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by Haiti information Project

May 24, 2004

see also: Statement of Annette Auguste
from prison - May 23 2004

Port-au-Prince - While on the outside the US Marines are trying to turn Haiti into a prison. Lavalas leader-Sò Anne-is using her time to organize inside the Penitentiary...

Annette Auguste has been imprisoned for her political beliefs since her home was violently invaded by U.S. Marines on May 10th. The U.S. government has done everything it can to insure she remains a prisoner of conscience including accusing her of having contact with Haitian muslims and planning to attack U.S. Marines.

This unilateral invasion of a respected peaceful activist for Lavalas was so outrageous that U.S. Congesswoman Maxine Waters wrote these two letters to Secretary Colin Powell in protest to the arrest of Sò Anne.

It is hard to understand why the U.S. government considers Auguste so dangerous when you see her sitting in her jail cell receiving visits from the poor who have come to revere her. They come in droves and just want to spend a little time talking with her to make sure she is alright and bring small gifts of food. It is perhaps easier to understand why the Bush administration considers her to be a "risk to stability and security in Haiti" when you see the assistance and help she gives to other prisoners who are less fortunate to have her popularity and reputation. It is reported that she was transferred from the National Penitentiary a week ago because her jailers were concerned with her growing influence because of her helping to give small amounts of money to free some wrongfully incarcerated while generously sharing her gifts of food from admirers and family with other less fortunate prisoners. Since then, they have transferred her to a smaller prison in Petion-Ville but to the angst of the U.S. and their puppets in the judicial system, she continues to gain in popularity as she refuses to stop organizing and helping others from within her concrete and bare jail cell.

This is a salute to Auguste who is an indomitable prisoner of conscience who will never stop her work on behalf of the poor even from behind prison bars.