*   *   *   HAITI INFO   *   *   *

            News direct from the people and organizations 
             of Haiti's democratic and popular movement

                    14 December 1995, Vol. 4, #4

  ***   The next issue of HAITI INFO will appear in January   ***

Contents:

Stories:        PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: 
                  PREVAL HEADED FOR THE PALACE
                THE "OCCULT" CRIMES OF U.S. IMPERIALISM
                CONCERNING PRIVATIZATION...
                THE SITUATION AT THE UNIVERSITY
                INT'L AIDS DAY:
                  CALLS FOR MOBILIZATION & JUSTICE
                THE CRISIS AT ENARTS
World of Labor: ARTISANS FIGHT FOR RIGHTS
                GAS PRICE LOWERED
                WOMEN DENOUNCE VIOLENCE

Stories: 

                 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: 
              PREVAL HEADED FOR THE PALACE

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec. 14 - Candidates are making their last minute 
appeals and officials are scurrying to organize final details. The 
local and foreign press are dutifully relaying the last orders 
from the U.N. and promises from the would-be presidents. 

Occupation and Preoccupations

But in all the official and press hoopla, the context seems to 
have been forgotten. Haiti is still under a military occupation, 
with over 6,000 foreign troops on her soil. According to the 
Constitution, elections should be an expression of national 
sovereignty. How can that be expressed with foreign troops 
dispersed throughout the nine departments?

On top of that, the principal actors - the population - are 
visibly preoccupied with other concerns, resulting in an 
atmosphere that is notably less than enthusiastic than the 
elections which sent Jean-Bertrand Aristide to the National 
Palace. Apart from a bombardment of "civic education" publicity 
spots, candidates' jingle songs and banners, the campaigns are 
absent from the capital. Most candidates touring the countryside, 
or just giving occasional interviews.

The people remain interested, but are tired of elections - this is 
the fifth since the return of Aristide - and are more concerned 
with the continued rise in cost of living, lack of justice and 
absence of jobs. But the people are not the only players on the 
board.

Players in the Elections Game

One of the most important players is a candidate, but in another 
set of elections: President Bill Clinton. He and the international 
community need the Haitian race approved and accepted, by both the 
Haitian population and the world at large. 

Ambassador William L. Swing said this week, "We find ourselves 
witnessing an event that deserves the admiration of the American 
people and of all other nations in the world... Many said that 
this day would never arrive... and that democracy would never take 
root in this country. But the Haitian people have proved the 
contrary."

The Clinton administration does not much care who wins. Whoever is 
elected will be stepping into preestablished confines, and to date 
the Lavalas candidate has indicated he will not be too difficult 
to handle. As long as enough people turn out to legitimize the 
process, the administration will be happy.

Next are the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) and the 14 
candidates. The CEP is holding the elections in a state of 
complete dependence on external financing. As in the earlier 
races, foreign donors are supplying 80 or 90 percent of the money, 
reducing the CEP's margin of maneuver in this era of 
"reconciliation," meaning the CEP allowed all comers to 
participate and that, in violation of the Constitution (Art. 291: 
Makout pa ladann.), which says those associated with the Duvalier 
era are not allowed to hold public office for ten years (until 
1997), supporters of the coup d'etat and the Duvaliers are running 
for president.

Apart from the Lavalas platform candidate, Rene Preval, and some 
independent candidates close to Aristide, the slate is full of 
questionable characters. Vladimir Jeanty was a vehement coup-
supporter, while ex-Senator Julio Larosiliere participated happily 
with the regime until he thought it wise to change camps. 
Rockefeller Guerre was a Deputy under the Duvaliers, and Gerard 
Dalvius, a former soldier, is said to have been involved with the 
army's secret police.

Preval is the most likely to win, but aside from vague slogans 
like "LAVALAS FOR FIVE MORE YEARS," Preval's policies remain 
nebulous. He has called for land reform and food self-sufficiency, 
but without skipping a beat, avows to the necessity of "aid," of 
relying the multilateral banks, and of letting the private sector 
"participate" in the state enterprises. No hints of a real change 
in store for the country or people.

Another player is, of course, Aristide himself, who continues to 
remain in the game as a result of his ambiguity and popularity. He 
entertained the "three year" option to the last minute and then, 
certainly to pressure, accepted to the elections, but without 
enthusiasm. In contrast to last summer, he has not openly endorsed 
or embraced any candidate.

Last, the Haitian people, who are not mobilizing as in the past 
due to the confusion and ambiguity, and also because of the many 
problems which, 14 months after Aristide's return, remain 
unanswered.

A group of U.S. economists, activists and development people 
yesterday gave a press conference after hearing dozens of popular 
and peasant groups tell them why the elections are not their 
primary concern: "Today the world is focusing on the upcoming 
presidential elections... [but] the economic crisis is eclipsing 
the elections, and undermining the possibilities of true democracy 
in this country." They attacked the neoliberal agenda being 
applied here, quoting a peasant who called it a "death plan."

In a statement on the anniversary of the U.N.'s adoption of the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Platform of Haitian 
Human Rights Organizations deplored the "somber" situation, where 
an enforced reconciliation legitimizes past crimes.

The platform "deplores that justice, in the actual context, cannot 
be rendered in the name of the Republic or the people. Rather, it 
is the prerogative of the U.S. because of the occupation. This 
country decides sovereignly what process justice will follow; 
which authors of grave attacks on human dignity will be found 
guilty; which connections and ramifications of the system of 
repression should be protected. The situation is more worrying 
because the U.S. is assuring the control of the judicial reform 
process..."

And significantly, Solidarite Ant Jen (SAJ) and Konbit Veye Yo, 
two popular organizations which Aristide himself participated 
with, openly criticized the elections debate.

"Three years - five years, it's 50 cents or half a dollar," they 
said, saying the current government has not done anything in the 
"fundamental interests of the people." They demanded the Lavalas 
candidate make clear his economic and political policies and the 
relationship he will maintain with the U.S.

"The people need clarity!" SAJ/Veye Yo said. "The policies 
happening in the country today are a knife in the back of the 
people... It is clear that today, the people are on their own, and 
should reinforce themselves to fight for the country's 
sovereignty, to construct a collective project, to fight against 
neoliberalism and provide their own security."


           THE "OCCULT" CRIMES OF U.S. IMPERIALISM

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec. 14 - Over the past two weeks, the complicity 
and support of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the U.S. 
embassy, the Pentagon, the U.S. Army and the State Department for 
those who backed the 1991 coup d'etat and still terrorize the 
population have been repeatedly exposed. 

Constant: The Shamed Lover

The most stunning revelation came from Emmanuel Constant on Dec. 
3, who described on CBS News' 60 Minutes his link to the CIA and 
its involvement in and foreknowledge of the activities of the 
death squad responsible for hundreds of assassinations, FRAPH 
(Front pour l'Avancement et le Progres Haitien), which he set up 
while on the CIA payroll. [These revelations and others were made 
a year ago in The Nation  but were not really picked up by the 
mainstream media.]

Constant, currently in a U.S. jail, said he decided to talk 
because, "I've been betrayed." Constant reported that, for several 
years, he was paid US$700 in cash per month and stayed in close 
contact with the CIA, which was aware of all FRAPH activities, but 
that he was "put on ice" after boasting on 60 Minutes in April, 
1994, that he had stood up to Clinton with the USS Harlan County 
incident. 

Constant's understanding was that the CIA "had their own agenda," 
the White House "their own agenda," and that he was part of the 
effort "to keep Aristide from coming back" and got "caught in the 
middle." 

"I feel like that beautiful woman that everybody wants to go to 
bed with at night, but not... during the daytime," he said of his 
relationship to the CIA. "They don't want nobody to find out... 
They definitely were in bed many times, many nights, but never 
during the day."

The two were more than just casual lovers. In an article released 
by The Nation today, Allan Nairn reported that early on, FRAPH 
received 5,000 to 10,000 sub-machine guns, fragmentation grenades, 
pistols and revolvers via Miami, FL, in boxes often marked "Police 
Material: Do Not Open" and addressed to Haitian army officers with 
CIA and U.S. army connections, despite the U.S. naval blockade.

"The Haitian officer involved in the shipments says the U.S. 
authorities took no steps to stop them," Nairn reported. "U.S. 
policy was to return Aristide but derail his populist program. 
Backing FRAPH served that agenda as well as that of the 'no 
return' forces."

The Harlan County Circus

The Oct. 11, 1993, demonstration of a few dozen thugs at the port 
to "protest" the arrival of the USS Harlan County marked the 
"coming out" of FRAPH. Constant said the CIA was aware of FRAPH's 
plans that day and that he told the CIA station chief the 
demonstration would not threaten any U.S. lives and was to be a 
"media frenzy" to force the retreat of the boat carrying the first 
contingent of a U.N.-led force that would prepare President Jean-
Bertrand Aristide's return. Conferring on the incident, then-U.S. 
Special Representative Lawrence Pezzullo told Washington that the 
demonstration was "theater," but the CIA and Pentagon claimed U.S. 
lives were in danger, and the White House order the boat to turn 
around.

(In a faxed reply to CBS, the CIA said it "collects and analyzes 
intelligence" but "does not make policy" and that it did not 
"misrepresent" intelligence gathered "regarding the arrival of the 
USS Harlan County.")

In the meantime, U.N. Representative Dante Caputo, speaking at the 
U.S. embassy, said the boat would dock. Only later in the day, 
when he saw it steaming toward the horizon did he realize it had 
left. Angry and frustrated, Caputo later resigned and openly 
criticized the cynicism of the U.S.

 The U.S. had an interest in beating a hasty retreat and letting 
the situation deteriorate. In so doing, it strengthened its 
position in relation to the other "friends" (France, Canada, 
Venezuela, Argentina), and weakened Haiti's economy as well as 
political power, creating the conditions necessary to "justify" a 
U.S.-led military invasion and U.S.-dominated "restoration of 
democracy."

FRAPH played a crucial role in following months, carrying out 
repression throughout the country. Constant said that neither then 
nor later was he told to pull back. Instead, he was encouraged: 
"They always praised my quality as a leader and the possibility 
for me to maybe be a successor to Aristide."

CIA & FRAPH Still in Bed

After the U.S. invasion last fall, FRAPH continued to get special 
consideration. While a few henchmen were arrested by U.S. 
soldiers, they were soon released. In The Resister, a right-wing 
militia publication linked to the U.S. Special Forces (over 2,000 
of whom were deployed here), reported soldiers were told to 
cooperate with and protect soldiers and FRAPH-ers.

"We informed them about the plans and timetables for weapons 
confiscation and told them how to disappear their functional 
firearms while keeping broken and otherwise useless weapons 
available to sell during the weapons buy-back program," the report 
said, detailing other advice and planning.

Nairn reported similar treatment after the invasion: "U.S. Army 
facilitation of FRAPH - particularly with regard to arms - has 
been established U.S. policy." He also revealed a stunning 
discovery: following the invasion, CIA agents fanned out across 
the country to recruit FRAPH members and others to form a new bevy 
of CIA agents. 

Avril and L'Armee Rouge

Another revelation came from the State Department via The 
Washington Post. On Nov. 26 the newspaper announced it was 
"leaked" cable dated Oct. 26 in which U.S. Secretary of State 
Warren Christopher warned the U.S. embassy of intelligence reports 
detailing how the "Red Star Organization," led by former dictator 
Gen. Prosper Avril, that was "planning harassment and 
assassination campaign directed at Lavalas party and Aristide 
supporters... scheduled to commence in early December 1995... 
There is information available which suggests Avril has continued 
to meet with right-wing supporters to expand his political base." 

The information was never relayed to the Haitian government. Two 
weeks later, two Lavalas deputies were gunned down. When police 
went to search Avril's home for weapons the next day, he wasn't 
there. But coincidentally, 30 minutes earlier, a U.S. embassy 
agent had been there. (Visibly embarrassed, the embassy later 
tried to explain it away as a "coincidence," claiming the visit 
was one of its routine information-exchanges.)

"Red Star" is not known, but in Cite Soleil there is an armed gang 
calling itself L'Armee Rouge which terrorizes residents and 
merchants. Red tee-shirt-clad "members" recently stole building 
materials from a public school construction site. Press reports 
have described boys as young as 12, some of whom reportedly stole 
their weapons, with little problem, from patrolling U.N. vehicles.

(Avril is still in the Colombian embassy. On Nov. 27, U.S. 
Senators Dan Burton and Robert Torricelli wrote to Swing about 
Avril, saying, "It is absolutely imperative that his life, his 
family, and his property be assured of protection" especially in 
light of "the continued assassinations of political opponents of 
President Aristide and the Lavalas party.")

FRAPH Pages

The last tale to hit the front pages was the Nov. 28 revelation 
from the Pentagon that it not only had over 150,000 pages seized 
from FRAPH and army headquarters, but that it impudently and 
arrogantly insisted "the documents belonged to the ousted military 
regime, not the Aristide Government, and became American property 
when U.S. troops seized them." (New York Times)

The dispute became a bone of contention between the two 
governments and, already dealing with other disagreements with 
Port-au-Prince, the White House decided to give in. It recently 
announced that the pages would be returned, but only after U.S. 
officials have gone through them to black out the names of all 
U.S. citizens, and after the conditions of the return were 
negotiated.

Haitian officials say they can still use the renowned pages to 
track down FRAPH-ers and prove cases, but there are obvious 
problems with getting them after the U.S. has raked them over to 
remove names of those like Haitian-Americans in FRAPH and U.S. 
agents. Because there has been no accounting by Haitian or 
independent sources, it is likely that documents damning the U.S. 
will not make the trip back.

Beyond the Revelations

All of these revelations, crowned by Constant's interview, reveal 
many insidious connections and complicity between U.S. authorities 
and fascist sectors here, and give an idea of the depth of the 
U.S.'s activities to foil and repress the democratic and popular 
movement. Stirring up the mud could continue to bring even more 
ugly facts to the surface. But it also raises questions:

What was the interest in hearing Constant recite a series of known 
facts? Who benefits from his accusations? 

Constant's version of history sullies the U.S. government, but 
more particularly one sector, because, according to Constant, the 
White House is the defender of democracy. His revelations and 
other details of U.S support for fascist elements in Haiti are, no 
doubt, embarrassing to the Bill Clinton administration, which 
oversaw the whole enterprise. But Clinton comes off more as a 
victim, while the CIA and its cheering section - vicious opponents 
of Aristide like Sens. Robert Dole and Jesse Helms - are the ones 
the world sees as immoral and anti-democratic. Clinton, head-to-
head with the Republicans, scores another point. And, as usual, 
the press plays along, relaying the "facts" as supplied, digging 
little and analyzing less, in a complete convergence of interests 
with U.S. imperialism and in-fighting.

Epilogue: Troops to Stay?

All of this comes at a moment when Washington is talking about a 
continued U.S. "presence" here after the U.N. mandate expires. 
Washington needs to justify - to U.S. citizens, the Republicans 
and the new Haitian government - the extension of the occupation 
with up to 1,000 soldiers to "support" the government and 
"protect... the rights of individuals" and assure the economic 
climate, according to U.S. AID's Marc Schneider. But the 
mainstream press, so quick to jump on the anti-CIA bandwagon, 
leaves out the obvious: the government offering "support" and 
"protection" is none other than the same one that, in the past and 
still, protects, nurtures, arms and funds the individuals and 
organizations pitted in a deadly battle against those struggling 
for justice, democracy and change.


                CONCERNING PRIVATIZATION...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec. 11 - Despite the presidential campaign, the 
U.S.-pushed plans for privatization and structural adjustment in 
general are still hotly debated questions.

On Saturday, hundreds of university students, professors and 
others gathered at the Institut National de Gestion et des Hautes 
Etudes Internationales (INAGHEI) to hear a contradictory debate: 
George Exeus of Unite pour la Democratisation des Entreprises 
Publiques (UDEP), a government office dedicated to pushing 
privatization, and two professors from the Kolektif Mobilizasyon 
Kont FMI ak Neyoliberalis, dedicated to educating and mobilizing 
people against neoliberalism.

Exeus, who arrived an hour late, read a long expose which he 
prefaced by calling for "tolerance" from the restless crowd. He 
plodded through an ode to privatization, noting its inevitability 
and the benefits it supposedly brings ("investment," "employment") 
and outlined the preconditions like "transparence" and laws 
defining operating procedures for ex-public utilities. The 45-
minute speech was laced with slogans about "the new necessities of 
the market," promised money would go into a "trust fund" and 
pointed to the "success" of Chile and Mexico.

Prof. Yves Barthelmy followed, beginning with the dawn of 
capitalism in order to explain its periodic crises and the current 
demand for new markets, which, he said, has led to neoliberalism 
and thus privatization. He introduced the history of neoliberalism 
in Haiti and was to be followed by Prof. Lesly Rene, but about 30 
minutes into Barthelmy's expose, Exeus got up and left, shocking 
the audience and the panelists.

"The country's salesman ran away!" students shouted. 

"It's a disrespect for the public," Rene said angrily. 
Nevertheless, Barthelmy continued briefly and the professors took 
questions. 

Rene attacked some of Exeus' obviously misleading statements about 
the "successes" and briefly explained the Mexico financial crisis 
with facts and figures, and ended saying he and his colleague came 
to debate, but "we found an ideologue who came to pump out a lot 
of hot air and then ran away."

Telephone and Electricity Cos.

On Nov. 28, surrounded by workers from other public enterprises, 
TELECO employees held a press conference on the recent firings of 
three directors and to distribute a text: "Privatization is not 
the Solution." 

The workers said the fired men were working to privatize TELECO 
and revealed a number of recent examples of poor management or 
even sabotage, like the failure to order parts or to install an 
important switcher, and said they believed TELECO should remain a 
state enterprise. They also denounced Leslie Delatour, Governor of 
the Central Bank, as being "more American than Haitian" due to his 
concern for the price of the dollar and relentless pursuit of 
privatization. They also said Lesly Voltaire, head of President 
Jean-Bertrand Aristide's private cabinet, supported the fired men. 

"For the moment, only the state is capable of assuring the 
survival of the social system in its capacity as the largest 
employer," they said, and made a number of suggestions for the 
management of TELECO.

(Voltaire later tried to justify the support, saying he was 
following directives from President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and 
also that the men were improperly fired.)

On Saturday, armed men attacked the Electricite d'Haiti (EDH) 
plant at Varreux, scheduled to be upgraded shortly. A dozen were 
arrested before they caused damage. An EDH employee told the 
Agence Haitienne de Presse the attackers were "mercenaries in the 
pay of big-wigs whose interests are contrary to the renovation 
measures being undertaken at EDH." Many have speculated that, as 
the TELECO employees accused, there are people working to sabotage 
public enterprises to promote privatization.


                THE SITUATION AT THE UNIVERSITY

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec. 7 - After helping pull off the successful 
boycott of a symposium in July [See Haiti Info v.3 #23], 
mobilization at the university dropped off. However, with the 
reopening of the faculties, students and professors have picked up 
activities aimed at making the university autonomous and 
democratically run.

Over the last several weeks, the Initiative Group for Relaunching 
Mobilization at State University of Haiti (IG), formed after a 
day-long symposium in July, has sponsored debates and discussions 
on the "Transitory Rules," a set of regulations to run the 
university while waiting for the adoption by parliament of the 
laws relative to the university, and on the necessity of the 
organization of students and professors into "Mixed Assemblies" at 
each of the faculties, and has also published bulletins and 
leaflets to make students aware of their rights and 
responsibilities and of the tasks that face them. The IG, as well 
as the student organizations and many professors, hope to make the 
university more democratically organized, where students, 
professors and staff participate.

("Mixed Assemblies" of students and professors in each faculty 
will choose the executive body for their faculty as well as 
designate representatives to a 33-member, democratically elected 
university-wide council would appoint a central executive body for 
the institution. The Faculte des Sciences held elections on Dec. 
1. Another immediate goal is writing the laws, for adoption by 
parliament, to define the university's autonomy and structure.)

At a press conference today, members of the IG outlined their 
activities and goals.

"We have been organizing conferences and debates since last week, 
when all faculties were opened," one student said, adding that the 
reforms will not happen without participation. He also said an 
important task is to replace the Provisional Rectorate Council, 
which resigned last summer.

"It's important to have a structure that can centralize things 
because, you can have debate at the bases, inside the faculties, 
but if there is no central place to centralize the debates, we 
will not be able to elaborate the law project that will represent 
the desiderata of the university," he said.

"We are calling to students, professors and the directions of the 
different faculties to accept their responsibilities... to set up 
the democratic process... so we can organize the structures to 
allow the level of participation and advancement that would be the 
best form for the university. It's not the GI that will do it. 
It's all consequent students and professors," a professor said.

The Minister of Education who tried to pull off the symposium, 
Emmanuel Buteau, was replaced by Myrtho Celestin over a month ago. 
Will the necessary changes at the university be possible under her 
administration? Everyone agrees the question is urgent, but so far 
the new minister has not been reassuring. Earlier this month she 
admitted the "crisis" was "profound" but did not presage anything 
too promising when she said the best she can hope to do in her 
three months is "remove the confusion."


                      INT'L AIDS DAY:
              CALLS FOR MOBILIZATION & JUSTICE

PORT-AU-PRINCE Dec. 1 - In a number of statements, interviews and 
at two symposia, doctors, community workers and non-governmental 
groups expressed alarm at the spread of acquired immunodeficiency 
syndrome (AIDS) here and around the world and noted its link to 
poverty and to unequal access to health care. The new Minister of 
Health, Dr. Rudolph Mallebranche, declared December "Month of 
Mobilization on the AIDS Question." 

Numbers and History

The first AIDS case was reported here in 1982. Despite clear 
evidence to the contrary, in a racist manner which did real harm 
to the Haitian people, is still being felt today and deserves 
reparations, the U.S. Center for Disease Control stigmatized 
Haitians as "carriers" along with the others from the "4-H Club": 
hemophiliacs, homosexuals and heroin-users. Today, Mallebranche 
said, AIDS is widespread and its presence is linked to "risk 
behavior," not being a member a "risk group": four-fifths of the 
world's victims caught the disease through male-female relations, 
and is clearly not related to nationality, but to poverty. Eighty 
percent of all cases are in the dependent countries.

The number of reported cases in Haiti have continued to rise. A 
common estimate is that nine percent of all sexually active people 
here are infected. Some put the number higher, others lower. The 
ministry says 10 percent of all Haitians will be infected by 2000 
if nothing is done. Figures for poor neighborhoods are much 
higher. Some clinics in slums in the capital have reported that 14 
to 16 percent of all pregnant women have tested positive.

"In the last three years, with all of the displacement in the 
country because of the political situation [especially from the 
poor neighborhoods into the countryside and vice-versa as people 
were forced to flee into hiding], the situation got a lot worse," 
Mallebranche noted.

Mallebranche did not have exact figures, but added: "I can say one 
thing, things are extremely bad... It is beyond the Ministry of 
Health. It has become a national question."

Mallebranche and others also spoke of the rights of AIDS patients: 
the right to social services, health care and to continue working 
if they can.

Miami-based Doctor Speaks Out

In an interview on Radio Kiskeya today, Miami-based Dr. Jean-
Claude Desgrange,  denounced "the inequality of access to health 
care" as responsible in great part for the disease's spread. While 
80 percent of all cases are in "South" countries, he said those 
countries have only 10 percent of the resources mobilized to fight 
AIDS.

"AIDS is inextricably linked to poverty, and you do not only find 
that disparity between developed and undeveloped countries... [you 
find it] where the misery and poverty drives young people to 
prostitution, where sanitary conditions do not permit people to 
have access to doctors quickly, and a situation where different 
instances - the government, and the private sector, too - do not 
undertake their responsibilities," he said. "The question of human 
rights is not only a question of free speech. It is a right to 
health, it is a right to live with dignity."


                WOMEN DENOUNCE VIOLENCE

MAHOTIERES, Nov. 25 - Hundreds of women as well as many men 
belonging to the local chapter of Tet Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen from 
all across this mountainous rural area gathered yesterday to 
reflect on International Day of Violence Against Women. They 
discussed different forms of violence, linking it to society's 
violence, and made a number of resolutions.

"The women from Tet Kole said the real struggle is not a struggle 
against men, but against the way society is, which exploits men 
and makes them turn around and make women pay for it," explained 
one peasant leader who attended. 

Demands included: a full disarmament program; arrest and judgement 
of those who committed violence against women during the coup 
d'etat and cleaning out of the public administration. They also 
denounced the "evil neoliberal plan the big countries want to jam 
down the throat of the Haitian people" and the high cost of living 
that the "restavek bourgeoisie" is supporting while continuing to 
smuggle goods.


                    THE CRISIS AT ENARTS

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec. 7 - Over 100 students and their supporters 
held a sit-in in front of the Ecole Nationale des Arts (ENARTS) 
all day yesterday.

Many artists came to show their solidarity with the students and 
professors, who are protesting the fact that the school has not 
received money to operate this year, and, they claimed, because 
Minister of Culture Jean-Claude Bajeux said it should be closed 
down. [See also Haiti Info v.3 #11] 

Students painted a 15-part mural chronicling their struggle, 
beginning with "1983: Fos Kouch" ("False birth": ENARTS was set up 
to glorify the Jean-Claude Duvalier regime) through "1991-1994: 
Kout Ponya nan Do" ("Knife stab in the back": the school's 
direction collaborated with the de facto regime) and ending with 
"1995: Trayizon" ("Treason": the government tried to get ENARTS 
students to sign a bust of Bill Clinton, to be presented to him as 
a gift) and "1995: Asasinay Lakilti, Plan Meriken-FMI" ("Murder of 
culture, American-IMF plan.")

Interviewed last week in front of the mural, art student Ezter 
Pierre said students wanted to "explain, step-by-step, what the 
governments, which always said they were doing things for the 
country, did to the school once they got to power." 

"[Bajeux] does not think it is necessary to have an arts school in 
Haiti," Pierre continued. "For him, people should go to the home 
of a great painter to learn to paint, to the house of a big 
musician to learn music... He forgets that it is the state's role 
to provide an opportunity to learn for free."

"Bajeux closed the school. We see clearly it is the IMF-World Bank 
plan, because they want the state to drop public education," said 
Frantz Clairvil at the sit-in. "We have decided to stand up to 
that. We are not asking for charity. It is what is owed us!" 

Bajeux responded by saying he never said it should be closed, 
criticizing the size of the ENARTS faculty relative to the student 
body and by repeating that the government does not have enough 
money to grant ENARTS the budget it requested. 

The crisis has lasted many months, and in the end, it is the 
students and country that pay for it. Haiti needs an institution 
such as ENARTS to safeguard its arts and culture.

Update: Dec. 14 - Students occupied the ministry today, demanding 
Bajeux resign. Earlier this week they protested at parliament. 
Parliament has announced an inquiry.


World of Labor:
 
                  ARTISANS FIGHT FOR RIGHTS

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec. 6 - Artisans are struggling to protect their 
rights.

American Artisanat, owned by Carl Schoenenberg, closed in August, 
1995, without paying 38 long-time employees any severance pay. 
Schoenenberg said they were "suppliers" and never employees and 
instead offered them the equivalent of about US$10. They made 
metal works, wreaths and other items for export.

"We do not accept that little pay-off," the workers said in Nov. 
23 press release. "We are demanding justice. We are demanding that 
our rights as workers are respected as they are supposed to be."

The workers filed a complaint with the Ministry of Social Affairs, 
but on the date of the hearing, neither Schoenenberg nor his 
lawyer showed up. 

                   GAS PRICE LOWERED

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec. 11 - After taxi and tap-tap drivers protested 
and threatened to strike last week after fuel prices rose, on Dec. 
4, the government agreed to lower fuel prices back to near their 
former levels. The drop was barely noticeable and insignificant 
(an average cut of about three to six percent) but does have a 
symbolic importance. The government has said prices would be tied 
to international prices and the gourde's dollar-value.

"All prices are going up, so it's good that this went down," one 
driver said.

Many taxi drivers raised prices anyway, from four to five gourdes 
a stage in the city, and constantly argue with passengers. When a 
tap-tap conductor asked a policeman travelling from St. Marc to 
the capital to pay a gourde extra today, the policeman shot him 
three times. No details of action taken against the policeman have 
been  released. 


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