The government of de facto Prime Minister Gérard Latortue has freed Louis Jodel Chamblain, the second-in-command of the paramilitary militia known as the Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress (FRAPH), according to a prisoner rights activist.

Chamblain was also one of the commanders of the Washington-backed “rebel” force which occupied several cities in Haiti’s north just prior to Feb. 29, 2004, when U.S. Special Forces soldiers kidnapped President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from his home and flew him into exile.

Chamblain had been in the Pétionville jail since April 22, 2004, when he made a deal with de facto authorities to be retried for convictions which he received in absentia from Haitian courts in 2000. One lightening 14-hour retrial, held in the dead of night on Aug. 17, 2004, found him and co-defendant Jackson Joanis, former head of the Haitian police’s Antigang Unit, not guilty for the Sep. 11, 1993 murder of pro-democracy activist Antoine Izméry (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 22, No. 23, 8/18/2004).

Amnesty International called the retrial “a mockery” and an “insult to justice.”

Chamblain’s release was announced Tuesday afternoon on Radio Ginen by Ronald St. Jean of the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the Haitian People (CDPH), who hailed the death-squad leader’s liberation as “a great step forward for democracy, justice and national reconciliation.” St. Jean had always characterized Chamblain as a “political prisoner,” despite his two convictions by Haitian courts, and had repeatedly demanded his release, much to the dismay of the larger human rights community and the Haitian popular democratic movement. St. Jean also effusively praised new de facto Justice Minister Henri Dorléan for freeing Chamblain.

“Chamblain's illegal release is a slap in the face to the hundreds of people who have fought for justice in Haiti over the last decade,” responded Brian Concannon of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), who advised the constitutional Haitian government in its prosecution of Chamblain. “It is an insult to the memory of the [April 1994] Raboteau massacre victims, and the 5,000 others killed by Chamblain's FRAPH and the army during the de facto dictatorship.”

Chamblain’s release seems to be a calculated move by the de facto government to make gestures of “reconciliation” to both pro-coup forces as well as the Lavalas sector to attract participation in the “elections” the de factos and occupation authorities want to hold from October to December. So far, about 90% of the eligible Haitian voters have refused to even obtain voter registration cards, despite a fierce campaign to distribute them.

A gesture to the Lavalas will come soon, according to St. Jean. He announced that the de facto regime would release later this week four Lavalas-linked political prisoners: Father Gérard Jean-Juste, singer and activist Annette “So An” Auguste, former security officer Anthony Nazaire, and activist musician Yvon “Zapzap” Antoine.

“We ask all the other political prisoners to be patient,” St. Jean said, as if speaking on behalf of the de facto government. “Their turn will come.”

Among those that St. Jean said would be released during the month of August are constitutional Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, constitutional Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert, former deputy Amanus Mayette, former delegate Jacques Mathelier, and former Miragoâne customs chief Yves Metellus.

According to a well-placed source, Chamblain’s lawyer claims at press time (Aug. 2) that his client had not yet been freed, despite an order for his release having been issued.

Paul Raymond, a former leader of the Little Church community (TKL) of St. Jean Bosco, was arrested by Dominican authorities at his home in exile in Santo Domingo on Jul. 21 and then extradited the same day to Haiti’s de facto authorities.

He is now reportedly being held in Haiti’s National Penitentiary.

Raymond’s arrest signals a new level of cooperation between the government of President Lionel Fernandez in the Dominican Republic and Haiti’s de facto authorities.

Raymond was reportedly on a list, drawn up by Haiti’s de facto government, of some thirty Haitians who sought refuge in the Dominican Republic after the Feb. 29, 2004 Haitian coup d’état. Dominican authorities are actively searching for the exiles, who include René Civil, the leader of Youth Popular Power (JPP) and close associate of Raymond. Dominican police have so far arrested four men, including Raymond, and sent them back to Haiti, where they have been jailed.

Mario Exilomé, another Lavalas popular organization leader, was also arrested and sent back to Haiti with Raymond.

Interviewed on Radio Kiskeya, Michaël Lycius, Haiti’s police inspector general, could not specify any charges against Raymond and his partisans other than to say that “there are complaints lodged against those guys” and that the police have “a lot of information” that “implicates those guys in the acts of banditry around Port-au-Prince in particular.” Asked if there was a new accord between Haitian and Dominican authorities which resulted in the arrests and extraditions, Lycius replied that there was an agreement “that one calls international repressive cooperation” between the police forces of the two nations.

Raymond is hated by the Haitian bourgeoisie for the fiery declarations he made in defense of President Aristide’s government. At a press conference on Jan. 9, 2001, Raymond and Civil used particularly bellicose language to challenge the bourgeois and imperialist forces which were already drawing up battle lines to attack the newly elected but not yet inaugurated Aristide government. U.S. Republican congressmen Benjamin Gilman (R-NY) and Porter Goss (R-FL) felt compelled the next day to issue a press release condemning Raymond’s “threats” as “unacceptable” and accuse Aristide of supporting them.

A collection of bourgeois-aligned Haitian radio stations issued a statement condemning Raymond’s remarks as “intimidation.”

The bourgeoisie also blames Raymond and Civil for leading the popular backlash that swept the capital after Dominican-based Haitian “rebels” briefly took over the National Palace on Dec. 17, 2001, the second major assault of the international destabilization campaign that eventually toppled Aristide (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 19, No. 40, 12/19/2001).