Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 17 avril 2015

 Wreck off Borgne

The night between Wednesday, April 8^th to Thursday, 9^th a sailboat with about 50 Haitians tried to leave the country, despite poor weather reports. The boat, which was going in the direction of "Providenciales," an island of Turks and Caicos just 200 km north of Haiti, wrecked.

Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, the Director of the Disaster and Emergency Services explained that the incident occurred while the boat tried to get back to the Haitian coast because of the bad weather. The sailboat struck a cliff and capsized before sinking off the Haitian coast, near the locality "Nan Bak," bordering Borgne (approximately 160 km north of Port-au-Prince and Port-Margot, department of the North)

Twelve passengers were able to get back to dry land, while 21 died in the wreck. The magistrate of Borgne saw 11 corpses (8 women and 3 men). Ten other bodies that reached the coast of the municipality of Borgne (located to west of Cap-Haïtien) were directly retrieved by close friends and families of the victims.

Volunteers of the Disaster and Emergency Services, the temporary executive agent of Borgne, and the Vice Delegation of the District of the Borgne are coordinating the search and rescue, with the help of local fishermen.

Obama meets with CARICOM leaders in Jamaica

Haiti Sentinel / Written by Staff Writer on 10 April 2015.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (sentinel.ht) - US President Barack Obama, offered heads of states and governments of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) alternative clean energy for their countries to reduce dependence on Venezuelan, a country Obama, by executive order dated March 9, declared "an extraordinary threat to national security and foreign policy" and laid sanctions on.

"This region has some of the highest costs of energy in the world," Obama said at the meeting on Thursday with Caricom, a block of 15 Caribbean nations. Obama said that the United States could help reduce that burden.

"If we can lower those costs through the development of clean energy and increased energy efficiency, we could generate, I think, more investment and growth," he said.

The Obama administration announced $20 million in funding to develop clean energy projects in the region, and the establishment of a working group on energy security. The White House is willing to offer an alternative to oil supplies from Venezuela which has been beneficial to many of the smaller economies in the region.

Since 2005 Petrocaribe, an initiative of Venezuela's PDVSA state, offers 17 Caribbean and Central American nations favorable payment terms for the supply of crude oil. With years of grace, low interest rates and the possibility to exchange it for agricultural products, the agreement provides for different conditions according to the international price of a barrel on a scale between 15 and 150 dollars which gives greater benefits to higher price.

In general, not in the case of Haiti, the Caribbean countries that must import most of their energy, have benefited from the sharp drop in oil prices. But as where failures Venezuela's economy, which depends exclusively on its oil exports, the Caribbean countries face stricter payment terms and lower supplies, leaving them more vulnerable situation deepen.

In 2014 Venezuela exported 2.37 million barrels of crude oil, 789,000 of which were to the United States, according to the Department of Energy of the country. Obama traveled Wednesday to Kingston, Jamaica and after his trip to the Summit of the Americas to be held in Panama.

Elections: Tom Adam declares that the situation is convenient for the organization of presidential, legislative, and municipal elections in Haiti.

The special coordinator of the U.S. State Department for Haiti, Thomas Adam, declared that the political atmosphere which prevails in the country at this time will make it possible for the realization of the elections planned this year.

In an interview with the “Voice of America,” he considered that all the big political parties are in favor of the election.

Addams declared having noticed interesting signs during his recent visit to the country, and said he hopes that the concerned parties will continue to work in favor of political stability and development.

Recalling that during these elections, all the elective offices will be up for grab, he explained that the elections will take place over the course of three days and that from an administrative standpoint, they will be pretty complicated.

Adams indicated that the United States and the other investors are going to support these elections financially and with their expertise. "The MINUSTAH will be there also to offer the same type of support which it has offered during the last few years,” he said. Although he noted that because the MUNISTAH had decreased its staff, a bit more effort will be necessary from the Haitian government.

Arrest of Dominican citizens to Moca

On Thursday evening, the regional Command of the Center Cibao of the Dominican National Police Force (PND), announced having arrested 11 Dominican citizens accused of violence and damaging the property of hundreds of Haitian citizens in the community of Ortega of Moca.

Colonel Lorenzo Morillo, local spokesman of the PND, declared that the prisoners had admitted to having committed these acts in response to the murder of motorcycle taxi driver Carlos Jose Nunez, age 18, who was beaten to death, then deprived of his motorcycle, apparently according to their assertions, by two Haitian immigrants who had boarded the community motorcycle-taxi last Monday.

This murder angered local residents, who chased off hundreds of Haitians who had been living in the Ortega community with inadequate immigration documentation, and had them deported.  In addition, the houses where the Haitians lived were plundered and their belongings thrown in streets, where they were destroyed and burned.

Health: reconstruction of the Upper National Institute of Midwives Training

Last Wednesday the First Lady, Sophia Martelly, accompanied by Florence Duperval Guillaume, Minister for Public Health, and Paula Caldwell, Ambassadress of Canada to Haiti, participated in the ceremony of the laying of the first stone of the Upper National Institute of Midwives Training, on the site of the former national Nursing School, located next to the General hospital in the street Monseigneur Guilloux. "Professional midwives are important and necessary to support pregnant women in childbirth" declared the First Lady.

Canada, via its Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Trade and Development (MAECD), appointed the "United Nations Office for Project Services" (UNOPS) to rebuild this institute which had been destroyed during the earthquake of January, 2010. Financed at the level of 5 million dollars by the Canadians, the new institute, with a size of a little more than 1,000 m2, can welcome 160 students, and will include 4 classrooms, 2 rooms for hands on training, 1 computer lab equipped with 30 computers and dormitories with a capacity for 16 beds.

Reminding that only 36 % of the Haitian women are delivered by trained professionals, and 25 % are delivered in specialized institutions, the Minister of Health considers that her ministry should have at least 600 midwives. "With only 250 midwives, we are not yet capable of meeting the everyday needs […] This explains the importance which we have given since last year to the training of women and girls by giving them a preparation ranging from 18 to 36 months to considerably reduce the maternal mortality in the country […] The rebuilding of the national school of the midwives is a step, so that a woman [can] give birth with the assistance of qualified personnel."

This new professional educational establishment will make it possible to train approximately 70 midwives a year for the whole country.

Dominican Councilman arrested for drug trafficking through Haiti

Written by Staff Writer on 03 April 2015.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (sentinel.ht) - A councilman of the border province of Independencia in the Dominican Republic has been arrested for running a drug trafficking ring they say imported marijuana through Haiti.

Councilman Luis Domingo Medina Trinidad was arrested with four other men after police seized some 170 kilograms (375 pounds) of marijuana. Medina serves as Councilman of the Independencia province where Jimani is a major port of international trade between the nations.

Police say the suspects would bring marijuana in from Haiti through Lake Enriquillo. The drugs would then go to the Dominican capitol of Santo Domingo and the towns of Capotillo, Gualey, Guachupita, Los Mina, Sabana Perdida, Ensanche Isabelita, los Tres Ojos and municipalities Guerra and Boca Chica..

"It was determined by intelligence work that this organization carries marijuana shipments from Haiti to Dominican Republic, specifically to the Jimaní and is then transported using different vehicles to the city of Santo Domingo where supply of different drugs to neighborhoods of Greater Santo Domingo," said Central Narcotics Police (DICAN) Spokesman Jacobo Mateo Moquete.

He said other members of the network are dismantled Luis Raul Reyes Alcantara, alias "Luisito the decline"; Ángel Félix Montero, Emmanuel Cena Felix Rivas and Michelangelo, who were arrested during operations.

Police spokesman Jacobo Mateo Moquete said Friday that Medina was arrested after a month-long investigation while traveling in his vehicle down an avenue in west Santo Domingo. Medina did not put up a fight.

Who were the Dominican nationals working with on the Haitian side of the network? In speaking with some enforcement exports, The Sentinel has come to learn that likely possibility would be those with capabilities, more affluent members of Haitian society. The wealthy or politically connected are among the few who could be trusted to support such a network from the Haitian side.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 22 avril 2015

 Cocaine: Jacques Ketant to be freed from prison in Miami

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A onetime Haitian cocaine kingpin who had accused former President Jean Bertrand Aristide of accepting drug-related bribes will soon be released from a U.S. prison after helping prosecutors convict a dozen fellow traffickers, government officials and police officers in a long-running case that exposed Haiti as a “narco-state.”

Beaudouin “Jacques” Ketant saw his 27-year sentence chopped in half on Friday by a federal judge after the U.S. attorney's office in Miami recommended that reduction because of his “substantial assistance” as a witness in other successful prosecutions.

Ketant, 52, has been held at a low-security federal correctional institution in Louisiana and will soon be transferred to immigration authorities. He plans to fight his deportation because of the potential danger that might await him if he returns to his homeland, where Aristide's former bodyguard was recently killed — possibly for cooperating with U.S. authorities after serving a three-year prison sentence in this country.

Haiti: $3 million cocaine, heroin shipment seized

Written by Staff Writer on 15 April 2015.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (sentinel.ht) - The Haitian Brigade Fighting against Drug Trafficking, with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and UN Police on Tuesday seized 77kg of cocaine and 10kg of heroin from a ship at a local port. The bust has a value of about $3 million [US]

The arrest comes days after US Marshals arrested the Haitian adjoint Director of PIHDH, Limongy Jean, a former deputy of the 48th Legislature. PIHDH is a program tasked with providing identification documents to Haitians living in irregular circumstances in foreign countries. Jean is said to have been found in possession of an official Haitian diplomatic passport and his capture as well as this massive drug bust, is fueling much speculation in Haiti.

Radio hosts believe a shipment of that size cannot be transported without a great level of coordination from people of influence.

U.N. calls for swift investigation in death of Chilean peacekeeper in northern Haiti

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04/14/2015 1:34 PM 04/14/2015 4:15 PM

U.N. officials are calling on Haitian authorities to conduct a “swift investigation” into the death of a Chilean peacekeeper who died of injuries from a gunshot wound Monday in the northeast region of Haiti.

Rodrigo Andrés Sanhueza Soto was on his way to administrative duty when his vehicle came under fire in the northeast city of Ouanaminthe near the Haiti-Dominican Republic border. He is a second sergeant serving in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti known by its French acronym, MINUSTAH.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed his sincere condolences to the family of the peacekeeper as well as to the government and the people of Chile.

“The Secretary-General calls for a swift investigation and urges the Haitian authorities to do everything possible to bring those responsible to justice,” the U.N. said in a statement.

The incident was also condemned by the members of the Security Council. Members said they too look forward “to the completion of a full and comprehensive investigation to determine the facts and circumstances of the incident.”

A U.N. team was dispatched to the area soon after the incident. Ban’s special representative in Haiti, Sandra Honoré, equally condemned the violence and killing, and has offered UNPOL support to Haitian authorities in order for the “perpetrator to be brought to justice without delay.”

“Armed violence is a criminal act, which not only endangers people’s security, but also the gains in peace and stability that the Haitian population has achieved so far,” Honoré said. “The mission continues to urge all Haitian stakeholders, civil society, political, religious and community leaders to continuously work against violence in all its forms.”

The violent demonstration, which was over a lack of electricity, comes as Haiti enters the electoral period. The country is scheduled to hold the first round of legislative elections for two-thirds of the Senate and the House of Deputies on Aug. 9. Legislative runoffs and local elections will be held alongside presidential elections on Oct. 25. If no one wins the presidency outright, a runoff will be held Dec. 27.

Last week, registration opened for legislative candidates. Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has approved 166 political parties and platforms to participate in the balloting.

Jet Blue Airways throws (launches) its direct flight from Port-au-Prince to Boston

The discount carrier, JetBlue Airways, confirmed that on Wednesday, June 17th, 2015, it will launch a new seasonal flight without layover from Boston to Port-au-Prince. In preparation for this launch, Maryse Noel, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of  Tourism, accompanied by Pascale Hilaire of the Promotion Department and Samuel Daméus, who heads the Communication Department, received company representatives at the ministry as special guests. Representing Jet Blue were Elsa España, who manages marketing in Latin America and the Caribbean and Elsy Viala Générale Manager for the company in Haiti. It should be noted that Jet Blue Airways has offered air services to Haiti since December 5th, 2013 with flights connecting Fort Lauderdale and New York in Port-au-Prince.

Everything is ready for the deportations of citizens living in the Dominican Republic in irregular status…

In honor of the 6th anniversary of the foundation for the executive office of  Dominican Immigration, Jose Ricardo Taveras, the Director of Immigration, declared that everything was ready to begin deportation procedures of the foreigners (of any nationality) with irregular status in the Dominican territory, according to the law, following the completion of the National Plan of Regularization of Foreigners (PNRE) on June 17th of this year.

"The law is there, and its implementation will be at the appropriate time." As for the necessary financial resources for the application of immigration policies starting in mid-June, he indicated that the executive office was waiting for the intervention of President Danilo Médina" but what I can assure you, is that the President is going to help us in this respect."

He explained, in order to clear up any misunderstanding, the deportation will not be about the hunting of, or the persecution of, people in illegal situations. He specified that no deportation will take place within 24 hours, but that it will be a process supported in time, with respect for dignity and for human rights. "At first, the foreign citizens who are in the country will be invited to leave voluntarily. Secondly, if they do not leave voluntarily, through diverse mechanisms set up by the law, they will be sent back to their country of origin ".

André Navarro, the Minister of Dominican Foreign Affairs, also announced that the process of eviction, in particular for Haitian nationals in illegal situation (who) represent most of the concerned foreigners), will begin on a national scale, next June. He indicated that this process will be negotiated with the nearby authorities within the framework of the Bilateral Joint committee.

Dominicans lift suspension of freight trucks into Haiti

Written by Staff Writer on 15 April 2015.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (sentinel.ht) - Less than 24 hours after announcing the suspension of freight trucks into Haiti, due to alleged acts of violence and looting, the Dominican National Federation of Transportation (Fenatrado) said transports would be resumed Wednesday morning.

Fenetrado Secretary General, Geovanny Escotto, said that Haitian and Dominican officials held a meeting at the provincial governor's headquarters and pledged to compensate for the merchandise said to have been lost by four trucks. These losses are estimated at about $90,000.

Escotto also said that the Haitian National Police recovered some of the stolen merchandise. He said a judge and a prosecutor are currently performing an inventory of the losses.

Fenetrado says provincial governor Ramona Rodriguez, and CESFRONT Chief Brigadier General Carlos Aguirre Reyes, are engaged in following up on the situation.

The Dominican military authorities ordered a strengthening of surveillance at the border of this province with Haiti to prevent further unrest. Every Monday and Friday, traders Dominican and Haitian celebrate binational Mercano in which several millions of pesos are mobilized.

It should be noted, on the Haitian side, many seem unaffected by Fenetrado's suspension, believing that unfair trade policies exist and a boycott of Dominican products should be in effect.

Mogul predicts ‘development boom’ along Haiti-Dominican border

Santo Domingo.- Vicini group executive Juan B. Vicini on Monday said potential areas to invest in have been identified along the border with Haiti and forecasts around US$3.0 billion to develop projects.

He said renewable energy and agribusiness projects can be developed in several strategic points which he affirms can transform the border and include Manzanillo port in Montecristi province, Lake Azuey and the Artibonite river basin.

Vicini said an agro project and an energy storage system could be developed on the river basin and next to the lake.

The sugar cane mogul noted that the port doesn’t require a large investment and stressed that it’s the closest point to the US Eastern Seaboard, with a high return on investment. "What we’re trying to create is a development boom in that area so it becomes an attractive spot for the population."

Interviewed on Sol de la Mañana radio program, the business leader said the viable projects will be announced here and in Haiti through universities and other organizations to engage stakeholders. He said they’ll also integrate the community in the areas where the initiatives will have an impact, with a guaranteed "to give participation.”

Vicini said developing the border area is the ideal way for the Dominican Republic to contribute to solve Haiti’s economic and social crisis, by creating jobs and attracting investment, in addition to the benefits for both nations. "When you join resources from one country with another on a border for a common good (...) it bolsters investment. It’s possible to seek harmonious solutions."

Haiti is going to chair a forum on health in Cuba

The Secretary of Public Health and the Population, Florence Duperval Guillaume, will chair from April 20, till 24,  2015, a Forum  called "Cuba Health 2015," at the Palace of Conventions  in Havana, learned HPN.

The Haitian delegation will consist of Dr Nancy Larco, Alfred Patrick and Palau Brunache, as stated on the official site of the ministry of the External Affairs of Cuba.

In a press release, the Cuban government informed that this event will aim at facilitating the exchange on the current and future challenges of public health in the world. The Haitian delegation will have the opportunity to discuss topics of interest for the benefit of the Haitian population.

The Secretary of Public Health visited Cuba repeatedly, and had exchanges with her Cuban counterpart - Roberto Morales Ojeda and other state employees of the Ministry of Health.

In addition, it has been recognized during the international forums the important role played by the Cuban medical staff in Haiti, concluded the press release.

Three artists on tour thank the MNUSTAH to encourage a peaceful society for the country …

For the first time in Haiti, from April 16th till May 17th, 2015 the caravan "Vwa Ayiti Pou Lapè" will bring 3 renowned Haitian artists: James Germain, Emeline Michel and Beethova Obas, to meet young talent from 10 Haitian cities, in order to entertain musical creation workshops and offer mini-concerts under the theme of peace and nonviolence.

" I requested Minustah to realize and finance a national tour which will offer workshops to the young musicians coming from vulnerable communities throughout the country," explained James Germain "The campaign Ann Chwazi Lapè, has the real logic and it is good to set up something significant with a clear message. "

" The antidote to violence, is peace,” reminded Beethovas Obas who wishes through this tour to make their contribution to the consolidation of a peaceful climate in Haiti.

The three artists will work from April 16th till May 17th, 2015 with the selected artists (singers, musicians and composers) who will propose collective concerts for peace and nonviolence.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 2 mai 2015

Published on April 21, 2015

PETIT PORT A PIMENT, Haiti -- A Dutch couple aboard an Australian flagged boat en route from Cuba to Ile a Vache, Haiti, was anchored at Petit Port a Pimient, Haiti, when it was boarded overnight by six armed men last week, Caribbean Safety and Security Net (CSSN) reported.

The couple cooperated with the pirates and offered everything, but they were nevertheless violently attacked. The captain was tied to the rail on deck and beaten badly, resulting in broken bones and machete wounds. His wife sustained machete injuries also, both were hospitalized. 

Stolen items included cash, solar panels, computers, navigation electronics, etc.

Embassy officials have become involved and are providing assistance.

While confirming details of the incident of piracy/assault last week, CSSN said it became aware of another such incident in Haiti earlier this year.

On January 20, a French couple and their children had anchored overnight between Corail and Pestel, Haiti. At 3 am they were boarded by 12 men armed with machine guns and machetes. The leader of the group was in uniform. The boat was “inspected” for 2-1/2 hours, rummaging through drawers, lockers, etc. The roller furling and main sheet were deliberately damaged. 

The men were aggressive, with much yelling and arm waving, but the crew cooperated. They forced the boat to go two miles back to Corial at first light after taking all the cash on board ($1,000), laptops, diving equipment and some other gear from the captain. The official then “allowed” the boat to depart to go onward to Pestel, Haiti, the next planned stop. 

It is unlikely a police report was made, CSSN said.

Haitian marine biologist wins environmental activism prize

(Reuters) - A Haitian marine biologist who successfully fought to create a national park to protect a large swath of Haiti's north coast has won a prominent U.S. environmental activism prize.

Jean Wiener was awarded a Goldman Environmental Foundation prize for his efforts to establish the Caribbean nation's first Marine Protected Areas while working with local communities to promote sustainable fishing practices and preserve mangrove forests.

In awarding the $175,000 prize, the Goldman foundation highlighted Wiener's efforts in overcoming extreme poverty and political instability in Haiti, a country with few full-time environmentalists and almost no government programs to protect natural resources.

Wiener, 50, is being honored along with five other prize winners at a ceremony in Washington on Wednesday for a campaign he led to create the Three Bays National Park, covering 30,000 square miles (75,000 sq km) stretching from the city of Cap Haitien to the border with the Dominican Republican.

The park, created in 2014, protects the vulnerable eco-system of over-fished waters in the bays of Limonade, Caracol and Fort Liberté.

The area includes Haiti's second-largest mangrove area, as well as one of its longest barrier reefs and important seagrass beds. That trifecta of coastal eco-sytems "makes it probably Haiti's most productive coastal system in terms of marine life and fish nurseries," Wiener said in a phone interview.

The Fort Liberté bay had been targeted for port development by a U.S. government-backed project which was scrapped last year over environmental concerns and lack of investor interest.

A schoolteacher in Port-au-Prince, Wiener studied biology at the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut. He is the founder of the Marine Biodiversity Protection Foundation (FoProBiM), Haiti's only nongovernmental environmental organization focusing on coastal and marine areas.

Funded by the United Nations and the U.S. Agency for International Development, FoProBiM works with community groups to preserve natural resources, including fishing waters, endangered coral and mangroves which are cut down for charcoal.

"It's been over-fished to a point where the fishermen are catching almost nothing except juveniles," Wiener said.

Despite tough regulations, "there's no throwing anything back," he said. "The rules need to be updated and more importantly enforced. There's barely a Coast Guard."

The other Goldman prize winners for 2015 are from Myanmar, Canada, Scotland, Honduras and Kenya.

The prize, created in 1990 by Richard and Rhoda Goldman to encourage environmental protection, has been awarded to activists in more than 80 countries. 

Justice Minister appeals Sonson Lafamila ruling

Written by Staff Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (sentinel.ht) - Minister of Justice Pierre Richard Casimir submitted an appeal to the Haitian Supreme Court for a reconsideration of the ruling on the case of Woodly Etheart alias Sonson Lafamilia and Renel Nelfort alias Renel Le Recif.

The appeal was submitted before the Tuesday deadline and if the court of appeals chooses to accept it, the two previously indicted, murderer-kidnappers, close to President Michel Martelly, may be returned to prison.

Minister Casimir's appeal comes after the Obama administration expressed "concern" of the speed at which the case of Sonson Lafamilia was thrown out by the embattled Judge Lamarre Belizaire.

Tuesday tweets from the Ministry of Justice account said the government was not okay with decision on Sonson Lafamilia and an earlier tweet said it would exercise the power of appeal.

Over the weekend, Casimir dismissed the Government Commissioner of Port-au-Prince Kerson Darius Charles for his performance in prosecuting the case.

U.S. ‘concerned’ about ruling in Haiti kidnapping case

By Reuters

PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 20 (Reuters) – The Obama administration said it was “concerned” about the speed of a court ruling in Haiti that saw charges suddenly dropped in the indictment of an accused kidnapper with close ties to the family of President Michel Martelly.

On Friday, the judge freed Woodly Ethéart and Renel Nelfort, two leaders of the so-called Galil Gang, who had been indicted a month earlier for masterminding a host of violent crimes, including murder, money laundering and more than a dozen kidnappings.

Two days later, the Minister of Justice sacked the prosecutor, saying his deputies asked the judge to free the men, arguing they could not win a conviction.

“We are concerned about the ruling, including the speed in which it was made,” a State Department spokesman said in an email on Monday in response to a request for comment.

“This is an ongoing case in the Haitian courts, and we understand the ruling could be appealed.

Ethéart, who is a friend of Martelly’s brother-in-law, Charles Saint-Rémy, is known by the street name ‘Sonson Lafamilia,’ and is the former owner of one of Haiti’s fanciest restaurants, La Souvenance.

“The prosecutor in Port au Prince was removed because the government was not satisfied with the performance at the trial,” Peguy Jean, spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said on Monday. “At the end of the trial, the prosecutors asked the charges to be dropped.”

The release of Ethéart immediately raised questions about the handling of the case, with some Haitians suggesting he was let off because of the close relationship with the president’s family.

“The move (to free them) absolutely came from the top,” argued Pierre Esperance, the executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network. He accused the judge, Lamarre Bélizaire, of corruption, saying he frequently rules in favor of the Martelly government.

The Galil Gang made nearly $2 million dollars from kidnapping ransoms in a two year period, said lawyer Newton Louis Saint-Juste, who testified in the case.

“Of course I’m scared. This exposes all the victims and all the witnesses to the Galil Gang,” said Saint-Juste, an outspoken critic of the Martelly government.

Martelly’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

The Ministry of Justice has until Tuesday to appeal the tossed indictment. If no appeal is filed, government critics say it will be a sign the Ministry of Justice is doing favors for the president. (Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Washington. Editing by David Adams and Christian Plumb).

The Focus On Haiti Initiative is proud to publish our Voices of Haiti’s Voiceless: Post-Earthquake Aspirations & Achievements symposium

The Focus On Haiti Initiative and the U.S. Department of State will host Voices of Haiti’s Voiceless in Washington, D.C. on Friday, May 1, 2015. The symposium will discuss Haiti’s fundamental development challenges and progress toward meeting them in the post-quake period, focusing on the aspirations of the country’s under-represented population as presented at the March 31, 2010 post-earthquake UN-sponsored Donors’ Conference in New York.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 5 mai 2015

 Haiti - Economy: investments of the Diaspora in Latin America and in the Caribbean

For the first time, the Association of the American Chambers of Commerce of Latin America and the Caribbean (AACCLA) will hold its annual regional conference, "Business Future of the Americas," in Haiti, from June 15 till 17, 2015. The event will take place at the hotel Marriott of Port-au-Prince. The theme will be "Investments by the Diaspora in Latin America and in the Caribbean." This conference is organized with the support of several Haitian companies: Brana, Digicel, Marriott, Decently, Delta, DHL, Groups Accra, Dagmar, Access Haiti.

This event will offer opportunities to exchange with a network of more than 300 business managers from the United States, the Caribbean, Brazil and several other countries of the region. With world-famous speakers, companies and organizations strategically based at the heart of the Caribbean, this conference will allow Haiti and Latin America to distance themselves from their emergent status in the global economy. "The emphasis put on the Diaspora and its driving role in investments seems to us particularly interesting for Haiti, and we hope that this conference will be a meeting place for our Haitian businessmen from the diaspora, who are the best placed to do business and to work in the region," explained Régine René Labrousse, President of the Steering committee of the conference.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Haiti (AmCham) will give to this annual conference a wider reach by adding to its conference one day to discuss "Doing business in Haiti." The panels which will be held at this event will give an additional insight into the challenges identified in terms of investments and the available solutions. "Business-to-Business Meetings" (B2Bs) will be also planned throughout the day.

The Diaspora has a new Secretary for Haitians Living Abroad

His name is Robert Labrousse and he was installed in his post last Wednesday, April 29th. In his speech, Secretary Labrousse [who replaces Olicier Pieriche] asserted, “I shall be a Secretary of dialogue and openness. We all know that the mission of the MHAVE is to allow Haitians living abroad to maintain the link with their homeland. Roots, attachment, link, connection, all these words bring [us] to the same concept, the unity of Haitians, whether it is from the inside or from the outside!

He replaces Olicier Pieriche who was appointed in January, 2015.

Robert Labrousse is a businessman who occupied the post of external Secretary of State for Overseas Development within the government of Evans Paul. He is a treasurer and founder of the Pink and White Foundation of President Michel Martelly and his wife Sophia St Rémy.

He was a vice-president of the chamber of commerce and industry.

Pieriche had to resign at the request of Prime Minister Evans Paul, after having made a diplomatic passport for the Assistant General Coordinator of the Program of Identification and Documentation of Haitian Immigrants (PIDIH), the ex-deputy of Petit-Goâve Jean Limongi. The latter was arrested at the beginning of April in Florida and charged with drug trafficking.

Deportations: june is getting near

It is the month chosen by the Dominican Republic to deport Haitian citizens living in the Dominican Republic but having no documentation allowing them to stay in the country.

The deportations, however, have already begun, and every week we learn that a new contingent of Haitian-Dominicans has arrived in Haiti.

We are talking about hundreds of thousands of Haitians who are in this situation. While those who were authorized to legalize their papers by obtaining birth certificates and passports from the Haitian government are few, due to the slowness of Haitian authorities to supply them this documentation.

On the Haitian side, no preparations have been made to welcome these fellow countrymen. What are the possibilities for them to find employment in a country already known for its very high unemployment? Will there be enough schools for their children? What about hospitals, when sanitary services are clearly insufficient in the country?

When we are considering that these compatriots don’t even speak French nor Creole, having been born in the Dominican Republic, we easily understand the extent of the problem.

But nothing has been done to welcome them and it is without a doubt that their arrival will increase the number of people living in the capital or other large cities in the country, building a place to live wherever they can, even in ravines along major roads. This will only increase the number of shanty towns.

MOVIE: “Sweet Micky for President”

“That’s how things were happening to us — to the point where if you really look at the movie, it feels like a narrative,” admitted former Fugees rapper Pras Michel, who never expected the experience to become a film. “How it was going down was how it was captured and then we went back and went ‘Wow, this really feels like a movie.’”

Since his days as one-third of Grammy-winning group The Fugees, Michel has been “loving the film aspect” of his career as much as making music. Having produced documentaries like 2007’s Skid Row (where he masqueraded as a homeless person) and a long-awaited project about Somali pirates, these days he’s certainly more filmmaker than Fugee.

“I’m catching the buzz and I’ve got a couple more narrative projects that I’m developing,” said Michel. “We want to make things that are avant-garde (and) interesting but at the same time, get to the core of the issue.”

“Sweet Micky for President” will have its Canadian debut next Wednesday at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto.

Lessons Nepal can learn from its tragic twin Haiti

Nepal faces a Himalayan task: it must overcome the aftershocks of history just as much as the effects of Saturday’s calamitous earthquake. As with Haiti, also a historically impoverished, poorly governed country hit by a devastating quake, Nepal may find it a struggle to “build back better.” Bill Clinton crafted the memorable slogan after the “goudo goudo” – the onomatopoeic Creole name the Haitians gave the 2010 quake in memory of its frightening rumble. Now, Clinton’s phrase is used wryly, if not in outright jest.

Unsurprisingly, development do-gooders are cautious about suggesting Nepal build back better, even at this point, [a few] days after the quake, when the world feels its pain most acutely.

For, the slow, ineffective – in some cases, even impossible –search for survivors in Nepal’s remote, hardest-hit western regions illustrates the massive fault lines of its entrenched problems: acute poverty, political dysfunction, rampant corruption and a deep fatalism that inhibits planning.

Those infuriatingly inaccessible western districts were the ones that suffered such prolonged government neglect that the violent Maoist insurgency first took root there nearly 20 years ago. And it says a great deal that those areas still remain so cut off from Kathmandu that earthquake relief packages cannot reach them, and there seems to be no way to assess deaths and damage. The Maoists, supposedly the party of the poor, have been elected – and rejected. The monarchy has been swept away. Nothing has changed and nothing works. For Nepal, its worst earthquake in 80 years has been “an acute-on-chronic event”, to quote Harvard doctor and Haiti champion Paul Farmer on the Haitian catastrophe.

The two countries make for a tragic twinning. Until this earthquake, perhaps the only time the words “Haiti” and “Nepal” appeared in one sentence was in reference to the cholera epidemic unwittingly introduced by Nepalese United Nations peacekeepers stationed in Haiti. It seemed an excessively cruel twist to a pathetic story – dirt-poor Haiti, leveled by a devastating earthquake and infected by soldiers from an equally poor faraway land. But now, the two earthquakes – five years apart – may have created discouragingly new parallel lines of protracted woe. The Nepalese quake was 16 times stronger than that in Haiti. More than 200,000 people died in Haiti; what will be the final toll in Nepal?