Haitian masses rebel against austerity, renewed repression

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Haitian workers and peasants are suffering under the Draconian austerity measures imposed by the imperialist banks' International Monetary Fund.

On Sept. 27, the Haitian mass popular organizations and trade unions brought almost all activity to a stand-still throughout this island nation during a one-day general strike against a new austerity program and payment of the $800 million Haitian debt.

There was a complete work stoppage in most cities. Shops, businesses, and banks shut down. All public transport ceased. Even air flights in and out of the country had to be cancelled.

The general strike was called in response to the recent accord (September 1989) between the government of Lieutenant-General Prosper Avril and the International Monetary Fund. The Avril government, in an effort to win new loans from the IMF and other foreign banks, had imposed sweeping austerity measures on the Haitian people.

The Sept. 27 general strike was organized by a coalition of 33 political parties, tradeunion federations, and popular organizations throughout Haiti. A central role was played by the Haitian Initiating Committee Against the Debt. The Initiating Committee is composed of 15 organizations, including the National Popular Assembly (APN), the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH), the National Federation of Haitian Students (FENEH), and the Alliance of Popular Organizations (ANOP).

Several demands provided the focus of the strike. The first called for lowering the price of basic necessities, cancellation of the govemment's accord with the IMF, and reduction of all salaries of top state functionaries.

(The government of Jean-Claude Duvalier had accumulated a debt of $800 million with the IMF, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank. The debt service to the IMF alone is $35 million each year, representing 15 percent of the Haitian national budget.] The second demand was to "End insecurity and respect human rights." Insecurity is the generic term used for organized terror and systematic repression against the popular movement.

Triggered huge mobilizations The general strike of Sept. 27 made a great impact in Haiti. It triggered a series of huge mobilizations. Three of the most militant opposition leaders were kidnapped and tortured. [See accompanying story.] In response to the kidnappings and torture, another general strike was called on Nov. 7-8 in which virtually the entire nation partook.

The Los Angeles Times described the situation in its front-page story of Nov. 19:

"The arrests of three major political figures late last month and their repeated display on national television-faces bruised and bandaged and shirts bloodied from apparent mistreatment-triggered general strikes throughout the country Nov. 7-8 demanding their release from jail.

"After these arrests, Louis Dejoie, a leading presidential candidate ... was among nearly a dozen politicans who went into hiding in fear of their lives.

"Dejoie and the three arrested figures had called for civil disobedience and a mass protest march against the military president, Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril, on Nov. 29, the anniversary of Haiti's last bloodily aborted attempt at elections in 1987."

BAIT The reaction to Avril's stepped-up repression was immediate within the Haitian community in the United States. Protests marches and pickets took place in Miami, Boston, and Brooklyn in response to a Nov. 3 call issued by the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH).

The Miami Herald reported on Nov. 16: "In what leaders claim is the largest protest in Little Haiti in at least a decade, hundreds of Haitian emigrés have been pushing for the ouster of President Prosper Avril for the past two weeks.

"Every other day, jammed cars and cabs have set out from the Haitian Refugee Center in Little Haiti for the Haitian consulate south of downtown Miami with anti-Avril placards and chants. The demonstrators have been leaders arrested Nov. 1 in Port-au-Prince.

''This is not only the largest protest in the Haitian community, but the most unified,' said Viter Juste. 'Every section of the community is involved.' Haitians in Miami say the arrests were a sham. They have pledged to continue the protest until Nov. 29 and beyond."

Free the detained leaders!

The Haitian regime has responded with unrestrained terror to the increased mobilizations of the Haitian people. Its aim is to crush the ability to organize the Nov. 29 national demonstration. The kidnapping-arrests of the three militants are a component of this scheme.

On Nov. 16, police attacked the house of Joseph Maxi, the president of the Haitian League for Human Rights. His organization provides much of the legal defense work for political detainees and victims of the regime. Dozens of members of the "Communités de Base" (the organization of lay members of the Catholic Church) have been disappeared by the death-squad Ton Ton Macoutes.

On Nov. 17, two militants of the Haitian League for Human Rights were arrested in Thiotte. On Nov. 19, military police killed four militants of the RDNP [the party of the bourgeois-liberal Leslie Manigat] in Port-auPrince.

The repression, however, has only fueled the resolve of the Haitian people to free the three detained leaders and to get rid of the military dictatorship. Many of Avril's staunch supporters are also taking their distance from the man who promised to restore democracy in Haiti.

On Nov. 19, for example, priests throughout Haiti refused to provide Mass on the day of the armed forces holiday in protest against the detentions and the general repression in Haiti.

International pressure is urgently needed to demand that the government of Lieutenant General Prosper Avril release the three popular leaders, cease the intimidation of peaceful and legal popular organizations, and respect the human and democratic rights of the Haitian people.

Iwo days after a press conference in Haiti calling for a large demonstration against that government [on Nov. 29), three members of the Rassemblement National (National Rally) have been arrested.

They are: Jean Auguste Mesyeux, Executive Secretary of the Autonomous Haitian Workers Union (CATH); Evans Paul, leader of the Confederation of Democratic Unity (KID), and Marino Etienne, member of the September 17 Popular Organization (OP 17).

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Free the Haitian mass leaders!