Haïti Liberté

On Dec. 13, Haitian political prisoner René Civil was "provisionally" released after being held in jail without trial on trumped-up charges for almost 16 months (see Haiti Liberté, Vol. 1, No. 21, 12/12/2007).

Civil is a member of exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Family party and a leader of Popular Power Youth (JPP), a popular organization founded after the 1991-94 coup d'état when President Aristide returned to Haiti.

The following are excerpts of a long interview which Haiti Liberté's Kim Ives conducted with René Civil on December 21, 2007. The complete interview will be published in Krey l in Haiti Liberté.

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Haiti Liberté: René Civil, tell us how you were arrested, the charges brought against you and the reasons given for your arrest?

René Civil: My arrest came on the heels of the huge demonstration that was held on July 14, 2006, in which we demanded the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the return of all political exiles and the liberation of political prisoners. About one million people took part in this demonstration. Since the February 29, 2004 coup d'état, there was never that many people in a street demonstration. This coup claimed many lives, sent countless people into exile and landed many in jail. This coup cost the country many lives and ripped through its social fabric and economy. Rest assured, this was a concoction of the imperialists; the conservative sector of the imperialists carried it out to fulfill their agenda for Haiti.

The day we took to the streets, they realized that I was quite popular and that the population remained very much attached and connected with us. There were a couple of rumors circulating: that they would assassinate me or disappear me the way they disappeared Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine (see Haiti Liberté, Vol. 1, No. 4, 08/15/2007). I said that I was not going to go into exile again. After spending two years in exile, I was determined to remain in Haiti and face whatever might come to me: arrest or death.

That's how on Saturday, August 26, 2006, I was arrested while driving my car, a vehicle that I had bought and paid off between 2001 and 2003. The owner I purchased from had received legal papers for the vehicle, and he sold me the vehicle with those same legal papers. The car was insured and registered with the Motor Vehicles department. For two years after the coup and during my exile, the Haitian police used the car as one of their vehicles. I had driven this car numerous times to the "Biwo de lit kont v l veyikil," the bureau set up to combat car thefts. The car had never been listed as a stolen automobile.

This is the macabre plan that they used to take me into custody. Using that as a pretext, they arrested me. I was charged as an accomplice in a car theft as well as possession of an illegal firearm, despite the fact that the person with me in the car, my friend Julmiste Widlin, is a police officer who was on duty and carrying a weapon that was legally issued by the Haitian police. The second weapon, a 9 mm pistol, belonged to a Senator.. There were no illegal weapons.

This macabre plan was intended to silence, intimidate and stop me from continuing the fight for the return of President Aristide and others sent into exile as well as some in-country political prisoners. Many world powers were behind this Machiavellian plan. They know that we will always fight against exploitation and the forces that are anti-progress. The August 26, 2006 arrest in Petion-Ville was a strategy to eliminate me.

Haiti Liberté: What is the Préval government's involvement in this plot you describe? Does it involve some officials acting on their own or does this plot come from the government's highest quarters?

René Civil: My friend, I am a militant fighting for changes in my country: social and economic changes that challenge the neo-liberal plan... This struggle promises to end unequal relations and will transform the country into a brand new society. We do have a history with some folks in the Préval government. We had been vocal about wrongs and abuses perpetrated against the country and the population by folks in the government who are implementing the imperialist agenda. Our presence makes them uneasy. There are also some people that had personal issues with me, feeling that I should not have undertaken this fight. In my view, many knew what was happening. President Préval himself may have been well aware of the situation.

Though I am freed, the justice system is using an ugly tactic by saying that I am "conditionally freed." They are keeping a specter of terror above my head in order to keep me silent. I will never give them that satisfaction. Fidel Castro was imprisoned prior to the successful Cuban revolution in 1959 because he wanted to see his country change for the better. Nelson Mandela spent 25 years in jail fighting against the segregated, Apartheid rule of South Africa. Many have even lost their lives. Hugo Chavez, who became president of Venezuela, spent time in jail. Many leaders, who are fighting to improve their society and confront the imperialist system and its ills - privatization, exploitation - often face adversaries who benefit from the status quo. We are fighting for equality, fair wages, and justice for all. The Préval government is partly responsible because it stood by, never saying anything about my arrest and detention, which lasted almost a year and a half. Their silence and inaction make them an accomplice.

Haiti Liberté: Do you think that your provisional liberation is a result of the Haitian justice system beginning to improve or of the Préval government freeing you in response to political pressure?

René Civil: I would say it is more because the Justice system is beginning to improve. Immediately after my arrest, there was quite a bit of stress put on the system and some of its judges. Even the judge who leveled the charges against me was pressured into doing so. When I was arrested [in August 2006], the Appeals Court had already decided to liberate me, but the judges were forced to change their decision.

There are encouraging things happening. President Préval and some concerned legislators are trying to separate the executive from the legislative [respecting their respective roles]. Clearly, President Préval appears determined for that to happen. Efforts and signs that the Justice system is improving are visible. Many who were imprisoned with no evidence or minor accusations are being released. Prisoners who are sick along with others who have been incarcerated for two, three or four years without ever seeing a judge are being freed.

I think this is a small step forward. There has been some progress when all this is considered. My liberation is an indication of the positive changes. The judge who presided in my case was not a Lavalas partisan or moved by my plight. There simply was no evidence of wrongdoing in my dossier. The charges were bogus. We are lucky, particularly me, to have families and friends that have the means to help, whether it is buying a car, hiring lawyers, even paying to legalize a firearm. It was ludicrous to think that police officer Julmiste Widlin would carry an unlicensed gun. The dossier they were trying to build against us was based on false accusations.

We have not forgotten the support of the population, in all the departments, that remained vigilant and active since my arrest almost a year and a half ago. Their daily demand for my freedom paid off. It forced the justice system to begin reforming itself, and it is this faint light of hope for Haiti that we are seeing.