
Haiti is facing one of its most severe challenges after a large earthquake rocked the capital yesterday destroying most government buildings and killing possibly thousands. Now more than ever the people of Haiti need hope for the future. The U.S. and the international community must stand aside and end their role in keeping Mr. Aristide out of Haiti where he is needed now.

The Haitian government-under-U.S.-U.N.-occupation has again excluded Haiti’s largest political party from participating in upcoming elections financed, orchestrated and supported by the United States and the international community. This time, it’s the February and March 2010 legislative elections.

The universal condemnation of the military coup in Honduras by Latin American governments is unprecedented. If this dictatorship is allowed to stay in power, no democratically elected government is safe. Just as President Obama promised a more respectful relationship between the U.S. and the rest of America – we are faced with another coup with U.S. military complicity.

Port au Prince, Haiti (Haiti Action.net) – Brazilian soldiers with the U.N. occupation in Haiti (known as MINUSTAH) killed a young man from the neighborhood of Solino immediately after the funeral of Father Gerard Jean Juste June 18 as he was getting ready to board a bus leaving with the cortège headed to the town of Cavaillon, Haiti.

Haiti’s largest political movement and party, Fanmi Lavalas, organized a second successful boycott of Senate elections yesterday, posing a serious challenge to their credibility. President Rene Preval’s handpicked Conseil Electoral Provisoire (CEP) excluded the Fanmi Lavalas party from participation in the elections on a technicality.

The U.N. and the Obama administration continue to endorse and finance a second round of controversial Senate elections in Haiti. The first round was marked by a voter turnout of only 3-4 percent following a successful boycott campaign waged by Fanmi Lavalas.