This historical church ruins in La Saline, St. Jean Bosco, is the main reassembly point — ransamblement — for most political demonstrations led by the Fanmi Lavalas political organization. The Duvalierist government of Jovenel Mosie is now implicated in a massace that's ojective was to shut down this political opposition image ©2018 Randall White

"Haiti government complicit in La Saline Massacre"

Claims human rights NGO

by Randall White

HaitiAction.net - Port au Prince, Haiti — Before dark on Tuesday, November 13, 2018 the brutal massacre of over 60 men, women and children was set in motion. The La Saline neighborhood near Port au Prince, Haiti had been the focal point of several acts of provocation by a dark hand in the weeks previous.

The attack started with bursts of automatic rounds according to residents. What’s now known as The La Saline Massacre would begin around 4 PM. In the next few days very disturbing images, videos and reports were shared widely over the social media of the corpses left in garbage piles and thrown into pig pens to terrorize the local pro-democracy activists that had been organizing peaceful demonstrations against the government. Most of the organizers of the massive demonstrations lived in nearby communities of Delmas, Cite Soliel and Port au Prince. The main assembly point for most of the major demonstrations by Fanmi Lavalas was near La Saline.

The account of the residents contradict the narrative supplied by the US Embassy that it was a turf war between two rival gangs. What is becoming clearer by many accounts is that factions of the PNH (national police) are providing arms, uniforms and official vehicles to PHTK/Duvalierist gangs and mercenaries with the full knowledge of the PHTK government officials.

What was reported by residents — with shared photos on social media — the assassins appeared in BOID (Brigade d’opération et d’intervention départementale) uniforms and new vehicles. In addition, some of the known members of the Base Nan Chabon gang led by Serge Alectis — widely known as Ti Junior — were In the same mercenary soup wearing the uniforms. What is now becoming even more shared amongst Haitians is that the new amorphous mercenary group is fronted by former MINUSTAH (UN) officer Mohammad Nusari from Yemen. It is this "Security Consultant" that also brings with him the perceived involvement of the US Embassy, the CIA and the UN.

La Saline also happens to be, historically, the main Ransamblement area — in front of the ruins of St. Jean Bosco — for the largest demonstrations organized by Lavalas and former allies. Whenever a call went out for the popular organizations to mobilize, they didn't even have to say where they would start In front of St. Jean Bosco and head down Boulevard Jean-Jaques Dessalines to head up Rue Saint Martin into Bel Air, gathering hundreds more for the massive marches. They would turn on Rue Sans File. Left if they were headed for Route de Delmas or right if they were headed downtown to the National Palace. Many times there was such a massive gathering that they just split up and went to both.

The La Saline community was being pressured by PHTK officials and the Nan Chabon gang to prevent the opposition groups from using the La Saline neighborhoods for these demonstrations.

Lavalas was organizing, with many other political organizations, massive demonstrations, around the Petro Caribe scandal since the IMF pressured President Jovenel Moise (PHTK) to raise gas prices in March of this year. The opposition groups have been continually in the streets since then with the shout "Kot Kòb Petwo Karibe a" (Where is the PetroCaribe money?)

On October 17 the largest of those demonstrations took place — beginning in La Saline — with the Fanmi Lavalas political organization calling for the resignation of the Jovenel Moise government. The local community was also pressuring to dislodge the Base Nan Chabon who were running extortion gangs on the Ti Marchand (market women) in Croix des Bossales.

The massacre and defilement was understood, by most, to be terrorism to discourage the even larger anti-government demonstrations organized throughout the country for that Sunday, November 18.

Immediately after the La Saline Massacres — where most victims were dragged out of their houses in the operation — the narrative of the very few media outlets reporting about the operation, characterized it as the "gang turf war" with few other details. This usually means that the US news organizations glom on to a fabricated narrative and don't have any sources on the ground to get first hand accounts. The few that did stuck to the official narrative despite the preponderance of reliable first hand accounts and source material.

RNDDH report with an unfortunate subtitle

On the other hand, one human rights NGO — RNDDH — began gathering interviews and accounts and released their findings On Dec 1. Over four hundred individuals were interviewed and readily provided significant data points.

Download 18 page RNDDH report from Google Docs <click here

While the report does implicate the government it does not mention PHTK specifically. What's not great about the report is that it continues the same narrative with it's equivocating subtitle: "Les événements survenus à La Saline : de la lutte hégémonique entre gangs armés au massacre d’Etat"
(Events in La Saline: hegemonic struggle between armed gangs in state massacre). While there was some resistance to the massacre as assassins went from house to house, the operation was not a struggle between two rival gangs.

While a careful reading of the 18-page report by Haitian minds will provide a different understanding, this subtitle will provide the recommend narrative for those in the corporate media that stick to the US Embassy's disinformation echo chamber. This is the first red flag.

What was understood by the La Saline community was that Base Nan Chabon was acting as mercenaries along with Duvalierist elements within the PNH at the direction of the Jovenel Moise government to commit this terrorist operation in the week leading up to the November 18 demonstrations.

The report does list the names and family details of the victims: fifty-nine people tortured and murdered, two missing, seven women raped and five persons injured. They report that "One hundred and fifty (150) houses were searched, vandalized, riddled with bullets or burned." What is missing from the report is the presupposed "armed gang" affiliation of 75% of the known victims, even though they have a summary description of the actual murder event. Was that detail part of the "human rights" interview? What was the gang affiliation of the three year old child, Jamesin Eloge who was, ironically, shot three times? Or, Abigaëlle Charlot, also three who was stoned to death, or Géralson Belance who was ten; shot with several bullets and taken away in a bag?

More of the seventy-three victims did have an association with the Fanmi Lavalas political organization than the couple known to have an affiliation with rivals of Nan Chabon gang. While the report claims that official are supplying arms to certain gangs, it avoids commenting on any political motive for that crime. This particular operation was understood by the victims and the larger pro-democracy movement to be primarily, political terrorism. This is another red flag.

It was a State Massacre

"76. …All victims encountered in this investigation accuse the State to have orchestrated these events. Added to this, the resounding silence of the authorities around these events prove that indeed some of them were involved in the preparation of the attack of 13 November 2018 and that others were informed but did not intervene in time to prevent it. On the basis of these considerations, the RNDDH considers that the events of 13 November 2018 constitute a state massacre."

It's a "state massacre" without a clear purpose. Read it again it says "…ALL VICTIMS…" that would just happen to be statistically significant, as well. "Tout les personnes victimes…" Excuse my French.

What is most alarming about the RNDDH report is that they recommend that the very same perpetrators of the La Saline Massacre — "the authorities concerned" — to become the Investigators of their crimes. Another red flag.

Certainly, almost all extra-Haitian organizations —i.e. UN, Amnesty International — are unsuitable to provide a reliable investigation, but at the very least a broad-based Haitian panel of qualified individuals ( i.e. BAI, representatives from the La Saline community, respected leaders… ) could have been suggested instead.

After the La Saline Massacre, there were many reports of non-Haitian paramilitary units operating within various police sectors where the primary objective was terrorizing the daily PetroCaribe demonstrations with capricious snipers who would simply pick off a couple random targets. They even posted images of themselves with their sniper setups on social media.

This recent development increased around the October 17th demonstrations, where several were shot and six were killed. At the funeralizing of those victims, PHN opened fire on the crowds killing three. That led to demonstrations by anti-PHTK militants who blocked the streets with burning tires around Rue Pavee and St. Jean Bosco on October 31.

Duvalierism arising

The La Saline Massacre is just part of a very disturbing new trend to visit the most evil practices of Duvalierism to a younger generation that was not around during that deadly era. Once again the perception and narrative outside of Haiti is that the Duvalier Era was ended in 1986. Nothing could be further from the truth, Nicolas Duvalier has a whole movement behind him, with the full support of PHTK to return to the Duvalier legacy and returning the disbanded Haitian Army. The US Embassy is largely silent on this devastating trend.

The activism at the St. Jean Bosco ruins is heroically significant in this newer context. Even though the roof was burned off twenty years ago and no-one keep an office there, a Ti Legliz organizations still carries on a weekly devotional gathering as Tèt Ansam St Jean Bosco.

The similarities to the "post-Duvalier" attacks November 29th, 1987 in Ruelle Vaillant, and September 11th, 1988 in Saint Jean Bosco is sinister in its uncanny fingerprint: "when SOA alumnus Franck Romain, then Mayor of Port-au-Prince and leader of the brutal Tontons Macoutes, orchestrated a siege of Saint Jean Bosco, the parish church of Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide. As Fr. Aristide was saying Mass, armed thugs broke down the doors of the church, shooting and slashing their way to the altar, and torching the building, leaving 50 people dead and 77 wounded."

Father Jean Bertrand Aristide's church in La Saline became the focal point of the popular resistance to corruption and brutality in the 1980's. A government sponsored gang was sent in on September 11, 1988 to remind everyone that the support for Duvalierist objectives were going to continue with or without a Duvalier in the National Palace. In the 1990s it was a focal point for organizing against neoliberal reforms. The US Embassy demonized Fanmi Lavalas militants as gangsters. In the 2000’s narrative Fanmi Lavalas activists became "Chimeres" and bandits.

Through all of these episodes The US State Department had an endless disinformation effort to deflect scrutiny into the CIA's containment operations and to demonize the Fanmi Lavalas political organization.

While the report avoids any direct political motive it does contain an account where PHTK officials were pressuring the La Saline community. Most notably around a visit — a year previous —from the First Lady of Haiti, Martine Moise on October 13, 2017 with La Saline community organizations for post-earthquake initiatives and improvements. At the meeting the community was badgered to preventing opposition groups from using the St. Bosco rallying point and the community for political organizing. The La Saline organizations roundly dismissed the request as totally irrelevant after a heated exchange.

----------
RAW
----------

Share this story with your networks

| More

click button above