The Lasalin massacre and the human rights crisis in Haiti

On 13 November 2018, police and other paramilitary personnel entered the neighbourhood of Lasalin in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. What followed was a massacre of the civilian population. Buildings, including schools, were fired upon and destroyed, people were injured and killed, with some burned alive, women were sexually assaulted and raped, and hundreds were forcibly displaced from homes. Bodies were either burned, taken away to be disappeared, buried, never to be found, or in some cases left to be eaten by dogs and pigs.

There has been widespread acknowledgment from the Haitian government, mainstream human rights groups and even the United Nations occupiers in Haiti, known by the acronym MINUJUSTH [United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti], that something terrible took place in Lasalin. However, in every case, there has been an attempt to downplay and obscure what actually happened. The numbers of the dead and wounded have been minimised, the extent of destruction to communities and displacement downplayed, and the violence has been primarily blamed on “gangs fighting over territory.”

The Lasalin massacre was designed to punish and destroy a neighbourhood long known as a stronghold of the grassroots Lavalas movement and centre of opposition. Our investigation determined that the narrative of “gang warfare” obscures the reality that the attack on Lasalin was government-orchestrated and supported, with the police collaborating with and weaponising criminal elements. According to many Lasalin residents and survivors, the coordinator of the massacre was Pierre Richard Duplan, alias Pierrot, of the PHTK (Parti Haïtien Tèt Kale, the ruling party of Jovenel Moïse).

Duplan had failed in his bid to become the mayor of Port-au-Prince and was now the government delegate for the West Department of Haiti. [1] A United Nations human rights report released on 21 June 2019, also implicates Duplan. [2] The Miami Herald disclosed in a 15 May article that a police investigation had confirmed the involvement in the massacre of high-level government officials in the government of Jovenel Moïse, tracing an assault rifle assigned to the National Palace to the massacre. [3] These are just some of the examples of government involvement in the massacre.

On 1 April 2019, members of the Haiti Action Committee (HAC) and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) went to Haiti to investigate the 13 November massacre in Lasalin as well as the ongoing pattern of repression and extra judicial killings targeting the people of Lasalin and other neighbourhoods known for their activism against the government. We found a clear pattern of paramilitaries/death squads being armed and abetted by the government in order to terrorise the population and prevent opposition. This level of violence and repression has not been seen since the 2004 coup against President Aristide which, according to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet, resulted in an estimated 8,000 deaths in the Port-au-Prince area alone. [4]

Our team included Judith Mirkinson, President of the San Francisco Chapter of the NLG; Margaret Prescod, producer of the “Sojourner Truth” radio programme nationally syndicated on Pacifica Radio and member of Women of Colour/ Global Women’s Strike; Ramiro Funez, assistant producer of “Sojourner Truth”, and Seth Donnelly, member of HAC and the California Teachers Association. Margaret Prescod provided coverage of our delegation’s findings on “Sojourner Truth” and on “The Real News Network” television programme. [5]

Report methodology

On 1 April 2019, our team went to Lasalin and conducted interviews with residents who had witnessed the killings and/or who had lost loved ones in the massacre. We also gathered physical evidence of the killings. That same afternoon, we went to an abandoned market in Waf Jeremy and interviewed some of those residents who had been forced to flee from their homes in Lasalin.

We followed up these direct interviews on 2 April by speaking to Haitian investigative journalists who had been closely following the situation in Lasalin, from before the massacre to the present day. We also met with Haitian human rights workers.

After our visit, another United Sates human rights delegation went to Haiti between 24 and 27 April to follow up on our investigation. This second delegation included US Representative Maxine Waters, investigative journalist Margaret Prescod, HAC co-founder Pierre Labossiere, actor Danny Glover, and NLG human rights attorneys Walter Riley and Brian Cocannon. The additional evidence gathered by this second delegation confirms the findings of this report.

As Walter Riley expressed: “We have eyewitness reports that these attacks are not simply gangs as they are being referred to by the press and the US Embassy, but part of militias backed by some in the Moïse administration. The murder and brutality are a policy of the Haitian government, which is backed by the United States.” Similarly, Brian Concannon stated: “I have worked on political violence cases in Haiti for 24 years and the witness reports from Lasalin, Tokyo and Site Vincent are all too similar to other notorious acts of state sponsored oppression …. With the Duvaliers’ TonTon Macoutes, the FRAPH [Front Révolutionnaire Armé pour le Progrès d’Haïti, which later became Front pour l’Avancement et le Progrès Haïtien] death squads and now the violent groups under the Moïse administration, the motive for each has been silencing calls for justice and democracy and terrorising government opponents, while disguising government participation.” [6]

Congresswoman Waters said, she was “appalled and shocked” at the killings and promised to engage with her colleagues in Congress to use “whatever leverage and power we have to help make the violence cease because this is not conscionable and not tolerable.” [7]

In addition to the information collected from these steps and sources, we have also read and analysed reports by Haitian human rights organisations on the 13 November massacre. Furthermore, we have extracted corroborating evidence for our findings from investigative Haitian journalists and from a public interview with one of the key perpetrators of the massacre, former police officer Jimmy Cherizier, also known as “Barbecue”.

Why Lasalin?

Lasalin is a neighbourhood with a population of about 5,000 in the downtown section of Port-au-Prince. It is part of the West Department of Haiti and borders the infamous port of Croix des Bossales where enslaved Africans were first brought to Haiti by the French. The port is still heavily used for commercial traffic. Lasalin has been known as a stronghold of Lavalas—the mass popular grassroots party of President Jean Bertrand Aristide—ever since President Aristide was a parish priest there in the St. Jean Bosco Church. During the Aristide period, hospitals, housing and schools were all built there in accordance with policies enacted throughout the country. These buildings were particularly targeted during the massacre.

The attack on Lasalin comes at a time of increasing violence and repression. Starting in July 2018, there have been massive demonstrations protesting the theft of US$4.2 billion of Petro Caribe money: oil lent by Venezuela to Haiti, which could then be sold for a profit. The extra money could then be used to fund social programmes in Haiti. Instead, this money simply vanished. Over three days in July 2018, tens of thousands protested in the streets demanding an end to gas price hikes, an accounting for the missing funds and the resignation of President Jovenel Moïse. The demonstrations brought Port-au-Prince to a virtual standstill and resulted in the resignation of Prime Minister Jacques Guy Lafontant. The demonstrations, which are met with tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition continue to the present day.

Timeline of events

Based upon extensive interviews with Haitian human rights workers, journalists, and the residents of Lasalin, we have constructed the following timeline of events leading up to and following the 13 November massacre.

• On 13 October 2017, a government delegation including Haitian First Lady Martine Moïse and then Minister of the Interior Roudolphe Saint Albin went to Lasalin and met with Hervé Bonnet Barthelemy, known as “Bout Jan Jan”, and other community leaders. Among other matters discussed, the government delegation asked these leaders not to allow anti-government, opposition demonstrations within and through Lasalin, as well as in Saint Jean Bosco, an area in front of the nearby Tokyo neighbourhood, close to an intersection frequently used for protests. [8]

• On 15 October 2018, representatives of the political opposition held a press conference in Lasalin, supporting the Petro Caribe movement and demanding the end of the government of Jovenel Moïse. [9]

• On 17 October 2018, a national holiday commemorating the death of Haitian revolutionary leader Jean Jacques Dessalines, people in Lasalin refused to welcome President Jovenel Moïse who came to the neighbourhood in order to lay the traditional wreath at a monument for Dessalines. Instead, Moïse’s presence was protested vigorously by the community. Police responded with gun fire. Moreover, there was a massive Petro Caribe protest that occurred within and passed through Lasalin that day. [10]

• According to Lasalin residents, First Lady Martine Moïse visited Lasalin in October 2018 days before the killings started in November. She reportedly tried bribing the community with offers of money. Her attempt to secure their loyalty was unsuccessful.

• On 1 November 2018, a holiday known as “All Saints Day”, Serge Alectis also known as “Ti Junior,” leader of Chabon—a paramilitary force working with the government—led an attack on Bout Jan Jan and Julio Pyram, also known as “Kiki” in Lasalin, killing Kiki along with four others, and wounding Bout Jan Jan. [11] Police subsequently arrested Bout Jan Jan in the hospital despite community opposition and he remains imprisoned to this day. According to community members who met with us, Chabon was the only group in the larger area that had wanted former President Michel Martelly (who had picked Jovenel Moïse to be his successor) to come to the neighbourhood to perform during the past Mardi Gras festivities.

• On 13 November 2018, Ti Junior and his group Chabon returned to Lasalin—heavily armed—and carried out the massacre. They were accompanied by other government-backed paramilitary elements, including the police officer Jimmy Cherizier, alias “Barbecue,” police officer Gregory Antoine, alias “Ti Greg,” and other police officers. The perpetrators used several vehicles, including an armoured truck given to them by the Brigade of Operation and of Departmental Intervention (BOID), and several public transport vans. The residents reported that several police units, including one from BOID and Departmental Unit to Maintain Order (UDMO), involving officer Gustave Jouspite, were heavily involved in supporting Chabon, including providing them with munitions. The massacre, which started on 13 November, continued intermittently for the following several days. [12] On 21 June, the UN finally issued a report on the massacre that implicated Pierre Duplan as a coordinator, just as Lasalin eyewitness survivors had been doing since November. According to the UN report, Duplan reportedly admitted to direct communication with perpetrators of the massacre on the ground in Lasalin. [13]

Lasalin residents and Haitian journalists with Radio Timoun reported that there were as many as eight attacks by government-backed paramilitary forces on the people of Lasalin between the 13 November massacre and our arrival in Lasalin. In an interview with a Radio Timoun journalist who has reported consistently from Lasalin, we were told that over the last week of March, one paramilitary attack burned down a popular market and killed 13 people. While in Lasalin, this reporter saw the remains of people who had tires put around their necks and were then burned to death. [14]

The police and right-wing activists boast of their roles in the massacre

Former Police leader Jimmy Cherizier (Barbecue) publicly stated that he had a number of police officers in his group block escape routes from Lasalin during the November operation. This statement corroborates the testimony given by survivors in Lasalin accusing him and other police officers of participating in the massacre. Cherizier has denied support from the government for his organisation, correctly identified as a death squad by survivors. Yet, this denial is to be expected given Barbecue’s high-profile status as a member of the PHTK and as someone who remains uncharged and at large. Significantly, Barbecue does publicly thank Reginald Boulos—widely regarded by the Haitian public as a right-wing oligarch—for his financial support. Boulos had been integral in financing the 2004 coup against the democratically elected and popular President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. During a radio interview, Boulos admitted that he was financially supporting paramilitary elements, claiming that they were providing social programmes when the state was absent. [15]

Counting the victims

Due to the fact that so many bodies were taken away and so many people displaced, it has been difficult to get an accurate number of those killed, injured and/or sexually assaulted. The ages of those attacked on 13 November and the days following, ranged from 10 months to 72 years. One Haitian human rights organisation, RNDDH (Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains), did interview many residents, and was able to identify 71 murdered. However, residents and local human rights defenders maintain that this number is deplorably low, based only on the number of bodies actually left on the ground and not considering either those buried or taken away. [16]

The RNDDH report lists the names of the victims and describes in detail how each victim was killed, some being hacked to death with machetes with their body parts fed to pigs, some being burned alive, others being riddled with bullets. [17] The methodology employed by the RNDDH to reach these findings involved, among other steps, interviewing 439 community members of Lasalin including victims and victims’ relatives. The 1 December 2018 report concludes with a decisive classification of the 13 November killings as a “state massacre” and categorically states that the killings could not have occurred without the current government’s support—on all levels—for the perpetrators.

French journalist Amelie Baron, reporting for Agence France-Presse from Haiti, initially placed the number at 283 in an article that no longer seems to be available online.

Journalists and human rights workers who visited the scene shortly after the massacre told us: “We will never know how many were killed. Many bodies were not identified, their surviving family members having been forced to leave the area. Other bodies and remains were soon disposed of; religious leaders claimed some, while many others, including those burned beyond recognition, were simply taken away by garbage trucks and dumped somewhere. Many people were also brought to hospitals; it is estimated that hundreds were wounded in the attacks. Then there are those who were simply jailed, no records being taken. None of these additional numbers are accounted for in any issued reports. Since the Petro Caribe protests, which began in the summer of 2018, hundreds have randomly been thrown in jail, without charges, never having seen a judge.

Women were assaulted and raped—some left pregnant. One 14-year old girl raped by Ti Junior actually went to radio stations to report the crime, but could not get help. Due to the continuing stigma surrounding rape and because many were forced to flee, the true numbers of those sexually assaulted is not known.

Interviews with residents of Lasalin: Conducted on 1 April 2019

Our human rights delegation visited Lasalin on Monday, 1 April, during the late morning and early afternoon. The neighbourhood, usually teeming with people, was eerily empty. No one was on the streets, and the houses—many of which were shot up, burned and/or completely destroyed—were abandoned. Upon our arrival we were told that the situation was still precarious, and that people had to be off the streets completely by 4 pm. We were met by a group of about 15 to 20 community members, consisting mostly of women of different ages who were anxious to give testimony about the massacre. They guided us down a main street, showing us housing, including affordable housing units built during Aristide’s presidency, that had been shot up by heavy munitions with bullet holes measuring 2-3 inches across.

One person after another described how their relatives were killed, many hacked and/or burnt to death. People we interviewed said, “This neighbourhood has been made a mausoleum. There is no water, no hospital and no school.” They repeatedly told us, “This is a humanitarian crisis. People are not living as human beings.” Photographs of the aftermath document bodies being left to rot, to be eaten by pigs or dogs. Others show bodies that had been hacked and then burned.

What follows is testimony we gathered from community members during our visit to Lasalin. Translation was provided on the ground during our meeting in Lasalin by a Haitian professional translator. The names of the people who provided testimony have been altered for their protection.

From Mildred, a young pregnant woman:

“On 15 November, my husband was in the house with me and they grabbed him and used the machetes to kill him… I lost my husband while I’m pregnant.”

She thinks she is due next month [May 2019] and has no access to healthcare. She pointed to her shoeless, swollen feet. She was sleeping now by the ocean where there is “bad breeze” and no proper food.

From Jeanne:

“I lost my 28-year-old son. He was burned and I also lost my husband. Why?”

“This community, Lasalin, has a reputation of revolution. We don’t stand with dictatorship since the Macoutes and Duvalier. And still now. Children, youth, and adults here have the blood of revolution. That is why the government doesn’t like this community...So what is happening is that the death squad involved in these killings has been living in a [nearby] neighbourhood ‘Na Chabon’. They have been involved in sexual assaults, they have been involved in raping women, and because of this, the community [Lasalin] decided that they would keep them away. But because of this, they [the death squad named ‘Chabon’] got together with Martine Moïse, the First Lady of Haiti, who helped them to come back after six years to really terrorise the population and kill people.”

“One thing that is very important for us—you can see these houses—they were houses President Aristide built… People who were living there had to leave and go into a displaced community because they can’t live here.” “On 13 March 2019, there was a huge incident where they murdered some people in this community and even burned them. Right now, the place where this happened… you can see some of the skeletons that were burned. But also, this community is using the place as a mausoleum in memory of all the people who died. It is the house where the people were living, and we decided to keep it as a mausoleum.”

“So, the whole community...is essentially living through the women being vendors on the selling whatever they can find. Like a young child here in Lasalin is selling something. It can be a small fish, it can be a little bit of fried food, street food. But since this happened, if the children can no longer be involved in these kind of vending activities, it can be worse. This makes the situation of hunger really awful in this community. I have not had anything to eat since Saturday.” [she was speaking to us on Monday]

“So right now, people in Lasalin aren’t living as human beings should be living. They [the death squad] steal everything that people own in this community. Now the people have no resources to take care of themselves. And during the day you can see that there is still a lot of people in the community, but when it gets to be 4 or 5, you will see that people will be spreading, looking for places under bridges, next to the water, to leave the neighbourhood, because it will be dark and anything can happen with the same group coming back just to attack…”

“Yesterday there was shooting going on, but they might come back…

From Daniel:

“I lost my son.”

“Right now, the community of Lasalin has lost everything. Over there you can see the building; without the window. It is a building that used to be a well-known hospital. Now it is gone…”

“Lasalin used to have water access. Now we don’t have it anymore. The people in Lasalin used to find their own ways to survive, but after the incidents, things got worse. That is why the people of Lasalin aren’t just calling for legal assistance for what happened, but also calling for humanitarian assistance….”

“Most of the people in this community have escaped and fled because they fear so much from new attacks... I am under threat because I have been involved in reporting to human rights organisations. We have heard threats…. Since the massacre, no one from the government comes here to really talk with us. The prime minister at the time [Jean-henry Céant] said that all of the pictures [of the massacre] that were in the media and the social media were not real pictures from November, but that these were pictures from 2004 [the year of the coup].”

“... we need to find justice for what happened, for people who’ve lost loved ones, for people who didn’t even find the bodies of their close friends and relatives to even have a decent funeral. For all of this, the people of Lasalin want justice. And they know justice won’t come from this government.”

From Annette:

“I had a child who was 24. And he was not someone involved in any trouble activity. He was an artist and a DJ who helped with music. He was inside, the group came in, killed him, cut him up with machetes, and burned him. Many others have lost loved ones like this. My house was ransacked.

“I am now dealing with hunger. After all of these massacres have happened here, it is nonsense that people have to escape from the community they were born in and have to go live by the ocean where there is bad breeze [toxic air]...The President should have someone sent here, maybe a minister or maybe a director of somewhere, to talk to the victims, but the President is actually working with the death squad. They become his entourage. They become his people and this way the people of Lasalin constantly live under fear, the threat that something can happen.”

From Paulette, an older woman with a skin rash:

As explained by a man next to her— “Her son was cut up in front of her and because of this trauma was so bad that she had all of this [rash].

In her words— “They shot him, then cut him up, and burned him.”

He was 32 years old.

Jeanne went on to say:

“The people you see here are the fearless. They want to come here [to talk with you] because they have no fear. There are people who… don’t want to come back to this community. They have seen too much. They stay by the water...

“The group that perpetrated this is Chabon. They are connected with the government and are working with the government in the Ministry of the Interior. This group [Chabon] was supportive of Martelly during the election. They [the people of Lasalin] did not want Martelly to come into Lasalin, but this group was very supportive of Martelly… What they [Chabon] claim is that they have to control this community because this way they would really control the situation. And they want this community to become PHTK [ruling government party]. But this will remain opposition.”

From Jean, a young man:

“I want to see more follow-up from this human rights delegation because what is going on in Lasalin right now is something that needs to stop, because what is going on here in Lasalin is political. It is really orchestrated by the actual government that pays these guys to perpetrate all of these violations…. And now they have all kinds of systems to torture people, like the burning of people. They would set the person on fire while alive. This has really traumatised the whole community. All of this is being orchestrated by a department delegate named Pierrot who is under the PHTK [and] who wanted to become a mayor under the party but couldn’t be elected…. [so] he assigned guys like Junior who used to live in the community but who was kicked out because of his involvement in sexual abuse…. All the people who participate in the massacre, they have pictures.”

Jean further explained to us that community members are also demanding that Bout Jan Jan, a leader of the community who provided protection be freed. “Martine Moïse, the wife of President Jovenel Moïse, tried to bribe Bout Jan Jan so that he would discourage people to protest against the government. Bout Jan Jan did not do this. Consequently, he was arrested. While he was arrested, the opportunity was created for Chabon—armed with weapons from the government—to attack the community.”

Another young man showed us a photo of his brother who had been killed, knifed to death, and then had his naked body put out on display.

The conditions of Lasalin refugees now living in Waf Jeremy

After leaving Lasalin, we travelled to Waf Jeremy, an area next to the sea port. There, we interviewed refugees from Lasalin who were barely surviving in an abandoned market. Men, women, children, and babies were all living together below cold, damp concrete market stalls draped with blankets or just cardboard on cement floors. The floors were teeming with bugs that would bite them on the cement floors where they slept. There was no plumbing, no toilets, no source of potable water and no food. The air was thick with a toxic, burning plastic smell which was making people sick. This was the place they were forced to call home. Thus far, no one from the government had visited them and/or attempted to offer any relief or reparations.

People explained that they had to flee Lasalin, many of their relatives having been killed and their homes destroyed. There were perhaps 50 people living on the floor under the stalls in one large room. Adjacent market rooms were also packed with people. We estimated that hundreds were living, with scant resources, in these conditions.

As one older woman put it: “This is the worst situation in my life. I have nowhere to live as my house was burned. I left with no clothes—someone had to give me a dress. I have no money and only one person to help me at all.”

Below one stall we encountered a young mother and her one-month old baby daughter. The mother told us she had delivered her daughter right there on the concrete floor. Without food for herself, she was unable to properly nurse the baby, who appeared ill and despondent. There was no medical care. To our delegation, it appeared that the baby was on the verge of death.

The killings and massacres continue

On 2 April we interviewed women active in grassroots organisations. Betty, a founder of the popular organisation Conscious and Devoted Women, told us: “The repression is reaching new heights and the country is going deeper into chaos. We are facing a wall. There is a deep feeling of insecurity and terror, even felt by those with money! Just on my way to this interview, today, I saw three bodies with bullet holes in their heads.”

On 24 and 25, there were attacks on the nearby, popular neighbourhoods of Tokyo and Kafoufey. One Haitian reporter was trapped in Kafoufey during the attack.

Since then killing and massacres by the police and paramilitary affiliates have been reported in different parts of the country, targeting popular neighbourhoods and grassroots activists. On 18 June, Radio Timoun reported a massacre in Village de Dieu. Since then, multiple media and eyewitness reports have documented that the perpetrators—including the group led by Jimmy Cherizier, alias Barbecue—burned some bodies and removed others, making it difficult to determine the number of victims. Though further investigation is required to determine the number of victims, preliminary reports indicate that dozens of people were killed. One photograph shows only the legs left of a victim after the remaining body had been burned. More recently, reports are reaching us that between 23-24 June, police and paramilitary affiliates violence and killings in both Akay (Les Cayes) and Kap Ayisyen (Cap Haitien). The numbers of people injured and killed are yet to be determined.

On 24 June, as reported by both Radio Timoun, Vision 2000, and other Haitian radio stations, presidential security police units CIMO [Corps d’intervention et de maintien de l’ordre] and USGPN, working with paramilitary affiliates, opened fire on demonstrators in Port-au-Prince, killing perhaps as many as 30. Bodies were removed and it is hard to determine the exact number of those killed without further investigation. USGPN [Unité de sécurité générale du Palais national] is infamous in Haiti for human rights abuses.

Political prisoners

As a separate part of our investigation we also met with human rights lawyers from the office of Cabinet Masionneuve et Associés in order to hear about further aspects of government repression. Hundreds of people have been arrested since the first anti-government demonstrations began in August. Often, those arrested are summarily thrown in jail with no paperwork or any charges. Families are forced to wait for days in order to determine where their relatives are being held. If they are lucky, they can locate them, but then charges must be filed, and lawyers have to go through the complicated process of even getting a hearing.

Testimony of madame Joseph

“There were protests on 6–7 July 2018. However, my son, was not involved. He was not even in the neighbourhood in those days. In the aftermath of the demonstrations, the police were still ‘cleaning up.’ In the ensuing ‘sweep’ of Arimage, nine were arrested, including my son. After three days, he tried to get a hearing, but ironically the prosecutor’s office was on strike and he was sent directly to the penitentiary. I tried to find him for three days, going from office to office and finally found him. I have had to spend all my money and leave my housing just to provide him with clothes and food.”

Testimony of Antoine

“I still don’t understand what happened. I was in my house getting ready to go to church. The police broke into the house and arrested me—I was arrested with my Bible! I was beaten and taken away. My mother didn’t know where I was, she thought I had been killed. I was still in school in the twelfth grade and missed my exams. I was in a cell with 40 other people, many of them criminals. The conditions are horrible, it is dirty, you can’t even lie down and there is no food and it is very violent. I was afraid all the time. I should be compensated for what happened to me.”

Testimony of Pierre

“I was on 22 November 2018 at 6 am. I am a mason and I was leaving home for a construction job when I was arrested. I was beaten so bad that I really thought I was going to die. I was kidnapped and disappeared. There are 50–60 people in a cell and usually there is a “boss” who often is armed. So, it is very dangerous.”

“Thank goodness for mothers. Without mine I would have had no food or clothes because the prison gives you nothing.”

These scenarios are repeated again and again.

One of the attorneys, Marc Antoine Maisonneuve summed it up: “There is no paper trail, no facts, no case, no record. Sometimes we get lucky and get a sympathetic judge or halfway decent prosecutor and we can get them out. But the number of prisoners is overwhelming, and we don’t have enough attorneys to help them.”

Conclusion

It is our finding, based upon our investigation, that the Lasalin massacre was directed and facilitated by the Moïse/ PHTK government. Lasalin was chosen as the target for this massacre because of its significance as a base of resistance and a staging ground for anti-government protests. This was certainly a reason why First Lady Martine Moïse went to Lasalin in October 2018 and attempted to convince community leaders to stop the protests.

The massacres are continuing. Due to a lack of systematic data collection, it is still unclear how many have been killed, how many injured and how many displaced. However, it is not overestimating to say that these numbers may actually be in the hundreds and perhaps more. It is essential that complete data must be obtained and analysed.

The evidence of government and paramilitary collusion is clear. At first, the government and others in the media claimed the killings were horrific but that they were just the result of gangs fighting over turf. However, it has been confirmed that leaders of the killings arrived with the police and the subsequent massacre had both police protection and participation. Reginald Boulos has also publicly admitted to financing paramilitary leaders involved in the massacre. Pierre Duplan, the PHTK delegate for the West Department of Haiti, has also been implicated as a coordinator of the massacre. While the government may support his prosecution and try to paint the massacre as one carried out by a “rogue” official and “rogue” police officers in coordination with “gangs,” it is clear that responsibility extends to the highest level of the ruling party and government. A thorough investigation must be held and those responsible must face charges. The people injured and displaced should receive reparations and be guaranteed the right to return to Lasalin and their homes with full security.

It is also imperative that there be an investigation into the role of the US embassy and government in both the election of Jovenel Moïse and the ensuing corruption and human rights abuses. Jovenel Moïse was placed into power through a fraudulent November 2016 election held under UN occupation and aided by the US government. Despite overwhelming evidence of fraud, the US State Department immediately heralded the elections as legitimate and proceeded to continue to provide the Haitian government with financial and diplomatic support. At the same time the United Nations, while announcing preparations to leave Haiti, continued to train and create a militarised police force. [18]

“Since 2010, the United States has provided US$259.9 million to train, equip, and provide technical assistance to the Haitian National Police.” [19] Clearly, without the US government’s active intervention in the domestic affairs of Haiti, the Moïse government would never have come to power. As the toll mounts from the atrocities committed in Lasalin, it is time for both the United States and the United Nations to be held to task for their continued support of the repressive and illegitimate regime now in power in Haiti. The people of Haiti deserve the right to live without the daily threat of state-directed violence.

Endnotes

1. RNDDH, The Events in La Saline: from Power Struggle between Armed Gangs to State-Sanctioned Massacre, 1 December 2018, p.13. Lasalin residents also told our delegation that Duplan was involved in coordinating the massacre.

2. https://minujusth.unmissions.org/en/minujusth-and-ohchr-release-report-…, full report in French: https://minujusth.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/minujusth_hcdh_rap…

3. “Dozens brutally killed, raped in Haiti massacre, police say. ‘Even young children were not spared’”, Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 15 May 2019, updated 17 May 2019, https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/arti….

4. Athena Kolbe and Royce Hutson, “UN Peacekeepers in Haiti,” The Lancet vol.368/ issue 9538 (2 September 2006). 8000 people were killed within a one and half year period after the 2004 coup.

5. For coverage on “Sojourner Truth”, see https://soundcloud.com/sojournertruthradio/sojourner-truth-radio-april-5. For coverage on the “Real News Network,” see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6kQH-_IrAg&amp=&t=529s and https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Vz64mWYpO9Q

6. Margaret Prescod, “Human Rights Delegation Condemns Political Massacres Tied to Haiti’s Government,” Press Release, 8 May 2019.

7. Representative Maxine Waters, “Congresswoman Waters Leads Delegation to Haiti; Finds Both Inspiration and Evidence of Violence”, Press Release, 13 May 2019.

8. RNDDH, The Events in La Saline: from Power Struggle between Armed Gangs to State-Sanctioned Massacre, 1 December 2018, p.5.

9. Ibid, pp.5-6.

10. Le Nouvelliste, “La Police Tire a Hauteur D’Homme au Pont-Rouge” (17 October 2018). Also, see Le Nouvelliste’s video coverage https://youtu.be/UX-ac8kDFzM. For additional video evidence of police shooting at demonstrators on demonstrators, see Kodinasyon Depatmantal Lwes Fanmi Lavalas https://www.facebook.com/1421526351403611/videos/2276771565875806/

11. RNDDH, The Events in La Saline: from Power Struggle between Armed Gangs to State-Sanctioned Massacre, December 1, 2018, p.6.

12. Ibid, p.7.

13. https://minujusth.unmissions.org/en/minujusth-and-ohchr-releasereport-v…, full report in French: https://minujusth.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/minujusth_hcdh_rap…

14. Interview with Radio Timoun staff, April 1-2, 2019

15. The interview with Barbecue was published on Youtube on 27 December 2018 under the title “Massacre ‘La Saline’ Jimmy Cherizier (Barbecue) Les Bandits ‘Legal’ dans la police Haïtienne.” The interview was conducted by Bob C, a Haitian radio host and well-known PHTK supporter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BILs2IflG-A The interview with Reginald Boulos was conducted by a reporter with Radio Sans Fin, a progressive media outlet, on 25 April 2018. One journalist, Rospide Petion, with this radio station was subsequently assassinated on 10 June 2019. Translations can be provided upon request.

16. RNDDH, Massacre d’Etat à La Saline: Révision à la hausse du bilan des personnes tuées et violées le 13 novembre 2018 (20 December 2018).

17. RNDDH, The Events in Lasaline: from Power Struggle between Armed Gangs to State Sanctioned Massacre, p.8.

18. Here are but a few examples of the fraud uncovered:

• Fanmi Lavalas, Haiti’s most popular political party successfully challenged the elections in Haitian court, obtained a court order to investigate the election results. Maryse Narcisse, the Lavalas candidate for president, then visited the Vote Tabulation Centre shortly after the elections, to investigate the results. She was joined by election officials, observers, representatives of another contesting smaller party Meksepa and of the ruling PHTK party. They examined 78 randomly selected vote tally sheets (proces verbaux), and all present agreed that every one of the 78 tally sheets were fraudulent, without exception. The US-backed CEP election commission then abruptly ended the legally-mandated verification process —invalidating those 78 particular tally sheets, but failing to check the over 13,000 tally sheets remaining to be verified. With that, the CEP inexplicably accepted the fraudulent election “results” as legitimate

• Deputy A.R. Bien-Aimé and two other PHTK candidates made a startling revelation about UNOPS, a UN agency assigned to transport ballot boxes to the Tabulation Centre. They charged that while in UN custody, the ballot boxes were switched en route with boxes of pre-filled-out ballots. In addition, a national palace official was involved in a vehicle accident in which pre-filled-out ballots, marked for the presidential candidate of Martelly’s PHTK party, Jovenel Moïse, were spilled on the road.

• 15 prominent Haitian intellectuals, outraged by “clear involvement of UN agencies in the fraud that marred the elections,” wrote an open letter to the UN Mission stating, “the whole world is discovering, under pressure from the street …the truth of the biggest electoral fraud operation…for the last 30 years in Haiti.” * Also, see: Board, The Editorial. “Opinion, Haiti Deserves a Legitimate Election.” The New York Times, 19 January 2018, www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/opinion/sunday/haiti-deserves-a-legitimate-e…. 19. As quoted in a letter dated 18 April 2019, by Charles S. Faulkner, United States Department of State, to Representative Anna Eshoo, United States Congress.