[R-G] fwd: Lula's visit to Haiti prompts protests in Brazil, Mexico and San Francisco

[Anthony Fenton]

One unified demand: Withdraw Brazilian and all foreign occupation  
troops from Haiti!
Lula Haiti visit prompts protests in Brazil, Mexico and San Francisco

Demonstrators in many Brazilian cities and San Francisco denounced  
Brazil's brutal 4-year military occupation of Haiti -- on the occasion  
of the May 28th visit to Haiti by Brazilian President Luiz Lula da  
Silva, marking the 4th anniversary of the arrival of Brazilian U.N.  
troops in Haiti.Organized labor played a key role in coordinating the  
actions in Brazil.

In Mexico City on May 30th, a high-level Mexican labor delegation,  
responding to the call of their colleagues in Brazil, met at the  
Brazilian embassy to demand withdrawal of Brazil’s troops from Haiti  
and respect for Haitian sovereignty.

In Brazil, the National Campaign for Brazilian Troops Out of Haiti  
organized actions as part of the May 28th national day of struggle by  
the CUT trade union federation, seeking a 40-hour workweek. The banner  
"Brazilian Soldiers Out of Haiti" flew at rallies and marches in Sao  
Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Salvador and state capitals throughout  
Brazil. Speakers connected the money squandered on the Haiti  
occupation, with the pressing but unmet needs of people back home in  
Brazil.

Leading forces in the Troops-Out-of-Haiti campaign include the Unified  
Black Movement (MNU) and Black Youth Network, along with significant  
elements of Lula's own Workers Party (PT), the Landless Peasants  
Movement (MST), and the CUT labor federation. They collected some  
6,000 petition signatures, to be presented to President Lula by PT  
Federal Deputy Fernando Ferro.

While Lula visits, Haitian CIMO police attack vigil for Lovinsky  
Pierre-Antoine

San Francisco rallied May 28th at the Brazilian consulate, in  
solidarity with the demonstrations in Brazil. Speakers cried out  
against the attack in Port-au-Prince earlier that day, when CIMO  
special police roughed up participants in the weekly vigil for  
disappeared human rights leader Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine at the Place  
des Martyrs and threw their placards to the ground.

The San Francisco rally, called by Haiti Action Committee with  
participation by the anti-war group ANSWER, San Francisco Labor  
Council, Global Women’s Strike and Gabriela Network, denounced the UN  
mission in Haiti as having been installed, under Brazilian command, to  
legitimize the 2004 coup against the democratically-elected government  
of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

UN forces arrived in Haiti as a proxy force, 3 months after US troops  
kidnapped President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Feb. 29, 2004 and  
installed a coup regime. In the aftermath of the coup, more than 8,000  
Aristide supporters were killed and thousands more 'disappeared',  
exiled or thrown into prison, where most  remain locked up to this  
day. The entire government apparatus, down to the village level, was  
‘cleansed’ of Aristide supporters during the coup..

Brazil's legacy in Haiti - Massacres in the poor neighborhoods

Brazil commands the 9,000-strong UN 'peacekeeping' force in Haiti,  
which committed massacres in poor working-class neighborhoods on July  
6, 2005, on December 22, 2006, February 2007 and many other occasions  
-- attacking the civilians who are the base of support for President  
Aristide and his widely popular Lavalas political movement. Scores of  
women, children and men were killed in these massive, day-long raids  
involving as many as 400 troops, tanks and helicopter gunships. UN  
troops have also been caught committing rapes, sexual abuse of  
children and running prostitution rings in the poor neighborhoods.

State repression continues as a daily fact of life in Haiti:
*** A thousand pro-Aristide political prisoners are still crammed into  
Haiti's jails and prisons, most being held for many months or years  
without charges and without ever seeing a judge. Many were arrested by  
UN soldiers on suspicion of being Aristide sympathizers and turned  
over to Haitian police.
*** On April 11th, UN soldiers smashed up an open-air market in the  
capital, assaulting street vendors, killing at least three and  
torching the stalls with flamethrowers.
*** On May 28th, as UN troops and National Police massed in the  
streets of the Haitian capital for Lula's visit, black-uniformed CIMO  
special police attacked the peaceful weekly vigil for Lovinsky Pierre- 
Antoine at the Place des Martyrs, roughing up seven of the vigilers  
and throwing their placards and banners to the ground.

The mobilization for Pierre-Antoine's safe return continues: in the  
U.S. Congress; on the streets (weekly vigils in Haiti, as well as  
atBrazil's embassy in London and Los Angeles consulate), and on the  
internet (Petition to Save Lovinsky). For information go tohttp://www.globalwomenstrike.net/Haiti/HaitiIndex.htm#Lovinskylink 
   To read the powerful new letter to the Brazilian government from  
the distinguished independence leader and elder from Guyana, Mr. Eusi  
Kwayana, demanding action to ensure the safe return of Brother  
Lovinsky, go to http://www.haitisolidarity.net/article.php?id=248

Lula's troops "not leaving anytime soon" - despite rising protests in  
Brazil & Haiti

The Miami Herald quoted Lula's foreign ministry as saying "the main  
purpose” of Lula’s trip to Haiti “will be to figure out what role  
Brazil and the...U.N. Stabilization Mission, known by its French  
acronym MINUSTAH, can play in the 'restoration of democracy' in  
Haiti." This may be a tall order, given the blue helmets' sordid  
history of rapes and massacres of the poor in the Haitian capital --  
and their role in consolidating the coup d'etat that overthrew Haiti's  
democratically elected government in 2004.

Lula, meeting with President Rene Preval, said Minustah was  
"succeeding in their mission" (Reuters), while Lula’s Defense Minister  
Nelson Jobim promised to deploy 100 additional Brazilian soldiers  
(AP). While giving a pep talk to Brazilian troops, Lula compared the  
UN mission inHaiti to "a soccer game that has only reached halftime,"  
adding that "the second half is a time to take the initiative,"  
according to Associated Press.

But persistent protests in both Brazil and Haiti are demanding  
Minustah's departure. Miami Herald pointed out that "like his Chilean  
and Argentine counterparts, Lula is facing domestic pressure to pull  
his troops out of Haiti." In Haiti, thousands rallied against the U.N.  
in April during militant mass demonstrations over the soaring cost of  
food, shouting for the blue helmets to leave Haiti.

The movement is building in Brazil. In Paraná the Coalition of Social  
Movements (CMS) of Paraná, which includes the CUT labor federation,  
the landless peasant movement and student groups, announced that a  
rally would be held in June to demand troops out of Haiti. In  
Salvador, a debate was being organized on the same theme.

On April 30th in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia, a delegation  
including Fernando Ferro, federal deputy from Lula's Workers Party  
(PT) and Markus Sokol, member of the PT National Executive Board, met  
in Planalto Palace with Lula's chief of staff, Gilberto Carvalho. They  
delivered a letter to Lula demanding withdrawal of all Brazilian  
military forces from Haiti. The letter was signed by 16 prominent  
Brazilian members of Parliament, trade union officials, and  
representatives of peasant, student and women's organizations. The  
delegation delivered an Open Letter from a Haitian American, David  
Josue, describing in graphic detail the July 6, 2005 massacre of  
innocent Haitian women, children and men by UN troops under Brazilian  
command, and appealing to Lula to put an end to the brutal foreign  
occupation of Haiti.

The anger of Brazilian unionists and peace activists was heightened  
when it was announced that more than 464 million Reais (US$290  
million) have been spent over the past four years -- funds desperately  
needed for people's needs in Brazil -- to attack the sovereignty of  
the Haitian people.

However, a Brazilian foreign ministry spokesperson told the Miami  
Herald: "At this moment, the Brazilian position has been to renew our  
work with MINUSTAH. We don't have the intention of leaving."
The Miami Herald reported: "Rubens Barbosa, a Brazil-based consultant  
who served as Brazil's ambassador to the United States from 1999 to  
2004, said that while he believes Brazil should end its mission in  
Haiti because of the costs, he sees the South American nation staying  
involved[in Haiti] for the foreseeable future."

Nevertheless, Brazil is feeling growing pressure to withdraw its  
troops. In Mexico City on May 30th, a delegation of Mexican trade  
unionists met to dialogue with officials at the Brazilian Embassy in  
Mexico City, joining their Brazilian comrades in calling for Brazil’s  
military to leaveHaiti now. The delegation included Salome Herber  
Aguilar, a leader of the Miners and Metal Workers Union (SNT-MMSRM );  
Nivardo Rodriguez Morales and Fernando Mendoza, leaders of Section 22  
of the SNTE-CNTE; and Armando Pasos Cabrera, from SITUAM. Like the  
Brazilians, they presented an Open Letter to President Lula raising  
the Troops Out Now demand.