(Below is the table of contents and lead story 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 22 April 1995, Vol. 3, #14 Contents: Stories: WINDS OF CONTESTATION - A Climate of Political Confusion, Terror in the Streets INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY - Groups Denounce, Call to Organize Human Rights: INVESTIGATIONS TO OPEN? REFUGEES FLEEING AGAIN Common Ground: ELECTIONS - THE FINAL COAL OF VARNISH Stories: WINDS OF CONTESTATION - A Climate of Political Confusion, Terror in the Streets PORT-AU-PRINCE, Apr. 21 - Six months after the return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and five months after his cabinet was installed, there are signs that winds of contestation are rising up here. Over the past two weeks, teachers, youth, workers, unemployed people and market ladies have held demonstrations to criticize government policies. Also, although the elections machinery is moving forward, there are many criticisms. The government has reacted variously by making new promises, offering to negotiate with some parties and, in President Aristide's case, blaming unnamed enemies who are "plotting" against the people, making clear allusions to his own government in his typical illusive style. In the meantime, lawlessness continues, with violence being reported across the country. A candidate for deputy was brutally attacked in Cap-Haitien last week and today a university student was shot in the head twice, in broad daylight on a downtown street, because he witnessed a hold-up. Teachers and Workers Make Demands After the Ministry of Education announced pay raises of 30 to 50 percent for teachers (for instance, a full-time high school teacher would go from the equivalent of US$177/month to $238/month, from US$73 to $110 for grade school), two unions protested. "Professors, the category which is most neglected and humiliated in the country... made 14 recommendations," explained a teacher at the Apr. 19 press conference. Union Nationale des Normaliens d'Haiti and other unions asked for a 300 percent pay raise since it said even the government estimates the cost of living has risen 300 percent. According to the unions, the health ministry has already awarded more reasonable raises, some over 200 percent, and some hikes in the justice sector top 400 percent. The ministry's budget rose 87 percent, to 425 million gourdes (about US$30 million) for this year. "Listen!" she said, "Minister [Emmanuel] Buteau decided to give us something he calls 'augmentation' or 'salary raise' that we can call neither 'adjustment' because it does not consider the rise in the cost of living, nor 'raise' because there was no adjustment!" The unions threatened to strike and asked Aristide to intervene. Buteau said today he will meet with the unions next week. On Apr. 20, several dozen unemployed workers from the state cement factory and state flour mill protested in front of the Ministry of Finance to demand they reopen. Both plants turned a profit under Aristide's administration, were closed during the coup and are slated to be privatized under the Structural Adjustment Program agreed to by the government. The protestors blamed the prime minister and finance minister. "We did not vote for Michel! We did not vote for Rey! We voted for Aristide!" they cried, picking up on Aristide's allusions. Workers at the state hospital also protested their low salaries (32 gourdes or about US$2.26/day), saying they cannot live on that salary. They also protested recent layoffs, although some of them may have been justified by corruption. Other protests include those on April 7 and 10, when hundreds of unemployed people protested at "Camp Democracy," the U.S. military camp, and the nearby industrial park, against the high cost of living, insecurity and lack of jobs. In Gonaives this week, people also demonstrated against a food "aid" agency, insecurity and the occupation troops, who they said were responsible for the high prices and the continued terror to the country. Also this week, the public transport drivers denounced the anarchy on the roads of the capital, where many vehicles have no license plates and the streets are clogged with vendors. Yesterday, disabled victims of the 1990 bombing attack on Petion-ville Aristide supporters also denounced the high cost of living, especially medicines, and asked the government to assist them. Government's Responses In response to the pressures, the government has continued to make promises, and president is now openly accusing his own government. Speaking in Croix-des-Mission on Easter, President Aristide promised the suburb a "community restaurant," jobs fixing the highway and a "community store." The store is a new measure which the government says will bring down prices. Not a "magasin d'etat" (which Prime Minister Smarck Michel said Haiti's funders would not permit), it is instead a sort-of wholesale store which will supposedly be run by cooperatives and offer lower prices. When asked about the flour and cement plants, Aristide tried to shift the blame from himself by saying he appointed directors five months ago and that they should be opened. "There is a plot, a plot similar to the plot that put a cross on Jesus' back," he said, and described the two beams of the "plot" as "insecurity" and "the high cost of living." Speaking two days later, he brought up the "plot" theme again: "The lack of security did not fall from the sky. The high cost of living did not just pop up on us. There are hands behind them," he said, and urged people that "freedom is a mental thing first" and that they should travel in groups to combat the terror. There are evident signs of disagreement between Aristide, who wants to preserve his popularity and refuses to endorse publicly the policies he accepted and agreed to, and his prime minister and some cabinet members, who are applying point-by-point the measures dictated by the international tutors with no major qualms. As a matter of fact, in press conference last week, Michel defended his "accomplishments," and also listed ways he and other ministers are loyal to the president. He also deflected responsibility, saying his policies were not defined by the cabinet but by "two precise documents... that were part of all the negotiations that assured the return of the president," the Paris plan and another document written shortly after the return. Elections Delayed In the meantime, after complaints of partisanship and other accusations, as well as corruption and even violence at some of the registration posts, the Provisional Electoral Council announced registrations for voters and candidates would be extended and that the elections would be pushed back by three weeks. Some posts report they have run out of voter cards, whereas others report low turnout. There are 50 percent fewer registration places than in 1990. Partly as a result of the criticism and some personal attacks, the council's secretary general, Marie-Laurence Lassegue, left for Europe this week "because of health reasons." 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