Human Rights Observers Describe Terror Campaign by Haitian Junta

An Organization of American States human rights team accused the Haitian military regime Monday of murder, rape, kidnaping, detention and torture in a systematic campaign to terrorize Haitians who want the return of democracy and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The head of the team, Claudio Grossman of Chile, described the human rights situation as horrible and far worse than his team saw in a visit last August.

“There has been a serious deterioration of the most elemental human rights,” he told a news conference.

Grossman and the other team members--Patrick Robinson of Jamaica and Adm. John Donaldson of Trinidad--were sent to Haiti last week by the organization’s Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The OAS is the official regional organization of the countries of the Western Hemisphere.

Describing his figures as conservative, Grossman said the team received “conclusive proof” of 21 rapes of wives and other family members of political opponents of the regime so far this year. He said the crimes were committed by members of the army, the police and the paramilitary group known as FRAPH (from the French acronym of its full name, the Revolutionary Front for Advancement and Progress in Haiti).

Grossman said the team also has documentation with “detailed and reliable information” of 133 executions between February and May. It also has reports--without documentation so far--of 210 other executions.

The team leader said that there is “convincing evidence” of 55 political kidnapings or disappearances in February and March. Of these, he said, 20 Haitians were released, 11 were found dead and 24 are still missing.

Grossman told reporters that the team also found evidence that the army massacred defenseless Haitians in the town of Roboteau on March 22, executing 15 to 20 residents “with no justification.”

“These attacks bear similar traits,” he said. “Army units, assisted by FRAPH and other paramilitary groups, surround and burst into certain areas under the pretext of combatting subversive groups, indiscriminately beating residents and committing acts of arson, destruction and theft, followed by arbitrary detentions.”

The team concluded that such acts are not just examples of brutality but part of a systematic campaign of repression against Aristide supporters, Grossman said.

Hours before the news conference, the Associated Press reported from Port-au-Prince that gunmen backed by the army had terrorized the Cite Soleil slum neighborhood before dawn Monday and killed four Aristide supporters. Two of the bodies were left on a street to intimidate residents.