Haiti: Vandalism by Martelly’s troublemakers
((Le Nouvelliste photo))
[Translation of an article from Haïti Liberté for February 24. See original here. Most universities in Latin America, including Haiti, are considered “autonomous” and thus protected from police and military intervention.]
By Thomas Péralte
It was around three in the afternoon on February 17, 2012, when Michel Joseph Martelly, at the head of a group of rowdy individuals, tried to force his way into the School of Ethnology (Faculté d’Ethnologie), which is on Magloire Ambroise Street, in Champ de Mars. In the company of his wife, Sophia Martelly, with no invitation of any kind, he wanted to attend an international symposium in progress on the theme “Ethnology and the Construction of the Political Nation, the People, the Citizen in Haiti,” conducted by foreign and Haitian professors.
Blocked by students, the former singer for a compas group, nicknamed “Sweet Mickey,” tried to enter by force. His rowdy partisans claimed that the students had struck President “Tèt Kale’s” cortège with rocks. They forced their way into the School of Ethnology and the National Bureau of Ethnology (Bureau National d’Ethnologie), where they committed very serious acts of vandalism. Computers, printers, portable telephones, fans and other office equipment were taken by Martelly’s bandits. The windshields of cars parked in the courtyard of the university facility were damaged, office supplies thrown to the ground. The tally is very large. Martelly’s security agents intervened by force, firing shots into the air and throwing tear gas canisters toward the school. Some students slipped away, others were injured, four were questioned by the police then released in the evening. Meanwhile, none of the troublemakers was arrested despite the intervention of a representative of the Port-au-Prince government.
…The material damage is considerable; the bullet holes are still clearly visible on the shutters at the school. The fence at the National Bureau of Ethnology, which faces the northern fence of the national palace and shares the school courtyard, was also destroyed. The lives of the participants in the symposium and the students who were at the school were saved only thanks to the Red Cross and representatives of the diplomatic corps.
According to the students at the public university facility, the incident was provoked by President Martelly, who, together with armed men dressed as civilians, tried to force his way into the heart of the school while an international symposium was taking place in the establishment. “The university campus being inviolable, we had decided that they would not come in. Armed men in civilian clothes and policemen fired shots, beat students, broke car windows, while the doors to the building were bashed in,” according to students who witnessed the acts of vandalism by Martelly’s gang.
The communications office at the national palace hastened to issue a statement to try to divert the attention of the population from what really happened at the School of Ethnology that day. It charges a certain aggression against the presidential cortège “by troublemakers taking refuge in the heart of the School of Ethnology, who attacked the cortège of the president of the republic, who was strolling through the Champ-de-Mars on foot, accompanied by carnivalesque bands” the office claimed. It is bizarre; according to witnesses; the troublemakers were in the ranks of Martelly’s legal bandits. It was they who forced their way into the heart of the School of Ethnology building to steal, to plunder, to break everything to be found there.
The communiqué spoke of carnivalesque bands when President Martelly himself had formally prohibited carnival parades on the streets of Port-au-Prince. It spoke as well of aggression against the presidential cortège but who would attack the presidential cortège a few feet away from the national palace? The communiqué lies.
In fact, President Martelly was at the head of a demonstration bringing together several hundred people who had left the heights of Pétion-ville to appear in the city, trying to convince everyone that he is “popular.” The question of double nationality seems to have gotten to the president in the depths of his heart. The president’s behavior in the past few days leaves much to be desired; there have been offensive answers given to journalists, the inappropriate incursion into the prime minister’s private residence and the brutal and savage incursion into the School of Ethnology.
The controversial rector of the Université d’État d’Haïti (State University of Haiti), Jean Henry Vernet, condemned what happened on Friday, Febraury 17, at the School of Ethnology, in these terms: “It is an incident that is truly unfortunate, an incident without a name. I am very troubled by a thing like this; I was forced at a certain moment to appeal to the Red Cross to evacuate people in danger. I think the incident that took place is not normal, it is a poor way of acting that is the basis of all the damage that was done. Ill intentioned people invade the heart of the school and break everything they find there. When we already don’t have enough and we see losses of this kind, I am truly troubled by what happened there.”
Certain observers have been claiming for some time that President Michel Martelly is not bothered by committing any kind of disorder. And he said as well, loud and clear, “Since it’s the president who creates disorder, the disorder is legal” So President Martelly can be allowed to enter the School of Ethnology as he sees fit, at the head of a group of thugs. What image has he sent abroad when he knows very well that there was an international symposium being conducted by professors from several continents?
These recent painful incidents, at a time when the government is trying to open up the country to foreign investment, then the president, through his disagreeable behavior, sends another message to the investors, despite all the difficulties we are faced with. In addition, the country is going through a serious crisis of government, resulting from the news concerning the foreign nationality of high state officials, prohibited by the Haitian constitution. This situation also comes on top of serious differences between the two powers of the executive branch and between the legislative branch and the executive branch.
Now it is the university sector that is the object of harsh attacks by President Martelly in person. The great question we ask ourselves is: Where is he going to lead the country?
Tags: Haiti, Jean Henry Vernet, Michel Martelly, National Bureau of Ethnology, School of Ethnology, vandalism
March 6th, 2012 at 6:59 pm
What harm would it cause to allow the Elected President of Haiti, whether he was invited or not, to enter a lecture, meeting, whatever, on State University grounds. Last I checked, the School of Ethnology was not privatized. Haitians need to learn to respect their leaders. Whether you support SEN Martelly or not, he is still the president. How DARE a group of so-called students refused the entry of the PRESIDENT on a state campus? These people are NOT students, they’re BANDITS.