Haitian police raids end standoff with ex-soldiers

By Ingrid Arnesen, The Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2012
PORT-AU-PRINCE--Haiti's police raided several makeshift barracks around the country that had been taken over by former members of the country's disbanded army, quelling a four-month-old standoff. The weekend raids, which continued early on Monday, dismantled two sites around the capital and a base in the Central Plateau that were central staging and training grounds for approximately 2,500 former army men and new recruits, according to Haitian Police spokesman Gary DesRosiers.

Haitian police offered no further details. Police cordoned off the areas and didn't allow reporters to see what was happening. But by Monday morning, the camps were emptied of the former troops, with hundreds of makeshift green fatigues worn by recruits scattering the ground, witnesses said.

The United Nations said its peacekeeping forces in Haiti provided support for Haiti's police but didn't participate in the raids directly.

Haiti's army, having intervened regularly in politics for much of Haiti's independence, was disbanded in 1995 by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was deposed by a coup in 1991 and restored to power in a U.S.-backed intervention in 1994. The ex-army men, mostly noncommissioned officers, were demanding back pay and insisting on being included in plans by Haitian President Michel Martelly to build a new army.

The raids were prompted by a march by hundreds of ex-army men and their recruits on Friday to commemorate Haitian National Flag Day, which ended with U.N. troops firing tear gas at the marchers near Haiti's presidential palace. Haiti's police arrested 53 people following the march, including two U.S. citizens. On Sunday, Haiti's chief prosecutor Jean Renel Senatus charged the two, Jason "Zeke" Petrie, 39 years old, and Stephen Shaw, 57, with conspiracy, criminal association, attempted murder of a police officer, conspiracy against state security and possession of illegal weapons.

Jon Piechowski, U.S. Embassy spokesman, on Monday confirmed that two Americans had been arrested, and that the embassy had provided consular services.

Mr. Petrie and Mr. Shaw both took active roles in the march early Friday morning out of Camp Lamantin, one of the former barracks that had been taken over by ex-army members. Both men were driving old Nissan Pathfinders filled with ex-army soldiers and civilians. "I'm leading this whole convoy!" an exhilarated Mr. Petrie told reporters. Several of the marchers were seen carrying pistols.

The ex-troops marched for about three hours, laying a wreath at the statue of Haiti's liberator, and then walked back to their bases. But by that time, Haitian police and U.N. troops were waiting for them, witnesses and police said.

Since February, the ex-army troops twice defied government orders to abandon their self-claimed compounds. Separately, an order from the Justice Ministry late March called on Haitian police to arrest men in "green uniform and or with arms." It also called on the Haitian police to dislodge and dismantle the former army troops' sites.

In recent weeks, the former troops took to patrolling the capital's streets and cleaning up after downpours, as well as conducting training for young recruits.

Mr. Martelly, meanwhile, was hamstrung to respond, lacking a government to issue orders while a fourth prime minister was still being investigated by a recalcitrant Parliament. Laurent Lamothe, Mr. Martelly's former Foreign Minister, finally moved into his new post as prime minister on May 14, marking Mr. Martelly's first year in office.