Lest we forget

[bcholmes]

Today is the 22nd anniversary of the Sen Jan Bosko (St. Jean Bosco) massacre. On September 11th, 1988, a group (possibly former Tonton Makout) attacked Sen Jan Bosko church in an attempt to assassinate or terrorize its priest, then-Fr. Jean Bertrand Aristide. Aristide was increasingly identified as a major figure within the pro-democracy movement that opposed the dictatorships in Haiti and had, by that point, survived several assassination attempts.

Exactly five years after the fact, at an anniversary commemoration, Antoine Izméry was dragged out of Mass and assassinated in front of a crowd of people. Louis-Jodel Chamblain, the second-in-command of the death squad, FRAPH -- an organization formed with the encouragement and financial backing of the CIA and DIA -- was convicted in-absentia of the assassination. After the 2004 coup, Chamblain was retried under the so-called "interim government" installed by Canada, the US, and France and acquitted.

Antoine Izméry's former home now functions as Matthew 25 House.