Crime

Haiti: Five Family Members of Activist Leader Murdered

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (defend.ht) - Five family members of Réginald Antoine were murdered on the morning of Tuesday morning. Antoine and Charles Fritz-Gérald were leaders of an organization of former state employees that have been pressuring the Martelly administration for financial compensation.

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (defend.ht) - Five family members of Réginald Antoine were murdered on the morning of Tuesday morning. Antoine and Charles Fritz-Gérald were leaders of an organization of former state employees that have been pressuring the Martelly administration for financial compensation.

According to witnesses, several people attacked the home where Réginald Antoine grew up. The murderers used guns and a hand grenade in the attack. Antoine's brother, sister, brother-in-law and two children were killed.

Réginald Antoine was one of signators, along with Noam Chomsky and many other public persons, that signed an open letter that was published in the UK Guardian on March 2, 2011 calling on the U.S., Canada and other foreign powers to stop interfering in Haiti's political affairs.

The letter is critical of the first round of Haiti's national election on November 28, 2010 whose vote count saw Michel Martelly finish third and therefore be ineligible to pass into the second round of voting. The result of that count was later reversed by the chairperson of the country's electoral council under pressure and threats by the Organization of American States.

Reginal Antoine lead a group called the Platform of Employees Unjustly Fired from Public Administration (PEVEP) that rallied against President Michel Martelly for compensation owed after the buy out of Haiti's TeleCo to Vietnamese carrier Viettel. Now the company is NatCom.