Porter Goss: “in the early morning of April 9, a large group of United States-trained Haitian National Police forcefully entered and…”

“in the early morning of April 9, a large group of United States-trained Haitian National Police forcefully entered and illegally searched the family home of a longtime employee of the International Republican Institute, which is an adjunct of the National Endowment for Democracy, which is of great interest to this institution. The contents of the home, which were owned by the employee's aunt, who happens to be an American citizen, were destroyed and photographs of the employee and his family were confiscated. We have received confirmation from the United States Embassy officials that the Haitian National Police have taken responsibility for the action, and they have claimed that they were thinking that there was a gang operating out of the home. It is worth noting that they failed, regardless of the merit or lack in the claim about the gang. It is worth noting that they never gained proper authorization to take such an action or stage such a raid. More troubling still is that this raid comes after an already- harrowing series of specific threats against this employee's family in the lead-up to the latest round of elections some 10 days ago, threats that many believe can be directly linked to the employee's work for the IRI. And those of us who have followed Haiti very closely will recall that this pattern mirrors that which preceded the forced departure of Haitian Chamber of Deputy member Dooley Brutus.”