HAITI
ACTION ALERT
April
21, 2005
HAITIAN
GRASSROOTS WOMAN ACTIVIST & LABOR LEADERS ARRESTED, HARASSED BY
POLICE
The
situation in
Haiti
continues to be critical. Since
the US backed coup of February 29, 2004 followed by the occupation of
Haiti first by US Marines and then by UN forces, approximately 10,000
Haitians have been killed and over one thousand jailed.
Grassroots leaders and other supporters of President Aristide
are under constant threat. Your help is urgently needed to oppose the
most recent arrest and harassment of grassroots labor leaders, an
attack clearly aimed at undermining and silencing grassroots
resistance to the occupation, attempting to halt the right to travel
outside of
Haiti
, as well as stifling international solidarity. This harassment
violates the protections of the right to organize workers contained in
the Haitian Constitution and numerous international instruments to
which
Haiti
is a party. Lives are at
risk. Please circulate
this email widely, and see the action suggestions below for other
things you can do.
BACKGROUND:
Ginette
Apollon, President of the National Commission of Women Workers (CNFT)
was illegally arrested on April 19, 2005 at the
Port-au-Prince
International
Airport
upon her return from the Encuentro Mundial de Solidaridad Con la
Revolucion Bolivariana in
Venezuela
. The Encuentro marked
the third anniversary of the reversal of the coup against President
Chavez. Ms. Apollon, a
member of the Confederation des Travailleurs Haïtiens (CTH), a mother
and an activist working with grassroots women, was invited to
Venezuela
by INAMUJER, a Venezuelan women’s rights organization. While there
she met with Central Latino-Americana de los Trabajadores (CLAT) with
whom CTH is affiliated. Apollon was questioned by police about her
trip to
Venezuela
, the purpose of her trip, who she met with and more.
Also
illegally arrested at the airport were Paul Loulou Chéry, a prominent
labor leader who is General Coordinator of the Confederation of
Haitian Workers (CTH) along with his brother,
Lamour Chéry; both were at the airport to greet Ms Apollon. The
police illegally interrogated them all about their work as labor
leaders, and about their work supporting the return of democracy to
Haiti
. Authorities confiscated the cell phones of the arrestees, videos
belonging to Apollon, and the lap top computer of Chéry.
The
police accused Apollo of receiving money abroad to finance violence in
Haiti
; after demanding her banking information, $23 in
US
currency and 350 gourdes in Haitian currency (less than $10 US) was
discovered
by police
after
a meticulous search. The
activists were released after several hours, but had to agree to be
interrogated again the following day. Ginette Apollon, who suffers
from high blood pressure, had to be hospitalized during the ordeal.
Apollon and Chéry are mandated to return again to the police
station on Friday, April 21.
Both
Apollon and Chéry are prominent critics of
Haiti
’s interim regime, which was imposed by the
U.S.
and France and dominated by Haitian elites. The interim regime has
raided union offices and arrested activists who are supporters of
President Aristide without a warrant, and on the basis of vague
charges.
What
you can do:
- Urgently
contact the following and urge them to do everything in their
power to immediately stop the harassment of Ginette Apollon and
Paul Loulou Chéry:
1. HAITIAN
INTERIM PRIME Minister Gerard Latortue, fax 011-509-249 5561
primaturehaiti@hotmail.com;
2.
US
AMBASSADOR TO
HAITI
, James B. Foley,
Fax
011–509 - 223 9038 or 011-509-223-1641;
HUMAN
RIGHTS OFFICER Dana Banks, BanksD@state.gov;
3.
EMBASSY OF
BRAZIL
IN
HAITI
: Fax 011 - 509 –
256 – 0990 L brasemb1@transnethaiti.com
or brasemb2@transnethaiti.com;
4.
UNITED NATIONS STABILIZATION MISSION TO
HAITI
: Mahamane Cisse-Gouro, Human Rights Director, 011 - 509 - 403
4012 or 011 – 509- 527 5274, cisse-gouro@un.org
- Please
add your name to this action alert (see form below)
- Email
this action alert to all on your email lists and ask them to send
it to their email lists
- Post
this action alert on your web site
Time
is of the essence if we do not immediately demonstrate international
rejection of the persecution of these labor leaders/grassroots
activists, the interim Haitian government will go further.
For Ginette Apollon, already in poor health, continued
harassment could be a death sentence.
Original
signers to this action alert include:
Haiti
Action Committee
Fondation
30 Septembre
Haitian
Initiative For Democracy
Haitian
Lawyers Leadership Network
Institute
for Justice & Democracy in Haiti
Haiti
Progress
Haiti
Support Network
The
Global Women’s Strike
Clement
Payne Society/Barbados
Red Thread/Guyana
Danny Glover
Selma
James
Margaret Prescod
Steve
Gillis President, USWA
Local 8751
Boston
School Bus Drivers' Union
Kevin
Skerrett, Senior Research Officer, Canadian
Union
of Public Employees
Ray
Laforest, staff organizer DC 1707 AFFCME
Walter
Riley, Attorney-at-Law
Barbara
Rhine, Attorney-at-Law
Dave
Welsh, Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council
Maureen
Duignan, O.S.F.
Dale
Sorensen, Director, Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas
Claude
Marks, Freedom Archives
Jeff
Ballinger,
Executive
Director Press for Change
Sylvia
Tiwon,
University
of
California, Berkeley
Merlin
Chowkwanyun, Columbia
University
Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom - DC Branch
Ecumenical
Program on Central America and the
Caribbean
Yes,
I support this action alert:
NAME: _______________________________________________________________
ORGANIZATION _____________________________________________________
EMAIL __________________ TELEPHONE/FAX
(
) __________________
Mailing
address (optional) _____________________________________________
Please
keep me up to date on the developing situation in
Haiti
.
Please
do not hit the reply button to respond to this email, instead, please
send on your endorsement an/or questions by email jyk4haiti@aol.com
or phone (510)483-7481
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suggestion
for a fax or email to the above listed parties:
Date
I/We
are writing to protest the illegal arrest and forced interrogation of
Ginette Apollon, President of the National Commission of Women Workers
(CNFT) and a grassroots women’s rights activist, Paul Loulou Chery,
General Coordinator of the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH) and
Mr. Chery, (Loulou’s brother).
They were arrested on Tuesday, March 19 at the airport as
Apollon was returning from an Encuentro she attended in
Venezuela
at the invitation of INAMUJER a Venezuelan Women’s Rights
Organization. The police
interrogated the arrestees about their solidarity work for several
hours on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, and confiscated their
telephones, a laptop computer and some videos; they questioned Apollon
about who she met with in
Venezuela
and what she did there. Apollon, who suffers from high blood pressure,
had to be hospitalized during the ordeal.
The interrogation is scheduled to resume on Friday, April 21.
The
arrests and interrogation can be seen as nothing more than an attempt
to silence grassroots and labor union organizing, to undermine the
right to travel outside of
Haiti
, and to stifle international solidarity.
This harassment violates the protections of the right to
organize workers contained in the Haitian Constitution and numerous
international instruments to which
Haiti
is a party. There is
growing concern around the world about this situation.
We
ask that you assure that the interrogation of Apollon, Chery and his
brother and all other harassment end immediately, and that grassroots
Haitians be allowed to exercise their right to organize, protest and
travel without interference from police and/or other authorities.
Sincerely,