Jean Bertrand Aristide, Amaral Duclona and the murder of Bernard Lauture in Haiti by Stanley Lucas

    A. Duclona         J.B. Aristide      J.P. Lauture       J.A.Nazaire

Ten years ago, a Haitian businessman named Claude Bernard Lauture, 51, and known as “Billy” was kidnapped and murdered.  This week the Court of Assise in Paris convicted Amaral Duclona, a Haitian national, of the murder and sentenced him to 25 years in jail.  If it weren’t for a Radio Vision 2000 interview with his widow, Marie Louise Michele Lauture, this conviction would have gone unnoticed. But on May 26, Marie Louise shared with the Haitian public her suffering and what she went though for the past ten years.  This was one of the most emotional interviews I have heard and was shocking for all listeners that day.  In it, she stated that former President Jean Bertrand Aristide was behind the murder, and she laid out his criminal mindset and the weaknesses of Haiti’s judicial system.

    Bernard Lauture

Bernard and Marie Louise Michele Lauture had five children over the course of a happy marriage.  He was a reliable and respected Haitian businessman in the electrical engineering field.  In 2003-04, the normally quiet couple took to the streets to peacefully protest against the growing repression and corruption in the Lavalas government led by Jean Bertrand Aristide.

By way of background, on November 26, 2000 Aristide put in place a puppet electoral body to steal the election.  News reports and Aristide supporters announced that he won a whopping 83% of the vote, but neglect to mention that voter turnout was about 1% and ballot boxes were stuffed.  Then President Bill Clinton and National Security   Anthony Lake  Lake legitimized the electoral coup by signing an eight-point agreement with Aristide, who conceded to implement a variety of democratic measure and promote the rule of law.  At that time President Clinton had so much invested in his foreign policy to Haiti given the 1994 military intervention that he had limited options to deal with the Aristide electoral coup.  Aristide knew it and tried to blackmail the President.

When Aristide took office, instead of implementing the agreement intended to bring return constitutional order to the country, he turned to his normal violent political tactics ignoring the offers for political dialogue and compromise made by the democratic opposition who were pressing the eight-point agreement.  Instead, he burned opposition party headquarters and the private residences of the opposition leadership; attacked women and youth organizations pressing for change; terrorized the press and human rights activists.  Many people died facing his wrath.

When it was clear that Aristide would not compromise, the Haitian citizens, with a proud tradition of holding their leaders accountable and standing up for democracy, rallied to demand Aristide’s resignation including members of his own coalition.  Again, Aristide decided that repression, kidnappings and killings were the best way to counter these peaceful protests.  He organized gangs and distributed machine guns and hand guns to the chimeres.  These gang members, the chimeres, were protected by a highly politicized police force that served Lavalas political goals.  Moise Jean Charles, a member of his Lavalas coalition and a sitting Senator, decided to counter Aristide’s violence by calling for the support of one of a former police commissioners, Guy Philippe, according to two Lavalas senators.  

It was in this context that Bernard’s kidnapping was organized and carried out.  During the interview with Marie Louise Michele, she gave a detailed account of how Amaral Duclona -- under the instruction of Aristide -- kidnapped and killed her husband.  She also shared details on how the police investigation and judicial proceeding led to the facts.  According to the interview and various documents of the police and judicial proceedings, a member of Bernard’s family, Mrs. Gladys Lauture, who was a close associate of Aristide, first approached Bernard.  Given his respected position in the community and growing stance against Aristide, he was offered various positions in the Lavalas cabinet, including Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, in exchange for his support.  He declined.  Paraphrasing The Godfather, Gladys informed him that this was not an offer you can refuse.  Gladys’ son, Jean Paul Lauture, a student at MIT, and an associate of Aristide also warned Bernard saying that protesting against the President would not turn out well for him.  Bernard remained firm in his rejection. Gladys changed tactics and showed up at his house one day with a letter signed by the President appointing Bernard as a board member for the state owned electric company. Bernard was upset by this action, and said he was not for sale.  He again rejected the offer.  His wife admitted she counseled him to accept the position so as to not annoy President Aristide.  She suggested that he could resign after two meetings claiming that the position was interfering with his ability to manage his business and attend to family priorities.  He followed her advice.  

On January 6, 2004, Amaral Duclona, the head of one of Aristide’s gangs, kidnapped Bernard while he was on his way to pick up his kids at school.  Right before the kidnapping, Bernard was on the phone with his wife.  At the end of the conversation they told each other “I love you” as was their custom. They did not know that would be their last words or their last declaration of love.  Shortly thereafter, the kidnappers called the family and put Bernard on the phone with instruction on what to say.  The family could hear a voice in the background telling him to request US$100,000.  During that phone call, Bernard led the family to believe that he was in the Canapé Vert Commissariat.  The family contacted Gladys and pleaded with her to intervene due to her relationship with Aristide.  Meanwhile, Marie Louise Michele requested support from the French ambassador to Haiti given Bernard’s dual citizenship. 

During the trial, it came out that there was another kidnap victim in the cell with Bernard who managed to be freed.  According to the victim testimony, Amaral Duclona and Junior Charles, alias Yoyo Piman, a lieutenant of Amaral, were throwing Aristide pictures in Bernard’s face.

The link between Aristide, Amaral Duclona and Yoyo Piman was Jacques Anthony Nazaire, who was officially in charge of Aristide’s garage and car fleet, but was most known for managing the Aristide gangs.

Gladys Lauture told Michele Louise that she would see Aristide on her husband’s behalf.  Gladys contacted Aristide the same day and when she returned the following day she told Marie Louis Michelle that she was leaving the country for a medical visit scheduled months ago.  She vanished.

The family had no option but to await another call with instructions on where they should drop the money.  That call never came.  Instead, a heavily armed group of thugs went to the national morgue and dropped off the dead body of Bernard Lauture with specific instructions to the morgue guardian on where to place the corpse.  That day, Aristide’s gang members, or chimeres, had control of the streets in Port-au-Prince.  They destroyed several businesses and with blind and brutal violence went after anyone who opposed them.  

On January 8, the widow, Marie Louise Michele, went to the morgue aided by a childhood friend.  When she got there, a tearful morgue guardian asked her for forgiveness and told her that he did not know that was her husband.  He said that they give him specific instructions to poorly manage the corpse.  He retrieved Bernard’s dead body for her confirmation.  She saw at least 10 bullet holes in his lifeless body.  She was forbidden to take possession of his body at that point because according to Haitian law a medical examiner must conduct an autopsy prior to releasing the body.  She could not find the medical examiner.

When Marie Louise Michele was leaving the morgue, Jean Paul Lauture, on behalf of Jean Bertrand Aristide, threatened her.  He told her that the game she was playing with the French embassy is not going to be good for you.  Marie Louise Michele has not told anyone of her discussions with the French government, and replied, “I don’t understand what you are saying to me.”  My husband Billy is dead.  I did not even cry, when I saw him.  I got on my knees and prayed to God.  I said to God you gave him to me and now you took him back.  That’s your will, God.”  While she was saying those words, she heard Jean Paul on his cell phone say, “Yes, Excellency”.  He then said, “You don’t with who I am talking? I am talking with President Jean Bertrand Aristide.”  Jean Paul said that the President asked me to convey a message to you, Marie Louise Michele: “A dog with tale does not cross fire,” which in creole means that you better be careful or your kids (the tale) are next.  This remark betrayed the fact that Aristide was worried about the French embassy investigation.  

Facing these threats from Aristide, Marie Louise Michele and her five children fled Haiti to exile in Madrid.  Before to her departure, aided by a Haitian human rights organization, she filed her deposition on her husband’s murder with the Haitian judicial system through the Office of Commissaire du Gouvernement. Aristide had that office ransacked and her file disappeared.

While the Haitian judicial proceeding was essentially dead, the French judicial system was still proceeding with an investigation.  During the judicial proceedings in France, Jean Paul Lauture was summoned by the court to testify.  He declined saying that it would disrupt his studies at MIT.  Both Gladys and Jean Paul escaped prosecution despite their full awareness of Aristide’s intent to kidnap and murder Bernard and their role as intermediaries in delivering specific threats against the family. 

Marie Louise Michele believes that Gladys and Jean Paul were merely functionaries and messengers.  Rather, she fully believes that despite the conviction of Duclona, former President Aristide is the guilty party and evidence presented during the trial, including phone records and witness testimony, supports that.  The judicial proceedings established that Amaral Duclona was responsible for Bernard Lauture’s killing, but Marie Louise Michele believes that Jacques Anthony Nazaire and Aristide should have to face a jury as well, but knows they never will.  She deplores that the Haitian judicial system is weak and witnesses in Haiti are still afraid of the perpetrators.

Quite unfortunately, she has a valid point and is not the only family to face this tragedy.  The judicial proceedings for the assassination of the journalist Jean Dominique in 2000 are ongoing.  Over the past 14 years, Aristide has had witnesses killed and used political power to block justice.  Four months ago, Judge Yvickel Dabrezil concluded his findings and identified the nine people responsible for Jean Dominique killing.  All of them henchmen of former President Aristide, who allegedly had him killed because Dominique represented a threat to his return to power. The investigation into the murder of Venel Joseph, a former governor of Haiti’s Central Bank, is facing similar political pressure.  Venel was going to travel to Miami to testify in U.S. court about a telecommunications corruption scandal. His son, Patrick Joseph, was already in U.S. judicial custody and provided details on Aristide’s telecommunications corruption in Haiti.  Two days before Venel’s trip, an article appeared in the Miami Herald revealing what he was going to do, and Aristide had him executed.

For me, and I imagine all listeners, hearing what this woman went through with her kids in Haiti, the sheer terror they faced, and their subsequent struggles to adapt to life in a foreign land was heartbreaking.  When she was asked how she survived, she said her faith was key.

In addition to recounting the facts, she talked openly about the deep emotional impact the murder and subsequent political persecution had on her children.  The kids faced mockery from their schoolmates based on rumors surrounding the murder.  She said her kids would hang their heads in shame.  With this court ruling, her kids can lift their heads in pride for a father who was a political hero; a man who never backed down in the face of threats and bullies.  He stands in the company of Haitian greats like Sylvio Claude and Jacques Roche who fought for their people and never backed down.  Bernard was a man of principle.  As Winston Churchill once said – “if you have enemies, it means you stood up for something in your life”.  Bernard did just that.  Unfortunately, his enemies made him pay the ultimate price.

In the end, this is a hollow victory, she said.  Despite the conviction, they can never return to their home while Aristide remains in country.

US pledge to rebuild Haiti not being met By MARTHA MENDOZA and TRENTON DANIEL | Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The deadly earthquake that leveled Haiti's capital more than two years ago brought a thread of hope: a promise of renewal. With the United States taking the lead, international donors pledged billions of dollars to help the country "build back better," breaking its cycle of dependency.

But after the rubble was cleared and the dead buried, what the quake laid bare was the depth of Haiti's dysfunction. Today, the fruits of an ambitious, $1.8 billion U.S. reconstruction promise are hard to find. Immediate, basic needs for bottled water, temporary shelter and medicine were the obvious priorities. But projects fundamental to Haiti's transformation out of poverty, such as permanent housing and electric plants in the heavily hit capital of Port-au-Prince have not taken off.

Critics say the U.S. effort to reconstruct Haiti was flawed from the start. While "build back better" was a comforting notion, there wasn't much of a foundation to build upon. Haiti's chronic political instability and lack of coordinated leadership between Haiti and the U.S. meant crucial decisions about construction projects were slow to be approved. Red tape stalled those that were.

The international community's $10 billion effort was also hindered by its pledge to get approval for projects from the Haitian government. For more than a year then-President Rene Preval was, as he later described it, "paralyzed," while his government was mostly obliterated, with 16,000 civil servants killed and most ministries in ruins. It wasn't until earlier this year that a fully operational government was in place to sign paperwork, adopt codes and write regulations. Other delays included challenges to contracts, underestimates of what needed to be done, and land disputes.

Until now, comprehensive details about who is receiving U.S. funds and how they are spending them have not been released. Contracts, budgets and a 300-item spreadsheet obtained by The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act request show:

— Of the $988 million spent so far, a quarter went toward debt relief to unburden the hemisphere's poorest nation of repayments. But after Haiti's loans were paid off, the government began borrowing again: $657 million so far, largely for oil imports rather than development projects.

— Less than 12 percent of the reconstruction money sent to Haiti after the earthquake has gone toward energy, shelter, ports or other infrastructure. At least a third, $329 million, went to projects that were awarded before the 2010 catastrophe and had little to do with the recovery — such as HIV/AIDS programs.

— Half of the $1.8 billion the U.S. promised for rebuilding is still in the Treasury, its disbursement stymied by an understaffed U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince in the months after the quake and by a Haitian government that was barely functional for more than a year.

— Despite State Department promises to keep spending public, some members of Congress and watchdogs say they aren't getting detailed information about how the millions are being spent, as dozens of contractors working for the U.S. government in Haiti leave a complex money trail.

"The challenges were absolutely huge and although there was a huge amount of money pledged, the structures were not there for this to be done quickly," said former U.S. Ambassador Brian Curran. "The concept of build back better is a good one, but we were way over-optimistic about the pace we could do it."

The U.S. Special Coordinator for Haiti Thomas C. Adams, who oversees USAID spending here, says the first priority in the critical days after the quake that killed more than 300,000 was crisis management, and the U.S. government spent $1.3 billion on critical rescue operations, saving untold lives.

Three months later, the goals shifted from rescue to what would become a $1.8 billion reconstruction package aimed at building new foundations.

"U.S. taxpayers, in the past, have spent billions of dollars in Haiti that haven't resulted in sustainable improvement in the lives of Haitians," said Adams. "The emphasis was never on 'spend the money quickly.' The emphasis was on spending the money so that in a year or two, we could look at these projects and see that we've helped create a real base to jump-start economic development and give Haitian families and businesses the kind of opportunities they deserve."

Haitian government officials are appreciative, and said the U.S. provides generous support for projects that impact long-term development. As for going back into debt, "Haiti needs all the assistance it can possibly get at this point," said Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe's deputy chief of staff Dimitri Nau.

PROMISES UNMET

Within months of the quake, Congress approved a 27-page plan detailing a partnership with the Haitian government to "lay the foundation for long-term stability and economic growth." USAID, an agency overseen by the State Department, was held responsible for getting the job done by choosing contractors, selecting projects and overseeing the work. But just as there's little to show for the $2 billion the U.S. spent in Haiti in the two decades before the earthquake, it hasn't built much that is permanent with the new influx of cash.

The plan laid out broad categories: infrastructure, health care, education, economic development. It was followed by a strategy that included specific benchmarks. This month, as about 40 of those come due, some are met, like a new police hotline to report abuse. But others are not.

For example, the U.S. had planned to improve the business environment by working with the local government to reduce regulations, pass national e-commerce laws, expand mortgage lending and update the tax code. The measurement of success, said U.S. planners, would be a better ranking by the World Bank's "Doing Business" indicators.

Instead, this year Haiti sank eight points lower compared with the rest of the world as a place to do business in categories including securing construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, receiving credit, enforcing contracts and paying taxes.

And so far, the U.S. has no public plans to build a clean water or sewer system in Port-au-Prince, even as the country grapples with the world's biggest cholera outbreak that medical researchers say was likely introduced by a U.N. peacekeeping unit after the earthquake. The U.S.'s largest jobs program is a garment manufacturing plant being built in Caracol, 280 kilometers (175 miles) from the capital.

Adams said some investments, like fixing the electricity system, are taking more time.

A $137 million effort toward supplying reliable electricity in Haiti, including blackout-prone Port-au-Prince, stalled after a contract dispute led to a stop-work order — leaving the capital with electricity only about 10 hours a day. Those who can afford it use private generators and those without use lanterns or candles. To date, just $18 million has been spent on electricity — largely to build a power plant at the northern industrial park in Caracol.

The single largest recipient of funding is Washington, D.C.-area contractor Chemonics, which has received more than $58 million, including $6.8 million to remove rubble, $7.2 million to develop a market for environmentally friendly cook stoves, and money for youth soccer tournaments and "key cultural celebrations" including Flag Day, patron saints days and Mother's Day. Chemonics spokeswoman Martha James says 67 percent of the federal money went to Haitians, including salary for 94 Haitian staff, and Haitian subcontractors, grantees and vendors.

Meanwhile, 390,000 people are still homeless. The U.S. promised to rebuild or replace thousands of destroyed homes, but so far has not built even one new permanent house. Auditors say land disputes, lack of USAID oversight and no clear plan have hampered the housing effort. USAID contested that critique.

The State Department says 29,100 transitional shelters have been built, to which residents are adding floors, walls or roofs to make permanent homes, although homes once again vulnerable to natural disasters. U.S. funds also supported 27,000 households as they moved in with friends or families, and repaired 5,800 of the 35,000 damaged homes they had planned to complete with partners by July 2012. Also by this month the U.S. had planned to help resolve 40,000 to 80,000 land disputes, but at latest count had helped 10,400.

The State Department acknowledges that efforts to build shelters has been slower than anticipated. While more than 1 million people have been moved out of the tent camps, most went to stay with family or friends, or moved into temporary shelters. "Having tent cities in the capital 2 1/2 years after the earthquake is horrendous," said Raymond Joseph, a former Haiti ambassador to the U.S. "It's a condemnation of those who had the money and dragged their feet."

'NOTHING TO DO WITH THE QUAKE'

Making progress in Haiti has been easier with established programs that were under way before the earthquake. Contractors had already been chosen, and plans drawn up. As a result, much of the recovery and reconstruction funding was awarded to projects that were not damaged in the earthquake — from medical clinics to rural farms. Of the $988 million spent to date, $1 out of every $5 went to HIV/AIDS programs, though $49 million went to farming projects and $16 million supported elections.

Lack of education has long been a problem. Haiti has about 4.5 million school-age children, about half of whom were attending school before the earthquake. The largest U.S. education program after the quake was through the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes for Research, which was a few years into a $25.6 million U.S.-funded project to train teachers.

"Then the earthquake happened and everything changed," AIR vice president Jane Benbow said. "They said we need you to take the resources you have left and we need you to redirect them, we need you to start doing other things with that money."

In April 2011, USAID announced that a $12 million AIR project had "constructed or is in the process of constructing more than 600 semi-permanent classrooms serving over 60,000 students."

But when pressed for details, AIR spokesman Larry McQuillan said the number of classrooms actually was 322. They were serving at least 38,640 students each day, many in two shifts.

The organization left Haiti last year after building 120 temporary schools. Today, about half of Haiti's school age children attend school, about the same as before the catastrophe. The Haitian government says it wants to put another 1.5 million children into school — by 2016.

The education money has made no difference for Odette Leonard, 39, who lost her husband, and her home, to the quake. Like most Haitians, she cannot afford to pay even the modest school costs for uniforms and books.

"People like me won't be able to see any of that money," Leonard said. She had to send her two children to her mother's house in the countryside so they could attend an affordable school.

One of USAID's most tangible post-earthquake accomplishments was the construction of a bridge across the muddy, winding Ennery River. The strong and well-engineered span eases a key route from the north to the south 160 kilometers (100 miles) from Port-au-Prince. The bridge had been down for more than a year before the earthquake, a casualty of the 2008 hurricane season. Plans had been sketched for a new bridge, but there wasn't funding.

Engineer Larry Wright, who temporarily moved to Haiti from Wyoming to lead the $4 million project, said he didn't know the funding came from earthquake reconstruction funds. "This had nothing to do with the quake," said Wright.

AND YET MORE DEBT

When the earthquake hit, world lenders were already several years into forgiving Haiti's substantial debts, many of which dated back to millions in loans taken by the dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, who was overthrown in 1986 and suddenly returned last year. In June 2009, seven months before the earthquake, donors wiped out $1.2 billion of the Haitian government's debt. In January 2010, as the capital lay in ruins, it still was $828 million in the red.

In March 2010, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) said canceling the debt is "one of the simplest but most important things we can do to help Haiti." And to date, debt relief is the largest single item the U.S. has spent toward Haiti's rebuilding: $245 million.

But since taking office in May 2011, President Michel Martelly's administration has borrowed $657 million, largely from Venezuela for basic fuel needs, but also from Taiwan, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the International Monetary Fund and OPEC. Next year Haiti is expected to spend close to $10 million servicing those debts, according to the IMF.

"The U.S. government cannot dictate how the government of Haiti, as a sovereign country, chooses to address its financial situation," said USAID's Haiti task team leader in Washington D.C., Beth Hogan, whose office facilitated the payments. The U.S. is now only providing grants, not loans, to Haiti.

Waters now says she's disappointed, but not surprised, that Haiti has resumed its borrowing habits. More than half of Haiti's annual $1 billion budget comes from foreign aid. "Haiti needs grants, gifts and loans," said Haitian official Nau. "Every country in the world has debt and Haiti is no different."

OFF THE RECORD

A major frustration for watchdogs of the U.S. effort is a lack of transparency over how the millions of dollars are being spent. From interviews to records requests, efforts to track spending in Haiti by members of Congress, university researchers and news organizations have sometimes been met with resistance and even, in some cases, outright refusals.

As a result, U.S. taxpayers are told they've agreed to spend $7.2 million for a project to design and distribute cleaner cooking stoves to 10,000 street vendors and 800 schools and orphanages, but there's no public accounting for how that will break down: How much might each stove cost? What are the office expenses? What are workers' salaries?

"The lack of specific details in where the money has gone facilitates corruption and waste, creates a closed process that reduces competition and prevents us from assessing the efficacy of certain taxpayer-funded projects," said Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, a New York Democrat whose district includes the second largest population of Haitian immigrants in the country.

Legislation introduced last year in Congress would direct the Obama administration to report on the status of post-earthquake humanitarian, reconstruction and development efforts in Haiti. The AP filed a Freedom of Information request to learn what was accomplished and how much was spent on a two-day retreat for 12 senior U.S. staffers in Miami in March 2011. USAID released the hotel sales agreement, the facilitator's purchase order and an agenda. It did not release information about what was accomplished, and withheld another nine pages, citing concerns that it contained information that had not been finalized.

State Department officials say they are trying to be responsive, noting that in the past nine months, they have coordinated 51 briefings to members of Congress and their staff on Haiti and delivered five congressionally-mandated reports. One of the problems with following the money in Haiti is that the records are not up to date.

A State Department inspector general report in June found the embassy's political section retains about 10 linear feet of paper files dating back a decade in several safes, and the narcotics affairs team doesn't have a coherent filing system.

In its own effort to follow the money, this year the AP began contacting firms that have received U.S. funding since the earthquake. A memo went out two weeks later.

"A series of requests from journalists may come your way," cautioned Karine Roy, a spokeswoman for the USAID, in an email to about 50 humanitarian aid officials. "Wait for formal clearance from me before releasing any information."

U.S. contractors, from pollsters to private development firms, told the AP that USAID had asked them not to provide any information, and referred to publicly released descriptions of their projects. The Durham, North Carolina-based group Family Health International 360, for example, received $32 million, including $10 million for what the State Department described as an "initiative designed to increase the flow of commercially viable financial products and services to productive enterprises, with a focus on semi-urban and rural areas."

When the AP asked for a budget breakdown, FHI 360 spokeswoman Liza Morris said, "We were pulling that for you but were told that it was proprietary by our funder." Who is the funder? "Our funder," she said, "is USAID."