Front Révolutionnaire Armé pour le Progrès d'Haiti

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The Front Révolutionnaire Armé pour le Progrès d'Haiti (FRAPH) (Engl. Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress) was a paramilitary death squad , the 1993 with support from the United States has been assembled to the followers of the selected 1991 President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Terrorize and murder Haiti. The leaders of FRAPH were Emmanuel Constant , Jean-Pierre Baptiste and Louis-Jodel Chamblain . The latter was Constant's deputy.

Emergence

The FRAPH was founded in 1993 by Emmanuel Constant, who had been on the CIA's payroll as a spy and informant since 1992 . The name, which is similar to the Creole word frapper (to strike), occurred to Constant in a dream, according to his own statements. Members received free food and high-proof alcohol. A significant part of the militia personnel came from the Tontons Macoute . As a distinguishing feature, Constant introduced a greeting that resembles the Hitler salute .

According to the CIA, the relationship with Constant is said to have ended in mid-1994. However, the American Embassy in Haiti publicly announced in October 1994 that Constant was still on the CIA's payroll. According to Constant, shortly after the overthrow of Aristide, Colonel Patrick Collins of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), who was stationed in Haiti from 1989 to 1992, tasked him with setting up an organization to conduct operations against the Aristide movement .

Terror and human rights violations in Haiti

The FRAPH was one of several paramilitary units in Haiti responsible for the torture and death of more than 5,000 people during the military dictatorship between 1991 and 1994. FRAPH members went about this together with the Haitian army . They broke into the homes of alleged opponents of the regime and searched them. Male residents were abducted, tortured and often killed, women were raped by entire groups, often in front of the rest of the family, regardless of the age of the victims. Family members are also said to have been forced to participate in the rape by violence. FRAPH practices included removing facial skin from victims and leaving them in public.

Among the victims of the FRAPH was the Haitian Justice Minister Guy Malary , who was shot to death in an ambush on October 14, 1993 together with his bodyguard and driver. According to a CIA note dated October 28, 1993 released through the Center for Constitutional Rights , FRAPH members Louis-Jodel Chamblain, Emmanuel Constant and Gabriel Douzable met with an unidentified military officer on the morning of October 14 to discuss plans to kill Malary.

Members of the FRAPH were also involved in the murder of the businessman and Aristide supporter Antoine Izméry on September 11, 1993. Louis-Jodel Chamblain was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in September 1995 after Aristide returned to the office of President.

When Aristide supporters in December 1993 in which to Port-au-Prince belonging slum Cite Soleil entrenched, put FRAPH militants with gasoline large fires and killing around 50 people. Refugee residents were forcefully driven back into the fires.

FRAPH members were involved in the April 24, 1994 Raboteau massacre , in which an estimated 20 people were murdered.

Web links

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  1. ^ Sewell Chan: The Saga of 'Toto' Constant. In: The Empire Zone; Politics Across the Region. The New York Times , May 23, 2007, accessed September 1, 2017 .
  2. ^ A b David Grann: Giving "The Devil" His Due. In: The Atlantic . June 2001, accessed August 5, 2017 .
  3. ^ William Blum: Killing Hope - US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II Black Rose Books, Montreal / New York / London, ISBN 1-55164-097-X , p. 376
  4. ^ Mary Turck: Background on Haiti: Some Questions and Answers ( Memento of January 10, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), February 24, 2004
  5. ^ Center for Justice and Accountability , after: Jon Ronson : The Psychopaths Are Among Us; A journey to the switching points of power , ISBN 978-3-608-50312-8 , p. 119 ff.
  6. ^ Human Rights Watch: Haiti: Recycled Soldiers and Paramilitaries on the March
  7. ↑ Center for Constitutional Rights: CCR Warns of Threat of Mass Murder in Haiti and the Return of FRAHP ( Memento of March 21, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Jon Ronson : The Psychopaths Are Among Us; A journey to the switching points of power , ISBN 978-3-608-50312-8 , p. 119 ff.