The participants in the “Further and Deeper” program on Radio Vision 2000 on July 10 commented on the operations carried out by the police or the Blue Helmets, which resulted in the death of the gang leader Dread Wilme. Leopold Berlanger, participant in the program and CEO of Radio Vision 2000, said that similar operations should be carried out in the country. He thinks such operations are very necessary for the restoration of the climate of peace. According to him, the security forces are supposed to carry out other operations in this shantytown in order to dismantle networks of gangs that have taken the people hostage. He thinks that it is important for peace to return to this commune in order to allow the realization of various projects that can help improve the citizens’ living conditions. Berlanger:
“If the problem remained only like that, that is, you carry out extremely targeted operations against one person–although the person is, perhaps psychologically, a fearful and feared gang leader and there is no doubt that there is a psychological impact–but if you do not do the basic job that is supposed to be done, it is as if Aristide has gone whereas the network of criminality and gangs remains intact. So, in this case, you have extremely serious situations that have developed since his departure. The situation is the same. In other words, if you carry out such a targeted operation but you do not take the opportunity to occupy the space and you just remain in the logic of gangs and criminality, you just remain in the logic of violence of the space, what does that change for the people living in the area? What does that change for ourselves and others who might want to vote? It has not changed much for us who want to go to these areas that are called lawless areas.
“It might even give rise to extremely violent reactions in the long run because the person may say: well, I took some time and ran away; now, I have come back; I am going to take revenge. By the way, this is what they have said. They are going to take revenge. Even the legal formalities regarding Dread Wilme’s body have not been fulfilled. In addition, there is the situation of the people who are in an area where–we could see it on television — there is no concrete denunciation of what Dread Wilme actually did whereas several acts or crime were perpetrated. This means that psychologically there are also a lot of failures. The administrative measures that should have been taken by the police, the government, and the international community, and so on have not been taken.”
Radio Vision 2000: “You were listening to Berlanger’s explanations about the operation carried out by MINUSTAH, U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti, in the Cite Soleil area. We are pointing out that the funeral of gang leader Dread Wilme took place Saturday morning July 9 at Saint-Anne Church in Cite Soleil, according to an announcement by an official of a nongovernmental organization in the area. This information was denied by former Delmas Mayor Ernst Erilus, who says Wilme’s partisans had already buried his body one day after the MINUSTAH raid. Erilus says what happened on Saturday was a symbolic ceremony. The former mayor deplores the fact that the police authorities have left the population alone vis-a-vis the bandits.”