Consequences of a coup
Posted on November 30, 2004
My name is Michael Brewer, RN, an American who lives in Port au Prince, Haiti, where I have an organization and home for street kids and runaway restavek slave children. Being as intimately close to the problem of homeless children as I am, I feel I must let someone know about a very disturbing trend that has began to surface again in Haiti.
Carloads of men referred to as "ancient military," who are actually members of the now disbanded military, have began patrolling the streets of Port au Prince and are indiscriminately murdering street children for no reason other than sport. These men prowl the streets of the city in groups of 6 to 10 with high-powered military assault rifles, shotguns and 9mm pistols, wearing all-black uniforms with black ski masks over their heads to conceal their identities. They justify the murders of these boys by referring to them as "vagabonds" and say that they are "cleaning the streets".
An example of the merciless slaughter of these children happened last Thursday on the 11th of November between 7:pm and 8:pm in the evening, in a well-known park located in the Petionville section of Port au Prince named Plais Bois. Many homeless boys of all ages sleep in this park at night due to lack of help and facilities or support for these children and the organizations that attempt to care for them.
Here is what happened: At approximately 7:pm in the evening, a carload of these ex-military members, whom the people wrongly refer to as "police," drove by the park and stopped where 20 to 30 children were sleeping. The ones that were not asleep alerted the others, and they all began to run. Three were caught by the men: one 7-year old by the name of Linxson, one 12-year-old and a 15-year-old. The boys were first beaten severely. Black bags were then put over their heads and tied around their necks, and then they were shot and killed. The bodies were placed in the trunk of the car and taken away from the scene.
One week earlier, a nine-year-old named Emmanuel was running from a group of these men after he refused to come to them when they called him. They shot him in the leg with an assault rifle to stop him. Three of the men casually walked up to where the child was lying on the ground and crying. They ridiculed him, then shot him again with pistols and a shotgun, for a total of 4 more times.
One of my children, a 14 year old boy named Makinzi, was murdered as he was walking down the side of the road about three weeks ago. His face was terribly scared from previous abuse suffered while sleeping on the streets before coming to our home. While sleeping, passer-bys poured flaming liquid of some sort over his face and shoulders, resulting in thick, dark scaring from third degree burns. His self-appointed executioners were heard to say that they thought he was wearing a mask, and assumed that he must be a thief. I've attached a picture of Makinzi, as well as a picture of another of my kids that was brutally abused while out on the streets.
The incidents I have given as examples are just a very few of the daily murders of these children that are committed by these groups of men every day and night in every part of the city. There are "dump zones" where the decomposing bodies of little boys can be found any day of the week. I have found many. This is blatant genocide. The merciless atrocities committed on these defenseless, harmless and innocent street children go completely unnoticed, unreported, and uninvestigated.
The terror, insecurity and misery being placed upon these children, whose lives are already far more difficult and painful than any child should be forced to endure, is now at an unprecedented level. There is no one for them to turn to for protection or help except for people like me, and organizations such as mine, who are in reality powerless to do anything real to stop this. Our support is at a point now, where we have many days we are unable to feed them more than once, or even once per day, and our efforts to improve the support for the children renders very little results so far. The United Nations forces do nothing and completely ignore this crisis. There is no "real" or effective police for them to turn to due to the children's inability to "pay" for the services or protection of the police. I also find it very ironic that the Brazilian military forces, now constituting the bulk of the UN presence in Haiti, are from the very country so well known for the murder and abuse of street children in their own country. Their inaction and lack of concern regarding these heinous acts is not difficult to understand when viewed in that context.
If you know of any effective way for this ongoing tragedy that has become an epidemic to come to light so that effective action may be taken, please do help get the story out. Or let me know what I may be able to do. I am currently in the U.S. for a short time attempting to do what I can to seek a solution to this and other problems. It is the first time I have been back to in the U.S. for 6 years, and have come now only because of the urgent and critical nature of the problems at hand.
Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.
Respectfully,
Michael W. Brewer, RN
Haitian Street Kids, Inc.
