Canada: At 120 years, it is not the Guinness Book of Records
A team from Guinness Book of Records is currently in Haiti to verify Cecilia Lawrence's birth information.
Written by: Jean Numa Goudou
2016/01/12 8:48
Cecilia Laurent walks around the family home in Laval.
The family of the Haitian Cecilia Lawrence 120 years, has for six months approached Guinness Book of Records for official recognition as dean of mankind.
Guinness records entered to date on its website, the Japanese Misao Okawa (Aoki born March 5, 1898) as the oldest person in the world 118 years, which bothers some Ronald Chery, the back- grand-son of Mrs. Lawrence is behind the approach.
"For six months I exchange emails with them, says Mr. Chéry the newspaper, I have them already provided all the necessary documents that prove Gran mama is indeed born January 31, 1896".
A team from Guinness Book of rec niords is currently in Haiti to verify Cecilia Lawrence's birth information. These data are collected in an archive extract of his birth certificate as well as in its latest Haitian passport issued in June 2007 by the Haitian authorities.
Cecilia Lawrence lived in Canada since February 2010 following the earthquake that left nearly 300,000 dead. "I was in Port-au-Prince when the 'tranblann' is past, says the Dean accurately, I saw houses collapsing and people dying before my eyes. But I had nothing. "
She was rushed back to Canada thanks to the efforts of Raymonde Folco, former Liberal MP for Laval West constituency and Laval-Les Îles (1997-2011)
Dean still live the same neighborhood for six years with a permanent residence card and anything else the federal government. She has no pension, since Canada has never worked.
Yet she has already met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when he was MP for Papineau in Montreal. It has already received a "word health and longevity" by the Premier of Quebec Philippe Couillard.
"At election time, says his great-grand-son, politicians are scrambling to take a picture with her and the phone ringing off the hook."
Elections in Haiti
U.S. Department of State
Press Statement
Mark C. Toner
Deputy Department Spokesperson
Washington, DC
January 24, 2016
The United States supports all efforts aimed at finding consensual and constructive solutions that will conclude the electoral process expeditiously with an outcome that reflects the will of the Haitian people, consistent with Haitian law and the Haitian constitution.
Electoral intimidation, destruction of property, and violence are unacceptable, and run counter to Haiti’s democratic principles and laws as well as the values expressed in the Inter American Democratic Charter. The United States, along with the international community in Haiti, urges the Government of Haiti, its institutions, and political actors alike to reject violence and take all steps necessary to pave the way for a peaceful election for a new president and the remaining Parliamentary seats as is constitutionally mandated. As in the past, the United States is taking great interest in how elections in Haiti are unfolding and expects that persons responsible for organizing, financing, or participating in electoral intimidation and violence will be held accountable in accordance with Haitian law.
The United States reaffirms its support for credible, transparent, and secure elections that reflect the will of the Haitian people.
Haiti cancels 24th of January run off
Associated Press - Haiti cancels run off presidential election as violence erupts
Runoff vote postponed indefinitely following widespread unrest and claims from opposition leader that the entire process
is mired in fraud
Violence continues in the Haitian capital despite the cancellation of Sunday’s election.
Associated Press
Saturday 23 January 2016 00
Haiti has called off its presidential election just two days before it was due to take place over concerns of escalating violence sparked by the opposition candidate’s refusal to take part in a vote he said was riddled with fraud.
The Provisional Electoral Council decided to postpone the runoff because there is “too much violence throughout the country,” council president Pierre-Louis Opont said at a news conference.
In recent days, a number of election offices across the impoverished nation have been burned and the capital has been rocked by violent opposition protests calling for a halt to the vote.
The council did not set a new date for the vote. It also did not say whether an interim government would take power after 7 Febuary, when president Michel Martelly is required to leave office under the Constitution, or if he would remain until a replacement is elected.
Martelly had been expected to address the issue in a speech to the nation on Friday evening, but he cancelled his address as thousands of protesters erected flaming barricades, smashed car windows and hurled rocks at police in Port-au-Prince. Instead an extraordinary council of ministers was convened to discuss public order and security.
Government opponents have insisted that the first round of presidential balloting on 25 October was marred by massive fraud in favour of the president’s hand-picked successor, businessman Jovenel Moise. The runoff was originally supposed to be held on 27 December, and was then rescheduled for Sunday.
Jude Celestin, also a businessman and the other candidate in the runoff, said he would boycott the vote, though his name remained on the ballot.
Protests have grown increasingly violent in recent days, prompting the council to conclude it was too dangerous to try to hold the vote. Haiti has only a tenuous handle on security even with the assistance of troops and police from a UN peacekeeping force that has been in the country since a 2004 uprising ousted then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Schools that serve as election centres and voting stations in various towns have been attacked and set on fire in recent days, and election materials in a border town were hijacked by gunmen, Opont said.
Recent opposition-stoked protests in Port-au-Prince have ramped up the tension with rock-throwing partisans and burning street barricades.
Thousands of demonstrators cheered in celebration on Friday after hearing the vote would be postponed. Groups of mostly young men then proceeded to Petionville, a hillside district that is home to some of Haiti’s wealthiest citizens, where they smashed windows, set vehicles alight and threw rocks at riot police. Security guards fired into the air.
In the evening, the smoldering remnants of scores of flaming barricades could be seen in downtown Port-au-Prince. Motorists were forced to swerve around burnt tires, shattered glass and piles of rocks, but roadside eateries began to reopen.
There has been growing concern that a flawed runoff might push the perennially volatile country of 10 million people to the edge of tumult, rolling back a decade of relative political stability and putting the brakes on foreign investment.
Elections are always a struggle in Haiti. It saw its first genuinely democratic election in 1990, closely followed by a coup d’etat. While there have been no shortage of opposition boycotts since, this is the first time that a presidential candidate is boycotting a runoff after qualifying for it.
Celestin recently told The Associated Press that Haiti was “moving toward a selection, not an election.” He said the US and other foreign governments that monitor Haiti were complicit for supporting the flawed process.
Haiti’s Senate and various religious, business and civil-society groups had called for a halt to Sunday’s runoff due to public suspicion of fraud and concerns about instability.
Martelly had said the runoff would go on as scheduled and accused the opposition of trying to derail the vote with bogus accusations so a transitional government they would dominate could be set up.
Miami Herald Reporter Jacqueline Charles is OK.
This is a note that she posted on her Facebook page:
Let me start by saying, I am ok. Shaken but not stirred. But today was a reminder, that this place has its dangers and it's not glamorous.
Found myself with no electricity where I was and so I went next door to the hotel to charge my devices and get into our clunky computer system. I sat on the balcony where I always sit.
First I heard them. Then I saw them, running and cheering. Elections had been canceled. Cars honked their horns. And then in a blink of an eye, gunshots and rocks throwing. For a minute, you freeze. Unsure of what you heard is what you heard. Then you realize, bullets and rocks are flying. You duck. I leave the purse and grab the laptop -- like a real journalist. And then, I sat there -- and watch and listen as a guy with a gun fired several rounds off the balcony into the crowd.
Me? I was still on the floor, along with the international elections observers. I wish I could say just another day in Haiti. It wasn't. Felt like I had stepped back in time to 2004.
Like I said, I am ok. Shaken. But not stirred.
Haiti - FLASH USA:
Travel Alert in Haiti
The State Department renewed its travel alert for American citizens who live or travel in Haiti, to take into account the final round of the elections which take place in Haiti. This alert will be in effect until April 7th, 2016.
"The State Department warns American citizens, who live or travel in Haiti, to show caution and to remain informed about the security situation throughout the current electoral period. The Haitian government postponed the date of the runoff, which was planned initially on December 27th, 2015.”
Tensions remain high and we urge American citizens to be cautious and to remain informed of the security situation while the electoral process progresses in being resolved. Particularly troubled times may be the period preceding and immediately following the date of the election; the date when the results are announced, and the installation of a new President, set by the constitution, on February 7th, 2016.
There may be traffic restrictions, imposed by the authorities or caused by spontaneous political gatherings. The Security Office of the Embassy advises that embassy employees, who are not involved in supervising the elections, avoid unnecessary trips away from their homes the day of elections. For that reason and as a general precaution, you should prepare for possible emergencies, and maintain enough food, water, essential medicine and the other supplies to allow you to stay in one place for at least 72 hours.
Watch the local media for changes in the timetable of the elections. The American Embassy can update this travel alert if the timetable or the circumstances change. "
Michel Martelly is politically doomed
Posted by CSMS Magazine on January 23, 2016
CSMS Magazine
Editorial
He never was a button-down technocrat or a straight-jacket politician. He was simply a coon, a modern-day overseer ushered into Haiti’s highest office to send the clearest message to Haitians everywhere: “You’re good to no one, and your country will forever remain a protectorate of the United States.” Five years ago, Mirlande Manigat was shoved aside to install one of the most vulgar individuals Haiti could ever produce—a humiliation many Haitians still find hard to forget.
Adding to Martelly’s repugnant vulgarism was his dull thirst for Duvalierism and his populous right wing trivia—an issue that sent chills to the hearts of millions of Haitians and further amplified their pain and humiliation. He hired Baby Doc’s son as one of his top advisers. He went on a cruise with Jean-Claude Duvalier and the entire old guard to the very heart of Haiti’s independence, to the city of Gonaives. And when the former dictator died, he wanted to offer State Funeral Services.
That’s merely symbolic, however painful this could be to many Haitians. The greatest harm Martelly has ever caused to the Haitian masses was his raw nonchalance towards the disenfranchised, his slavish attitude towards the enemies of Haiti and his total disregard for the public trust. He and his top associates were said to have enriched themselves lavishly, acquiring luxury villas around the world while millions of Haitians go hungry every night. He is more than just an Uncle Tom. He is a traitor for which he must be tried. Now, at the twilight of his regime, Martelly’s political maneuvering is completely used up; and what happened yesterday was the clearest indication that he has been dumped. His Congo Sapeur that he was trying to stick at gun point into the throats of Haitians is now history. In the eyes of the stakeholders, Martelly is too divisive for proxy politics.
Ironically, Michel Martelly is a victim of his class of origin, for he embodies the quintessential petty bourgeois who sees the State bureaucracy as the “dazzling” key to the Grand Boulevard that leads to the land of the nouveaux riches. Money will never be enough, and the Hell for those who wallow in poverty every day. Shame on them!
Martelly may be vulgar, a brute with a complete lack of intellectual curiosity, but he is no different from those who claim to have mastered la langue de Voltaire and who claim to have trained within the mold of modern industrial societies. His predecessors were no different.
What Haiti needs is a complete break from the past; for rewriting this ugly narrative would require more than just a Messiah of the last hour. The State bureaucracy must be uprooted, and only an organization built from the premise of justice for all—with a mission to rebuild the infrastructure, to restore the authority of the State while putting forward a patriotic pledge to forever uphold the integrity and the sovereignty of the Western Hemisphere’s first black republic—can make it happen.
NINE HAITIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM A FULLBRIGHT SCHOLARSHIP
The Office of Public affairs of the Embassy of the United States of America informs that 9 Haitian academics, all of whom hold their Bachelor's degree, were selected among more than 200 candidates who applied for the Fulbright program for academic year 2016-2018.
Their selection was led by a rigorous process during which the candidates had to demonstrate their capacity of the English language through a series of tests, including the TOEFL. (Test of English has a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the TELP (The Test of English Language Proficiency), and the GRE (Graduate Record Examination). The final stage of the process consisted of an interview.
Fulbright is the international educational exchange program financed by the American government, which aims at strengthening the mutual understanding between the American people and other cultures. This program selects academically endowed students from throughout the world and allows them to achieve a master's degree in an American university.
The 9 Haitian Scholarship Winners are:
Beethoven A. Pleasure, who will pursue a Master's degree in Computer Science; Claudlène St. Vil, who will pursue a Master’s degree in Urban Architecture; Yvens Rumbold, who will pursue a Master's degree in communication; Francois Ronald Vibert, who will pursue a Master's degree in engineering with concentration in renewable energy; Ricardo St. Aimé, who will pursue a Master's degree in agronomy and vegetable production with a specialization on sustainable agriculture; Samantha Grand Pierre, who will pursue a Master's degree in International trade; Pascal Valbrune, who will pursue a Master’s degree in Public Administration with a concentration in International Development and Management; Fritz Alemagne Yzema, who will pursue a Master's degree in Civil engineering; Anne Marie Desormeaux, who will pursue a Master's degree in Public health.