Throngs mourn Spanish Catholic sister shot dead in Haiti
Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Throngs of mourners attended the funeral for a Catholic sister from Spain last week. She was shot dead earlier this month while on a highway in Haiti.
"People are dying and the authorities do not care at all," said Mimose Targette, a leader at the same church where Sister Isabel Sola Macas, 51, played guitar every morning.
Macas was driving in downtown Port-au-Prince early Friday when she was gunned down by unidentified attackers who shot her twice in the chest -- a shocking act even in this poverty-stricken and politically insecure nation where acts of violence are not uncommon.
The passenger next to Macas was also hit and is still receiving treatment in a hospital in the capital city.
"Sister Isa helped people from poor neighborhoods and these are the same people who killed her," Targette said.
Top religious leaders as well as everyday citizens filed past her open coffin Thursday and offered condolences to her four siblings who came to Port-au-Prince for the funeral.
Haitian police said progress had been made in the investigation but declined to share any details.
"We know that the investigation will lead to nothing, so it's still one more person who has spilled her blood for nothing," Catholic sister Sandra Thomas said.
"But we are going to continue fighting in our own way so that Haiti finally rises from the ashes because we are not going to leave this country by itself," she added.
Seizure of Illegal weapons – The United States congratulates the Haitian national police force
The U.S. Embassy congratulated its Haitian partners and welcomed the seizure of illegal weapons by the Haitian National Police force and Haitian authorities at the port of Saint Marc on Thursday, September 8th, 2016.
"We continue to work in association with American and Haitian authorities to pursue the criminals implied in this affair and to fight the dealing of illegal weapons in Haiti.
The United States is committed to continue to support the National police force of Haiti in the long term, and we welcome the continuous progress of the PNH to insure the safety and the rule of law in Haiti."
Trinidad Express: Haiti to lift restrictions on importation of Dominican products
PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Sep. 1, CMC – The Haitian government has agreed to lift the restrictions on overland imports of several products from the neighbouring Dominican Republic in the next few days.
According to Haiti's Foreign Minister Pierrot Delienne, the restrictions will be lifted as long as the corresponding customs fees are paid.
Delienne also said the government will provide over 100,000 Haitians with the official documents needed to in order to qualify for the Dominican Republic's foreigner regularization plan.
The decision was made during a meeting earlier this week with Dominican Foreign Relations Minister Miguel Vargas in Port-au-Prince.
Delienne also responded positively to his counterpart's request to resume meetings by the Mixed Bilateral Commission, for which he said a common agenda would be drawn up, as well as to Vargas's proposal for a trade agreement between the two countries
In addition, Vargas proposed a treaty that would boost bilateral trade flows “without blockages and without objections” beyond the international trade rules.
From remote stronghold, Haiti fugitive seeks political power
PESTEL, Haiti -- Fishermen gathered eagerly at a rickety wooden pier to welcome a boat carrying Haiti's most divisive and provocative political candidate.
The crowd quickly cleared a path as Guy Philippe stepped to shore and began shaking hands and slapping backs. More people emerged to see the man whose face adorns campaign posters on one-room shacks in a community isolated from the rest of the country by forested mountains and rutted roads.
Philippe is reviled by some Haitians as a leader of the 2004 rebellion that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He is wanted on decade-old drug-trafficking charges by U.S. authorities. And last week, a Haitian judge questioned him about a deadly May raid on a police station after he rebuffed previous subpoenas.
Yet Philippe appears to be revered in the rural Grand'Anse region of southern Haiti. Many already call him "senator" as he seeks to win a seat in a runoff election scheduled for Oct. 9 - a victory that would give him immunity from arrest and prosecution in his homeland as well as political power that he has long craved.
"He's like a father for this area," said Christin Pierre Louis, who was among those welcoming Philippe to the village.
Elsewhere, many see him as a troubling symbol of Haiti's wider problems.
"There is an accountability vacuum in Haiti that means people implicated in past human rights violations can run as popular candidates with no fear of investigations, much less prosecutions, of alleged abuses," said Amanda Klasing, a senior researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch.
The fugitive candidate, who looks much younger than his 48 years, allowed Associated Press journalists to spend a day with him in his Pestel stronghold. It's a remote municipality in the rugged mountainous region that has been his refuge since U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents barely missed capturing him in a 2007 raid at his house in the south coast city of Les Cayes.
He says he wants to bring prosperity to Haiti's mountainous southern peninsula, which features clear blue waters and lush forests but has scarce electricity, little infrastructure and widespread hunger.
Philippe insists he is innocent of any crimes, blaming the accusations on enemies trying to silence him. He has particular rancor for Haiti's caretaker president.
"The path I chose, the way I chose, is not easy. But I chose it and I'm willing to die for it," Philippe told AP journalists, who made the teeth-rattling drive to his stronghold along a dirt road that has been lined with boulders so barricades can be erected at a moment's notice.
In Pestel, where his father served as mayor, Philippe is the undisputed boss.
Downing bottles of Prestige beer, he held court at the town's only hotel, which he owns. He occasionally barked orders to supporters, socialized with a coterie of hangers-on and doled out favors.
At a gazebo he built for the town on a waterfront promenade, he made an open invitation to former soldiers to relocate to Pestel. Haiti's military was abolished in 1995, but veterans like Philippe and their supporters have long demanded the army be reconstituted.
"They can come to Pestel - land of liberty," he said, flashing a grin.
While Philippe insisted he holds great respect for law enforcement as a former police commander and soldier, he warned that any uniformed officials trying to capture him in his tropical outpost will be met with force.
"We'll consider them as mercenaries and we will fight them," he said.
Philippe denied reports he has stockpiles of weapons, but two T65 assault rifles and a pair of M-1 carbines were visible inside a roadside shack where a lookout stood guard.
Philippe's candidacy for a Senate seat is the latest chapter in a colorful life.
In 2000, he was police chief of the northern city of Cap-Haitien, the country's second largest city, when he bolted to the neighboring Dominican Republic after accusations he was plotting a coup. While in exile, he was accused of masterminding attacks on Haitian police stations and other targets.
He returned in 2004 to join an uprising against Aristide, taking over a band of rebels that captured Cap-Haitien. Aristide left the country aboard a U.S.-supplied jet before Philippe's rebels reached the capital.
After rolling triumphantly into Port-au-Prince, Philippe proclaimed himself "military chief." But he gave up his arms as a U.N. stabilization force geared up.
He ran for president in 2006, finishing a distant ninth.
A year later, heavily armed U.S. and Haitian anti-drug agents raided his home in Les Cayes but found only his family and a maid. U.S. agents came in several Black Hawk helicopters.
A fugitive poster from the DEA said he is wanted on charges including conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S. But the decade-old U.S. indictment charging him is sealed and federal prosecutors decline to discuss the case.
Philippe faces questions about a May 16 assault on the Les Cayes police headquarters. As many as 50 armed men wearing camouflage or faded green uniforms attacked the station, stealing guns and killing one police officer and wounding another.
His lawyer, Reynold Georges, confirms that Philippe is named on a Haitian warrant involving the attack, but says his client had no involvement.
Philippe says he is living a simple life and is focusing on his campaign. Jovenel Moise, a presidential candidate chosen by former President Michel Martelly, recently campaigned with Philippe in Pestel.
His American wife and two children live in the U.S., and he says he seldom ventures out of Grand'Anse.
Philippe warns of trouble if he loses the Senate runoff.
"I will fight if I lose this election because I'll know the government did it illegally," he said between swigs of beer. "I've got nothing left to lose."
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Visit of a volleyball world icon of Haitian origin
Last Thursday at the Karibe Hotel before numerous personalities of the world of Haitian sports - volleyball in particular - the Minister of Youth, Sports and Civic Action, Abel Nazaire, hosted a cocktail party in honor of volleyball legend Mireya Luis Hernandez. A Cuban athlete of Haitian parents, Mireya Luis Hernandez is considered to be the best volleyball player of all times. She recently launched her autobiography titled "Between Heaven and Earth."
On behalf of the government and of the Haitian people, Minister Nazaire declared it was an honor and a big opportunity to receive Mireya Luis and her husband Humberto Gonzalez (the former Cuban Secretary of sports), and a symbol pride to have an icon of the world of sports who is of Haitian origin be a role model to the young people of Haiti. Let us recall that that Mireya Luis Hernandez was an Olympic champion three times, and that she holds several world and international titles.
Three days of protest scheduled against the possible renewal of the mandate of the Minustah
Social organizations announced three days of mobilization against a possible renewal of the Mission of United Nations for the stabilization in Haiti (Minustah) announced the news agency Alter Press.
These organizations are said to oppose the presence of the UN, installed in Haiti since 2004.
David Oxygène, who is in charge of the Movement for Freedom, and Equality of Haitian for the brotherhood (Molegaf), announced three days of mobilization to denounce the renewal of this mandate.
A report of the General Secretary of the United Nations Organization (UNO), Ban Ki-Moon, recommended a continuation of 6 months (until April, 2017) of the mandate of the mission.
On Tuesday, September 13th, a protest is planned in front of the national palace, to call upon temporary president, Jocelerme Privert, to speak against the recommendation of Ban Ki-Moon.
A sit-in is also planned for Tuesday, September 20th in front of the base of Minustah, in Clercine (north sector of the capital) to say “No” to the continued presence of the Minustah.
That same day, the UN will have a general assembly in New York.
Another sit-in will be organized on Tuesday, September 27th, in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, natural resources and rural development (Marndr), to demand that authorities take measures against foreign products which are invading the country.
The cholera epidemic first appeared in Haiti in October, 2010. It was introduced into the country by a contingent of Nepalese servicemen of the Minustah. Recently, the UN finally recognized its responsibility in the introduction of the disease in Haiti.
Molegaf calls upon "the popular resistance" to fight against the continuation of Minustah.
Guy Numa, who is in charge of the popular democratic Movement (Modep), also rejects the general request of the secretary of United Nations and urges the government of Enex Jean Charles not to extend the mandate of the mission.
"The cholera epidemic constitutes one of the greatest damages caused by Minustah, without counting the rapes of minors and adults," condemned Modep.
The Minustah had a new mandate, until October 16th, 2016, according to a resolution, adopted unanimously, on Wednesday, October 14th, 2015, by the United Nations Security Council.
According to this resolution, the prolonged mandate of Minustah would keep the current level of authorized staff of 2,601 policemen of United Nations (Unpol) and 2,370 servicemen.
The United States gets involved in the fight against Zika in Haiti
The American Ambassador to Port-AU-Prince, Peter Mulrean, and the Managing director of the Ministry of Health, Gabriel Timothé, made a visit to the Private Community Hospital of Martissant in the capital, earlier this month.
The American diplomat and Dr. Timothé also took part in the distribution of Zika prevention kits to pregnant women who are in their first trimester.
Following a request by the Ministry of Health, the Office of Cooperation for Safety of the Program of Humanitarian Assistance of SOUTHCOM, donated more than 700 Zika prevention kids, which contain insecticide, citronella candles, and condoms to be distributed to pregnant women.
This visit to the Martissant Hospital, supported by the American Agency for the International Development (USAID), demonstrates the continuous commitment of the American government to support the Haitian authorities with health care supplies in particular in the prevention of the transmission of the Zika virus.
Ambassador Mulrean stressed the need to strengthen community programs to prevent the spread of Zika in the vulnerable zones in Haiti. "The United States actively supports the action plan against Zika by the Ministry of Health. This plan aims at preventing, detecting and at the responding to the disease. In the context of prevention, today we distributed anti-Zika kits to Haitian women in the first trimester of their pregnancy. Pregnant women being a high risk group, we are targeting them in our intervention," he said.