Haiti's real suffering: The unedited version.

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by Haiti Information Project (HIP) - The images of the killings by the U.S.-armed and U.N.-trained Police Nationale de Haiti (PNH) are stark and undeniable. Peaceful demonstrators slaughtered in cold-blood as the U.N. pontificates and postures to justify its role in legitimizing the coup of February 29, 2004 against the democratically elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

On February 28, 2005, the first anniversary of the coup against the constitutional government of Aristide, the PNH fired at unarmed demonstrators as the U.N. stood by. Images from that day show the U.N. was present before the brutal murders but became conspicuously absent when the shooting started.

Following the carnage of February 28 the U.N. mouthpieces from Chile and Brazil, Juan Gabriel Valdes and General Heleno Ribera, tell the world they will intervene to stop the police from their unspoken mission of exterminating the majority political party known as Lavalas. The world believes them as the corporate media and their pundits spin images of the impartial humanitarian role the U.N. continues to play in Haiti. They say that without the U.N. the center will not hold and poor Haiti will fall back into anarchy. The poor suffering black people will suffer even more than the real and brutal images of the victims of the Haitian police. The uninformed bought the message. This disingenuous noise from the U.N. was never really intended to stop the killing. How could it since the U.N. mission to "restore" democracy to Haiti has never resolved its own dysfunctions and contradictions? The truth is the only thing holding the U.N. coalition together in Haiti today is backroom deals of power, politics and foreign military aid promised by the Bush administration. How else could you explain the inclusion of Jordanian troops and Chinese cops in the venture? Jordanian soldiers, notorious for their viciousness and racisms, surround the Aristide stronghold of Cite Soleil. When was the last time the monarchial dictatorship in Jordan held democratic elections meeting the same standards demanded of Haiti by the Bush administration? The People's Republic of China can't even pretend, with the past repression at Tiananmen notwithstanding, since they are teaching killers in the PNH sniper techniques under the banner of the United Nations. All is well for freedom and democracy in the world as long as there is a political, financial or military advantage the Bush administration can sell.

Lavalas called the U.N.'s bluff with another massive demonstration on April 27, 2005. Despite Valdes's and Ribera's promises to intervene to stop the PNH from killing unarmed demonstrators, they struck again with impunity. After killing unarmed demonstrators that day the PNH tried to plant guns in the hands of the corpses. An anonymous journalist stated, "I filmed the dead bodies of demonstrators killed by the police before the U.N. arrived with ambulances. The police put a gun in the left hand of one of the corpses. After they saw me filming they asked me to come and film the gun in his hand. I couldn't believe it. Even more, I couldn't believe how the U.N. dismissed it after I told them. The film doesn't lie." An innocent bystander's leg was blown to bits by the PNH on the same day as he went to a local pharmacy in the vicinity of the demonstration to buy insulin for his ailing mother. More U.N. lip service was given to an impending investigation of the PNH for their gross violations of human rights that day. Finally, the U.N. would dismiss the real testimony and images of April 27th because they were conveniently and conspicuously absent when the killing started.

All of this leads to May 4, 2005 when yet another large demonstration by Lavalas took place. The leaders of the demonstration were photographed and videotaped by the U.N. before they left the Aristide stronghold of Bel Air. After a brief and symbolic protest in front of the U.N. headquarters on Avenue John Brown, the demonstration continued down the same street. At a certain point the U.N. forces stopped and allowed the protestors to continue without them. Suddenly the killers from the PNH appeared with large guns pointed towards the crowd. Without the presence of a few press cameras to dissuade them, it was clear the brutal PNH would have fired on the crowd. When questioned on camera, the U.N. dismissed it as yet another coincidence.

Following the Lavalas demonstration of May 4, U.N. troops stood by as sharpshooters of the PNH with "scopes" entered Bel Air. The U.N. drove by as if it was business as usual as the PNH pointed their deadly weapons of assassination at residents of the neighborhood. One person from the neighborhood commented upon seeing the police, "The international community has left Lavalas one choice. That choice is death. Make sure your camera has film."