LA Times biased reporting on Haiti

Letter to the Los Angeles Times

To:
Editor: Marjorie Miller
Deputy Editor: Mary Braswell
and
Foreign Bureaus
Caribbean: Carol J. Williams


Dear Los Angeles Times,

This is in regards to the article by Carol J. Williams, titled U.N. Chief in Haiti Found Dead dated January 8, 2005.

Over a year ago students across Southern California wrote in multiple letters to the Los Angeles Times about the
poorly researched and biased articles on Venezuela by Times Staff Writer Carol J. Williams.

Now Williams is on the Haiti beat, as the head of your Caribbean Bureaus. In covering Haiti she has continued repeating the U.S. State Department's mantra.

In her article, which makes numerous references to the UN's recent history in Haiti, she sources: (1) the Brazilian army, (2) an official of Haiti's interim dictatorship Rosemond Pradel, (3) the OAS, (4) a U.S. diplomat,(5) an OAS elections coordinator, (6) UN mission chief Juan Gabriel Valdes, (7) and an October Times interview with Bacellar.

Not once does she quote a Haitian who was a victim of the UN massacres or the Haiti National Police attacks on unarmed demonstrators.

Not once does Williams mention the mounting evidence and numerous charges implicating the UN Jordanian and Brazilian UN military contingents in massacres of Haitians. See http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/7_12_5.html

Not once does she provide a context to events in Haiti - with peaceful pro-Aristide protesters being shot in the back by the Haitian National Police, which is well documented. (See http://www.ijdh.org/articles/article_recent_news_april-4-28-05.htm)

Not once, in any of her articles on Haiti, has she mentioned the MASSIVE U.S. and Canadian funding for the opposition to Lavalas and the ousted Aristide government in Haiti. USAID Democracy Promotion in Haiti, nearly all of which goes to anti-Lavalas organizations, now hovers at around $3,000,000 a year. While CIDA, USAID OTI, the European Union, the UNOPS, and the National Endowment for Democracy spend much more. The international community has used a massive infusion of "democracy promotion" funding as the only means to subvert popular democracy in Haiti.


Not once does she mention the fact that the newly assigned Chilean Gen. Eduardo Aldunate of the UN military mission in Haiti was a loyal officer of the U.S. backed dictator Pinochet. The School of the Americas Watch has recently released research on him.

Not once does she mention in regards to Bacellar's death, that according to several sources in the Haitian press, Bacellar had participated in a tense meeting with the president of Haiti's Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Reginald Boulos, and Group 184 leader Andy Apaid the night before.

Not once has she mentioned the convicted involvement of the Haitian National Police in the kidnappings in Haiti.

Not once has she mentioned the firing of thousands of Teleco, FAENNE, CTH, Bus Driver workers in Haiti. (see http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/dec2005/hait-d30.shtml)

Not once has she mentioned the over 1,000 political prisoners in Haiti. See Amnesty International for more information on this. (see also http://www.counterpunch.org/terrall12262005.html)

NOT ONCE in her reporting has she ever mentioned the recent USAID sponsored soccer game, in which the interim government's Haitian national police along with their "machete attache army" attacked and hacked to death numerous unarmed Lavalas supporters who were attending the game. (See http://reedlindsay.com/2005/08/28/soccer-tournament-in-haiti-becomes-bloodbath)

Not once has she mentioned the drug trafficking connections of Youri Latortue, nephew and chief bodyguard of Haiti's interim dictator, Gerlad Latortue. (See http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8165)

Carol Williams is providing an extremely skewed view on events in Haiti. How can she call herself an investigative journalist when she never once questions the State Department’s mantra on Haiti? With students and community activists from across the Southern California area we hope to, once again, mobilize and inform the Los Angeles Times readership about Carrol J. Williams biased reporting. One must wonder, if like the recently exposed Regin Alexander (who was working the US Government funded National Endowment for Democracy while writing for AP and stringing for the New York Times), Carol Williams might have an ulterior motive for her one sided reporting on Haiti. See http://www.haitiaction.net/News/FP/12_29_5/12_29_5.html
and the AP article which the LA Times website carries http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-haiti-freelance-termination,1,276329.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines


Thank you and I request a reply from the Los Angeles Times Foreign Editor and Carol J. Williams.
Thank you.

-Jeb Sprague
Long Beach, CA
CSULB Campus Progressives