U.S. once praised war criminal: The Joint Chiefs leader backed the Haitian general after a massacre

By Jim Stratton, Orlando Sentinel, 21 January 2004

A convicted Haitian war criminal arrested last week in Orlando was once considered a loyal and faithful partner of the United States by the former head of the U.S. military.

In a 1997 letter, Gen. Henry Hugh Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, praised Jean-Claude Duperval and urged that his application for political asylum in the United States be given every possible consideration.

The letter—on Joint Chiefs stationery—said Shelton worked daily with Duperval in 1994 as U.S. forces sought to calm the politically explosive island.

Immigration agents picked up Duperval last week at his Orlo Vista home, and he is expected to be deported to Haiti within days. Duperval had been living quietly in the blue-collar neighborhood for about three years—working at one time as a Disney boat pilot—after coming to the United States in 1995.

Duperval, a major-general in the Haitian military, was convicted in absentia by a Haitian court in 2000 for his role in the 1994 massacre of dozens of political dissidents. In the attack, soldiers rampaged through the seaside town of Raboteau, beating and shooting at least 25 men, women and children.

Duperval's arrest was celebrated by human-rights activists, but it has angered some members of Orlando's Haitian community. His friends have planned a protest rally for Friday.

They likely will point to Shelton's past support of Duperval to bolster their case. In his letter, Shelton said Duperval was instrumental in facilitating the smooth transition to a democratic government.

His cooperation with the United States, Shelton wrote, undoubtedly made him many enemies in Haiti.

Duperval's supporters said he is innocent and was convicted only because of his position in the military. They claim he will be killed if deported, though that hasn't happened to other military leaders who have been returned to the island.

My brother, said Jeanette Duperval, will not be safe.

An American lawyer who helped prosecutors investigating the massacre said Duperval was not accused of ordering or directly participating in the killings. He was convicted, said Brian Concannon, because as the army's second-in-command, he did nothing to stop the violence.

In fact, said Concannon, Duperval and other military leaders encouraged it.

This was a very brutal regime, Concannon said. And he stood by while people in his command did these things.

But if Duperval, 56, was so bad, his family asked, why did top U.S. officials work with him during their time in Haiti and later allow him to enter the country?

Shelton's letter, they point out, was written in 1997, several years after key players in the massacre had been identified. Handwritten notes in the margin suggest Duperval sent it to then-first lady Hillary Clinton.

Shelton, now an executive with a Virginia-based manufacturing company, did not return repeated calls from the Orlando Sentinel. Officials with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, however, confirmed that Shelton sent the 1997 letter and two years letter wrote a personal note to Duperval.

They would not reveal what the note said.

Duperval's family sees the correspondence as endorsements from the United States. As Joint Chiefs chairman, Shelton was a presidential appointee, chief military adviser to President Clinton and the highest-ranking military officer in the country.

Gen. Shelton and the others know he's a good soldier, said Eli Biece, Duperval's brother-in-law. He is not a criminal. They have to try and save his life, or history will condemn them.

Amnesty International said the Duperval case illustrates a long-running problem with U.S. foreign policy. To achieve political or military goals, U.S. officials sometimes choose questionable friends, Amnesty's Vienna Colucci said.

In a report released two years ago, the group said at least 150 known or suspected human-rights violators were living in the United States, but the government had done little to prosecute them.

At times, they're willing to make deals, said Colucci, an international-justice expert. They'll look the other way or even reward perpetrators of some very serious abuses.

Still, word of Shelton's letter surprised some human-rights activists. William O'Neill, who once monitored human rights in Haiti for the United Nations, said Duperval's position in the military and the military's role in the massacre were common knowledge.

They were basically a bunch of thugs, he said. Somebody really should have done their homework before vouching for Duperval.

Duperval's supporters insist he is not guilty, and they have scheduled the Friday afternoon rally outside U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown's Orlando office to protest his arrest.

Organizer Franck Charlot said marchers will try to pressure U.S. lawmakers to intervene on Duperval's behalf. Charlot said Shelton's support of Duperval may become a central part of their argument.

If they send him back, he said, they're turning their backs on a good man.