Kevin Pina, an independent journalist, filmmaker and associate editor of the Black Commentator, who has reported from Haiti for several years, was arrested by Haitian authorities on September 9. Jean Ristil, a Haitian reporter, was himself arrested shortly after he reported Pina’s arrest.

Haitian Lawyers Leadership chair Marguerite Laurent stated that Kevin Pina is in “extreme danger.” Activists in Canada are asking for letters to be written to Members of Parliament because Ottawa is centrally involved in maintaining the coup government.

I first met Kevin Pina late one dreary Vancouver evening last winter. Local activists had arranged a brief meet-and-greet with the independent journalist to inform him of his schedule of events for his couple of days in town, which included forums and screenings of his documentary footage from Haiti. His eyes were bloodshot after a long cross-continent day of travel, but, after introductions and an infusion of caffeine, he was soon elaborating on the latest developments, and energetically giving advice for the planned events.

Kevin Pina gives the impression of a person in a real hurry, and indeed he is. Having reported from Haiti on and off since 1989, he has been one of the precious few voices reporting from on the ground since the February 29, 2004 coup d’état that overthrew Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Over Flashpoints Radio, through the Haiti Information Project, in film, photos and print, he has been a leader in disseminating the news that the mainstream media in North America has ignored or grossly distorted.

Recently, Pina has compiled much of his footage taken since the coup into a new documentary, Haiti: The Untold Story, which includes shocking footage of a massacre on July 6, 2005 in Cite Soleil. The film breaks through the veneer of “peace-keeping” attached to the occupation being headed up by a multi-national United Nations mission.

Pina’s work has been instrumental in breaking the media blockade on Haiti; here in Canada, he has been a valuable source of information for journalists and activists working to uncover the truth about Canada’s role in Aristide’s ouster. In fact, Anthony Fenton and Yves Engler have just released a book on the subject, Canada in Haiti: Waging War on the Poor Majority, with a Toronto launch event slated for this Saturday, September 17.

Engler and Fenton present an extensive study in the ways in which the overthrow of Haitian democracy was planned and executed with Canadian taxpayers’ money, through both CIDA-funded “civil society” and, later, armed intervention.

At present, Canada is heading up the sham elections scheduled for October and November aimed at legitimizing the regime change against Aristide. The de facto government of Latortue, the country’s tiny élite, and the coup sponsors in the United States, France and Canada all realize that Aristide’s Lavalas Party remains the only political organization with mass support in the country. Given this, the brutal repression and terror against Lavalas supporters in the destitute slums of Port-au-Prince, like Cite Soleil, is bound to continue and intensify.

In addition to calling for the safety of journalists and others bearing witness to the brutal suffering of Haiti’s poor, we here in Canada need to step up efforts to hold our own government responsible for their ongoing crime against Haitian democracy.

Get more information on efforts in Canada to have Kevin Pina released. To obtain a preview copy, or to arrange a screening of Kevin Pina’s documentary, Haiti: The Untold Story, please email.

Derrick O'Keefe

Derrick O'Keefe

Derrick O'Keefe is a writer in Vancouver, B.C. He served as rabble.ca's editor from 2012 to 2013 and from 2008 to 2009.