Sunrise Airway becomes the first airline to offer nonstop service connecting Port-au-Prince to Orlando
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – While in the plane that will travel to Orlando four times a week, the President of Sunrise Airways, Philippe Bayard, spoke about his dream of turning the former “Pearl of the Antilles” into “The Center of the Caribbean.”
“For us, as an airline, and more importantly for the sizable Haitian community living in the Orlando area, these new flights are a tremendous development,” said Bayard, President of Sunrise Airways. “As Haiti’s hometown airline, Sunrise is especially proud to be the first to bring the convenience of nonstop service between Port-au-Prince and Orlando to the Central Florida market.”
Bayard explained that the airline started locally with a flight to Cap Haitian. Later, it expanded to the Dominican Republic, and eventually Cuba. There they serve three cities in the country: Santiago do Cuba, Camagüey and Havana.
“We introduced charter flights in Chile. But until now, we still have don’t have the authorization to operate scheduled flights. We’re working on it.”
Bayard added that his company operates charter flights towards Curaçao. “Soon, you will know about the inaugural flight which there will be between Port-au-Prince and Curaçao,” he said.
Offering products which are manufactured in Haiti, and have an acceptable quality, is also a priority for Bayard. Among them is Rum Barbancourt.
“We are also going to serve Haitian coffee, including Rebo and Selecto,” he said. “We want to promote all that is Haitian because that it adds value to the Haitian economy."
On the inaugural flight, on October 18, about fifty passengers sat on the plane which has a capacity of 168 seats.
For reservations and more information, visit www.sunriseairways.net, or call Tel: +(509) 2811 2222 / 1100 in Haiti, Tel: +(1) 305 433 2707 in the U.S, +(1) 849 916 6666 in the Dominican Republic and +(53) 2269 8791 in Cuba.
A new United Nations mission of armed police officers begins in Haiti, as the mandate of the previous mission ends
The United Nations Secretary-General welcomed the establishment of the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH), following the end of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) mandate on October 15.
“The closure of the MINUSTAH is a testament to Haiti’s progress over the past 13 years,” according to the UN.
The Secretary-General extends his gratitude to all civilian and uniformed personnel who served with MINUSTAH, as well as to troop- and police-contributing countries.
Last April, the UN Security Countil decided to end the MINUSTAH’s mission and to simultaneously replace it with MINUJUSTH. It will consists of 980 armed police officers who will be dispersed onto 7 bases throughout the country. The MINUJUSTH will assist the Haitian Government to strengthen rule-of-law institutions, further develop the capacities of the national police and advance human rights. The national police can rely on operational support from MINUJUSTH, when needed, to maintain law and order throughout the territory.
The Secretary-General is confident that the Haitian people and Government will work in close partnership with MINUJUSTH and the United Nations country team to implement together joint priorities based on resolution 2350 (2017) and reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Although Haitian Senate President Youri Latortue is requesting that this new UN force receive the parliament’s approval, this has not prevented the new mission from settling in, and the participating countries to declare their level of engagement.
Haiti and DR will soon have a joint police force for the surveillance of their joint border
This new police force will perform surveillance to insure security along the Haitian-Dominican border, and will operate with the cooperation of the government of Canada, and in conjunction with the United Nations.
"Its aim is to fight and prevent organized crime," said the Dominican Ambassador in Haiti, Alberto Despradel.
To achieve this, the national police forces of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in association with United Nations, will work to create this new police for the border.
According to a 2016 report United Nations Office Against drug and Crime, the illicit trades of organized crime, generate more than 2 billion dollars a year while drug trafficking generates 320 billion dollars. These numbers caused the UN to express concerns and to make it necessary to create a special body directly linking the two police forces on the Island.
Ambassador Despradel explained that the joint force will be deployed on in a large territory in the North of the border up to the mouth of the Masacre river. Cap-Haïtien will be included in this surveillance zone.
"We are working on the process of training this special body between the UN police, the Haitian national police force and the Dominican police to strengthen the mechanisms of cooperation and collaboration to prevent and to repress criminality under all its forms," added the Dominican ambassador.
Haiti police use tear gas to stop tax protest
AFP / October 18th, 2017
Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Haitian police on Tuesday used tear gas and water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters marching on the capital Port-au-Prince, as anger mounts over tax hikes seen as unfairly targeting the poor.
It was the latest in a series of demonstrations that began over a month ago against the 2017-18 budget passed by the administration of President Jovenel Moise.
The march was disrupted by police halfway along its route, angering protesters.
Some threw stones, with police responding by firing tear gas and water cannons.
Later, a small group of fleeing protesters tried to set fire to a gas station but failed, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
Opposition senator Antonio Cheramy accused authorities of being heavy-handed, adding: "The more violent they are, the more people will become energized."
"Instead of responding to the demands of the people, Jovenel gives orders to crush demonstrations," added protester Pierre Richard.
Moise was sworn into office in February, vowing to boost the economy of the poorest country in the Americas, and lure back Haitians living abroad.
The country is also struggling to emerge from a major cholera outbreak, and still suffering the effects of the January 2010 earthquake, with tens of thousands of people camping in tents without proper sanitation seven years on.
CORNEL CHRONICLE
New lecture series addresses connections between language, inequality
By
Spencer DeRoos
|
October 17, 2017
Christine W. Low
Michel DeGraff in Matènwa, La Gonave, Haiti, working with students as part of a Kreyòl-based STEM initiative.
An Oct. 20 lecture will kick off a new series on language and inequality co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Inequality and the linguistics and sociology departments.
Michel DeGraff, professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will present a talk, “Language, Education and (In)equality in Haiti: Struggling Through Centuries of Coloniality,” which will focus on linguistic inequality and the exclusion of “local languages” in education. These exclusions, he said, reflect power struggles within and across colonial and postcolonial societies. DeGraff argues that linguistic equality is a prerequisite to economic and political equality. The lecture, intended for a general audience, will be held at 3:30 p.m., Oct. 20 in G08 Uris Hall.
“Professor DeGraff’s work has revolutionized our understanding of Creole languages,” said Abby Cohn, Cornell professor of linguistics. “[DeGraff’s work] has identified persistent biases in the analysis and characterization of such languages by linguists, and [he] has made major contributions in the fields of Kreyòl medium and STEM education in Haiti.”
DeGraff is the director of the MIT-Haiti Initiative, a project aimed at helping Haitians learn in their native language of Haitian Creole (“Kreyòl”). The initiative reflects DeGraff’s belief that teaching Haitian children in French hinders their learning. The project seeks to improve quality and access to education by facilitating instruction in Haitian Creole, through faculty development and the creation of Haitian Creole curricula. DeGraff was granted $1 million by the National Science Foundation in 2012 to introduce online Creole language materials in the teaching of STEM in Haiti. He is also a founding member of the Haitian Creole Academy. His research focus is on the areas of syntax, morphology and language change.
This new series is intended for those who want to understand how the social dimensions of language contribute to issues of inequality. A speaker will come to campus each semester to address timely issues of how bias and inequality can be expressed and perpetuated through language. The series grew out of a conversation started during Stanford University professor John Rickford’s university lectureship last fall (he will return to campus in 2018 as an A.D. White professor-at-large).
“This series is all the more important and timely in light of the issues we need to address as a community about both subtle bias expressed through language, not to mention more egregious verbal acts of racism and bias,” Cohn said.
DeGraff will also deliver a lecture, “Walls vs. Bridges Around Creole Languages and Their Speakers,” part of the linguistics colloquium series, Oct. 19 at 4:30 p.m., 106 Morrill Hall.
Spencer DeRoos is a communications assistant for the College of Arts and Sciences.