Received: from cdp.igc.apc.org (cdp.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.1]) by mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu (8.6.12/8.5) with ESMTP id QAA14157; Sun, 26 Nov 1995 16:49:09 -0600 Received: (from hib) by cdp.igc.apc.org (8.6.12/Revision: 1.212 ) id NAA04151 for pbary@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu; Sun, 26 Nov 1995 13:56:06 -0800 Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 13:56:06 -0800 From: Haitian Information Bureau Message-Id: <199511262156.NAA04151@cdp.igc.apc.org> To: pbary@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu Subject: Haiti Info v.4 no.3 Precedence: bulk Status: O * * * HAITI INFO * * * News direct from the people and organizations of Haiti's democratic and popular movement 25 November 1995, Vol. 4, #3 Contents: Stories: HAITIAN PEOPLE ARE ANGRY - Population Demands Disarmament, International Community "Stunned" "DIALOGUE" CALLS FOR "THREE YEARS" PRESIDENTIAL RACE STARTS LAND REFORM COMES TO THE FORE MAYOR MAKES THE NEWS COLUMN: WORLD OF LABOR BOX: THE CONTRADICTIONS OF ARISTIDE STUDENTS DEMAND JUSTICE WOMEN PROTEST Stories: HAITIAN PEOPLE ARE ANGRY Population Demands Disarmament, International Community "Stunned" PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov. 24 - Three weeks after two deputies were ambushed and shot (one died), the country has regained a modicum of calm, but the wave of popular demonstrations, arms searches and scores of roadblocks testify to the population's determination for justice and are a reminder of popular frustration and anger long held back. That simmering anger came to the surface again yesterday, when, after a new National Police officer reportedly shot at a driver (some say the shot was fired by a passerby), missed and killed a young girl, the population sacked the police station, burned a police car and tried to seize the officer. In a chase of an officer that followed where many shots were fired, an old woman was killed. The protests, which left seven dead and dozens of homes and stores sacked or burned, and the government's launch of a disarmament program, caused alarm here and more especially in the U.S., and as the real or perceived schism between President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his benefactors appears to grow wider, he now finds himself under attack in a confused political context. [See "DIALOGUE"] Aristide and Gov't Angry Protests took on a new amplitude after President Aristide's angry eulogy at the funeral of Deputy Jean-Hubert Feuille on Nov. 11 where he demanded that police and the population carry out a full disarmament. He openly criticized the occupation troops and international community for failing to disarm and reminded it that a "success" in Haiti is crucial, especially for President Bill Clinton. [See Box] Prime Minister Claudette Werleigh weighed in on Nov. 14. Although she called more insistently for "order," she too showed her anger, saying the foreign troops should carry out a disarmament program "as they had always promised." Werleigh also rejected the recent criticism of the government's supposed promotion of violence by wondering aloud whether or not some of the sacking of houses and attacks on specific persons were not carried out by the opposition, saying, "Who is it that has an interest in change not occurring?" Gonaives Shooting Incident One of the major incidents last week was in Gonaives: the Nov. 13 the shooting of three people and the death a man said to be a former member of the U.S. CIA-linked paramilitary FRAPH (Front pour l'Avancement et le Progres Haitien). He was beaten and burned to death. The details surrounding the shooting are unclear. People said U.N. soldiers shot into a crowd amassed at the home of a man allied with the coup d'etat, killing three and wounding up to 30, while the U.N., both here and in New York, immediately denied the charges, saying it was the homeowner. The Gonaives branch of Commission Justice et Paix issued an angry four-page press release condemning the U.N.'s immediate denial, demanding a full investigation with autopsies, and pointing out many contradictions and weaknesses in the U.N. version. Father Daniel Roussiere, who heads the Justice et Paix team, said that, according to the position of the blood stains, it is "strictly, materially impossible" that the shots were fired from the house, since other houses are in the way. Roussiere has strongly hinted he believes the U.N. soldiers shot the victims. Cap-Haitien Protests Thousands of Cape residents took to the streets several times last week, searching for and discovering arms, burning or sacking over a dozen homes and stores and setting up barricades. Police made many arrests. After a reporter at Radio 4VKB (known for its less than progressive positions) accused, on the air, certain individuals of violence, crowds harassed the station, threatening the reporter and station director, and attacked the director's car. It cancelled its news emissions. Two press associations criticized the act as restricting "freedom of the press," but one, GRALIP (Groupe de Reflexion et d'Action pour la Liberte de la Presse), also wrote that it could "understand the anger of the population too long victim of arbitrary acts and which has been calling for justice for 12 months" and, in what appears as a pointed message, reminded that, in order to promote democracy and progress, media "have the imperious obligation to reflect profoundly the aspiration of the Haitian people for a society based on justice, equity and liberty." On Nov. 18, over 10,000 people took to the streets to protest the occupation, high cost of living and to demand disarmament in the largest demonstration there in years. Other protests - small and sporadic but indicative of the population's general frustration - continue to erupt throughout the country. For a few days, peasant and popular groups set up flaming tire barricades, carrying out their own arms searches. While Haitian police sometimes help, U.N. troops "control" crowds and disassemble barricades. On Nov. 16, peasants near Jeremie blocked the highway by digging a series of trenches to protest the fact that in July the government promised it would be paved. U.N. troops intervened violently and Bishop Willy Romelus condemned them. This week, the government announced it had finally signed the contract for the project. Disarmament Not Enough Speaking from his bed 14 days after the shooting, Deputy Gabriel Fortune blamed the shooting on the "ultra-right" of Les Cayes and their allies who have "infiltrated" the National Palace, and showed he is skeptical about prospects for justice. "They say an inquiry is going on but I have never seen anyone question me. It makes me very indignant," he said, and called for full disarmament. "It should be a continual movement... The people should keep the pressure on, in order and discipline." In the meantime, even though arms have been recovered in some searches, Gonaives Justice et Paix and others have criticized the limited nature of the campaign, pointing out, for instance, that there are rarely arrests. "This operation... announced in a mediatique manner, without preparation, has permitted a number of important military and paramilitaries to have the time to flee and escape," Justice et Paix added. Assemblee Populaire Nationale (APN), in an Nov. 13 press release, supported disarmament, but pointed out Aristide's role in bringing the country to this point. "The policy of reconciliation under an occupation has become a chord strangling the poor and has put Aristide in a situation where the American imperialists consider him as a puppet that does not deserve respect," APN said. "Today, does Aristide really recognize the evil that is hanging over his head and the head of the Haitian people...? We are waiting to see." Tutors Embarrassed Not surprisingly, the president's speech, the disarmament campaign and the protests caused the occupation authorities to react with alarm. Yesterday, National Security Advisor Anthony Lake flew in for a three-hour, hush-hush meeting with the president. No details have filtered out. The U.S. embassy has also remained quiet, but strained relations are now openly acknowledged by Aristide's team. Aide Lesly Voltaire told the Miami Herald that the U.S. "is not happy about what happened in the cathedral, and we are not happy with the disarmament process," but also noted both parties "have the same objectives" overall. (The U.S. authorities are stuck. With the Republicans waiting eagerly in the wings for any opportunity to denigrate their policy choices, they cannot openly criticize the president.) Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. Special Representative in Haiti and officially in charge of the occupation, criticized the searches and barricades, and said the U.N. is in Haiti to "construct or reconstruct a state of law" and to insure a "sure and stable" environment, but that it will not carry out disarmament itself. He also said he opposed people's participation, saying: "We cannot support the population carrying out illegal acts." U.S. General Joseph Kinzer, head of the occupation forces, was more clear about how the U.S. thinks, saying: "We have to operate under the rule of the law and not under the rule of the mob." Bourgeoisie Irritated The bourgeoisie is more and more irritated and worried. In an attempt to assuage their fears, two days after the speech, the presidential cabinet met with private sector representatives at the National Palace. Putschist and former Deputy Duly Brutus left for the U.S. where he said he will apply for political asylum, because Aristide's speech [see page 3] was "a grave menace against me and my family." A fanatical supporter of the coup, he cynically condemned "violence, anarchy and destruction" and called for a "permanent, patient and sincere search for consensus and national reconciliation." (Colombia this week said it will grant Gen. Prosper Avril asylum.) CLED (Centre pour la Libre Entreprise et la Democratie), a business group closely linked to Washington, supported disarmament, but denounced "the arbitrary comportment" of police and the "repeated calls for the population to carry out its own justice." The local bourgeois press has gleefully reported on the demonstrations, inflating numbers and exaggerating "mob violence." "Today, the actors have changed place," Radio Metropole's Clarens Renois declared on Nov. 9. "Yesterday's executioners are today's victims and yesterday's victims are today's executioners." The U.S. press also reacted on cue, although almost one week later, with alarmist headlines and anonymous citations. In a front page story sub-headed "Mobs Set Off by Eulogy Batter Hopes for Peace" in its famous Sunday edition on Nov. 19, the New York Times (Larry Rohter) sounded a familiar tune, saying that with his "tirade," Aristide "set off an outbreak of street violence" and "provoked panic among Haiti's elite." Rohter said "foreign officials" were "shocked" and "betrayed" by his "unexpected behavior." In a column in the Miami Herald, John Tierney from the right-wing think-tank The Heritage Foundation wrote a piece called "Aristide's democracy a hoax" where he described Aristide as "entrenched in power" in a country of "one-party Lavalas rule" where "drive-by shootings are commonplace." Can Words Become Actions? The reactions from the right are predictable, but the government should not be blindly praised for merely demanding full disarmament and complaining about the occupation a full 14 months later. Criticisms like Roussiere's should be heeded. Will disarmament continue? Will criminals be arrested and prosecuted? After a few heady days, the program appears to have fallen off in the capital; has halted in Jeremie; after being preannounced in Jacmel, was not successful, and is not really evident in the countryside. And no matter what, if the government does not work to change the overall framework (a military occupation with U.S. hegemony in nearly every department and ministry), the prospects for full disarmament and justice are not too promising. "DIALOGUE" CALLS FOR "THREE YEARS" PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov. 24 - President Jean-Bertrand Aristide today closed a four-day "National Dialogue." It came at the right moment, enabling him to posture himself as open to dialogue after his strong Nov. 11 statements, and serving as a distraction from the government's real and actual problems. The "presidential initiative" appeared on the scene suddenly, and opened with a very high-profile event in the National Palace attended by politicians, the private sector, administrators and members of "popular organizations" (although not from the more known groups in the democratic and popular movement). The president told the gathering of some 500 that its purpose was to "tell the truth" and "to dynamise a dialogue between all of the children of the same family." Although the symposium started out with formal speeches, it took on another air when it moved up to a posh Petion-ville hotel. Political and business leaders did not show up, and the discussions were dominated members of "popular organizations." In the press, many political personalities complained they had not been invited. (The palace said it send out 650 letters.) There was also an obvious lack of representatives of any sort from the smaller cities and countryside. Despite the absences, the three days included workshops on such (predefined) topics as "problems of privatization" and "democracy, coup d'etat and popular will," as well as grandstanding and downright cacophony. The most repeated and insistent resolution was that the president stay in office for three more years. "Excellence, Vox populi, vox dei," reported Yvon Rosemond, on the organizing committee and a member of Aristide's private cabinet, today. "The majority of us ask for the recuperation of three years." Other resolutions called for cleaning out the public administration, a resounding disapproval of privatization, disarmament, land reform and a universal literacy campaign. Rosemond reported that one clear theme was that "we will not accept anyone dictating to us, no matter where they are from." Addressing a crowd of over 500 at the symposium's closing today, Aristide reviewed it in his usual question-and-response manner. He danced around the three-year issue until finally pressed, and then said: "I think what a lot of people in the room think," to the cheers and hoots, but added: "I swear I will not let this country be ripped in two between people who want three years and people who want elections." He asked people to help him "unify" the country behind one choice, but cryptically went no further. PRESIDENTIAL RACE STARTS PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov. 21 - After all the threats of boycott and accusations of "one-party rule" from the traditional political parties and "particles," the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) last week received 14 applications for candidacy for president. Elections are scheduled for Dec. 17. Not surprisingly, traditional politician Victor Benoit of CONACOM (Congres National des Mouvements Democratiques) had no problem "changing tactics" and entering the race, despite his party's vicious and violent condemnation of parliamentary elections and the CEP earlier this year. "The crisis... is too serious for a responsible political party to abstain," he said. The Lavalas platform is backing ex-Prime Minister Rene Preval. Other candidates include former senators Firmin Jean-Louis and Clark Parent, and Leon Jeune, briefly Secretary of Justice. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has not yet officially endorsed anyone, but persistent rumors hint at a divergence between him and Preval. Despite grumbling from the abstainers and the clamor for "three more years" heard mainly from certain sectors in the capital, candidates started to campaign last week, with interviews, banners and meetings. LAND REFORM COMES TO THE FORE PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov. 24 - The question of land reform has come to the fore recently. Among other meetings, last week about 50 technicians from multilateral institutions and development agencies, and a few local agronomists and peasant leaders, met for a three-day workshop organized by the Institut National de la Reforme Agraire (INARA), a new government office founded in July and headed by Bernard Etheart, known in the non-governmental organization (NGO) community for formerly heading the Haitian Association of Voluntary Agencies (HAVA) as well as for his work in specific development NGOs. INARA said the workshop - held together with the World Bank (WB) and the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) - was intended to help identify and analyze problems and possible solutions through discussions as well as presentations by local and foreign experts. However, even if the intentions were as declared, the handful of participants from or associated with the peasant sector said the meeting was full of problems, which is not surprising, given the orientation of the WB and IDB, here in Haiti and throughout the world, where they defend and promote the neoliberal model, which always pushes export agroproduction. A Stacked Deck The potential resolutions of the workshop were clear from the start. First, there was a marked absence of the two sectors most concerned: peasants and the local NGOs that work with them. Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP) leaders said they were not invited and learned about it on the radio, and of the many hundreds of other groups and associations, the only other remarkable one there was Tet Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen. Most of those present were from the IDB, U.S. AID, the WB, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the government. Another obvious drawback was the background of some of the "experts" who spoke. At least one was a WB official. Another was a former Brazilian official. While that presentation contained some useful information, the basics of the Brazilian experience was not discussed: Brazil has one of the most skewed land distributions in the hemisphere (10% of the farmers own 80% of the land and 4.8 million families, or 12 million people, have none), and despite decades of promises, has never carried out a real reform. Over 1,000 peasants have been assassinated during the past ten years' struggle for land there. One of the papers handed out was "Land Reform Aided by the Market: A new solution for an ancient problem." Not even attempting to hide its market orientation, it describes a "reform" where land is sold, with minimal state intervention. It recommends against expropriation, alluding to the coup d'etat in Chile supported by large landowners, and saying the new owners can get caught up in lengthy legal procedures. It also recommends structural adjustment, an abolition of subsidies, and "initiatives to encourage non-viable producers to cease their activities." Some Recommendations The work sessions came up with some relevant recommendations and suggestions, but failed to do more than touch on the essentials necessary for a real reform. Participants repeatedly called for the necessity to establish a national land registry (cadastre) to determine how much land is available, who owns or says they own it, and how it is used. They also listed INARA's challenges: the isolation of peasants, parcelization of land, lack of communication, corruption and lack of political will. Several sessions recommended the distribution of state land and also land in private hands which is not being used, but did not call for profound reform with expropriations. After remaining silent all day, one of the few peasants there said he was very "nervous" about the discussions, because they never really defined the term "land reform." Land Reform and Neoliberalism A few sessions referred to the difficulty of carrying out a reform in the current economic framework of neoliberal policies, but only in passing. One participant who works with peasant associations got exasperated. "This neoliberal structure they want to impose will not go together with land reform," he said. "It is not possible that we import 300 million, 400 million dollars worth of rice when peasants are in the situation they are in... All kinds of junk is coming into the country to systematically break down all production... And while we are here talking about land reform, [Minister of Finance Jean-Marie] Cherestal is signing a three million dollar accord for Japanese rice to come in here... This did not come out at all!" Etheart said he was also concerned, but did not take a strong position. "There are times I ask myself, is land reform possible? Isn't the global context in contradiction?" he said, and added the theme will be "picked up by INARA in another context" because "it is an essential point." Participants recommended INARA be part of all macro-economic policy negotiations so they "do not prevent INARA from accomplishing what the constitution asks." Reached afterwards, Joseph Pierre of Tet Kole criticized many aspects of the meeting. "It was held in French. That was the first thing I noticed. The second is the very weak participation of peasants," he said. Joseph also felt that although INARA said it wants others' ideas, he remains skeptical. However, despite obvious limitations, at least land reform is being discussed, he said. "For a long time it could not even be mentioned," he said. "But it is not a question of dividing up state land... All the land in the hands of the state is not good. The good land was all stolen. They have fake papers for it." Joseph also said that, after distributing former stolen and state land, the state must also support peasants with programs to assist and promote production. "Today it is important for peasants to hurry and organize themselves, to understand land reform better so they can orient it according to their interests and so that it is not INARA's version that goes through." An agronomist from a local non-governmental organization was also critical. "A number of intellectuals spoke... but peasants did not have the opportunity to present what they expect," he said. He also pointed out the contradiction between neoliberalism and a real reform, which demands strong state intervention, regulation and protection from foreign production. "It is not possible," he said. "Today the state has to make a choice: land reform or neoliberal reform." This week, aid agencies, agronomists and others discussed land reform at a week-long rural development meeting at the Institut Fran ais, and, although not many peasants were present, participants at the "National Dialogue" said land reform was urgent. MAYOR MAKES THE NEWS PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov. 18 - Mayor Joseph Emmanuel "Manno" Charlemagne has been in the news these past weeks, denouncing corruption, ordering the destruction of illegal buildings, and when City Hall was attacked. On Friday night, while Charlemagne was inside, the building was strafed twice by M-16s fired from two brand new four-wheel-drive vehicles. Charlemagne today claimed the attackers are allied with those he has been denouncing in numerous interviews. Charlemagne has attacked people working in the National Palace, the Port Authority, the Unite Centrale de Gestion, as well as the private sector and bourgeoisie in general. "Those sectors are doing everything they can to block social change," he said. Charlemagne said the cars were "new, bought with the people's money" and called once again for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to "do a cleaning" of the palace. "I am here to fight with all of those people until Aristide decides to get rid of those thieves," he said. Restaurants Torn Down Charlemagne also issued a firm ultimatum for the proprietors of the sidewalk restaurants illegally built on park property along the Champs de Mars during the military regimes after 1986, and on Nov. 13 they were demolished. Early that morning, owners arrived to demolish the buildings. Some were obviously angry but others appeared resigned to the decision. Many citizens showed up and lent a hand tearing down the walls and roofs of the two-dozen sidewalk establishments. "I am 100 percent for the work the mayor is doing," said the owner of Special Shish-Kabab. "Everyone was illegal when we built. We all took a chance." The city has declared Champs de Mars a "Protected Cultural Zone" and plans a number of public constructions there. It has also promised to renovate other public spaces. COLUMN: WORLD OF LABOR PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov. 22 - The dominant ideology of "reconciliation" has not obviously reached the labor world, which is, more than ever, a world of exploitation and injustice. A brief investigation this month revealed two all-too-common phenomena: factories lay off workers with no pay for weeks at a time, or, as workers approach the end of their three-month probation and are about to become "employees," when they receive a series of benefits that "jobbers" (with short-term contracts) do not get, they are fired and rehired, to start their probations over again. "They tell you, 'Work is low. There is no work,'" said a woman who works Caribbean Garments, which has no union. Recently, every two weeks, she has had to sign a paper where she accepts being laid off without pay. A former peasant from the same plant has been repeatedly fired from his job where he receives 36 gourdes (about US$2.00) a day, but "they always take something out." After expenses, if he has worked the entire month, he has about US$10 saved. "These are common practices," said a member of the legal team of Antenn Ouvriye, a small institution which works with workers. "The bosses abuse the probation measure... to continue to exploit the workers and make more money on their backs." The legal team member said bosses use armed repression during "hard boot" periods, and when they cannot, use the "legal artifice" of probation. He said many workers do not know their rights and get little help from the unions here (many of which are corrupt) who "do not play that kind of role." BOX: THE CONTRADICTIONS OF ARISTIDE In his speech at the National Cathedral on Nov. 11, 1995, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide seems to have recovered some of his accent from when he was priest at St. Jean Bosco or even president in 1991, before the coup d'etat. As circumstances obliged, after more than a year of a policy of capitulation, it was imperative for him, at this particular moment where the popular frustration and anger have reached the crisis point, to move in the direction of the people's demands. Otherwise, his credibility and popularity, which have received some blows but remains strong, would have paid a price. At the same time, he has to watch that this populist attitude does not go too far, to such a point where his tutors might begin to think him no longer useful and to start to look for alternatives. Aristide is maneuvering in a narrow strait, trying to reconcile the irreconcilable, and thus remains trapped in his contradictions, which are eloquently summed up his pithy admission, "I need you, you need me." After thanking members of the family of Jean Hubert "Doudou" Feuille and others, Aristide moved to the main point: "All across the country, without a break, within the law, I command you to disarm all criminals and to unleash a total, complete, legal disarmament. "Haitian police that hear me throughout the country, I remind you, until you hear differently, there are not two or three heads of state, there is only one, and it is the head of state talking," he said, revealing his vulnerability as "head of state" under an occupation. Aristide praised police for the arms seizures at Gen. Prosper Avril's home, and then, hinting at potential interference from U.N. troops, said toughly, "anyone who is trying to block the legal, total, complete disarmament, if he is a Haitian, arrest him; if he is not Haitian, we will send him home with a note for his parents." Aristide said Resolution 940 said Haitians "are to do disarmament with the support of the international community," but noted that when "the judicial authorities discovered that a former deputy [PANPRA's Duly Brutus] was mixed up in the arson of a polling spot [in June, 1995] and arrested him, many voices in the international community were raised to demand an explanation; when they shot Doudou, how many asked for an explanation?" The international troops are here "to accompany the Haitian police who should disarm all criminals, all terrorists, all extremists, or if not, we'll say 'That's it,'" he continued, hinting that he might somehow get fed up with the troop presence here and eject them. "I have made my way for a year before speaking in these terms. Today, today, in the name of the recently assassinated deputy, I have just passed orders." "The month of November, 1995, should be a month of peace, a month of success, so that the month of November, 1996, is also a month of success in the U.S," he continued, playing his trump card: the importance of a "foreign policy success" in Haiti to U.S. President Bill Clinton's reelection bid. "We recognize our friends, those who helped us restore democracy to Haiti. It is certainly a success, but blood flows, arms continue to traverse the success," he continued, and once more returned to his dependency on the troops: "The more we march hand- in-hand, in the light of Resolution 940, the more the success will be eloquent and brilliant." Contrary to what opponents have said, Aristide clearly asked for the operation to be carried out in an orderly fashion, but he also said: "Don't wait around; accompany the police... give them information, don't fear... Tell the police not to only go into poor peoples' neighborhoods, but to go up to the neighborhoods where there are big guns, big arms. The hypocritical game is over. Too much blood has run in the country... Everyone will benefit from the peace. It is time that rich and poor, big and little people enjoy this peace." Aristide also asked people to block any car from which shots have been fired, saying, "I am the head of state, responsible for the security of all Haitians. I can and I will. I can and I will," and openly criticized the occupation troops: "Those who have big guns, those who have armored cars, those who have lots of power, if they had wanted to help us they would have done it already. Disarmament should have been done a long time ago," he said, adding later, "This question of sitting and waiting for the foreigners to give us security, forget it. If you respect yourself... get your constitution, get your laws, get your police and block the thugs from throwing cadavers on the ground." But those words come from a man whose government is sitting on U.S. and U.N., financial, technically and militarily, something he has never called into question. He concluded: "Dear friends of the international community, I know you need me like I need you. I know that a number of you did not expect this death, this murder. Count on me and show me that I can count on you.... I need you, you need me." STUDENTS DEMAND JUSTICE PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov. 13 - Four and three years after the army harassed, held under siege and arrested university students, and eight months after filing a legal complaint, student groups still seek justice. On Nov. 10, leaders from Komite Inisyativ Lit Etidyan (KILE), Jenes Etidyan Kretyen (JEK) and Komite Lit Etidyan (KLE) commemorated the anniversary of the army's Nov. 12, 1991, arrest of protesting students and the attack by 50 soldiers and attaches one later on a conference on privatization at the Faculty of Sciences. "Today the question of justice is only discourse," one young man said. "Until today nothing has been done." The students said "justice is not giving people gifts... paying victims off with the population's money... but legal reparation where the law seizes the criminal's goods." The groups also reminded students and friends of the university that those attacks were "attacks on the entire student movement" and stressed the importance of relaunching the student struggle, because "today all of the gains made during the democratic battles are endangered." Students plan to hold a university-wide assembly soon where they will discuss reforms and election of management councils. WOMEN PROTEST PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov. 24 - To commemorate International Day Against Violence on Women, a dozen members of three women's organizations dressed entirely in white picketed the Palais de Justice today because, one participant explained, "That is where the judges sit. That is where corruption is, where all the macoutes are." The picketers, from Kay Fanm, Ransanbleman Fanm Popile and Fanm SAJ, joined by about 50 mostly women supporters, sang and chanted ("Justice for women!" "Judge rapists!") to demand justice and a special tribunal for women. They also protested "domestic violence." ABOUT HAITI INFO: * Haiti Info is published every two weeks in Haiti by the Haitian Information Bureau, an alternative news agency, and is edited by a group of committed individuals from democratic and popular sectors. * All articles Copyright HIB. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED. Please cite Haiti Info and send copies of usage. * Haiti Info is available by mail, by fax, and also electronically via computer. Subscription rates range from U.S. $20 to $100, depending on location and method of reception. For subscriptions, other correspondence and help for journalists: Haitian Information Bureau, c/o Lynx Air, Box 407139, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, 33340, USA. For electronic mail: hib@igc.apc.org.