Haiti TPS Extended To January 2021
On Nov. 1, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would extend the validity of documentation of certain foreign nationals under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations. The notice, which is scheduled to be published in the Nov. 4 Federal Register, will apply to TPS beneficiaries from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan. TPS-related documentation, including Employment Authorization Documents (EAD), Forms I-797, and Forms I-94, will be automatically extended by this notice until Jan. 4, 2021. TPS designations for these countries were previously set to expire in January and March of 2020.
Haiti moving toward no longer subsidizing diesel and kerosene
On Wednesday, Jan. 29, in an interview with Le Nouvelliste, Jean-Michel Lapin, Interim Prime Minister, stated that “The State can’t continue to subsidize diesel and kerosene.” Lapin stressed the State can no longer afford to spend two billion gourdes each month to support petroleum products.
Haitian Police and judicial authorities determined to retrieve weapons of war
An important meeting took place on Jan. 29, between police officials, members of the judiciary and members of the National Commission for Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration. According to Radio Metropole, the National Commission has a long list of individuals who purchased weapons of war from trafficker Aby Larco. As a result, Haitian authorities are preparing a judicial offensive against them in order to retrieve these weapons.
Haitian First lady in Belize
First Lady, Martine MOISE, was in Belize, last Monday, January 27, 2020, to participate, at the Radison Fort George Hotel and Marina, in a forum around the theme: Adolescents and Youth engaged for change and a sustainable future (Youth and youth committed to change and a sustainable future).
6 Haitian Politicians Making Moves For The Diaspora In Florida
By Farah Louis
Haitian Times
Florida is home to the largest population of Haitians outside of the small island nation. Take a look below at some of the leading Haitian American politicians in Florida working for the Haitian Diaspora in Florida
Al Jacquet, a Haitian-American attorney and emerging leader from Broward County Florida is making strides in office after being elected commissioner in March 2012. Jacquet was appointed to vice president of the Planning and Zoning Board before his election in 2009 and served as a legislative aide in the Florida House of Representatives, handling complex and challenging legislation. Jacquet has a passion for city planning and organizational management and speaks four languages.
Michael A. Etienne, a young progressive lawyer from North Miami Florida was elected in May 2011 as the North Miami City Clerk. After graduating from law school in Florida A&M University, Etienne won his first trial at the early age of 23. He later went on to join the public defender’s office and served as a legislative aide in Florida’s House of Representatives until his race for City Clerk n 2011.
Philippe Bien-Aime, a North Miami councilman from District 3, won his City Council seat in May 2013. Bien-Aime a Haitian immigrant from Port-au-Prince, was a salesman who worked in the automobile industry for 20 years. Bien-Aime was a novice to politics before his first run for office. Bien-Aime has also been a devoted community leader throughout South Florida lobbying on immigration issues.
Residents of North Miami replaced suspended Mayor Lucie Tondreau, with newly-elected Mayor Smith Joseph in November 2014. Mayor Joseph, 52, is a political newcomer and former physician who practiced in North Miami, and ran for the leading seat during a runoff election. Joseph said to the Miami Herald, “There is no one more in touch with the city of North Miami than Dr. Smith Joseph.”
Democratic incumbent Daphne Campbell, 57, represents the Florida House of Representatives in the 108th District, which includes Miami, North Miami and northern Miami-Dade, since 2011. Campbell is from Cap-Haiten, Haiti where she attended nursing school and later became a registered nurse. Campbell and her husband moved to Florida where they founded a group home and a chain of nursing homes for the elderly.
Victoria Pierre Siplin, 40, a political guru since the earlier ages of her life, had her first taste of politics when she began working with the first African-American senator in Florida, Arnett E. Girardeau, and Senator Carrie P. Meek. Siplin was elected as the Commissioner of Orange County District 6 in November 2014.
Farah Louis
Community Relations Director for NYC Council Member Jumaane D. Williams, Freelance TV & Radio Producer, Haitian Times Reporter and Activist for Women's Rights.
Fears of coronavirus keep Chinese visitors confined to airplane on tarmac in Haiti
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
The 2019 Novel Coronavirus has sickened hundreds of people and killed more than two dozen people. Coronavirus is part of a family of viruses that ranges in severity. Learn more about the virus here. BY META VIERS
The drama over where flights from China can now land hit Haiti Friday when a private plane ferrying Chinese passengers landed on the tarmac in Port-au-Prince after being denied the right to land in the Bahamas and the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Ernst Renaud, the director of operations at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, told the Miami Herald the flight had originated in Dubai with a final destination of the Bahamas. The Bahamas, however, denied the passengers entry over fears of the coronavirus outbreak, which continues to spread and has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization.
The flight then turned around and went to the Dominican Republic where it refueled and then flew to Port-au-Prince. Wilson Lamour, an assistant to Renaud, said airport officials were unaware of the flight and it did not have permission to land. Once in Haiti, everyone was kept on the airplane due to the health risk.
“They are not being allowed to disembark for all of the reasons that you are aware of, the possibility of transmission of the coronavirus,” Renaud later said.
Lamour said the flight had a three-member crew and 11 passengers, including Chinese nationals. The pilots had run out of time and were being allowed to rest on the aircraft with the passengers.
Eddy Jackson Alexis, a government spokesman, said France and Portugal both agreed to accept the aircraft and its passengers. The pilots, he said, chose Portugal and were expected to depart Haiti at 2 a.m. Saturday.
“All measures are being taken to ensure that they do not physically come in contact with the Haitian territory,” said Alexis, who added that police officers were guarding the plane and making sure its doors remained shut.
URGENT: WHO DECREES INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY ON CORONAVIRUS
The Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Thursday, January 30, 2020, that the outbreak of the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV is an international public health emergency (PHEIC). In China, more than 7,700 cases have been confirmed and 170 people have died. There are 82 additional confirmed cases in 18 countries.
Dr. Tedros, acting on the advice of an emergency committee of experts chaired by Professor Didier Houssin, called on the world community “to provide support to low- and middle-income countries to respond to this event, as well as to facilitate access to diagnostics, potential vaccines and therapies.”
Haitian President Says He Wants to Reform Constitution
By The Associated Press
Jan. 17, 2020
HAVANA — Haitian President Jovenel Moïse says he wants to use his new power to rule by executive order to reform the constitution and make his country easier to govern.
In a statement Friday, Moïse said he was negotiating with opposition leaders to form what he called “a unity government” that would propose a constitutional reform that would go to a national referendum this year.
The constitutional reform would be aimed to strengthening Haiti's presidency and executive branch, although the statement doesn't not specify how it would do that.
Haiti's 1987 constitution is seen by many observers as excessively dividing power between the executive and legislature in a way that fuels the country's political instability and frequent deadlock.
Last year, for example, the country was unable to hold parliamentary elections because the parliament did not approve the budget necessary to hold the vote. As a result, the legislature was dissolved when members' terms ran out at the start of 2020, and Moïse began to rule by executive order.
Haiti has been roiled by street protests and economic stagnation for much of Moïse's nearly three years in office as opposition leaders demand his departure, saying he has mismanaged the economy and failed to take on corruption.
“We have a window of opportunity," Moïse said. "I want to take it to fix what has been broken in the Haitian system for far too long and finally allow us to move forward.”
Opposition leader Andre Michel said he favored a constitutional reform but only after Moïse was pushed out of office.
“'We need a new constitution,” he said. “It will be put together by the transitional government, not Jovenel Moïse.”
Other opposition leaders did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
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Correspondent Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, contributed to this report.