Popular march of thousands in Port au Prince, Nov 18, 2013 calling for resignation of Michel Martelly, photo Wendel Polynice, Haiti Liberte
By Kim Ives, Haiti Liberte, Nov 20, 2013
Huge demonstrations in Haiti calling for President Michel Martelly to step down are growing in size, scope, and frequency. On Nov. 7, a march of many thousands, called by the Patriotic Force for Respect of the 1987 Constitution (FOPARC), marched up the Delmas Road from La Saline and burst through the barricades which Haitian police had erected to prevent the crowd from marching through the tony streets of Pétionville.
“We proved today that we don’t need a visa, we don’t need a passport, to go to Pétionville,” said demonstrator and journalist Wendel Polynice after the symbolically powerful victory.
The demonstrators then marched back down to Port-au-Prince along the Bourdon Road. When they reached the central Champ de Mars, police dispersed them with teargas and shots in the air.
The slogan of the Nov. 7 march was: “Dessalines is paying a visit to Pétion.” Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a former slave, led the masses of former slaves into an alliance with Alexandre Pétion, who headed the forces of St. Domingue’s largely mulatto affranchis or propertied freedmen. This alliance was what allowed the “indigenous army” to defeat the French legions of Napoleon in a decisive battle at Vertières, near Cap Haïtien on Nov. 18, 1803, paving the way for Haiti’s Jan. 1, 1804 declaration of independence.
On the 210th anniversary of Vertières, Haiti’s most nationalist holiday, another huge demonstration filled the streets of the capital. Estimates ranged from 10,000 to 50,000. The principal calls were “Down with Martelly” and “Down with MINUSTAH,” the acronym for the 9,000 soldier occupation force known as the UN Mission to Stabilize Haiti.
Meanwhile, Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe traveled to Cap Haïtien where they spoke to a largely bussed in and paid crowd after police aggressively broke up the anti-Martelly demonstrations that had been planned.
Anti-Martelly, anti-MINUSTAH demonstrations were held on Nov. 18 in other Haitian cities including Aux Cayes, Jacmel, Miragoâne and Petit Goâve.
“There were some 1.7 million people marching in the streets of Haiti today,” said Sen. Moïse Jean-Charles, one of Martelly’s most outspoken critics, surrounded by a throng of demonstrators in the Nov. 18 march in Port-au-Prince. “And there were only 700,000 who supposedly voted for Martelly” in the illegal and controversial Mar. 20, 2011 presidential run-off election.
“It is clear that Martelly does not have the legitimacy or the credibility to lead the country,” Sen. Jean-Charles continued. “We are asking the Americans, French, and Canadians to come an collect their errand boy because he cannot lead the country any more.”
The next major demonstration in the capital is planned for Nov. 29, the 26th anniversary of the 1987 election massacre carried out by a neo-Duvalierist military junta. For that day, Moïse called on Haitians to “prepare your chairs, your gallons of water, and your sleeping mats” because “we are going to set up our headquarters across from the U.S. Embassy.”
On Haitian radio shows, there is increasing discussion of what would follow Martelly’s resignation. However, the first proposal for a transitional government was made during a Sep. 29 Popular Forum of grassroots organizations, where the keynote speaker was Sen. Jean-Charles, held at the Fany Villa in Port-au-Prince, the only such large public meeting to take up the matter to date. The proposal was drafted by the Dessalines Coordination (KOD), a new influential political formation made up of militants who have distinguished themselves over the past 25 years of Haiti’s struggle for democracy.
In previous weeks, Haïti Liberté has published in Kreyòl and French the proposal, which was adapted and then adopted by the participating popular organization on Oct. 7. In light of the growing prospects of Martelly’s resignation, we present the KOD’s proposal in English below.
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You are the liars. Moise said 1700000 people throughout Haiti, not in the streets of Port_au-Prince.
Confirmed with video,pictures and radio reports in the French media.
Hughes
You are person who is viewing this disaster from the comfort of the United States.
The Aristide/Manigat, MOPOD march was like a swarm of locusts as it came up the hill into Petion-Ville. It broke and burned cars, attacked individuals and personal property, pillaged businesses, attacked street merchants, taking their merchandise and stealing their money. It pillaged a hospital that dealt with only the poor. Borlette businesses were targeted and attacked in preplanned raids that stole cash and burned the business.
Belizaire had met with the organizers and handed out cash and guns to put together a mob.
It was a sad indication of some values as violence swept the streets.
On the other hand, Martelly was greeted by massive crowds in Cap Haitian and walked within the crowd, something Aristide has NEVER!!! done and Manigat was nowhere to be seen.
Everyone has to get together and work to save what we have. That includes the Martelly team.
A lot of $$ have been pumped into Haiti, by the DR, to destabilize things. You should focus on this.
The Aristide/Manigat/MOPOD marchers destroyed everything in their path, like a swarm of locusts. Cars were burned, people were shot, street merchants were beaten and robbed, lottery offices were stripped of their cash, then burned, a hospital was attacked and basically destroyed, and Kim Ives calls this a democratic process.
It is simply a return to Aristide/Lavalas where his mobs were given the right to steal and burn as they marched.
There should be some Responsibility of the Presss, not a complaint about Freedom of the Press.
Divide 1,700,000 by the few towns of any size and you will see impossible numbers for crowds. They made the Port-Au-Prince/Petionville crowd look bigger by looping the tape on TV. If you watched, you would see the same scenes repeating themselves, over, and over, and over…
Aristide/Manigat paid for and received the support of about 3,000 people. Actually, they received the paid support of a couple of thousand, and some others followed along.
Mr. Peters is correct. There is a man with a bag of water sachets on his head and he appears 7 times in the newscast moving from right to left. Other identical visions.