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10th Anniversary of the Disappearance of Lovinsky Pierre Antoine.

8/17/2017

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Oil on canvas
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Lovinsky Pierre Antoine, February 2007. 
Lovinsky was last seen August 12, 2007 after leaving a meeting with a human rights delegation from the
United States and Canada. His abandoned vehicle was found the next morning and he has not been heard from since.
​ 
"Lovinsky dedicated his life to fighting against the restoration of the Haitian Army.  Today and into the future, we honor his work with victims of the Haitian Military, police forces and of the United Nations troops, who have occupied Haiti since 2004.  We must hold the UN occupying force accountable for the disappearance of Lovinsky under their watch and for all the crimes it has committed against the Haitian people." 

Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine – 10 years since his kidnapping and disappearance 
statement by the Haiti Action Committee, August 12, 2017
www.haitisolidarity.net

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Sovereignty and Justice in Haiti - February 18, 2007
by Darren Ell
​
Feb 18, 2007
Part 2 of interview with Lovinsky Pierre Antoine before he was disappearance in UN/US occupied Haiti. - 
Sovereignty and Justice in Haiti - February 18, 2007
Part 1 of interview with Lovinsky Pierre Antoine before he was disappearance in UN/US occupied Haiti. - 
Haiti Under Occupation: What happened to Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine?

Darren Ell (DE): Why did you choose the name September 30th Foundation"?
Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine (LPA): It's a matter of working with memory, of preserving in a very vivid way the memory of the horrifying things the population experienced during the first coup d'état. We felt obligated to preserve this aspect of our history in the memory of the population. We chose the name "30th of September" because the first coup d'état against President Aristide took place on September 30th 1991.
DE: You fled Haiti in 2004. Explain the reasons.
LPA: I left Haiti not only because my organization was very politically active, but also because I had led a relentless campaign against the return of the former Haitian army with an exhibition of 200 photographs, a traveling exhibition that I took around the country to remind people of the horrors committed by the former military, and to show that we were against the return of this military. Since the US government - via the CIA - used this same former army to carry out murderous actions against the Haitian population in 2003, followed by the coup of February 29th 2004, they were looking for me. I had to hide for several days...
Five year tribute to Lovinsky Pierre Antoine
by Kevin Pina, Haiti Information Project
on Flashpoints radio, KPFA, (Audio)
One Year Anniversary of the Abduction of Lovinsky Pierre Antoine
Cover-up grows in the case of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine
Kevin Pina, 
​August 26, 2008 

"Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine was last seen in Haiti after leaving a meeting with a human rights delegation from the United States and Canada on August 12, 2007. His abandoned vehicle was found the next morning and he has not been heard from since. Although his alleged abductors contacted friends and family two days later demanding a $300,000 ransom, most people including Amnesty International, believe this was a ruse to cover up what was actually a political abduction aimed at silencing Mr. Pierre-Antoine. They point to the fact that most kidnappers maintain contact in an effort to negotiate and arrange for payment. Amnesty International issued an appeal last January where they stated, "Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine's abduction was reportedly made to look like a kidnapping for ransom. On Tuesday 14 August, the alleged abductors called Pierre-Antoine's family asking for a ransom of USD 300,000. However there has been no further contact from the abductors."

Five Months after the DIsappearance.
Haiti: Leading Human Rights Activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine Missing for Four Months 
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch Remain Silent
Joe Emersberger,
December 13, 2007
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"For over a decade groups organized by Pierre-Antoine have provided medical and psychological assistance to the victims of violence in some of Haiti’s poorest slums. The groups he helped to found also assisted migrants deported from abroad to resettle in Haiti, and he played a leading role in the successful campaign to disband the Haitian army. 
Pierre-Antoine was abducted shortly after he had announced his intention to run as a Fanmi Lavalas candidate, the party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in the upcoming round of parliamentary elections in Haiti.
As a leading human rights activist for the poor, he was outspoken in denouncing human rights abuses under the UN and US-backed dictatorship of Gerard Latortue, which governed for two years following the coup that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February of 2004.
Under the Latortue regime an estimated 4,000 political murders were perpetrated in the greater Port-au-Prince area alone (overwhelmingly of Lavalas activists and supporters) according blished in the Lancet medical journal.
​Pierre-Antoine’s wife, Michele, says she has received no help from the Haitian government, and that she continues to call the Haitian police weekly, but that they don’t seem eager to help. According to Michele, the U.S. Embassy in Haiti told her that they didn’t have time to look for her husband."
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    The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF) based in Oakland, California  places funds directly into the hands of the people in Haiti who need it most. This is Haitian-directed aid, an important distinction. HERF acts immediately to assist Haitians with the cholera epidemic, health care, education, human rights, women's organizing, local food production and more. 

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