July 18, 2005

Haiti
U.S. Out of Haiti! No to Death Squad Democracy
5,000 in Haiti Defy UN Troops
Stop the UN Killings of Civilians in Haiti
Growing Evidence of a Massacre by UN Occupation Forces in Port-au-Prince Neighborhood of Cité Soleil

Cuba
Support U.S.-Cuba Caravan!
Why We Refuse a License to Deliver Aid to Cuba

55 Anniversary of the Korean War
U.S. Guilty of Crimes Against the Korean People


Massacres in Haiti

U.S. Out of Haiti! No to Death Squad Democracy

The United States is responsible for the coup d’etat against Haiti’s elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide and for the occupation, mass detentions and now massacres that have taken place since. The arrival of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) following the coup and kidnapping of Aristide has only served to worsen the situation, as the U.S. has now embroiled other countries in their dirty work, including Canada and France.

There is clear evidence of a massacre in Cité Soleil by UN forces along with allegations that the nephew of Haiti’s de facto Prime Minister is behind the recent spree of kidnappings of as many as six people a day. The U.S. is directly responsible for this situation and for their decades-long effort to keep Haiti forever enslaved.

Instead of taking responsibility for their crimes, paying full reparations and removing all their forces from Haiti, the U.S. is leading France, Canada and other countries to impose U.S.-style democracy with its racism, vote fraud and death squads. Fraudulent elections are being imposed on Haiti, just as they were on Iraq. And like the Iraq elections, this is an attempt to legitimize the coup and eliminate the drive of Haitians to decide their future for themselves. It is clear that the planned elections in October will be another sham, excluding not only the single most dominant political party in the country [Fanmi Lavalas], but also disenfranchising and marginalizing poor Haitians. It is equally clear that despite the death squads and massacres the people of Haiti are intensifying the struggle for their rights. Imbued with the spirit of the Haitian revolution, which brought into being the first country in the Americas to outlaw slavery and to provide rights to everyone on the basis of their being human beings, the Haitian people everywhere are stepping up their struggle.

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5,000 in Haiti Defy UN Troops

Dear Friends,

Energetic organizing is taking place for the Thursday, July 21st coordinated protests against the massacre of civilians by UN troops in Cité Soleil on July 6th, and the continued atrocities being committed by UN troops and Haitian National Police. There will be coordinated, multi-city protests in the US and Canada. Trade Unionists in Brazil will join the July 21 protests.

5,000 defy UN troops despite continued UN killing spree

On July 14th, shortly after midnight, six more Haitian civilians were reported killed by UN forces in the Boston neighborhood of Cité Soleil [including three children, aged 9, 5 and 4] -- in what activists believed was an attempt to intimidate people from participating in a big demonstration scheduled for later today in Cité Soleil. [Today's demonstration had been announced two days ago by the Lavalas movement in Cité Soleil, to protest the July 6th massacre there.] But the Cité Soleil residents were not to be intimidated. People threw rocks and bottles at the soldiers and armored vehicles of MINUSTAH, and blocked entrances so more armored vehicles could not enter the area.

At 10:30 a.m. (July 14) more than 5,000 people turned out for the big demonstration that had been called by Lavalas. The demonstrators chanted for the return of President Aristide, and demanded prison for the leaders and backers of the coup regime. They also demanded that the illegal regime leave the country, so that President Aristide could return and finish his mandate, at which time free, fair and democratic elections could be organized.

Asked why the people of Cité Soleil continue to demonstrate, in defiance of the continued murderous assaults by UN and police forces, journalist Georges Honorat said, "People in Haiti see no choice but to fight." He described the wealthy Haitian elite, death squad elements and the CIA had intervened three times to torpedo the democratic choice of the Haitian people in an election -- with each intervention resulting in thousands of death squad killings. First, in the 1987 elections, sabotaged by armed gangs of Duvalierists. Second, the 1991 coup. Third, the 2004 coup.

"This is what motivates the Haitian people to continue to fight until victory."

Recent actions

On July 13th there was a Demonstration at the Brazilina consulate in Miami, led by Father Gerard Jean-Juste. A delegation met for almost three hours with Brazilian officials in the consulate, since Brazil is commanding the UN military contingent in Haiti.

On July 16th there was a militant demonstration at the UN in New York City.

Upcoming actions

On Thursday, July 21st there will be coordinated, multi-city protests:

1. Strong preparations in Montreal, New York, Miami and San Francisco

2. Washington DC just announced a protest at the Brazilian embassy

3. Word is spreading to other US and Canadian cities

4. Trade unionists in Brazil will protest the involvement of Brazil in the massacres, as commander of the UN forces in Haiti Please keep us informed of your activities.

In solidarity, Dave Welsh: 510-898-1544 / cell: 510-847-8657 / email: sub@sonic.net.

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Stop the UN Killings of Civilians in Haiti

We are posting below material circulated by Global Women's Strike on July 15, 2005 as part of the growing opposition to the UN Massacre in Haiti, and the leading role of the U.S. in this massacre and all its crimes against the Haitian people.

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On the morning of July 6, 2005, a full-blown military attack on a densely-populated neighborhood, which multiple sources confirm killed at least 23 people, was carried out by UN "peacekeepers" in Haiti. Published estimates indicate that upwards of 50 may have been killed and an indeterminate number wounded, and that more than 300 heavily armed UN troops took part in the assault on the neighborhood.

Dave Welsh, a delegate with the San Francisco Labor Council who was in Haiti as part of a labor/human rights delegation, said, "This full-blown military attack on a densely-populated neighborhood, which multiple sources confirm killed at least 23 people, is a crime." […]

Pierre Labossiere of the Haiti Action Committee noted, "This latest attack, in which people in their homes and on the way to work were killed for no reason, is beyond the pale. Such atrocities must not be accepted by the international community. Those responsible for these killings of civilians must be brought to trial."

Labossiere concluded that the U.S. Embassy should immediately refrain from more statements which provide a 'green light' for slaughter of civilians. "By recently calling grassroots activists 'gang members' and 'terrorists', U.S. Ambassador James Foley sent a signal that it is open season on civilians. The real terrorists in Haiti are the UN troops, the Haitian police and the paramilitaries who are killing civilians. Under its most recent mandate, the UN has supervision of the Haitian police. But instead of stopping the killing of civilians, the UN is stepping up the slaughter," said Labossiere.

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Growing Evidence of a Massacre by UN Occupation Forces in Port-au-Prince Neighborhood of Cité Soleil

Background Information

In earlier massacres, at least 3 people were killed and scores injured after U.N. and PNH security forces entered the area with "guns shooting everywhere" according to residents. This was followed by a four-day siege of the pro-Aristide neighborhood of Bel Air that began on June 2. At least 30 people were killed and more than 15 homes reportedly burned to the ground.

The San Francisco Labor Council sent a small delegation of U.S. trade unionists and human rights workers to participate in the National Congress of the Confederation of Haitian Workers, held in Port-au-Prince July 1st and 2nd, as well as to investigate the labor and human rights conditions in Haiti. Toward the end of our mission, on July 6th, we received an eyewitness report from local Haitian human rights workers that UN military forces had carried out a massacre in one of Port-au-Prince's poorest neighborhoods, Cité Soleil. We extended our trip to investigate the report.

Extending up from the capital's port, Cité Soleil is a vast ghetto -- reminiscent of the "townships" in South Africa under apartheid -- of tin shacks, unpaved roads, open sewage streams, lack of stable electricity and plumbing, as well as widespread malnutrition, illiteracy, and disease. It is also a community of political resistance, consisting of thousands of people -- young and old -- who provide part of the militant base in Port-au-Prince of Lavalas, Haiti's majority political party. Many residents of Cité Soleil emphatically told us they will accept nothing less than the restoration of the democratically elected government of President Aristide.

Since the coup on February 29th, 2004 that toppled the Aristide government, the people of Cité Soleil and other popular neighborhoods in the capital have been the target of systematic repression -- including extrajudicial executions -- by the Haitian National Police. Armed networks established by young adults in Cité Soleil -- labeled "gangs" by the authorities -- have attempted to provide security for a community facing almost daily incursions and shootings at the hands of the National Police. The community networks also provide vital social services such as education and food for the population.

The UN Mission in Haiti -- MINUSTAH -- has insisted that these networks turn in their arms, but has not shown the capability or willingness to rein in the police units that have been terrorizing the population of Cité Soleil. The grass-roots networks have refused to disarm under the prevailing conditions, and have clashed with both police and UN military forces on multiple occasions.

Investigation Methodology

Our delegation, joined by Haitian human rights workers, carried out the following steps to investigate the massacre allegation:

1) We viewed film footage taken by a Haitian who was on the scene when the UN operation was occurring on July 6th and we also took down his eye witness testimony.

2) We visited Cité Soleil on July 7th, the day after the UN military operation there, conducted interviews with many community members, videotaped these interviews, and also videotaped physical damage to people's homes and neighborhood infrastructure, as well as corpses still on the scene.

3) We carried out an interview the following day, July 8th, with the military high command of MINUSTAH, Lt. General Augusto Heleno and Colonel Morneau regarding the operation.

4) We paid a return visit to Cité Soleil on July 9th during the community funeral service for a community leader slain during the operation, gathered more information from community members, filmed more infrastructure damage, and interviewed the Cité Soleil Red Cross staff.

5) We interviewed the staff at Medecins Sans Frontieres, the primary hospital in Port-au-Prince that serves the people of Cité Soleil. [Unlike other hospitals, it does not charge a fee for service.] The staff shared with our delegation their registry records on the number of Cité Soleil residents treated on July 6th, the nature of their wounds and treatment, and the comparison of this day to other recent days.

In sharing our findings, we will not use the name of the Haitian human rights workers or anyone currently living in Cité Soleil for their protection.

Investigation Findings

Our delegation uncovered extensive evidence that indicates there was indeed a massacre conducted by UN military forces in Cité Soleil on the morning of July 6th. We will first present the official version of events, as rendered by the military command staff of MINUSTAH and a MINUSTAH spokesperson. We will then proceed to share the evidence we gathered that contradicts their version of events.

According to Lt. General Augusto Heleno and Colonel Morneau, a little more than 300 UN troops, led by a Jordanian contingent, surrounded Cité Soleil at approximately 3 AM on July 6th. They also surrounded the community with 18-20 Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs), which appear to be like tanks, mounted with a cannon, but do not have tank treads. MINUSTAH military spokesperson Colonel Eloifi Boulbars stated that the number of APCs involved in the operation was 41, as reported by the Haitian media.

Heleno and Morneau denied that the APCs used cannons in the operation. They stated that one helicopter was used, flying above the community at 3000 feet, for observation purposes only. They stated that this helicopter did not fire ammunition down into the community. They did not mention if grenades or tear gas were used. The number of troops and APCs had effectively choked off ways into and out of Cité Soleil by the time the operation began to unfold.

In our interview, Heleno and Morneau reported that the purpose of the operation was to capture Dread Wilme, a leader of one of Cité Soleil's armed community networks and viewed as a "gang" leader by the UN occupation forces. They acknowledged the UN forces surrounded the community and attempted to launch a surprise assault by a smaller contingent of 10-15 UN soldiers, but that "gang" members fired on them first, provoking a firefight. They claimed that the UN soldiers "never fire first" in their operations. They claimed that the UN forces launched the operation into the community at approximately 5:30 AM.

Both Heleno and Morneau said they did not know of any civilian casualties, nor had they received reports of such casualties from the Red Cross. According to Boulbars, again as reported in the Haitian media, "numerous bandits were killed during the operation, including five in the house of Dread Wilme." He stated to the media that bodies were not recovered because soldiers had other things to do. No UN soldiers were killed during the operation. Morneau suggested to us in our interview that the corpses still in the community after the operation could have been people killed by "gang" members and then falsely blamed on the UN forces. He suggested that ballistics tests be conducted on these bodies.

Lt. General Augusto Heleno defended the operation, asking the human rights delegation why they only seemed to care about the rights of the "outlaws" and not those of the "legal forces" in the country.

According to the eyewitness account from a Haitian (who shall remain anonymous for this report) who was present in Cité Soleil during the operation and who did get some film footage of the operation as it unfolded, a very different picture emerges. Like the official UN account, he reported that UN forces surrounded Cité Soleil, as stated by UN military command staff, sealing off the alleys with tanks [APCs] and troops. He reported that UN forces concentrated on the Cité Soleil districts of Boisneuf and Project Drouillard. He further reported that not one, but two helicopters flew overhead.

From this point on, his account diverges considerably from the official UN account. He reported that at 4:30 AM, UN forces launched the offensive, shooting into houses, shacks, a church, and a school with machine guns, APC cannons, and tear gas. The eyewitness reported that when people fled to escape the tear gas, UN troops gunned them down from the back.

UN forces shot out electric transformers in the neighborhood. People were killed in their homes and also just outside of their homes, on the way to work. According to this account, one man named Leon Cherry, age 46, was shot and killed on his way to work for a flower company. Another man, Mones Belizaire, was shot as he got ready to go to work in a local sweatshop and subsequently died from a stomach infection. A woman who was a street vendor was shot in the head and killed instantly. One man was shot in his ribs while he was trying to brush his teeth.

Another man was shot in the jaw as he left his house to try and get some money for his wife's medical costs; he endured a slow death. Yet another man named Mira was shot and killed while urinating in his home. A mother, Sonia Romelus, and her two young children were killed in their home, reportedly by UN fire after UN forces lobbed a 83-CC gas grenade into their home.

The video footage taken by this eyewitness during the operation shows many of these killings while they were occurring. While it does not show images of the UN troops as they were firing into the community, one can view at least 10 unarmed people either in the process of being killed or who were already killed. Many were killed by headshots, such as 31-year-old Leonce Chery moments after a gun shot ripped off his jaw. Chery was clearly unarmed. There are audible machine gun blasts occurring in the background. The video footage also depicts the bodies of Sonia Romelus and her two young children, lying in blood on the floor of their home. Apparently, Sonia was killed by the same bullet that passed through the body of her one-year old infant son Nelson.

She was reportedly holding him as the UN opened fire. Next to their two bodies is that of her four-old son Stanley Romelus who was killed by a shot to the head. The video footage shows a weeping Fredi Romelus, recounting how UN troops lobbed a red smoke grenade into his house and then opened fire killing his wife and two children. "They surrounded our house this morning and I ran thinking my wife and the children were behind me. They couldn't get out and the blan [UN] fired into the house." The video also shows the grenade canister, apparently left in the house.

The eyewitness source claimed that the operation was primarily conducted by UN forces, with the Haitian National Police this time taking a back seat.

In summing up his testimony, the source claims to have personally viewed 20 people killed by UN forces during and after the operation, in addition to five people killed who were buried by their families and yet another five people from the community who have been missing since the operation was launched.

When our delegation, joined by other Haitian human rights workers, entered Cité Soleil the day after the operation, in the afternoon of July 7th, we gathered extensive evidence that corroborated his testimony and further indicated that the people being killed in the video footage were, in fact, killed by UN forces. The team gathered testimony from many members of the community, young and old, men, women, and youth.

Community residents said UN forces had reduced the entrances and exits into and out of the ghetto by blocking a street with a large shipping container. Our delegation filmed this blocked entrance. Immediately prior to the UN military operation on July 6th in Cité Soleil, there were scarcely more than two functioning pathways into and out of the community.

Community members spoke of how they had been surrounded by tanks [APCs] and troops that sealed off exits from the neighborhoods and then proceeded to assault the civilian population. Reportedly, the assault involved at least one, if not more, helicopters firing down into the neighborhood. The community allowed the Labor/Human Rights Delegation to film the evidence of the massacre, showing the homes -- in some cases made of tin and cardboard -- that had been riddled by bullets, and what appear to be APC cannon fire and helicopter ammunition, as well as showing the team some of the corpses still on the scene, including a mother and her two children and one man whose jaw had been blown off.

The team also filmed a church and a school that had been riddled by ammunition. Allegedly, a preacher was among the victims killed. Some community members allowed the team to interview them, but not to film their faces for fear of their lives. People were traumatized and, in the cases of loved ones of victims, hysterical. One woman spoke of how her husband was shot and killed during the operation, leaving her stranded alone to fend for three children.

Community members also guided us to two electrical transformers in the neighborhood that had been destroyed, claiming that UN troops had shot them and caused a blackout in the course of the operation.

Multiple community residents indicated that they had counted at least 23 bodies of people killed by the UN forces. Community members claimed that UN forces had taken away some of the bodies. Some community estimates range even higher.

The team returned to Cité Soleil two days later, on July 9th, during the community funeral ceremony for Dread Wilme in order to continue the investigation. Hundreds of people from the community -- women and men, children and adults -- turned out for the funeral, held in a street. Armed young adults attempted to provide "security" during the ceremony. While they seemed to elicit no fear from the general population, the UN military forces did. Twice during the ceremony, a rumor traveled through the crowd that UN military forces, represented by several APCs in the near distance, were moving on the ceremony. People fled in terror, in a virtual stampede and then regrouped when they realized that such an operation was not occurring.

During the ceremony, the team interviewed a Reuters reporter who claimed to have filmed bullet holes in roofs in Cité Soleil, which he concluded were caused by machine gun fire from a helicopter assault during the operation. Our team subsequently filmed what appear to be gun shot holes in the roof of a community school and the roof of a nearby building. The Reuters reporter also reported that, while he was not present during the UN operation, he personally filmed seven dead bodies a day or two later.

In the early afternoon of July 9, the team left the ceremony and interviewed a staff member of the Cité Soleil Red Cross. She informed the team that the local Red Cross was not present during the UN operation, but that the Red Cross had transported approximately 15 people to a local hospital two days later on Friday July 8th. She did not know of how many, if any, people were killed during the operation. Additionally, she reported that about one week prior to the "operation," UN military forces had detained her, the President of the local Red Cross, and at least one other local Red Cross member and taken them to the local UN compound for interrogation. She described the detention as intimidating.

After the interview with the local Red Cross, the team left Cité Soleil and interviewed the staff at the Medicins Sans Frontieres Hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince. This is one of the few, if not the only hospitals in Port-au-Prince where people from Cité Soleil can go because it provides free health care unlike other hospitals which charge a service fee. The staff at Medicins Sans Frontieres shared with the team their hospital registry records detailing the number of patients from Cité Soleil that the hospital admitted and treated on July 6th. Starting at approximately 11 AM, the hospital received a total of 26 wounded people from Cité Soleil who were reportedly transported to the facility by Red Cross "tap taps" (local minivans). Of these 26, 20 were women and children and 6 were men. Half of the total number were seriously wounded by abdominal gun shot wounds and were routed into major surgery. One pregnant woman lost her baby. Other victims seem to be in recovery, according to the hospital staff.

All reported that they had been wounded by UN military forces during the operation and some spoke of their homes being destroyed. This number of 26 stands in contrast to the hospital's records of Cité Soleil residents admitted on other days when the figures are much lower, such as 2 people on July 7th and none on July 8th. One Haitian human rights worker present during the meeting with the hospital staff speculated that the number of men from Cité Soleil who were admitted to the hospital was low because many men would fear being arrested by the authorities while in the hospital.

In addition, a Red Cross staff member stated that on Friday, July 8th, the local Red Cross transported 15 victims from the UN operation to a local hospital.

Putting all this evidence together, it is clear that there were substantial civilian casualties from the UN operation that were transported by the local Red Cross and by perhaps other means, to be treated in a local hospital.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the evidence of a massacre by UN military forces in Cité Soleil is substantial and compelling. The eyewitness account of the operation, and the film footage shot by Haitian human rights workers who were on the scene during the operation; the extensive videotaped testimony by community members themselves on July 7th, coupled with tangible, physical damage to their homes and infrastructure; the bodies still on the scene that we have on video; the intense fear of the UN military forces evidenced by hundreds of residents of Cité Soleil; the statements by the local Red Cross; and finally the registry records of the relevant hospital -- all of these pieces of evidence indicate that UN military forces in Haiti today are not engaged in the work of "peacekeeping" as much as they are in the business of repression.

Clearly, further investigation is required to determine the exact number of victims from the operation, their identities, and the reasons for their deaths. One can only wonder why UN forces in Haiti have not, apparently, contacted the relevant hospital or dispatched their own human rights team into Cité Soleil in order to assess the true "collateral damage" resulting from this and other armed incursions by the UN military forces.

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Support U.S.-Cuba Caravan!

The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization and Pastors for Peace is visiting U.S. and Canadian cities as part of the 16th U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan in defiance of the U.S. blockade against Cuba. The caravan will head south along 13 different routes — going through every state in the continental U.S. — before crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on July 27 into Tampico, Mexico. From July 23-30 the Caravan will be in Cuba to deliver humanitarian aid collected in Canada and the U.S. As an expression of support for the Cuban Revolution, the Caravan will also participate in events being held on the occasion of the July 26 anniversary of the historic attack on the Moncada barracks in Cuba.

The Bush administration is stepping up its threats against Americans who refuse to conciliate their conscience and continue to defy the travel ban which makes it illegal to go to Cuba. This includes letters sent from the State Department directly to individuals, threatening prosecution if they travel to Cuba for political events such as the recent Hemispheric Conference Against the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) held in Havana. Despite this intimidation, Americans continue to openly defy the government’s unjust restrictions and show the entire world that the U.S. government does not represent the stand of the American people.

Voice of Revolution calls on everyone to go all out to join the actions and events being organized in this area in support of the caravans. These include a demonstration July 9 at the Peace Bridge athe U.S./Canadian boarder and again August 1 when the Caravan returns from Cuba. The U.S. is again threatening arrests when the brigade returns and united resistance on both sides of the border is needed.

Welcome Back Caravanistas from Cuba! August 1, Front Park near the Peace Bridge, Buffalo, New York

Their will be Welcome Back celebration for the courageous Americans who defied the travel and trade ban against Cuba, and threats of fines and jail. Participants include those with the Pastors for Peace caravan and the Venceremos Brigade. Together the caravanistas will openly return from Cuba by crossing from Canada into the U.S. at the Buffalo, New York, Peace Bridge. Be there!

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Challenging an Immoral Law:

Why We Refuse a License to Deliver Aid to Cuba

With your support IFCO has brought broad-based public attention to the mean spirited blockade against Cuba. Every time the U.S. Treasury Department backs down in the face of our challenge, and allows one of our caravans to cross the border with unlicensed aid for Cuba, we know that our message is being heard at the highest levels in Washington -- and that even Washington understands that its blockade of Cuba is indefensible.

We cannot allow the government to license our conscience. Our faith and humanity demand that we provided “a cup of cold water” (Matthew 25:35) to our brothers and sisters in need. We cannot surrender to Caesar the right to decide who are our brothers and sisters. We cannot accept a law that commands us to treat them as “the enemy” when our faith commands us to love them as members of our own family.

The U.S. government uses its licensing process to create legitimizing exceptions which put a more human face on their brutal blockade. The small amount of “licensed aid” that is allowed to go to Cuba is used by the U.S. government to enhance its public relations image. The U.S. Treasury Department has sent out thousands of letters telling people that the U.S. government is the largest contributor of humanitarian aid to Cuba. In other words, the U.S. is shamelessly taking credit for the very aid it arrested IFCO/Pastors for Peace for delivering without a license. We insist -- as a matter of principle -- that Cuba needs the U.S. trade barrier lifted; Cuba is not asking for charity, but normal trade relations!

The U.S. government uses licensing to maintain control over the flow of aid -- for its own political purposes. By granting some licenses and not others, the government attempts to control which U.S. organizations can send aid to Cuba and which cannot.

While allowing a few licenses but denying commercial trade the U.S. prevents Cuba’s access to the volume of commodities essential to meet the needs of the nation. This is one way our government implements the Helms Burton law -- by allowing small amounts of aid instead of normal trade.

U.S. government control of churches’ prerogative to give aid and charity violates the separation of church and state, which is guaranteed under the First Amendment. Our religious partners in this work rigorously voice their concern about this issue -- just as U.S. journalists have protested that our government has no right to license U.S. news agencies going to Cuba.

We reject the unconstitutional and immoral efforts to require a license for acts of common humanity. Our faith and international law do not permit us to behave in such an immoral, unjust and inhumane way. The Declaration of Independence and the First Amendment of the Constitution were written by men and women who refused to submit their conscience to licensing. We must remain true to the spirit, in spite of the law. By so doing, we will challenge the unjust law and eventually change it. We hope we can count on you to join us!

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UNCHR Working Group Says Cuban Five's Detention is Arbitrary

The UN Commission on Human Rights Arbitrary Detentions Working Group has adopted a resolution of its investigation into the case of the Cuban Five and concluded their imprisonment and treatment are arbitrary.

Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez, Fernando González Llort, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, Ramón Labañino Salazar and René González Sehwerert have been imprisoned in the U.S. for almost 7 years for their activities in fighting terrorism in the U.S.

"It is an important declaration, it is the first time that a special mechanism of the UN has issued an opinion on the case of the Cuban Five," the U.S. National Committee to Free the Cuban Five told Prensa Latina.

The UN Working Group, in Opinion No. 19/2005, noted three aspects of the detention and arrest of the Five that made their detention arbitrary.

Firstly, they were held in solitary confinement for 17 months, weakening their ability to mount an adequate defense, secondly most of the evidence against them was with-held, undermining an equal balance between the prosecution and the defense, and thirdly, the trial was held in Miami where it was impossible to select an impartial jury in a case linked with Cuba.

The Working Group noted that the trial did not take place in the climate of objectivity and impartiality which is required in order to conclude on the observance of the standards of a fair trial, as defined in Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the United States of America is a party.

The Working Group concluded that the three elements, combined together, "are of such gravity that they confer the deprivation of liberty of these five persons an arbitrary character."

Having issued this opinion, the Working Group requested the United States Government to adopt the necessary steps to remedy the situation, in conformity with the principles stated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

(Prensa Latina, July 11, 2005)

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Korea International War Crimes Tribunal

U.S. Guilty of Crimes Against the Korean People

June 25, 2005 marked the 55th anniversary of the Korean War. At 5am on June 25, 1950, the U.S. imperialists along with the south Korean puppet regime of Syngman Rhee invaded north Korea. After forcibly dividing the Korean nation in 1946 and instigating civil war in 1950, the U.S. launched its invasion of Korea with the pretext of helping one country, the Republic of Korea (ROK), to defend itself against “aggression” of another, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), when in reality Korea was and is one nation. The U.S. then engineered a vote in the United Nations to carry on its invasion plans under the UN name and with the participation of its allies.

The U.S. imperialists and its allies committed untold crimes in the 3 years of the Korean War. The DPRK was literally razed to the ground. 428,748 bombs were dropped by the U.S. on Pyongyang alone, one per resident. But the heroic struggle of the Korean people, despite the loss of over 4 million mostly civilian lives, showed the world that the U.S. imperialists’ military might is no match for a people united in the just cause of national and social liberation. The U.S. imperialists were handed a tremendous defeat and were forced to retreat south of the 38th parallel to carry out their offensive against the Korean people, an offensive which continues today.

On this occasion, Voice of Revolution is reprinting below the Final Judgment of the Korea International War Crimes Tribunal held in New York City on June 23, 2001. The Tribunal found the U.S. government guilty on 19 counts of War Crimes, Crimes Against Peace, and Crimes Against Humanity for its actions in Korea from 1945 to the present. Under the banner “Korea is One,” over 600 people from all over the world participated in the Tribunal which was organized by the Korea Truth Commission (KTC), the International Action Center and Veterans for Peace. The Tribunal marked a culmination of 14 months of work by KTC, which pointed out that it is part of a greater historical process by the Korean people struggling to reunify their nation and exercise their long -denied right to self-determination.

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The Members of the Korea International War Crimes Tribunal, meeting in New York, having considered the Indictment for Offenses Committed by the Government of the United States of America Against the People of Korea, 1945-2001, which charges all U.S. Presidents, all Secretaries of State, all Secretaries of Defense, all Secretaries of the armed -services, all Chiefs of Staff, all heads of the Central Intelligence Agency and other U.S. foreign intelligence agencies, all Directors of the National Security Agency, all National Security Advisors, all U.S. military commanders in Korea and commanders of units which participated in war crimes, over the period from 1945 to the present, with nineteen separate War Crimes, Crimes Against Peace and Crimes Against Humanity in violation of the Charter of the United Nations, the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal, the Hague Regulations of 1907, the Geneva Protocol of 1925, the 1929 and 1949 Geneva Conventions, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, other international agreements and customary international law, the laws of the United States, the laws of Korea and the laws of other nations that have been forced to provide bases, support and military personnel for United States actions against Korea;

- having the right and obligation as citizens of the world to sit in judgment regarding violations of international -humanitarian law;

- having heard the testimony from various hearings of the Korea Truth Commission held over the past year and having received evidence from various other Commission hearings which recite the evidence there gathered;

- having been provided with documentary evidence, eyewitness testimonies, photos, videotapes, special reports, expert analyses and summaries of evidence available to the Korea Truth Commission;

- having access to all evidence, knowledge and expert opinion in the Commission files or available to the Commission staff;

- having considered the Report from the Korean Truth Commission (South) on U.S. War Crimes During the Korean War, providing eyewitness accounts by survivors of massacres of civilians in farming villages in southern Korea by U.S. military forces during the 1950-53 war;

- having considered the Report from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on U.S. War Crimes During the Korean War, prepared by the Investigation Committee of the National Front for Democratic Reunification, providing details on war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the north by the U.S. from June to December 1950;

- having been provided by the Commission, or otherwise obtained, various books, articles and other written materials on various aspects of events and conditions in Korea, and in the military and arms establishments;

- having heard the presentations of the Korea Truth Commission in public hearing on June 23, 2001, and the testimony, evidence and summaries there presented;

- having considered the testimonies of those Koreans denied visas to personally attend the hearings by the governments of the U.S. and the Republic of Korea (ROK), but presented in the form of videotaped interviews and documents;

- having been informed that the Korea Truth Commission gave ample opportunity to U.S. government defendants to attend and present evidence in their defense, which up to the moment of this verdict they have been unable or unwilling to do;

- and having met, considered and deliberated with each other and with Commission staff and having considered all the evidence that is relevant to the nineteen charges of criminal conduct alleged in the Initial Complaint, make the following findings:

Findings:

The Members of the International War Crimes Tribunal find the accused Guilty on the basis of the evidence against them: each of the nineteen separate crimes alleged in the Initial Complaint has been established to have been committed beyond a reasonable doubt. The Members find these crimes to have occurred during three main periods in the U.S. intervention in and occupation of Korea.

1. The best-known period is from June 25, 1950, until July 27, 1953, the “Korean War,” when over 4.6 million Koreans -perished, according to conservative Western estimates, including 3 million civilians in the north and 500,000 civilians in the south. The -evidence of U.S. war crimes presented to this Tribunal included eyewitness testimony and documentary accounts of massacres of thousands of civilians in southern Korea by U.S. military forces during the war. Abundant evidence was also presented concerning criminal and even genocidal U.S. conduct in northern Korea, including the systematic leveling of most buildings and dwellings by U.S. artillery and aerial bombardment; widespread atrocities committed by U.S. and R.O.K. forces against civilians and prisoners of war; the deliberate destruction of facilities essential to civilian life and economic production; and the use of illegal weapons and biological and chemical warfare by the U.S. against the people and the environment of northern Korea. Documentary and eyewitness evidence was also presented showing gross and systematic violence committed against women in northern and southern Korea, characterized by mass rapes, sexual assaults and murders.

2. Less known but of crucial importance in understanding the war period is the preceding five years, from the landing of U.S. troops in Korea on September 8, 1945, to the outbreak of the war. The Members of the Tribunal examined extensive evidence of U.S. crimes against peace and crimes against humanity in this period. The Members conclude that the U.S. government acted to divide Korea against the will of the vast majority of the people, limit its sovereignty, create a police state in southern Korea using many former collaborators with Japanese rule, and provoke tension and threats between southern and northern Korea, opposing and disrupting any plans for peaceful -reunification. In this period the U.S. trained, directed and supported the ROK in systematic murder, imprisonment, torture, surveillance, harassment and violations of human rights of hundreds of thousands of people, especially of those individuals or groups considered -nationalists, leftists, peasants seeking land reform, union organizers and/or those sympathetic to the north.

3. The Members find that in the period from July 1953 to the present, the U.S. has continued to maintain a powerful military force in southern Korea, backed by nuclear weapons, in violation of international law and intended to obstruct the will of the Korean people for reunification. Military occupation has been accompanied by the organized sexual exploitation of Korean women, frequently leading to violence and even murder of women by U.S. soldiers who have felt above the law. U.S.-imposed economic sanctions have impoverished and debilitated the people of northern Korea, leading to a reduction of life expectancy, widespread malnutrition and even starvation in a country that once exported food. The refusal of the U.S. government to grant visas to a delegation from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who planned to attend this Tribunal only confirms the criminal intent of the defendants to isolate those whom they have abused to prevent them from telling their story to the world.

In all these 55 years, the U.S. government has systematically manipulated, controlled, directed, misinformed and restricted press and media coverage to obtain consistent support for its military intervention, occupation and crimes against the people of Korea. It has also inculcated racist attitudes within the U.S. troops and general population that prepared them to commit and/or accept atrocities and genocidal policies against the Korean people.

It has violated the Constitution of the United States, the delegation of powers over war and the military, the Bill of Rights, the UN Charter, international law and the laws of the ROK, DPRK, People’s Republic of China, Japan and many others, in its lawless determination to exercise its will over the Korean -peninsula.

The Members of the Korea International War Crimes Tribunal hold the United States government and its leaders accountable for these criminal acts and condemn those found guilty in the strongest possible terms.

Recommendations:

The Members call for the immediate end of U.S. occupation of all Korean territory, the removal of all U.S. bases, forces and materiel, including land mines, from the region, the rectification of environmental damage, and the cessation of overt and covert operations against northern Korea.

The Members urge the immediate -revocation of all embargoes, sanctions and penalties against northern Korea because they constitute a continuing crime against humanity.

The Members call for emergency funds to be provided to the people of northern Korea through the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to feed the hungry and care for the sick, whose suffering is a direct result of U.S. policies.

The Members call for reparations to be paid by the U.S. government to all of Korea to compensate for the damage inflicted by 55 years of violence and economic warfare.

The Members further call for an immediate end to all interference by the U.S. aimed at preventing the people of Korea from reunifying as they choose.

The Members call for the U.S. government to make full disclosure of all information about U.S. crimes and wrongful acts committed in Korea since September 7, 1945.

The Members urge the Commission to provide for the permanent preservation of the reports, evidence and materials gathered to make them available to others, and to seek ways to provide the widest possible distribution of the truth about U.S. crimes in Korea.

We urge all people of the world to act on recommendations developed by the Commission to hold power accountable and to secure social justice on which lasting peace must be based.

Done in New York this 23rd day of June, 2001


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