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October 30, 2014:
Hundreds March to Demand Political Prisoners’ Release
by Thomas Péralte and Kim Ives
On Oct. 30, hundreds of
demonstrators marched from downtown Port-au-Prince to
Carrefour to demand the release of Haitian grassroots
opposition leaders Biron Odigé and Rony Timothée, who were
arrested in a
massive Oct. 26 demonstration.
The marchers also called for the
release of dozens of other political prisoners languishing
in jails throughout Haiti including Aux Cayes, Petit Goâve,
Jacmel, Cap Haïtien, and Port-au-Prince.
Just before the march, authorities
announced that Mr. Odigé had been transferred to the new
prison in Croix-des-Bouquets while Mr. Rony was sent to the
jail in Arcahaie, 20 and 50 kilometers north of the capital
respectively.
The two leaders head the Patriotic
Front for Respect of the Constitution (FOPARC), one of the
principal grassroots groups organizing demonstrations
against the Martelly regime over the past three years.
Police arrested about 21 other
demonstrators in protests on Oct. 17 and 26.
When the Oct. 30 protestors arrived in
Martissant, pro-regime goons threw rocks, almost
precipitating a confrontation, but police intervened.
Another confrontation nearly occurred with a small group of
regime partisans near the Omega Prison in Carrefour, where
the march ended. However, the demonstration finished without
serious incident.
On its 18th anniversary on
Nov. 3, the Fanmi Lavalas Political Organization called for
the release of all political prisoners.
"The Haitian justice system is sick,”
said Mirlande Manigat, leader of the Assembly of Progressive
National Democrats (RDNP), who lost to Martelly in the Mar.
20, 2011 presidential race. “The country is sick. The arrest
of Biron Odigé and Rony Timothée, two very well-known
opposition political activists, further illustrates how
Haitian justice is functioning at a minimum. The treatment
of these militants is unacceptable.”
The Conference of Haitian Pastors (COPAH),
in a press release signed by the Rev. Ernst Pierre Vincent,
also denounced the arrests of opposition leaders and
demonstrators, and called on President Martelly to “to
respect the rules of democracy.”
The peasant organization Tet Kole Ti
Peyizan Ayisyen (Heads Together of Small Haitian Peasants)
also condemned the regime’s crackdown on the opposition and
warned against the “establishment of a dictatorship,”
especially if Parliament is allowed to expire on Jan. 12,
2015 and President Martelly begins ruling by decree.
During the demonstration, Thomas
Shannon, the U.S. State Department’s Haiti point man, and
U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Pamela White led a U.S. delegation
to meet with Haitian Senators, political party leaders, and
Haitian government officials.
“The U.S. government is concerned with
the deteriorating political situation in Haiti,” said Sen.
John Joel Joseph.
While on a state visit to France, President Martelly was
asked about the growing anti-government demonstrations in
Haiti in recent weeks and the wave of arrests. "I'm not
aware that there are any political prisoners," Martelly
responded. “I am aware that there are demonstrations, that
there are people protesting and demonstrating." |
