Haitians Demand Arrest of Luis Posada Carriles

September 30th Foundation Calls for Justice in Port-au-Prince

By Wadner Pierre
Special to The Narco News Bulletin

May 22, 2007

On May 21, members of the September 30th Foundation (or Fondasyon Trant Septanm) gathered before the United States embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The group is made up of, and works with, victims of the 1991 and 2004 coup d’états in Haiti. For years the group has been a leading critic of U.S. policies towards Haiti.

D.R. 2007 HaitiAnalysis.com

The group has now expanded its campaign; calling for the arrest of non-Haitian human rights abusers who are covertly trained and financially backed by U.S. intelligence agencies. Protestors in front of the embassy waved photos of Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles with a large red ‘X’ across his face.

A former US intelligence operative, Posada has both acknowledged and been accused of involvement in various terrorist attacks and plots in the western hemisphere. The most infamous occurred with the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, which killed seventy-three people. Carriles claims his “only objective was to fight for Cuba’s freedom.” But in 2006 after entering the United States from a boat that motored up the coast of Central America and Mexico, Posada was picked up by U.S. authorities.

D.R. 2007 HaitiAnalysis.com

On April 19th, 2007 Posada was able to pay bond and was released from U.S. custody. In a recent interview, the family of an Italian killed in the ’76 bombing decried the release of Posada by U.S. authorities. Authorities in both Venezuela and Cuba have called for the extradition of the Cuban exile.

Members of the September 30th Foundation say they feel a special bond with the families of those killed by Posada, because they too have suffered from paramilitaries and terrorists trained by the CIA. They pointed out that the “Posada of Haiti,” Emmanuel Constant (the founder of the FRAPH paramilitary death squad also backed by the CIA) is currently undergoing a trial in the United States.

The United States refused to return Constant to Haiti when the elected governments of Preval and Arisitde requested his extradition in the past. Constant was convicted in absentia for his role in the “Raboteau Massacre” that took place in Gonaives in April 1994.

D.R. 2007 HaitiAnalysis.com

Following the 2004 coup d’etat in Haiti, human rights groups documented a massive wave of repression that took the lives of thousands in Haiti’s poorest communities. Speakers from the September 30th Foundation, holding up megaphones, spoke of their solidarity with the people of Cuba and Venezuela. Cuban doctors are widely loved in Haiti for the healthcare services they have provided. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited Port-au-Prince in March to wide acclaim from Haiti’s poor.

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