Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 27 mai 2015

 50^th anniversary celebration of Sosyete Koukouy with a literary weekend at the Little Haiti Cultural Center in Miami

The festivities were for the 50^th anniversary celebration of Sosyete Koukouy, but also for the 25^th Anniversary of Libreri Mapou, and the third anniversary of “Foli Liv”, a full book fair in Little Haiti, already in its third year there.

For the occasion, Bernard Diederich, Edwidge Danticat and Dr. Gérard Férère were all "nominated" and each received a plaque to honor them for their work.

Bernard Diedrich signed fourteen of his last books, Gérard Férère his two books, and Edwidge Danticat, the most prolific writer of the fair, presented no less than twenty books.

Moreover, Edwidge gave the secret of her intense literary production: as soon as you have something which is bothering you, something that you are obsessing about, try to put it in writing. You will be relieved and you will see that in time it is not so difficult. With the simplicity for which she is well-known, this young writer wanted to share her experience with her audience.

How did it all begin for her?

Her childhood in Haiti, in Bel Air. The hasty departure of her father, a shoe salesman in a store in downtown Port-au-Prince, where the owner had chosen to display only shoes in plastic every time he saw a "macoute" on the horizon, in order to prevent the macoute from leaving with his beautiful leather shoes, which would have caused him a certain loss of income. And finally, Edwidge leaves to join her parents in Brooklyn!

Bernard Diederich, very funny as usual with his numerous anecdotes collected during his long life, wanted to set the record straight by saying, for example, that "It was not true. The Duvaliers had not uncorked the champagne on November 22^nd, 1963, for the death of the President John Fizgerald Kennedy. No. It is one of those numerous "stories" invented by dishonest writers to sell their books. And which are so harmful for the country!”

Bernard Diederich was very sought after during the evening, and sold many of his books, even if there was only a short half hour dedicated to this event. The sale of books was to take place rather the next day on Sunday, May 24th.

As for Dr. Gérard Férère he was rather lengthy, exceeding the 20 minutes allowed to present himself and his work.

And for a good reason!

This former soldier of the coast guard, arrested five times, had to present "The Haitian Army after Magloire and the Hitlérisme of Duvalier.”

An important part of the book is dedicated to the Vespers of Jérémie and with a very disturbing realism, the author described, by quoting names, the atrocities committed by Abel Jérôme, Borges Sony, Jacques Fourcand, Gérard Brunache, Pierre Biamby, Saintange Bontemps, Pierre Frédéric, Astrel Benjamin, Max Frédéric, Massillo Thélus, Bos Séraphin, Marcel Myrtil, Franoix Cajoux, Raoul Cédras, Benoit Gely, and a certain Sanette Balmir to quote only some of diligent protagonists who murdered and tortured people who had done nothing to them, among them babies, 10-year-old girls etc, etc. …

One shivers when listening to him to speak and when reading certain passages of the book.

Moreover the author himself couldn’t refrain from becoming teary-eyed when describing these atrocities.

Never again. Never again he exclaimed, asking the room to repeat after him.

His wish, is that after having read this book, never again, never again will a young Haitian say: "I did not know." "No. I did not know that Duvalier had committed such crimes…”

“All this could have been avoided, we are talking about the atrocities that have fallen into oblivion, if only we had transformed Fort Dimanche into a memorial.  This vile place where so many fellow countrymen were tortured until death followed!

We preferred to let them destroy and demolish Fort Dimanche, thinking we were eradicating the atrocities which took place there.

But fortunately there is today the “Duty of Remembrance” constituting largely of descendants of servicemen and non- servicemen who were killed under the Duvalier regime. They produced in 2015 “Mourir Pour Haiti: La Resistance a la Dictature en 1964” which was also available at the book fair last Sunday. 

The event on Sunday took place without any major incidents. There were few in attendance. It seems as if reading among Haitians, as it is everywhere else, is not a chosen activity for young people.

Nevertheless, a more mature audience chose to attend. Sosyete Koukouy, with its magic show for children, and rara band performances created an upbeat atmosphere in the district. Unfortunately the rain started, forcing people to leave a little earlier. But the third edition of "FOLI LIV" took place as planned and many were seen leaving with packages of books under their arms.

Haitian-born fashion designer makes a name for himself in Quebec and works to develop talent in the Caribbean

Helmer Joseph is a haute couture designer in Montréal whose creations blend the boundaries between art and fashion, and have been featured in various exhibitions and museums around the world, including the McCord Museum in Montréal and Musée de la civilisation in Québec City.

He was born in Haiti, where he trained as a tailor at J. B. Damien vocational arts school, and moved to Jamaica for one year to study machine embroidery. At the age of 20, he came to Montréal with his family, and studied fashion design at College Lasalle. He launched his very first collection in Montréal in 1982. In 1983, at the age of 27, he moved to Paris, where he studied fashion and textile design, specializing in a variety of fields with an emphasis on haute couture at Esmod, Francoise Conte, Lesage, and l’école de la chambre syndicale de la couture parisienne. During his twenty years in Paris he took on contract positions at all the major couture and fashion houses, including Dior, Chloe, Thierry Mugler, Louis Vuitton, and many more.

“When I first moved to Paris,” he remarked, “there were 27 couture houses presenting over 152 pieces per season. Now there are only 5 left.”

When he returned to Montréal in 2004, he continued to produce a collection twice a year and to work with his clients from all over the world, including Paris, Boston, Washington, Ottawa, Toronto, Haiti, Senegal, Benin, Martinique, and Ivory Coast. He opened his gallery-boutique on Boulevard St. Laurent in 2009.

In 2010, Helmer presented his patchwork collection, with labor-intensive and hand-stitched patterns, organized as a fundraiser for Haiti relief efforts after the earthquake of January 2010.

He has worked with Québec musicians and performers like Joe Bocan, Marie-Ève Janvier, the opera singer Marie-Josée Lord, writer Kim Thúy, and actress Anne Dorval.

His artistic collaboration with glass artist Jean-Marie Giguère for the Verre Couture fashion show at Espace Verre in the Old Port in 2010, where local glass artists were matched up with local designers to create glass garments, inspired many of Helmer’s collections and accessories. Helmer’s glass dress was then featured in the “50 Years of Glass Art” exhibition in Toledo, before it became part of the collection at the Musée de la civilisation in Québec City. The hand-made glass embroidery took 260 hours to make and features bristle, metal, beads, crystals and 8000 glass tubes.

His other artistic projects include three white gowns carved entirely out of toilet paper (2007-2014), dresses made out of fresh flowers (in collaboration with Westmount Florist), a chocolate dress, and several other designs he presented at the Festival du Mode et Design.

When asked who he would like to collaborate with in the future, Helmer replied, “I would like to collaborate with Robert Lepage. It would be my dream to work with him. And my dreams come true.”

In 2011, Helmer collaborated with Musée McCord for their “90 Treasures, 90 Stories, 90 Years” exhibition, and then again for the 2014-2015 “Love in Fine Fashion” exhibition of wedding dresses, where he contributed his 2008 strapless gown with an embroidered bodice.

“I see the Montréal fashion scene as a kind of medical clinic – every designer has a specialization, and everyone respects each other’s work and specialty in the community. But the press does not understand that because most of them are not trained in fashion, or fashion journalism. They lack the words, the vocabulary to distinguish between the different types of work. They find it all equally impressive, but they lack the expertise of analysis.”

Helmer presents his collections around the world, and is regularly invited to Fashion Weeks in Toronto Ottawa, Haiti, as well as Black Fashion Week in Montréal and abroad. The discontinuation of Montréal Fashion Week has not affected his work or productivity – he continues to produce two collections per year.

Helmer believes that “Montréal is lacking fashion experts who really understand the fashion business and culture. Most people only focus on the commerce of fashion and have no long-term vision. We don’t have someone like the president of the Parisian Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture who comes from a generation of fashion experts. That is why Paris is a laboratory of fashion research and innovation. Montréal has the talent to be the fashion centre of North America, but it lacks organization and orchestration.”

Currently, Helmer is collaborating with the UNESCO on an initiative for Caribbean artists to provide haute couture training and education in order to train local specialists, as part of Michaëlle Jean’s and UNESCO’s Special Envoy to contribute to Haiti’s development. Helmer’s role is organizational in setting up networks and collaborations, and building the curriculum of a three-year training program starting September 2015.

“The one constant element in my life has been a lack of stability. But fashion is my family – I dedicate my life to it. And I like the freedom in my work.”

When asked whether it is hard to balance creative freedom with commercial aspects of the fashion business, he replied, “At the beginning of my career yes, I spend all the time working for others. Now I have the freedom of working for myself, and I like this freedom. My work is my passion.”

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 3 juin 2015

The fateful day approaches for the expulsion of Dominican citizens of Haitian origin and Haitian immigrants without legal

ocumentation and living in the Dominican Republic

Within the framework of a petition which circulated on avaaz.org, about 800 signatures out of the required 1,000 have already been collected to support respecting the rights of Haitian migrants, learned AlterPresse.

"We are waiting for 1,000 signatures to submit to (Dominican) President Danilo Médina) before the date of June 16^th, (which) is the end of PNRE" said the Collective Haiti of France (CHF) to AlterPresse. (The PNRE is a period granted to the affected migrants of Haitian origin by the Dominican government to get their documents in order, in order to be allowed to remain the country).

Several personalities and members of organizations continue to add to this petition by CHF and the Group of Support for Repatriates and Refugees (Garr).

The CHF and Garr have asked Dominican president Danilo Médina to respect the fundamental rights of the Haitians, who are threatened with eviction from the Dominican Republic.

Starting June 16, the Dominican authorities intend to repatriate to Haiti thousands of Haitian migrants and Dominicans of Haitian origin whose immigration status in not in order.

Taken on September 23^rd, 2013, Ruling 168-13 of the Dominican Constitutional Court removed the Dominican nationality of several hundred thousand Dominicans and Dominicans of Haitian origin for the most part.

This ruling concerns children born in the Dominican Republic of foreign parents who emigrated illegally to Haiti’s neighbor since 1929, even though, according to the Dominican Constitution, every person born on Dominican ground is a lawful citizen.

National and international organizations continue to express their concerns in the face of a possible wave of evictions of Haitians at the end of the regularization period, set up to avoid other repatriations.

The Haitian government began to build shelters on the Haitian/Dominican border for thousands of Haitians at risk of being repatriated

Indeed, the date of June 17^th is nearing, which marks the end of the regularization period for the foreigners set up by Santo-Domingo.

The Ministry of Defense in Haiti published this week two photos showing a sign stating "Welcome to the Center for the Repatriates," on the border post of Malpasse adjacent to Jimani.

The Haitian Ministry of Communication had announced last week the installation of two reception points in Malpasse and Ouanaminthe.

Dominican authorities are enforcing a national plan of regularization of the foreigners in accordance with the decision, considered illegal, of the Dominican Constitutional court which declared that individuals of Haitian origin do not have the right to Dominican nationality, because their parents’ status were considered "foreigners in transit.”

In mid-May, Haitian authorities organized their first multi-level meeting following the initiative of the Ministry of the Haitians living abroad, to set up an emergency plan that must allow "the reception of the deported in humane conditions."

The Haitian chancellor, Lener Renauld, met on Wednesday in Santo-Domingo with his Dominican counterpart Andres Navarro to discuss, among other things, the ongoing implementation of this regularization plan.

However, it is not known if they decided to continue the program, as many have asked in Haitian and Dominican sectors.

In Haiti, many believe that funds spent by the Haitian authorities to build reception center for repatriates should have instead been invested to supply the documents to the Haitians judged to be in irregular situations in the Dominican Republic.

Numerous human rights organizations, including the Movement of Dominico-Haitian women (MUDHA), denounced, during the last couple of weeks, the lack of support by the Haitian authorities for their nationals in the Dominican Republic. Which explains, according to them, why many of them will not be able join the regularization program.

Haiti: Lamothe audio leak reveals manipulation, espionage in TK camp

Written by Staff Writer on 28 May 2015.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (sentinel.ht) - Manipulation and espionage, these are the elements an audio leak to the press Wednesday evening has revealed, giving answers about the unexpected and "spectacular" registration of former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe into the presidential elections and the culture he endured within the Tèt Kale regime.

Audio leaked May 27, 2015 reveals former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe was registered without his knowledge.

Laurent Lamothe said in the audio that he had his registration for the presidency prepared but conditions were not proper and he had not decided to run yet. Not having a décharge for his management as minister and prime minister was mentioned in the audio. He said he was being courted by a number of political parties and the decision on a party had not been made either.

The voice of Lamothe is heard speaking to a few people and saying that he learned of his registration for candidacy in the news. He said he was registered by Tèt Kale men, former minister Ralph Theano, and presidential adviser Stanley Lucas.

In the audio, Lamothe says he was registered to Platfom Peyizan without his knowledge by Theano and Lucas. It was at 11:55 p.m., 5 minutes before the end of online registration that he was placed into one of President Michel Martelly's many parties in these elections, his original 2010 party, Repons Peyizan.

Laurent Salvador Lamothe did follow up in-person to file his registration documents at the West Departmental Electoral Bureau (BED) the following day, before the end of all registrations that day. Now into the electoral process, the leak raises more questions about the state of the regime and its former prime minister who is now denouncing manipulation and espionage.

May 28, 2015

                                                                                                                                  No. 2015/17

STATEMENT BY THE OFFICE OF THE HAITI SPECIAL COORDINATOR

U.S. Support for Haitian Elections

 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Haiti Special Coordinator

____________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release                                                                                  

May 28, 2015

U.S. Support for Haitian Elections

The United States continues to support Haitian elections this calendar year. We are pleased to see that a calendar has been set for holding legislative, presidential and local elections in 2015. The United States supports the right of Haitians to go to the polls in a timely manner to have a renewed voice in their governance through a free and fair process.  The United States has no vote in these elections and does not support any candidate or group of candidates.

We commend Haitian President Michel Martelly and the members of Haiti’s independent Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) for their efforts to prioritize the holding of elections this year. The United States is committed to working with the Government of Haiti and its international partners to coordinate appropriate assistance – including the deployment of credible international election observers – to ensure that the elections are peaceful, free and fair. As electoral planning continues, the United States welcomes the efforts of the CEP, the United Nations, and the Government of Haiti (including its national police) to coordinate and execute successful 2015 elections. The United States encourages all stakeholders to participate fully in the electoral process, abide by the rule of law, and maintain high standards of transparency.

(End of text)

Haitian honored: Dr. Verret

“Upon arriving in this country as a refugee from Haiti in 1963, I was supported by many who nurtured my love of learning and science and gave me the encouragement and confidence to persevere..."‎ (Dr. Verret)

The Board of Trustees of Xavier University of Louisiana announced that it has unanimously elected Dr. C. Reynold Verret as the university’s next president. Dr. Verret earned his undergraduate degree cum laude in biochemistry from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was also a postdoctoral fellow at the Howard Hughes Institute for Immunology at Yale University and at the Center for Cancer Research at MIT. Dr. Verret is joining Xavier from Savannah State University where he has served as provost and chief academic officer since 2012.

“I would like to congratulate and welcome Dr. Verret to the Xavier family,” said Michael Rue, chairman of the Board of Trustees. “While there were a number of highly-qualified candidates, Dr. Verret stood out for his proven leadership and experience expanding enrollment and increasing graduation rates. His record of achievement, personal history, and values set him apart as the clear choice to carry on the ideals that our founder, St. Katharine Drexel, and our longstanding president, Dr. Norman C. Francis, wove into the fabric of this institution.”

“I am deeply honored to be elected as the next president of Xavier and am excited to engage the entire Xavier community in envisioning a future that sustains the university’s distinct mission in a changing higher education environment and that responds to societal need,” said Dr. Verret. “Upon arriving in this country as a refugee from Haiti in 1963, I was supported by many who nurtured my love of learning and science and gave me the encouragement and confidence to persevere. During my tenure at Xavier, I will continue paying it forward, helping generations of young people realize their dreams, regardless of their backgrounds.” Dr. Verret is uniquely qualified by his experience, education, and values to guide Xavier’s mission of promoting a more just and humane society by preparing its students to assume roles of leadership and service in a global society. His journey from immigrating to the United States as a young boy to guiding institutions of higher education to success has equipped him with distinctive skills and understanding to lead an HBCU in general, and Xavier in particular.

“From its beginning, Xavier has been dedicated to empowerment of the underserved.”

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 10 juin 2015

 Hundreds make final bids to stay in Canada after deportation hold lifted

VERITY STEVENSON

MONTREAL : The Globe and Mail - Ulrick Lafleur reaches into a brown envelope and gently pulls out a large folded piece of paper from the top of a pile of immigration forms. On official Haitian state letterhead with muted lettering, as if the printer needed ink, it informs Mr. Lafleur that his 49-year-old son, Nazaire, was shot to death and that his body was found on the street on May 12. It contains technicalities – his feet were pointing south, and his head north – but no condolences.

Mr. Lafleur is one of 3,500 people in Canada – 3,200 Haitians and 300 Zimbabweans – who were affected when the federal government lifted a hold on deportations to their home countries in December, deeming the situation in Haiti and Zimbabwe to be stable. Those without status were given six months to apply for residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Hundreds raced to submit the applications by the June 1 deadline. Some will be granted permanent residency and some will be eventually removed from Canada.

For others who have been in the country for years, it’s their second or third application to stay in Canada. Prior rejections and the thought of it happening again have discouraged many from filing the application and they have gone underground.

The moratorium on deportations went into effect for Zimbabwe in 2002 and for Haiti in 2004.

In 2002, many people fled Zimbabwe because of political unrest after Robert Mugabe was re-elected as President.

Two years later, in Haiti, a coup d’état removed president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, creating years of instability. Then, in 2010, an earthquake hit the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, killing more than 200,000 people.

Haitians and Zimbabweans in Canada claim violence and unrest still plague their countries.

A travel advisory for Haiti on the Canadian government’s website, last updated on May 22, says, “Crime rates are high and the security situation is unpredictable.”

Quebec Immigration had counted only 500 applications for residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds as of May, prompting its minister, Kathleen Weil, and community organizations to appeal to the federal government to grant an extra three months.

It costs $550 per person and 20 hours to fill out the humanitarian and compassionate demand for residency.

“I am desolate,” said Mr. Lafleur, who was denied refugee and residency applications in 2007 and 2010.

If he had attended his son’s funeral in Haiti, he would not have been able to come back to Canada, where he has lived for the past seven years, because of his lack of status here.

But he said he would not want to stay in Haiti, either. “I have nothing there. My house was destroyed by the earthquake, and now my son is dead,” he said in an interview.

Poignant tales have emerged from Haitians who are deploring the decision that may send them back to Haiti, where they say it’s not safe.

For William Antoine, a father of two with one on the way, this is his fourth time applying and his eighth year in Canada. He fears being separated from his children who were – and will be – born in Canada.

“We’re really worried,” he said last week outside the Citizenship and Immigration Canada office in Montreal, where a protest was held. “We work and pay for our children’s education – they’re the ones who could really contribute to Canadian society. Who knows? [One of them] could be prime minister one day.”

Jean Enor Goin, who was vocal about his story at the protest, fled Haiti in 2007 after he was stabbed for being gay. For years, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder because of the incident.

“I am so upset [because of the end of the moratorium], but I love it here in Canada. I have a boyfriend, friends, I work here. I don’t want to leave,” he said.

Despite calls from several political parties to extend the deadline, the Immigration Department stood firmly by the June 1 date.

“It should come as no surprise, not to the Haitians nor to anyone else, that these temporary measures are coming to an end, because we announced it on Dec. 1,” Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said last month in the House of Commons in response to Quebec Liberal MP Emmanuel Dubourg, who brought up the demands for a delay.

“If Minister Weil would like to open other avenues towards permanent residence, she can use Quebec’s programs to do so,” Mr. Alexander said.

The Quebec government has spent $180,000 for five community organizations, including Maison d’Haiti Montréal, to help with completing the forms, which would otherwise require a lawyer. Quebec is home to 90 per cent of Canada’s Haitian population of 137,995.

In response to a request for comment by The Globe and Mail, an Immigration Department spokesperson copy-pasted Mr. Alexander’s response in the Commons and another said: “For those who submit an application on H&C grounds within six months of the TSR being lifted, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will defer their removal pending a final decision on their H&C application.”

Mr. Dubourg, who is of Haitian descent, said the minister’s response to him in Parliament was surprising. “I’d say it floored me even, the shortness of his reply,” he said over the phone.

While politicians are asking for more time, the Non-Status Action Committee is advocating for all Haitians and Zimbabweans without status to be granted residency.

Serge Bouchereau, a spokesman for the committee, said he believes that the timing is a strategic appeal by the Conservatives before the fall election to what he called an increasing right-wing sentiment in the world. He thinks that they will move to deport the Haitians and Zimbabweans quietly at the end of the summer, when people are on vacation and then have their eyes on the election campaign.

Regarding the small number of applications submitted to date, Mr. Bouchereau said many feel anguish over the thought of a stranger looking at their file being responsible for their fate. “Haitians are proud people. They work hard at jobs many Canadians don’t typically fill; they don’t use employment insurance most of the time, and they pay taxes.”

A friend of Mr. Bouchereau’s, Johnny St. Paul, 51, took on extra security guard shifts, sometimes amounting to 16-hour days, to pay for the application. Most of the money he makes goes to pay for chemotherapy for the mother of one of his two sons who lives in the United States. His demand for refugee status was rejected when he first arrived in 2012.

Back home, he has an undergraduate law degree under his belt, but he said he had to leave before he could continue his career in constitutional law because he was repeatedly threatened for his outspoken political beliefs.

“My dream,” he said, his voice growing louder, “is that my two sons [one is in Haiti and the other in the United States] come to Canada and get an education here.”

Hundreds of sugarcane workers march to Haiti embassy as legalization deadline nears

Santo Domingo.- Hundreds of sugarcane workers marched to Haiti’s Embassy in the Dominican Republic, as the deadline to register for the government’s regularization plan looms, listin.com.do reports.

The protesters demand the documents required to register for the Foreigners Regularization Plan which ends on June 17.

A commission headed by sugarcane workers union coordinator in sugarcane villages (bateyes) Jesus Núñez was received by Haiti Embassy official Fritz Douge, who said Haiti ambassador Daniel Supplice would meet with the workers next Wednesday, according to the outlet.

After leaving the embassy Núñez said although the hour wasn’t specified, was told he will be called to coordinate the meeting.

He also announced another visit Monday morning to the Interior and Police Ministry, where he was told that a special solution would be found to the case of cane workers, but have yet to receive a reply.

The sugarcane workers, mostly elderly, said without them there’s no sugar and face a desperate situation, because the Haitian government doesn’t care about their immigration status in the country.

Tourism: Opening of the "Hilton Garden Inn Haiti" in the beginning of 2017

Announced on April 10th, 2014, the Hilton Garden Inn hotel plans to open its doors at the beginning of 2017, according to Karla Visconti, Director of communication for Caribbean and Latin America Hilton Worldwide.

The project, designed by CAB Inc., owner of the hotel Visa Lodge, estimated at 26 million dollars, includes the construction of an 11-story hotel with 152 rooms, and managed by the Group Hilton Worldwide.

There will be a full-service restaurant that will offer breakfast, lunch and dinner and a welcome lounge. The hotel will also showcase the shop "24-hour Pavilion Pantry ®" with a selection of delicious ready-made meals, drinks and snacks. Leisure activities will include an outside swimming pool and a free fitness center with “Precor” cardio and body-building equipment.

Guests of the "Hilton Garden Inn Port-au-Prince Louverture Airport" will also have access to a comfortable area with 3 flexible meeting rooms and a conference room. "Hilton Garden Inn" will have free Wi-Fi and a business center, open 24 hours, will complete the accomodations.

This hotel will be located less than a kilometer from the Toussaint Louverture Airport, across from the hotel Visa Lodge. It will be the first Hilton Garden Inn in the Caribbean, and the only hotel with an international brand at the airport.

Street art decorates the walls of Port-au-Prince.

There exist in Haiti an unpublished popular and contemporary pictorial and iconographic tradition. It can be found in the streets, through the hand-painted advertisements, on tap-tap and buses decorated with religious, political or cultural imaging. These popular expressions draw their roots from voodoo iconography, just like internationally acclaimed Haitian paintings. They make up the essence of a typical urban, visual culture, still poorly recognized from an academic standpoint.

It is from this perspective that the French Institute in Haiti imagined the project, "Street-art, to redesign common areas." A project, inaugurated at the end of May, brought to town the French artist Bault to work for two weeks on collaborative murals, along with Haitian artists.

From this project, several murals were created. The first one, which is monumental, extends around the French Institute and raises everyone’s curiosity. The hybrid animals created by Bault are linked to the geometrical shapes of the Haitian painter Joseph Eddy Pierre, alias "1+1 = 0", on a range of colorful combinations. The Center of Art got a facelift too by welcoming two works by Bault, one of which was done in collaboration with the artist Pascale Monnin, and represents an imaginary crocodile being ridden by two children. The presence of the French painter also made it possible to organize workshops with the National School of the Arts (ENARTS), the School of Art of Port-au-Prince, and with patrons of the French Institute, strengthening the exchanges and the artistic cooperation between France and Haiti.

This whole initiative returns street art to its role of investing in the city, creating a common space, and restoring art’s social dimension by putting it within everyone’s reach.

Annual regional conference "Business Futures of the Americas"

The date is nearing. That of June 15^th, which will open the annual regional Conference of the Association of the American Chambers of Commerce of Latin America and the Caribbean (AACCLA).

Business Future of the Americas will be held for the first time in Haiti from June 15 to June 17 2015, at the Hotel Marriott of Port-au-Prince.

The theme of the conference will be "The investments of the Diaspora in Latin America and in the Caribbean."

Régine René Labrousse, who was a guest on Melody FM a few weeks ago and who is the vice-president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Haiti (AmCham-Haïti), informed us about the meeting.

"The accent will be put on the Diaspora and its driving role of investing in the country.  This conference will be a meeting place for our Haitian business people from the Diaspora, who are well-positioned to do business and work in the region."

On June 15th, President Michel Martelly, will open the conference in which the former president of Bolivia, Jorge Fernando Quiroga, will also participate, as well as numerous speakers from the diaspora and the Haitian private sector living in Haiti.

Both co-chairpersons of AmCham Haiti, Ambassadress Pamela White and the Ambassador of Haiti in the United States, Paul Altidor, will intervene throughout the event. The financing of the development of emerging markets will be the subject addressed by Wilson Laleau Minister of the Economy, during the luncheon. High-level speakers are also on the agenda, among whom are representatives from the American Chamber of Commerce of Washington, D.C., George Washington University, and Heineken Americas.

On June 16th will begin closed door sessions that will gather the general assembly of the Association of the American Chambers of Commerce of Latin America and the Caribbean (AACCLA). In the afternoon, the first business meeting will allow the entrepreneurs to meet.

The AmCham Haiti wished to give to this annual conference a wider impact by adding one day to discuss opportunities "to do business in Haiti." The June 17th forum "Doing Business in Haiti" was organized in partnership with the Center of Facilitation of the Investments (CFI), and will provide an opportunity for several personalities to find themselves in a succession of panels that will address the business opportunities in the country: assembly, agro-industry, tourism...

The Minister of Tourism and Industries Stéphanie Villedrouin will present the main tourism plan for Haiti, including investments by the private sector. The day will end with a new session of business meetings.

"This event should provide exceptional opportunities to become familiar and to exchange with a network of more than 300 business managers coming from the United States, the Caribbean, Brazil, and many other countries from the area. Throughout the conference, "Business-to-Business Meetings " (B2Bs) will be planned […] An exhibition of local products will be also presented during all the of the event " specified the vice-president of AmCham-Haïti.

ON-LINE REGISTRATION can be completed on: www.bfa2015haiti.com / home/

On a side note, AmCham is organizing several tours during the conference to give to the foreign visitors an overview of Haiti’s tourist and historic heritage, in addition to the business opportunities.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 16 juin 2015

 Fifa: Jack Warner diverted funds for Haiti

Fifa's Jack Warner accused of diverting funds intended for Haiti earthquake victims

US justice department papers seen by BBC allege that US$750,000 for victims of 2010 quake went to bank account controlled by former Fifa vice-president

Former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner at a political rally in Marabella, Trinidad and Tobago.

Jack Warner, the embattled former Fifa vice-president at the centre of corruption charges, faces a new slew of allegations as more details emerge of payments that were reportedly diverted to bank accounts he controlled.

In papers drawn up by US investigators and seen by the BBC, Warner is accused of diverting US$750,000 in emergency funds donated by Fifa and the Korean Football Association intended for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

The BBC reports US investigators alleging the money went to accounts controlled by Warner, at “Warner’s direction” for his “personal use”.

Warner was arrested last month in Trinidad at the request of US authorities, and faces extradition on charges of corruption and money laundering.

In 2012, the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) claimed that funds donated for Haiti were paid into a bank account controlled by Warner. It said the money from Fifa ($250,000) and the South Korean FA ($500,000) was paid into a TTFF account it claimed only Warner – a special adviser to the federation – controlled.

At the time, Warner said the allegations were a conspiracy: “I have nothing to answer to anybody. Who wants to make allegations, make allegations.” Fifa froze its funding to the TTFF.

Bahamas : 3 Haitian arrested for human trafficking

The Department of Immigration of the Bahamas arrested three Haitians and a Bahamian, accused of involvement in the arrival of two boats, of 49 undocumented Haitians on the coast of the island of Eleuthera, last week.

In a statement, the Department of Immigration said that charges will be filed against the four suspects for violation of the Immigration Act, which prohibits the protection of undocumented migrants. The three Haitian defendants, who have a permit to work in the Bahamas, were arrested after three illegal immigrants were found and arrested in their home in the village of Bannerman "Many other people had left the house and escaped the arrest," said the department.

The Bahamian arrested resident of Eleuthera, will be accused of having hosted five undocumented Haitian nationals in his house.

The captains of both vessels have also been identified and will be charged with illegal entry of immigrants, whose two of whom died.

This is one of many cases of illegal arrests of Haitian smugglers, who regularly arrive in the archipelago, without proper documents, which led the Bahamian authorities to enforce immigration policies increasingly more stringent for nationals from Haiti.

Recall that on 1 November 2014 entered into force a new law on immigration which created international controversy http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-12477-haiti-politic-the-hunt-for-illegals-is-open-to-the-bahamas.html This law states that the Bahamas will not accept applications for work visas from persons residing illegally in the country and that immigrants living in the Bahamas should always have on them, among other things, the passport of their homeland. http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-12709-haiti-politic-bahamas-haiti-the-regularization-problem-of-illegal-migrants-unsolved.html

Note that the Bahamas with a population of about 377,000 inhabitants, would have almost 70,000 immigrants living on its territory, most illegal immigrants, including Haitian 20.000 to 50.000 (Source International Organization for Migration - IOM).

Haiti cancels contracts with beleaguered Dominican senator

Santo Domingo.- Haiti’s government has canceled the contract to build the headquarters of two departments with the companies HOM ROFI, AD owned by Dominican senator Felix Bautista, and assigned the works to a Taiwanese company, Haiti local media report.

They also quote Planning and Foreign Cooperation minister Jose Yves Germain as saying that the transfer came aftter slow progress by the Dominican companies. He said the works must be finished within five months, or before president Michel J. Martelly leaves office.

Germain said the work started in 2011 with the Dominican contractors, with funding of US$16 million from Taiwan.

The companies owned by Bautista, who faces charges of embezzlement and malfeasance in the Dominican Republic, also built five sports arenas worth between?? US$2.0 million and US$3.0 million each.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio wants 'free, fair' elections for Haiti

Written by Samuel Maxime on 10 June 2015.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (sentinel.ht) - A proposed amendment by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, if passed, could put U.S. aid to Haiti in jeopardy if "any attempts to disqualify candidates for political office in Haiti for political reasons," are found in the electoral process.

Document

Document said to be proposed resolution for Assessing Progress in Haiti Act

He is one of the potential nominees for president of the Republican party and he is proposing an amendment for the Assessing Progress in Haiti Act of 2014, that was passed by the House of Representatives and Senate but has been waiting a signature from President Barack Obama.

If the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), which has been under fire for its inconsistent decision to disqualify former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe from elections, were to maintain this position in its appeal, the Assessing Progress in Haiti Act of 2014, if enacted, would require the U.S. Secretary of State to report on the attempts or eventuality of eliminations from the for political process for political reasons.

Such a report could compromise the aid a Republican-held congress would appropriate to Haiti, one would believe.

Clean up on Clinton foreign policy continues

Haiti went from more than 5,000 elected officials nationwide in 2010 to 11 today, effectively, a totalitarian regime. It wasn't the earthquake. Many point to Obama's first-term Clinton foreign policy as the problem.

The world's attention remains on the earthquake relief debacle. Billary's Katrina, it has become. But the deterioration of democracy in a poor country in this hemisphere has Clinton's prints on it, if one would consult a Senate report, opposition protests and political observers in Haiti.

Congressional Republicans, as well as some Democrats, are demanding more accountability and oversight.The Haiti dossier was a conflict between the interests of the Clintons and interests of the American people.

Haiti would have a lot of impact in the 2016 elections but Republicans would have to employ compassion in order to seal the deal with the issue. This is a challenge for the GOP.

Lamothe and 11 others barred from Haiti presidential race

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

Former Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe who lobbied politicians in Washington, pleaded with the diaspora in Miami and launched a campaign in Port-au-Prince and on social media to be a contender in Haiti’s upcoming presidential elections, had his hopes officially dashed Friday by the country’s elections panel.

Lamothe and six other former government ministers have all been blocked from running for president, according to the final presidential list by the nine-member Provisional Electoral Council and obtained by the Miami Herald.

Though electoral officials did not list the reasons for their rejection, they all have one thing in common: they lack a décharge or discharge certificate from parliament certifying that they properly managed state funds during their tenure.

In the end, elections officials qualified 58 of the 70 people who registered to run in the Oct. 25 balloting to replace President Michel Martelly, who by law is barred from seeking consecutive five-year presidential terms.

Growing conservation push in north Haiti focuses on restoring coastlines, overfished waters

CARACOL, Haiti – Only little fish are pulled from the coastal waters off Haiti.

In this overfished area of northern Haiti, fishermen who want a catch big enough for a meal say they must travel three hours in a boat to the Dominican Republic, where they scour the reefs of a national park and risk arrest, beatings or even death.

"Going over there is the only way we can feed our families," fisherman Wilfrid Desarme said in Caracol, where the sandy beach is lined with small wooden boats that replaced similar ones seized or torched by Dominican sailors who caught Haitians poaching there with rusty spear guns and fine-mesh nets.

Over the decades, impoverished Haiti has gained a reputation as an environmental wasteland. The country has only about 2 to 3 percent of its original forest cover, most of it lost because trees were cut down to make charcoal for cooking fuel. Its waters are severely overfished, leaving only small, young fish to catch. Coral reefs are clogged with silt washing into the sea from denuded hills.

Now, Haitian conservationist Jean Wiener is leading a homegrown campaign to protect the country's northern coastal areas, including barrier reefs and threatened mangrove forests that serve as crucial spawning grounds and nurseries for fish and crustaceans.

Wiener, who studied biology in the United States before returning to Haiti in 1989, saw his profile rise this year when he was among six global activists who received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Foundation award. The $175,000 prize awarded by an international jury was a big boost for his nonprofit organization, which has six staff members.

In recent years, the 50-year-old activist has successfully fought to create the country's first protected marine areas, including Three Bays National Park. The roughly 80,000-hectare (19,700-acre) zone carved last year out of northern Haiti's overfished Caracol, Limonade and Fort Liberte Bays includes as much as 20 percent of the country's remaining mangroves, which are now illegal to chop down.

But no one enforces the legislation Wiener helped push through in 2013 to protect the mangroves, and he acknowledges there's a long way to go before the new protected marine areas become more than lines on a map. Like many sea sanctuaries around the globe, Haiti's new protected zones are "paper parks," without adequate resources to enforce restrictions.

"For our marine environment, right now at least, there's no law enforcement whatsoever," Wiener says.

Still, scientists have high hopes that the sprawling Three Bays park can eventually help rebuild severely depleted fish stocks and make Haiti's coastal ecosystems more resilient to a warming planet with rising seas and acidifying oceans. There's been plenty of research showing fishermen eventually haul in more fish when a patrolled marine reserve nearby provides a safe haven for fish to grow.

Haiti's new park "contains the most extensive and healthiest coral reefs and other marine and coastal habitats in the country," says Maxene Atis, conservation coordinator for The Nature Conservancy's central Caribbean program.

If the government agrees to provide a few rangers to patrol Three Bays, Wiener says his Foundation for the Protection of Marine Biodiversity could secure the funding to pay their salaries.

The stakes for Haiti's environment are especially high in the coastal areas. Wiener's group last year prepared the first comprehensive report on Haiti's remaining mangroves and found destruction was "extreme" because the trees were being used by people dependent on charcoal for cooking.

To help ease pressures for charcoal and fuel wood, another nonprofit group called Carbon Roots International works with dozens of Haitians at an eight-acre property near Three Bays to manufacture briquettes made primarily from sugarcane husks. These charcoal briquettes are cheaper than the traditional ones made from mangrove and other types of wood and allow farmers to make money off their agricultural waste.

Haiti's northern coast suffers from the harvesting of coral offshore for construction material and soil erosion that deposits smothering silt along the coastal shelf. It's also threatened by effluent from the slowly expanding Caracol Industrial Park that was built after southern Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake with more than $124 million in U.S. investments and is anchored by a South Korean textile company.

In the face of the diminishing fish populations, Wiener says he is developing alternative livelihoods for local fishermen. Right now he's looking just at honey production, but before the end of the year he hopes to introduce seaweed and oyster production as options.

For now, Haiti has one booming fishing sector left. Near the mouth of a river in Limonade, villagers gather by the hundreds nightly to hunt translucent "glass eels," using scoops fashioned from mosquito nets. The baby eels, which look like noodles with tiny dark eyes, are not eaten in Haiti, but sent by brokers to Asia, where they are fed a high-protein diet to speed their growth. Haiti's unsustainable export market for the globally endangered eels started in 2012, kick-started by Korean businessmen at the industrial park.

Scientists say that overfishing of the tiny eels mirrors that of sea cucumbers, a lumpy invertebrate that is consumed in China as an aphrodisiac. Starting about a decade ago, Haitians overfished and exported that species so quickly in the country's waters that local fishermen say they haven't seen it in years.

Despite the many challenges, Wiener is optimistic because he believes most Haitians share a strong interest in rebuilding the country's ravaged environment.

"We can't be constantly counting on others to do things for us because a lot of (non-Haitian) people don't have a vested interest in seeing anything change whereas we really do," he said.

At Caracol's fishing village, 60-year-old fisherman Jacqueson Cadet hopes for an easier life for his grandchildren.

"We must make changes or else we won't have any fish or any fishermen left here," Cadet says wistfully, looking at the lapping waves. "Nobody wants fishing to be an old dream."