Remember that Monday, July 23, around noon, a squad composed of 36 officers of the Departmental Unit of Law Enforcement (UDMO), had launched a muscular, aimed at evicting 140 families, who illegally occupied the park. An operation that went wrong and resulted in several deaths, injuries and extensive damage https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-6235-haiti-social-a-police-operation-goes-wrong-at-the-park-la-visite.html

A week after this incident, the victims' families and the entire population of Seguin, are still plunged in consternation, following this intervention, that claimed the lives of four citizens. Moreover, the victims 'bodies spent five days in a house because of the precarious economic situation of families of victims. Finally, faced with this situation, the Departmental delegation of the Southeast, through the Judge of Peace of the town of Marigot, presented an envelope of 150.000 gourdes to the families of victims, to enable them to organize the funeral.

Monday, July 30, during a press conference, the engineer Gustave Fritz, one of the notables of the area and also the representative special of families of victims of Parc La Visite, denounced the way the authorities have acted in this matter. The latter speaks of a hidden hand behind this intervention "Se pa yon dosye senp, se zafé yon ti gwoup boujwa Pétion-Ville ak Jacmel kap règl" indicated the engineer Gustave stressing that this eviction of peasants intervenes curiously, while investments are currently done in the tourism sector in the region, and what would aim to better position these investors to enable them to make profits in the future...

Gustave Fritz commended the efforts of staff of the Division of Human Rights, Civil Affairs and the UNPol of the Minustah, who played a mediating role in this matter. He urged the Haitian state to find an agreement with the population concerned, by building a village to house the peasants before moving them. "Otherwise, the populations are ready to face any obstacle. We begin to mobilize the peasants in the South, the North and Northeast of the country to make a revolution, faced with this situation," affirmed Mr. Fritz.

Despite the four gunshot victims found on the spot, the departmental authorities, who initially denied the existence of victims still do not want to recognize that these people were killed during this operation, suggesting that these bodies were transported after the intervention... . According to a reliable source, some authorities have confessed during a meeting with the Minustah, that the approach was badly made and that no compromise of negotiations had been found.

Meanwhile, families of victims continue to demand justice, complaining that so far they have not been able to get the minutes from the observation of Judge of Peace, to enable them to take legal action against persons responsible for this tragedy. Furthermore, they emphasize that the bodies were buried without an autopsy...

Note that Magellan Frantz Pierre-Louis, the Secretary General of the Delegation Southeast, during an intervention in the press stated that about 100 acres forested of the Park La Visite, were destroyed by fire following this operation. Without the intervention of the Delegation of Southeast and of CASECS of this locality, that have mobilized tens of citizens to fight fire with rudimentary means, much of the park would have been completely destroyed.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-6247-haiti-social-the-minustah-concerned-following-the-incidents-of-park-la-visite.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-6235-haiti-social-a-police-operation-goes-wrong-at-the-park-la-visite.html

HL/ Claudy Bélizaire (Correspondant Jacmel)