The International Action Center condemns assassination of Haitian leader
The International Action Center, including its chapters around the country,
condemn in the strongest terms the heinous, brutal assassination of Georges
Henri Honorat, a prominent editor of Haïti Progrès and secretary
general of Haiti’s Popular National Party, on March 23. The 55-year-old
Honorat was shot twice in a drive-by assault in front of his home in the Delmas
section of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.
Honorat was an important voice of
opposition against the pro-U.S., pro-imperialist puppet regimes in Haiti,
including those of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier and his father,
Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier. Honorat advocated for the
return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the first democratically elected president of
Haiti, to his rightful place of leadership. Aristide was forced twice into
exile, first in 1991 and then in 2004, with the backing of the U.S.
government.
Honorat and his life-partner, Maude
LeBlanc, were based for many years in the Haitian community in Brooklyn, N.Y.,
before moving back to their homeland to continue their activism. IAC activists,
especially the late Pat Chin, worked with both Honorat and LeBlanc in building
mass and political activities in solidarity with the Haitian masses’
ongoing struggle for sovereignty. Part of this struggle included the just
demand for reparations amounting to billions of dollars for the centuries-old
super-exploitation and plunder of this Caribbean country at the hands of U.S.
and French colonialism and imperialism. Ultimately, the responsibility
for this assassination rests on the heads of western imperialism and its
puppets who use terror tactics against progressive leaders and
movements.
To our beloved sister and comrade,
Maude LeBlanc, and her immediate family, we offer our deepest condolences and
support.
Emmanuel Saintus, another editor of
Haïti Progrès, which is published in both Port-au-Prince and
Brooklyn, commented that progressives like Honorat receive constant anonymous
death threats. Saintus stated following Honorat’s assassination:
"Finally, they made the threats a reality by execution. They accused us of
being a mouthpiece for the government." (Associated Press, March
28)
Lionel Lafortune, a Haïti
Progrès photographer, said that Honorat was "a true patriot" and
that "he sacrificed his life for Haiti.” The IAC
wholeheartedly agrees with this sentiment.
Even with the tragic loss of this important
leader, the Haitian people will deepen their resolve to continue their heroic
struggle for true justice and national liberation, especially now as they
challenge a U.S.-backed U.N. occupation. But they should not be alone in that
struggle.
Those of us in the belly of the beast, the U.S.,
have an important obligation to build an independent, revolutionary struggle
against all forms of capitalist oppression at home as well as abroad. This is
the greatest act of solidarity we can extend to our Haitian sisters and
brothers. Don’t mourn, organize! Georges Honorat ¡Presente!
