Open
Letter to the Secretary General of
the
Organization of American State (OAS)
May
27, 2002
M.
César Gaviria
Washington,
D.C.
Dear
Mister Secretary General
In reference
to Resolution
CP\RES 806 (1302\02) approved January 15, 2002
by the Permanent Council of the OAS, providing the
creation of an independent international investigation
commission whose task it will be to evaluate the events
of December 17, 2001 and to seek to establish possible
link with those of July 28, 2001.
Having
been arrested on July 31, 2001, under the order of
the Commission which had for duty to investigate the
events of July 28, 2001, then freed after a prolonged
detention of 25 days;
Trusting
in the independence and objectivity of the Investigating
Commission of the OAS and knowing that it is still
possible for this case to be manipulated by those
who ordered my arbitrary arrest, I have the privilege
of presenting these facts to you:
My name
is Mario Andrésol, superior officer the Haitian National
Police since September 4, 1995. I was alternately
Superintendent of Police in Pétion-Ville (1995-1997),
Principal Superintendent for the Port-au-Prince District
(1997-1998), Central Director of the Judiciary Police
(1998-2001), appointed to the General Direction of
Police since March 2001.
At the
Central Direction of the Judiciary Police, where I
spent about 30 months, I was the number 3 of the Haitian
National Police with five specialized units under
my command: Anti Drug Bureau, Bureau of Criminal Affairs
and crimes of political nature, bureau of Scientific
Police, Rescue and Intervention Brigade, Brigade of
judiciary intelligence. My jurisdiction covered the
entire territory. In other words, I was the armed
hand of the law and worked for the District Attorneys
and investigative judges with total independence,
respecting the law and procedure.
Having
understood that the process of building a legitimate
State that all Haitians long for is necessarily linked
to an independent judiciary and the neutrality of
the Police, I have worked with all my strength and
intelligence to reenforce the law by playing totally
my role of auxiliary of the judicial system during
my thirty years of service. My independence and my
determination to fight crimes under all its forms,
cause me, unwittingly, to harm the interests of certain
personalities who are very powerful today.
But
imbued with the historical role I feel I was called
on to play in this particular context, I deliberately
chose to respect to the letter the noble ideal of
President Aristide as it is spelled out in his political
program in the following trilogy: Justice – Transparence
– Participation.
Anxious
to set the good example, I decided to strive as a
messenger, even as a worker for this justice. And
unexpectedly, I only reaped hostility from the President’s
entourage and followers. Some of them even went as
far as warning me that in the year 2001 they will
make me pay for my audacity.
Captain
of the dismantled Army, I never received any reproach
from the regimes which succeeded each other since
1994, in regard to my behavior, the way I carried
out my duties, even less in respect to my leadership,
before, during and after the coup. Besides, this is
the very reason why I stayed so long within the Police
Force from 1995. The popular cohorts would have long
pointed me out as a putschist, criminal, thieve or
schemer if they had reasons.
In accomplishing
my duty, I never thought I would have found myself
face to face with the followers of the trilogy: Justice
– Transparence – Participation. Today the
friends of those whom my task forced me to pursue
are: Secretary of State, Senators, high officials
in the Administration, high-ranking Police officials,
Superintendents or Officers. They have emerged
or came out from the dark, thanks to the return to
power of President Aristide on February 7, 2001.
Mr. Secretary General,
Convinced
that I was working for the good of the country and
for the Police institution, I never wavered from the
objective I set for myself, despite the threats, the
intimidations and the attempts against my life. The
results speak for themselves.
Within
the framework of the fight against drug trafficking,
the destruction of of 1,93 kilos of narcotics was
undertaken, that is to say, 1,092 kilos of cocaine
and 201 kilos of marijuana, in the presence of
Haitian judiciary authorities, the press and
agents of the DEA, who tested them the previous day
and on the day of their destruction.
A- Within
the scope of the fight against money laundering, the seizure of U.S. $4,098,532.00 (four million
98 thousand and five hundred thirty two U.S. dollars),
was carried out, in conjunction with the DEA, of which
U.S. $1,131,841 (one million one hundred thirty one
thousand and eight hundred
forty one dollars) was returned to their owners
by the Haitian judiciary authorities and U.S. $ 2,966,691
dollars (two million nine hundred sixty six thousand
and six hundred ninety one dollars U.S.) was deposited
at the General Direction of Taxes, therefore, in custody
of the justice system, in conformity with transparency.
(Justificative documents available).
B- In
the name of justice, 151 criminal files and 177 individuals
who were the accused of such crimes or were accessories
to them were transferred to the prosecutor’s
office after arrest for prosecution, while 100 others
caught in the act of drug possession were brought
before the judge. Yet they were freed without being
tried or condemned, as required by Haitian law.
That
is little, one may say. But for a country like Haiti
where investigations go on forever, where the culture
of impunity is always the norm, that is very much,
particularly in the post-1994 era where criminals,
drug traffickers, members of the Police and judges
get on well. The way things are going, it will be
difficult to do any better, for three months after
my transfer from the Judiciary Police, I already had
three successors. The first two were removed following
a scandal linked to corruption, and the third, who
was my assistant, is still at his post. If he intends
to follow in my footsteps, he will also find himself in jail one day under the accusation of
«plotting against the security of the State», «assassination
of police officers» or of anything to impede the progress
of justice.
The
Police institution, the cornerstone in the building
of a legitimate State, is held hostage today by politically
influential external groups who intend, through their
allies in the government holding key positions, to
install a system of corruption.
No one
is a prophet at home, goes the saying. For having
shown the way, I was tagged an agent of the Foreigner,
as though it was forbidden to a Haitian citizen to
have noble aspirations and to want to serve his country
in his sphere of action.
Mr.
Secretary General,
As I
expected, on March 27 2001, I was transferred to the
General Direction of Police, but the chief of cabinet
of the General Director asked me to stay home. I will
be contacted by the Police, he told me. Informed that
certain individuals linked to the Police had met on
May 13, 2001, to plan my murder, I filed a complaint
against X in a letter dated May 23, 2001 addressed
to the then director of the Judiciary Police. In that
letter I explained how my future assassins intended
to carry out their plan. I even gave some clues to
facilitate an investigation. To this date nothing
has been done to either confirm or refute my claim.
On July
31, 2001, the Secretary of State for Public Safety
called me on the phone to invite me to a meeting with
the investigating commission on the events of July
28, 2001, which was being held at the Ministry of
Justice. After the meeting, Mr. Jean-Gérard Dubreuil,
the president of the commission, promised to call
on me for future consultations. Which means that the
Commission had nothing against me. Otherwise, why
allow me to leave since it would have been much simpler
to take pre-emptive administrative measures against
me through the Chief General Inspector, who was present;
then inform me of my arrest by way of the district
attorney (the public prosecutor) who was also available.
They let me go, knowing fully well that outside
hooded policemen and, among them, other killers,
equally hooded, and acting at the behest of my powerful
enemies, were waiting for me.
As I
mentioned in my letter of complaint filed May 23,
once I left the Ministry, my vehicle was followed
by two others in which heavily-armed hooded men were riding. On two occasions, they
had held out their weapons to open fire, but maneuvering
from my driver stopped them. Finally, my driver entered
a gas station where there were numerous witnesses.
There, those men held us at gun point, forced us to
step out of the vehicle. My wife who was with me was
manhandled, thrown on the ground before being bluntly
hand-cuffed. Then taken to a police precinct, we were
locked in separate cells.
There
we were, arrested at an hour unprovided by the law,
without warrants or reports and without any charge
against us, in flagrant violation of the Haitian Constitution.
It was 8 p.m.
On August
1st, without any explanation, my wife and my driver
were set free. On August 7, the Judiciary Police sent
to the office of the prosecutor an information report
dated August 3 in which it is said that I was arrested
within the context of the investigation of the events
of July 28 2001. The 48-hour police custody having
expired, the police had to antedate the report.
On August
10, after a hearing of habeas corpus, a judge ordered
my release immediately. Despite this ruling I was
kept in prison for fifteen more days.
Between
August 10 and 24, my file was under three different
proceedings at the same time.
On August
24, while the ruling of August 10 was not yet executed,
I was invited to appear before an investigative judge.
After the hearing he sent me back into custody.
On August
24, 2001, at about 10 p.m., I was let go, illegally,
without a single order, no order of liberation, no
paper whatsoever, like a prisoner who was being helped
to escape.
I remain
convinced that, on July 31, 2001, the plan to assassinate
me had fallen through. My assassins and their accomplices
had no choice but to have me arrested and to send
me to prison in order to perpetrate their crime away
from indiscrete eyes.
Since
coming home after my liberation, I live almost underground,
not wanting to give my ever more powerful enemies
an occasion to try again.
Ten
months after the events of July 28, 2001, we all wait
for the light to be shed on this affair. Those who
were killed with bullets or who have died from being
thrown from a helicopter as well as those who were
arrested, tortured and unjustly accused demand justice,
true justice, the one for which I fought.
I follow
with great interest the moves of Investigative Commission
of the OAS, hoping that it will finally bring out
the truth. I remain at its disposal and wish it success
in its work.
Yours
sincerely,
Mario Andrésol
cc:
Amnistie
internationale,
NHCR,
La Ligue
haïtienne des droits humains,
La Commission
inter-américaine des droits de l’homme,
David
Lee, chief of the OAS Mission in Haiti
The
Diplomatic Missions in Haiti,
The
Media
Haiti@inxil.com
· James
R. Morrell, executive director