An injury to one is an injury to all!

PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW TO STOP THE VIOLENCE AGAINST MEMBERS OF THE LEGITIMATE
WORKERS' UNION AT GUACIMAL IN ST. RAPHAEL. (see the foot of this message for
email addresses)


Today, 1st June 2002, the Haiti Support Group received the following message
from Batay Ouvriye, the workers' organisation in Haiti:

"The house of the Guacimal Union's General Secretary, Mr. Sintes Estime, has
been burnt to the ground. The entire family has been forced into hiding.
Other dwellings belonging to other member of the union are threatened of the
same fate."

The above incident comes five days after an armed gang, acting under the
orders of a local landowner, and in collusion with elected Lavalas Family
Party officials, brutally attacked a group of organised workers and peasants
near the town of Saint Raphael in northern Haiti.

According to the information that we have received, on 27 May, a group of
local people organised as the St. Raphael Guacimal Workers Union and the St
Raphael Planters' Association, accompanied by a solidarity delegation from
the Cap-Haitien-based union federation, the Intersyndicale Premier Mai -
Batay Ouvriye, assembled in St. Raphael. Their aim was to allocate parcels of
land at the Guacimal company orange plantation for use by local peasant
farmers during the current growing season. This division of the unused land
between the orange trees has been an established practice for many, many
years. (Note: Guacimal SA is a Haitian company specialising in the production
of orange extract for export. Until the beginning of this year one of its
main clients, and a significant share-holder, was the French drinks giant,
Remy Cointreau.)

The assembled group of organised workers and peasants proceeded to the
Guacimal plantation where, according to the reports that we have read, they
were met by a group representing a local landowner called Lavaud who is close
to the Guacimal company management. Prominent among the leadership of this
group were two Lavalas Family officials from the local council. Without any
provocation at all, this group, some armed with machetes and clubs, others
with guns, attacked the organised workers and peasants. Shots were fired,
stones and other missiles were thrown in defence. Many people were seriously
injured as the assailants dispersed the assembled group.

Most seriously, we are informed of the following outrage: According to
information received from our colleagues, Batay Ouvriye, some time after the
above incident two elderly members of the organisation who had come from the
nearby village of St. Michel de l'Attalaye to show their solidarity but who
had not taken part in the fighting, were discovered hiding in a house some
distance from the plantation. We are informed that members of the attacking
group took these two people out of the house, tied them up and dragged them
to the plantation. There they were mutilated and cut up with knives. Finally,
they were beheaded and their bodies were thrown in a hole.

We further understand that on 29 May a helicopter carrying a unit of the
national crowd control police was dispatched from the capital Port-au-Prince
to St. Raphael, and took seven people detained in the St. Raphael jail back
to Port-au-Prince. We understand that the seven detainees include three
members of Batay Ouvriye and two journalists who were covering the events.
All seven are apparently now detained in the National Penitentiary in
Port-au-Prince. As far as we know, they have not been charged with any
offence. If that was not bad enough, we understand that the two journalists,
Darwin St. Julien of the Haïti Progrès newspaper and Allan Deshommes of Radio
Atlantique, are being denied the urgent medical attention that they require
for the injuries they received during the 27 May incident. St. Julien may
lose an eye, and Deshommes' condition may be life threatening. We understand
that the two were originally detained by the St. Raphael police on the basis
of the public declaration made in advance of Monday's incidents by the
Lavalas Family mayor of St. Raphael' in which he claimed to know that the
journalists were "terrorists".

The St. Raphael Guacimal Workers Union, which is legally registered with the
country's Ministry of Social and Labour Affairs, has been involved in a long
and bitter dispute with the Guacimal management for over eighteen months. The
union was formed to negotiate improved wages and working conditions for the
300 or so workers who harvest oranges. (Until the beginning of this year, the
extract from these oragnes was sold to Remy Cointreau for use in the
production of the luxury liqueur, Cointreau.) However the Guacimal management
has consistently refused to recognise the existence of the union, and has
frequently resorted to violence to try and break it.

In January 2002, Remy Cointreau suddenly announced it had sold its shares in
Guacimal and ended its contract with the company. This decision appears to
have served as a 'green light' for the Guacimal company acting with the
support of the local Lavalas Family Party officials and the local large
landowner to completely eradicate the union by the use of extreme violence.

Having enjoyed the fruits of the workers' labour for many years, now Remy
Cointreau not only wants to wash its hands of any responsibility for them,
but has effectively abandoned them to the murderous actions of its former
business partner, Guacimal SA.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW TO STOP THE VIOLENCE AGAINST MEMBERS OF THE LEGITIMATE
WORKERS' UNION AT GUACIMAL IN ST. RAPHAEL.

Write letters of protest to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
email:

and


Demand that the violence against the union members and their supporters is
stopped immediately, that the arrested unionists are released, that an
immediate investigation into the incidents is carried out by an independent
body, and that the government commits itself to freedom of assembly in line
with Haiti's Constitution and the international agreements to which it is
party.

Please cc these email letters to:

Batay Ouvriye

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

International Union of Food, Hotel, Tobacco and Agricultural Workers


Haiti's Ambassador to the European Union, Belgium and the UK


The Haiti Support Group

Remy Cointreau

and to the appropriate person in your union.

Thank you