Investigation into the climate of violence in the communes of Plaisance and Borgne

The first round of 28 November 2010 was marked in the Nord by violence and irregularities from the opening of the campaign to the proclamation of partial results, and the post-electoral crisis that followed produced some of its worst abuses in Plaisance and Borgne, continuing even after the definitive first-round results were announced. In Plaisance, supporters of the INITE candidate for deputy, a former deputy, have installed a climate of fear and intimidation to stop the opposing candidate campaigning before the runoff; both are admitted to the second round. The network describes an armed militia called Lame Dòmi nan Bwa, formerly known as Lame Ti Manchèt, with three vehicles the area calls machin lanmò, one of them unregistered and one circulating with an altered plate.

Supporters and sympathisers of other candidates have fled the area. In Borgne the pattern repeats; a request was filed with the court of first instance of Cap-Haïtien for the public prosecution of a named individual and nothing has been done, which the network says emboldens the armed men to the point of threatening to prevent the runoff from taking place in the commune. Victims are afraid to complain, many have taken to the hills, police officers say they lack the means and fear the political connections of the armed groups, and the courts of the Nord appear to the network to be of one body with them. It asks for the armed groups to be dismantled, those responsible arrested and tried, the police reinforced in both communes, and both given particular attention in the security plan for the second round.