Above photo: The D.C. demo outside the Haitian Embassy organized on March 1. Black Alliance for Peace.
NOTE: Massachusetts Peace Action will gather at the JFK Federal Building, Cambridge Street side, in Boston. For more details and a full listing of the actions this weekend, click here.
End Haitian Deportations Now!
March 29 is the anniversary of the 1987 Haitian Constitution written after the 1986 overthrow of the brutal Duvalier dictatorship. The 1987 Constitution was designed to create “a socially just, economically free, and politically independent Haitian nation.” Those ideals are again in crisis.
The US-backed de facto president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, is refusing to leave office even though his term ended on February 7. Moïse and his Western allies – the US, Canada, Brazil, France, Spain and the European Union – are trying to push through a new constitution.
For months, the Haitian people have been bravely holding mass demonstrations, especially on Sundays, calling for Moïse to step down so they can appoint an interim leader and hold an election. The state response to their demonstrations has been violent repression.
“The current situation in Haiti is critical,” stated Marleine Bastien, the Executive Director of the Family Action Network Movement (FANM) and a leading voice in South Florida’s Haitian community. “The Superior Council of Haiti’s Judiciary, The Haitian Bar Federation, and credible civil society organizations inside Haiti and their diaspora allies agree that President Moise’s term has in fact ended. It is time for President Biden to keep his promise and respect the democratic rights and self-determination of the Haitian people.”
The Biden administration and the Democrats, who have been vocal over Trump’s threats to stay in office, are enabling the same behavior by Moïse. The Biden administration and Democrats have loudly stated that Black Lives Matter while being silent about the violence perpetrated against Haitians.
With the use of a highly controversial Trump-era public health order which denies asylum seekers basic legal rights, more Haitians have been deported to Haiti in the weeks since President Joe Biden took office than during all of fiscal year 2020. This puts asylum seekers in danger of imprisonment, torture, and death when they are forced to return to Haiti.
Peace activists are gathering to stand in solidarity with the Haitian people and support their right for democracy and self-determination. Activists demand that the Biden administration:
1. End its support for Jovenel Moïse.
2. Withdraw from participation in Haiti’s constitutional process.
3. Stop interfering in the internal affairs of Haiti.
4. Stop deporting Haitians who are fleeing their country.
Organized by Massachusetts Peace Action and Latin America Solidarity Coalition WMASS. Cosponsored by US Peace Council and the Greater Hartford Cuba Solidarity Committee.