Haitians Protest Against Next Year's Budget
TELE SUR
Protesters argue the new budget will hurt the country's most disadvantaged.
Thousands of people have gathered in the streets of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince to protest against a controversial budget bill that will affect the most vulnerable people of the island.
The protest erupted Monday and continued on till Tuesday.
The police violently clashed with the protesters, using tear gas and rubber bullets to stop them from reaching the national palace as planned, reported Vant Bef Info.
Various organizations argue that the new budget favors the elite at the expense of the country's most disadvantaged.
After Monday's protest, the organizations pushed for further demonstrations in a bid to pressure the administration to modify the bill.
The bill on the 2017-2018 budget, introduced by the recently-election administration of Moise Lafontant, was passed in the lower chamber on Saturday with 78 votes in favor, five abstentions and eight against.
It was passed in Senate two days earlier, with 18 votes in favor, two abstentions and one vote against, according to Alter Presse.
The house of representatives only modified one of the controversial articles, Article 17, which implemented higher taxes on Haitian citizens living abroad.
The bill comes as the island recovers from Hurricane Irma which hit the island on Sept. 7, killing one person and leaving 17 injured. About 8,000 houses have been affected and 6,500 people remain in temporary shelters out of the 12,000 people evacuated
According to the 2017 Climate Change Vulnerability Index, Haiti is the third-most vulnerable country in the world.
Despite the devastating effects of Hurricane Matthew last year, the government only allocated about 0.5 percent of this year’s budget to the Ministry of the Environment — despite promising to support local communities and sustainable agriculture.
Caribbean under hurricane watch again. Tropical Storm Maria following Irma’s track.
BY JENNY STALETOVICH
Tropical Storm Maria formed in the Atlantic Saturday, threatening to pound islands already hit hard by Irma with another hurricane early next week.
In an update at 5 a.m. Sunday, a hurricane watch was issued for Dominica. The storm was 460 miles from the Lesser Antiles, moving west-northwest at 15 mph with sustained winds of 65 mph.
National Hurricane Center forecasters said Maria will likely bring dangerous wind, storm surge and heavy rain to parts of the Lesser Antilles and could reach the Leeward Islands as a hurricane early next week. Maria could become a major hurricane by Tuesday night, reach Puerto Rico Wednesday night and the Dominican Republic on Thursday night.
On Saturday night, hurricane watches were issued for Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Martin and Anguilla. Tropical storm watches were issued for other islands in the chain.
The forecasters warned rainfall accumulation in the Leeward Islands through Tuesday night could “cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.”
The Coast Guard captain of the Port of San Juan warned that sustained gale force winds greater than 39 miles per hour may arrive within 72 hours, and advised pleasure craft “to seek safe harbor.”
It’s not yet clear what impact Florida and the U.S. might face from the storm. Model projections so far out can often be hundreds of miles off. But an early run of the European model — which reliably tracked Irma — takes the storm toward Florida.
The system became much better organized throughout Saturday, forecasters said, as it moved over warm tropical waters and encountered light wind shear. Air around the storm is also very moist. Those conditions shouldn’t change in the coming days, they said, likely allowing Maria to continue to pick up steam.
Following is the list of the NGOs forbidden in Haiti
On September 1st of this year, the Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation gave a press conference regarding numerous NGOs’ violation of the decree of September 14th, 1989 governing the establishment and the functioning of Non-Government Organizations in Haiti. During his speech, Aviol Fleurant, Secretary of the MPCE announced the upcoming publication of a list of 257 NGOs which had not complied with the government’s requirements. This has now been accomplished.
“NGOs have to integrate their activities around the programs and the projects of the government," said a lively Aviol Fleurant. "The same goes for international agencies generally, which contribute and develop a dynamic partnership with Haiti. You finance what the Haitian people need and not what you consider necessary. And what is financed must be done with governmental leadership," added Fleurant, whose office was recently subjected to protests against the 2017-2018 budget.
Aviol Fleurant does recognize the importance of NGOs. However, he specifies the need for regulations in part to prevent the duplications of activities in regions which cause a "difficulty to commit to sustainable development."
In a nutshell, "Public aid in development has to go through governmental channels, or we shall refuse it," threatened Fleurant.
Phanord Cabé: a young star shines brightly in the Haitian digital sky
Port-au-Prince, Friday, September 2nd, 2016 www.rezonodwes.com
He is only 23 years old, but, Phanord Cabé, born in Port-au-Prince on February 14th, 1993, is already someone who has shown his ability in the Haitian technological world, and who thinks that young people would make better use of their time taking advantage of multitudes of opportunities offered by Internet.
Fascinated by the World Wide Web, Phanord, is a young computer and mobile phone technician. He is also an expert on social media, dynamic, hard-working, and he never backs away from long working hours. Currently, he is using his talents with the information technology team of TV Radio Caribbean managed by Patrick Moussignac.
As an expert on social media, he has already helped several personalities improve their image on the Web, and enabled them to have their profile or page on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
Phanord Cabé has undoubtedly found the secret to drawing Internet users to his accounts, because with only 231 tweets he was able to get 150,000 followers. This is phenomenal for a young man who is neither an artist nor a politician, except for the fact that he jumped without hesitation into the world of social media with the development of 40404. That number is an SMS port into the Twittersphere. It allows people to have a way to tweet without Wi-Fi service.
Phanord Cabé is also eyeing a political career. However, it will have to wait until he is 35 years old when the young prodigy intends to make a run for the parliament.
Fabrice Tardieu’s Designer Shoes - a Secret gem in Little River
A recent conversation with his mother jogged a childhood memory for Miami shoe designer Fabrice Tardieu. In their native Port-au-Prince, Tardieu’s family owned a shoe factory, and as a boy he once asked his mom to stitch a leather toe trim onto his canvas shoes.
“I was 8 years old,” Tardieu said from his by-appointment-only showroom in Little River. “Today, the No. 1-selling shoe at Lanvin Paris looks so much like what I was envisioning at age 8.
“I had an understanding at a young age of things that could be really cool. I had it in me, but I didn’t know I had it in me — it just came later.”
Why sneakerheads love him
He began his self-named shoe and apparel brand from his apartment three years ago, putting his life savings on the line to embark on a dream of designing luxury leisure wear. Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union are fans of Tardieu’s couture sneakers, as is a Middle Eastern royal who last year bought 22 pairs — all size 10.5 — during a stay in Miami.
Tardieu got his professional start in fashion studying in France and working for Giorgio Armani before launching the Bogosse shirt label with his brother Patrick. Tardieu decided to walk away from that collaboration to rediscover his creativity, he said.
“I went from Ferrari to Uber,” he said of his pivot toward a risky new challenge.
Caribbean under hurricane watch again. Tropical Storm Maria following Irma’s track.
BY JENNY STALETOVICH
Tropical Storm Maria formed in the Atlantic Saturday, threatening to pound islands already hit hard by Irma with another hurricane early next week.
In an update at 5 a.m. Sunday, a hurricane watch was issued for Dominica. The storm was 460 miles from the Lesser Antiles, moving west-northwest at 15 mph with sustained winds of 65 mph.
National Hurricane Center forecasters said Maria will likely bring dangerous wind, storm surge and heavy rain to parts of the Lesser Antilles and could reach the Leeward Islands as a hurricane early next week. Maria could become a major hurricane by Tuesday night, reach Puerto Rico Wednesday night and the Dominican Republic on Thursday night.
On Saturday night, hurricane watches were issued for Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Martin and Anguilla. Tropical storm watches were issued for other islands in the chain.
The forecasters warned rainfall accumulation in the Leeward Islands through Tuesday night could “cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.”
The Coast Guard captain of the Port of San Juan warned that sustained gale force winds greater than 39 miles per hour may arrive within 72 hours, and advised pleasure craft “to seek safe harbor.”
It’s not yet clear what impact Florida and the U.S. might face from the storm. Model projections so far out can often be hundreds of miles off. But an early run of the European model — which reliably tracked Irma — takes the storm toward Florida.
The system became much better organized throughout Saturday, forecasters said, as it moved over warm tropical waters and encountered light wind shear. Air around the storm is also very moist. Those conditions shouldn’t change in the coming days, they said, likely allowing Maria to continue to pick up steam.