"Haitian prison deaths reviewed; Journalists’ efforts lead to inquiry" by Deborah Sontag and Walt Bogdanich, New York Times | May 23, 2010
LES CAYES, Haiti — When the earth shook violently on Jan. 12, the inmates in this southern city’s squalid prison clamored to be released, screaming: “Help! We’re going to die in here.’’
Elsewhere in Haiti, inmates were fleeing largely undeterred. But here, where the prison itself sustained little damage, there was no exit. Instead, conditions worsened for the inmates, three-quarters of them pretrial detainees, arrested on charges as petty as loitering and locked up indefinitely alongside convicted felons.
After the earthquake, guards roughed up the noisiest inmates and consolidated them into cells so crowded their limbs tangled, former prisoners said. With aftershocks jangling nerves, the inmates slept in shifts on the ground, used buckets for toilets, and plotted their escape.
The escape plan, set in motion on Jan. 19 by an attack on a guard, proved disastrous. With Haitian and United Nations police officers encircling the prison, the detainees could not get out. For hours, they rampaged, hacking up doors and burning records, until tear gas finally overwhelmed them.
In the end, after the Haitian police stormed the compound, dozens of inmates lay dead and wounded, their bodies strewn through the courtyard and crumpled inside cells.
Haitian officials here say they did not use lethal force but rather found lifeless bodies when they entered the prison. They attribute the deaths to a prison ringleader who, they say, slaughtered his fellow inmates before hopping over the wall and disappearing.
But an investigation by The New York Times casts doubt on the official version of events and indicates that Haitian authorities shot unarmed prisoners and then sought to cover it up. Many of the bodies were buried in an unmarked grave.
Kesnel Jeudi, a recently released inmate, said in an interview that nobody was dead when the police rushed the prison. “They shouted: ‘Prisoners, lie down. Lie down. Lie down,’ ’’ he said. “When the prisoners lay down — while the prisoners were lying down — they began firing.’’
Jeudi, 28, said the police shootings involved some settling of scores....
Witnesses said the police shot unarmed prisoners, some in the prison yard, others in their cells. Afterward, the authorities failed to notify inmates’ relatives of the deaths, buried bodies without conducting autopsies, and burned the surviving prisoners’ bloodstained clothing and shoes....
The Haitian government said that it was conducting three separate investigations into the episode. But witnesses and others interviewed by the Times during two visits here last month said that they had never spoken to investigators. The inmates’ bodies had not been exhumed, and there was no indication that basic forensic evidence had ever been collected.
The detainees’ relatives say they feel not only bereft but also abandoned. During an interview, the widow of Abner Lisius — arrested on suspicions of stealing a cellphone, dead at 45 — wiped away tears. “My husband was murdered by the authorities,’’ said Marie Michel Laurencin.
For four months, American and UN officials have made no public comments about the deaths at Les Cayes, saying they were urging the Haitians to handle the matter themselves.Hey, state terrorism and murder by an ally?
No problem!
But after the Times repeatedly raised questions about the case with American officials, the US Embassy sent a human rights officer to Les Cayes.
There, you happy now, NYT?
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Must be; I haven't seen another word.
And look who might be going to prison:
"Prison urged for US missionary in Haiti" by Jonathan M. Katz, Associated Press | May 14, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A US missionary should spend six months in prison for her failed attempt to remove 33 children from Haiti following the Jan. 12 earthquake, a prosecutor said yesterday on the first day of her trial.
Related: Idaho Church Cover For Israeli Organ Trafficking in Haiti
Prosecutor Sonel Jean-François told the court that Laura Silsby knew she was breaking the law by trying to take the children without proper documents to an orphanage she was starting in the neighboring Dominican Republic.
“Laura recognized she violated the law,’’ Jean-François said as lawyers and a small group of spectators crowded into a stiflingly hot tent in the parking lot of the quake-damaged courthouse.
He spoke after the Idaho woman testified.
Silsby, who was leader of a group of Baptists detained by authorities, was the only person to testify on the first day of the trial.
She spent much of the rest of the session reading the Bible.
The 40-year-old businesswoman told the court she thought the children were orphans whose homes were destroyed in the earthquake.
As it turned out, all the children had at least one living parent, who had turned their children over to the group in hopes of securing better lives for them....
Silsby has been in custody since Jan. 29, when she and nine other Americans were detained at the Dominican border.
The other missionaries have all been released and charges against them dismissed.
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Also see: Hustling Out of Haiti
Silsby will be hustling as quick as she can:
"Haitian judge convicts US missionary" by Associated Press | May 18, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The last of 10 Americans detained while trying to take 33 children out of Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake was freed yesterday when a judge convicted her but sentenced her to time already served in jail.
Laura Silsby, the organizer of the ill-fated effort to take the children to an orphanage being set up in the neighboring Dominican Republic, returned to her cell briefly to retrieve belongings before quickly heading to the airport....
--more--""For Haitian-Americans, a day to rejoice, reflect; Joy of annual parade tempered by earthquake sorrow" by Sean Teehan, Globe Correspondent | May 17, 2010
Local Haitian-Americans united yesterday in music and dance four months after an earthquake devastated the country, destroying homes, breaking up families, and taking thousands of lives....
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Related:
"Red Cross scam in Haiti
The Red Cross raised over $450 million on behalf of victims of the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti. They say they've spent $106 million. A Haitian goes in search of evidence that the money was spent to help Haitians. What about the other $344 million. The Red Cross says it has "long term" plans for that money. Long term plans when there are people going without food, water, medical care and basic tent housing. Isn't it about time some Red Cross people went to jail for fraud?
Yeah, I'm wondering where all the heartfelt aid went myself.
"In the Caribbean, one of the countries that could be hardest hit by an active storm season is Haiti, where hundreds of thousands of earthquake victims are still living in tents or under tarpaulins. Since the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, which killed up to 300,000 people and left more than 1.5 million homeless, rebuilding has been slow. The Haitian government says it is still working on plans to deal with another natural disaster.
Who stole all that money?
The Atlantic storm season always poses a risk in mountainous Haiti. Tropical Storm Jeanne killed nearly 3,000 people in 2004, and a series of 2008 storms killed 800 — mostly in the country’s central region north of Port-au-Prince.
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Final Filler: UMass lab donating tetanus vaccine to HaitiYou know who benefit$ there, right?
Think $wine flu vaccine if you know what I mean.
Haiti knowledge helps Fla. boy win bee
