Action alerts

Haiti: Demand safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine

2007-10-02, Issue 322

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/action/43529

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Sept. 30 march for disappeared Haitian fighter for human rights Haiti demonstrations : demand safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 30, 2007 - Haitians are assembling beginning 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning at Place des Martyrs in the capital city, for the annual mass march to commemorate the US-backedmilitary coup that overthrew Haitian democracy and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on September 30, 1991.

The people are answering the call from pro-democracy forces led by the September 30th Foundation, a human rights organization founded 11 years ago to advocate for the many thousands of victims of the 1991 coup. The Foundation later expanded its mission to include victims of that other overthrow of democracy in February 2004, when the US military brazenly kidnapped and exiled President Aristide and installed a coup government.

Heavy on the hearts of the marchers - and focus of the demonstration is the disappearance of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, beloved founding member and national coordinator of the September 30th Foundation. It has been six weeks since Lovinsky was last seen on the evening of Sunday, August 12, 2007 after meeting with a US human rights delegation visiting Haiti. He has disappeared and is presumed kidnapped.

Brother Pierre-Antoine is a grassroots leader and tireless fighter for the Haitian people. As a young psychologist working in Port au Prince during the 1991-94 coup, he helped establish Fondasyon Kore Timoun Yo (Foundation for the Support of Children) for street children; FAM (Foyer pour Adolescentes Mères), a center for teenage mothers; and Map Viv ("I Live"), a program of psychological and medical aid to the thousands tortured, exiled and imprisoned by the coup. The September 30th Foundation emerged out of this work. Similar to the work of Mothers of the Disappeared in Central and South America, the foundation held weekly vigils demanding justice for victims of human rights violations and release of political prisoners.

The Haiti Action Committee stands with the marchers in Haiti who are outraged over the disappearance of this valiant fighter for human rights and dignity.

We join their call on the United Nations; the government of President Rene Preval; the government of Brazil, which heads the UN military mission in Haiti; and the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince to do all in their power to ensure that Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine is released unharmed and returned safely to his family and his people.

Please continue to contact the following offices of the Haitian government, the US embassy and the UN occupying powers. Express your concern that all efforts are being made to facilitate the safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, missing in Haiti since August 12, 2007.

Haitian Ministry of Justice Tel: 011-509-245-0474 UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
Tel: 011-509-244-0650/0660 FAX: 011-509-244-9366/67 Or, Fax Office of UN Secretary General in New York: 212-963-4879 United States Embassy in Haiti Tel: 011-509-223-4711, or 222-0200 or 0354 FAX: 011-509-223-1641 Embassy of Brazil in Haiti FAX: 011-509-256-0900

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