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tinanator
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Wed May-19-04 09:21 AM Original message |
| Is Haiti off the DU worry list? |
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| Nicholas D Wolfwood
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Wed May-19-04 09:22 AM Response to Original message |
| 1. Uhm, no.... |
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| seemslikeadream
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Wed May-19-04 10:06 AM Response to Reply #1 |
| 7. I just posted some of the stories |
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| bryant69
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Wed May-19-04 09:24 AM Response to Original message |
| 2. Yep you got it |
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| seemslikeadream
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Wed May-19-04 10:02 AM Response to Reply #2 |
| 6. You must not read LBN Here's just one story on Equatorial Guinea |
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| Nicholas D Wolfwood
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Wed May-19-04 10:10 AM Response to Reply #6 |
| 8. No, I don't read LBN. |
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| seemslikeadream
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Wed May-19-04 10:13 AM Response to Reply #8 |
| 9. You say nothing is written about it? |
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| Nicholas D Wolfwood
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Wed May-19-04 10:56 AM Response to Reply #9 |
| 15. My papers |
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| seemslikeadream
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Wed May-19-04 11:08 AM Response to Reply #15 |
| 17. Hey luv I didn't call anyone a racist |
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| bryant69
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Wed May-19-04 10:29 AM Response to Reply #6 |
| 10. Thank you for posting this phone book sized article |
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| seemslikeadream
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Wed May-19-04 10:31 AM Response to Reply #10 |
| 12. Thank you |
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| BiggJawn
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Wed May-19-04 09:33 AM Response to Original message |
| 3. No, and I resent your inference... |
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Edited on Wed May-19-04 09:35 AM by BiggJawn
That "we don't care because they're dark-skinned people"
Information coming from Haiti is spotty right now. Not even the BBC Carribean Service is "All Haiti, All the Time". You got some news? Give it up, please. Otherwise.....  |
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| Just Me
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Wed May-19-04 02:33 PM Response to Reply #3 |
| 24. I resent the inference that no one worries, too. |
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| BiggJawn
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Wed May-19-04 10:23 PM Response to Reply #24 |
| 27. Last I heard he's still alive... |
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| Jack Rabbit
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Wed May-19-04 09:41 AM Response to Original message |
| 4. The junta's crimes and outrages are numerous |
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| seemslikeadream
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Wed May-19-04 10:01 AM Response to Original message |
| 5. Here's my news from Haiti |
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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. 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 U.S. Delegation Investigates the Situation of Haitian Workers Under the Co The coup also led to serious attacks on Haiti’s trade unions. The delegation heard reports from one union, the FTPH (Federation of Public Transport Workers of Haiti), of criminal attacks on over 100 of the buses that they had purchased for use in the bus cooperative operated by the union. These attacks involved the torching and destruction of the union co-op’s buses, yet went unreported in the North American media, despite having taken place in the days immediately following the 29 February coup d’etat (the peak period of international media presence). Given their timing, and the fact that the union bus cooperative’s success had been viewed as a positive symbol of social advances under the Aristide government, such attacks were seen by the union as acts of political reprisal by supporters of the coup. No arrests have been made in association with these attacks. The general living conditions of Haitian workers and the general population have drastically worsened since the coup of 29 February. The delegation heard that the price of rice has jumped dramatically, as much as doubling. Other vital foodstuffs have seen even more serious price inflation. Several witnesses testified that whereas before the coup, Haitians were able to eat at least once per day, the cost of food has reduced this to as little as 3 meals per week. Even those Haitians fortunate enough to have a job are barely subsisting. As for human rights, things are even more serious. The coup which deposed President Aristide has led to a serious wave of attacks and persecutions of supporters of President Aristide and his Fanmi Lavalas Party. The delegation heard testimony from an elected member of Parliament for the Fanmi Lavalas who is living in hiding, having been driven out of his town under gunfire. Other political leaders and known activists have also been forced into hiding, living underground, fearing the death threats and violence directed at supporters of the ousted government. Despite its obvious popularity, the Fanmi Lavalas movement is not currently able to have political demonstrations or otherwise take open political action due to the threat of attack. The coup regime, supported by an international military coalition led by the US, France and Canada, has not provided security for those currently most at risk. The names of Lavalas supporters - and even those suspected of being Lavalas supporters - are being read off on right-wing radio stations as an implicit threat. Neither the coup regime nor its international backers have taken action to contain what many Haitians refer to as an anti-Lavalas “witch hunt” that continues to this day. more http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_7565.shtml Haiti to UN: nation needs relief, not just troops 10 May 2004 22:22:00 GMT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Haiti's interim prime minister appealed to the United Nations on Monday for economic and development aid, saying just sending peacekeeping troops was insufficient. Gerard Latortue, who conferred with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, told reporters that while piles of weapons in Haiti were a severe problem, he believed the expected U.N. troops were enough to accomplish disarmament "easily and rapidly." Some 3,500 foreign troops, half from the United States, the others from France, Canada and Chile, are now in Haiti. Up to 6,700 U.N.-organized troops and 1,622 civilian police are to replace them on June 1. Latortue told reporters, "Sending troops is not enough because the root of the problem is poverty, unemployment." MORE - ALSO - http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/e0... What will Haitians eat tomorrow? ACT members combat food shortages in wake of political crisis By Paul Jeffrey, ACT International Petite Riviere, Haiti, May 12, 2004--Mercidien Francois' family is not going to eat today. Yesterday, the Haitian woman mixed some corn and flour with water and gave a cup of the weak mixture to each of her seven children and her husband, who lies sick of liver disease. Tomorrow, there may or may not be anything to eat. "When someone has food, we share it among our neighbors, but my neighbors don't have any food these days, either," Francois says, sitting in the shade of her dried mud home while watching the sun move across the arid, deforested landscape. <snip> While the political struggle about the region's fate goes on, Francois and her neighbors are trying to figure out what they'll eat tomorrow. Food insecurity increased in recent months as political and military conflict brought transportation to a standstill. Most food prices in this remote region rose more than 50 percent. The lingering drought had already exhausted the coping mechanisms of poor families, so there was little ability to deal with the new problems created by the fight over Aristide. Many families were forced to consume the seeds they had hoped to plant. "When you mix the political crisis with the drought, you get a real disaster for the poor," says Prospery Raymond, a program officer for Christian Aid in Haiti. MORE - ALSO - http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06734780.htm Criminals run amok in Haiti despite U.S. force 06 May 2004 20:34:13 GMT PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, May 6 (Reuters) - More than 3,000 escaped convicts are running amok in Haiti threatening individuals and businesses, unrestrained by a U.S.-led multinational force meant to keep the peace, police and residents said on Thursday. Jails were emptied and prisoners set free across the Caribbean country in February as an armed revolt swept out of the north toward Port-au-Prince, eventually forcing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power. But now many who supported the rebels, such as businessmen, are paying the price and are being kidnapped, shot and robbed by bands of drug dealers and other criminals. "Armed bandits visited me three times in two weeks and took away all the money I had," said Josue Jeanty, 50, a grocery store owner in the capital, where most of the 3,600 foreign troops led by U.S. Marines are on patrol. The U.S.-led force will be replaced by an 8,000-strong U.N. deployment in June. SEE ALSO - http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/vLCE/Haiti%20?OpenDocument&StartKey... http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/emergency/HA_UNR.htm In defiance of U.S. occupation: North American delegation attend workers c National Committee of Women Work ers President Ginette Apoloon speaks with strength and conviction. She told us that health care is virtually absent for workers. Cash payment is required. In contrast, she said, "Under the Aristide administration there were plans for health-care insurance that paid 50 percent of costs." She emphasized that the union movement should demand an end to the sexual abuse of women on the job. Women should not be compromised. Reports are also circulating that Andy Apaid is negotiating to buy the state-owned telephone company, Teleco, and privatize the system. He told us that many Lavalas supporters fled to the mountains. He also fled. Milot asked, "Where did they get the money for helicopters and planes?" He also remarked, "The Haitian elite also gives a lot of money to the rebels." more http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_7524.shtml Bitter row over Haiti splits CBC By Hans Nichols A bitter divide has opened up in the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) over what approach it should adopt toward the interim government in Haiti, with roughly six members refusing to recognize provisional Prime Minister Gerard Latortue. Rep. Maxine Waters is at odds with Rep. Elijah Cummings. The disagreement has led a former chairwoman of the CBC to criticize the current leader of the 39-member group publicly. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif) has accused Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) of diplomatic ignorance. The divisions came to the fore last week when Latortue was in Washington for a meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell and members of the CBC. That visit gave birth to competing press conferences and conflicting claims about how many members met with Latortue. http://www.thehill.com/news/051204/cbc.aspx WATCH THIS VIDEO EVERY DEATH CREATES NEW ENEMIES MORE TERRORISTS MORE DANGER MORE DEATH AND REMEMBER HE IS JUST GETTING STARTED http://www.bushflash.com/pax.html  DinoBoy Aristide requests refuge in South Africa | Globe and Mail Aristide requests refuge in South Africa Associated Press Cape Town — Ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide has officially asked South Africa for asylum until his personal situation “normalizes,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said Monday. The ministry said in a statement that the request was made through the Caribbean Economic Community (CARICOM) and Mozambique President Joaquin Chissano, who is the chairman of the African union. Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, said in a statement, that she will take the request to the newly appointed cabinet, which will conduct its first meeting later this week. More at the Globe and Mail Aristide not welcome, says South African opposition party JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) - South Africa's main opposition party said yesterday that Jean-Bertrand Aristide was not welcome following reports that the former Haitian president would soon take up asylum here. Aristide, who is currently in Jamaica, left Haiti in late February for the Central African Republic following a two-week armed revolt against his rule in the poor Caribbean country. The United States and France applied heavy pressure on Aristide to step down to avoid a bloodbath but he later contended that he was forced out of office. In a statement, the Democratic Alliance (DA) party said it would be "morally reprehensible to provide a home to such a man". "Whether or not it has received an official application, the Government should simply state that, in accordance with our national laws on asylum-seekers, Mr Aristide would not be welcome here," said DA spokesman James Selfe in a statement carried by the SAPA news agency. http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20040426T070000-0500_59019_OB... SA considers Aristide sanctuary Aristide says he was forced out of power Ex-Haiti president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's request for permission to stay in South Africa will be considered this week, says the government. Mr Aristide fled Haiti in February, as armed rebels were marching on the capital, Port-au-Prince. He initially went to the Central African Republic and then to Jamaica. Foreign affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa denied speculation that this was a first step towards granting the ousted leader asylum. "We are talking about a temporary arrangement in which he will be visiting South Africa until he finds a permanent place," he told Reuters news agency. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3700651.stm 10 May 2004 2037 UTC Former Haitian President Aristide Asks for Extended Visit to South Africa Challiss McDonough Johannesburg 10 May 2004, 15:15 UTC Listen to Challiss McDonough's report (RealAudio) McDonough report - Download 255k (RealAudio) The South African department of foreign affairs says former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide has made a formal request to "visit South Africa until his personal situation normalizes." The cabinet will consider the request later this week and is expected to approve. Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma issued a statement in Cape Town, announcing Mr. Aristide's request for an extended visit to South Africa. The former Haitian leader has been expected to make his way here ever since he fled Haiti in late February, following an armed revolt. But the foreign affairs department is emphasizing that the cabinet still has to decide whether to grant the request. Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa denied that the open-ended visit actually amounts to asylum. "No, there is no reference whatsoever, in the communiqué of the minister of foreign affairs, Dr. Dlamini-Zuma, for asylum. We have spoken about a request for a visit until his personal situation normalizes," he said. http://www.voanews.com/EnglishtoAfrica/article.cfm?objectID=FE547B33-0... 'This is not asylum' 10/05/2004 13:08 - (SA) "Obviously, we will consult with others about the implications of granting him asylum," he said. While the government insisted that Aristide had not made any formal request for asylum, sources had privately let it be known that Mbeki's government did not want to deal with the issue until after the April 14 elections. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1524711,00.... dArKeR Government agrees to give Aristide asylum By Jean-Jacques Cornish South Africa said on Thursday that it was ready to give former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide a temporary home, nearly three months after an armed revolt forced him to flee his poor Caribbean country. Aristide is currently in Jamaica, where he arrived on March 15 from the Central African Republic, his first destination following his resignation in late February under pressure from the United States and France. "This is a temporary arrangement until the Haitian situation stabilises and Aristide and his family can return," government spokesperson Joel Netshithenzhe said. http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=qw1084449061844S162&set_... Rep. Maxine Waters Calls on Congress Not To Recognize New Haitian Governme The new US-supported Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue arrived in Washington Tuesday for his visit since the U.S. helped oust President Jean Bertand Aristide. Waters is calling on members of Congress not to recognize the new prime minister. In February, Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide was removed from power in what he calls a modern kidnapping in the service of a coup d'etat backed by the United States. Now, government officials have brought the new US-supported Prime Minister Gerard Latortue to Washington to meet with members of Congress, top Bush administration officials, international financial institutions and members of the Congressional Black Caucus. This comes as Haiti descends even deeper into poverty and Aristide supporters are reportedly being killed in the streets. http://www.pacifica.org/programs/dn/040505.html HAITI COUP:INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS IN THE US AND HAITI “The U.S. has been a strong supporter of all of these issues. So okay, where is this whole mechanism now? Why hasn’t it be into place? As far as I can tell, the only thing we have is the 15 CARICOM countries who have called for respect for democratically elected leaders and have not acknowledged the present unconstitutional government in Haiti and Venezuela. “Where are the Brazilians? Where are the Argentineans? Where are the Mexicans? Where are all these other countries? Many which are led by people who it is hard to say are U.S. puppets. Where are they? Why haven’t these mechanisms been put into play in this case?” Perhaps the silence is the result of economic blackmail – Internal Monetary Fund debt, European Union pressure, or U.S.-imposed sanctions are reason enough for these countries to turn a blind eye to the sovereign nation across the water. “There is considerable information that the international banks, under orders from the United States, blocked aid to Aristide’s government. They said that they were doing this to leverage change after a ‘questionable’ 2000 election. The question arises, though, as to whether this is an appropriate source for leverage.” http://www.sfbayview.com/040704/haiticoup040704.shtml webster_green Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee....thats about it.... The only Democratic legislators who give a shit about democracy. How sad. All the others are silent on the disgrace in Haiti. Leahy and Dodd were not silent HAITI -- (Senate - March 04, 2004) Senator Leahy HAITI -- (Senate - March 04, 2004) --- Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, over the past week, we have all watched the images of killings, chaos, and looting in Haiti. I am sad for the Haitian people. Once again, their leaders and the international community have failed them, and the poorest and the most vulnerable are enduring the greatest suffering. I am also deeply disappointed with the Bush administration. Over the past several years, this administration ignored the simmering problems in Haiti and hoped they would somehow resolve themselves. That approach obviously backfired. Things have spiraled out of control. We now have a full-blown crisis on our hands, accusations that the administration helped to engineer a coup of President Aristide, and the deployment of thousands of U.S. Marines into a difficult situation. Bringing change to Haiti will now be a far more dangerous and costly undertaking. Moreover, the U.N. or some other impartial organization will have to conduct an investigation to answer nagging questions about Aristide's departure. I recognize that many administration officials did not support President Aristide. I can understand that view, as I also lost confidence in him. There is no question that serious allegations of corruption and abuse surround President Aristide and his associates and that these issues should have been dealt with. President Aristide and other Haitian leaders should be held accountable for their actions. Having said that, we should not forget the courage that President Aristide displayed when he first spoke out against the excesses of the brutal and corrupt dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier. But this administration did not want to make the effort to help clean up the Haitian Government, build a reform-minded opposition, and restructure the economy. Instead, the Bush administration simply disengaged. During his first year in office, President Bush reduced aid to Haiti by about 25 percent. Concerned with the growing problems in Haiti, Senator DODD and I sent a letter to USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios in February 2002, urging an overhaul of our foreign aid program to Haiti. The response to our letter was essentially: ``Thanks for writing. We have a limited budget, but we will remain `flexible' in our approach.'' The results of this flexible approach speak for themselves. To be fair, USAID was under heady pressure to absorb activities that the State Department should have funded. USAID does not deserve the blame for an administration-wide policy failure. During the last month, United States policy toward Haiti crystallized around the goal of getting rid of President Aristide. For all the administration's tough talk aimed at President Aristide, this White House has embraced corrupt leaders with far less democratic credentials than President Aristide when it has suited its purpose. This episode is yet another reminder of how the contradictory policies and rhetoric of this administration are damaging U.S. credibility around the world. In some respects, President Aristide's departure begins a new chapter for Haiti. In other ways, it is not clear just how new it is. For the third time in 20 years, a Haitian leader has been forced into exile, and at least for the third time in 90 years, the U.S. military has intervened in Haiti. What is to show for years of interventions and hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. assistance? Haiti remains one of the poorest and most corrupt countries on Earth, facing a myriad of complex problems. Removing President Aristide will not solve these entrenched problems, but it may provide a way forward. The United States has compelling reasons to help. Haiti is just a few hundred miles away from our shores, and the social turmoil there could easily spread to the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, and elsewhere in our neighborhood. The United States has a long relationship with Haiti and many Haitian Americans live in the United States. Perhaps most importantly, we have a moral responsibility to help a nation where so many have been suffering for so long. The United States, France, and others must work with the United Nations, the Organization of American States to help fill the power vacuum in Port-au-Prince. The international community must also come up with a substantial aid package to help the Haitian people get back on their feet. This will be a long, slow process. If we are to succeed in meeting the challenge of recovery and rebuilding in Haiti, the United States and the international community must stay engaged. Most of all, the Haitians themselves must take responsibility, especially the religious and political leaders. But we must take care not to overlook a key group that must be involved in this process--middle-class Haitians who have left the country over the past few decades. As Garry Pierre-Pierre, editor in chief of the Haitian Times, points out in Monday's Wall Street Journal, involving Haiti's middle class is essential. He writes: The international community has to bring the country's middle class not merely to the table, but back to Haiti. This middle class has been fleeing Haiti for the U.S., where it has consolidated itself, for the last 30 years. We should look to that group, the Haitian diaspora, educated at the best schools in the U.S. and Canada, to help lead the country out of its perpetual cycle of violence and misery. I agree with Mr. Pierre-Pierre, and believe that the administration should heed his advice. We have missed one opportunity after another in Haiti. It is time for us to make the most of this unfortunate situation. I ask unanimous consent to print the above-referenced letters in the RECORD. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows: U.S. SENATE, Washington, DC, February 15, 2002. Hon. ANDREW NATSIOS, Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC. DEAR MR. NATSIOS: We are deeply concerned with the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Haiti. The political impasse between the Haitian Government and the political opposition has only made a serious situation more dire. As a matter of U.S. policy Haiti is being denied access to monies from the multilateral development banks until the government and opposition resolve their differences. For that reason, the humanitarian needs of Haiti must be met solely from bilateral donations through non-governmental organizations such as CARE, Catholic Relief Services and World Vision. Violence, poverty, and disease are rampant throughout Haiti. Since the United States is opposing access for Haiti to multilateral monies to address these problems, we believe the U.S. has a moral obligation to ensure, to the maximum extent feasible, that U.S. bilateral humanitarian assistance allocations be maintained at adequate levels. However, that does not appear to be the case. As you know annual USAID/Haiti allocations have been cut in half since FY1999 to $50 million for the current fiscal year. Moreover, the Administration's FY 2003 request is only $45 million. At these levels we are very skeptical that USAID will be able to continue many critical programs, including school feeding programs, public health programs for Haitian children ages 0 to 5, and AIDS treatment and prevention programs. We strongly urge you to review the overall FY 2003 USAID budget to determine whether additional funds can be found for USAID FY 2003 programs in Haiti. Moreover, we do not support efforts to obligate FY 2002 Haiti monies for purposes other than humanitarian assistance programs. Thank you for your attention to our concerns. We look forward to working with you in addressing the humanitarian needs of Haiti's seven million people. Sincerely yours, Patrick J. Leahy, Christopher J. Dodd, U.S. Senators. -- U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Washington, DC, April 2, 2002. Hon. PATRICK J. LEAHY, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. DEAR SENATOR LEAHY: Mr. Natsios has asked me to respond to your letter of February 15, 2002, concerning the current situation in Haiti and declining U.S. assistance levels. We regret the delay in responding. We share your concern about deteriorating conditions in Haiti, and are doing our best to help ease the situation within the constraints of current budget realities. Since September 11, 2001, worldwide pressures on overall resources limit our ability to maintain prior year levels for Haiti. We have made up most of the difference using Development Assistance and the Child Survival and Health Programs fund; however, these accounts are heavily subscribed. Our programs will continue to have a meaningful impact in Haiti through the provision of primarily humanitarian assistance. Approximately 80 percent of the FY 2002 budget and FY 2003 request will go toward health, food aid, and education activities. These programs will still provide health and family planning services to approximately 2.7 million Haitians--mostly women and children--including HIV/AIDS prevention. They will also target food resources in Haiti to children under five and pregnant/lactating women, and will continue to make marked improvements in math and reading achievement test scores for 150,000 Haitian children. In closing, we are watching the situation very closely and remain flexible on funding options for FY 2002. We welcome a continuing dialogue with Congress on appropriate assistance levels for Haiti as events unfold. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Please let us know when this office can be of further assistance. Sincerely, J. EDWARD FOX, Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?r108:./temp/~r108SF8WqA 5. Senator Chris Dodd's statement on Haiti I cite those international agreements because we think of our Nation as being a nation of laws, not of men. These agreements either meant something or they didn't. The Santiago Declaration and the Inter-American Charter on Democracy, apparently both documents mean little or nothing when it comes to supporting democratically elected governments in this hemisphere--not ones that you necessarily like or agree with or find everything they do is in your interest, but we do adhere to the notion that democratically elected governments are what we support in this hemisphere. HAITI -- (Senate - March 02, 2004) GPO's PDF --- Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I wish to address, if I may, the subject matter of Haiti and the events that have occurred there over the last several days, now going back a week or more, in that country, that beleaguered nation only a few hundred miles off the southern coast of Florida. On Sunday morning, as we now all know, the democratically elected government, the President of Haiti, was forced out of office. The armed insurrection, led by former members of the disbanded Haitian Army, and its paramilitary wing called FRAPH, made it impossible for the Aristide government to maintain public order, without assistance from the international community--international assistance that was consciously withheld, in my view. President Aristide left Haiti on Sunday morning aboard an American aircraft. President Aristide reportedly has GPO's PDF gone into exile in the Central African Republic, where I am now being told he is not allowed to communicate with others outside of that country. Members of the Black Caucus of the other body, and others who had an opportunity to speak with President Aristide yesterday, have publicly restated his claim that he was forcibly removed from Haiti by U.S. officials. I quickly point out that Secretary of State Colin Powell and others have emphatically denied that charge. Such an allegation, if true, is extremely troubling and would be a gross violation of the laws of the U.S. and international law. Only time will tell. I presume there will be a thorough investigation to determine exactly what occurred from late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, regarding the departure and ouster of the President of Haiti, President Aristide. Over the coming days, I believe an effort should be made to reconstruct what happened in the final 24 or 48 hours leading up to President Aristide's departure so we can resolve questions of the U.S. participation in the ouster of a democratically elected leader in this hemisphere. Let's be clear that whether U.S. officials forcibly removed Aristide from Haiti, as he has charged, or he left voluntarily, as Secretary of Powell and others have stated, it is indisputable, based on everything we know, that the U.S. played a very direct and public role in pressuring him to leave office by making it clear that the United States would do nothing to protect him from the armed thugs who are threatening to kill him. His choice was simple: Stay in Haiti with no protection from the international community, including the U.S., and be killed or you can leave the country. That is hardly what I would call a voluntary decision to leave. I will point out as well, if I can--and I know that international agreements are not always thought of as being terribly important in some people's minds. But in 1991, President Bush, the 41st President, along with other nations in this hemisphere, had signed the Santiago Declaration of 1991. That declaration, authored by the Organization of American States, said that any nation, democratically elected in this hemisphere, that seeks the help of others when they are threatened with an overthrow should be able to get that support. Ten years later, the Inter-American Charter on Democracy was signed into law, a far more comprehensive proposal, again authored by the Organization of American States, the U.S. supporting. The present President Bush and our administration supported that. That charter on democracy stated that when asked for help by a democratically elected government being threatened with overthrow, we should respond. President Aristide, a democratically elected President made that request and, of course, not only did we not provide assistance, in fact we sat back and watched as he left the country, offering assistance for him to depart. I cite those international agreements because we think of our Nation as being a nation of laws, not of men. These agreements either meant something or they didn't. The Santiago Declaration and the Inter-American Charter on Democracy, apparently both documents mean little or nothing when it comes to supporting democratically elected governments in this hemisphere--not ones that you necessarily like or agree with or find everything they do is in your interest, but we do adhere to the notion that democratically elected governments are what we support in this hemisphere. When they are challenged by violent thugs, people with records of violent human rights violations, engaged in death squad activity, in the very country they are now moving back into and threatened, of course, successfully the elected government of President Aristide, then I think it is worthy of note that we have walked away from these international documents signed only 3 years ago and 10 years ago. There is no doubt, I add, that President Aristide has made significant mistakes during his 3 years in office--these last 3 years. He allowed his supporters to use violence as a means of controlling a growing opposition movement against his government. The Haitian police were ill trained and ill equipped to maintain public order in the face of violent demonstrations by progovernment and antigovernment activists. Poverty, desperation, and opportunism led to wide government corruption. President Aristide, in my view, must assume responsibility for these things. But did the cumulative effect of these failures amount to a decision that we thought we could no longer support this democratically elected government? If that becomes the standard in this hemisphere, we are going to find ourselves sitting by and watching one democratically elected government after another fall to those that breed chaos and remove governments with which they don't agree. They are being told by the Bush administration now that the Haitian Government was a government of failed leadership. That is a whole new standard when it comes to engaging in the kind of activity we have seen over the last several days. Having been critical of President Aristide, I point out that he was elected twice overwhelmingly in his country. He was thrown out of office in a coup in the early 1990s. Through the efforts of the U.S. Government and others, he was brought back to power in Haiti. Then he gave up power when the government of President Preval was elected. During those 4 years, President Aristide supported that transitional government. He ran again himself, as the Haitian Constitution allowed, and was elected overwhelmingly again, despite the fact the opposition posed little or no efforts to stand against him. There was a very bad election that occurred in the spring of 2000, in which eight members of the Haitian Senate were elected by fraud. Those Senators were removed from office. Six months later, President Aristide was elected overwhelmingly again. It is the first time I know of in the 200-year history of Haiti as an independent nation where a President turned over power transitionally peacefully to another democratically elected government. Whatever other complaints there are--and they are not illegitimate about the Aristide government--there was a peaceful transition of democratically elected governments in Haiti. That never, ever happened before. What has happened there repeatedly is one coup after another--33 over the 200-year history of that nation. Whatever shortcomings they may have had, President Aristide provided for the first time in Haiti's history a democratically elected government transitioning power to other people peacefully. I will also point out that he abolished the military and the army, an institution that did nothing but drain the feeble economy of Haiti of necessary resources. Haiti did not have a need for an army. There were no threats to Haiti. In retrospect, he may regret that. But the army, in my view, was a waste of money in Haiti, served no legitimate purpose, and President Aristide should be commended for abolishing an institution that had been the source of constant corruption and difficulty on that nation. Blame for the chaos does not rest solely on the shoulders of President Aristide. The so-called democratic opposition bears a share of the responsibility for the death and destruction that has wreaked havoc throughout Haiti over the past several weeks. The members of CARICOM, with U.S. backing, put on the table a plan calling for the establishment of a unity government to defuse the political crisis. The opposition rejected this proposal on three different occasions, despite the fact that President Aristide said he was willing to have a government of unity, to give up power, to share governmental functions with the opposition. The opposition said no on three different occasions, despite the fact that the nations of the Caribbean region urged the opposition to avoid the kind of transition that we have seen over the last several days. A hundred or more Haitians already have lost their lives. Property damage may be in the millions. Given the direct role the U.S. played in the removal of the Aristide government, it is now President Bush's responsibility, in my view, and moral obligation to take charge of this situation. That means more than sending a couple hundred marines for 90 days or so into Haiti. Rather, it means a sustained commitment of personnel and resources for the GPO's PDF foreseeable future by the U.S. and other members of the international community that called for the removal of the elected government. If the Bush administration and others inside and outside of Haiti had been at all concerned over the last 3 weeks about the fate of the Haitian people, perhaps the situation would not have deteriorated into near anarchy, nor would the obligation of the U.S. to clean up this mess now loom so large. We are now reaping what we have sown. Three years of a hands-off policy left Haiti unstable, with a power vacuum that will be filled in one way or another. Will that vacuum be filled by individuals such as Guy Philippe, a former member of the disbanded Haitian Army, a notorious human rights abuser and drug trafficker, or is the administration prepared to take action against him and his followers, based upon a long record of criminal behavior? It is rather amazing to this Senator that the administration has said little or nothing about its plans for cracking down on the armed thugs who have terrorized Haiti since February 5. Only with careful attention by the United States and the international community does Haiti have a fighting chance to break from its tragic history. In the best of circumstances, it is never easy to build and nurture democratic institutions where they are weak and nonexistent. When ignorance, intolerance, and poverty are part of the very fabric of a nation, as is the case in Haiti, it is Herculean. Given the mentality of the political elites in Haiti--one of winner take all--I, frankly, believe it is going to be extremely difficult to form a unity government that has any likelihood of being able to govern for any period of time without resorting to repressive measures against those who have been excluded from the process. It brings me no pleasure to say at this juncture that Haiti is failing, if not a failed state. The United Nations Security Council has authorized the deployment of peacekeepers to Haiti to stabilize the situation. I would go a step further and urge the Haitian authorities to consider sharing authority with an international administration authorized by the United Nations in order to create the conditions necessary to give any future Government of Haiti a fighting chance at succeeding. The United States must lead in this multinational initiative, as Australia did, I might point out, in the case of East Timor; not as Secretary Defense Rumsfeld suggested yesterday: Wait for someone else to step up to the plate to take the lead. It will require substantial, sustained commitment of resources by the United States and the international community if we are to be successful. The jury is out as to whether the Bush administration is prepared to remain engaged in Haiti. Only in the eleventh hour did Secretary of State Colin Powell focus his attention on Haiti as he personally organized the pressure which led to President Aristide's resignation on Sunday. Unless Secretary Powell is equally committed to remaining engaged in the rebuilding of that country, then I see little likelihood that anything is going to change for the Haitian people. The coming days and weeks will tell whether the Bush administration is as concerned about strengthening and supporting democracy in our own hemisphere as it claims to be in other more distant places around the globe. The people of this hemisphere are watching and waiting. I yield the floor http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r108:17:./temp/~r108iX7d5G :: Santiago Declaration of 1991 very important Dodd I will point out as well, if I can--and I know that international agreements are not always thought of as being terribly important in some people's minds. But in 1991, President Bush, the 41st President, along with other nations in this hemisphere, had signed the Santiago Declaration of 1991. That declaration, authored by the Organization of American States, said that any nation, democratically elected in this hemisphere, that seeks the help of others when they are threatened with an overthrow should be able to get that support. Octafish Funny how Democracy works. Even the dirtiest barrell contains more than a few good apples. Thanks for the heads-up, seemslikeadream! For those who don't understand why they should give a damn: Aristide Talks With Democracy Now! About the Leaders of the Coup and U.S. Funding of the Opposition in Haiti democracynow. org, March 17th, 2004 EXCERPT... JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE: We had an army of 7,000 soldiers controlling 40% of the national region. Not only they led those coup, they had 32 coup d'etats, the last one 33. After the coup they led in 1991, they and members of a criminal organization, well known FRAPH, killed more than 5,000 Haitians. Some people don't like to hear 5,000 because for them it could be double or more than that. Let's say more than 5,000 people were killed by the army at that time with the help of the well-known criminal organization called FRAPH. When i went back on October 15, 1994, it was obvious that the Haitian people couldn't go ahead with killers. The Haitian people wanted people to protect them, not people to kill them. So, the army was disbanded. Now they reached a way to have more drug dealers, like Guy Philippe who was arrested for drugs in Panama, sent back to Santo Domingo and then back to Haiti with the assistance of those who pretend to restore peaces to Haiti, Chamblain was already convicted twice and now he is back. So having criminals, drug dealers, thugs who were convicted to come back with an army, then when they guess what we had through those 32 coup d'etats, leading Haiti from misery to misery while we want to move from misery to poverty with dignity, this is maybe what they have in their minds. AMY GOODMAN: When the CARICOM U.S. Group came and negotiated the U.S.-backed peace plan that you accepted with Noriega, Roger Noriega, Assistant Secretary of State representing the United States, how did they refer to the opposition, how did they refer to the people you just described as Jodel Chamblain, Guy Philippe? JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE: The meeting we had with members of my government and diplomats and heads of international delegations in my office, Mr. Noriega referring to those thugs terrorists said "I will call them killers", that's what he said. I'm shocked when today I still see members of the international community acting with those killers. More than that accompanying Guy Philippe, a killer, to distribute food to people, so trying to project another image of him when as a well-known drug dealer and a killer he should be put in jail. So, it is scandalous. The world needs to know that. The more they listen to what is going on in Haiti today, the more they may join the Haitian people to prevent the killers to continue to do the same, killing people. AMY GOODMAN: Jean-Bertrand Aristide on board the chartered jet as we headed over the Atlantic. The U.S. Delegation headed by congress member Maxine Waters and the Jamaican Member of Parliament Sharon Hay-Webster. Bringing the Aristides to Jamaica, this as members of the Bush administration from Condoleezza Rice to Donald Rumsfeld warned that Jean-Bertrand Aristide should not return to this hemisphere. I asked Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide if he could talk about the killing of the justice minister in Haiti in 1993; Louis Jodel Chamblain, one of the current so-called rebels, was convicted of murdering Guy Mallory. This was Jean-Bertrand Aristide's response. JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE: From 1991 to 1994, the Minister of Justice, Guy Mallory, Father Mallory's son, Antoine Izmery, the people they killed lost their lives because they were calling for democracy, the restoration of the constitutional order for my return to Haiti. After I returned, we had a trial. And Chamblain was convicted by a court of us. Twice. In spite of that, nothing happened only impunity and assistance and heavy machine guns were provided to him and the orders to have them appearing as rebels, as if they were not anymore killers, people already convicted. This is the cynical picture. CONTINUED... http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Haiti/Aristide_US_Role_Funding.html Excellent resource, that thirdworldtraveler.com! Emmanuel "Toto" Constant was the founder and head of FRAPH Campaign to Deport Constant - Who is Toto Constant? Emmanuel "Toto" Constant was the founder and head of FRAPH, first the "Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti," later "Armed Revolutionary Front of the Haitian People." FRAPH was Haiti's most prominent paramilitary organization during the de facto regime. Constant was also a close advisor to the dictatorship, and maintained an office in the military headquarters. U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher called FRAPH "a paramilitary organization whose members were responsible for numerous human rights violations in Haiti in 1993 and 1994." A less restrained U.S. Embassy cable called FRAPH a group of "gun carrying crazies", eager to "use violence against all who oppose it." Numerous monitors, including the United Nations, the Organization of American States, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented the multitude of atrocities committed by FRAPH. FRAPH did not target only Haitians. In October, 1993, when the U.S.S. Harlan County arrived in Port-au-Prince with troops ready to implement a U.S.-brokered peace accord, Constant organized a violent FRAPH demonstration. Demonstrators carried guns, sticks and machetes, and some shouted, in English, "Kill whites! Kill whites!" A year later, when U.S. troops returned to finally oust the dictatorship, Constant ordered that "ach FRAPH man must put down one American soldier." When U.S. troops stormed the FRAPH headquarters, Constant threatened journalists with: "Everybody who is reporting the situation bad... by the grace of God, they will end up in the ground." Despite these atrocities, Mr. Constant has received the continued support and protection of the U.S. Government. Government sources have confirmed Constant's claim that the CIA encouraged him to form FRAPH, and provided him with financial and strategic assistance. U.S. soldiers arriving in Haiti to oust the de facto dictatorship were told that FRAPH was a legitimate political party that needed to be respected and protected. In the intervention's first days the U.S. Embassy arranged a press conference outside the Presidential Palace for Constant to announce his transition to politics. The conference was cut short, because even a cordon of U.S. soldiers could not protect Constant from the enraged crowd (for more information on this and other aspects of the Constant/U.S. relationship, see David Grann "Giving The Devil His Due" included in this packet). Constant fled to the U.S. in late 1994, when a Haitian judge called him in for questioning. After a public outcry, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service initiated deportation proceedings. A judge ordered Constant deported to Haiti in September, 1995, because "his continued presence in the United States sends the message that the United States actively endorses his position and undermines the United States' mission in Haiti." That order has never been executed. Shortly after it was issued, Constant discussed his relationship with the CIA on CBS' Sixty Minutes, which led to a secret agreement exchanging Constant's continued presence in the U.S. for his silence. http://haitireborn.org/campaigns/toto-constant / Feb. 14, 2004. 07:43 PM Haitian rebels take two towns GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) — Haitian rebels brought in reinforcements from the neighbouring Dominican Republic, including a former soldier who led death squads in the 1980s and a police chief accused of fomenting a coup, witnesses said Saturday, as police fled two more northern towns. A 20-man commando arrived from the Dominican Republic, led by Louis Jodel Chamblain, a soldier who headed army death squads in 1987, and Emmanuel Constant, co-leader of a militia known as the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, or FRAPH, which killed and maimed dozens between 1992 and 1994, witnesses in Gonaives said. Chamblain fled to the Dominican Republic after 1994, while Constant went to New York City. Guy Philippe, a former police chief who fled to the Dominican Republic after being accused by the Haitian government of fomenting a coup in 2002, also arrived in Gonaives to help the rebels prepare for an expected government showdown. It was unclear when the commando arrived. The rebels launched a bloody uprising nine days ago from Gonaives, 100 kilometres northwest of the capital Port-au-Prince, and Haiti's fourth-largest city. Some 50 people have been killed. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout ... AI REPORT 1997: HAITI In September, police reportedly found an arms cache and evidence of plans to assassinate government officials at the home of Emmanuel Constant, former leader of the paramilitary organization Front pour l'avancement et le progrès d'Haïti (fraph), Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, who had fled to the usa in Decem-ber 1994. Two men were arrested at the scene, including a former army sergeant. By December, some 34 people report-edly remained in detention on suspicion of plotting against the authorities and engaging in other related activities, but had not been brought to trial. http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aireport/ar97/AMR36.htm Letter to Attorney General Janet Reno and Secretary Madeleine Albright Re: Emmanuel "Toto" Constant New York, December 11, 2000 Dear Attorney General Reno and Secretary Albright: Our organizations are writing to request that the United States government execute the outstanding final deportation order obtained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) against Emmanuel "Toto" Constant in December 1995. Constant is wanted by Haitian prosecutors for serious human rights crimes in Haiti. The Center for Constitutional Rights made this request to Attorney General Reno on August 4 and September 25, 2000, but has yet to receive a reply. Human Rights Watch has similarly written on several occasions to Secretary Albright without response As you know, Constant was a founder and secretary general of the paramilitary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH). FRAPH members were responsible for human rights atrocities under the military government that ruled Haiti from 1991 to 1994, including extrajudicial executions, torture, and rape. In February 1995 Constant's presence in the United States had become public and U.S. officials were pressured to arrest him. On March 29, 1995 Secretary of State Warren Christopher wrote Attorney General Reno an extraordinary letter requesting Constant's "expeditious deportation from the United States." Citing the Immigration and Nationality Act, Secretary Christopher "concluded that the continued presence and activities of Emmanuel Mario Constant ... in the United States ... would . . . cast doubt upon the seriousness of our resolve to combat human rights violations . . . I also request that you take all steps possible to effect his deportation to Haiti." Secretary Christopher understood Constant's role in Haiti's terror: is officially regarded by the Department of State as an illegitimate paramilitary organization whose members were responsible for numerous human rights violations in Haiti in 1993 and 1994 . . . Mr Constant is one of the co-founders and current President of FRAPH. He was instrumental in sustaining the repression that prevailed in Haiti under the illegal military led regime ... http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/12/constant1211.htm How America Determines Friends and Foes Noam Chomsky The Toronto Star, March 14, 2004 The arrests were followed by what amounted to a show trial in Miami. The Five were sentenced, three to life sentences (for espionage; and the leader, Gerardo Hernandez, also for conspiracy to murder), after convictions that are now being appealed. Meanwhile, people regarded by the FBI and Justice Department as dangerous terrorists live happily in the United States and continue to plot and implement crimes. The list of terrorists-in-residence in the United States also includes Emmanuel Constant from Haiti, known as Toto, a former paramilitary leader from the Duvalier era. Constant is the founder of the FRAPH (Front for Advancement of Progress in Haiti), the paramilitary group that carried out most of the state terror in the early 1990s under the military junta that overthrew president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. At last report, Constant was living in Queens, N.Y. The United States has refused Haiti's request for extradition. The reason, it is generally assumed, is that Constant might reveal ties between Washington and the military junta that killed 4,000 to 5,000 Haitians, with Constant's paramilitary forces playing the leading role. The gangsters leading the current coup in Haiti include FRAPH leaders. http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20040314.htm Octafish . Why Haiti? Why Now? Three words: Cuba, Venezuela, Oil. Why Haiti? Why Now? by J. Damu Sumitted to portside, March 2, 2004 Black people across America and throughout the world, in fact all people who love and honor democracy and social justice, have to be outraged at what was surely the cloaked in darkness gunpoint kidnapping of Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide by U.S. militarists, this past Sunday, February 29. We must speak as one to denounce this latest "lebensraum" (living space) foreign policy of the Bush administration, which is beginning to resemble more and more that of the German nazi era. Despite this moral outrage committed against the long suffering people of Haiti, the first anywhere to successfully rise up against their slave masters, an act of defiance for which they've never been forgiven, the questions asked by many protestors, as hundreds streamed from San Francisco's underground rail system to demonstrate against Bush's latest crime, were, "Why Haiti?" and "Why now?" SNIP... The removal of Aristide has been a long simmering coup in the making that dates back at least to the Clinton presidency and the refusal of Congress to release promised funding to the economically devastated island. However the timing and execution of the Haitian coup has to be placed within a regional and world context. The coup, or extra-democratic process, which brought George Bush to the White House, allowed him to hand over U.S. foreign policy decision making, as it effects the Western hemisphere, to naturalized U.S. Cubans dedicated to the overthrow of the Cuban revolution. Their policies, although geared to the overthrow of Fidel Castro and socialism in Cuba, converge neatly with U.S. designs to destabilize the Caribbean and Central-South American region and insure U.S. supremacy and access to Venezuela's all important oil. CONTINUED... http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Haiti/WhyHaiti_WhyNow.html BTW: Thanks for the great background and resources, seemslikeadream. Reading your posts is like getting a college degree that's useful. "The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were." — John Fitzgerald Kennedy What fun would it be if we didn't talk a little about drugs and CIA Haiti’s Nightmare: The Cocaine Coup & The CIA Connection Aristide’s electrifying accusations opened the floodgate of even more sinister revelations. Massachusetts senator John Kerry heads a subcommittee concerned with international terrorism and drug trafficking that turned up collusion between the CIA and drug traffickers during the late 1980s’ Iran Contra hearings. Kerry had developed detailed information on drug trafficking by Haiti’s military rulers that led to the indictment in Miami in 1988, of Lt. Col. Jean Paul. The indictment was a major embarrassment to the Haitian military, especially since Paul defiantly refused to surrender to U.S. authorities. It was just a month before thousands of U.S. troops invaded Panama and arrested Manuel Noriega who, like Col. Paul, was also under indictment for drug trafficking in Florida. In November 1989, Col. Paul was found dead after he consumed a traditional Haitian good will gift—a bowel of pumpkin soup. Haitian officials accused Paul’s wife of the murder, apparently because she had been cheated out of her share of a cocaine deal by associates of her husband, who were involved in smuggling through Miami. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3524444.stm The U.S. senate also heard testimony in 1988 that then interior minister, Gen. Williams Regala, and his DEA liaison officer, protected and supervised cocaine shipments. The testimony also charged the then Haitian military commander Gen. Henry Namphy with accepting bribes from Colombian traffickers in return for landing rights in the mid 1980’s. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/415.html Haiti's drug links are thought to date back to "Baby Doc" Duvalier Haiti's drug money scourge Easy money At the same time, the rebels who ousted Mr Aristide have also been linked to the illegal drugs trade. One of the rebel leaders, Guy Philippe, allegedly had his US visa revoked because of involvement in the drugs trade when he was police commissioner of the north coast city of Cap-Haitien. Another prominent rebel, Jodel Chamblain, is known to have been close to Michel Francois in the early 1990s, when he was one of the leaders of the Fraph paramilitaries. He has also been sentenced to life imprisonment for the death of a businessman and the 1994 killing of Aristide supporters. Sympathisers of the former president have also alleged that the rebels who took control of Haiti in February 2004 were directly financed by drugs money, but there has so far been no proof of this. Octafish If you want trouble, you've come to the right place. Here's where the BFEE meets the road: http://home.comcast.net/~gary.webb/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html The original site's been hacked, pummelled and destroyed so many times that it's in danger of being forgotten. For those who don't like to read, here's the Truth, the Short Form: OLLIE NORTH WORKED FOR VEEP GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH AND HELPED DOPE, INC. FLOOD THE US WITH CRACK COCAINE. THAT'S WHY ALL THE RUSH TO DUMP ARISTIDE. CAPICHE? |
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Original message UN expresses concern over Rwanda, DRC(3.5m dead about time) UN expresses concern over Rwanda, DRC May 15 2004 at 09:18AM New York - The United Nations Security Council expressed "serious concern" on Friday that Rwandan troops reportedly crossed into the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwandan rebel groups in the DRC had crossed into Rwanda. "The Security Council expresses its serious concern regarding recent reports of an incursion into the DRC by elements of the Rwandan army," said a statement read by council president Munir Akram, Pakistan's UN ambassador. It also expressed concern at reports of increased military activities of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda in the DRC "and of incursions made by them on the territory of Rwanda." http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=136&art_id=qw1084605490257B253... Alert Printer Friendly | Edit | Reply | Top Replies to this thread: You’ve guessed: Cynthia McKinney. seemslikeadream May-15-04 08:08 AM #1 kick struggle4progress May-15-04 03:57 PM #2 Thanks struggle4progress seemslikeadream May-15-04 04:30 PM #4 Galeano had a beautiful line about Latin America: struggle4progress May-15-04 10:07 PM #6 Did the U.N. also shake it's finger at them and call them "bad people"? demdave May-15-04 04:14 PM #3 Close to 1 million Rwandans died in 1994 seemslikeadream May-15-04 04:34 PM #5 Weird observation jbutsz May-15-04 11:48 PM #7 seemslikeadream (1000+ posts) Sat May-15-04 08:08 AM Response to Original message 1. You’ve guessed: Cynthia McKinney. You’ve guessed: Cynthia McKinney. That was covered in the . . . well, it wasn’t covered at all in the U.S. press. McKinney contacted me at the BBC. She asked if I’d heard of Barrick. Indeed, I had. Top human rights investigators had evidence that a mine that Barrick bought in 1999 had, in clearing their Tanzanian properties three years earlier, bulldozed mine shafts . . . burying about 50 miners alive. I certainly knew Barrick: They’d sued the Guardian for daring to run a story I’d written about the allegations of the killings. Barrick never sued an American paper for daring to run the story, because no American paper dared. The primary source for my story, an internationally famous lawyer named Tundu Lissu, was charged by the Tanzanian police with sedition, and arrested, for calling for an investigation. McKinney has been trying to save his life with an international campaign aimed at Barrick. That was another of her mistakes. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16172 Goodbye to All That I'm proud of the bill to stop the importation of coltan into the United States, the source of so much pain and suffering in eastern Congo because it's a key ingredient in our computers, palm pilots, Sony Playstations, and Oneboxes that people are willing to kill to get their hands on it. I'm proud that we extended the benefits for our veterans who are suffering from Agent Orange because those benefits were about to expire and I authored the legislation that was passed into law to help them. But I'm most proud of my work to hold this Administration accountable to the American people. And after I've asked the tough questions, here's what we now know: That President Bush was warned that terrorists were planning to hijack commercial aircraft and crash them into buildings in the US; That in the weeks prior to September 11, 24-hour fighter cover was placed over the President's ranch in Crawford, Texas; That in the weeks prior to September 11, Attorney General Ashcroft stopped flying commercial aircraft and instead flew Government aircraft; That the US received numerous high level warnings from a wide range of foreign intelligence services warning of impending hijackings and terrorist attacks; That a number of FBI agents were pleading with their superiors to conduct intensive investigations into the suspicious activities of various men in US flight schools; That in the days prior to September 11, highly suspicious stock market activity in aviation and insurance stocks took place indicating that certain well-placed people had advance knowledge of the attacks. http://www.counterpunch.org/mckinney0918.html Hidden cost of mobile phones, computers, stereos and VCRs? The DRC's rich resources provide easy ways to finance the conflict and the rebels had long been successful in setting up financial administrative bodies in their controlled areas, especially with regards to trading with Rwanda and Uganda, while Kabila had also been able to finance his side of the conflict. There are many resources and minerals etc being exploited, including (but not limited to): Water Diamonds Coltan Cassiterite Tin Copper Timber A number of major human rights groups have charged that http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/71424/1 / some multinational corporations from rich nations have been profiting from the war and have developed "elite networks" of key political, military, and business elites to plunder the Congo's natural resources. Yet, a number of companies and western governments pressured a United Nations panel to omit details of shady business dealings in a report out in October 2003. As reported by the British newspaper, The Independent: Last October <2002>, the panel accused 85 companies of breaching OECD standards through their business activities. Rape, murder, torture and other human rights abuses followed the scramble to exploit Congo's wealth after war exploded in 1998. For example the trade in coltan, a rare mineral used in computers and mobile phones, had social effects "akin to slavery", the panel said. But no Western government had investigated the companies alleged to have links with such abuses. Some, including ones from the UK, US, Belgium and Germany, had lobbied to have their companies' names cleared from the "list of shame". "Many governments overtly or covertly exerted pressure on the panel and the Security Council to exonerate their companies," Ms Feeney said. Some companies gave legitimate explanations for their business in Congo, or pulled out. But lawyers for others challenge the panel's findings, often capitalising on errors in earlier reports as proof of unreliability. In the report this week, the cases against 48 companies are "resolved" and requiring "no further action". -- Declan Walsh, UN cuts details of Western profiteers from Congo report, The Independent, October 27, 2003 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=457619 When the UN finally released the report http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S/2003/1027 at the end of October 2003, they listed approximately 125 companies and individuals listed that had been named in a previous report by the panel for having contributed directly or indirectly to the conflict in the DRC. Other companies, the report noted, may not have been directly linked to conflict, but had more indirect ties to the main protagonists. Such companies benefitted from the chaotic environment in the DRC. For example, they would obtain concessions or contracts from the DRC on terms that were more favorable than they might receive in countries where there was peace and stability. (See for example, page 6, par 12 of the report.) The above-mentioned coltan has been the source of much controversy lately: Hidden cost of mobile phones, computers, stereos and VCRs? The ore, Columbite-tantalite, or coltan for short, isn't perhaps as well known as some of the other resources and minerals. However, the demand for the highly prized tantalum that comes from the refined coltan has enormous impacts, as highlighted by a recent U.N. Security Council report where an expert panel was established on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Given the substantial increase in the price of coltan between late 1999 and late 2000, a period during which the world supply was decreasing while the demand was increasing, a kilo of coltan of average grade was estimated at $200. According to the estimates of professionals, the Rwandan army through Rwanda Metals was exporting at least 100 tons per month. The Panel estimates that the Rwandan army could have made $20 million per month, simply by selling the coltan that, on average, intermediaries buy from the small dealers at about $10 per kg. According to experts and dealers, at the highest estimates of all related costs (purchase and transport of the minerals), RPA must have made at least $250 million over a period of 18 months. This is substantial enough to finance the war. Here lies the vicious circle of the war. Coltan has permitted the Rwandan army to sustain its presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The army has provided protection and security to the individuals and companies extracting the mineral. These have made money which is shared with the army, which in turn continues to provide the enabling environment to continue the exploitation. -- Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Nations Security Council, April 12, 2001. The report also mentions Ugandan and Burundian rebels being involved in looting and smuggling of coltan, using illegal monopolies, forced labor, prisoners and even murder. According to the Industry Standard, "hese accusations have not been taken lightly; several members of the U.N. panel that prepared the report have since received death threats. Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi have issued protests to the United Nations over the report, claiming it to be inaccurate and unfounded." A follow up report in October 2003 also noted that: In 1999 and 2000 a sharp increase in the world prices of tantalum occurred, leading to a large increase in coltan production in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Part of that new production involved rebel groups and unscrupulous business people forcing farmers and their families to leave their land, or chasing people off land where coltan was found and forcing them to work in artisanal mines. As a result, the widespread destruction of agriculture and devastating social effects occurred, which in a number of instances where akin to slavery. -- Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Nations Security Council, S/2003/1027, October 28, 2003 What drives the demand for this mineral? The answer is: most of modern computer-based technology: more http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/Africa/DRC.asp#Hiddencostofmob ... Nearly 3 million people have died in Congo  Immaculate, 32, in Drodro hospital. She was attacked by Lendu forces and now waits for treatment from locals who have no medical supplies. Bandages were recovered from the ground after looting and are being rewashed to be reused. Cellphones fuel Congo conflict Cellphones may have revolutionized the way we communicate, but in Central Africa their biggest legacy is war. Nearly 3 million people have died in Congo in a four-year war over coltan, a heat-resistant mineral ore widely used in cellphones, laptops and playstations. Eighty percent of the world's coltan reserves are in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The mountainous jungle area where the coltan is mined is the battleground of what has been grimly dubbed "Africa's first World War," pitting Congolese forces against those of six neighbouring countries and numerous armed factions. The victims are mostly civilians. Starvation and disease have killed hundreds of thousands and the fighting has displaced 2 million people from their homes. Often dismissed as an ethnic war, the conflict is really over natural resources sought by foreign corporations -- diamonds, tin, copper, gold, but mostly coltan. At stake for the multitude of heavily armed militias and governments is a cut of the high-tech boom of the 1990s, which sent the price of coltan skyrocketing to peak at US$400 per kilo. Coltan -- short for colombo-tantalite -- is refined into tantalum, a "magic powder" essential to many electronic devices. The war started in 1998 when Congolese rebel forces, backed by Rwanda and Uganda, seized eastern Congo and moved into strategic mining areas, attacking villages along the way. The Rwandan Army was soon making an estimated US$20 million a month from coltan mining. A May 2002 report from the United Nations Security Council said the huge coltan profits are fueling the war and allowing "a large number" of government officials, rebels and foreigners "to amass as much wealth as possible." The fighting rages on despite peace treaties signed in the summer of 2002. The peace process was started after the assassination of Congolese President Laurent Kabila in January 2001 and pressure from South Africa. But not all sides signed on. While foreign troops have officially withdrawn, internal factions remain at war. http://www.seeingisbelieving.ca/cell/kinshasa / Alert Printer Friendly | Edit | Reply | Top struggle4progress (715 posts) Sat May-15-04 03:57 PM Response to Original message 2. kick Alert Printer Friendly | Reply | Top seemslikeadream (1000+ posts) Sat May-15-04 04:30 PM Response to Reply #2 4. Thanks struggle4progress 3.5 million  On the Trail of the Congo's "Cannibal Rebels" Eliza Griswold traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo twice to investigate claims of cannibalism as a weapon of war. Reports of the attacks helped to mobilize the media, the United Nations, and the International Criminal Court to respond to a war few people know about. From: Eliza Griswold Subject: Using Sensationalism To Bring Attention to a Human Rights Abuses Wednesday, March 24, 2004, at 7:44 AM PT Child soldiers in Eastern DRC On my way to see the man who first told Amuzati's story to the world—a Catholic bishop named Melchisedec Sikuli Paluku—I watch a group of child soldiers run away into the jungle. They are tripping over their fatigues and weapons. Thanks to the influx of arms from the DRC's neighbors, an AK-47 costs only $30-$50. Most end up in the hands of children, who form an estimated 60 percent of the DRC's rebel fighting force. These days, their leaders, courting legitimacy, have heard enough from the international community to know that child soldiers are a major no-no. The kids know it too. So when they see a car full of white people coming along the road, they split. In his redbrick bishopric on a hilltop in the town of Butembo, Bishop Paluku, a squat and somber man, has consented to meet with yet another pushy journalist who wants to talk to him about cannibalism. It is Sunday afternoon, and he has already celebrated several masses. We dance around the subject for several minutes, but the bishop knows how the press works by now, and he wants to get started on his story. On the wall, there is a giant decal of a formal French garden. He leans against the arm of a plush chair in his reception room. The bishop has grown both wary and weary of the press. For him, these interviews are a devil's bargain: He trades his story's potential sensationalism for the media's ongoing attention to his waning human rights campaign. Since the fall of 2002, he has been loudly decrying rebel groups waging war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Recently, under a peace deal with the government, the rebels have been taking government posts. It's as if they're being rewarded after warlords-turned-politicians like Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba and a host of others have exploited DRC's mineral wealth for all that they can. Despite their newfound legitimacy, the bishop continues to accuse them of cannibalism. "Bemba's men were cutting fingers and ears off," the bishop tells me as we eye the shrubbery on the wall. "But that was normal; it wasn't astonishing. But when they started feeding them to the prisoners—that was something new." http://slate.msn.com/id/2097314/entry/2097325 / When Westerners reach for their cell phones or pagers, turn on their computers, propose marriage with diamond rings, or board airplanes, few of them make the connection between their ability to use technology or buy luxury goods and a war raging in the DRC, half a world away. In what has been called the richest patch of earth on the planet, the DRC's wealth has also been its curse. The DRC holds millions of tons of diamonds, copper, cobalt, zinc, manganese, uranium (the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were built using Congolese uranium), niobium, and tantalum. Tantalum, also referred to as coltan, is a particularly valuable resource - used to make mobile phones, night vision goggles, fiber optics, and capacitors (the component that maintains the electrical charge in computer chips). In fact, a global shortage of coltan caused a wave of parental panic in the United States last Christmas when it resulted in the scarcity of the popular PlayStation 2. The DRC holds 80% of the world's coltan reserves, more than 60% of the world's cobalt, and the world's largest supply of high-grade copper Also in 1997, Bechtel, the engineering and construction company, established a strong relationship with Kabila. Bechtel - whose history of collaboration with the CIA is well-documented in Laton McCartney's 1989 book, Friends in High Places - drew up a master development plan and inventory of the country's mineral resources free of charge. Bechtel also commissioned and paid for NASA satellite studies of the country for infrared maps of its mineral potential. Bechtel estimates that the DRC's mineral ores alone are worth $157 billion. U.S. military aid has contributed significantly to the crisis. During the Cold War, the U.S. government shipped $400 million in arms and training to Mobutu. After Mobutu was overthrown, the Clinton administration transferred its military allegiance to Rwanda and Uganda, although even the U.S. State Department has accused both countries of widespread corruption and human-rights abuses. During his historic visit to Africa in 1998, President Clinton praised Presidents Kagame and Musevini as leaders of the "African Renaissance," just a few months before they launched their deadly invasion of the DRC with U.S. weapons and training. The United States is not the only culprit; many other countries, including France, Serbia, North Korea, China, and Belgium, share responsibility. But the U.S. presence has helped to open networks and supply lines, providing an increased number of arms to the region. more http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Africa/Business_War_Congo.html Alert Printer Friendly | Edit | Reply | Top struggle4progress (715 posts) Sat May-15-04 10:07 PM Response to Reply #4 6. Galeano had a beautiful line about Latin America: "the poverty of mankind as a result of the wealth of the land." It sounds like it's the same story here: "perpetual war as a result of the wealth of the land," enabling foreign exploitation of resources. If we had a foreign policy really aiming at human rights, we wouldn't tolerate this ... Alert Printer Friendly | Reply | Top demdave (1000+ posts) Sat May-15-04 04:14 PM Response to Original message 3. Did the U.N. also shake it's finger at them and call them "bad people"? Expressed concern? WOW, what strong action for such an effective institution. The great Rwandan army must be shaking in it's boots when confronted by such a powerful force of good as the U.N.. Alert Printer Friendly | Reply | Top seemslikeadream (1000+ posts) Sat May-15-04 04:34 PM Response to Reply #3 5. Close to 1 million Rwandans died in 1994 and no one did anything. Now we're at 3.5 million and counting and they express concern.  Bodies of Hema men, executed by Lendu militia just hours before, lie on the road north of Fataki. They were bound and impaled before being shot. |
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Wed May-19-04 10:32 AM Response to Original message |
| 13. Of course not but the DU worry list is LOOOOOONG |
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Wed May-19-04 10:36 AM Response to Reply #13 |
| 14. There have been several articles posted about |
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Wed May-19-04 11:30 AM Response to Reply #14 |
| 19. Lol... Been getting plenty of sleep these last few days |
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Wed May-19-04 11:47 AM Response to Reply #19 |
| 20. Oh stop! EVERY DEATH CREATES NEW ENEMIES |
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I just noticed http://www.ericblumrich.com/thanks.html you have there.
You know my favorite is EVERY DEATH CREATES NEW ENEMIES MORE TERRORITS MORE DANGER MORE DEATHS AND REMEMBER... HE IS JUST GETTING STARTED... BUSH'S PLAN OF PEACE IS THE PEACE OF THE COMMON GRAVE http://www.bushflash.com/pax.html    The first thing I see every day. LET AMERICA BE AMERICA AGAIN |
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Wed May-19-04 12:12 PM Response to Reply #20 |
| 22. Very powerful. As powerful as those heart-wrenching photos. |
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Wed May-19-04 11:53 AM Response to Reply #19 |
| 21. On the Trail of the Congo's "Cannibal Rebels" |
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Another series I reference quite frequently
 From: Eliza Griswold Subject: Cannibalism as a Crime of War Friday, March 26, 2004, at 8:20 AM PT Maria lost her arm defending her children; she says soldiers ate flesh from the arm after they amputated it In Bunia, the town's population has swelled from 6,000 to 120,000 people. Most have left everything—crops, possessions, their families—to escape the ongoing massacres in the bush. Through a network of local human rights organizations, I arrange to meet with a handful of survivors. One Sunday morning, over a hundred people show up to tell their stories. One of them, Vivienne Nyamutale, 30, says that she spent 75 days captive with the Lendu fighters in the bush. "I was taken as the fourth wife of the fetish chief, Chief Abele." On five separate occasions before the Lendu fighters attacked a Hema village, Vivienne says, Hema men were brought before the crowd, cooked, and eaten by the fighters. Vivienne is Hema. She survived captivity only by swearing that she was Alur, the most common tribe in this part of Congo. Finally, after one massacre, she ran into the night and escaped. Vivienne is one of a handful of women who tell me about rape camps farther along the Fataki road where we found the two dead men. Later, I visit a camp for displaced people and meet Chantal Tsesi, 24. We sit in the camp's office to talk. On the floor, a 2-week-old baby cries. The baby's parents have been killed; she was left at the camp by a neighbor who grabbed the infant while fleeing the massacre. http://slate.msn.com/id/2097314/entry/2097326/ |
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Wed May-19-04 01:04 PM Response to Reply #19 |
| 23. Ho Chi Minh's birthday I hear -- Laos - 2004 Anuual Report |
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Edited on Wed May-19-04 01:46 PM by seemslikeadream
some stuff I've posted about the Hmong in the past couple of weeks
 We can never forget even for a moment look what's happened now. We all pretended Vietnam was over. It's not. And we still have promises to keep for that war Laos - 2004 Anuual Report The arrest of two European journalists for investigating the situation of the Hmong ethnic minority drew international attention to the lack of freedom in Laos, where the news media take their orders from the authorities. A press law announced in 2001 has still not been adopted. The 15-year prison sentences received by reporters Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud drew the world's attention to the obstacles to foreign press coverage of the plight of Laos' Hmong ethnic minority. An international outcry forced the authorities in Vientiane to release the two journalists but their Laotian guides remained in prison and were allegedly mistreated. Directly controlled by the information and culture ministry, the Laotian press gave a very one-sided account of the case of the two European journalists. The French-language weekly Le Rénovateur was the only publication to give both sides of the story, and it was immediately censored. The government news agency Khaosan Pathet Lao (KPL) is the only news organisation that is allowed to express a view on sensitive issues. The party newspaper Paxaxon (People) bills itself as a "revolutionary publication written by the people and for the people which serves the revolution's political action." Journalists are civil servants in the employ of the information and culture ministry. The foreign ministry also has a say in media content. Criticism of the "friendly countries," especially the Vietnamese big brother and Burma, is banned. To escape the propaganda, many Laotians are in the habit of watching Thai TV stations that can be received in border areas, including the capital. The authorities have never tried to put a stop to this. Similarly, the international radio services that broadcast in Lao, especially Radio Free Asia and Radio France Internationale, have never been jammed. On the other hand, foreign journalists who enter on a press visa are watched closely and are banned from visiting some parts of the country. The authorities control the only Internet operator and block some news websites and sites operated by dissidents based abroad. http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10197 Hmong leader in Calif. may be target of violence in Minnesota Associated Press ST. PAUL - Authorities are looking for connections among a spate of violent incidents directed against local Hmong leaders affiliated with Gen. Vang Pao, a California resident regarded as the most influential Hmong leader in the United States. The incidents include a firebombing at the suburban St. Paul home of the general's son, a drive-by shooting at the home of his translator, a suspicious fire at a St. Paul social service agency the general founded, and a reported hit list that includes a veteran St. Paul police officer. Star Tribune of Minneapolis in its Sunday editions. Rumors are swirling about what's behind the violence, which the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported in its Sunday editions. Popular theories include communist agents, political divisions or the opening shots in a war of succession in the Hmong community. "I believe there is something going on in a more general way," said Steve Young, former dean of the Hamline University law school and a close adviser to Vang, who lives outside Los Angeles. "These are not isolated incidents. Somebody is doing something." http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/politics/8574361 ... gen. vang pao is a liar Base: military Re: My war too (Rose) Re: WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW (your own people) Re: i think... (kasey) Re: General VANG PAO>>>??? (Alexis) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 00:01:18 GMT From: yang_racers@yahoo.com (unknown yang) vang pao is a liar who don't care about no one but himself. lets just face it, he is hmong and hmong men are are full of it. it was because of him lying to our parents in Laos that led to the death of over 108,000 hmong peoples. Two of thos people were my brothers. My dad lost his whole family and everyone else he cares for. General "coward" is not helping the hmongs in the usa neither the ones back home. he uses all the money he gets on gambling and the us lets him have 8 wives just because he was a dog to the americans who brainwashed the HMONGS to actually take part in th war just to die for the americans. A "TRUE LEADER" survives with all his people or die trying. http://knossos.shu.edu/HyperNewsV/get/vp/military/66/4/16/1/2.html US WI: Sen. George Asks UW For Probe On Vang Pao URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n809/a09.html Newshawk: Drug Policy Forum of Wisconsin www.drugsense.org/dpfwi/ Votes: 0 Pubdate: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 Source: Capital Times, The (WI) Copyright: 2002 The Capital Times Contact: tctvoice@madison.com Website: http://www.captimes.com / Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/73 Author: Pat Schneider SEN. GEORGE ASKS UW FOR PROBE ON VANG PAO State Sen. Gary George is calling on UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley to order an investigation into allegations by a UW-Madison professor that the commander of the CIA's secret army in the Vietnam War - now a leader of refugee Hmong in the United States - engaged in drug trafficking in Laos. The allegations, 30 years old, resurfaced this month, enraging the refugee community. "We will seek the truth and follow that path wherever it leads," George said Friday at a news conference at the State Capitol packed with Hmong veterans and supporters of Gen. Vang Pao. Professor Alfred McCoy wrote about his findings on the role of Vang Pao and the CIA in drug trafficking in southeast Asia in a 1972 book, "The Politics of Heroin." McCoy said the U.S. government assisted Vang Pao in bringing opium, an important cash crop for the Hmong, to heroin factories to help Vang Pao seal his leadership role and ensure a supply of fighters who waged a secret war against the North Vietnamese in Laos. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n809/a09.html McCoy said the U.S. government assisted Vang Pao in bringing opium Posted on Wed, Apr. 28, 2004 ST. PAUL: Crime spree on Hmong investigated BY LENORA CHU and TODD NELSON Pioneer Press Authorities are trying to determine whether a connection exists between anonymous death threats leveled Monday against seven Hmong community leaders and recent crimes committed against prominent Hmong. St. Paul Police spokesman Paul Schnell revealed Wednesday that the death threats came in an anonymous call received by a St. Paul Hmong veterans group. Local and federal law enforcement agencies are investigating the alleged hit list. Authorities also confirmed Wednesday that an object hurled through a window sparked the arson fire that destroyed the home of Cha Vang, son of influential leader Gen. Vang Pao. Cha Vang narrowly escaped the early Sunday fire with his wife and three daughters. A flammable substance was also found in the home, according to Maplewood Police Chief Dave Thomalla, who declined to identify the object and substance. Two other crimes are being investigated for possible connections. On April 20, someone fired five shots into the Maplewood home of Xang Vang, Gen. Vang Pao's translator. The following day, officials discovered someone had thrown a brick into a window and started a fire at the St. Paul offices of the Lao Family Community of Minnesota. more http://www.realcities.com/mld/twincities/8543732.htm Muaj ib nqe ntawm Sen. Norm Coleman cov lus hais tias "nws yog ib qho tseem ceeb heev uas U.S. State Department yuav tsum ua txhua yam coj kom tau kev thaj yeeb nyab xeeb mus rau tebchaws Lostsuas thiab pab kom tau txoj kev muaj vaj huam sib luag (humanitarian) rau haiv neeg Hmoob nrog rau daws kom tau teeb meem tsoom Hmoob tawg rog nyob rau SE Asia". http://www.hmonglaoradio.org/default.asp?active_page_id=32 From The Wire Rapid Fire At Home Investigated Saint Paul Pioneer Press (April 27, 2004) Maplewood investigators suspect an arsonist set a weekend fire at the home of a prominent Hmong community leader, who is calling the blaze a politically motivated attempt to kill him and his family. The fire destroyed the home of Cha Vang, son of Gen. Vang Pao, one of the most widely known and influential Hmong leaders in the United States. http://fe.pennnet.com/News/Display_News_Story.cfm?Section=WireNews&Sub ... Cha Vang, his wife and their three daughters were asleep when the fire broke out after 1 a.m. Sunday. A noise, possibly the sound of breaking glass, prompted him to investigate and he discovered the flames toward the back of the home. He and his family escaped unharmed, but the fire left little more than the garage standing. "If you want to terrorize a person or send a message, you slash a tire," Cha Vang said Monday. "To burn down a house with people sleeping in it is attempted murder." Investigators said they suspect arson because the house burned so thoroughly within minutes, said Maplewood Police Chief Dave Thomalla. Investigators searched the soot and debris for evidence for a second day on Monday. http://fe.pennnet.com/News/Display_News_Story.cfm?Section=WireNews&Sub ... 1961 Eisenhower warns the young president-elect that Laos is a major crisis, the first "domino" in Southest Asia. The CIA begins the covert build up of Hmong forces under General Vang Pao at the beginning of the year. At the same time the U.S. sends the rightist forces to Laos six AT-6 Harvard trainer aircraft armed with machine guns and equipped to fire rockets and drop bombs. The covert PEO infantrymen are replaced by 400 clandestine U.S special forces personnel known as White Star Movile Training Teams. Kennedy announces U.S support for the sovereignty of Laos in March, directly confronting the Soviet Union. Geneva conference on Laos opens in May. http://www.seacrc.org/pages/ravenschrono.html http://www.ohiopowmia.com/news/2190302.html COLEMAN HOSTS FIRST EVER MEETING BETWEEN HMONG LEADER GENERAL VANG PAO AND SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL Coleman working to alleviate humanitarian crises in Laos and streamline Hmong refugee resettlement process January 21st, 2004 - Washington, DC - Senator Norm Coleman today hosted a meeting in his Senate office between Hmong leader General Vang Pao and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Matt Daley. The group, which also included Chao Ophat Nachmpassak, a member of the Lao royal family, discussed General Vang Pao's efforts to bring peace to Laos, the refugee resettlement program for Hmong in Thailand, and the humanitarian crisis facing many Hmong living in Laos. "I have some serious concerns about the way the Hmong people are being treated today in Southeast Asia," Coleman said. "It's critical that the U.S. State Department does all it can to bring peace to Laos and an end to the humanitarian and refugee crises facing many Hmong in Southeast Asia. This meeting is a solid first step in opening up a real, meaningful diplomatic dialogue between Hmong leaders in Southeast Asia and the U.S. State Department." General Vang Pao presented to State Department officials his vision for a lasting peace in Laos, as he publicly articulated on November 26. State Department officials listened to Vang Pao's presentation, and discussed the changing opportunities for peaceful reconciliation in Southeast Asia. Daley, who had just returned from an official visit to the region, described the U.S. initiative to resettle in the U.S. as many as 14,000 Hmong refugees currently living in Wat Tham Krabok, Thailand http://coleman.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&Pr ... Hmong Proving Potent Political Organizers in U.S. SuabHmongRadio, News Report, Compiled and Translated by Pha Lo, Apr 30, 2004 MILWAUKEE, Wisc. -- Milwuakee is home to approximately 20,000 Hmong, a nomadic tribe that emigrated from Laos in the Vietnam War's aftermath. Here in the United States, Hmong are discovering that their traditional, clan-based system of leadership can benefit U.S.-style grassroots politicking. Tens of thousands of Hmong left Laos in the 1970s and 1980s after losing a war in which they were covertly recruited to serve alongside the U.S. military. Here in the United States, many were naturalized as U.S. citizens after the Lao-Veterans bill, introduced in 1996, expedited the process for those who had served or been disabled in that war. Since gaining citizenship, Hmong have begun to exercise their voting rights. This year marked a political rite of passage for Milwaukee-are Hmong who worked on Republican State Sen. Bob Welch’s campaign for the U.S. Senate. He won the Republican primary and will compete in general elections. Wisconsin is home to approximately 40,000 Hmong. Victor Vaj is a Hmong radio personality in Milwaukee who spent a year working on the State Senator’s campaign. For Vaj, seeing an older generation of naturalized citizen exercise voting rights fulfills a second purpose. It encourages the U.S.-born generation to use their birthright along with their traditional Hmong upbringing to pursue politics in this country. http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=9d4de22d1f ... Thousands of Hmong Refugees from Laos Ready to Arrive Jack Austin Smith, a Vietnam Veteran and a retired career soldier Thousands of Hmong Refugees from Laos Ready to Arrive By Elizabeth Putnam Wausau Daily Herald eputnam@wdhprint.com The clan system remains an integral part of Hmong culture, but the assimilation of the Hmong into American culture is threatening the system's survival. The Hmong clans Original 12 Hmong clans Cha, Hang, Her, Kue, Khang, Lee, Moua, Song, Thao, Vang, Xiong, Yang The 18 clans of today Cha, Cheng, Chue, Fang, Hang, Her, Khang, Kong, Kue, Lee, Lor, Moua, Pha, Thao, Vang, Vue, Xiong, Yang Sources: "Mong Education at the Crossroads," by Paoze Thao and the Hmong Cultural and Resource Center of Minnesota at hmongcenter.org Within Hmong culture, there are 18 clans, and members of each share the same last name. The clan leaders and members provide each other with social, economic and legal assistance. They help organize social events such as weddings and offer support during difficult times, as when a family member is ill. "I think that in the future, most of the younger children now might lose that knowledge of the clan, but that's why we need to teach or educate the kids," said Chang Yang, 36, president of the board of the Wausau Area Hmong Mutual Association. The origin of the clan system is a mystery, according to local Hmong residents and the book "Mong Education at the Crossroads," by Paoze Thao, a professor at California State University in Monterey Bay. Thao uses an alternate spelling of Hmong in his work. Hmong folklore tells the story of a brother and sister who married and had a child who resembled a seed. They cut it up into 12 pieces and scattered them. The pieces made people, each representing a clan. The 12 clans eventually branched out into 18 clans. http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/wdhlocal/291782635188000.shtml Thousands of Hmong Refugees from Laos Ready to Arrive in California Tamara Keith Fresno, California 08 Apr 2004, 19:28 UTC Listen to Tamara Keith's report (RealAudio) Keith report - Download 676k (RealAudio) In just a few months as many as 3000 new Hmong refugees could arrive in California's Central Valley. For years they've been living in a makeshift camp at a broken-down Buddhist temple in Thailand. The Hmong people aided the United States during the Vietnam War and were forced to flee their home country of Laos as the war ended. Thousands have come to the U.S since the early 1980s, but nearly 15,000 remain on the temple grounds in Thailand. In December the State Department bowed to pressure from Hmong Americans and the Thai government and agreed to let this group of refugees immigrate. Tamara Keith reports on what Fresno community leaders are doing to prepare for the arrival. Hmong refugee Pai Yang came to this country when she was 10 years old. Now she's the Refugee Resettlement Director for Catholic Charities in Fresno, helping families fill out the forms needed to bring their relatives over from Thailand. For Ms. Yang and others, the upcoming influx of new refugees came as a surprise. She said, "For our community this is like a very great time, a joyful time. To be able to have this opportunity to resettle in this country, to have the opportunity for education, health, etc." On this morning, Ms. Yang is meeting with Pai-Yang Thao and her husband, who are hoping to sponsor 22 family members now living on the temple grounds in Thailand. The young couple visited the camp in December. They found it surrounded by armed guards, and the people there living with no electricity or running water. "When we got there we felt very sad that they were living in a bad place and being caged up like animals," she said. "They can't go outside to find food and they're always waiting for us over here to send them money." Ms. Thao can't wait for her parents, siblings, nieces and nephews to arrive in Fresno. She said that for her the reunion is like a dream come true. But, if past experience is any indication, her family will likely have a hard time adjusting to life here in the valley. Pai Yang says that when she arrived with her mother and sister in the 1980s, they struggled with the language and the culture. In Laos, her mother was a successful businesswoman, but here in California she had to pick tomatoes to make a living. Ms. Yang believes that many Hmong refugees had similar difficulties. http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=0D604918-8C63-43F1-A1BBC15 ... 400 protest opening trade with Laos Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription), MN - Apr 14, 2004 ... older Hmong military veterans in camouflage fatigues and younger Hmong college students ... for the US government to pressure the communist leaders to address human ... http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199810/15_radila_reform / Duluth's Hmong Families Find Reform Pressure By Amy Radil October 15, 1998 RealAudio 2.0 14.4 Part of the MPR Welfare to Work Series DULUTH'S SMALL HMONG COMMUNITY has been steadily growing over the past ten years. Late last year there were about 175 Hmong households in Duluth on the welfare rolls. But then Minnesota moved in to welfare reform and as they themselves admit, St. Louis County and the City of Duluth Job Training forgot the city's immigrants. Bea Larson: There was a lot of initial panic and fear and initial orientation sessions had to be redone. Bea Larson, is an instructor at the Adult Learning Center who teaches English as a second language classes. She soon learned the county had not only sent out letters informing Hmong recipents of the changes in English alone... it was also conducting required orientation sessions exclusively in English. Larson: Initially people were asked to sign jobs plans that they didn't understand. A number of different folks with limited English had to be re-oriented in ways that they'd understand what they were agreeing to do. Larson contacted Gwen Updegraaf, a legal aid attorney, who met with a group of Hmong welfare recipients who told her of further problems. The Minnesota Family Investment Program, or MFIP, legislation calls for participants to receive an individualized assessment with a job counselor, who helps them formulate a plan consisting of education, training or active job seeking. Updegraaf says instead, these people had pre-printed job forms instructing them to perform 30 hours of job search each week. Updegraaf: There was no individualized assessment done with these people, no one sat down with them and determined how much English they spoke. Several people who had problems with their plans complained of disabilities. Amidst the confusion, Hmong families began leaving Duluth for the Twin Cities. Reasons varied. Some wanted to join relatives, some wanted access to support services in their own language, and many found ready employment and higher wages. When Updegraaf contacted St. Louis County officials with her concerns, they agreed to allow Hmong immigrants to start over in the orientation process, this time with an interpreter, Bobbee Vang. Vang was hired with a grant from the McKnight Foundation to provide special support for Southeast Asians seeking jobs in Duluth. My interest in Hmong started here in GD lojasmo (219 posts) Sun May-02-04 01:24 AM Original message Police everywhere in duluth WTF There was a police officer in the lobby of my hotel on canal point, and an oficer in the lobby of Grandma's restaraunt/bar. In the cold war, reportedly, duluth was number seven on the list of probable nuclear targets. Any ideas? Jackpine Radical (1000+ posts) Sun May-02-04 04:34 PM Response to Reply #25 27. OK--but why Duluth? It's 150 miles north of the Twin Cities. social workers and educators say it's been a struggle FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The twin cities are home to the largest Hmong population in North America, about 60,000 people. They began arriving from Laos and Thai refugee camps in the late '70s, initially placed here by local church-based refugee relief groups. And while this community has plenty to celebrate, social workers and educators say it's been a struggle. Of all the Southeast Asian refugees who fled for the U.S., none was more reluctant or less prepared than the Hmong. Hmong music, artwork, and ceremonies depict an agrarian people who fled once, a century before, from China to almost total isolation in the hills of Laos. Until the mid-20th century, the Hmong did not have a written language or a currency. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/vietnam/hmong_5-4.html 2001 Hmong Population and Education in the United States and the World August 24, 2001 Researched and Collected by Dr. Vang Pobzeb From 1975 to 1991, more than 500,000 people in Laos fled and became international political refugees in the world because of the legacy of the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia. The Communist Lao and Vietnamese governments have been exterminating Hmong people in Laos since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and are still doing so today, because of Hmong people cooperated with the U.S. government during the Vietnam War. In 2001, witnesses in Laos have reported that many thousands of Communist Vietnamese soldiers are cooperating with the Communist Lao government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) to conduct an ethnic cleansing war, genocide and human rights violations against Hmong people in Laos. Therefore, we appeal to and call upon Hmong American intellectuals, educators and the general public to unify our leadership strategies and efforts in order to save the lives of Hmong people in Laos. We call upon all Hmong people to unify and work together to save the lives of Hmong people. Power politics in the world and global actors are remaining silent on the genocide against Hmong people in Laos because they are concerned with economics and commercial goods for themselves. They do not really care about human rights violations and genocide in Laos and in other parts of the world. There are about 300,000 Hmong American people in the United States in 2001. In 2001, there are approximately 80,000 Hmong American people in Minnesota; and 80,000 Hmong Americans in Wisconsin. About 40,000 Hmong Americans moved from California to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and other states between 1996 and 2001. About 70,000 Hmong Americans still live in California in 2001. Many Hmong Americans moved from California to Minnesota and Wisconsin and other states because of the problems of welfare reforms and unemployment problems http://www.laohumrights.org/2001data.html Jack Austin Smith, a Vietnam Veteran and a retired career soldier Writing to an American who was confused about the Hmong people, Jack Austin Smith, a Vietnam Veteran and a retired career soldier, wrote the following in 1996 (quoted from his e-mail to me, with permission): The war in Vietnam was fought on several fronts and I served in two them. The main American battle ground was in the Southern end of South Vietnam. In order for the North Vietnamese forces to fight us there, it was necessary for their supplies and troops to go through Laos and Cambodia on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and Laos was controlled by a Pro-Communist Government at that time. Therefore America was not allowed to have any forces on the ground, although we were allowed to bomb and attack North Vietnamese troops with our aerial forces. About 99% of the combat forces on the ground were Hmong irregulars who were persuaded by Americans to forget about being neutral, and to fight the N. Vietnamese regulars (not relatively poorly trained Viet Cong guerrilla forces). We supplied air cover, but every combat trooper knows aircraft can't take and hold ground. We depended on the Hmongs to do this. Without modern arms, without medical help. After the fall of Saigon we pulled out of Southeast Asia and left the Hmongs to continue the fight without air support. When we left, the Hmong had to fight both the Laotians and the N. Vietnamese. They could not fight tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft with rifles. A great many Hmongs were slaughtered in their villages. Many were slaughtered at airfields where they waited for evacuation planes that never came. A few were able to fight every foot of the way across Laos and cross the Mekong River into refugee camps in Thailand where they were further mistreated by rather corrupt UN and Thai officials. Out of a estimated 3,000,000 prewar Hmong population less than 200,000 made it to safety. One other ill informed or stupid writer said "they were all gone" meaning, I guess, that the combat Hmongs were all dead, they are wrong. Most of the survivors are in Australia, France and here among us. Now I don't know about those heroes who have never heard a shot fired in anger, but I am embarrassed that my country so mislead these people. The Hmongs gave up literally everything for us: their country, their homes, their peaceful way of life, most of their families, everything that we would cherish. We promised them our continued support and then we bugged out. You mentioned having relatives who fought in Vietnam and I hope they all survived. However their chances would have been much less if the Hmongs hadn't intercepted over 50% of the N. Vietnamese troops and supplies. If you truly loved your relatives, you should be grateful for the Hmongs' sacrifices. http://www.jefflindsay.com/hmong.shtml Laos, Hmong Bill Passes U.S. Congress: Urges Stalinist Regime to Address Crisis and Reform 5/6/2004 4:10:00 PM To: National and International Desks Contact: Ms. Xoua Kue or Paul Christopher, 202-543-1444, 559-252-3921 or 202-318-0266 (fax) WASHINGTON, May 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In an historic vote today, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed strongly worded legislation (H.Res. 402) introduced by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and a bipartisan coalition in the U.S. House of Representatives regarding the emergency crisis facing the Hmong people in Laos and the urgent need for freedom, democratic reform, and the international monitoring of elections, human rights and religious liberty in Laos. "Today's historic vote in the U.S. Congress for the passage of H. Res. 402 is something that we at the Lao Veterans of America have worked very hard at for nearly two years in Washington, D.C.," stated Colonel Wangyee Vang, national director and founder of the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., the nation's largest Lao and Hmong veterans organization. "Today's vote in Congress for Congressman Burton's Laos bill marks an important victory for the freedom-loving Lao and Hmong people now suffering under the Communist regime in Laos as well as all of the veterans and the Laotian and Hmong-American organizations and individuals who joined together as a team to help us fight for the passage of this important legislation, to help bring freedom and democracy to Laos," Colonel Wangyee concluded. Rep. Dan Burton was joined by Reps. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Mark Green (D-Wisc.), Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Thomas Petri (R-Wis.) and others in introducing the Laos legislation on October 16, 2004. H.Res. 402 was introduced following a special session of the U.S. Congressional Forum on Laos, held in the Longworth House Office Building, where a number of prominent Members of Congress, Laotian and Hmong organizations, dissidents, victims and human rights organizations testified about the current crisis in Laos and the plight of the Hmong people, including the Lao Veterans of America, the Lao Students Movement for Democracy, Amnesty International and others. Hundreds of Lao and Hmong veterans, and their families, are slated to convene in the U.S. Congress early next week for a special U.S. Congressional reception and events to honor Rep. Burton's legislation and Members of Congress who have taken a leadership role in its passage. The Congressional events are cosponsored by the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., and the Center for Public Policy Analysis. "Congressman Burton's bold new legislation addressing the current situation in Laos is a first step toward engaging the Pathet Lao regime, United Nations and the State Department more seriously, honestly and effectively regarding the horrific plight of the jailed Laotian students, political and religious dissidents and Hmong civilians and rebels now under brutal siege in closed military zones," stated Philip Smith, executive director for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Policy Analysis. Smith also serves as the Washington director for the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., the Lao Students Movement for Democracy and a coalition of Lao and Hmong organizations seeking political and human rights reforms in Laos. more http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=155-05062004 Hmong rivalries erupt in violence Leaders targeted in fire bombings BY TODD NELSON Pioneer Press Could a war that ended three decades ago in a sleepy corner of Southeast Asia be behind a mysterious outbreak of violence in the Twin Cities? EMOTIONS RUNNING HIGH For many Lao and Hmong in the Twin Cities and beyond, the violence has stoked emotions already running high over a host of issues, from improving trade relations with the Lao government to alleged human rights abuses against Hmong resistance fighters and civilians in Laos and the pending resettlement of thousands of Hmong refugees in Thailand. With shadowy factions and differences dating back to the war to untangle, some investigators are getting a crash course in Hmong culture and politics. The general shocked some of his loyal supporters in November when he declared during a speech in Oakdale that he had met with Vietnamese officials to discuss reconciliation. In addition to what has become known as his peace doctrine, he also announced conditional support for better U.S. trade with Laos. Just before midnight on April 20, someone fired five gunshots into the Maplewood home of Vang Pao's translator, Xang Vang. The next morning, a fire broke out in an office at Lao Family Community of Minnesota, a refugee assistance agency Vang Pao founded more than 20 years ago, in St. Paul. The fire that destroyed the home of the general's son, Cha Vang, occurred at 1:20 a.m. on April 25. He and his wife awoke to the sound of breaking glass, discovered the fire and escaped unharmed with their three daughters. A day later, someone used a Molotov cocktail in a failed attempt to set fire to the St. Paul office of a Hmong and Laotian veterans group. Vang Pao had good intentions when he set out to broker the peace agreement, but his former foes deceived him, said Stephen Vang, a lecturer in Hmong and Southeast Asian studies at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. "It was controversial," Stephen Vang said of the peace plan. "People have different opinions about the plan. It turned out to be propaganda from the Lao and Viet officials. Many people are very disappointed with the results." The violence appears to target, at least symbolically, Vang Pao, who led the secret CIA army that battled Lao and Vietnamese communist insurgents in Laos during the Vietnam War, from 1961 to 1973. The communist Pathet Lao took control over the country 29 years ago this month, sending thousands of Hmong fleeing for refuge in Thailand. More than 130,000 have resettled in the United States since Laos fell to the communists. St. Paul, with more than 24,000, has the largest Hmong population of any U.S. city. http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/8629252.htm Posted on Sun, May. 09, 2004 Investigators probe possible link between East Side fire and crimes against Hmong BY LISA DONOVAN Pioneer Press "All possible accidental causes were eliminated," said Pete Pream, a St. Paul Deputy Fire Chief. "We believe this may be an arson fire." Just after 11 p.m. Saturday firefighters were summoned to a home at 1675 Edgerton St., near Larpenteur Avenue. Neighbors across the street called 911 after seeing flames in the living room area. No one was home when emergency crews arrived, and firefighters quickly knocked out the blaze, which investigators later determined started on a living room couch. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is helping with the investigation. Investigators are trying to determine if the cases are related. Two attacks involve Hmong community members connected to Gen. Vang Pao, who was recruited by the CIA to lead a Hmong army against communist insurgents during the Vietnam War. The other incidents include: -- April 20, just before midnight, shots were fired into the residence of Xang Vang, translator for Gen. Vang Pao, on Linwood Avenue in Maplewood. -- April 24, a fire was ignited at the Lao Family Community of Minnesota offices on the 300 block of University Avenue in St. Paul. -- April 25, at about 1:20 a.m., a fire that has been ruled arson destroyed the home of Gen. Vang Pao's son Cha Vang on Tevlin Court in Maplewood. -- April 26, arson was attempted at the Lao Veterans of America on the 700 block of Milton Street in St. Paul. Laos, Hmong Bill Passes U.S. Congress: Urges Stalinist Regime to Address C Laos, Hmong Bill Passes U.S. Congress: Urges Stalinist Regime to Address Crisis and Reform 5/6/2004 4:10:00 PM WASHINGTON, May 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In an historic vote today, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed strongly worded legislation (H.Res. 402) introduced by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and a bipartisan coalition in the U.S. House of Representatives regarding the emergency crisis facing the Hmong people in Laos and the urgent need for freedom, democratic reform, and the international monitoring of elections, human rights and religious liberty in Laos. "Today's historic vote in the U.S. Congress for the passage of H. Res. 402 is something that we at the Lao Veterans of America have worked very hard at for nearly two years in Washington, D.C.," stated Colonel Wangyee Vang, national director and founder of the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., the nation's largest Lao and Hmong veterans organization. "Today's vote in Congress for Congressman Burton's Laos bill marks an important victory for the freedom-loving Lao and Hmong people now suffering under the Communist regime in Laos as well as all of the veterans and the Laotian and Hmong-American organizations and individuals who joined together as a team to help us fight for the passage of this important legislation, to help bring freedom and democracy to Laos," Colonel Wangyee concluded. Rep. Dan Burton was joined by Reps. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Mark Green (D-Wisc.), Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), Ron Kind (D-Wis.), Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Thomas Petri (R-Wis.) and others in introducing the Laos legislation on October 16, 2004. H.Res. 402 was introduced following a special session of the U.S. Congressional Forum on Laos, held in the Longworth House Office Building, where a number of prominent Members of Congress, Laotian and Hmong organizations, dissidents, victims and human rights organizations testified about the current crisis in Laos and the plight of the Hmong people, including the Lao Veterans of America, the Lao Students Movement for Democracy, Amnesty International and others. Hundreds of Lao and Hmong veterans, and their families, are slated to convene in the U.S. Congress early next week for a special U.S. Congressional reception and events to honor Rep. Burton's legislation and Members of Congress who have taken a leadership role in its passage. The Congressional events are cosponsored by the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., and the Center for Public Policy Analysis. "Congressman Burton's bold new legislation addressing the current situation in Laos is a first step toward engaging the Pathet Lao regime, United Nations and the State Department more seriously, honestly and effectively regarding the horrific plight of the jailed Laotian students, political and religious dissidents and Hmong civilians and rebels now under brutal siege in closed military zones," stated Philip Smith, executive director for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Policy Analysis. Smith also serves as the Washington director for the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., the Lao Students Movement for Democracy and a coalition of Lao and Hmong organizations seeking political and human rights reforms in Laos. more http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=155-05062004 Hmong fear backlash in larger community BY TODD NELSON Pioneer Press With thousands of Hmong refugees expected to be resettled in Minnesota this year, community leaders fear a backlash over the Monday arrest of a Hmong-American St. Paul police officer. Officer Tou Cha, 35, is suspected of firing gunshots into the home of a former Hmong military commander's translator and into Hmong businesses. The incident was one of several in a flare-up of crimes among factions in the Southeast Asian community. "People will think what they want to think. I see it as very much unrelated to whatever is happening" with the resettlement, said MayKao Hang, adult services director with Ramsey County Human Services. When the incidents first began last year, state Sen. Mee Moua, DFL-St. Paul, urged the community not to speculate and to let the police handle the investigation. She cautioned the same thing Tuesday. "I hope law enforcement will continue to do what they need to do to answer all the questions," she said. "It's premature to conclude that this is the answer." It's difficult for people to keep a cool head, however, Ilean Her added. "Whatever comes out of it, it's still a bad day for the Hmong community," she said. "He is one of our young men in a position in law enforcement, in which we've always wanted people to be involved. It's gives a bad message to the outer community." more http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/8643932.htm?ERIGHT... |kathy|N&is_rd=Y FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The twin cities are home to the largest Hmong population in North America, about 60,000 people. They began arriving from Laos and Thai refugee camps in the late '70s, initially placed here by local church-based refugee relief groups. And while this community has plenty to celebrate, social workers and educators say it's been a struggle. Of all the Southeast Asian refugees who fled for the U.S., none was more reluctant or less prepared than the Hmong. Hmong music, artwork, and ceremonies depict an agrarian people who fled once, a century before, from China to almost total isolation in the hills of Laos. Until the mid-20th century, the Hmong did not have a written language or a currency. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/vietnam/hmong_5-4.html Officer charged in drive-by shooting of Hmong target  He was charged in Ramsey County only in the April 20 Maplewood shooting - a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine - though prosecutors weren't ruling out further charges. The other shooting happened Nov. 29. "All of us are particularly saddened when a member of the (law enforcement) community is charged with violating their oath to preserve the public safety," Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said. According to a criminal complaint, Cha told police he gave his weapon to a cousin one day last month and that the next day the Maplewood home was hit with five bullets. The cousin had said he wanted to scare the owner of the home, a translator for Gen. Vang Pao, a revered former Hmong military leader. Cha said he told the cousin, "whatever they do, don't kill anybody and don't let the police find out," the complaint said. The cousin's motive wasn't disclosed in the complaint. The shootings are part of a string of violent crimes targeting Hmong leaders and groups in recent months. One firebombing last month gutted the home of Pao's son, and another fire damaged a Hmong fraternal organization in St. Paul. Police said the motive behind the violence remains unclear. Police said they traced bullet casings gathered at the scene of the shootings to Cha's department-issued .40-caliber pistol. http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/8650055... Cha joined the Police Department 11 years ago and has had several prominent assignments, including a recent trip with the mayor and other city leaders to a Thai refugee camp that's home to thousands of Hmong. http://www.kstp.com/article/view/143000/      As Prices Fall, Farmers Turn to Illegal Cash Crops  Fresno County officer dumps marijuana plants to be burned. Half-dozen fields were uncovered in one month. (Mark Crosse / Fresno Bee) In the past month, Fresno County investigators have busted a half-dozen marijuana fields hidden by borders of cherry tomatoes. A more ideal camouflage crop — the tomato and the pot plant have similar leaves — would be hard to find. Nearly 40,000 squat but prolific bushes have been yanked out and set ablaze, an illicit harvest worth $40 million on the streets — more than last year's value for cherries or Valencia oranges or sweet corn in Fresno County. Five lowland Lao refugees have been arrested and charged with cultivating marijuana for sale. The record heat of spring has not only pushed the vineyards and fruit orchards several weeks ahead of their growing cycles but matured the marijuana in half the time. "This is the earliest in my 23 years as a narc that we've taken off so many marijuana plots," said Lt. Rick Hill of the Fresno County Sheriff's Department. "Usually, the plots we find are in the mountains, and they're mostly operated by gangs from Mexico. These new plots are down on the valley floor, and it's Southeast Asians who are growing them." The tips, meanwhile, keep coming in. Last week, sheriff's deputies found 13 pounds of processed marijuana, $37,000 in cash and night-vision equipment in a house belonging to a lowland Lao. A storage facility rented by the same man produced two rifles, two handguns and 40 pounds of processed marijuana. "It's hard to tell if it's one big operation or several smaller ones," Hill said. "I'm afraid we're on the front end of a trend."  Hao Khounmeuang plucks leaves from an eggplant. She says she has never seen a growing marijuana plant. (Robert Durell / LAT) http://ktla.trb.com/news/la-me-farm12may12,0,7983445.story?coll=ktla-n...  Marijuana plants worth $40 million - surviving and then some Fresno sheriff's officials agree that only a fraction of Southeast Asian truck farmers are involved in marijuana cultivation, and they have apologized to the refugees for public comments that suggest they are targets. But they warn that the illegal operations and all that they entail — such as the use of rifles and night-vision gear — can pose dangers. Like the vegetables, the marijuana they raise is an unusual breed. Nurtured indoors and conditioned to grow no more than 3 feet tall, the bushy-leafed crop is easy to hide once transplanted. This season's first surveillance took narcotics officers to a Southeast Asian vegetable farm that stretched out over 40 acres, far bigger than most. "About 25 acres were cropped, and 15 acres were being used for marijuana," Hill said. "I had farmers who walked their dogs every day along that property and all they saw was tomatoes." Two men and a woman who spoke little English were arrested and charged with cultivating 12,000 illicit plants. As more tips flowed in, a half-dozen other busts came in quick succession. http://ktla.trb.com/news/la-me-farm12may12,0,7983445.story?coll=ktla-n... |
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Wed May-19-04 11:00 AM Response to Reply #13 |
| 16. " policy towards Haiti is even more bi-partisan " |
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Wed May-19-04 11:15 AM Response to Original message |
| 18. so post something already |
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Wed May-19-04 06:25 PM Response to Reply #18 |
| 26. ouch |
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Wed May-19-04 02:39 PM Response to Original message |
| 25. No, but we can't help anyone if we ourselves are enslaved |
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Thu May 02nd 2024, 11:13 PM Response to Original message |
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