Exiled
Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide tells Naomi Klein: “People
in the Canadian government have Haitian blood on their hands”;
Minister Pettigrew denies reports of killings carried out by Canadian-trained
Haitian police
1. Aristide transcript
On June 20, Canadian journalist Naomi Klein conducted an extensive interview
with ousted Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide for a forthcoming
book. The interview took place in Pretoria, South Africa, where President
Aristide is living in exile. For the first time, President Aristide
spoke on record about the role played by Canada in his February 2004
ouster and the tumultuous period since.
The interview comes following last week’s Montreal International
Conference on Haiti, where a protester splashed the hands of Foreign
Minister Pierre Pettigrew with red paint on June 17. While Aristide
was clear that he did not condone such an action, he did tell Ms. Klein
that due to its support for the February 2004 coup that overthrew him
and subsequent training of the Haitian National Police, “some
people in the Canadian government and the Canadian army have Haitian
blood on their hands.” For his part, Minister Pettigrew continues
to deny the widespread reports of killings of innocent demonstrators
carried out by Canadian-trained Haitian police.
Naomi Klein is currently traveling; members of the media with questions
about the interview can contact Jackie Joiner at Klein Lewis Productions,
416-504-1664. To contact Haiti Action Montreal, e-mail haitiaction@sympatico.ca
or call Yves Engler at (514) 807-9037.
Haiti Action Montreal obtained a copy of the
interview from Naomi Klein. The following is an edited excerpt:
Naomi Klein:
Pierre Pettigrew just hosted a summit on the “transition”
and some Haitian solidarity activists did an action where they put some
red paint on [Foreign Minister Pierre] Pettigrew’s hands to symbolize
that Canada has blood on its hands in Haiti. Does Canada have blood
on its hands in Haiti?
President Jean Bertrand Aristide:
Some people in the Canadian government yes, they have Haitian blood
on their hands… But not Canada as all the people of Canada or
as one country… I try to make a clear distinction between the
Canadian people who didn’t decide to have their government going
to Haiti… seeing Pettigrew and the others with the Haitian blood
on their hands.
Klein:
Whose blood is on the hands of the Canadian government?
Aristide:
I met with Prime Minister Martin in Mexico [at the Special Summit of
the Americas in Monterrey, January 2004]… I have to say that the
conversation with Prime Minister Martin at that time was a good one.
I did not realize that he was so ready to follow the Americans’
agenda but the fact is he did exactly the opposite of what I observed
him saying in Mexico at that time.
The coup, or the kidnapping, was lead by the United States, France and
Canada. These three countries were on the front lines by sending their
soldiers to Haiti before February 29 [2004, when Aristide was overthrown],
by having their soldiers either at the airport or at my residence or
around the palace or in the capital to make sure that they succeeded
in kidnapping me, leading [to the] the coup.
[Aristide then discussed the actions of the Canada-trained Haitian National
Police:]
…Up to today, they continue to open fire
on the Haitian people demonstrating asking for my return -- like last
May 18, more than 500,000 people were in the streets of Port-au-Prince
asking for my return. They didn’t open fire on them at that time
and they saw what the Haitian people could do – that’s why
they keep opening fire on them, to prevent them from having millions
of people demonstrating all over the country to ask for my return. So
they still kill the Haitian people through those thugs. When members
of the United Nations don’t open fire on the people, they have
their thugs doing the job for them -- through the police, former military,
convicted drug dealers. That’s why, unfortunately, we have to
say yes, some people in the Canadian government and the Canadian army
have Haitian blood on their hands.
Klein:
What was your reaction when you heard about the protest against Pettigrew?
Aristide:
I don’t encourage people to go against any government in Canada
or to go against the de facto government in Haiti. I encourage them
to resist in a peaceful way while they are asking for my return.
2. Pettigrew transcript
Since July 2004, Canada has provided training
for the Haitian National Police (HNP). At the same June 17 press conference
where he was splashed with red paint, Minister Pettigrew was asked about
the accusations that the HNP have been shooting unarmed demonstrators
in Haiti. This was his response, according to the transcript of video
footage obtained by Haiti Action Montreal:
Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew: Well you’re talking about allegations
that we do not accept. We have here the very chief of MINUSTAH [the
UN mission in Haiti], we have here the minister from the transitional
government. And you can pretend all kinds of things but what I can tell
you is that I’m very proud, very proud of the Canadian police
contribution in the MINUSTAH led by Mr. [Juan Gabriel] Valdez. I think
the Haitian police is doing its very best in extremely difficult circumstances,
and obviously, obviously, Canada would never condone any activity by
which [unclear] would not respect the rule of law. Of anyone.
Q: So just to follow up, do you deny the reports in the international
press –
Pettigrew: Well if you are referring to the study –
Q: In the Associated Press, in Reuters – do you deny those reports,
where journalists have had eyewitness accounts that they have witnessed
Haitian police killing unarmed protesters.* I just want to clarify…
Pettigrew: If they did, I have not heard of that. If you are talking
about the Miami University study** that is pretending all kinds of things
that might have been taken by some of the members of the press, I absolutely
think that it is propaganda which is absolutely not interesting. What
interests me is the future of Haiti, it is the future of Haitians, it
is the progress of democracy, and the progress of the rule of law.
--
* The press reports in question include the following:
• Miami Herald, March 1 2005: “Haitian police opened fire
on peaceful protesters Monday, killing two, wounding others and scattering
an estimated 2,000 people marching through the capital to mark the first
anniversary of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's ouster. The late-morning
disturbance, witnessed by U.N. peacekeepers and foreign journalists
alike, lends critics of the new government a powerful piece of evidence
to back their allegations that police are persecuting Aristide supporters.
‘I’m not aware of any shots [fired] at the police,’
said Brazilian Navy Cmdr. Carlos Chagas Braga, second in command of
the peacekeepers. ‘Everything was going peacefully. . . . We don't
know why they came to disband the demonstration.'”
“Peacekeepers, whose orders are to support the police, stood by
as the attack occurred. The police quickly disappeared, leaving the
bodies on the street. ‘When things like this happen we are in
a bad situation,’ Chagas added. ‘We are supposed to support
the Haitian National Police. We cannot fire at them.’”
• Associated Press, March 24 2005: “Police opened fire Thursday
during a street march in Haiti's capital to demand the return of ousted
resident Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Witnesses said at least one person
was killed…. Several gunshots rang out as the demonstrators approached
the local police station, sending demonstrators fleeing. Protesters
said the shots were fired by an anti-Aristide street gang. The gunfire
apoparently didn't injure shooting [sic]. But a short while later, police
began shooting as a group of protesters reached a main avenue leading
to the international airport, killing one man, witnesses said. Associated
Press reporters saw police firing into the air and toward protesters.”
• Associated Press, April 27 2005: “Police fired on protesters
demanding the release of detainees loyal to Haiti's ousted president
Wednesday, killing at least five demonstrators, U.N. officials and witnesses
said. Witnesses said Haitian police arrived as the demonstrators neared
the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the capital of
Port-au-Prince and fired shots to disperse the crowd. U.N. mission spokesman
Damian Onses-Cardona confirmed that police opened fire on demonstrators
but had no further information. U.N. civilian police spokesman Dan Moskaluk
said peacekeepers found five bodies…. The incident marked the
third time in three months that Haitian police have fatally opened fire
on demonstrators in Port-au-Prince.”
• Reuters, June 5 2005: “As many as 25 people were killed
in police raids on Friday and Saturday in the slums of Haiti's capital
after the government said it would get tougher on gangs, morgue workers
and witnesses said. Clerks at the morgue in the General Hospital said
they had taken in 17 bodies on Saturday and three bodies on Friday after
the raids in Bel-Air and other Port-au-Prince slums, centers of support
for ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A Reuters journalist also
saw five other bodies in two different areas of Bel-Air. Residents said
the dead were shot by police and accused police of setting slum homes
on fire.”
"… ‘The police arrived, they started shooting. There
were other people shooting too, but they managed to flee,’ said
Ronald Macillon, a Bel-Air resident. ‘The police killed a lot
of people and set several homes on fire,’ Macillon said. Several
other witnesses gave similar accounts. A spokesman for U.N. troops in
Bel-Air, Col. Carlos Barcelos, told Reuters the Brazilian contingent
based in that slum did not take part directly in the raids, but put
up checkpoints and secured the outside perimeter. The Central Director
for the Administrative Police, Renan Etienne, told Reuters he could
not say how many people were killed or comment on allegations police
set homes on fire, as he had not yet received police reports.”
** University of Miami School of Law Centre for Human Rights, “Haiti
Human Rights Investigation: November 11-21, 2004”, http://www.law.miami.edu/news/368.html.
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