"Thank you Bill Clinton" - one more assassination by UN troops in Haiti

Kenel Pascal, 22, of Delmas lays dying in a pool of his own blood soon after leaving a funeral for Father Gerard Jean-Juste after being shot by Brazilian soldiers of the UN mission in Haiti. The UN denies shooting this victim, claiming that he "was probably hit by a rock…"
photo ©2009 Teledyol/Jules Roodley

"Thank you Bill Clinton" — one more assassination by UN troops in Haiti

by Randall White

Haiti Action.net- Port au Prince, Haiti— Brazilian soldiers with the UN occupation in Haiti (MINUSTAH) killed Kenel Pascal— a young man from Delmas — leaving the funeral of Father Gerard Jean Juste on June 18 as he was getting ready to board a bus leaving with the cortège headed to the town of Cavillon, Haiti. Father Jean-Juste was closely aligned with former President Jean Bertrand Aristide and the Fanmi Lavalas political organization that has been a target of US led destabilization of the country.

Many at the funeral accused the UN of provoking a confrontation at the politically-charged event at the to disrupt the momentum and organizing of the popular movement—Fanmi Lavalas is calling for a boycott of tomorrow's runoff elections for the Senate.

The shooting occurred shortly after they had arrested another mourner — Denis Fernand of Bel-Air — wearing a t-shirt handed out by the activist group Veye Yo that was founded by the Liberation Theology priest that had a picture of "Father Jeri" in prison displayed with the words, "Jery ou ale, Batay la ap kontiye." (Jery, even though you leave us, the struggle will continue.) thousands of activists all over Port au Prince are now wearing this t-shirt. Three HaitiAction.net correspondents were within thirty yards of the arrest and shooting.

The rationale provided by the UN soldiers for the arrest, in the first place, were for spurious charges. It was claimed that Fernand who has dreadlocks was thought to be a wanted gang leader Komandan Toutou — who is well-known to be bald. Fernand was dragged off the seat of his motorcycle, by his hair, as he was starting to leave. If the soldiers wanted to avoid a confrontation with the funeral crowd they could have taken their arrestee around the front of the Cathedral, which was mostly empty at the time.

Instead, they pushed Fernand through the crowd of, already agitated, militants who were milling through the crowd of mourners watching a procession of horse riders and the hearse taking the body of Father Jean Juste to Cavaillon. This provoked the expected rock throwing by the militants who were shouting at the blue-helmeted soldiers to release Fernand. As they were taking Fernand away, the soldiers were frantically pointing their rifles at anyone nearby in a menacing fashion.

Shortly after the soldiers passed the TV trucks, they first shot several rounds in the air. Many eyewitnesses claimed that they saw several soldiers level their weapons at the crowd and started shooting. Most people ran, ducked behind the few vehicles or laid on the ground but the victim was just leaving the church and not part of the fracas. He was shot through his left cheek from one of the high-powered weapons.

This assassination enraged the crowd even more. Many in the crowd that was still coming out of the church started shouting about those who they believed to be responsible for the tragedy intended to mar the funeral and divert the news coverage away from the most significant elements."President Preval sent his pickpockets into the funeral to cause trouble." Some were heard shouting "Thank you Bill Clinton, your UN assassins have murdered another member of Lavalas!"

The reference is a result of the perception that appointing the former president as the new UN Envoy to Haiti has made no improvement in the brutal tactics experienced by Haitians from the UN occupation forces perceived to be acting as a proxy for USA interests.

The UN soon left the area and shortly released Fernand after momentarily looking at his ID and left in their vehicles.

A different group of militants picked up the body from the side of the church and brought it to the center of the plaza where the TV crews arrived to cover the scene. Eventually they picked up the body making it a symbol of their own agenda as they carried it down to the National Palace.

The shaken organizers of the funeral regrouped and left the area with Haitian police to rendezvous with the rest of of the cortège outside of Port au Prince. Some of the organizers complained about what they believed to be the interference of the Prèval Government to disrupt organizing by Fanmi Lavalas. They were afraid that once the saw the crowd was calling for justice, the unrest over the upcoming elections would be solidified '

"Preval and Lespwa are doing everything they can to steal power in this county. You saw what happened March 19 [the first senate election was boycotted by more than 90% of the electorate]. This will be a 'nomination' not an election"

An employee of the cathedral recounted the events that led up to the shooting, "It was clearly a provocation by the UN to disrupt the funeral."

"Thank you Bill Clinton" — one more assassination by UN troops in Haiti

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