* * * HAITI INFO * * * News direct from the people and organizations of Haiti's democratic and popular movement 1 June 1996, Vol. 4, #15 *** HAITI INFO now has photos in every issue *** Contents: PREVAL: ON ALL FRONTS OVER IN PARLIAMENT CAMDESSUS VISIT: NOT ALL THAT ROSY REPRESSION IN NORTH TWO ASSOCIATIONS ATTACKS ON THE PRESS >From Grande Ande: KASEKs ANGRY Stories: PREVAL: ON ALL FRONTS PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 31 - At a conjuncture where problems have been accumulating all over the place, President Rene Preval has come to see he must invest himself personally on all fronts. International Pressure Pressure continues to mount at the international level, mostly because the accord with the International Monetary Fund, which would outline the final details of the county's structural adjustment, has yet to be signed. Not only did Director Michel Camdessus visit anyway, to campaign for his cause [see page 4], but yesterday, on the heels of the visit by U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Strobe Talbott altered his schedule to intervene on both the economic "reforms" the U.S. is demanding, and to discuss the rising insecurity. That pressure and the skittishness of parliament has practically caused the president to break into a cold sweat as the days count down to the IMF's deadline. [See other stories] At the Palace today, he explained his economic agenda to over 100 business people. Parliamentarians are summoned for Sunday. In the meantime, various foreign countries, including Canada, Brazil and Venezuela, have called for a continued U.N. troop presence in Haiti until 1997. Recently U.N. General Secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali added his voice to the chorus. Insecurity Mounting If that were not enough, Preval is facing a context of rising insecurity - part of it political, aimed at destabilization, and part of it common crime, due to the deteriorating social and economic situation - and a population growing more and more impatient with the lack of protection and justice. The toll for the week in the capital was high: a fifth police officer, this one an inspector, was gunned down; Mayor Erla Jean Fran ois of Chansolme, was killed at the bus station; a money- changer was gunned down and robbed outside a bank on Tuesday (see photo), and a six-year-old boy, the grandson of one of the wealthiest families here, was kidnapped. It is the third kidnapping this year. (One of the other cases is still open: a woman is still held hostage. Her kidnappers want US$150,000.) The events are more and more upsetting for the administration, and Preval is intervening personally. For the fourth time this week, he spent the day at police headquarters. Yesterday, accompanied by parliamentarians, ministers, the Prime Minister and the Chief of Police, he went to the funeral parlor where Fran ois was laid out, saying the strong official presence "shows that all of the state powers have decided to make a common front against insecurity." The day of the kidnapping, police issued arrest warrants for ex- Gen. Prosper Avril, who was until recently hiding out in the Colombian embassy, and for Eddy Moise, one of those arrested (and later released) for the Mireille Durocher Bertin murder. Moise and a number of cohorts, apparently part of what police call a "parallel armed force," were picked up, as were some other suspects, but Avril is not in sight. Despite the arrests, police obviously do not have answers and things are getting out of hand. Today, Mayor Joseph Emmanuel "Manno" Charlemagne announced the police are incompetent and that he was arming his people to patrol the city. (The Ministry of the Interior today said such a force is unconstitutional.) Another reaction: lawmakers are planning to propose a new law allowing police to carry larger weapons. Also yesterday, hearing their mayor was murdered pushed the outraged citizens of Chansolme over the edge. Angry people forcibly took seven suspected highway robbers out of police custody and killed them. Spreading Discontentment The other major problem for Preval is rising dissatisfaction within the public administration and the population in general. Not only is Preval facing mutinous KASEKs in Grande Anse [see page 2]; state officials across the country are upset. City offices in Les Cayes closed for a week and in Gonaives first and then throughout the Artibonite department, mayors went on strike. Last week interns at the Hpital de l'Universite d'Etat d'Haiti staged a two-day work stoppage (over not being paid) until Preval intervened personally. The government this week raised fuel prices by about 15%, saying it was because the world price of oil had risen. Taxi and bus drivers and others have reacted angrily and are threatening to organize a strike if the prices do not drop or if they are not allowed to raise their prices (set by the government). People are also getting fed up with the deteriorating infrastructure. Taxis and buses are threatening to completely block the Carrefours road because of its nearly impassable condition, and in Jeremie, the mayor, frustrated that Public Works has not intervened, announced he was going to close down the bridge leading to the city because the iron is corroded and cement rotten. Such a move would cut off the city completely. What is evident from this quick panorama is that the situation is deteriorating more and more quickly and that, until now, the government has shown it is not able to offer even the smallest solution whatsoever. OVER IN PARLIAMENT PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 31 - The ball is in parliament's court now. Everyone is focusing on the Lavalas lawmakers to see where they will come down on privatization. As expected, President Rene Preval convened an "extraordinary session" on May 20 with a heavy agenda (six laws and two accords, ironically coming after a lengthy regular session where parliament barely approved any laws) and with an obvious motive: all of items are linked to the neoliberal reforms the executive wants to enact and needs to implement to qualify for International Monetary Fund (IMF) approval. [See also other stories] Parliament immediately shied away, refusing to consider the laws and accords before they finish discussing and approving the budget for the current fiscal year, because, one explained, "Everywhere we go, we are getting blamed." The session ground to a halt until the president issued a new decree a week later which allows the lawmakers to consider the budget before the other items. That process could take until mid- June. A Brief Look At the Laws When the parliamentarians finish with the budget, they will be called on to vote on several controversial law projects directly linked to the demands of the "international community" relative to the opening and liberalization of the Haitian economy, including one on tariffs, the "Law on the Voluntary Departure and Retirement of Employees as part of the Administrative Reform," and the "Law on the Modernization of Public Enterprises." The latter is the Gordian's knot: it would allow the government to "modernize" the enterprises by renting them, hiring private management, or creating private-public "mixed societies" which would have a three-year tax holiday and where the state would have "not more than 50% of the capital." In the latter case, the state's "dividends" (if there were any) from its share (between zero and 50%) would be distributed: 50% for the country's 133 communes (headed by mayors), 35% for communal sections (headed by KASEKs, see p. 2) and 15% for the National Insurance Office. The law also designates a ten-person committee, virtually controlled by the executive, to oversee the process. Another law project attempts to "reform" the public administration according to the promise the Jean-Bertrand Aristide government made in August, 1994: to cut the 45,000-strong payroll in half. (See the "Paris document," referred to in many issues of Haiti Info.) Lawmakers will also be called on to consider, once again, the controversial Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) education loan (which has money for private school scholarships and training for private school teachers) and also to approve a series of jobs and infrastructure projects to be carried out with other IDB loans. Time to "Stand Up and Be Counted" For the past few months, there have been indications of discord in the Lavalas camp, and in interviews, a number of deputies and senators have proclaimed they oppose privatization and other neoliberal reforms, but the votes will show where their loyalties really lie. Many also said they opposed Prime Minister Rosny Smarth's program, but at the crucial moment, gave him their stamp of approval. [See Haiti Info v.4 #9] All the more worrying is the particularly difficult context, with pressure from U.S. heavy- hitters rotating into the country, and maneuvers to corrupt the parliamentarians. Preval knows how important the votes are, and has pulled out all the stops in his campaign. His latest move was to hold an impromptu two-day "symposium" on May 24 and 25 for the country's mayors where his government lobbied the mostly rural office holders, demagogically promising them vehicles and other benefits and explaining that their financial problems would be taken care of if parliament approves the "modernization of state enterprises" law. The mayors, who said they appreciated that the president "clarified" privatization and "edified" them, announced they supported the law. "The last word is from the 46th [legislature]," said Mayor Leon Guillaume of Mirebalais. "If the 46th does not approve it... we will be taking a step backwards." On Sunday Preval will continue his lobbying with deputies and senators at the National Palace. Organizations Reject Adjustment Confused by the flood of propaganda and endless media campaign, the Haitian people have been somewhat neutralized on the issue of privatization, but the least that can be said is that they are not enthusiastic. But a number of popular and socio-professional organizations are very aware of the importance of the upcoming votes. In the North, groups have been holding teach-ins, and here in the capital, over a dozen groups, including Kolektif Mobilizasyon Kont FMI, Union Nationale des Normaliens Haitiens (UNNOH), Solidarite Ant Jen/Veye Yo, Tet Kole Ti Peyizan, Asanble Popile Nasyonal (APN) and Rasanbleman Fanm Popile issued an open letter calling on parliament to reject the laws "that will plunge Haiti even more into political, social and economic crisis." "For about a month everyone has been hearing from the Preval/Smarth government on the radio about a team of 'specialists' in its entourage that is negotiating with the IMF- World Bank-IDB to get money... Today, one month later... The Haitian people do not know anything about what kind of decisions were taken, what papers authorities signed... and yet parliament is convoked to vote on laws to support these under-the-table big shot Lavalas negotiators that are 'tying their sausages' to the big foreign countries against the interests of the Haitian people," the May 20 letter pointed out. The organizations asked the parliamentarians to "not vote for the law of privatization of the public enterprises and firing of 15,000 state employees...; To respect themselves and the will of the Haitian people which should not bend to IMF, U.S., World Bank, or Preval/Smarth government pressure...; Instead, vote for laws that will organize the state, finish with corruption and waste..., make big guys pay their taxes and debts..., to protect national production... "Parliamentarians of the 46th legislature that do not want to appear before the tribunal of the people's history, rise up, gather your strength, wash your faces and block all laws that will give the Preval/Smarth government and all other traitors... the right to sell the country!... Are you in the camp of the plotting merchants of the country or the camp of the people truly fighting to change the face of the country and the conditions of its people?" the organizations concluded. Another organization, the Plate-forme Haitienne de Plaidoyer pour un Developpement Alternatif (PAPDA), issued a condemnation of the government's adjustment plans yesterday, saying "in the context of a ruined and fragile economy like ours, [it] risks being the origin of a true social catastrophe." PAPDA also condemned the total lack of transparence during the "negotiations," called for mobilization against the "reforms" and demanded that the senators and deputies "resist the songs of the sirens and false promises of the apostles of privatization," and, in a pointed reference to a number of Preval's ministers and advisors, that "all honest technicians who work within the public administration, in particular those who at a certain moment in their lives showed an interest in defending the interests of the popular masses..., cease being at the service of such a catastrophic policy." Finally, on May 27 the Association Nationale des Agro- Professionels Haitiens (ANDAH) issued a seven-page condemnation of the government's embrace of structural adjustment and outlined its ideas on how to strengthen the economy through agricultural production. (Ironically, two members of the government - the Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture [see photo page 4] - were at one time ANDAH members. It would be interesting to know if they still are...) "ANDAH, which has opted for peasants, asks itself if the government has tried to evaluate, as is advisable, the potentially catastrophic results the application of this type of program could have of many hundreds of thousands of small agricultural producers, artisans and workers... All citizens have the right to ask themselves, who will be the victims and who will be the happy beneficiaries of the announced 'surgery without anesthesia'?" ANDAH said. ANDAH concluded calling for transparency in the "negotiations... [that have] implications... on National Sovereignty and Public Interest" and reminding that the Constitution calls for "participation of all of the population in all important decisions." CAMDESSUS VISIT: NOT ALL THAT ROSY PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 29 - Michel Camdessus, Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), came here to sign an accord. Over three weeks ago, President Rene Preval and his government had announced "negotiations" with the IMF would end May 23, so he and Camdessus could sign the document that was supposed to finish charting Haiti's neoliberal course. But evidently, things did not go quite as planned. There were some discordant notes from the orchestra. [See also page 1] (Even if the notes are taken care of, there are other hoops to jump through. A draft document has to go to Washington, D.C., and then, according to Minister of Finance Fred Joseph, approval should come in early July, supposedly unleashing US$120 million to balance this year's budget and "up to US$950 million for three years" worth of projects. What Joseph did not mention is that the US$1,070 million would more than double Haiti's foreign debt.) In order not to lose face, and at the same time to not jeopardize what had been in preparation for such a long time and with great investment, Camdessus and Preval staged a little theater and signed a "joint communique" which says the IMF and the Haitian government agree on the broad lines of reforms to be enacted here, but which basically has no meaning. At the same time, perhaps worried parliament might not cooperate, or that the Haitian people, who in the past have campaigned valiantly against the IMF, still might cause problems, Preval and Camdessus took advantage of the presence of the top enforcement officer of the "new world order" to continue the campaign to convince people that Haiti has no other choice but to undergo structural adjustment. The Home Stretch The two men worked well together since, according to Camdessus, he and Preval have "a complete identity of view... on what should be done and on the timetable." For 36 hours, they occupied the airwaves and met with as many "decision-makers" as possible, stressing the once-in-a-lifetime chance, the urgency, and Haiti's good luck at having such good friends. Preval played his part, continually saying the country was in a "catastrophic" situation: "Haiti is in a situation, I'll repeat it again, where it is extremely difficult to even pay state employees... It's the last chance we have here!" Camdessus met with representatives of the U.S., the World Bank and other players, the private sector and unions. He also saw former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who, strangely, received him only two weeks after saying privatization was a "cigarette lit at both ends." Was Camdessus reminding him of his previous commitments? Did he get Aristide's support for his campaign? Or did they disagree? Nothing has filtered out and today the ex-president quietly left for Europe. At his other appearances, Camdessus played all his cards. He said the country will never get such a low interest rate or such a huge amount again. He even said that if the country does not act now, other countries could get the funds earmarked for Haiti. (He later took that statement back.) He spoke of "the necessity of profiting from this moment of grace, this exceptional moment" of "democracy." The country must "convince the international community that Haiti has a program." In a 90-minute interview on Radio Haiti Inter, he calmly and without irony explained "the objective of our program is the betterment of the human condition" and, to criticism of privatization, said: "If the privatization was a bad formula, why would I recommend it? I am here to share with you only what really works all over the world." "If there was any substance behind the inscriptions on the walls around here [anti-IMF graffiti], there would not be 80 to 90 countries that had programs or were negotiating with us," he said. "The fact that there are so many... shows that we are improving the human condition in those countries." Unhappily, it was not a "call-in" program. If it had been, Camdessus would have learned that the Haitian people are not stupid and know perfectly well the disastrous effects of the adjustment programs. Instead, rather than being challenged in a democratic debate, he was given 90 minutes of air-time to speak freely to listeners all over the country. An Unavoidable Visit As expected, Camdessus met with cabinet members. But circumstances also obliged him to go to parliament. Dep. Fritz Robert St. Paul, the vice president of the National Assembly who said he opposes neoliberalism because it will increase the country's dependence, said Camdessus spoke to the lawmakers of the success of adjustment. "He said there are 181 countries in the world that have done structural adjustments and their economies did fine... and we asked for examples. He gave us Bolivia, he gave us Peru. We disagreed... [and said] don't confuse growth with economic development," St. Paul said. "He did not convince us and he saw that we were sufficiently informed to see that nobody would make us think the moon is made of green cheese." REPRESSION IN NORTH PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 31 - Reports are coming in from the North and Northwest of repression against members of popular organizations and abuses of power. On May 17, police in Trou du Nord, accompanied by reinforcements from nearby towns, surrounded and attacked marchers in the town square, beating many, shooting in the air and arresting almost two dozen, including two passersby. Mostly peasants, from the Asanble Popile Veye Yo Otwou (APVT), Oganizasyon Travaye Ayisyen (OTH) and other groups, as well as recent repatriates, the marchers were demonstrating to demand land (there are many unused hectares in the area said to be earmarked for a Free Trade Zone) and against privatization. Sixteen people were held "on the accusation that these organizations have been killing police in the country," explained Assemblee Populaire Nationale (APN) which gave a press conference here on May 21 to denounce the repression. Andral Jean-Fran ois, a human rights monitor from National Coalition of Haitian Rights (NCHR) familiar with the incident, said the 16 have since been released. Conflict in Ti Bouk Oboy Another, more complicated conflict has lead to violent confrontations this spring in Ti Bouk Oboy, outside Le Borgne, culminating with a May 28 attack on a delegation of Haitian police, two commissaires from Limbe, APN members, rights monitor Jean-Fran ois, journalists and U.N. soldiers. The group had travelled to the area to look into a long-simmering conflict between local APN members and the Ti Bouk government Vice Delegate, Marc Lamour. (Lamour is also connected to the ti legliz movement.) The conflict dates back to APN's campaigning against the U.S. occupation and also to alleged corruption and bias in the way aid was distributed. [See Haiti Info v.3 #22] All spring, Lamour followers have reportedly been harassing APN members. While the details are difficult to verify, it is confirmed that one APN member appears to have been wrongfully jailed by Lamour-ally Judge Gaston Obas, and that several APN members were physically attacked or had their property destroyed. Nobody has made such accusations against APN. Instead, on May 27 a delegation claiming it represented "all" peasant organizations in the region accused APN of "defamation" and also said that APN "recruits a lot of macoutes" and has "a special problem with Marc Lamour." What is undeniable is that on May 28, about 30 men armed with machetes and spikes, wearing dresses, attacked the entourage returning from Ti Bouk, roughing up journalists, smashing a window and threatening to kidnap two injured APN members the delegation was transporting. The delegation eventually escaped, but only after the thugs had seized private and government communications devices and journalists' equipment, reported Jean-Fran ois. That same day, Obas also threatened the group before rushing ahead of it to Ti Bouk to announce: "'Communists have taken over the country and are coming to kill Lamour!'" Jean-Fran ois said. That is reminiscent of the darkest period of the Duvalier era. TWO ASSOCIATIONS PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 24 - For over 30 years, Haiti had no contact with Cuba. Now, ever since diplomatic relations were established on Feb. 6, a series of rapports have been started up at the level of sports, government relations, tourism, private sector, etc. In this context, two new associations were announced this week. On May 19, a number of Haitian politicians, artists and other personalities signed the constituting act of the "Cuban-Haitian Society" with two representatives of the Cuban Institute of Friends of Peoples, a group that has helped set up similar associations in about 100 countries. The date was chosen because it is the anniversary of the deaths of Cuban independence hero Jose Mart and of Benoit Batraville, a leader of the Haitian struggle against the first U.S. occupation. At the ceremony, Haitians condemned the U.S. embargo on Cuba and compared it to U.S. intervention into Haitian affairs. In an interview with Agence Haitienne de Presse, Juan Carlos Marcial noted that the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Haiti and Cuba shows that "third world countries can take their destinies in their hands, despite the attempts by certain tutor-powers to impose their diktats." Marcial said the group will promote cultural, economic, commercial, scientific and other exchanges between the two countries. Today, a second organization was announced: the Martha Jean Claude Foundation, honoring Jean Claude, a Haitian singer who emigrated to Cuba in the early 1960s and remains an outspoken supporter of the country. The foundation, with the goal of defending Haitian "cultural patrimony" here and in other countries through performances and help for young artists, called itself "independent" and "apolitical." These initiatives are good, especially taking into account the difficulties the Cuban people are enduring, where they need solidarity. Only, it is difficult not to notice some discordant personalities in the groups. ATTACKS ON THE PRESS PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 20 - Over the past two weeks, insecurity has hit the press. Two radio stations have been attacked and a journalist shot. The Groupe de Reflexion et d'Action pour la Liberte de la Presse (GRALIP), a journalists' organization, today raised its voice, asking "about the motive of these acts of repeated vandalism." The Sarthes relay station of Radio Lumiere of the Protestant church, one of the few radios with a near national reach, was attacked several times, on May 13, 14 and 18, by armed men who disassembled it and stole equipment. Lumiere has since decided to close the link, thus cutting off several provinces from its broadcasts. During the same period, Vision Nouvelle, a Mirebalais station, was attacked by men who stole transmission and power equipment and a relay. While Lumiere has not accused anyone, Radio Haiti Inter recently called the acts part of a "systematic plan by the military, the putschists to divide, 'apartize' the country" by destroying AM transmitters, to prevent radios from broadcasting nationally. Both Inter and Lumiere were hit by repression during the coup d'etat: attacked and forced to close, journalists beaten, etc. Lumiere's director was also killed at an army roadblock, although it is unclear if he was targeted as a journalist. In another incident, on May 11 a Radio Caraibes journalist was shot from a passing vehicle after coming out of the Hpital de l'Universite d'Etat d'Haiti where he had just finished checking on victims of a shooting incident at an outdoor concert. GRALIP said it "dared to hope that the national authorities will shine a light on the three cases of aggression." "Hope" is a good word, because to date, nobody has been even charged for the repression against the press - including three murders - during the coup. The Haitian people have another way of putting it: "The inquiry is continuing..." >From Grande Ande: KASEKs ANGRY JEREMIE, May 24 - Members of the Konsey Administrasyon Seksyon Kominal (KASEKs - Association Councils of the Communal Sections) of the 12 communes of the western part of the Department of Grande Anse are threatening to resign from their posts if the central government does not raise their salaries, which currently stand at 250 gourdes (about US$15.50) per month. They have not been paid since January. Senators make the equivalent of about US $1,800 and deputies about US$1,200 and also get other benefits.) KASEKs: Part of decentralization KASEKs are committees of three that were elected for the communal sections, the smallest administrative entity of the country, last year. Whereas the 133 towns or communes have mayors, the 563 sections within them have KASEKs. They are to govern together with the Sectional Assemblies, to be elected in races to be held later this year. Those assemblies and the Communal Assemblies, also to be elected, will send representatives to Departmental Assemblies, which will choose people for an Interdepartmental Council. The KASEKs and assemblies are important parts of the decentralization of the state as laid out in the 1987 Constitution. The KASEKs also play a political role, representing parties in the countryside, where 65 percent of the population lives. In the elections for deputy, senator and president, they were the ones who campaigned and won the spots for the candidates for higher offices. In western Grande Anse, of 46 KASEKs, the Lavalas platform won 3. The other parties were far behind: FNCD-4, PAIN-4, KONAKOM-3, PANPRA-2, PADH: 1, UPAN-1, independent-1. Grande Anse KASEKs Fed Up Grande Anse is completely isolated from the rest of the country, located 260 kms. from the capital and reachable only by boat or one extremely deteriorated road. (The trip is 16 hours by bus.) The communes are very isolated from one another. For example, Anse d'Hainault is completely cut off from Jeremie, with no telephone and a difficult, 62 km. trip on a barely passable mud and rock road. In a meeting with Chavannes Jean-Baptiste May 10, who came to convince KASEKs and other officials to accept privatization, the scores of KASEK members who attended were more interested in talking about how humiliated they feel without any support from the state. Many KASEK members declared that as prices climb and peasants continue to be hurt by the overall degradation of the country, they constantly come to the KASEKs for help, but with no real resources, the newly elected officials can do nothing. That only reinforces the idea that only in Port-au-Prince can people find answers to their demands. "If a problem happens, it's not the KASEK's role to arrest people!" said Earl Cesar from Fond Cochon, a section in Roseaux where there is no public school, no clinic, no police, no representative of the justice system. The road is so bad, vehicles cannot get there. Produce is carried in and out, as are sick people, and, he said: "We have had pregnant women die along the route." Regarding decentralization, another member of the Fond Cochon KASEK said: "They talk about it and talk about it, but we never see it done. There is no school. No clinic. If you saw the misery people went through to walk to a public school!" Omano Alme from a Corail KASEK said he had no idea he was called to Jeremie to hear about privatization, which he still does not understand, and said that his concerns are more in the line of figuring out how he can find money to buy a sickle to cut the plants that are growing up and blocking in the narrow path to his community. "We repeat, seven and seventy-seven times, we will not take the 250 gourdes... They can take it and use it to buy food for their dog... We would rather resign," said another exasperated KASEK member. 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, and electronically via computer. 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