OSI Commentary on Disturbances Affecting Haiti and the Local Soros Foundation

The following commentary was provided by George Vickers, OSI's regional director for Latin America.

I am writing to briefly update you about events in Haiti and the situation of the Fondation Connaissance et Liberté (FOKAL), which is the Soros-related entity in Haiti.

As many of you know, the situation in Haiti has deteriorated markedly during the past two weeks and, unfortunately, there is no end in sight to the political crisis or the violence that continues to overtake parts of the country. Armed attacks against the government by criminal gangs allied with ex-members of the former Haitian military regime are spreading in parts of the country. The 5,000-member Haitian police force is unable to cope with these attacks, and the Aristide government has been arming civilian militia groups which are, themselves, often tied to criminal gangs. These pro-government militias have been attacking people and property belonging to the political opposition, in addition to defending against the attacks by armed groups. The political opposition to President Aristide refuses to participate in elections or other political steps to defuse the crisis unless Aristide resigns.

Under these conditions, tensions are very high and the security situation is quite chaotic. On Saturday, February 14 the board of directors of FOKAL was holding its regular quarterly meeting in the foundation offices in Port-au-Prince when a dozen heavily armed policemen (some dressed in plain clothes) surrounded the foundation building and demanded that the director come outside in one minute or else the police would begin shooting. FOKAL’s director, Michele Pierre-Louis, went out to meet the head of the police unit, and explained what type of institution FOKAL is and what type of meeting was being held. Apparently satisfied with this explanation, the police left, only to return five minutes later saying that they had orders to obtain the names of everyone in attendance at the meeting. The foundation complied, and the police left but took up surveillance of the foundation building from a block away. No one was hurt in the incident and no further acts of intimidation have been committed against FOKAL.

We have expressed our extreme concern over this incident to the Haitian government and asked that they take steps to ensure the safety of FOKAL’s staff and property. Civil society statements in support of FOKAL have also been issued, and the U.S. and French ambassadors, among others, have visited the foundation's offices to manifest their support.

The FOKAL offices are closing this afternoon (Thursday, February 19) for five days in observance of the Carnival holiday. FOKAL staff members are hopeful that some tensions will be diffused during the holidays, but, obviously, given the continuing deterioration of the situation, we will be in regular communication with FOKAL staff and will monitor developments on a continual basis.

We will notify you if it appears that further solidarity gestures and actions from the OSI network or the international community seem warranted, but at this point it seems best to adopt a watchful stance. At the same time, we are urging the governments of the United States, France, and Caribbean neighbors to do what they can to bring an end to the violence and to help resolve the political paralysis.