Thousands mourn Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste

By G. Dunkel

Jun 19, 2009

Thousands of Haitians from all over North America traveled to Miami June 5 and 6 to spend hours paying tribute to Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste. They came from Orlando, Fla., Boston, New York, Washington, Chicago, Atlanta and Montreal.

Thousands lined the streets as his cortège went from Notre Dame Cathedral to Veye Yo, a community center he founded there.

Jean-Juste fought with courage, dignity and insistence for justice and the rights of the distressed, in Haiti and in the United States, where he was forced to live during the Duvalier dictatorships.

He had motivated thousands of Haitians, even though they were undocumented, to come out into the streets and force the United States to change its laws on political asylum. This change improved conditions not only for Haitians but for all immigrants.

After returning to Haiti in the early 1990s after the fall of the Duvaliers, Jean-Juste was a prominent supporter of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and a member of his Lavalas party.

The government arrested Jean-Juste after the 2004 coup against Aristide and jailed him for nearly two years. His supporters in Lavalas tried to register him for the 2006 election but the Election Board refused on the grounds that he was in jail.

After he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2006, the authorities allowed him to leave for treatment in the U.S.

Jean-Juste is to be buried June 19 in Cavaillon, Haiti, next to his mother.