Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 24 aout 2016

 Haiti’s Sunrise Airways Launching More Caribbean Flights

Haiti-based Sunrise Airways is planning to launch a host of new flights around the Caribbean from Jamaica.

The company’s proposed flights will connect all three of Jamaica’s international airports with destinations in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

“We see tremendous potential for growth along all of our proposed lines of flying, especially the Jamaica–Cuba routes,” said Philippe Bayard, president of Sunrise Airways. “We’re committed to serving more of Cuba from more of Jamaica than any other airline, creating valuable links for foreign commercial and cultural exchange, as well as unique leisure travel options enabling vacationers to experience the best of both countries in a more seamless fashion.”

Sunrise will utilize its ATR 42-320 aircraft on all of the Jamaica routes.

The company said it expected to receive final clearance from the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority by Sept. 1. for a fall launch.

ZIKA

Officials identify Miami's South Beach as second site of Zika virus transmission

As Florida health officials Friday confirmed five new Zika cases in the tourist hotspot of South Beach, the CDC issued a warning to pregnant women not to travel to the area.

The five cases follow the previous identification of Miami's art district of Wynwood as an infection zone and bring the state's total number of non-travel related Zika cases to 36.

"Today the department of health has learned through one of their investigations that five individuals that have already been confirmed as cases of local transmission of Zika are connected to the Miami Beach area," Florida Gov. Rick Scott said at a press conference in Miami.

The news prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to expand its Zika travel warning for pregnant women to the new area, which covers less than 1.5 square miles.

It also has advised pregnant women not to visit the Wynwood arts district.

In a statement to FoxNews.com, the Florida Department of Health declined to specify how many pregnant women reside in Miami-Dade County and may be at risk of contracting Zika. It also declined to disclose whether any of the non-travel-related Zika cases in the county were pregnant women. 

The Zika virus has been linked to more than 1,700 cases of microcephaly in Brazil, raising alarm among public health officials globally about its spread. The virus can also be spread through sex, making it unique among known mosquito-borne illnesses. 

Scott said two of the South Beach cases involved Miami-Dade County residents, and three involved tourists from New York, Texas and Taiwan. He did not say whether mosquito bites caused the infections.

Miami-Dade County has begun an aggressive mosquito eradication plan in the city of Miami Beach, the governor said. The popular tourist haven saw 15.4 million holiday revelers flock to its beaches in 2015 alone, with the latest Zika news potentially threatening the region's $24 billion-a-year tourism industry.

Officials had been trying to halt the virus from spreading beyond a 1-square-mile section of Wynwood, an arts hub in the county just north of downtown Miami, since identifying local transmission there on July 29. Wynwood marked the first zone of ongoing Zika transmission in the continental United States.

Scott has mandated the department of health offer hotels and other tourist attractions in Miami-Dade mosquito spraying and related services for free.

But officials said Friday that containing the virus in Miami Beach may prove difficult due to the area's numerous high-rise buildings and strong winds, which make it senseless to spray the neighborhood by air.That method helped cut Wynwood's mosquito population by up to 90 percent.

"Miami Beach does have a series of characteristics that make it particularly challenging," CDC director Tom Frieden told reporters Friday.

Officials plan to deploy door-to-door ground spraying in Miami Beach to try to eradicate the area's mosquito population.

Three vacuum trucks purchased to help Miami Beach fight rising sea levels have been used since the beginning of the year to drain water in low-lying areas where mosquitoes could breed, said Roy Coley, the city's infrastructure director.

The city also has been sending workers to fill potholes collecting water in alleys and fix leaky beach showers, in addition to applying pesticides to the area's many construction sites and flood-prone residential streets, Coley said.

"Our call volume has increased significantly," Coley said.

Because the virus only causes mild, flu-like symptoms in most people, confirming local transmissions has been difficult, the CDC said.

"For this reason, it is possible that other neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County have active Zika transmission that is not yet apparent," the CDC's statement said.

Reuters and the Associated Press

Thousands of illegal migrants of Haitian origin en route for countries in North America, mainly the United States, are blocked for several months in several countries

 Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama and Brazil among others. Our compatriots languishing in improvised spaces, suffering from hunger and disease, exposed to acts of violence, extortion and rape, there are also victims of smuggling and human trafficking...

Many of these migrants trying to flee unemployment, poverty, insecurity in Haiti choose to travel via clandestine routes more dangerous in countries with various tensions, even armed conflict in search of a better life...

Several reports indicate an intensification of the movement of migrants from Haiti. A report released by the Chilean Police demonstrates the urgent need for the Haitian authorities act to control this flow

This reality is not different from that prevailing in Colombia, where the phenomenon of irregular migration has experienced a large increase especially in the border area of Turbo-Antioquia

UN makes first public admission of blame for Haiti cholera outbreak

Human rights group hail statement by international body about ‘its own involvement’ in crisis which experts say still has not received proper attention

Ed Pilkington in New York

@edpilkington

Thursday 18 August 2016

Human rights groups working with thousands of victims of cholera in Haiti have reacted with jubilation to the United Nation’s first tacit admission that it was to blame for the devastating outbreak of the disease that has claimed as many as 30,000 lives and infected more than 2 million people.

For the past six years, the world body has doggedly refused to address the issue of how its own peacekeepers, relocated from Nepal to Haiti in 2010 in the wake of a major earthquake, imported the deadly cholera bacterium with them. Studies have found that the UN troops could have been screened for the illness, and the disaster averted, for as little as $2,000.

In a statement first reported by the New York Times, the office of the secretary-general of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon, said that the organization had decided to step up its efforts to fight back cholera in one of the world’s poorest countries. “Over the past year the UN has become convinced that it needs to do much more regarding its own involvement in the initial outbreak and the suffering of those affected by cholera,” said Farhan Haq, Ban’s deputy spokesman.

The reference to the UN’s “involvement in the initial outbreak” was greeted as a breakthrough by groups working with cholera victims. “This is a groundbreaking first step towards justice,” said Beatrice Lindstrom of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), which is pursuing a class-action lawsuit against the UN to try to force it to accept responsibility for the disaster and to pay compensation.

The world body has consistently refused any claim for compensation, claiming it is immune from legal action.

Linstrom added that the real test of the UN’s intentions was what comes next. “The UN must follow this announcement with action, including issuing a public apology, establishing a plan to provide compensation to the victims who have lost so much, and ensuring that cholera is eliminated in Haiti through robust investment in water and sanitation infrastructure. We will keep fighting until it does.”

The UN’s top diplomat appears to have been bounced into making a clearer recognition of responsibility than ever before by the advent of a new draft report from one of its own special advisers looking into how the UN handled the crisis. According to the New York Times, the draft report states directly that the cholera epidemic would not have happened without the actions of the world organization.

The author of the report, Philip Alston, the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, was one of five experts working for the UN who earlier this year wrote a heavily critical letter to Ban in which the secretary-general’s resistance to accepting any responsibility was torn apart. The five special rapporteurs accused the UN chief executive, in essence, of stripping hundreds of thousands of Haitians of their right to justice.

In his statement, the UN’s deputy spokesman said: “The UN has been heavily engaged in cholera eradication since the 2010 outbreak.” But that claim conflicts with the testimony of health experts who say that the world organization has consistently dropped the ball over the cholera epidemic.

Dr Renaud Piarroux, a pediatrician who was among the first to sound the alarm over the outbreak of cholera, recently visited the country and reported that the incidence of the disease and the lack of any infrastructure to deal with its spread were still alarming.

Piarroux’s report concludes that Haiti’s cholera epidemic is by far the largest the world has faced in recent decades, and yet there has been no concerted effort to eradicate it by the UN or any other international body. “That the current response is not up to the challenge is an understatement,” writes Piarroux, whose work in exposing the UN’s role in bringing cholera to Haiti and the world body’s efforts to cover up its complicity is profiled in the book Deadly River by Ralph Frerichs.

The French epidemiologist goes on to say that “neither local politicians nor the international community seem to have taken the measure of the seriousness of the situation”.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 7 septembre 2016

 America threatens money transfers to Haiti

Last Friday, following the decision of American authorities to slow down any transfer of money beginning in November, 2016 if corrective actions are not taken concerning money laundering, the Ministry of Justice together with the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH, central bank) organized a meeting and debate on the "economic and financial stakes against the laundering of assets and the financing of terrorism," to estimate the risks that Haiti might incur.

Camille Junior Edouard, Minister of Justice, tried to reassure the population and called upon the players by asserting, "We shall do everything in our power so that the nation does not have to pay this heavy burden and we call upon the responsibility of all the players of the economic and judicial system in this battle against the plague of laundering assets."

To respond to the threats which are hovering over the future of the Haitian banking sector, Minister Edouard is doing his utmost to prevent the execution of such a decision through which Haitian banks could no longer transfer money with their corresponding American banks.

Secretary Edouard also announced the publication of the law of 2013 on the laundering of assets as soon as possible and the implementation of a unit of the Ministry of Justice and Law and order in Port-au-Prince that will work on this file.

This initiative aims at avoiding a wave of panic from bankers and at reassuring the economic forum of the private sector. The Minister of Justice is confident that the publication of the law on laundering will translate the will of the Haitian government to fight against tax evasion and money laundering.

HL / HaïtiLibre

Disappointment of a Haitian immigrant in Brazil

The disastrous sociopolitical situation in Haiti forced Atilia and her three daughters to immigrate in Brazil in February, 2016. After six months, her illusions of a new life in Brazil, faced with unemployment and an economic crisis, were transformed slowly into nightmare. Disappointed, she is hoping to return to her native country. She implores upon Haitian authorities to offer opportunities to young people in order for Haitian citizens like her and her daughters, who are victims of the Brazilian crisis, feel compelled to leave the country.

U.S. Representative Alcee L. Hastings advises President Obama to visit Haiti before October 9th

Washington, Friday, August 26th, 2016 – A member of the House of Representatives, Alcee L. Hastings, addressed a letter to president Barack Hussein Obama, asking him to go to Haiti before the  first round of the presidential elections planned for October 9th. The congressman indicated that it would be in the interest of both countries, and for Haiti to emerge from the current difficulties with a strong, legitimate democracy. The political strength of the US president would help encourage the Haitian people to continue to believe in the virtues of democracy.

Several events have been planned at the UNESCO in Paris from August 28th till September 30th, 2016 for the 18th "International remembrance of the slave trade and its abolition ".

In the night of 22 to 23 August 1791, men and women, torn from Africa and sold into slavery, revolted against the slave system to obtain freedom and independence for Haiti, gained in 1804. The uprising was a turning point in human history, greatly impacting the establishment of universal human rights, for which we are all indebted.

Haiti honored by the United Nations for its role in the eradication of slavery

“The courage of these men and women has created obligations for us. UNESCO is marking International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition to pay tribute to all those who fought for freedom, and, in their name, to continue teaching about their story and the values therein. The success of this rebellion, led by the slaves themselves, is a deep source of inspiration today for the fight against all forms of servitude, racism, prejudice, racial discrimination and social injustice that are a legacy of slavery.”

The history of the slave trade and slavery created a storm of rage, cruelty and bitterness that has not yet abated. It is also a story of courage, freedom and pride in newfound freedom. All of humanity is part of this story, in its transgressions and good deeds. It would be a mistake and a crime to cover it up and forget. Through its project The Slave Route, UNESCO intends to find in this collective memory the strength to build a better world and to show the historical and moral connections that unite different peoples.

In this same frame of mind, the United Nations proclaimed the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). UNESCO is contributing to it through its educational, cultural and scientific programs so as to promote the contribution of people of African descent to building modern societies and ensuring dignity and equality for all human beings, without distinction.

More than 2,000 cases of Zika have already been reported in Haiti

The Zika virus is gaining ground in Haiti; the Ministry of Public Health (MSPP) has listed 2,984 cases in the country during the period between February to August 13^th.

According to Dr. Jean Frantz Lemoine, Coordinator of the Malaria, Zika and Filariose programs for the MSPP, the Western department (with city capital, Port-au-Prince) is the most affected with 1,045 cases, followed by the North with 583 cases.

"The virus reached its peak at the beginning of 2016 with 305 cases during the 7^th week," declared Dr. Lemoine.

Today the trend is showing a decline, with only 15 cases for the 32^nd week, he indicated.

Pregnant women remain the most vulnerable to the Zika virus because of the consequences which the infection can have on their baby. Still today, the ministry has confirmed only one case of microcéphalie due to the Zika virus. However other suspected case are listed, according to Dr. Lemoine.

Meanwhile, the MSPP is pursuing its fumigation campaign, but also encourages citizens to take measures to prevent the multiplication of mosquitoes responsible for the transmission of the Zika virus in particular.

Puerto Rico officials struggle to translate Zika virus fears into action

A quarter of the population may have the disease by the end of mosquito season, but efforts to control it have been thwarted by apathy and misinformation

Jessica Glenza in San Juan, Puerto Rico

@JessicaGlenza

Tuesday 23 August 2016 

Every time it rains in San Juan, Dr Brenda Rivera-García walks around her home emptying containers of standing water, probably wearing long sleeves, and almost certainly wearing mosquito repellent. Rivera-García is the state epidemiologist in Puerto Rico, a woman tasked with tracking every single Zika-infected pregnant woman in the US territory.

Less than two weeks after the US health and human services administration declared the spread of Zika on the island an epidemic, Rivera-García said it’s not frustration or anger that overtakes her when she adds a new woman’s name to a list of roughly 700 confirmed to be infected with the disease.

It’s sadness.

“Every time I have to add a pregnant woman to that list, I just think of what’s going to be of this pregnancy,” she said, her eyes visibly wet. “What’s going to be of this child later on, and, it’s, it’s – it breaks my heart.”

As much as 25% of the island’s population could have the disease by the end of mosquito season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, and up to 50 pregnant women each day are infected on the island.

A recent study projected as many as 270 babies could be born with the debilitating birth defect microcephaly, between now and mid-2017. In a normal year, doctors expect 16.

The defect causes infants of mothers infected with the virus to be born with abnormally small heads, and suffer lifelong developmental disorders. Some will have trouble walking. Others may have hearing or vision loss, trouble swallowing or seizures. Many are likely to have shortened life expectancy.

But health officials have had difficulty translating those projections into urgency among many Puerto Rico residents, who have been dogged in the past by tropical diseases with more apparent symptoms, such as dengue and chikungunya. Indeed, the government’s efforts to control the virus seem hampered at every turn, thwarted by apathy, lack of trust, misinformation, insecticide resistance and even architecture.

“The system doesn’t work so of course people are going to be skeptical,” said Joe Torra, 40, a professional driver in San Juan.

Referencing colonialism, Torra said: “The best way to control minds is to control bodies.”

Denisse Velázquez, 36, stood under the shade of a tree in Old San Juan, one of the hardest-hit municipalities, as she said that the government “created false alarms”.

Juan Martínez, 43, said that with “all these diseases we have seen, it’s something normal”, referring to periodic outbreaks of dengue the island has struggled with since the 1980s, and the recent chikungunya outbreak. “In the Caribbean there has always been mosquitoes.”

Even tourism officials have reinforced the view that the Zika risk has been overblown.

“From the very beginning the numbers that were given were based on projections. The reality is that as of today, less than half of 1% of the population has the virus,” Clarisa Jiménez, CEO of the Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association, told CNBC’s Squawkbox. “The only issue here is if you’re pregnant.”

Jiménez focused on the roughly 10,600 Puerto Ricans who had, at the time, been diagnosed with Zika by the CDC. The figure is an underestimate, because four out five infected people have no symptoms and probably do not know they have the virus.

Now, near the end of August, the health department of Puerto Rico and the CDC have diagnosed 12,800 Zika infections, including more than 670 in pregnant women, believed to represent only a fraction of actual cases.

So far, only one child has been born with microcephaly. But experts expect that number to increase dramatically in coming months, particularly from September to December.

Health professionals believe the most dangerous time for a pregnant woman to be infected is in her first trimester, though more research is needed. Those pregnancies are expected to begin coming to term this fall.

“Right now, most of the births we have seen are among second and third trimester infections,” said Rivera-García. “For us, it’s not just a number. There’s a family behind that number.” Doctors suspect that even these cases, which are less dramatic in appearance, could result in problems that won’t manifest until much later.

The island’s timetable of epidemic infection is about one year behind Brazil’s. In December 2015, as cases of microcephaly began to surge in Brazil, cases of locally acquired infections were just beginning to show up in Puerto Rico.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 8 septembre 2016

 17 Haitian scholarships winners are going to study in Taiwan

Seventeen Haitian scholarship winners, who are going to study in Taiwan, were honored last Thursday before Minister of Education Jean Beauvois Dorsonne, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierrot Délienne, and Tsai-Chiu Hwang, the Ambassador of the Republic of China in Haiti.

These 17 scholarship winners, who were selected through competition and who originate from all of the country’s departments, are leaving for Taiwan to pursue five years of higher education in diverse fields such as electrical engineering, information technology, civil engineering, tropical medicine and renewable energy.

In his speech, Minister Dorsonne encouraged the scholarship winners to be diligent in their studies and to salute "in the name of the Haitian government and of the educational community, this support by the Taiwanese government in the field of the education."

Taiwanese Ambassador, Tsai-chiu Hwang, indicated that these scholarship exchanges are within the framework of the bilateral cooperation between Haiti and Taiwan, which has last lasted in harmony for more than 50 years.

Chancellor Délienne greeted proudly these 17 young people, whom he said, "are going to acquire new knowledge and return to put it to use toward the development of their country."

The Haitian Studies Institute opens its doors at Brooklyn College

In the presence of academics, politicians, and members of the private sector, the Haitian Studies Institute opened its doors in the heart of "Brooklyn College" recently.

It is thanks to the tireless efforts of New York State Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte, who is of Haitian origin, that this project, which initially did not have the necessary political support, came to fruition.

Peter Helder Bernard, the general consul of the Republic of Haiti in New York, was unable to hide his emotions regarding the choice of "Brooklyn College", where he attended 23 ago, to permit this Institute to help popularize Haitian culture.

Dr. Jean Eddy Saint Paul, who is of Haitian origin, was chosen as first Director of the Institute. In his speech, he shared his vision, to create a research center on a national scale, a modern international website, as well as the realization of key research on Africa-Haiti relations.

Haiti-Cuba: towards the creation of a sports educational college

Last week while at the Multi-purpose Training Center of Croix-des-Bouquets, Abel Nazaire, Minister of Youth, Sports and the Civic Action (MJSAC) hosted Naima Ariatne Trujillo Bareto, Director of the University José Marti Perez de Santi Espiritu, Cuba, regarding the creation of a sports college in Haiti.

At this meeting, during which Franck Charles, Director of Renaissance University of Haiti, Auguste D' Méza, Assistant Director of Academic Affairs and Luis Eyen Reina Garcia, Assistant to Director Bareto, Minister Nazaire praised the virtues of the Cuban sports model which has allowed Cuba to take its place among the best sports nations of the world. Minister Nazaire also showed great interest in this project which would allow Haiti to have sports technicians trained in the country.

A work schedule is going to be established between the MJSAC, the University of the Renaissance of Haiti and the Cuban University to finalize this project, in order to allow Haiti to have the necessary tools essential to the development of sports in the country. (Haiti Libre)

The Superior Court building will cost approximately 27 million US dollars

The new building that must accommodate the Superior Court of the Accounts will cost Haiti approximately 27 million US dollars. It will be financed by funds from the cancellation of the debt of Haiti by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to HPN.

Opening of the first symposium for small and medium-sized enterprises

Allowing institutions to have access to financing by trying to bridge the existing gap between finance companies and small to medium-sized enterprises was the objective of a symposium last week organized by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MCI), with the support of the BID and of (PANSEH), an organization that helps support and structure Haitian entrepreneurship.

"We have to prepare the economy of tomorrow with the actions of today by creating better opportunities," declared Minister of Justice Camille Edouard Junior at the opening of the symposium.

Approximately 300 participants from throughout the country were expected at this event. Among them were the heads of 200 small and medium-sized enterprises, 40 representatives of financial institutions, and 40 representatives of organizations that support small and medium sized enterprises. According to the organizers, the event’s main goal was to allow companies to have access to the services or technical support of the MCI.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 14 septembre 2016

 Throngs mourn Spanish Catholic sister shot dead in Haiti

Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Throngs of mourners attended the funeral for a Catholic sister from Spain last week. She was shot dead earlier this month while on a highway in Haiti.

"People are dying and the authorities do not care at all," said Mimose Targette, a leader at the same church where Sister Isabel Sola Macas, 51, played guitar every morning.

Macas was driving in downtown Port-au-Prince early Friday when she was gunned down by unidentified attackers who shot her twice in the chest -- a shocking act even in this poverty-stricken and politically insecure nation where acts of violence are not uncommon.

The passenger next to Macas was also hit and is still receiving treatment in a hospital in the capital city.

"Sister Isa helped people from poor neighborhoods and these are the same people who killed her," Targette said.

Top religious leaders as well as everyday citizens filed past her open coffin Thursday and offered condolences to her four siblings who came to Port-au-Prince for the funeral.

Haitian police said progress had been made in the investigation but declined to share any details.

"We know that the investigation will lead to nothing, so it's still one more person who has spilled her blood for nothing," Catholic sister Sandra Thomas said.

"But we are going to continue fighting in our own way so that Haiti finally rises from the ashes because we are not going to leave this country by itself," she added.

Seizure of Illegal weapons – The United States congratulates the Haitian national police force

The U.S. Embassy congratulated its Haitian partners and welcomed the seizure of illegal weapons by the Haitian National Police force and Haitian authorities at the port of Saint Marc on Thursday, September 8^th, 2016.

"We continue to work in association with American and Haitian authorities to pursue the criminals implied in this affair and to fight the dealing of illegal weapons in Haiti.

The United States is committed to continue to support the National police force of Haiti in the long term, and we welcome the continuous progress of the PNH to insure the safety and the rule of law in Haiti."

Trinidad Express: Haiti to lift restrictions on importation of Dominican products

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Sep. 1, CMC – The Haitian government has agreed to lift the restrictions on overland imports of several products from the neighbouring Dominican Republic in the next few days.

According to Haiti's Foreign Minister Pierrot Delienne, the restrictions will be lifted as long as the corresponding customs fees are paid.

Delienne also said the government will provide over 100,000 Haitians with the official documents needed to in order to qualify for the Dominican Republic's foreigner regularization plan.

The decision was made during a meeting earlier this week with Dominican Foreign Relations Minister Miguel Vargas in Port-au-Prince.

Delienne also responded positively to his counterpart's request to resume meetings by the Mixed Bilateral Commission, for which he said a common agenda would be drawn up, as well as to Vargas's proposal for a trade agreement between the two countries

In addition, Vargas proposed a treaty that would boost bilateral trade flows “without blockages and without objections” beyond the international trade rules.

From remote stronghold, Haiti fugitive seeks political power

PESTEL, Haiti -- Fishermen gathered eagerly at a rickety wooden pier to welcome a boat carrying Haiti's most divisive and provocative political candidate.

The crowd quickly cleared a path as Guy Philippe stepped to shore and began shaking hands and slapping backs. More people emerged to see the man whose face adorns campaign posters on one-room shacks in a community isolated from the rest of the country by forested mountains and rutted roads.

Philippe is reviled by some Haitians as a leader of the 2004 rebellion that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He is wanted on decade-old drug-trafficking charges by U.S. authorities. And last week, a Haitian judge questioned him about a deadly May raid on a police station after he rebuffed previous subpoenas.

Yet Philippe appears to be revered in the rural Grand'Anse region of southern Haiti. Many already call him "senator" as he seeks to win a seat in a runoff election scheduled for Oct. 9 - a victory that would give him immunity from arrest and prosecution in his homeland as well as political power that he has long craved.

"He's like a father for this area," said Christin Pierre Louis, who was among those welcoming Philippe to the village.

Elsewhere, many see him as a troubling symbol of Haiti's wider problems.

"There is an accountability vacuum in Haiti that means people implicated in past human rights violations can run as popular candidates with no fear of investigations, much less prosecutions, of alleged abuses," said Amanda Klasing, a senior researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The fugitive candidate, who looks much younger than his 48 years, allowed Associated Press journalists to spend a day with him in his Pestel stronghold. It's a remote municipality in the rugged mountainous region that has been his refuge since U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents barely missed capturing him in a 2007 raid at his house in the south coast city of Les Cayes.

He says he wants to bring prosperity to Haiti's mountainous southern peninsula, which features clear blue waters and lush forests but has scarce electricity, little infrastructure and widespread hunger.

Philippe insists he is innocent of any crimes, blaming the accusations on enemies trying to silence him. He has particular rancor for Haiti's caretaker president.

"The path I chose, the way I chose, is not easy. But I chose it and I'm willing to die for it," Philippe told AP journalists, who made the teeth-rattling drive to his stronghold along a dirt road that has been lined with boulders so barricades can be erected at a moment's notice.

In Pestel, where his father served as mayor, Philippe is the undisputed boss.

Downing bottles of Prestige beer, he held court at the town's only hotel, which he owns. He occasionally barked orders to supporters, socialized with a coterie of hangers-on and doled out favors.

At a gazebo he built for the town on a waterfront promenade, he made an open invitation to former soldiers to relocate to Pestel. Haiti's military was abolished in 1995, but veterans like Philippe and their supporters have long demanded the army be reconstituted.

"They can come to Pestel - land of liberty," he said, flashing a grin.

While Philippe insisted he holds great respect for law enforcement as a former police commander and soldier, he warned that any uniformed officials trying to capture him in his tropical outpost will be met with force.

"We'll consider them as mercenaries and we will fight them," he said.

Philippe denied reports he has stockpiles of weapons, but two T65 assault rifles and a pair of M-1 carbines were visible inside a roadside shack where a lookout stood guard.

Philippe's candidacy for a Senate seat is the latest chapter in a colorful life.

In 2000, he was police chief of the northern city of Cap-Haitien, the country's second largest city, when he bolted to the neighboring Dominican Republic after accusations he was plotting a coup. While in exile, he was accused of masterminding attacks on Haitian police stations and other targets.

He returned in 2004 to join an uprising against Aristide, taking over a band of rebels that captured Cap-Haitien. Aristide left the country aboard a U.S.-supplied jet before Philippe's rebels reached the capital.

After rolling triumphantly into Port-au-Prince, Philippe proclaimed himself "military chief." But he gave up his arms as a U.N. stabilization force geared up.

He ran for president in 2006, finishing a distant ninth.

A year later, heavily armed U.S. and Haitian anti-drug agents raided his home in Les Cayes but found only his family and a maid. U.S. agents came in several Black Hawk helicopters.

A fugitive poster from the DEA said he is wanted on charges including conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S. But the decade-old U.S. indictment charging him is sealed and federal prosecutors decline to discuss the case.

Philippe faces questions about a May 16 assault on the Les Cayes police headquarters. As many as 50 armed men wearing camouflage or faded green uniforms attacked the station, stealing guns and killing one police officer and wounding another.

His lawyer, Reynold Georges, confirms that Philippe is named on a Haitian warrant involving the attack, but says his client had no involvement.

Philippe says he is living a simple life and is focusing on his campaign. Jovenel Moise, a presidential candidate chosen by former President Michel Martelly, recently campaigned with Philippe in Pestel.

His American wife and two children live in the U.S., and he says he seldom ventures out of Grand'Anse.

Philippe warns of trouble if he loses the Senate runoff.

"I will fight if I lose this election because I'll know the government did it illegally," he said between swigs of beer. "I've got nothing left to lose."

___

Visit of a volleyball world icon of Haitian origin

Last Thursday at the Karibe Hotel before numerous personalities of the world of Haitian sports - volleyball in particular - the Minister of Youth, Sports and Civic Action, Abel Nazaire, hosted a cocktail party in honor of volleyball legend Mireya Luis Hernandez. A Cuban athlete of Haitian parents, Mireya Luis Hernandez is considered to be the best volleyball player of all times. She recently launched her autobiography titled "Between Heaven and Earth."

On behalf of the government and of the Haitian people, Minister Nazaire declared it was an honor and a big opportunity to receive Mireya Luis and her husband Humberto Gonzalez (the former Cuban Secretary of sports), and a symbol pride to have an icon of the world of sports who is of Haitian origin be a role model to the young people of Haiti. Let us recall that that Mireya Luis Hernandez was an Olympic champion three times, and that she holds several world and international titles.

Three days of protest scheduled against the possible renewal of the mandate of the Minustah

Social organizations announced three days of mobilization against a possible renewal of the Mission of United Nations for the stabilization in Haiti (Minustah) announced the news agency Alter Press.

These organizations are said to oppose the presence of the UN, installed in Haiti since 2004.

David Oxygène, who is in charge of the Movement for Freedom, and Equality of Haitian for the brotherhood (Molegaf), announced three days of mobilization to denounce the renewal of this mandate.

A report of the General Secretary of the United Nations Organization (UNO), Ban Ki-Moon, recommended a continuation of 6 months (until April, 2017) of the mandate of the mission.

On Tuesday, September 13^th, a protest is planned in front of the national palace, to call upon temporary president, Jocelerme Privert, to speak against the recommendation of Ban Ki-Moon.

A sit-in is also planned for Tuesday, September 20^th in front of the base of Minustah, in Clercine (north sector of the capital) to say “No” to the continued presence of the Minustah.

That same day, the UN will have a general assembly in New York.

Another sit-in will be organized on Tuesday, September 27th, in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, natural resources and rural development (Marndr), to demand that authorities take measures against foreign products which are invading the country.

The cholera epidemic first appeared in Haiti in October, 2010. It was introduced into the country by a contingent of Nepalese servicemen of the Minustah. Recently, the UN finally recognized its responsibility in the introduction of the disease in Haiti.

Molegaf calls upon "the popular resistance" to fight against the continuation of Minustah.

Guy Numa, who is in charge of the popular democratic Movement (Modep), also rejects the general request of the secretary of United Nations and urges the government of Enex Jean Charles not to extend the mandate of the mission.

"The cholera epidemic constitutes one of the greatest damages caused by Minustah, without counting the rapes of minors and adults," condemned Modep.

The Minustah had a new mandate, until October 16th, 2016, according to a resolution, adopted unanimously, on Wednesday, October 14th, 2015, by the United Nations Security Council.

According to this resolution, the prolonged mandate of Minustah would keep the current level of authorized staff of 2,601 policemen of United Nations (Unpol) and 2,370 servicemen.

The United States gets involved in the fight against Zika in Haiti 

The American Ambassador to Port-AU-Prince, Peter Mulrean, and the Managing director of the Ministry of Health, Gabriel Timothé, made a visit to the Private Community Hospital of Martissant in the capital, earlier this month.  

The American diplomat and Dr. Timothé also took part in the distribution of Zika prevention kits to pregnant women who are in their first trimester.

Following a request by the Ministry of Health, the Office of Cooperation for Safety of the Program of Humanitarian Assistance of SOUTHCOM, donated more than 700 Zika prevention kids, which contain insecticide, citronella candles, and condoms to be distributed to pregnant women.

This visit to the Martissant Hospital, supported by the American Agency for the International Development (USAID), demonstrates the continuous commitment of the American government to support the Haitian authorities with health care supplies in particular in the prevention of the transmission of the Zika virus.

Ambassador Mulrean stressed the need to strengthen community programs to prevent the spread of Zika in the vulnerable zones in Haiti. "The United States actively supports the action plan against Zika by the Ministry of Health. This plan aims at preventing, detecting and at the responding to the disease. In the context of prevention, today we distributed anti-Zika kits to Haitian women in the first trimester of their pregnancy. Pregnant women being a high risk group, we are targeting them in our intervention," he said.