Dozens of clandestine Haitians were discovered in St. Martin
Members of the Police for French Borders (PAF), which suspected migrants trafficking in the bay of Marigot (the French side on the Island of St. Martin), discovered 52 illegal migrants, most of whom were Haitian (28 men, 17 women and 7 children) during a control operation. The migrants were piled up aboard a catamaran whose capacity was 12 people, and was anchored in the Bay.
The three crew members, two Dutch, a man and a woman as well as a man from St. Lucia, all three of whom lived on the island, were arrested and admitted to have participated in human trafficking for money.
According to the migrants’ testimonies, the crew was to lead them to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and some were supposed to stay in St. Martin. The price of the trip varied between 1,000 and 7,000 US dollars a person. The illegal migrants were ordered to leave the French territory, but no deportation procedure have been undertaken according to the assistant prosecutor.
Kuwait will finance a hospital in Haiti
Last week, the Fund for Economic and Social Assistance (FAES), received a delegation from Kuwait (Mohammad Alhadidi and Mohammad I.A Alomani) to evaluate the constructions financed by the Kuwaiti Government for an Urgent Care Center in the West, a high school in Petit-Trou-de-Nippes and two national schools, for a total amount of 9 million dollars.
Last Wednesday, Lucien Francoeur, the Managing director of the FAES, Daphnée B. Delsoin, Minister for Health and representatives of the Kuwaiti Development Fund, Mohammad Alhadidi and Mohammad Alumni signed an agreement for the construction of a new hospital in the metropolitan zone.
The Kuwaiti delegation left Haiti last Thursday after having completed their evaluations, following the passage of the hurricane Matthew.
More than a dozen people were injured following the collapse of an old soda plant building at the Rue du Magasin de l’Etat in downtown Port-au-Prince
Last Wednesday, in the center of Port-au-Prince, a former soda production plant that was strongly damaged by the 2010 earthquake partially collapsed causing 8 victims and panic among local residents.
"Four bodies were removed from some rubble and we transported four other people who were seriously hurt to the general hospital of Port-au-Prince," confirmed the coordinator of the civil protection.
The Mayor of Port-au-Prince, Youri Chevry, reached the scene of the accident, where rescue teams searched in the rubble for possible survivors. He indicated that all the victims were inside the building at the time of the accident, in search of materials, especially steel bars that they could resell.
Mayor Chevry expressed sadness in the face of this incident. In order to avoid a repeat of such a tragedy, he announced that a demolition campaign will be underway in the capital to bring down all of the buildings that were severely damaged by the 2010 earthquake.
According to Guillaume Albert Moléon, the Interior Ministry spokesman, no one knows exactly how many people could have been in the building at the time of the accident. This former soda factory was one of the buildings in the capital on the list for demolition.
Haitians kill a Dominican military officer
Last Friday in Los Rieles of Copey, a municipality of Manzanillo (Province of Monte Cristi), a group of Haitians entered the Dominican territory illegally through the border, and refused to obey a Dominican military patrol officer. Instead, they attacked Captain Manuel Belliard Felipe, age 49, stabbing him several times and killing him. They also hurt his colleague Quartermaster Sergeant, Jeremías Mateo Espinal, 34, and stole a rifle and other goods. Captain Felipe was transported to a private hospital in Monte Cristi, but did not survive his wounds.
The Dominican Ministry of Defense indicated that authorities had arrested three of the five illegal Haitians, identified as being responsible for Captain Felipe’s murder. They were handed over to the Monte Crisiti prosecutor for legal proceedings.
Haiti - Port-Salut: rehabilitation of the main water supply system
Thanks to financing from the Government of Norway and with the technical support of the UN Environment (ONUE), some local organization have proceeded toward the rehabilitation of a portion of the water supply system feeding the central part of Port-Salut, more specifically the network fed by the Grand Kay and Manzè Anne (Trouillac) water sources. This system which serves 10,000 people, had been severely damaged, following the Matthew's passage in Southern Haiti.
"Our work consisted of the removing tree trunks, which fell on the line of adduction on a distance of about three kilometers, and to replace certain pipes and joins", explained Joël Samedy, the engineer of PADI, a local fisherman’s organizations, in charge of the work. "After an evaluation of the damages, we proceeded with cleaning out of the harnessing and the galvanized steel conducts, as well as the reservoirs".