Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 11 mars 2015

 ‘Recurrent’ attacks’ shut Dominican Republic consulates in Haiti

Santo Domingo.- The Foreign Ministry (Mirex) said last week that its counterpart in Haiti was informed about  the Dominican Government's decision to temporarily close its five consulates, because of recent "recurrent" attacks by Haitian groups, which it affirms pose a risk to their staff.

Mirex spokesman Miguel Medina said Foreign minister Andrés Navarro sent the missive to Haiti counterpart Pierre Duly Brutus Wednesday, noting that the attacks on Dominican consulates there have prevented their day-to-day activities.

In the letter, Navarro says the decision was made because in is view it’s impossible to achieve the security Dominican consular personnel needs, adding that the facilities will remain shuttered until Port-au-Prince guarantees adequate protection.

Caricom again slams Dominican Republic on Haiti row

Santo Domingo.- Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders expressed "serious concern" with the difficulties which people of Haitian descent face in Dominican Republic, EFE reports.

The statement by Caricom is the latest salvo in a war of attrition pitting the Caribbean’s biggest economy and the regional bloc over the issue of undocumented Haitian immigrants, but which they also reject.

"We’re concern with the increasing number of policies that seriously affect Dominicans of Haitian descent and Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic" said Caricom leaders in a statement released today.

The regional leaders said Govt. Dominican representatives didn’t extend the deadline to apply for the Foreigners Regularization Plan, in which only 6,937 of those affected could request legalization on time.

Dominican Republic’s special Naturalization Law and Plan emerged after a Constitutional Court ruling in September 2013, which sets the parameters to request citizenship, and unleashed a backlash across the region.

The deadline to apply for the Plan, aimed at people without an official ID and who were born outside the country, ended on February 1.

According Caricom, the fact that 6,937 persons requested to join the Plan implies that "over100,000 people are vulnerable to expulsion."

Caricom cited the Inter-American Human Rights Court ruling handed down on October 22, 2014, which orders the Dominican court to amend its laws to recognize the citizenship of those born in that country.

Haitian immigrants' Brazilian dream sours as work hard to find for tens of thousands

SAO PAULO – Under a scorching sun, dozens of Haitians shuffled impatiently about the brick-walled courtyard of Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church. The sight of an approaching employer sparked a skirmish, with the men pushing against each other, jostling for attention.

"How many people you need?" several men shouted. "I need a job, what do you want me to do?" No matter what the job was, someone in the crowd yelled out, "I can do that!"

There are fewer jobs in Brazil than there are Haitians looking for work. An open-door policy intended to help migrants from the impoverished island is fueling Brazil's largest immigration wave since World War II and prompting calls for lawmakers to do more to help the new arrivals.

"Seeing so many seeking jobs and so much hunger for work, it creates tension," said the Rev. Paolo Parise, a priest who directs the parish's efforts to help Haitian migrants and other impoverished newcomers.

While Haiti is picking itself up from the 7.0 earthquake that devastated its capital in 2010, progress has not been enough to keep tens of thousands of Haitians from chasing opportunities abroad, mainly in the United States and the Dominican Republic. But Brazil also has become an attractive landing spot for migrants eager to find a toehold in Latin America's biggest economy.

Brazil has no limit on the number of humanitarian visas it issues to Haitians. National Migration Council figures suggest more than 52,000 Haitians have migrated since 2012 and have become the country's largest group of foreign laborers, outpacing Portuguese who long held the top spot.

"No other country opened the doors for them like Brazil," said Duval Magalhaes, a demographer at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais state who has researched the Haitian migration in Brazil.

Wooldeens Turenne, 23, once earned a reliable income guiding missionary workers helping quake victims in Haiti. But such work gradually dried up and, last year, Turenne saw it was time to leave. Despite being fluent in English, going to the United States wasn't an option due to its restrictive immigration laws. Instead, he flew to Panama, then Ecuador, where he received his visa to enter Brazil. He then flew to Sao Paulo.

Jobs can be found in construction, agriculture and factories, but the salaries barely cover Brazil's high cost of living, let alone leave Haitians enough money to support family back home. Employers know Haitians are desperate, and commonly pay them $300 to $400 a month, barely above the legal minimum.

"If they know you are an immigrant, they don't pay you the salary they are supposed to, and they will give you a lot of work to do," Turenne said. "It's better than Haiti, yes, but it's not possible to make a good living."

Two out of three companies interested in hiring migrants through Parise's church are turned away because they don't want to comply with labor laws, or their work sites don't meet safety standards.

Migrant advocates say the Haitians also face racial discrimination, and many struggle to understand Portuguese. Trying to survive on sporadic and meager incomes, most crowd into shared rooms amid the poorest slums ringing cities such as Sao Paulo.

Brazil has gone through a construction boom, both due to an economic expansion that lifted tens of millions out of poverty and because of public works projects tied to last year's World Cup and next year's Olympics. But the economy is now sluggish, contracting the first half of 2014 and barely moving as the year closed.

Former Presidential Security Chief Shot to Death in Haiti

The chief of presidential security under former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was shot to death Monday in the capital, where he had lived since returning to the country after finishing a prison sentence in the United States.

Oriel Jean, who had received a reduced sentence because he provided substantial assistance to U.S. authorities investigating allegations of drug trafficking tied to the Aristide government, was killed in an apparent ambush in the Delmas district of Port-au-Prince, police said.

National Police spokesman Gary Desrosiers said two men on a motorcycle came up to Jean and one opened fire before they fled into the crowded streets. The former official was struck in the neck and stomach. No suspects were in custody.

After the attack, as officials tried to collect evidence and witness testimony, Jean's body was sprawled on the street as if he had been shot just as he stepped out of the vehicle, a grey Toyota SUV with tinted windows. The street, in a busy commercial and residential district, was packed with people heading home in the late afternoon.

Jean, who was about 50, had returned to Haiti after completing a sentence in the U.S. for money laundering.

From 2001 to 2003, he had been the head of security for Aristide, who was forced from power in a violent rebellion in February 2004. The following month, Jean was arrested in Canada and extradited to the United States to face charges stemming from an investigation focused on officials and associates of the former government.

Jean had faced up to 20 years in prison but was sentenced in Miami to only three years after providing what officials described in court documents as "substantial assistance" with other cases. The three-year investigation resulted in the arrests of 14 Haitians who held top government and private jobs during the Aristide administration.

He testified in one case that an accused Haitian drug kingpin received a security badge, at a cost of $40,000, which enabled him to travel freely about the country without Haitian police searching him at a time when the Caribbean country had become a transit point for cocaine bound for the United States. Jean testified that the badge had been approved by Aristide but said that the then-president was unaware at the time that his security chief was involved in the drug trade.

Aristide, a former priest who became the first democratically elected president of Haiti, was forced out by a violent rebellion in February 2004. He returned from exile in March 2011 and has kept a low profile though he has been under investigation for corruption while in office.

As a potential witness in that case, Jean had been ordered not to leave the country, Desrosiers said.

Film Review: 'Murder in Pacot'

(variety.com) A chamber drama in which even the chamber itself is on the verge of collapse, Raoul Peck’s “Murder in Pacot” offers little scope for healing as it surveys the geographical and psychological wreckage wrought by Haiti’s catastrophic 2010 earthquake. A dramatic companion piece to “Fatal Assistance,” Peck’s 2013 doc on the same subject, this allegorical story of two couples warring across divisions of class and turf in Port-au-Prince’s post-quake wasteland positively trembles with the weight of its own symbolism; in his first narrative feature since 2000’s “Lumumba,” former Haitian culture minister Peck remains a political filmmaker of stern conviction. Overlong and far from subtle, “Pacot” is nonetheless engrossing enough to entice topically-minded arthouse distributors, and should make considerable waves in Francophone territories.

Peck claims Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Theorem” as the guiding inspiration for his original screenplay, co-written with veteran scribe Pascal Bonitzer (who also worked on “Lumumba”) and Haitian novelist Lyonel Trouillot. The surface resemblance is clear — both films detail the effect of a sexually magnetic drifter on a fractiously fragmented household — though the social context of the invasion and ensuing fallout in “Pacot” is a world away from Pasolini’s Euro-bourgeoisie satire. Instead, Peck’s narrative complicates notions of outsider identity by bringing race and nationality into the stew, while still identifying subtler conflicts within Haiti’s indigenous community.

For starters, the household in question is divided across every imaginable fault line, including the physical ruptures that have rendered most of the house — a once-substantial villa in suburban Port-au-Prince — uninhabitable. Having been all but bankrupted by the earthquake, its married, pointedly unnamed owners (played by Alex Descas and Nigerian singer-actress Ayo) are ordered by the authorities to renovate their ruined home or face having it demolished. To raise money for the necessary repairs, they are forced to move into an adjacent shed, renting out the house’s remaining rooms to Alex (Thibault Vincon), a young white Frenchman working for a foreign aid organization. That this would-be do-gooder is purportedly bringing relief to disenfranchised Haitians while benefiting from one couple’s homelessness is just one of the film’s many blunt ironies. The husband regards Alex with scarcely-contained hostility; his traumatized wife is haunted by less material losses, principally that of their adopted son, who disappeared during the disaster and may be buried under the rubble.

Despite the film’s intimacy of scale — set over just eight days, methodically marked with title cards, it never leaves the confines of the property — this is expansive, high-stakes storytelling, ramping up the melodrama ahead of a punchy, somewhat overwrought climax, complete with thunderclaps and rain-soaked fisticuffs. “Murder in Pacot” (not the most discreet of titles) is most powerful, however, when it tunes into finer sociopolitical observation, as it does in one remarkable sequence where Andremise throws an all-native party in Alex’s absence, with previously separated classes grinding up against each other on the dance floor. Despite such fleeting glimpses of unification amid adversity, Peck’s outlook remains angrily pessimistic: Referred to at frequent intervals, the fetid odor emanating from the couple’s basement is yet another broad metaphor for decaying national foundations.

Handed such a bristling script, the actors are smart enough to underplay the material, largely letting the subtext speak for itself. Kermonde Fifi, in her screen debut, is a particularly riveting presence, playing the heated facade of “Jennifer” with sultry humor while exposing the cool, crafty wiring of the prematurely grown woman behind her.

Tech credits are stark but strong. With its liberal use of astute, peering close-ups, Eric Guichard’s bright, clear lensing contributes to the hothouse atmosphere of the enterprise — a virtue that could use more assistance from Alexandra Strauss’s overly deliberate editing.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 17 mars 2015

 Farewell to Nicole Magloire

It is with great sadness that Melody FM and Haiti En Marche learned about the death of Doctor Nicole Magloire.

She left on tiptoe, without her family, colleagues and many friends realizing that the end was near. She was taken to the hospital on Wednesday, March 11th, after feeling faint. She died during night between Thursday, March 12^th and Friday, March 13^th.

But who was Nicole Magloire?

First, she was a doctor - a gynecologist who worked hard delivering the children of poor mothers. But Nicole Magloire was also a great activist, who fought till the end of her days to better her country, so that once and for all, the rule of law would be established and justice would reign.

She was a board member of the Foundation of Knowledge and Freedom (FOKAL)

She was a founding member of the national dialogue on violence against women and led the efforts to establish its foundation.

Nicole Magloire was also a member of the group against impunity, which has sought to bring together plaintiffs - against the ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and human rights organizations.

In 2005 Nicole Magloire was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize within the framework of the Campaign 1000 Women for the Nobel Prize 2005.

Nicole Magloire was a brave fighter with countless friends. This was evident by the large number of friends and acquaintances who spontaneously went to her residence in Nerettes, immediately after hearing the news of her death. It was as if they all wanted to show their sympathy to her family and to show them that they were not alone.

Haiti on the March and Melody FM honor her memory and share the pain of her loved ones, particularly her daughter Kalinda, her son-in-law Maxwel, and her grand-daughter Alysée.

The funeral of Nicole Magloire will take place on Wednesday, March 18^th.

Haiti teacher among 10 finalists for $1M prize

BY JACQUELINE Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.

03/12/2015 5:33 PM 03/12/2015

PORT-AU-PRINCE - A few years ago, a group of high school students attending the modest, privately run Collège Catts Pressoir came up with an innovative thought for their physics final: They would get a broken traffic light down the street to work again.

After studying how traffic lights work, they installed an inverter operated by 10 batteries in their classroom and ran an electrical cable to the nearby four-way intersection. Weeks later, at the corner of John Brown and Martin Luther King, the lights came alive.

“Difficulties are the ingredients of development,” said school headmaster and chemistry teacher Guy Etienne, recalling the day the lights came on. “What we are developing in students’ minds is that when you are confronted with a challenge, go find a solution; don’t just cross your arms and say you can’t because it’s difficult.”

That empowering philosophy has made Catts Pressoir one of Haiti’s most prestigious private schools. It also has given Etienne the biggest recognition yet of his 34-year teaching career: He is among 10 finalists for a $1 million award that is considered the “Nobel Prize for teaching.”

“For 30 years, a lot of parents haven’t agreed with me. But today, the world does,” said Etienne, who beat out more than 5,000 nominees from 127 countries for a chance to be recognized as the world’s most exceptional teacher. “This encourages me to keep doing the work that I am doing.”

Awarded by the Varkey Foundation, the prize is the brainchild of Indian-entrepreneur Sunny Varkey. Varkey said the competition isn’t about the money, but rather drawing attention to the enormous impact and achievements of teachers. He will name the winner Sunday at his Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai. Etienne and his wife, Marilyn, also a teacher at the school, will be there.

“This is a great honor; not just for me but for the country,” said Etienne, 61. “What makes me proud is that every Haitian is identifying him or herself with this honor.”

Education Minister Nesmy Manigat, who named Etienne to his curriculum reform commission, isn’t surprised by his global spotlight.

“Guy is a leader and role model,” said Manigat, who has launch an aggressive push to fix Haiti’s broken education system — in which more than half of graduating students last year failed exit exams. “My wish is that our teachers use his nomination as a positive drive to help bring excellence to our schools.”

For Etienne, the Global Teacher Prize shortlist is the latest in a string of honors. In 2011, mobile giant Digicel named him Entrepreneur of the Year in Education. Three years later, he was named a senior fellow of Ashoka, an organization that pays tribute to the world’s social entrepreneurs.

Next month, Etienne will travel to Denmark to collect another prize. The LEGO Foundation recently named Catts Pressoir among 10 champions in its Re-imagine Learning Challenge for the school’s “skills building and ‘changemaking’ in a tough environment.”

Among Haiti’s middle class, Catts Pressoir has long been known for students’ ingenious science and technology projects, and its rigorous teacher training.

Last year, for example, students developed a street surveillance camera and offered it to Haiti’s National Police and to the government. No one responded, Etienne said. But when the government announced months later that it was adopting such a system, students rejoiced.

“They said, ‘Yes! Our idea was adopted,’” Etienne said. “What we teach them is that when you develop a project, it’s not for you. It’s for the community.”

When he isn’t teaching, Etienne is in his second-floor administrative office overlooking the concrete basketball court that doubles as a running track. His walls are decorated with plaques and students’ photos. Not far from the front door, Jeanine Vaval, 92, sits in a rocking chair, keeping a watchful eye over the students and her star pupil.

“He was my student you know,” she said proudly of Etienne, a graduate of the school

Vaval and her husband Ernest founded the school in 1955 and named it in honor of Catts Pressoir. Pressoir, a family friend, was a doctor and science professor who was forced into exile with his school teacher wife, Soeurette.

ELECTIONS:

The President summons the public to convene for upcoming elections

Port-au-Prince, Sunday, March 15, 2015: The General Secretary of the Presidency informs the entire population that it is to convene on Sunday, August 9th, 2015 for the first round of legislative elections; on Sunday, October 25th, 2015 for the first round of presidential elections, local elections and the second round of the legislative elections, and, if necessary, on Sunday, December 27th, 2015 for the second round of the presidential election.

General outcry against the Electoral Council (CEP) following the publication of the electoral decree and the transmission of the timetable of the elections, without consulting with the political parties.

Fanmi Lavalas Challenges

Dr. Maryse Narcisse, Fanmi Lavalas’s national coordinator, indicated that her party is ready to participate in the upcoming electoral contests and to win them hands down. However, she said, the party will mobilize to demand that they be credible, transparent, fair and inclusive.

The head of the majority party is stunned at the electoral council’s (CEP) decision to submit the electoral calendar to the head of state, first discussing it with the political parties, the first ones to be concerned with such a decision.

To remedy this situation, Narcisse invited the CEP to work in cooperation with the National Office of Identification to undertake efforts to support credible elections. Namely, to purge the name of deceased people, in particular those who passed away during the earthquake of January, 2010 and to register the citizens who reached adulthood, as required by the Constitution of March 29th, 1987.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 24 mars 2015

 Friend of Haiti’s President Accused of Running a Kidnapping Ring

A friend of Haitian president, Michel Martelly, was recently accused of leading the Galil Gang, a kidnapping ring which has allegedly abducted 17 businessmen in the last six years for ransom. Woodley Ethéart, a former music promoter in Haiti, was indicted this week. However, the prosecutor overseeing the case opposed the investigation’s findings and recommended that Ethéart be released, despite a 30-page report outlining Ethéart’s role in the kidnapping. Human rights activists argue that this case highlights how prosecutors appear to represent the interests of the administration that appointed them, rather than abiding by the rule of law, which has been an ongoing theme since Martelly took office. (New York Times)

Haiti Asks Delay in UN Peacekeeping Cuts; Elections Loom

UNITED NATIONS — Mar 18, 2015

By CARA ANNA Associated Press

Haiti asked the U.N. on Wednesday to delay a plan that would nearly cut in half its peacekeeping force there, just as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere is poised to enter a tense election period.

Ambassador Denis Regis warned the U.N. Security Council that the withdrawal, which begins this month, will jeopardize the country's security situation. President Michel Martelly made the same plea in a letter to the U.N. this month.

"We all understand what's at stake here," Regis told the council. "We must avoid any premature disengagement."

Under pressure from the United States and the Security Council, which visited the country in January, Haiti this month scheduled its presidential election for October and set an August date for long-delayed legislative elections that have been a source of growing political friction.

Haiti's leaders would like the U.N. peacekeeping reduction to wait until the elections are over.

The current plan says the number of multinational troops in Haiti will drop to 2,370 from 5,021 by June.

The United States supported the reduction Wednesday, while other permanent council members said Haiti's national police will be able to help ensure calm during the elections.

"Ultimately the responsibility for ensuring (the elections') success lies with Haitians," U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said.

But more than a dozen countries lined up against the cuts, including Canada, New Zealand and number of Latin American countries.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the island country of 10 million people was established in 2004 after the ouster of then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

BILL CLINTON ‘UNAWARE’ BROTHER-IN-LAW ON BOARD OF HAITIAN GOLD MINE THAT LANDED RARE PERMIT

New reporting by the Washington Post finds a gold mine in Haiti. Or, at least, confirms previous reporting from Breitbart News about a gold mining contract in that troubled country.

In an expose about the controversial Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the newspaper’s Kevin Sullivan and Rosalind S. Helderman write that:

Controversy surrounding the Clintons only deepened with the recent revelation, contained in an upcoming book by Peter Schweizer, that Tony Rodham — Hillary Clinton’s younger brother — serves on the advisory board of a U.S.-based company that in 2012 won one of Haiti’s first two gold-mining permits in 50 years. After objection from the Haitian senate, the permits have been placed on hold.

“Neither Bill Clinton nor the brother of Hillary Clinton are individuals who share the interests of the Haitian people,” said Samuel Nesner, an anti-mining activist who thinks mining poses great environmental risks and will mainly benefit foreign investors. “They are part of the elite class who are operating to exploit the Haitian people.”

Clinton Foundation officials said Bill Clinton had been unaware of Rodham’s involvement in the mine project. A spokesman for Hillary Clinton said she does not know the chief executive of the mine.

If the former president is unaware of his brother-in-law’s activities in Haiti, that only proves he doesn’t read Breitbart News.

Earlier this month, we reported that, “Hillary Rodham Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham, sat on the board of a self-described mining company that in 2012 received one of only two ‘gold exploitation permits’ from the Haitian government—the first issued in over 50 years.”

There’s still plenty more for the Post to investigate:

The Rodham gold mine revelation is just one of dozens featured in a forthcoming bombshell investigative book by three-time New York Times bestselling author Peter Schweizer, according to a Thursday statement from publishing giant HarperCollins.  The publisher says the book, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, is the culmination of an exhaustive one-year deep dive investigation into the nexus between the Clintons’ $100+ million personal wealth, the Clinton Foundation, and the decisions Hillary made as Secretary of State that benefited foreign donors, governments, and companies.

3200 Haitians living in Canada risk possible deportation.

Last Friday several Haitian and Zimbabwean nationals showed their concern, in front of the Guy-Favreau complex in Montreal, regarding the possibility of being deported to their country of origin. They are worried because on December 1^st, 2014, Ottawa ended the moratorium on deportations and is requiring all concerned nationals to get through the immigration process, otherwise, they risk being repatriated to their native country.

This measure, affects approximately 3,200 Haitian living mainly in the region of Montreal. These individuals benefited from this moratorium since 2004, because their immigration demands or asylum requests had been rejected, but they had not been sent back to their country because the situation there was considered too dangerous.

Serge Bouchereau, of the Action Committee of Non-Status People, asked the Federal Government to adopt a collective measure, which would allow all these immigrants to have access at the same time to a permanent resident status, although the Canadian immigration policy requires that status applications be treated on a case by case basis. He is afraid that with this selective process many, Haitian countrymen will be obliged to head for the airport...

Kathleen Weil, Minister of Immigration of Quebec, reminded that a special agreement was negotiated with Ottawa, in which the federal government made a commitment to respect the recommendations of Quebec "We are going to treat cases with transparency, and a lot of humanity," encouraging the immigrants concerned to submit their requests for permanent residence before June 1st, 2015.

In a statement, the Canadian Government explained that "Considering the improvement of the conditions in Haiti and in Zimbabwe, the government of Canada lifted the temporary suspension of removals (TSR) to these two countries. If you have no legal status in Canada, you could be sent deported. However, you could be eligible to stay in Canada as permanent resident.”

Fruits and vegetables of the Dominican Republic forbidden to enter Haiti

The Ministry of Agriculture, natural resources and rural development (MARNDR) announced the temporary ban on import on a series of fruits and on vegetables from the Dominican Republic.

This measure is taken to avoid the fact that the country is contaminated by a "Mediterranean Fruit Fly," that have just invaded the Punta Cana region near the Republic.

The list of forbidden fruits includes:

Lemons, oranges, grapefruits, tangerines, mangoes, apples, peas, grapes, mamey, breadfruit, sapodilla, breadfruit, bananas, coffee, watermelon, plantains, cherries, cantaloupe, cachiman, avocado, papaya, custard apple, star apple, grenadine.

The forbidden vegetables are:

Tomato, eggplant, bell peppers and hot peppers, and other fruits and vegetables from the same family.

Samantha Power exhorts the Haitians to the dialogue

The Representative of the United States to the United Nations’ Security Council, Samantha Power, pressed the Haitian government and political players to work their utmost to organize honest and inclusive elections. "We ask all the leaders and the political parties of Haiti to participate in the elections and to assure a peaceful atmosphere, so that all eligible Haitians who wish to vote can do so without fearing for their safety," said Power on March 18, during a board meeting of Security Council dedicated to Haiti.

She highlighted the necessity for immediate attention to be given in the preparation and the organization of the ballot to guarantee free, just, credible and inclusive elections.

The American diplomat judged that an inclusive dialogue is essential to maintain a secure climate. She specified that the responsibility for assuring the success of the elections depends mainly on the Haitian government, the Electoral Council, the political parties, and Haitians themselves.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 1 avril 2015

Thomas Shannon and Thomas Adam in Haiti …

The Advisor Thomas A. Shannon, and the Special Coordinator for Haiti Thomas C. Adam, were scheduled to go to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, from March 29 to March 31. They were to meet with senior governmental officials, the civil society, and the private sector.

On March 29^th, Advisor Shannon and Special Coordinator Adam were scheduled to go to Santo Domingo to meet the President Medina, Minister of Foreign Affairs Navarro, representatives of the International Organization for Migration (OIM), and the United Nations high commissioner for refugees. They were to discuss the preparation of the Summit of Americas, regional relations and important bilateral matters. They were also scheduled to meet representatives of the civil society to discuss questions of migration and the rights of workers.

On Monday, the 30th, Advisor Shannon and Special Coordinator Adam were to go to Port-au-Prince to meet representatives of the Haitian Government, international organizations and the Mission of Stabilization of the United Nations in Haiti (Minustah) to discuss the preparation of the elections. They were also supposed to meet with representatives of the National Chamber of Business and Industry.

United Nations Unveils Stunning Memorial in New York to the Millions Who Were Killed and Sacrificed in Slave Trade to Create America’s Riches

Visitors to the United Nations headquarters in New York will get a powerful reminder of the brutality of the transatlantic slave trade and its enormous impact on world history through a visually stunning new memorial that was unveiled last week in a solemn ceremony.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called slavery “a stain on human history.”

U.N. General Assembly President Sam Kutesa said slavery remained one of the “darkest and most abhorrent chapters” in world history.

The U.N. has declared 2015-2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent. Kutesa said yesterday that The Ark of Return would be one of the most important contributions of the entire decade.

The memorial project was conceived more than five years ago by a group of African and Caribbean nations, led by Jamaica. Courtenay Rattray, the Permanent Representative of Jamaica, who also served as chair of the Permanent Memorial Committee, noted yesterday that several nations, along with UNESCO, helped raise more than $1.7 million to pay for it.

 “For us freedom came after a long journey,” she said. “Freedom was not gifted to us but rather earned by the sweat, blood, and tears of millions of our forebears on whose back the economic foundations of the New World was built.”

The memorial was designed by Rodney Leon, an American architect of Haitian descent who was chosen two years ago after an international competition that attracted 310 entries from 83 countries. Leon was also the designer of the African Burial Ground National Monument in lower Manhattan, which was built on a spot where 15,000 people of African descent were buried over a period of around 100 years from the 1690s until 1794.

As the son of Haitian immigrants, Leon said his parents filled him with the history of Haitian liberation and the country’s struggle to be the first independent African state in the western hemisphere.

Leon said he designed the monument so that it could be touched—by members of the public but also by dignitaries at the UN, reminding them, as they deal with global issues on a daily basis, of mistakes made in the past.

The memorial is etched with drawings of actual slave ships, depicting cross-sections of vessels and showing their systematic organization in order to pack in as much “human cargo” as possible.

Leon said the idea that children will be interacting and learning from his work “actually brings me ongoing joy.”

Five of the suspects who have attached religious communities are under lock and key

The criminals who are accused of having committed attacks against approximately thirty nuns were arrested by law enforcement recently. They are part of a gang established by the Charleus brothers, who are natives of Cornillon in Grand Bois.  The suspects had developed a particular modus operandi of attacking only defenseless religious congregations. The gang of more than 15 bandits had established its bases in Petitie Reviere de l’Artibonite, Verettes, and Thomazeau, but moved about in the various regions of the country.

Five criminals were captured by the investigators of the Head Office of the Criminal Investigation Department (DCPJ) in cooperation with police officers of the Thomazeau precinct. The criminals attacked 19 religious congregations in 6 departments- among them were Mirebalais, Saint Michel de L’Atallaye, Thomassin, Saut d’Eau, Boucan Carre, Pandiassou, Aquin, Maniche, Saint Raphaël, Petitie Rivere de l’Artibonite, l’Estère, Verettes, Croix-des-Bouquets, Delmas, Marin, Tabarre, Thibert and Thomazeau.

One of the Charleus brothers, Daniel, was arrested whereas Charles is still at large.  

Gary Desrosiers, spokesperson for the police department, expressed his anger against these criminals who sexually abused nuns who have dedicated their lives to the Haitian people. These criminals assaulted people who serve the community through various means, including education and healthcare, said Desrosiers. He indicated that some of the nuns’ rings were found in the bandits’ possession. Investigators also seized firearms and a baton.

The actions of the gang of the Charleus brothers have been condemned by all sectors of society. Several members of the gang are natives of Cornillon Grand Bois, bordering the municipality of Carrefour (West), others are natives of Mirebalais and Boucan Carre and Lascahobas in particular. They are charged with night theft, armed robbery, and criminal conspiracy.

French President François Hollande will be in Haiti on May 12th of this year.

Following his trip to Guadeloupe, Martinique and Cuba, François Hollande will stop in Haiti on May 12th of this year.

RD: nurse fired because of Haitian origin

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (sentinel.ht) - Anne Dimanche Saintil was born in the Dominican Republic, earned her nursing degree there and worked at a hospital in the capital. Then she was fired, because her parents were from Haiti.

It goes further. A report by the Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute found that the measure is limiting access to education for tens of thousands of children living in the nation.

Bloomberg Business reported the Dominican Deputy Minister of the Interior and Police saying that after June 15, 2015, his government can begin deporting roughly 100,000 persons who are not enrolled in a path to (secondary) citizenship of which only 8,775 have been accepted into.

In 2013 when the D.R. began instituting such measures against its nationals of foreign descent, dating back to 1928, many nations declared it a human right violation and were prepared to impose sanctions.

The Martelly regime in Haiti which had not addressed the issue, rather helped the D.R. at the height of international disdain by engaging in a series of bi-national, highly publicized, meetings on trade and other matters that were iterated over and over, were not to address the critical issue at hand: Constitutional Tribunal ruling TC 186-13.

The article by Ezra Feiser shares more about the case of Anne Dimanche Saintil and the growing tensions between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The Haitian and Dominican Chancellors met

According to reports, the meeting was productive. Among the items discussed on the agenda were:

Chancellor Navarro reminding that the National Dominican Plan for the Regularization of Foreigners (PNRE) to address the irregular immigration status of Haitians in the Dominican Republic will end on June 17^th, 2015, following 18 months of applications.  Afterward, he explained, the Dominican Republic will conform to the Dominican Constitution and Dominican laws, protocols and procedures. “If need be," to execute deportations, while respecting human rights.

Until now nothing has been done in Haiti in term of preparation to receive these 200,000 fellow countrymen. But the Haitian Chancellor Duly Brutus seemed remain calm. Here was his answer:

“Secretary Brutus announced that next April, the Haitian government will open offices in the Dominican cities of Santiago (Center), Barahona (South) and Higuey (East), to accelerate the process of delivery of documents to our fellow countrymen living in the nearby country, to allow them to apply to the PNRE.”

He also announced, that Haiti will deliver a temporary letter to Haitians with irregular status. It will serve as a receipt to join the plan of regularization, until the Haitian government supplies them with their passports, the first requirements of the PNRE.

It should be noted that while the Dominican Chancellor spoke about repatriation, the Haitian chancellor, spoke about measures taken by his government to activate the registration of Haitian without papers to the PNRE program.

Let us remind our fellow countrymen that to benefit from the PNRE, it is necessary for the applicant to possess identification documents, and to prove through official documents that he or she lived in Dominican Republic before November 19^th, 2011. Such proofs, which are not the only requirements, are already difficult for Haitians to obtain. But they are impossible for those, who every day tempt their faith and hang on to false hopes from Haitian smugglers, who grow rich from their ignorance. The only immediate advantage for a fellow countryman to join the PNRE, is to benefit from the moratorium on current deportation until June 17th by producing proof that he or she joined the regularization plan.

The Washington Post

Haiti’s expiring democracy

By Editorial Board March 25

Its PARLIAMENT disbanded and its judiciary weak and subject to manipulation, Haiti is slouching toward tyranny. President Michel Martelly, whose term expires in 10 months, has set a timetable for much-delayed legislative and local elections later this year. But given that Mr. Martelly now rules by decree in a country with a history of dictatorship, there is ample cause for skepticism and worry.

Elected in 2011, Mr. Martelly has spent much of his time in office feuding with lawmakers over holding new elections, effectively paralyzing the country’s politics until the terms of most members of parliament expired in January. Having barely bothered to conceal his contempt for the legislative branch, the president seems content with its absence — and with the collapse of any semblance of checks and balances.

The intransigence of Mr. Martelly’s political opponents contributed to the past few years’ paralysis, but at this point the burden of holding elections falls on him. Diplomats have pronounced themselves encouraged that he has ordered that a first round of legislative elections be held in August, with a second round (plus presidential and local balloting) in October. It is imperative that there be no slippage in that timetable if Haiti is to have any chance of restoring democratic governance.