By IRA KURZBAN
Miami , Florida
On Dec. 14, 2004, in the predawn hours, a large convoy of U.N.
troops entered the Port-au-Prince slum of Cite Soleil. They began
firing. Esterlin Marie Carmelle was in bed with her 2-year-old son,
Herlens. Her husband got out of bed to get ready for work. The
shooting intensified, and she remained in bed beside her child.
According to a Harvard Law School report the following occurred:
"Ms. Carmelle recalled, she `felt something warm' on her arm and
said to her husband, 'I feel like I got hit with a bullet.' She told
us that she realized that 'it wasn't me who had been shot,' as her
boy lay limp and lifeless beside her, his 'blood and brain matter
were sliding down my arm.' Though Ms. Carmelle said that she then
passed out, her husband told us that a stray bullet had entered
their shack with such force that it had removed part of their
child's head, leaving Herlens to die in his mother's arms.''
When U.N. troops are not engaged in these kinds of incursions, they
can usually be found providing support for the Haitian National
Police as they execute peaceful demonstrators demanding the return
of their democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Just last week, five Haitians were killed by the Haitian National
Police while U.N. troops stood by watching. The Haitians' crime was
that they were peacefully demonstrating for the release of political
prisoners in Haiti .
On Feb. 28, 2005, demonstrators met the same fate and were executed
by the Haitian National Police while peacefully protesting. Amnesty
International has also reported ''incidents in which individuals
dressed in black . . . and traveling in cars with Haitian National
Police markings have cost the lives of at least 11 people.''.''
Just this week, Amnesty condemned the Haitian police for their ''use
of lethal and indiscriminate violence'' to ``disperse and repress
demonstrators.''
The Bush administration's response has been to place more weapons in
the hands of these police. During Haiti 's democratic
administrations, the U.S. government imposed a full-scale arms
embargo on nonlethal as well as lethal weapons to the Haitian
Police. They could not even buy bullet-proof vests or tear gas to
disperse crowds.
In November 2004, however, John Bolton, as under secretary for arms
control in the Department of State, signed off on providing the
current police, under a nondemocratic government, more than 3,635
M14 rifles, 1,100 Mini Galils, several thousand assorted 0.38-
caliber pistols, 3,700 MP5s and approximately one million rounds of
ammunition, according to the Small Arms Survey, an authoritative
resource published by the Graduate Institute of International
Studies, located in Geneva.
It is no surprise that Bolton is at the center of this controversy
as well. He has been one of the hard-liners in the State Department
who sought the overthrow of Aristide and who bullied intelligence
analysts on Haiti who were trying to provide a more-balanced
picture. Even his cohort in overthrowing Aristide, Otto Reich, was
quoted as stating that they both rightfully went after an
intelligence analyst who gave the ''benefit of the doubt'' to
Aristide as the democratically elected president.
Perhaps Bolton can explain to members of the Senate when they
reconvene why he would place more weapons in the hands of thugs and
murderers whose police work is composed largely of executing
peaceful demonstrators who are demanding the return of democracy to
Haiti .
Ira Kurzban is the former attorney for the government of Haiti .
http://www.counterpunch.org/kurzban05032005.html