Haiti Releases Paramilitary Group Leader

[Judi Lynn]

11:16 AM PDT, August 12, 2005 latimes.com : World News Print

Haiti Releases Paramilitary Group Leader
By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- A Haitian rebel leader who once led a paramilitary group accused of killing and torturing thousands of people has been released from prison, his lawyer said Friday.
(snip)

An appeals court ordered him released on July 26, ruling there were insufficient grounds to hold him for the arson, Gaston said. The lawyer said it took three weeks to push authorities into carrying out the order for Chamblain's release.

A former army sergeant, Chamblain was one of two leaders of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of the Haitian People, a paramilitary group suspected of killing and torturing thousands of people during the 1992-1994 military regime that seized power in the coup that first ousted Aristide.

A U.S. military intervention restored Aristide to power in 1994, and Chamblain went to the Dominican Republic. He returned to Haiti in February 2004 to help lead the revolt that ousted Aristide a second time.
(snip/...)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-haiti-paramilitary-leader,1,660358.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines
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Did anyone imagine he'd really be prosecuted? He's a darling of the American Republican Party:

Then there's the matter of Emmanuel "Toto" Constant, head of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH), that country's most infamous right wing death-squad. Constant lives in New York City today, protected by the Bush administration.

The Haitian government asked the U.S. to extradite Constant, along with FRAPH's second-in-command, Louis Jodel Chamblain. These two are accused of killing, raping, torturing and maiming thousands of Haitians.
(snip)

Constant and PRAPH terrorized the people of Haiti on behalf of the coup, while on the payroll of the CIA. Many believe that is why the George II administration hides these terrorists, to keep the truth about George I's coup from getting out, were the government of Haiti allowed to try them in court.
(snip)

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/081303Balkwill/081303balkwill.html

[struggle4progress]

1. Former legislator abducted in Haiti

Six people said kidnapped every day in capital
AP
Friday, August 12, 2005



PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - A former legislator has been kidnapped in Haiti's capital, the latest victim in a string of abductions that has added to insecurity ahead of general elections planned for later this year, an official said yesterday.

An average of six people are kidnapped per day in the capital, officials say.

Kely Bastien, who presided over Haiti's lower house of Parliament from 1995 to 2000, was kidnapped on Tuesday while driving in Port-au-Prince, said Gary Philoctete, the interim director of the international aid agency CARE in Haiti.

Bastien is a physician who works for CARE. Relatives said his kidnappers are demanding a US$200,000 (euro161,000) ransom for his release, private Radio Kiskeya reported. <snip>

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20050811T200000-0500_85899_OBS_FORMER_LEGISLATOR_ABDUCTED_IN_HAITI.asp

Death-squad Johnny's boys are busy ...