S. troops, demanding the total disarmament and dissolution of the local repressive forces, including the army, and are denouncing the "recycling" of soldiers overseen by the U.S.-led occupation forces. [See also news from Cap-Haitien, La Gonave, Jeremie.] Many Reports Trickling In A stunning example of U.S.-led illegal and repressive activity occurred in Bocozelle on Nov. 29. Thirty-five U.S. soldiers, the former local head of FRAPH (Jean-Robert Elisee), and wealthy landowner Edouard Vieux arrived in town and, after refreshments at Vieux's home, illegally "arrested" three peasants. Elisee gave the orders, Vieux translated and U.S. troops carried them out. Later that day, Father Frantz Lichtle, the Pont-Sonde priest and local representative for Commission Justice et Paix, a rights group from the Catholic church, tracked the three down at the St. Marc barracks. As he was making inquiries in English, a U.S. soldier said they had the right to arrest anybody, anywhere and for anything. After Lichtle protested, the soldier and Vieux, who had just arrived, threatened him, and then another U.S. soldier threw him out. (A Jordanian soldier promised to write a report but said he could not secure the peasants' release. They were released today.) In Gonaives, the local Commission Justice et Paix reports that the very same commandant who oversaw brutal repression for three years still occupies his post there, and throughout the Artibonite department, members of FRAPH and Haitian soldiers still freely repress citizens. The commission, which issued a dossier called "Rivers of Blood" on Nov. 30, receives almost daily reports of murders, beatings, arrests and threats. For instance, on Nov. 8, FRAPH members surrounded the home of a Desdunes magistrate. They had already illegally "arrested" him in October with the help of local soldiers. Not finding him this time, they threatened his brother with machetes, but the intervention of neighbors saved him. On Nov. 4 in a town near Jacmel, a stunned population watched U.S. troops and Haitian soldiers reinstall the local section chief, complete with a new uniform and weapons, despite the president's Oct. 31 decree that the section chief system was re-abolished. On Nov. 22 Libete reported he has "a team of neighborhood thugs that protect him." (Libete's vendors are also still harassed.) Denunciations and Criticisms All over the country, peasant organizations, crowds greeting the president and others are demanding the disbanding of the army and full disarmament of the paramilitary structure. In a Nov. 19 press release, the first since the invasion, the Conference Haitienne des Religieux criticized the recycling of army soldiers and also said "Didn't the international community, headed by the U.S., promise to deliver a climate of peace?" On Nov. 30, the Gonaives office of Commission Justice et Paix vehemently protested the three illegal arrests and the "odious behavior" of the U.S. soldiers. In another report, it demanded a "systematic disarmament of all those carrying arms" in the region, and on Nov. 15 denounced the "former soldiers known for their grave human rights violations" in the "new police." On Nov. 30, Lichtle protested the "collusion between the powerful landowner... FRAPH and U.S. soldiers" and demanded "What kind of justice is possible in the case of flagrant injustices committed by the occupying army?" There have also been protests in towns like Cap-Haitien and Jeremie, and on Nov. 22 in the capital, the Christian Peacemaker Teams protested to demand justice and disarmament. Even President Jean-Bertrand Aristide raised his voice, but not against the U.S. troops or "recycling." "It is not enough to just disarm some of them," he told The Washington Post on Nov. 25. "We should be moving fast. This is the cry of the Haitian people." The U.S. reacted negatively. Secretary of Defense William Perry cynically said Haiti should not call "Uncle Sam when there is a problem." 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