Gérard Jean-Juste

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Fr. Gérard Jean-Juste, b. 1947, is the Roman Catholic rector of Saint Claire's church for the poor in Port-au-Prince, Haïti. He is also a liberation theologian and a supporter of the Fanmi Lavalas political party, the largest in Haïti. In 1978, Father Jean-Juste founded the Haïtian Refugee Center in Miami, Florida, and is a beloved figure in the South Florida Haïtian community. [link]

He has gained recent renown throughout Haïti and the Haïtian diaspora as a determined opponent of the current government of Prime Minister Gérard Latortue. Gérard Latortue's de facto rule came about after the violent overthrow of the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide by anti-government rebels. Subsequently, it has been learned that the coup planners received the explicit backing of the governments of Canada, the United States, and France.

As a result of his growing prominence, he has been subjected to more than one arrest by the Haïtian police. In November of 2004, he was released from prison by police after seven weeks in incarceration, following a wave of international outcries of opposition to his incarceration, among other imprisonments, torturings, and murders by Haïtian pro-government police and the UN peacekeeping force, which has been stationed in the country since the installation of the Latortue government.

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Most recently, on July 21, 2005, he was arrested by police following his return from a trip to Miami, Florida in connection with the abduction and subsequent murder of journalist Jacques Roche, according to the accusations of the deceased's family, who, immediately following Roche' funeral, mobbed and assaulted Jean-Juste, who had turned up at the locale of the funeral to pay his respects, despite the fact that Jean-Juste was out of the country at the times of both Roche's abduction (July 10) and the discovery of his mutilated, bullet-riddled body (July 14).

On July 28th, 2005, Amnesty International named Jean-Juste a "prisoner of conscience" [link][link]. As of early 2006, Father Jean-Juste remained in prison while his files are under review by judges appointed by the current interim government. No formal chages have been made against him.

He has also emerged as a potential candidate for the Fanmi Lavalas in the upcoming elections, which have been postponed to January 2006, although the Fanmi Lavalas has cited that it may not participate in the elections. In late December, 2005, a US medical doctor confirmed a colleague’s initial diagnosis that Jean-Juste has cancer. After examining Jean-Juste and analysing a blood sample he drew from him, prominent Harvard University physician Paul Farmer said Jean-Juste has chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He said the disease is not immediately fatal but can develop into a more virulent strain of cancer. Farmer told the Miami Herald: "Father Gerry's in serious trouble if he isn't released from jail for proper work-up in the States."[link]

On January 26, 2006, a judge dropped (informal) charges aginst Jean-Juste in regards to the death of Roche. However, Jean-Juste was indicted on two lesser counts of weapons possession and conspiracy, according to Jean-Juste's lawyer, Mario Joseph. No court date has been set.[link]

On January 29, 2006, Jean-Juste, after having been granted temporary release by the interim Haiti government, arrived in Miami to receive proper medical treatment for his leukemia.[link]

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