Paramilitarism in Haiti: A Photographic History

     Below are photos to accompany my book Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti (Monthly Review Press, 2012). These photos were either: (a) provided to me with permission to use by the photographer, (b) photos that I took, or (c) they have been posted through Creative Commons (CC) which was especially necessary with the older historical periods covered.
     These images focus our attention on paramilitary organizations and their facilitators: various state, military, and intelligence apparatuses, officials, and elite networks. As paramilitary groups and their backers have gained impunity time and again, it is necessary to document all of this for the historical record, which I have tried to do in my recently published book. Through these photos, we are forced to recognize that the victims of paramilitary violence in Haiti are overwhelmingly from the country's lower-income communities and grassroots pro-democracy movement.
     In addition to these photographs, I suggest looking over the many excellent documentaries, books, and other sources that provide a compelling record of contemporary paramilitary violence in Haiti and the region. 

     I have put these photos together from a powerpoint that I used a few months back during various presentations I gave on the book. I hope readers of the book will find this useful, as well as the university classes that I know have been assigned to read it. This photo collection is a work in progress. [NOTE: As of 2019 I am continuing to update this page, and I will continue into the foreseeable future. Also, in 2018 I published an article providing a condensed overview of my 2012 book and with a better grounding in  sociological/political economic theory.]

Interview on Radio Kajou (Florida) & CKCU fm (Ottawa)

I was interviewed for around 45 minutes on my new book by Haitian writer and activist Jean Saint-Vil on Radio Kajou (based out of south Florida) & CKCU fm (based in Ottawa, Canada) on December 9. The discussion was partially translated into haitian kreyol. You can listen to the talk here, but will only be available for the next three weeks.

U.S. Embassy Cables reveal 4,795 refugees fled Haiti in 2004: a 40% increase from the year prior

 Cables from the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, Bahamas, obtained by the whistle blower WikiLeaks show that at least 4,795 Haitians fled their island nation in 2004.

 Serving as corroborating evidence for the findings of the Kolbe-Hudson (Lancet study) in addition to other corroborating human rights reports (Amnesty International, University of Miami, Lawyers Guild, University of Boston, etc), increased refugee flows - 40% increase as stated - is evidence of the major violence propelled by the paramilitaries.

See the entire Cable here:

http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=05NASSAU158

Participation active des responsables américains et onusiens quant à l'intégration de puchistes à la PNH, selon WikiLeaks (Haïti).

Par Jeb Sprague

Haiti Liberté: Édition du 10 Août au 16 Août 2011 & CHAN.

Tout au long de 2004 et 2005, les autorités non élues de facto d’Haïti, aux côtés de fonctionnaires étrangers, ont intégré au moins 400 paramilitaires de l’ancienne Armée dans la force de police du pays, selon ce que révèlent des câbles secrets de l’ambassade américaine.

Pendant un an et demi après le renversement du gouvernement élu d’Haïti, le 29 février 2004, l’ONU, l’OEA et des responsables américains, en conjonction avec les autorités haïtiennes de l’après-coup, ont passé au crible la nouvelle force de la police du pays - agent par agent - et ont intégré des paramilitaires dans le but de renforcer à la fois le corps policier et en fournissant une «carrière» alternative aux paramilitaires.

WikiLeaks revela: Funcionarios de EE.UU. y la ONU supervisaron la incorporación de paramilitares a la policía de Haití

por Jeb Sprague

contra injerencia

 A lo largo de 2004 y 2005, las autoridades de Haiti, en colaboración con funcionarios extranjeros, incorporaron a por lo menos 400 paramilitares a la policía, según cables secretos de la embajada de los EE.UU. .

             Después del derrocamiento del Presidente Jean-Bertrand Aristide en febrero de 2004, la ONU, la OEA y funcionarios de EE.UU., en colaboración con el nuevo gobierno haitiano , aprobaron —uno por uno— la incorporación de dichos paramilitares con el objetivo de fortalecer a la policía y suministrar trabajo a los efectivos que habían llevado a cabo el golpe de estado.

             Al mismo tiempo, fueron purgados cientos de policías considerados leales al gobierno del ex-presidente . Algunos fueron encarcelados y otros asesinados, segun numerosas fuentes entrevistadas.

             Aristide fue elegido por primera vez en 1991, pero el primer gobierno democrático de Haití sólo duró siete meses antes de ser derrocado en un golpe de estado militar. El ejército masacró a cerca de 3.000 personas y fueron desplazados alrededor de 300.000 antes de que el gobierno de Clinton restituyó a Aristide a la presidencia en 1994.

            En 1995, Aristide abolió el ejército de Haití para prevenir más golpes y parar los abusos que seguían cometiendo los militares. Pero cuando Aristide volvió a ganar la presidencia en 2001 los élites haitianos reunieron a muchos de los ex-soldados en grupos paramilitares para ejecutar otro golpe de estado.

            Después de este golpe, los paramilitares establecieron bases militares —oficial y extraoficialmente— en varias ciudades del país. Desde estas bases se desató otra oleada de represión contra los simpatizantes del partido de Aristide, Fanmi Lavalas. Los paramilitares mataran aproximadamente 7.000 personas y cometieron otros abusos, como la violación sexual a miles de mujeres y niñas. Son estos mismos individuos que fueron incorporados a la policía nacional.

             Los detalles sobre la "reforma" a la policía se encuentran en los 1.918 documentos (cables de la embajada de EE.UU.) relacionados a Haití obtenidos por WikiLeaks y después entregados a Haití Liberté.

WikiLeaks Reveal: U.S. and UN Officials Oversaw Integration of Ex-Army Paramilitaries into Haiti’s Police Force

by Jeb Sprague

[This article will appear this week in the newspaper Haiti Liberté]

Throughout 2004 and 2005, Haiti’s unelected de facto authorities, working alongside foreign officials, integrated at least 400 ex-army paramilitaries into the country’s police force, secret U.S. Embassy cables reveal.

            For a year and a half following the ouster of Haiti’s elected government on Feb. 29, 2004, UN, OAS, and U.S. officials, in conjunction with post-coup Haitian authorities, vetted the country’s police force – officer by officer – integrating paramilitaries with the goal of both strengthening the force and providing an alternative “career path” for paramilitaries.

New Article on Al Jazeera and teleSUR

Please read my new article "Haiti's Movement from Below Endures" on Al Jazeera.  Mi nuevo artículo también está disponible en español en teleSUR y Rebelión.

On Martissant, Gran Ravine, and Missing the Proportionality and Chief Sources of Political Violence

Above: Commemoration of the first anniversary of Gran Ravine's Massacre.
The parents and friends of victims of the July 7, 2006 massacre walked
with tears on the one year anniversary. Photo by Wadner Pierre

Below is a response to a note posted by Michael Deibert (on the Haiti corbett listserv, post 41330) and in regard to some of the misleading reports that he authored looking at political violence in the communities of Martissant and Gran Ravine in the years following the 2004 overthrow of Haiti's elected government. It also responds to an anonymously posted criticism (on the Haiti Corbet Listserv) of the work of human rights investigators Evel Fanfan (AUMOHD) and Tom Luce (HURAH) who have been highly active in Haiti's slums of Martissant and Gran Ravine since 2005.

End Forced Exile

See here for a petition that was published today in the Miami Herald calling for the Haitian government, the United States, France, Canada, and the United Nations to stop blocking the return of Haiti's first democratically elected president.

Stealth Duvalierism

Haiti, Michel Martelly, and the Presidential Selection of 2010
Znet and Haiti Liberte

December 20, 2010
By Jeb Sprague

In the media coverage of Haiti's ongoing electoral crisis, presidential candidate Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, whom ruling Unity party candidate Jude Célestin edged out of Haiti's Jan. 16 run-off by less than 1%, has been portrayed as the victim of voting fraud and the leader of a populist upsurge against Haiti’s crooked Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).

Some have questioned his presidential suitability by pointing to his vulgar antics as a konpa musician over the last two decades, where he often made demeaning comments about women and periodically dropped his trousers to bare his backside.

The real problem with Martelly, however, is not his perceived immorality, but his heinous political history and close affi liation with the reactionary “forces of darkness," as they are called in Haiti, which have snuffed out each genuine attempt Haitians have made over the past 20 years to elect a democratic government. Far from a champion of democracy, Martelly has been a cheerleader for, and perhaps even a participant in, bloody coups d'état and military rule.

Repay historic debt to Haiti: An open letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Myself and many others have published a petition calling on the French government to repay it's historic debt to Haiti, which today is valued at over 17 billion euros. View the petition on the website Rabble.ca

A Review of Three Recent Books on Haiti

by Jeb Sprague
NACLA


The ProPheT and Power: Jean-BerTrand arisTide, The inTernaTional CommuniTy, and haiTi by Alex Dupuy, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006,
258 pp., $30.95

An unBroken agony: From revoluTion To The kidnaPPing oF a PresidenT by Randal Robinson, Basic Civitas Books, 2007, 304 pp., $16.95

Damming The Flood: haiTi, arisTide, and The PoliTiCs oF ConTainmenT by Peter Hallward, Verso, 2008, 442 pp., $29.95

Four years after the second ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti’s first democratically elected presi- dent, three books exploring the 2004 coup have appeared, ranging widely in their interpretations of events.