Aristide’s Letter

Today I just read a letter coming from the pen of the former President of Haiti, Jean Bertrand-Aristide. ( He did not send it directly to me:)Read it below:

P. Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Pretoria, South Africa

Dear Friends,

May the spirit of International Day in Solidarity with
the
Haitian People continue to spread!

If the more than 10,000 people killed in the 18 months that followed
the
February 29, 2004 coup d’état could speak, what would they say?
Would they
join voices with the young women raped and sexually assaulted since the
coup?
Would they remind us that these women are estimated to constitute half
the
population of Haiti ’s shanty towns? Would they unite with the
voices of the
3,200 people imprisoned in a National Penitentiary built to hold 1,200
prisoners? And what of the countless others who were inhumanely abused
and now
clearly betrayed? What would their message be?

They would rise in chorus with Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine to say Mési,
thank
you, for the solidarity demonstrated four years later.

Because they cannot, I will: Thank you.

Thank you to each and every participant in the 56
actions
organized in 47 cities across four continents as part of the 3rd
International
Day of Solidarity. Your solidarity strengthens the people’s
determination to
continue to affirm human dignity and struggle for true democracy,
justice and
peace.

United to all our Haitian sisters and brothers who, on
that same
day, condemned the kidnapping of February 29, 2004 and called for our
return to
Haiti, let us continue to drink from this historical stream of
solidarity with
grateful thanks to our mother Haiti. “Gratitude is the least of the
virtues but
ingratitude is the worst of the vices.”

Ab imo pectore, from the bottom of my heart,

Dr.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Pretoria
, March 11, 2008