U.S. Marines arrest Haitian singer and activist So Anne on Mother’s Day

Nevertheless, at midnight, all the people in So Anne’s house, including her 5-year-old great grandson, Shashou, were forced to the ground and handcuffed by U.S. Marines armed with heavy artillery - a 5-year-old Haitian child, handcuffed by the world's most powerful soldiers at midnight in his own grandmother's home! The children’s pet dogs were shot to death for barking at the Marines.


All 11 people at So Anne's house were transported to the U.S. barracks at the Medical University the U.S. shut down upon arriving in Haiti, a country without doctors, and interrogated. None was charged. No apologies were given. All were released, except that Lavalas militant So Anne, after having been interrogated all night, was then delivered to the Haitian National Penitentiary. No charges have been cited.

Other Haitian popular organizational leaders, currently in hiding for fear of similar U.S. reprisals, suspect this arrest is a pretext to prevent So Anne from taking part in a demonstration demanding the return of the rule of law and President Aristide planned for May 18, Haiti's Flag Day. This is the sort of "law and order" and “democracy” Haitians are subjected to after their constitutionally-elected president was, himself, forced out of Haiti by U.S. and French soldiers at gunpoint.



More than 3,000 Haitians, mostly young Haitian men associated or rumored to be associated with the Lavalas Movement, have been killed in Haiti since the U.S. deposed President Aristide on Feb. 29. In a bare two months, this bloodbath and killing of 3,000 Haitians represents more than half the number of Haitians who were killed during the entire three years of the first coup d'état from 1991 to 1994. Yet the reason given by Secretary of State Colin Powell for forcing out President Aristide and bringing in the MIF was "to avoid a bloodbath."


Demand So Anne’s immediate release

What is So Anne’s “crime?” Organizing nutritional programs, serving food to the homeless, presenting cultural programs, and supporting Lavalas - along with the majority of the Haitian people - to name a few. Thousands of Haitians have already been killed since the coup d’etat on Feb. 29 for similar “crimes.” Thousands more are in hiding. We must fight back on their behalf.

Protest this illegal and immoral action by the United States Marines! Demand So Anne’s immediate release! Your calls, faxes and e-mails will make a difference to keep So Anne alive, to deter brutal treatment and to expedite her release.

http://www.sfbayview.com/051204/soanne051204.shtml

Please contact Ambassador James Foley directly at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince; call (509) 223-7011 or (509) 222-0200, fax (509) 223-9665, email acspap@state.gov or visit http://usembassy.state.gov. And contact Secretary of State Colin Powell at the U.S. State Department in Washington; call (202) 647-5291 or (202) 647-7098, fax (202) 647-2283 or (202) 647-5169, or email via http://contact-us.state.gov/ask_form_cat/
ask_form_secretary.html.

I can't think of anything our troops are doing that I can support.

This is bullshit.

Outcry against arrests in Haiti

Supporters of ousted president detained as interim leader has talks at UN on peacekeeping

PORT-AU-PRINCE Two prominent supporters of ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide have been arrested, prompting criticism by a leader of Aristide's party and a human rights group.

Annette Auguste, a pro-Aristide street activist, was detained early on Monday by international forces on suspicion of illegal activities, and US Marines spokesman Col David Lapan claimed she threatened the troops,

Auguste was turned over to Haitian police and charged with "criminal conspiracy", said police spokesman Max Harry-Isaac. However, the spokesman did not elaborate.

It was not immediately clear whether troops from the US, Canada, Chile or France were involved.

Police said a warrant had been issued for Auguste's arrest, and more arrests were expected.

Pro-Aristide former mayor Maxson Guerrier of the Port-au-Prince suburb of Delmas was detained last week on Haiti's border with the Dominican Republic.

That arrest was denounced as illegal by the National Coalition for Haitian Rights because there were no charges against Guerrier.

"The arrest and detention of citizens for reasons of investigation' is totally unacceptable," said the coalition's director, Pierre Esperance.

Former cabinet minister Leslie Voltaire, of Aristide's Lavalas Family party, criticised the arrests, saying: "I have never seen Annette Auguste involved in anything.

"In the case of Maxson Guerri
er, he was arrested without a warrant."

http://www.matamat.com/fullstory.php?gd=34&cd=2004-05-12

With each new atrocity it's becoming harder and harder to respect our troops let alone support them. Shooting dogs and handcuffing children on Mother's Day? :mad: Exactly what threat did this woman and her family pose that warranted this level of action??? So this is what passes for 'democracy' now, huh? The U.S. is the world's #1 exporter of 'democracy,' whether you want it or not, and U.S soldiers are the democratic enforcers. Is this what we have been reduced to?

So sad and so absolutely infuriating. I don't know how much more I can take.

Wonder if the Haitian National Penitentiary is our newest Abu Ghraib? So Anne is probably being 'interrogated' as we speak, if she's even still alive.

and Iraq and Colombia and Nigeria and soon a coup d'etat is Venezuela and, and, and .....
I think that the Whole World is going to be a bit much for the U$ to handle soon.

Remember Tienamin Square.

fascism in WWII I am absolutely disgusted that the USMC has been reported doing things that are undemocratic in nature such as shutting down newspapers, taking reprisals for mercenaries, committing war crimes, raping and torturing-etc.

The USMC is being abused by the administration of George W. Bush aka The War President, all of OUR military forces are being used to further a political agenda that has been forced upon US by traitors to OUR US Constitution-which is US imo.

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.

and horrible story. The real problem is , even IF this whole story isn't true it doesn't matter now. I'm not saying it's not so please understand me here but we are now guilty throughout the world because of the stupidity of what we did in Iraq.