Volunteer thrown into Haiti jail
PHOENIX – Paul Sebring left the valley to help the people of Haiti after the earthquake in January.
He never imagined his best friend and co-worker, Paul Waggoner, who is also an American, would be jailed, accused of kidnapping a 15-month-old boy.
Now Sebring is fighting for Waggoner’s release from jail.
“We’ve literally giving up everything in our lives to come help and then this happens and we’re stuck. We need help,” says Paul Sebring.
Sebring says Waggoner was thrown in jail despite sworn testimony by an American doctor that the baby died in a hospital.
“The conditions he’s in now, I’ve been to the prison, I wouldn’t even put an animal through that,” says Sebring.
Back in February, the baby’s father brought the sick boy to the hospital and handed him to Waggoner. Waggoner didn’t treat the child and gave him to doctors. The baby died.
The father came back the next day and doctors say he saw his baby and confirmed his death — but now the father claims Waggoner used voodoo to turn the baby into a zombie, keep him alive, and sell his organs.
Linda Wagner lives in Scottsdale and is doing what she can to help. She ways Sebring and Waggoner founded a charity that has already helped between 30,000 and 40,000 people in Haiti.
“This is a very dire situation and to know that someone is being held innocent and actually proved innocent makes it even worse,” says Wagner.
FOX 10’s Miriam Garcia reports.
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COMMENT: HAITIAN-TRUTH.ORG
In the aftermath of Haiti’s disastrous January 12, 2010 earthquake, tens of thousands died and were scooped up by front-loaders, dumped into trucks and conveyed to mass burial sites around the country.
There was no time for identification,.
There was no time for anything other than an effort to avoid the dangers of decaying bodies.
I attended a Memorial Service on the road to St Marc where some 50,000 people now rest. A huge hole was dug and trucks dumped bodies in as quickly as possible. It was truly horrific – but necessary.
This unfortunate man’s child died as a result of the quake and he did not return to make arrangements for burial.
There is a psychological problem here as he believes, or wants to believe his child is still alive.
Near my place, there is a man who stands in front of a collapsed building, each day, in the belief that his children are all right and will soon appear. This situation is repeated all over the country.
The government knows this and should never have allowed this man’s arrest!!
It is a cold-blooded effort. by Preval, to embarrass America…..even though, by doing this he guarantees that additional people will never come to a country where such a threat is allowed by the authority.
More people will die, because of this stupidity.
Release the man and let Haitians get on with their lives.
I am a cynic. I could believe that Preval paid this man to make his complaint.
That is the type of criminal Haiti has as its president.
Now, he will allow arrests of people who fail in their effort to save specific people from the cholera epidemic.
COLLINS
The commentary above provided by a Haitian does not at all surprise me. Corruptions climbs all the way to the highest levels of government. When I was there I attended multiple government meetings about how to dispense emergency supplies like tents and food. The discussion revolved around who was going to be in charge not where and when the items would be dispensed. During the 2 weeks I went to these meeting, no supplies were dispensed. I stopped going. The person in charge was easily going to take 50% of the supplies off the top and that is why it was so important to be in charge.
Paul is in jail and it not about the crime he reportedly committed. It is about US Senators and Representatives unwilling to take time out of their Christmas Holidays. It is about an impotent State Department and a US Embassy unwilling to do their jobs. It is about Haitian lawyers, judges, police and politicians trying to figure out how they can get their fair share of the ransom that will have to be paid out to get Paul out of jail.
After hours and hours of calling, writing letters, signing petitions, and talking to reporters, I have resorted to praying to God because it’s in His hands. Probably should have started praying in the first place and saved all the time I wasted talking to people who don’t care.
I disagree with the comment above. This is not about American government officials not doing enough. They are not the ones who have imprisoned Mr. Waggoner under false charges; they are not the ones who are trying to scare foreign aid workers away. They are not the ones who remain deafeningly silent in the face of a monumental injustice which not only imperils the life of a brave young aid worker but also places the continued flow of humanitarian and medical aid to that country at risk. And most importantly, they are not the ones with any power or ability to release Mr. Waggoner.
Those who need to speak up are Haitian leaders, politicians, physicians, human rights workers, journalists. Those who need to act are Haitian government officials. This is their moment of truth, and they cannot shirk their responsibilities to their own people and to those foreigner aid and medical workers who want to help them.
Traveling through the streets of Port au Prince last month, I was struck by how little had changed between May and November. The piles of rubble and garbage with herds of pigs and goats, packs of dogs, rats and other animals scrounging amongst for food are just as large and widespread. The raw sewage continues to stream through the streets, even as cholera continues to spread. The tattered tents which house more than 1,300,000 people 10 months (!!!)) after the earthquake have not been replaced by more sturdy structures. Seeing all of this strikes one with an overwhelmeing sense that no one there is willing to lift a finger to help themselves. That everyone is waiting for someone else to do something while their children continue dying of preventable disease.
This is a situation which only Haitians can resolve. No matter how much coverage this recieves in the American media, no matter how many elected officials in the US are involved, this is and will remain an internal Haitian affair. The Haitian people are the only ones who can bring pressure to bear and to bring about the speedy release of this brave young man and in doing so, to restore the faith of those from other countries who are willing to make the effort to help that Haitians are serious about helping themselves out of the awful circumstances they find themselves in.
Without this, nothing any of us outside of Haiti can do will make any difference over there.
Dennis totally agree with your comment…..you are right on. There are many Haitians in this country how many are flocking back home to help and aid their own people????? What are they doing to change the way things are done and the corruption of the Haitian govt from the bottom up????? What was once the most beautiful island in the Caribean has now become ugilist and the Haitian people continue to pay the price of the green and corruption. Little Paul gave up everything to go to Haiti and be of help after the earthquake and help in an effort to save lives, not kidnap babies. I have dealt with the Haiti government in an adoption and there is no dealing or reasoning with them unless you are willing to pay. Money talks very loudly. The American Embassy in Haiti is not much better. It is all there way or the highway. They do not want to even hear what you have to say or look to see what you have in documents they just say jump and you say how high? The Haitian that represented us never questioned a thing they said, did or asked for no matter how many times the rules kept changing. It is truly a sad situation over there and unfortunately Paul W. has gotten caught up in it trying to give humanitarian aid. The Haitian govt will do what the Haitian govt. wants regardless of evidence, they do not give a rip no matter how nuts this whole things is and how it looks. They just do not care.
Mary’s statement sums it up. No action unless you are willing to pay. I do not agree that it is not the JOB of the United States Government to intervene. Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton along with Sarah Palin, Jimmy Carter and many other high profile political figures have strongly encouraged, begged, Americans to help. Then when one answers the call the US Government throws them to the wolves. This (Haitian)government should not be reasoned with. As long as there are American citizens and organizations over there it is the DUTY of our government to protect these people. The day that each of these political figures expose the truths of the corruption in Haiti and encourage all Americans not to go over there will be the day it is no longer their responsibility to protect them. Instead, they sweep it under the rug and allow this to happen. I know it for a fact because Paul Waggoner is my brother. Tell the State Department someone has contacted you with a potential bribe to release a family member. They will not so much as pick up a pen and write down the names of both Americans and Haitians who are doing this. This is unacceptable and there are no excuses to be made for it.
The US doesn’t want to rile the Prevail government because doing so could result in a reprisal against his own people to the point of igniting massive civil unrest and mass evacuations. We really don’t want more poor people (with AIDS and/or cholera) seeking our hospitality, Emma Lazarus notwithstanding. We have a long (though not proud) history of supporting despots who can keep a lid on things, and we’re happy to submit to their extortive shenanigans.