Sojourner Truth Radio: April 5, 2019 - La Saline, Haiti Speaks Out Against Poverty & State Violence by Sojourner Truth with Margaret Prescod published on 2019-04-05T14:16:20Z Today on Sojourner Truth: Our team was on the ground in Haiti. Today, we continue our series of coverage. We will bring you the story of tortures and massacres in La Saline. A story reported to be about gang warfare. But, as you will hear in today's report, that is far from the reality of what's going on in La Saline. What we witnessed and recorded and are reporting on this exclusive today is an extreme humanitarian and human rights crisis and tragedy little known to the world. Ironically, the road leading up to La Saline is named "Crossroads Newly From Africa" in Haitian Kreyol. It was the road close to the port where enslaved Africans were bought and sold. We visited La Saline, a part of impoverished Port-au-Prince, that has historically been a center of resistance going back to the Haitian Revolution of 1804. Today, it is a stronghold of support for Lavalas, the popular party headed by former President Jean Bertrand Aristide. The massacres have been the largest in Haiti since the July 23, 1987 massacre of peasants under the Duvalier dictatorship. Evidence shows that perpetrators of the massacres have a cozy relationship and backing from the present Haitian government of Jovenel Moise. Indeed, the methods used to torture and kill are reminiscent of the brutal Duvalier days. People are hacked to death. They're burned alive. Their bodies are left on the street to be eaten by wild pigs and dogs. It was jarring to hear the stories of the victims. And a reminder: this is happening after a 15-year U.N. occupation of Haiti and under a U.S.-backed regime. The recent mass protests that spread across Haiti were initiated in La Saline. Survivors of the La Saline massacres say they are a pointed attempt to use torture, killings and fear to dampen mass protests, using the people of La Saline as examples to protesters demanding Moise step down. They're also demanding to "overturn the cauldron," meaning ending the entire system of corruption and greed. In the lead up to the massacres, the wife of Moise went to La Saline, distributed money widely and met with the local community leader, reportedly in an attempt to corrupt that leader. Residents took the money, but by the end of her visit, it was clear La Saline residents would not support the Moise government and that they intended to continue their protests. The Sojourner Truth team went to La Saline and video taped and recorded its residents telling their story.
