CTH tour wraps up
June 5th, 2007
The speaking tour has wrapped up. Loulou Chéry, Ginette Apollon, and Euvonie Georges-Auguste, completed a 11-city solidarity speaking tour. Through a combination of open, public meetings, consultations with trade union and community groups, and informal social events, the delegates met with hundreds of people.
Euvonie on the tour:
After this tour, we know that we are not alone. We have seen that there are people in Canada who understand the struggle of the Haitian people. For me in particular, to be able to speak about the situation of the Haitian women who are most excluded, most marginalized – I now know that we are not forgotten. Our difficult reality is known and recognized.
Ginette Apollon's comments:
This tour has been unbelievable, the reactions that we have had from people, the warm reception we received, and the sense of support and solidarity, superb. I have had the opportunity to travel to a number of other countries, and I have never felt this level of support and real connection with the people in different cities that came out to hear us and to meet with us. I greatly hope that the links that we have made through this Tour can be followed up on, and strengthened.
Loulou Chéry expressed his thanks:
There really are not words to express our appreciation. All I can say is one, big “Merçi!” too all of the people involved in organizing and supporting this Tour. It has made a big difference to all of us, and we are returning to Haiti more confident than ever that there are people in Canada – all over – that support our struggle. We also anticipate that there will be delegations and groups travelling to Haiti from Canada and Québec as a result of this tour, and we look forward to welcoming them there, to give them a first-hand perspective on our work and our situation.
In the near future videos, more articles and photos will be posted. Thank you everyone that helped!
June 5th, 2007 at 10:24 PM We love you! Come back soon! We will stay informed
June 14th, 2007 at 04:28 PM PREVENTING AMNESIA: THE CTH IMPOSTURE In 1989, the organized peasant groups involved at Jean Rabel put out an important 107-paged document called “Yon ti limyè sou evènman Jan Rabèl yo” (“Light Shed on the Events at Jean-Rabel”). In this publication, the accomplice role played by CATH-CLAT, particularly through its peasant association, FENATAPA (National Federation of Agricultural Workers and Haitian Farmers), in the massacre is clearly spelled out. Here are some excerpts: “The big landowners used the FENATAPA/CATH-CLAT structure to defend the State lands they took in the localities of Kolèt and Mòn Bourik against the Lamontay and Soval base groups (September – October 1986). Its plantations administrator Jacques (Nono) Lucas was a founding member and later Vice-President of the so-called ‘Jean-Rabel promotion committee’ that intervened on the national radio supposedly in the name of the population…” “Father Wilner Doneciar, vicar of the Jean-Rabel parish and founding member of this same Promotion Committee, also national chaplain of the JOC (Catholic Worker Youth), used his influence to recruit people for the CATH-CLAT session that was held in Port-au-Prince in July 1986 to form FENATAPA. On the day of the massacre, July 29th, as the survivors were fleeing the military intervention, they looked back towards the scene and saw fire and black smoke: it was the meeting spaces and offices of Gros Bassin and Lacoma that had been set afire with the blessing of the army and the local Catholic Church hierarchy: the General Vicar, Boniface Fils-Aimé, was present, in the field, at the moment.” “FENATAPA / CATH-CLAT and the Promotion Committee were the base groups’ rival organizations in Jean-Rabel, acting in favor of the massacre. Both appeared after February 7th, 1986, taking advantage of the democratic ambiance to try to haul people behind them. Officially, FENATAPA was set up in July 1986 as an offshoot of CATH-CLAT. It functioned much with the Leslie Manigat headed RDNP (Rassemblement des Démocraties Nationaux Progressistes). Many FENATAPA cadres never hid their devotion to Manigat: they wore his t-shirts and distributed his pictures. On December 31, 1986, during his tour to set up the party in the North-West, Manigat especially visited a FENATAPA cadre in Lacoma. FENATAPA’s tactic was to take a few of the local demands so as to attract the people and then go negotiate with the power in place. This dealing was based on the basis that they had to unite to fight communism, a danger for both. The Promotion Committee they collaborated with was an organization the macoutes set up; although right after 1986, they pretended to be anti-macoute, but quickly the initial committee was changed. This Committee was amongst the first local delegations to go visit Namphy in the National Palace. They also greeted him when he visited Jean-Rabel on June 14th. They visited him again after the massacre. The Tèt Ansanm Base Groups didn’t agree to become CATH-CLAT unions, as the FENATAPA leader wished. That’s why FENATAPA was against these base groups who furthermore refused to recognize the authority of the Jean-Rabel Promotion Committee, purported representatives of the entire local population. “What they did: 1. Promising motorcycles, FENATAPA attempted to corrupt Tèt Ansanm members so they would be part of the union. 2. FENATAPA / CATH-CLAT created tension amidst the small peasants, setting one against the other. In Colèt, they allied with the big landowners to chase the small peasants in Lamontagne, who were in majority Tèt Ansanm members, from the state-owned lands they had been working historically as sharecroppers or land renters. 3. They did much anticommunist propaganda against the peasant movement. 4. They requested that Father Jean-Marie Vincent have all association members be a part of FENATAPA / CATH-CLAT, without even asking their opinion. 5. They wrote to several associations saying that this had been agreed upon: the union of the Tèt Ansanm groups eith the CATH-CLAT union. 6. At the end of 1987, Amilton Anilis, cadre of FENATAPA / CATH-CLAT, sent a letter to the Tèt Ansanm cadres, threatening them and warning them that “a great catastrophe was dangling before them”. 7. Head members of FENATAPA / CATH-CLAT in Lamontagne, Laréserve and Colèt were very active in the attack against the Tèt Ansanm groups at the end of June, the beginning of July 1987 and during the massacre of the week of July 23rd. 8. On the very day of July 23rd 1987, an ISUZU CATH-CLAT pick-up truck, bearing the license plate H-9917, dropped off Prosper Jeantihomme half-way up to Lamontagne. He was coming from a meeting in the town of Jean-Rabel. Prospere Jeantihomme was a main actor in the massacre of the peasants at Lamontagne. 9. After the July 23rd 1987 massacre, the Promotion Committee rushed to officially take position on the radio against the peasant associations. 10. It further went to various peasant groups meeting places to tell them the only solution for peace in the community was elections. 11. CATH-CLAT then organized celebrations and sessions in various localities to assemble people and invite them to take part in FENATAPA unions, so as to protect themselves. In one specific festivity, national representatives of CATH-CLAT Port-au-Prince were present. On the last day, Leslie Manigat came through for the closure. “Also: The Promotion Committee was a part of setting up CATH-CLAT in the region. It used its local network: churches (catholic and protestant), JOC, CARE, and local authorities (CASE, chef seksyon). Doing this, it had no consideration of the morality of the leaders or cadres. This strategy allowed many macoutes to reconstitute their force within FENATAPA. In October 1986, Elie Méhus, president of the Colèt CATH-CLAT, gather the union members to expulse to Lamontagne peasant association members from the lands they worked. After doing this, he entered the Jean-Rabel town with a peasant orchestra. Marcel Poitevien, who was a surveyor and sports monitor for the Ministry of National Eduction, gave them bread and a gallon of moonshine for this task. The contract was for the big landlords to allow FENATAPA to occupy a part of these lands on the condition that they would protect the rest of the lands. Thus, for the unions to divide from the Tèt Ansanm base groups. The entire Promotion Committee welcomed Namphy at his June 14th 1987 visit, with the macoute presidential candidate Alphonse Lahens . The Committee accompanied Namphy and held a reception for him. This reinforced the macoute forces’ morale. On July 24th 1987, during the week of the Jean-Rabel massacre, a big head of CATH-CLAT’s main responsible Port-au-Prince office and several FENATAPA Jean-Rabel cadres met with a past macoute head, Lucsen St-Vil, at the “Bienvenue Hotel” in Port-de-Paix. 3 days later, this same macoute commander took arms against the Cabaret peasant section (1rst rural section of Jean-Rabel). This is the same macoute commander who attacked the Canadian monsignor on September 24th 1987. FENATAPA / CATH-CLAT and the local Kazè authorities used to meet together. On several occasions they acted as one. Other allies in the massacre were: the USAID, CARE, the US embassy, Peace Corps and the Conservative Baptist Mission (Rev. Wallace Turnbull). The big landowners’ families were well nested in the US institution: Jean-Claud Lucas, the son of Joanel Lucas, headed USAID small projects; Roseanne Lucas Cayard, the daughter of Candelon Lucas, was secretary at the US consulate; Dorothy Lucas, also daughter of Candelon Lucas, was a Peace Corps volunteer; Carla Richardson, the sister of Jean-Michel Richardson, was an officer of the US army in a military base in Germany.
June 14th, 2007 at 06:02 PM To the above poster. CTH is different then CATH-CLAT. CATH was a supporter of the group of 184 and has been backed by the US State Department. CTH is a TOTALLY different trade union. CTH was against the 1991 coup and the 2004 coup.