Friend of Haiti’s President Accused of Running a Kidnapping Ring
A friend of Haitian president, Michel Martelly, was recently accused of leading the Galil Gang, a kidnapping ring which has allegedly abducted 17 businessmen in the last six years for ransom. Woodley Ethéart, a former music promoter in Haiti, was indicted this week. However, the prosecutor overseeing the case opposed the investigation’s findings and recommended that Ethéart be released, despite a 30-page report outlining Ethéart’s role in the kidnapping. Human rights activists argue that this case highlights how prosecutors appear to represent the interests of the administration that appointed them, rather than abiding by the rule of law, which has been an ongoing theme since Martelly took office. (New York Times)
Haiti Asks Delay in UN Peacekeeping Cuts; Elections Loom
UNITED NATIONS — Mar 18, 2015
By CARA ANNA Associated Press
Haiti asked the U.N. on Wednesday to delay a plan that would nearly cut in half its peacekeeping force there, just as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere is poised to enter a tense election period.
Ambassador Denis Regis warned the U.N. Security Council that the withdrawal, which begins this month, will jeopardize the country's security situation. President Michel Martelly made the same plea in a letter to the U.N. this month.
"We all understand what's at stake here," Regis told the council. "We must avoid any premature disengagement."
Under pressure from the United States and the Security Council, which visited the country in January, Haiti this month scheduled its presidential election for October and set an August date for long-delayed legislative elections that have been a source of growing political friction.
Haiti's leaders would like the U.N. peacekeeping reduction to wait until the elections are over.
The current plan says the number of multinational troops in Haiti will drop to 2,370 from 5,021 by June.
The United States supported the reduction Wednesday, while other permanent council members said Haiti's national police will be able to help ensure calm during the elections.
"Ultimately the responsibility for ensuring (the elections') success lies with Haitians," U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said.
But more than a dozen countries lined up against the cuts, including Canada, New Zealand and number of Latin American countries.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the island country of 10 million people was established in 2004 after the ouster of then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
BILL CLINTON ‘UNAWARE’ BROTHER-IN-LAW ON BOARD OF HAITIAN GOLD MINE THAT LANDED RARE PERMIT
New reporting by the Washington Post finds a gold mine in Haiti. Or, at least, confirms previous reporting from Breitbart News about a gold mining contract in that troubled country.
In an expose about the controversial Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the newspaper’s Kevin Sullivan and Rosalind S. Helderman write that:
Controversy surrounding the Clintons only deepened with the recent revelation, contained in an upcoming book by Peter Schweizer, that Tony Rodham — Hillary Clinton’s younger brother — serves on the advisory board of a U.S.-based company that in 2012 won one of Haiti’s first two gold-mining permits in 50 years. After objection from the Haitian senate, the permits have been placed on hold.
“Neither Bill Clinton nor the brother of Hillary Clinton are individuals who share the interests of the Haitian people,” said Samuel Nesner, an anti-mining activist who thinks mining poses great environmental risks and will mainly benefit foreign investors. “They are part of the elite class who are operating to exploit the Haitian people.”
Clinton Foundation officials said Bill Clinton had been unaware of Rodham’s involvement in the mine project. A spokesman for Hillary Clinton said she does not know the chief executive of the mine.
If the former president is unaware of his brother-in-law’s activities in Haiti, that only proves he doesn’t read Breitbart News.
Earlier this month, we reported that, “Hillary Rodham Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham, sat on the board of a self-described mining company that in 2012 received one of only two ‘gold exploitation permits’ from the Haitian government—the first issued in over 50 years.”
There’s still plenty more for the Post to investigate:
The Rodham gold mine revelation is just one of dozens featured in a forthcoming bombshell investigative book by three-time New York Times bestselling author Peter Schweizer, according to a Thursday statement from publishing giant HarperCollins. The publisher says the book, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, is the culmination of an exhaustive one-year deep dive investigation into the nexus between the Clintons’ $100+ million personal wealth, the Clinton Foundation, and the decisions Hillary made as Secretary of State that benefited foreign donors, governments, and companies.
3200 Haitians living in Canada risk possible deportation.
Last Friday several Haitian and Zimbabwean nationals showed their concern, in front of the Guy-Favreau complex in Montreal, regarding the possibility of being deported to their country of origin. They are worried because on December 1st, 2014, Ottawa ended the moratorium on deportations and is requiring all concerned nationals to get through the immigration process, otherwise, they risk being repatriated to their native country.
This measure, affects approximately 3,200 Haitian living mainly in the region of Montreal. These individuals benefited from this moratorium since 2004, because their immigration demands or asylum requests had been rejected, but they had not been sent back to their country because the situation there was considered too dangerous.
Serge Bouchereau, of the Action Committee of Non-Status People, asked the Federal Government to adopt a collective measure, which would allow all these immigrants to have access at the same time to a permanent resident status, although the Canadian immigration policy requires that status applications be treated on a case by case basis. He is afraid that with this selective process many, Haitian countrymen will be obliged to head for the airport...
Kathleen Weil, Minister of Immigration of Quebec, reminded that a special agreement was negotiated with Ottawa, in which the federal government made a commitment to respect the recommendations of Quebec "We are going to treat cases with transparency, and a lot of humanity," encouraging the immigrants concerned to submit their requests for permanent residence before June 1st, 2015.
In a statement, the Canadian Government explained that "Considering the improvement of the conditions in Haiti and in Zimbabwe, the government of Canada lifted the temporary suspension of removals (TSR) to these two countries. If you have no legal status in Canada, you could be sent deported. However, you could be eligible to stay in Canada as permanent resident.”
Fruits and vegetables of the Dominican Republic forbidden to enter Haiti
The Ministry of Agriculture, natural resources and rural development (MARNDR) announced the temporary ban on import on a series of fruits and on vegetables from the Dominican Republic.
This measure is taken to avoid the fact that the country is contaminated by a "Mediterranean Fruit Fly," that have just invaded the Punta Cana region near the Republic.
The list of forbidden fruits includes:
Lemons, oranges, grapefruits, tangerines, mangoes, apples, peas, grapes, mamey, breadfruit, sapodilla, breadfruit, bananas, coffee, watermelon, plantains, cherries, cantaloupe, cachiman, avocado, papaya, custard apple, star apple, grenadine.
The forbidden vegetables are:
Tomato, eggplant, bell peppers and hot peppers, and other fruits and vegetables from the same family.
Samantha Power exhorts the Haitians to the dialogue
The Representative of the United States to the United Nations’ Security Council, Samantha Power, pressed the Haitian government and political players to work their utmost to organize honest and inclusive elections. "We ask all the leaders and the political parties of Haiti to participate in the elections and to assure a peaceful atmosphere, so that all eligible Haitians who wish to vote can do so without fearing for their safety," said Power on March 18, during a board meeting of Security Council dedicated to Haiti.
She highlighted the necessity for immediate attention to be given in the preparation and the organization of the ballot to guarantee free, just, credible and inclusive elections.
The American diplomat judged that an inclusive dialogue is essential to maintain a secure climate. She specified that the responsibility for assuring the success of the elections depends mainly on the Haitian government, the Electoral Council, the political parties, and Haitians themselves.