Toronto Haiti Action Committee (THAC)

August 14, 2007

For Immediate Release:

We are urging for the safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.

Port au Prince, Haiti
Contacts: Eugenia Charles and Jacob François
Phone 011-509-698-8134, 011-509-448-3672

Our international human rights delegation seeks the safe return of Lovinsky Pierre Antoine. A long-time defender of human rights and advocate of the poor, Lovinsky Pierre Antoine has not been seen since 10:00 pm Sunday, August 12, 2007. Our delegation has made numerous attempts to contact him but thus far has been unsuccessful.

August 14, 2007

Yesterday, we attended the commencement of the murder trial of Joseph Stefan Campbell, of Port au Prince at the Palais de justice in the center of Port au Prince.

He was arrested in July 2004 for being a part of a group of "troublemakers" (in French, "association de malfaiteurs"). When he was finally tried on those charges in 2006, the charges were thrown out for lack of evidence. Before his release, he was rearrested and charged with a murder alleged to have occurred on October 1, 2003.

Trade Unions Mobilize in Haiti

Port au Prince, August 13, 2007

Two months ago, public and commercial transport drivers in Port au Prince went on strike for two days. Much of the city’s commercial and public services were shut down. The strike was a reminder to all that workers and peasants in this country are determined to struggle for better living standards and for a better society. They are also prepared to pressure the elected government harder to make this happen.

Port au Prince, August 12

This morning was spent in discussion with a union leader here. Later on, we went to the airport to see off a friend on her way to a family visit in the U.S. Who should we see there but none other than the hero Mario Joseph.

Joseph is Haiti’s leading lawyer in the defense of the unjustly imprisoned. He is a coordinator of the Bureau des avocats internationaux, a project of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

August 11, 2007

Cap Haitien is Haiti’s second largest city. It lies on the northern coastline and mountains rise sharply not even a kilometre inland in the city center. To the south and east, a large flat agricultural plain stretches all the way to the border with the Dominican Republic, about 60 km away.

Mole St-Nicholas, Haiti—August 9, 2007

This village sits on the northwest tip of Haiti in one of the poorest rural areas in the country. It is an historical gem that many Haitians are anxious to preserve and protect, if only they had the resources to do so. Those with the resources—the United Nations-sponsored foreign occupation forces—do not show the slightest inclination to help Haiti preserve its precious historical heritage. They prefer to spend money here on guns and barbed wire.

Mayors appeal for help to avert humanitarian disaster in Haiti
By Roger Annis

Port de Paix, Haiti—August 8, 2007
“We are one hour of heavy rainfall away from a humanitarian catastrophe here in Port de Paix,” said one of this city’s deputy mayors, Eluscane Elusme to members of a human rights factfinding delegation organized by the U.S.-based Fondayson Mapou and Haiti Priorities Project. The delegation is spending four days touring northern Haiti.

Cap Haitien
Friday, August 10

Hello reader,

Day two August 6, 2007

This morning, prior to leaving the city for the countryside, we went to Haiti's cathedral to pay our respects at the funderal mass of a respected Catholic father who recently passed away. Father Ednea Devaloin was a colleague of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a proponent of the liberation theology movement in the CAtholic Church. Several thousand people attended the service.

DAY ONE IN HAITI Sunday, August 5, 2007

Port au Prince! We flew in this afternoon from Miami on one of the several daily flights of American Airlines. A full flight, and I’m guessing that many of the Haitian passengers were arriving for summer visits from the U.S. and Canada.

Port au Prince is on the coast and it lies on a plain surrounded by impressive mountains. We got a good view of much of the Haitian coastline as we flew in.