Haiti finally has a new government after riots over fuel prices
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES of the Miami Herald
A well-known public notary who twice ran unsuccessfully for president became Haiti’s newest prime minister on Sunday after the Lower Chamber of Deputies overwhelmingly approved his political program and cabinet.
Jean Henry Céant’s ratification came after both chambers of parliament held separate back-to-back marathon sessions that began Friday afternoon in the Senate and ended shortly after sunrise Sunday with the vote in the Lower Chamber. Eighty-four deputies voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratification. Five were against and four abstained
One of the first tests awaiting him will come from the International Monetary Fund, which is awaiting the sitting of the new government to address the issue of the removal of fuel subsides — it still wants the fuel hikes, it has said. Meanwhile, international aid is decreasing and the local currency, the gourdes, continues to devalue.
In office for 19 months, Moïse is hard-pressed to show that his presidency is having an impact. He has been at odds with the international community, especially the Trump administration over the question of its support of Venezuela. His own police chief and his flagship public works program known as the Caravan of Change has been criticized by even his own supporters.
“The strategies the president have adopted are not good,” Sen, Kedlaire Augustin, a Moïse supporter, told Céant, while wanting to know if he will have the courage to stand up to the president. “How are you going to help the president have the courage to stand before the nation and tell them the state of the country’s finances so we don’t keep making promises?
“The president needs to have the courage to say he has problems,” with a part of the international community, the private sector and the police, Augustin said.
Augustin was among those who did not vote in favor of Céant, telling him he would abstain because he remained unsure of his sincerity and why he wanted the job.
Céant replied that he and the president shared the same vision of a better Haiti, and asked Augustin and others to join him.
“Today every Haitian, despite how they see themselves, should finally realize there is no first class or economic class in an airplane that’s in distress,” he said. “Everybody has to put their hands together, otherwise we will all perish together.
The United States demands that corrupt Haitian leaders pay for their acts!
The level of corruption and impunity among Haitian leaders is beginning to worry the international community
New York City, Friday, September 7th, 2018 - Ambassador Jonathan a representative of the United States at the United Nations, gave a speech during a U. N. Security Council Board meeting recently, during which he called upon the Haitian government to work with the MINUJUSTH and its international partners to strengthen its institutions in the judicial sector. He also called for the Haitian government to work with organization fighting against the corruption and to promote the judicial reforms to fight against the impunity and strengthen the rule of law.
Jonathan Cohen praised the Haitian National police force, for acting to protect the civilian population and abstain from any action which would have fueled the violence, during the riots of July 6 – 8, 2018.
The efforts of the PNH "allowed to avoid an escape of prisoners from the national penitentiary, which would have made even an extremely unstable situation in the city center of Port-au-Prince even more complex," noted the American diplomat. However, he added that that it is necessary to make more progress in the fight against corruption.
While he warned against the politicization of the police, Cohen also added that it is imperative that the corrupt individuals and anyone else involved in human rights violations should be held responsible for their acts.
5 people died following a lightning strike in Belladère
5 people were killed due to a lightning strike, in the afternoon of Thursday, September 13th, 2018. Heavy rains and a lightning storm in Belladère caused the deaths of the five victims, according to the on-line AlterPresse agency.
The United Nations has a new representative in Haiti
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, recently announced Mrs. Helen Meagher La Lime's appointment, as his special Representative and Head of mission of United Nations for the support for the justice in Haiti (Minujusth).
Mrs La Lime succeeds in her fellow countryman Mrs. Susan D. Page to whom the General Secretary expressed his gratitude for her dedication and her effective leadership at the head of Minujusth.
Ambassador to Haiti has a message for young professionals in Miami.
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
The U.S. ambassador to Haiti appealed for more engagement of the Haitian diaspora, telling a group young professionals in Miami that businesses in Haiti can benefit from their mentorship and knowledge as successful entrepreneurs.
“They need your help, your advice in order to scale up their enterprises to the next level,” Michele Sison said, delivering Saturday’s keynote address at the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce of Florida’s annual 20 Under 40 Top Young Professionals award ceremony. “Together, you are a strong force that could help shape the Haitian-American partnership in the years to come. We want to partner with Haiti in that.”
Speaking to the Miami crowd, Sison acknowledged that Haiti could do more to attract foreign and domestic investment. Many of the people she spoke to, she said, have said the Haitian government needs to improve the ease of doing business in Haiti by strengthening contract enforcement and contract liability.
“Donor support to help Haiti with its development and broader social and economic needs is not enough,” she said. “Haiti also needs increased domestic and foreign investment.
“There has never been a stronger case for fair , open and transparent government strengthened by a strong and independent judiciary,” she later said while noting that this is one of the first conversations she intends to have with the country’s next government. “These are all key ingredients for economic growth.”
In addition to stressing diaspora involvement, Sison touted some of the domestic revenue mobilization programs the U.S. has embarked on in Haiti to encourage Haitian self-reliance and resiliency. Among them,working with Haitian institutions, like municipalities, to increase government revenue streams through property tax and business tax collections.
“This works,” she said. “In some municipalities revenues increased.”
ACLU Asks Federal Judge To Release Haitian Asylum Seeker Jailed For 2 Years In Chardon
(Haitian Times, Sept. 12, 2018) The American Civil Liberties Union has asked a federal judge to order the immediate release of Ansly Damus, a Haitian immigrant who has been jailed in Geauga County for nearly two years as the government continues to appeal his asylum award.
Damus was an ethics teacher in Haiti and in one of his seminars used local government official Benjamin Ocenjac as an example of someone who used bandits to terrorize the population. “La Meezorequin” (“the Shark Bones Army”), an armed gang loyal to Ocenjac, beat Damus, set his motorcycle on fire and threatened his life, according to court documents.
About ten days later, Damus fled first to Brazil, and then to the United States, where he immediately presented himself for asylum at the California border in October 2016.
He has been held since then by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Geauga County Safety Center in Chardon. He has twice been granted asylum by a U.S. Immigration Court judge in Cleveland, finding his fear of persuction credible and determining that he had not firmly resettled in Brazil, which might have nullified an asylum claim. But the government has denied his release as it appeals those rulings. (Haitian Times)
Haitian designer runs new fashion brand in Hanoi
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