The people of Haiti are under attack as they fight for their liberation!

by Pierre Labossiere, Haiti Action Committee

The following is a compilation of two breaking news reports that have come in from Haiti within the past two days. Even as we speak, bullets are flying and people are dying in the streets.

The presidential elections in Haiti on Sunday, Nov. 20, were a repeat of the October 2015 fraudulent elections in favor of Jovenel Moise, the candidate supported by former Duvalierist president Martelly. The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP/KEP) carried out their electoral coup d’etat giving him a 55 percent win.

Even as we speak, the Port-au-Prince working-class neighborhood of Lasalin has been encircled by the Haitian National Police, which has been lobbing tear gas into the community since last night, Nov. 29. Reports are that three children have died of suffocation and that a number of people have been and are being arrested.

The police unit CIMO is conducting these repressive operations against the population that is protesting these blatantly fraudulent elections.

The presidential elections in Haiti on Sunday, Nov. 20, were a repeat of the October 2015 fraudulent elections in favor of Jovenel Moise, the candidate supported by former Duvalierist president Martelly. The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP/KEP) carried out their electoral coup d’etat giving him a 55 percent win.

As acts of blatant cruelty unfold, the voices of mothers and market women can be heard crying out as money and food are being stolen from households, even as children are dying and people are being brutalized and arrested in the streets. Interview after interview being conducted on the ground confirms this.

This attack upon peaceful Haitian citizens is because they seek to exercise their right to vote, which in turn is a fight for their sovereignty, dignity and independence.

Events are unfolding rapidly. The complicity of the U.S./U.N. seeks to hide itself behind the second massively fraudulent set of presidential elections that it has orchestrated.

This second fraud in as many years has again been orchestrated by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP or KEP), the U.S./U.N. occupation and Haitian authorities with the collaboration of the elite media both local and international according to several reports.

But the people of Haiti are resisting. People have been taking to the streets day in and day out in massive protests with brutal repression by the police. The victims of this morning are an addition to the number of people shot yesterday who were protesting the electoral coup d’etat as it is unfolding.

This attack upon peaceful Haitian citizens is because they seek to exercise their right to vote, which in turn is a fight for their sovereignty, dignity and independence.

Presidential candidate Dr. Maryse Narcisse, from whom the election to the presidency of Haiti has been stolen twice since October 2015, just stated on the radio that FANMI LAVALAS rejects the CEP/KEP results and calls for general mobilization against this electoral coup d’etat.

The Haitian grassroots people are determined that this electoral coup d’etat will not succeed. In the streets, the people are chanting “Nou Pap Obeyi,” “We Will Not Obey,” meaning they will not accept the dictates of foreign domination.

In the following video of the protests on Nov. 22, 2016, you can see the protests of the people as it unfolds:

1) Demonstrators are chanting “Koudeta elektoral pap pase lan peyi a” or “The electoral coup d’etat will not succeed in the country.”

2) Demonstrators are holding up their ink-stained thumbs and voter ID cards to show that they voted for Fanmi Lavalas candidate Dr. Maryse Narcisse – those who were allowed to vote. Many were not. Many who did vote had their ballots discarded or burned by the same forces that seek to steal the Haitian vote from the grassroots people of Haiti. Many others were “re-assigned” to polling stations out of town. Many other registered voters’ names simply mysteriously did not appear on lists at their appointed polling stations.

3) Police are repeatedly attacking peaceful protestors and seizing the sound system; a Radio TIMOUN journalist was also attacked.

4) Protestors are re-grouping after each attack to continue their march for their vote to be counted – shouting their belief in ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE.

This massive campaign of exclusion of the Haitian electorate using voter suppression and blatant fraud was discussed on KPFA’s Flashpoints on Nov. 23 at the following link: https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=247221.

International solidarity is vital.

For more information, see Facebook Haiti Action Committee or www.haitisolidarity.net.