Michael Deibert is the author of Haiti Will Not Perish: A Recent History (Zed Books), In the Shadow of Saint Death: The Gulf Cartel and the Price of America's Drug War in Mexico (Lyons Press, 2014), The Democratic Republic of Congo: Between Hope and Despair (Zed Books, 2013) and Notes from the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti (Seven Stories Press, 2005). He can be followed at twitter.com/michaelcdeibert.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
A good man back on the job?
Good news from Haiti today, as it appears that none other than Claudy Gassant is back, and was greeted at the airport by Police nationale d’Haïti (PNH) Directeur Général Mario Andrésol . Haiti-watchers will recall the heroic way in which Gassant persevered in his investigation of the murder of Haiti's best-known journalist, Radio Haiti-Inter director Jean-Léopold Dominique, and that station's caretaker Jean-Claude Louissaint, gunned down on the morning of April 3, 2000, despite great risk to his own life. With the return of Gassant, driven into exile in early 2002, the presence of Andrésol (jailed without trial and also driven into exile under the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide) and the selection of Luc-Eucher Joseph, Secretary of State for Public, the tide may finally begin to turn against the impunity that has for so long helped to strangle this Caribbean nation no matter who was in power. Let's wish them the best of luck as they will need it.
This is definitely a strong signal to fight impunity. The challenge now is to see that the political will is there to accomplish this overwhelming task: making Haiti's Justice system functional!!!
ReplyDelete