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- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
Haiti leader pleads guilty to money laundering in drug case
Monday, April 24, 2017
MIAMI, Florida (AP) — A former Haitian coup leader and recently elected senator in that country pleaded guilty Monday to a US drug money-laundering charge under a deal that should allow him to avoid a potential sentence of life in prison for cocaine trafficking.
Under the plea deal, the recommended prison sentence for Guy Philippe is nine years and the drug trafficking charge would be dropped. He also faces a US$1.5 million fine at a sentencing hearing July 5.
"You understand I am under no obligation to impose that sentence?" asked US District Judge Cecilia M Altonaga, noting that the maximum potential sentence is 20 years.
"Yes, your honour," said Philippe.
Philippe, 49, led a 2004 Haitian uprising that ousted then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and was indicted along with several others on US drug charges in 2005. He managed to elude capture for more than a decade, including at least 10 attempts to arrest him in Haiti that involved a military operation and a foot chase through the countryside.
Philippe was elected to the Haitian Senate in November but was arrested while giving a live radio interview in the capital of Port-au-Prince in January and whisked immediately to the US Altonaga rejected his claim of immunity as an elected Haitian official. The judge noted even if immunity applied, Philippe had not yet been officially sworn in.
There was no immediate comment about the guilty plea from the many members of Haiti's parliament who questioned the legality of swiftly flying Philippe to Florida on the same day of his arrest in the capital's Petionville district.
The remote, mountainous town of southwest Haiti where Philippe ran a virtual fiefdom was also quiet on Monday, local residents said. The town of Pestel was one of many communities on Haiti's remote southern peninsula struggling with flooding following heavy rain.
Philippe admitted Monday in court that, as a high-ranking Haitian police commander in the city of Cap-Haitien, he accepted between US$1.5 million and US$3.5 million from drug smugglers from 1999 to 2003. Prosecutors say Philippe and other police officers took the money in exchange for ensuring safe passage for cocaine shipments from Colombia and other countries that went through Haiti on their way to Miami and other US destinations.
"Philippe cast aside his duty to protect and serve the people of Haiti," said Acting US Attorney Benjamin Greenberg. "Instead, he abused his position of authority as a high-ranking Haitian National Police officer to safeguard drug shipments and launder illicit trafficking proceeds."
Philippe attorney Zeljka Bozanic said taking the potential life sentence off the table was the key to the plea agreement, especially considering there are few witnesses and documents available to mount a credible defence.
"We're happy that's going to be the result," she said. "Hopefully he'll still be a relatively young person walking out of there."
About US$376,000 of the illicit cash was wired to a Miami bank account from Haiti and Ecuador and used by Philippe to purchase a house in the Fort Lauderdale area, according to court documents.
There was a series of protests in Haiti when Philippe was arrested in January, with some supporters calling it an illegal kidnapping. Several dozen people demonstrated outside the Miami courthouse at one of his earlier appearances, but there was no such show of support Monday.
"It is important that Philippe accepted responsibility for his criminal offenses against the United States and the people of Haiti," said Adolphus Wright, chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Miami office.
Haiti PM's motorcade hits 2, killing 1 near flooded zone
Monday, April 24, 2017
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A motorcade carrying Haiti's prime minister struck two teenage boys, killing one, as officials drove into the country's third largest city on Monday to see flood damage left by heavy rains.
Serge Daniel, a government delegate who was traveling in Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant's motorcade, said one of the vehicles accidentally struck two adolescents who darted into the road on a motorbike.
The motorcade continued on to its destination as the badly injured teenagers lay on the road, sparking a tire-burning protest by furious locals in the southwest city of Les Cayes.
Les Cayes police spokeswoman Guerline Dimanche said officers rushed the boys to a public hospital, where one was declared dead on arrival.
Mayor Jean Gabriel Fortune said Lafontant, a physician who was approved last month as Haiti's No 2 official, agreed to put the survivor on a government helicopter for treatment in the capital of Port-au-Prince.
It was not clear if the motorcade was speeding or if the boys were driving recklessly.
Monday's trip was meant to show government solidarity with victims of downpours that have saturated much of Haiti, triggering flooding in low-lying areas and causing at least two deaths in the struggling southwest region that was slammed by Hurricane Matthew last year.
Interior Ministry spokesman Guillaume Albert Moleon said that a 19-year-old man in Camp Perrin was swept away when he tried to cross a rising river with his motorbike. The other death was an elderly resident of Port Salut whose shack was destroyed by a torrent of water.
Even moderate rain in Haiti can lead to flash floods carrying mud and debris and authorities have urged people near surging rivers to be vigilant.
A trough bringing wet weather has drenched swaths of the Caribbean in recent days, with some flooding reported in the neighbouring Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.
Haitian TPS
The Trump administration should extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for all qualified Haitians. Failing to do so will complicate the delicate and fragile situation in Haiti.
However, we need to think beyond the Band-Aid of TPS and seek long-term solutions to Haiti’s continuing crisis. Haitians are found in just about every country in our hemisphere as unwanted migrants.
The United States is uniquely placed to innovate by working with Haiti’s Moise/Lafontant administration, the large, and largely successful, U.S.-based Haitian diaspora, and the Haitian private sector, to channel some USAID funds into an investment fund with strict oversight and management structure to facilitate direct investments in key sectors in Haiti.
Keeping displaced Haitians here is the right thing to do, but it does not address the continuing factors that have made the average Haitian youth dream only of a visa or an illegal trip to seek a better life elsewhere.
JEAN D. VERNET, II,
BROOKLYN, NY
APRIL 27, 2017
“You Live Under Fear”: 50,000 Haitian People at Risk of Deportation
by DARLENE DUBUISSON – MARK SCHULLER
“With TPS, it’s like you live under fear,” thirty something aspiring nurse Michaëlle explained. “You don’t know what’s going to happen. I live with stress because of that.”
Michaëlle’s situation just got worse on April 20, when Trump’s immigration agency recommended ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 50,000 Haitian people living in the U.S.
After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, President Obama granted temporary relief status to undocumented Haitians who had arrived in the U.S. before 2011. Given the slow pace of recovery efforts and subsequent disasters – notably the cholera epidemic that has killed over 10,000 and counting, and Hurricane Matthew that hit Haiti last October – TPS has been extended several times. The latest TPS is set to expire on July 22, 2017.
In essence, the Trump administration’s policy would amount to kicking out 50,000 people who have, despite their fear, put their faith in the U.S. government to legalize, like fifty something child care provider Wideline. She recalls that “[We were told to] tell all fellow Haitians they don’t need to fear because they are going to give Haitians who are illegal in this country papers so they can work.”
Wideline specifically acknowledged fear that TPS would become, in effect, a pipeline to deportation: “people spread fear, arguing that the papers were so that the U.S. government can identify Haitians living in the country in order to deport them. And this is why some people didn’t do it.”
Given the switch in administration, TPS, like registering for DACA for many undocumented Mexican families, has meant that it places a target on people’s heads. TPS, like DACA, makes people visible to the State and thus more “deportable,” like undocumented rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra, who sought sanctuary in a Denver church this February.
While this particular threat to the Haitian American community has gone largely unreported, it represents a betrayal for some. Unlike Mexican Americans, specifically targeted by then-candidate Trump, Haitian Americans, particularly in Florida, were actively courted by Republican strategists and Breitbart News.
In 2000, the fate of the free world hung on 537 dimpled chads in the Sunshine State, home to an estimated 424,000 people of Haitian descent per the 2010 Census. This number is low not only because of undocumented but because people have to self-select as “Haitian.”
Many Haitian community leaders and organizations were solid and early backers of Obama, the country’s first African American president. Compared to the Cuban community in South Florida, the Haitian Diaspora wields less political power because of the lack of dual citizenship. As the first and only slave revolt to beget a free nation, Haiti has long symbolized Black pride. As scholars such as Nina Glick Schiller and Georges Fouron and others argue, Haitian Diaspora keep their Haitian citizenship while sending remittances, representing athird of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
Following the earthquake, organizations within the Haitian Diaspora such as the Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti pushed for both TPS in the U.S. and dual citizenship in Haiti. Both were won in 2011.
Why would this solid Democratic voting bloc help push the needle towards a candidate who openly expressed hostility toward immigrants?
While the Haitian community is large and diverse, and therefore complex, an important factor was the role the Clintons – the “king and queen of Haiti” – played following the earthquake.
On April 11, the United Nations announced the end of its controversial military force. MINUSTAH belatedly apologized for infecting Haiti with cholera, but it was too little, too late. And the UN is still attempting to dodge responsibility for a rash of sexual assault cases. The Clintons were involved in no-bid contracts for shoddy homes,high-end tourism, an apparel factory outside of Port-au-Prince, andgold prospecting.
Some in the Haitian community might have forgiven this disaster capitalism if Haiti was “built back better” as Bill Clinton promised.
It wasn’t.
However, at least in the capital of Port-au-Prince, an argument can be made for at least some economic institutions and physical infrastructure being rebuilt. Much of this is unrecognized initiative by Haitian people themselves, such as in Canaan, an informal settlement created to house the displaced after the earthquake.
Following Trump’s election, proponents for ending TPS suggest that Haiti has recovered enough to support the return of these undocumented.
It seems that yet again when officials speak of Haiti, they mean Port-au-Prince, where recovery efforts have been targeted. But Port-au-Prince is not Haiti. And Haitian TPS holders have origins all over the country, including the Grand’Anse that is still reeling from Hurricane Matthew. But people living outside of the capital are moun andeyò,“outsiders.” As the lackluster international response suggested, these people who live far from the NGO offices and high-end hotels don’t count. Their lives don’t matter.
Like many community leaders here legally, people like Michaëlle who don’t have legal status define both as “home.” Professors Shannon Gleeson and Kate Griffith at Cornell University lead a study of TPS holders in NYC. This research documents that Haitian TPS holders tend to have significant ties to this country, not the least having had children and raising them here.
Of the 30 respondents in the Cornell study so far, most report being in the U.S. for decades, particularly beginning in the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Being Haitian in the 1980s was to endure ridicule and stigma, as Haiti was incorrectly blamed for AIDS. U.S. actions like the destruction of local pigs, rural bank accounts, as well as free-trade policies it imposed destroyed Haiti’s economy, triggering this migration in the first place. These actions benefited large U.S. agribusiness and other corporations.
The people in the Cornell study tend to have children here, and some report having left children back in Haiti. Many people report having worked in the undocumented labor force, but after receiving TPS they could apply for better paying jobs, albeit still below minimum wage. But these jobs require that their TPS be current, which costs $400 every eighteen months.
Ending TPS would cause a deep wound in the Haitian community, ripping apart families, and punishing people who endure sub-minimum wage jobs because they believed the government would be fair.
Especially because of the causes of the migration – not to mention exploitative working conditions –benefit U.S. companies in the first place, justice demands that the U.S. own its accountability to these temporary status holders.
But TPS also affirms humanity and human decency. Michaëlle reported “I feel grateful because I am in this country. I have the ability to go to school and to work.”
Michaëlle, like other TPS holders from Haiti, Honduras, and El Salvador, contribute to this country through their labor and the pursuit of their dreams.
The least we can do is act, before the final ruling on TPS is handed down. There is a petition calling for Secretary Kelly to renew TPS.
Darlene Dubuisson is a PhD Candidate in the joint Applied Anthropology program at Columbia University. Her research interests include black intellectualism, academic culture, diaspora, and transnationalism. She has conducted research in the US and Haiti on issues ranging from diaspora involvement in higher education to the impact of humanitarian aid in Haiti to Haitian temporary workers in NYC. Mark Schuller is Associate Professor at Northern Illinois University and affiliate at the State University of Haiti. Schuller has thirty scholarly publications on NGOs, globalization, disasters, and gender in Haiti. Schuller wrote or co-edited seven books, including Humanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti and co-directed documentary Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy. Recipient of the Margaret Mead Award, Schuller is active in several solidarity efforts.
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- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
TPS: Black Caucus asks the Trump administration to show compassion
The Miami Herald
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus joined a growing chorus of voices calling on the Trump administration to show compassion for tens of thousands of Haitians who are at risk of being deported back to Haiti under a federal agency recommendation.
In a letter sent to Department of Homeland Secretary John Kelly Tuesday, the bipartisan House caucus asks the administration to “show compassion” and extend Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status designation for another 18 months.
The plea comes on the heels of a recommendation by acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, James McCament, that the special immigration status, often referred to as TPS, be extended for only six months past the current July 22 expiration date. Under that recommendation, TPS for Haitians would end Jan. 22.
McCament issued the recommendation to Kelly in an April 10 memo. Kelly has until May 23 to decide. If no decision is made, TPS will be automatically extended for six months, according to federal law. Haitians received TPS after the devastating 2010 earthquake in the Caribbean country. A recommendation for its extension after Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti in 2016 was never acted upon.
The recommendation to end TPS has fueled at least two petitions from Haitian activists, letters from Republican and Democratic lawmakers and 416 faith-based leaders and organizations, and editorials in publications including the Miami Herald, Washington Post and New York Times.
Trump once told Haitians he’d be their ‘greatest champion.’ Now he wants to deport them
BY FABIOLA SANTIAGO
For a fanatically anti-immigrant presidential candidate, Donald Trump’s campaign stop to hobnob with members of Miami’s Haitian community and make campaign promises many of us suspected he wouldn’t keep was, at best, bizarre.
But a hopeful crowd of voters welcomed Trump at a marketplace and visitor center in the heart of Little Haiti in September. Some were Republicans, some independents, some frustrated Democrats. Some were well-to-do, others working class, others activists. One was a former finance minister of Haiti.
Trump told Haitians they shared “a lot of common values” and pushed the narrative that the Clintons failed Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake. Money slated for recovery, he told them, went to “their cronies.”
“I really want to be your greatest champion,” Trump said.
Flash forward to President Trump. There’s been no appointment of a Haitian American as ambassador to Haiti, as he led them to believe he would do. Heck, there’s not even a properly staffed State Department with an expert hand in charge of Western Hemisphere affairs.
But there’s a battalion operating at the Department of Homeland Security working to deport millions of immigrants without permanent resident status in the country — and it’s the Haitians’ turn.
In a memo to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, James McCament, said the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) allowing some 58,000 Haitians to live and work in the United States since the earthquake — which left 300,000 people dead and 1.5 million injured — should be terminated instead of renewed. It expires on July 22.
Unless enough public outcry reverses the course, this means deportation to a poverty-stricken nation that hasn’t recuperated from one natural disaster before it’s been hit with another, from deadly floods to a cholera epidemic brought by U.N. peacekeepers to last summer’s Hurricane Matthew.
The high levels of displacement and homelessness, food and water shortages, and lack of sanitary conditions in many parts of the country make it very difficult for the country to reabsorb returned nationals, a panel of experts eloquently argued Tuesday.
“Rains have started and there’s already been flooding,” Dr. Paul Farmer, who shuttles between Harvard University and Haiti, said via phone conference. “This morning the water is dark brown. I wouldn’t drink it. I wouldn’t even bathe in it.”
To all that suffering, add political instability to the mix.
MORE THAN 400 FAITH LEADERS AND ORGANIZATIONS NATIONWIDE URGE SUPPORT FOR HAITIANS AT RISK FOR DEPORTATION
Call on DHS Secretary Kelly to extend Temporary Protected Status for Haiti for another 18 months
WASHINGTON, D.C. - CWS and Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. announced today that 248 leaders from across faith traditions and 168 faith-based organizations delivered a letter to DHS Secretary Kelly, urging him to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS), currently set to expire in July, for at least 18 months for our Haitians neighbors in the United States.
In the wake of the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, the U.S. government committed to protecting Haitians already in the United States. Today, about 58,000 Haitians have been able to rebuild their lives, work, and raise a family in safety. DHS is now considering terminating TPS for our Haitian brothers and sisters, and we call on Secretary Kelly to live up to our American values of compassion, generosity, and welcome.
“Faith in God calls on us to welcome the stranger and stand with the vulnerable. We cannot turn our backs on the vulnerable Haitians whom we pledged to welcome after the devastating natural disasters that forced thousands from their homes,” said CWS President and CEO Reverend John L. McCullough. “Terminating TPS would violate our our closely-held moral, religious and American values to stand for the human rights and dignity of all people. As hunger, disease, and the worst cholera epidemic in the world persist in Haiti, we pray that Secretary Kelly remembers the common values we all aspire to: to love our neighbors.”
“Ending TPS for Haitians – whose country struggles to recover from an unprecedented string of catastrophic events – offends American and Catholic values,” said Jeanne Atkinson, executive director of Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC). “It would be cruel and unconscionable to stop protecting from deportation the 50,000 Haitian TPS holders who live and work peacefully in the United States. The ripple effects of sending Haitian TPS holders home would further destabilize that fragile country. Extending TPS is the compassionate and just approach.”
“As a Christian, my faith has taught and called me to welcome without discrimination, stand with the vulnerable, and love my neighbor,” said Rev. Dr. Ronald J. Degges, President, Disciples Home Missions, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). “I absolutely believe that my faith calls me to do everything in my power to meet our Haitian neighbors with the same welcome that our Biblical ancestors, who were once immigrants and refugees, received. We cannot call ourselves Christian and reject the most vulnerable among us. Extend TPS for Haitians for at least another 18 months. It is the American and Christian thing to do—and would honor the deep love I feel for the people of Haiti, and the many contributions they continue to offer to our communities and to our congregations.”
“Our God commands us in our scriptures like Deuteronomy 15:11 to ‘open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land,’” said Rev. Dr. Philius Nicolas, Evangelical Crusade of Fishers of Men, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Brooklyn, N.Y. “Our faith communities follow God’s word to ‘welcome the sojourner,’ and we have done this for decades by offering spiritual care, social support, health ministries, and integration resources. The Haitians now in the U.S. who have received Temporary Protected Status are indeed in great need in our land. They did not come here because they desired to leave their homeland of Haiti, but rather left because of great disasters, poverty, and dangers of disease that still continue. To separate families to make them return to such conditions would be against the values of our faith. Instead, extending TPS would actually bring great value to the United States, because we already have seen for decades how Haitians in the U.S. offer many strengths to the communities where they settle.“
Join our press call with Center for American Progress at 10:30 AM today (Tuesday) for further information: Call 877-627-6582, Conference ID: 4980094. Click here to take action and urge Secretary Kelly to extend TPS protections for Haitians in the United States for at least another 18 months.
Cholera cases down 60 percent in Haiti
May 8, 2017
The number of cholera cases reported in Haiti through Apr. 8 this year is down significantly compared to the same periods in 2015 and 2016, according to a new report from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
A total of 4,871 suspected cholera cases were reported in Haiti, including 69 deaths to date. This represents a 60 and 61 percent decrease compared to the 12,373 and 12,226 suspected cholera cases reported during the same period in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
In addition, the 69 deaths reported in 2017 represents a 41% and 50% decrease compared to the 116 and 139 deaths reported during the same period in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
All 10 Departments of Haiti have reported suspected cholera cases during 2017. The five departments with the highest rates in descending order are: Centre, Ouest (which includes the capital city of Port-au-Prince), Nippes, Artibonite, and Nord.
Since the cholera outbreak began in October 2010, months after the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake, 800,665 cases have been reported, including 9,480 deaths.
Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. It has a short incubation period, ranging between two hours and five days.
The bacterium produces an enterotoxin that causes a copious, painless, watery diarrhea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if treatment is not promptly given. Vomiting also occurs in most patients.
It affects both children and adults and can kill within hours. Person-to-person transmission is not common.
Among people who develop symptoms, about 80-90% of episodes are of mild or moderate severity and are difficult to distinguish clinically from other types of acute diarrhea. Less than 20% of ill persons develop acute watery diarrhea with moderate or severe dehydration.
People with low immunity, such as malnourished children or people living with HIV, are at greater risk of death if infected.
Tourism: Haiti host of the next International Bar Conference
Last Friday, Colombe Émilie Jessy Menos, the Minister of Tourism, spoke with Stanley Gaston, the president of the Bar Association of Port-au-Prince, and some of his colleagues. The topic of this conversation focused on holding the next International Bar Conference (CIB) in Haiti from December 6th through 9th, 2017. As host country, Haiti will welcome representatives of 120 bars coming from 42 countries.
Charter Haiti airline connects Montreal to Haiti
Griot, banana pesee, riz collé - all the Haitian fixings will be aboard the Charter Haiti flights from Montreal to Port-au-Prince. The new airline celebrated its inaugural flight from the Pierre-Elliot Trudeau Airport in Montreal on May 6th.
This Haitian airline offers competitive prices and other conveniences to its customers. By permitting two 25-pound suitcases, Haiti Charter accommodates Haitians known to have luggage surpluses when travelling.
"We tell our customers that we can send their luggage surpluses on another flight or by cargo, because we offer that service as well. Their luggage should arrive 48 hours later in Port-au-Prince," asserts Michel Romain, the CEO of Charter Haiti.
Romain, a former real estate agent, invested about a half-million dollars in this company. Charter Haiti has a fleet of seven planes with pilots from Quebec for a safe and secure mode of transportation.
The company, based in Canada, has already passed all of the steps needed for certification for transport in order to begin operating this month. Although Charter Haiti began its first flight in Montreal, the company expects to set up other flights, in particular from Fort Meyers (Florida) to Port-au-Prince.
The headquarters of Charter Haiti are located at 6770, Rue Jarry Est. Suite 230, Montreal, Quebec H1P 1W3, Canada. They can also be reached by e-mail at:
Leonardo DiCaprio Joins Sean Penn at Haiti Takes Root Benefit Dinner
Naomi Campbell, Ellie Goulding and Andy Cohen were also on hand to share their support for the J/P Haitian Relief Organization at the annual gala.
On Jan. 12, 2010, the lives of thousands of Haitians were forever changed in 53 seconds by a devastating earthquake, leaving many homeless and in need of medical care. It was during the immediate aftermath of this grave natural disaster that Sean Penn founded J/P Haitian Relief Organization as an emergency response to save lives. And with each passing year, millions of dollars are raised to help to rebuild the country.
On Friday night, the organization held its annual gala, an event that usually takes place in Los Angeles, at Sotheby's in New York City, co-hosted by Bryan Lourd and David Geffen. Many of Penn's friends were in attendance, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Campbell, Ellie Goulding, Andy Cohen and Donna Karan, who came to show their support for the organization's newest initiative, Haiti Takes Root, which is helping with reforestation following Hurricane Matthew.
"Haiti was devastated by Hurricane Matthew," Penn said as he explained the new initiative, "and I watched from another country as news organizations said no one is doing anything for these people."
Haiti Takes Root will for the first time ever be able to reverse hundreds of years of deforestation, thanks to the generous donations of its supporters, many of whom were in attendance on Friday night. And it was with the help of DiCaprio, who, after making an incognito entrance, made himself very valuable in raising funds. The actor and activist added himself to one of the auction items in order to up the ante from $200,000 to $225,000. A dinner experience with Penn and former President Bill Clinton was bid on for $200k, but Leo said aloud he'd also join the dinner if someone would make it $225k, which they did.
It was a night to remember, with acoustic performances by Damien Rice and Andra Day, who, in the spirit of the evening, performed her hit "Rise Up," bringing everyone to their feet for a standing ovation.
To close out the event, Penn took to the stage to share a few more words: "Haiti could be an example of not how bad a country could be, but how it could rise up from its current situation and achieve something better. And if it can happen in Haiti, it can happen in the rest of the world, and that becomes an example to the rest of the world on how hope and renewal can be found in the face of death and devastation."
The St. Luke Foundation Inaugurates St. Luke Hospital and International Training Center
Construction Supported by USAID/ASHA Grant
Port-au-Prince, April 27, 2017- Chargé d’Affaires Brian Shukan joined St. Luke’s Foundation, the Haitian Ministry of Health, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to inaugurate the first international medical training center in Haiti.
The training center consists of two training and simulation rooms, a conference room, and an administrative meeting room.
“This state-of-the-art medical training center will ensure that St. Luke staff and the greater Haitian medical community have a base to build and hone the most current skills they need to continue their vital work,” said Shukan.
The construction was supported by a $500,000 grant from USAID’s Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA), and the facility will host its first international conference, “The Haitian Acute Care and Emergency Care Conference“ on April 28 and 29.
“Continuing Medical Education (CME) is a guarantee of quality in healthcare,” said St. Luke Mission medical director, Dr. Marc Edson Augustin. “The conference will be the first of many such experiences at St. Luke's new training center, furthering our primary goal of bringing quality and dignified care to the most vulnerable.”
USAID/ASHA grants support the construction and purchase of equipment for medical institutions in Haiti. Additional recipients of ASHA grants include St. Boniface Haiti Foundation; Catholic Relief Services for equipment at Hospital St. Francois de Sales; Albert Schweitzer Hospital; and the International Child Care’s training center and inpatient child care unit. Since 1979, ASHA grants have provided over $21 million in support to projects in Haiti.
Support for St. Luke also includes a wastewater treatment system for the hospital implemented through a water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) project partnership with UNICEF.
USAID Haiti has a longstanding partnership with the St. Luke’s Medical Mission. In 2010, USAID supported hospital construction of structures to house their cholera treatment activities; these are currently still in use.
Four deaths and approximately 3,500 families stricken
4 deaths, approximately 3,500 families stricken, and countless damaged houses - that is the assessment drawn up by Civilian Protection following the latest rains that have come down on the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince recently.
Forum of French-Haitian businesses
Last Thursday, the French Ambassador in Haiti, Elisabeth Beton Delegue, was in Santo-Domingo where she held a joint meeting of the Franco-Haitian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CFHCI) and the Dominican Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFD). The French Ambassador in Santo Domingo was also in attendance. The Objective of this meeting was to promote the French-Haitian Business Forum, which will take place in Port-au-Prince on June 24th and 25th.
Haiti Dominican Republic: intensification of repatriations at the border towns of Carisal / Elias Piña
The operations of Haitian repatriations have intensified in the last few days to Belladère. A total of 1,854 Haitians were repatriated at the border towns of Carisal / Elias Piña from April 1st to April 27th, 2017. A total of 736 of them were welcomed by the services of the GARR in Belladère.
Out of those, key cases were recorded. One of those involved a young 19-year-old repatriate who received a gunshot from the weapon of a Dominican serviceman. He was detained for 25 days at the prison center of Haina, in San Cristóbal in the South of the Dominican Republic.
A native of Fonds-des-Nègres, John Kéry Paul lived approximately two years in the Dominican Republic. He worked for an electric company. He was intercepted on April 2nd, 2017 by Dominican servicemen while he was reporting to work early.
After arriving in Haina, which usually contains many Haitian migrants before they are deported, John denounced aloud the ill-treatment subjected to the Haitian nationals. Furious, the Dominican servicemen approached him and began to strike him in the back and in the stomach, and finally shot a rubber ball in the left foot, specifically in his ankle. In spite of all of this, the victim was imprisoned afterward.
After being released on April 27th, 2017, he was escorted the same day back to the border line of Carisal / Belladère together with a group of 57 repatriates.
According to the young repatriate, who is the father of a 12-month-old baby, the Dominican servicemen seized several bags belonging to the repatriates, including his, which contained his cell phone and clothes he had just purchased.
GARR pleads in favor of respecting the rights of the repatriated Haitians. It calls upon Haitian authorities to pursue the negotiations already begun with the bilateral Dominican State within the framework of the mixed bi-lateral Committee while giving priority to human rights violations subjected upon Haitian nationals on a daily basis.
Launch of the “Operation Hurricane” to fight insecurity
Recently during a press briefing, Lead Inspector Gary Desrosiers, Deputy Spokesman of the National police force of Haiti (PNH) gave some details about "Operation Hurricane" which was deployed recently with the objective of fighting crime and rendering bandits harmless.
This operation, which will last one month, will be spread into 3 departments: the West, the Artibonite and the North. It will mobilize more than 3,000 policemen (20 % of the national staff). The targeted zones of operation are markets, transportation stations, tourism sites, and parking lots.
For the western department, 200 agents from various specialized units of the PNH are going to be deployed in strategic places of the metropolitan region.
Gary Desrosiers underlined that "Operation Hurricane" also included securing the safety the President Moises’ travels.
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- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
DHS chief Kelly asks for criminal histories of thousands of Haitians seeking to stay in US
Secretary John Kelly asked Department of Homeland Security staff for the criminal history of thousands of Haitians living in the United States on protected immigration status as he mulls the decision of whether to extend the program set to expire in July.
The Trump administration must soon decide whether to renew "Temporary Protected Status" for some 50,000 Haitians currently living in the U.S. In 2010, the Obama administration granted the status to Haiti after a massive earthquake that devastated the island-nation, killing an estimated 220,000 and displacing 1.5 million.
The 18-month program has been extended three times since.
DHS staff said Kelly's requests for criminal data and public benefit usage by Haitian protected status recipients will not be used to make a decision request.
However, the move has raised concerns among immigration advocates who worry about how this information will be used given the administration's more hardline positions on immigration.
"Secretary Kelly hasn't made a decision on (Temporary Protected Status) for Haiti," Joanne Talbot from DHS's Office of Public Affairs told NBC News. "The Secretary's decision will be based on a thorough assessment of the conditions in the country; separately, he has asked the staff for detailed information to increase his understanding of how the program operates. The two actions are separate and distinct."
Federal law regarding Temporary Protected Status does not specify a recipient's behavior as criteria for extending the program and immigration experts say those who receive it are heavily screened before they are granted the protected status. They are also not eligible for welfare benefits.
"The idea that you would deny protection for 50,000 people because there are a few bad apples who wouldn't be eligible for Temporary Protected Status in the first place, makes little to no sense," Tom Jawetz, the vice president of immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal research organization told NBC News.
Paul Altidor, ambassador of Haiti to the U.S. said his government is in communication with DHS.
"We have as a government requested that Temporary Protected Status be extended for at least 12 to 18 months from our standpoint," Altidor said. "Not because simply Haiti needs it, but we feel that it would be in the interest of both countries as Haiti is putting in motion its development plan based on the catastrophe of the Earthquake in 2010 and a set of other issues that came up along the way that has slowed down our reconstruction process."
Haiti elected a new president in January following a 14-month election process which was further prolonged by a brutal Hurricane in October.
Haitian-born New York City Council member Mathieu Eugene said Temporary Protected Status recipients who have come to his office are looking for an extension on the program, "because they are people who are working hard every single today to provide for themselves and their families and consider it the fabric of the United States."
The Associated Press was the first to report the DHS' request for criminal data of the Haitian community based on inter-agency emails they obtained. The report found that career officials appeared to struggle to find the type of information Kelly was requesting
"We should also find any reports of criminal activity by any individual with (Temporary Protected Status). Even though it's only a snapshot and not representative of the entire situation, we need more than 'Haiti is really poor' stories," wrote Kathy Nuebel-Kovarick, who began her new role April 2 heading immigration policy at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency within DHS.
Previously, Kovarick constructed immigration policy under Sen. Chuck Grassley — working closely with Attorney General Jeff Sessions' staff when he was a senator.
Ira Mehlman, media director at the restrictionist Federation for American Immigration Reform, said Temporary Protected Status originally had some merit, but he questions what the program has become.
"You know the T in TPS stands for temporary. But you know people just keep extending their stay here in the United States long past any reasonable time frame after the triggering event," Mehlman said.
The director of USCIS James McCament recommended in April that Sec. Kelly not fully extend Temporary Protected Status status for Haitians because he said conditions have improved significantly. That recommendation has received its share of criticism from lawmakers and advocacy groups.
McCament's agency sent a vastly different report about the conditions in Haiti in December when they said housing shortages, a cholera epidemic, limited medical care, economic concerns, food insecurity and security threats still remained a problem in the country. Haiti was rocked by Hurricane Matthew in October, just weeks after Trump appealed to voters in Miami.
Then-Secretary of State John Kerry recommended Temporary Protected Status be extended.
Leonardo DiCaprio Joins Sean Penn at Haiti Takes Root Benefit Dinner
5/6/2017 by Sara Kitnick
Naomi Campbell, Ellie Goulding and Andy Cohen were also on hand to share their support for the J/P Haitian Relief Organization at the annual gala.
On Jan. 12, 2010, the lives of thousands of Haitians were forever changed in 53 seconds by a devastating earthquake, leaving many homeless and in need of medical care. It was during the immediate aftermath of this grave natural disaster that Sean Penn founded J/P Haitian Relief Organization as an emergency response to save lives. And with each passing year, millions of dollars are raised to help to rebuild the country.
On Friday night, the organization held its annual gala, an event that usually takes place in Los Angeles, at Sotheby's in New York City, co-hosted by Bryan Lourd and David Geffen. Many of Penn's friends were in attendance, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Campbell, Ellie Goulding, Andy Cohen and Donna Karan, who came to show their support for the organization's newest initiative, Haiti Takes Root, which is helping with reforestation following Hurricane Matthew.
"Haiti was devastated by Hurricane Matthew," Penn said as he explained the new initiative, "and I watched from another country as news organizations said no one is doing anything for these people."
Haiti Takes Root will for the first time ever be able to reverse hundreds of years of deforestation, thanks to the generous donations of its supporters, many of whom were in attendance on Friday night. And it was with the help of DiCaprio, who, after making an incognito entrance, made himself very valuable in raising funds. The actor and activist added himself to one of the auction items in order to up the ante from $200,000 to $225,000. A dinner experience with Penn and former President Bill Clinton was bid on for $200k, but Leo said aloud he'd also join the dinner if someone would make it $225k, which they did.
It was a night to remember, with acoustic performances by Damien Rice and Andra Day, who, in the spirit of the evening, performed her hit "Rise Up," bringing everyone to their feet for a standing ovation.
To close out the event, Penn took to the stage to share a few more words: "Haiti could be an example of not how bad a country could be, but how it could rise up from its current situation and achieve something better. And if it can happen in Haiti, it can happen in the rest of the world, and that becomes an example to the rest of the world on how hope and renewal can be found in the face of death and devastation."
Death of the mother of Dany Laferrière
Dany Laferrière’s first stop when he traveled in Haiti was always at his mother's place in Delmas. Marie Nelson Laferrière died on Thursday, May 11th, at the age 90. Less popular than her son, Marie carried the same scars as Dany: the dictatorship, an absent husband and father.
She looked on with pride and serenity at her son’s literary successes. President François Hollande invited him to France, it was a long journey, and a violent reminder of her husband’s exile. She preferred to stay here, knowing that all of the paths in the world could only take Dany to Delmas, to her love and affection.
Before passing away, Marie Nelson Laferrière saw her son Dany become a literary genius in Canada and Haiti, as well as get inducted as a member of the French Academy – the official authority on the French language.
A Painting by Basquiat is estimated at 60 million dollars
Jean Michel Basquiat is about to enter the pantheon of the contemporary artists. One of his paintings "could become a new record for the American painter," according to Sotheby’s which hopes it will reach the 60 million dollar figure.
Fourteen works of the painter born in Brooklyn in 1960, and who died from a drug overdose in SoHo in 1988, will be presented at a spring auction in New York, where a pallet of potential buyers support the art market.
Basquiat is to become the dominant figure at the auction, which will take place this week, according to L'Express magazine.
In May, 2016, another large, untitled painting by Basquiat reached $57.2 million at Christie’s, dethroning "Dustheads," which earned $48.8 million dollars in 2013, according to L’Express.
"Basquiat, is New York. It is the 1980’s," summarizes Grégoire Billault, who is in charge of contemporary art at Sotheby’s in New York.
"It was the place we wanted to go. It was where things were happening. Jean-Michel is really the fuel of that," he said.
Another work by the painter, who was of Haitian origin on his father’s side and Puerto Rican on his mother’s side, "La Hara," should reach a high price at Christie’s. He estimates it will reach between 22 and 28 million dollars.
Both Christie’s and Sotheby’s wish to surpass the 1.1 billion dollar bar during the week of the 15th to the 19th, according to estimates from both houses.
Coast Guard offloads ton of pot in Fort Lauderdale after confiscation south of Haiti
BY CARLI TEPROFF
More than a ton of marijuana will not make it to the streets of South Florida after the Coast Guard confiscated the drugs in the waters south of Haiti last month.
On Tuesday, the drugs, worth about $2.4 million, were offloaded from the Coast Guard Cutter Seneca in Fort Lauderdale and transferred to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to the Coast Guard, the 2,600 pounds of marijuana were interdicted by the Coast Guard Cutter Diligence in April about 80 miles south of Haiti.
IFC Helps Haitian Businesses Strengthen their Corporate Governance
The FINANCIAL -- IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, together with the World Bank and the Central Bank of Haiti are hosting a three-day corporate governance workshop in Port au Prince this week to help Haitian state-owned enterprises, family businesses and the media develop sound corporate governance practices.
“IFC’s global corporate governance team has a long track record of helping companies of all types and sizes build the conditions necessary for long-term success,” said Sylvain Kakou, IFC Representative in Haiti. “In Haiti, good corporate governance can make a big difference in helping companies grow and attract new investors. This in turn helps strengthen the country’s economy.”
Corporate governance is defined as the structures and processes by which companies are directed and controlled. During more than two decades, IFC has worked to improve the governance of a wide range of companies. Our experience has shown that good corporate governance practices help businesses operate more efficiently, better manage risks, and attract investment on better terms, according to IFC.
The objective of this week’s workshop is to raise awareness about the governance of family-owned businesses and state-owned enterprises. IFC and World Bank specialists will address challenges faced by these firms such as planning for succession, raising capital, ensuring accountability, and structuring the board of directors. There will also be a session to help journalists build their capacity to report on corporate governance matters.
“Haiti’s businesses, large and small, are key to boosting growth, innovation, trade, and efficiency. Helping these businesses thrive is essential,” said Jean Baden Dubois, Governor of Haiti’s Central Bank. “Corporate governance is an important tool in supporting Haitian businesses to attract needed investment, grow and partner with international firms.”
Well-run companies are better able to respond to competitive challenges and legitimate stakeholder concerns. Family owned businesses can also see important benefits. Approximately 95% of the world's family businesses do not successfully reach the third generation of ownership; the long-term sustainability of such firms is therefore a central issue. Improving corporate governance practices, such as adopting more formalized approaches to management, succession guidelines and changes in board structure, can help family businesses increase their long-term viability.
IFC’s portfolio in Haiti amounts to $148 million, including $54 million mobilized from partner institutions. IFC operates in sectors such as hospitality, energy, access to finance, and manufacturing. Our strategy focuses on creating jobs, access to basic infrastructure, and income opportunities for Haitians.
- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
Wyclef Jean discusses Temporary Protected Status for Haitians
Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean talks about the possibility of Haitians losing their temporary protective status from his home in Los Angeles.
Wyclef Jean
Haitian advocates like Marleine Bastien had been hoping that Haiti’s biggest celebrity, known for rocking Haitian pride and peppering his rap and song lyrics with Creole narrations, would say something about TPS.
“We are so encouraged,” she said, “by his strong stance for renewal...I know it warmed the heart of thousands of TPS recipients. I had a community activist say to me last night: If every musician did what Wyclef did last night, we would be so far ahead in this campaign for TPS renewal.”
The artist’s stance, she said, reminded her of 1997 when Jean stepped onto the stage of the Grammys as a member of the Fugees wrapped in the Haitian flag. The watershed moment, at the crest of an anti-immigrant wave, empowered millions of Haitians who had been battling stereotypes and feeling disenfranchised.
“Again last night, he reminded me that despite the criticisms, he always stands up when it matters and that’s important,” Bastien said.
For months, Bastien and other Haitian and immigration advocates have been rounding up support among Democratic and Republican lawmakers, Haitian and non-Haitian professionals and businesses to urge Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to renew the designation for 18 months ahead of its July 22 expiration date.
Kelly has not yet said what he will do. But acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services James McCament has recommended to Kelly in an April memo that the program be renewed for only six months and then terminated in January. His argument: Conditions in Haiti have improved since the country’s tragic Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake left more than 300,000 dead, 1.5 million homeless and an equal number injured.
Those calling for an 18-months extension, as has been customary since the Obama administration designated Haiti as a TPS country days after the quake, say recovery has been slow and uneven, and Haiti is still suffering from the effects of a deadly cholera epidemic, imported by U.N. peacekeepers 10 months after the quake, and last year’s deadly hurricane.
Jean, who refused to let a few skirmishes disrupt the festive mood and even scaled the lighting rail, agreed.
“Haiti can’t take these deportations,” he sang.
A Basquiat Sells for ‘Mind-Blowing’ $110.5 Million at Auction
y ROBIN POGREBIN and SCOTT REYBURN
MAY 18, 2017
Joining the rarefied $100 million-plus club in a salesroom punctuated by periodic gasps from the crowd, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s powerful 1982 painting of a skull brought $110.5 million at Sotheby’s, to become the sixth most expensive work ever sold at auction. Only 10 other works have broken the $100 million mark.
“He’s now in the same league as Francis Bacon and Pablo Picasso,” said the dealer Jeffrey Deitch, an expert on Basquiat.
The sale of the painting, “Untitled,” made for a thrilling moment at Sotheby’s postwar and contemporary auction as at least four bidders on the phones and in the room sailed past the $60 million level at which the work — forged from oil stick and spray paint — had been guaranteed to sell by a third party.
Soon after the sustained applause had subsided, the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa revealed himself to be the buyer through a post on his Instagram account. “I am happy to announce that I just won this masterpiece,” he said in the post. “When I first encountered this painting, I was struck with so much excitement and gratitude for my love of art. I want to share that experience with as many people as possible.”
Development Bank Approves $90 Million For Santo Domingo Historic District Restoration
The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) this week approved a $90 million loan to finance continued renovation of historic, public and tourist infrastructure in the Zona Colonial district in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic’s capital.
The new funding will “help recover public spaces and historical monuments, improve living conditions for residents, develop [the] local economy and strengthen historical area management,” according to an IADB statement. The financing supplements Dominican Republic government initiatives launched this decade to restore streets, buildings and public streetscapes across the historic district, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The project will also provide assistance to residents of the district by assisting 200 low-income households with “gentrification dynamics,” said officials. Other plan aims include the restoration of historic facades, traditional squares, the historic city wall and adjacent public spaces.
The funds will also be used to improve economic prospects for small and micro-sized business enterprises, prioritizing those that are owned by or employ area residents, with an emphasis on strengthening training related to tourism service delivery.
Historic buildings including the St. Francis Convent will undergo renovation, along with museums and public spaces. The district will also receive new water, sewerage and storm drain systems plus new electricity and communications wiring, public lighting, street furniture and road signs. Tree planting on will take place on “priority roads” and new traffic installations will prioritize pedestrian traffic, said officials.
“The program also contemplates improving the [Zona Colonial] governance and implementing sustainable management principles and plans to strengthen tourism and tourism-related services,” the statement adds.
Santo Domingo’s Zona Colonial was the first permanent American settlement for 15th-century European explorers. The district features Calle de Las Damas, the oldest paved street in the Americas which leads to Plaza de Espana, a broad stone courtyard highlighted by Alcazar Colon, the restored palace of Don Diego Colón, a son of Christopher Columbus and the 16th-century Spanish viceroy of Santo Domingo.
May 18th -Haitian Flag Day Celebration
The General Consulate of Haiti in Suriname celebrated the 214th anniversary of our flag in style! This was the fourth consecutive year that this celebration took place in the city of Wanica, where a large portion of the local Haitian Community lives.
More appealing than last year, this traditional meeting by the Consulate has become a real cultural and family festivity. Artists were more than anxious to demonstrate their multiple talents including music, dances, songs, poetry, comedy, etc…
The Consulate made certain not to forget about the very young attendees by including an inflatable castle and having Surinamese artist available to draw the Haitian flag on the faces with glitter.
A larger turn out came out this year, and more participants from the Haitian community attended as well to exhibit crafts, delicacies prepared from family recipes and for the first time, shoes, sandals and quality purses. During this fair, Surinamese companies interested to doing business or recruiting in the Haitian community participated once again.
Dany Laferrière, named Officer of the Order of Montreal
Dany Laferrière, illustrious French-speaking writer, heavy weight of Haitian literature and a member of the French Academy, was honored by Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, last week on the eve of the 375 anniversary of this Canadian city.
On Wednesday, May 17th, as the festivities for the 375 anniversary of the city were getting launched, Mayor Denis Coderre use the opportunity to honor seventeen individuals with the Order of Montreal, formerly known as the Academy of the Great Montrealers, created in 1988 by the Chamber of commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.
"I have received honors in the past but never during a historic day as today," declared the author.
The medal of the order of Montreal pays tribute to people who "contribute in a remarkable way to the development and to the brilliance of the metropolis". Next to Dany Laferrière (native of Petit-Goâve, Haiti), two other symbolic personalities also received the same honor they were Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who is orchestra conductor, and visual artist Françoise Sullivan.
Cremasse-inspired Entrepreneurship in Montreal
To sell 2,400 bottles in fourth weeks! That is the challenge that Steven Charles, founder or LS cream, a Haitian cremasse-inspired liquor, has given himself.
LS Cream is reminiscent of Haitian Cremasse. It includes alcohol, condensed milk, coconut, and spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, or vanilla. To create his drink, Steven Charles, native of Montreal-North with Haitian origin, took his grandmother’s recipe, originally hand-written on a scrap of paper, before sending it to an American laboratory.
"I often wondered why the crémasse was not commercial. I said to myself that it is maybe something that people would like to buy," explained Steven Charles.
Having been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), LS Cream was produced for the first time in December, 2014, for the American market.
The success is immediate. In two weeks, 75 boxes of LS Cream were sold in the states of New York and Florida. The product received a silver medal in the World Spirit Competition of San Francisco, then a gold one in the WSWA Spirit Competition in Las Vegas.
Today, the LS Cream is available in more than 100 liquor stores, all part of the Societe des alcool du Quebec (SAQ), at a price of $28.30. But nothing guarantees that the black, modern and uncluttered bottles, designed by Steven Charles, will stay there.
Considered a "specialty product" LS Cream was ordered only in small quantities by the SAQ. “We again have to see if the LS Cream is going to remain a seasonal product, which will be presented at certain periods of the year, or if he can remain all the year," explain Anne-Sophie Hamel-Longtin, director of media relations for SAQ.
It is from this perspective that the entrepreneur launched his sell-out "operation," on social networks, with the objective of selling 2,400 bottles in the 4 weeks. In a video on Facebook, Steven Charles recounts the history of the product and the importance that it takes its place in the market.
To find of the support and to insure the promotion of LS Cream, the young entrepreneur participated in the show "In the eye of the dragon" where experienced business men and women invest in the ideas of new entrepreneurs, each requesting $100,000. His proposal was not chosen; however, several Dragons, including Gilbert Rozon, offered to help him get his project to become better known.
If sales are strong, LS Cream could enter the sought after circle of "regular products" of the SAQ. When this happens, Steven Charles wants LS Cream to have place in all the bars and restaurants.
- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
UN chief wants $40.5 million for Haiti cholera victims
2:30 PM Thursday May 25, 2017
UNITED NATIONS (AP) " Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is asking U.N. member states to transfer $40.5 million in unspent funds from Haiti's peacekeeping mission to help communities and victims of a cholera outbreak that has afflicted over 800,000 people, according to a report released Tuesday.
Guterres said in the report to the Security Council that the money is desperately needed for a trust fund that the U.N. had hoped would raise $400 million to provide aid to the families of victims and afflicted communities, and to help eradicate the disease.
So far, the report said only $2.67 million has been contributed to the fund from Chile, France, India, Liechtenstein, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Britain. Canada and Japan have separately contributed $8.5 million to assist Haiti.
The Security Council voted unanimously last month to end the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti in mid-October after 13 years. The peacekeepers helped normalize a country in chaos after political upheaval in 2004, but U.N. troops from Nepal were widely blamed for introducing cholera to Haiti after a devastating earthquake in 2010. The death toll as of April was over 9,500.
For years the U.N. had denied or been silent on the longstanding allegations that it was responsible for the outbreak, while responding to lawsuits in U.S. courts by claiming diplomatic immunity. Last August, a U.S. appeals court upheld the United Nations' immunity from a lawsuit filed on behalf of 5,000 Haitian cholera victims who blame the U.N. for the epidemic.
After the ruling, then secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said he deeply regretted the suffering that cholera has caused and the U.N. had a moral responsibility to the victims. He later apologized for the U.N. not doing enough to contain the spread of cholera and announced a new U.N. approach to eliminate the disease which sought to raise $400 million.
Guterres asked the 193 U.N. member states to consider voluntarily waiving the return of the $40.5 million balance and credits in the 2015-16 budget for the Haiti peacekeeping mission and put the money in the cholera trust fund.
In a renewed effort to raise voluntary contributions, Guterres said he has also written to every member state and has decided to appoint a high-level envoy "to develop a comprehensive fundraising strategy." He said several countries have responded to his letter "and some additional voluntary contributions are anticipated."
Haiti quake survivor a BPS valedictorian
Marie Szaniszlo Wednesday, May 31, 2017
When Carmelissa Norbrun gives the valedictory address on June 8 for Boston Green Academy, it will mark the climax of a long journey that has brought her from the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere to the richest, and from tragedy to triumph.
The journey began on Jan. 12, 2010, while she and her two sisters were doing their homework as they sat on the steps of their home in Pernier, a village near Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
“Suddenly, the ground started rolling under my feet, and my mother grabbed me and my sisters,” said Norbrun, one of 38 Boston Public Schools class valedictorians honored yesterday at a luncheon at the Boston Harbor Hotel. “It wasn’t longer than 30 seconds.”
The 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed as many as 316,000 people and left another 1.5 million homeless.
Like many people, her family lived in a tent for months, during which lawlessness in parts of the country reigned.
TPS for Haitians : DHS chief Kelly turns to Congress
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly continued to cast uncertaintyThursday on the fate of tens of thousands of Haitians who have been temporarily allowed to live and work in the United States, but he said Congress may ultimately resolve the issue by changing the legislation.
“This is squarely on them,” Kelly said in an interview with the Miami Herald about the Temporary Protective Status, or TPS, program that nationals from Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and six other countries are currently enrolled in. “I have a law that I am supposed to enforce and I think the members of Congress who are interested in this, and there are a lot of them, should probably sit down and talk about it and come up with some legislation to fix it. I think it’s on them.”
Kelly made a brief stop in Miami after a trip to Haiti Wednesday where he spent more than an hour discussing TPS and other Trump administration concerns with new Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and senior officials with the government and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti.
His suggestion to Moïse: Start thinking about how to bring Haiti’s nearly 60,000 TPS recipients back to their home country by issuing travel documents or identification.
“TPS is not supposed to continue to be enforced until Haiti’s like Jamaica, or any country with a very functioning democracy [or] a relatively low unemployment rate. That’s not the point of it,” said Kelly, pushing back on critics who argue abruptly ending TPS will quickly harm the country’s already fragile economy.
Kelly: US-Haiti to 'Work Together' on Future Extensions for Haitians
June 01, 2017 2:23 PM
The head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, visiting Haiti on Wednesday, assured the Caribbean nation’s leader that their respective governments could "work together on any future extensions" of the timetable for Haitians facing repatriation from the United States.
Secretary John Kelly met with Haitian President Jovenel Moise and other senior government officials less than two weeks after Homeland Security announced that a humanitarian aid program for Haitians temporarily living in the United States would be limited to a six-month extension.
Haitian authorities, some U.S. lawmakers and immigration advocates had sought at least another year. Previous renewals had been for 18 months.
About 58,000 Haitian immigrants are registered for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), offered in the wake of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck near Haiti's capital in January 2010. TPS permits those visiting the United States at the time of the quake to temporarily remain in the country, with work privileges, until conditions in their homeland improve. TPS for Haitians was set to expire July 23 and has been extended through January 22.
Emphasis on 'temporary'
Haiti is one of 10 countries currently designated for the TPS program by Homeland Security because conditions there make it unsafe or impossible for nationals to return. Those conditions include armed conflict and environmental disasters such as drought.
During his visit, Kelly stressed that the U.S. humanitarian program for Haitians was never meant to be permanent.
"The operative word in the law is ‘temporary.’ It’s not meant to be an open-ended law, but a temporary law," he said at a news conference at the National Palace.
Later, in a separate interview with Port-au-Prince’s RFM Radio, Kelly indicated Haiti’s TPS deadline might be extended beyond January.
"I will clearly have to make a decision on this in November or December, so I will be looking for indicators," Kelly told radio journalist Rothchild Francois Jr., who shared the interview with VOA.
"Right now, my thoughts are [that] it will end. So I’d have to look for indicators as to why we might extend it a short period into the future past January," he continued, adding that the program "is designed to end and not go on forever … which some of them seem to do."
Haitian women press for recognition from U.N. peacekeeper fathers
By Makini Brice | PORT-SALUT, HAITI
For Roseleine Duperval, the United Nations mission to stabilise Haiti will always remind her of one thing - her 8-year-old daughter, who she says was fathered by a Uruguayan peacekeeper.
Duperval is among a group of Haitian women who embarked on a long and largely fruitless journey to try to force peacekeepers who they say fathered their children to contribute to their upbringing. While some have succeeded with their paternity claims, barely any have secured any form of child support.
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"Since I became pregnant, he never sent money," said Duperval, who still has identity documents she says her daughter Sasha Francesca's father left behind, apparently because he wanted to be legally recognised as the father. "I have to call friends all the time to help me support my (child)."
The paternity and child support issue is another awkward legacy of the 13-year U.N. mission, known as MINUSTAH, which is winding up in October after being sent in to stabilize a country riven by political turmoil. The mission introduced a cholera epidemic that killed about 10,000 people and has also been dogged by accusations of sexual assault.
Paternity cases in recent years have confirmed seven children in Haiti as having had U.N. peacekeepers as their fathers, according to figures released on the peacekeeping body's conduct and discipline website. More than two dozen Haitian women are still pursuing paternity claims, second only to Democratic Republic of Congo in the number of claims against a U.N. mission worldwide since 2010, according to U.N. data.
The cases also highlight a lack of accountability, critics say, since many of the women's paternity claims are never confirmed either way. Even when paternity is proven, the process rarely delivers any financial support for mothers.
Under the United Nations' "zero-tolerance policy" against sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual relationships between peacekeepers and residents of countries hosting a U.N. mission are strongly discouraged.
However, the world body says its peacekeeping arm does not take responsibility for financial assistance to children fathered by peacekeepers. It says the peacekeepers' countries, or the fathers themselves, must organise payment.
In practice, that often means mothers must raise children alone in some of the world's poorest, most troubled nations.
"If you ignore the problem of paternity long enough, it will go away," said Sharanya Kanikkannan, from the New York-based advocacy group Code Blue, which aims to end impunity for sexual abuse by U.N. personnel. "Missions move on; children grow up."
WAITING FOR ANSWERS
A Reuters reporter interviewed four women in the Haitian seaside town of Port-Salut, who had, along with their children, undergone DNA tests with a view to establishing paternity.
They said U.N. officials tracked them down in 2014 by asking members of the local community who claimed to have given birth to "MINUSTAH babies" to come to the capital, Port-au-Prince, for tests.
Ismini Palla, spokeswoman for U.N. peacekeeping in New York, confirmed the DNA tests took place. She said the United Nations facilitated tests but did not provide them. It was not immediately clear who provided or paid for the tests.
The four women's samples were sent to Uruguay, the country of origin of the supposed fathers. Uruguayan authorities were tasked with locating the men and conducting their own DNA tests, Palla said.
Of the four Port-Salut women interviewed by Reuters, DNA testing proved two of the Uruguayan peacekeepers were the fathers, Palla said.
However, the other two claims, including Duperval's, could not be confirmed because the Uruguayan military was unable to locate the alleged fathers, Palla
All four women Reuters interviewed said the United Nations had never communicated to them the test results. Palla disputed this.
MIXED LEGACY
Haitian lawyer Mario Joseph represents 10 women, including Duperval, who say they had children with U.N. peacekeepers. He said he planned to file a lawsuit against the United Nations in Haitian courts for child support, although it was not clear when.
"The United Nations, which promotes human rights, does not respect the rights of Haitians," said Joseph.
Worldwide, U.N. peacekeeping missions have faced 111 paternity claims, according to U.N. data. Only 17 claims worldwide have been confirmed, including the seven from Haiti. Figures are not publicly available from before 2010.
The United Nations has pledged fresh efforts to increase support to victims of sexual abuse and exploitation, like a report presented by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in February that vowed to put victims first.
But the United Nations has announced actions against sexual abuse before, and critics question whether the proposed measures will address underlying issues.
"These aren't people who are asking for charity," said Kanikkannan, from the Code Blue group. "These are people who are asking for rights."
'Guns-For-Charity' Solicitor Sentenced for Illegal Weapons
A Los Angeles newspaper publisher who asked people to donate guns for Haiti earthquake relief has been sentenced for illegally possessing weapons.
| May 26, 2017
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles neighborhood newspaper publisher who asked people to donate guns for Haiti earthquake relief has been sentenced for illegally possessing the weapons.
The Los Angeles Daily News (http://bit.ly/2rZl90C ) says 75-year-old David DeMulle was sentenced Monday to 41 months in prison.
DeMulle owned The Foothills Paper, which covers news in LA's Sunland-Tujunga area.
Authorities say he's also a gun enthusiast and a convicted felon who cannot legally have firearms.
Police say in 2010, DeMulle printed an ad in his paper seeking guns that supposedly would be sold to raise money for earthquake relief in Haiti.
Police who searched DeMulle's home said they found two dozen rifles and other firearms and about a half-ton of ammunition.
Immigration activists and lawyers offer Haitians hope, vowing TPS fight is not over
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
For 29 years, Evette Prosper has called the United States home. It’s where she attended school, got married and gave birth to two children, now 8 and 7.
An only child, Prosper doesn’t know where her father is. And both her Haitian mother, and her grandmother — who migrated with her from Haiti when she was just a year old — are dead.
But her husband of 11 years is a U.S. citizen. That should place her squarely in the category of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, holders that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security referred to when, announcing a six-month TPS extension last week for Haitians, it said many of the 58,700 recipients could adjust their status to remain and work legally in the United States on a permanent basis.
But Prosper, who was born in the Bahamas, which doesn’t automatically grant citizenship, has neither a Bahamian nor a Haitian passport. And with no proof that she ever entered the U.S., adjusting her immigration status is almost impossible unless she can leave and reenter the country. She is, as one immigration lawyer put it, stateless. Her case exemplifies the challenges some TPS recipients face as they seek to move from temporary to permanent U.S. residency.
“It’s very overwhelming on your future,” Prosper, 30, said. “You don’t know if you should seek future plans. I’ve never been to jail, never been in a cop’s car before. It’s kind of scary not knowing what the future holds.”
On Thursday, Prosper was among dozens of Haitians who poured into the Little Haiti Cultural Complex in Miami hoping to find answers from a panel of immigration lawyers. The town hall-style discussion, one of several that will be offered in coming months, was organized by Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami/Haitian Women of Miami and other immigration rights groups.
Prosper, like many others, is fearful of possible deportation and what that could do to her family, especially after DHS advised Haitian TPS recipients to get their affairs in order.
“What will they do with people who have kids?” she asked the lawyers at the meeting.
“That’s a very good question,” said Adonia Simpson, supervising attorney for Americans for Immigrant Justice’s Children’s Legal Programs, which represents unaccompanied immigrant children.
“You need to think hard about potentially what you want to happen to your children,” Simpson advised. “Make sure your children have passports, documents.”
Sensing the panic among some in the room, Catholic Charities Legal Services attorney Georges Francis said: “Don’t freak out. Be calm.”
“TPS has not ended yet,” Francis said. “It’s been extended for six months.”
Last week, after months of advocacy, letters and protests, DHS Secretary John Kelly announced that the immigration benefit, provided by the Obama administration to Haiti in the days after its devastating Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake, would be extended an additional six months. Instead of expiring on July 22, TPS for Haiti will now expire on Jan. 22.