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- 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.
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- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
World Bank Supports Haiti’s Post-Matthew Reconstruction
First grant of a US$100 million package for long-term reconstruction
WASHINGTON, June 8, 2017— The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved today a US$20 million grant to rehabilitate roads and bridges in southern Haiti, and strengthen the capacity of the country's civil protection to respond to disasters. This is the first grant of a US$100 million package of support mobilized by the International Development Association's (IDA) Crisis Response Window for reconstruction after the devastating impact of Hurricane Matthew. This financing complements the US$49.5 million mobilized for emergency use from Haiti's existing IDA resources in October 2016.
More than two million Haitians were affected by the hurricane, which struck on October 4, 2016. Reconstruction needs were assessed at US$2.2 billion or 25 percent of GDP.
The disaster has impacted Haiti’s economy. The fiscal deficit is expected to widen substantially this year and economic growth has slowed to one percent. Haiti has faced natural disasters almost every year since 1971, losing on average two percent of GDP every year due to hydrometeorological events.
“Seven months after the storm, there are signs of progress, but this is just the beginning of a long journey to recovery,” said Mary Barton Dock, the World Bank’s Special Envoy for Haiti. “This funding from IDA's Crisis Response Window will not only help rebuild critical infrastructure and boost the economy, it will also help support Haiti's long-term climate resilience”.
The World Bank's Board of Directors is scheduled to consider the remaining 80 million dollars in the coming weeks.
Haitian Entrepreneur Lyne Vanessa Alexandre
Joins Regional Workshop in Kingston, Jamaica
The U.S. Embassy in Kingston, in collaboration with the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship – Caribbean, and Meridian International Center is hosting the “Young Leaders of the Americas (YLAI) Regional Workshop on Entrepreneurship,” to examine unique challenges and opportunities facing entrepreneurs in the Caribbean, and encourage growth and collaboration outside of the region.
From June 5-6, one hundred young entrepreneurs representing 20 countries from the Caribbean (including Belize, Cuba, and Guyana) are meeting with senior officials from the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C, U.S. Embassy Kingston, Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship – Caribbean, as well as top entrepreneurs from across the United States for ongoing entrepreneurship training and collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Lyne Vanessa Alexandre of PROCONA is representing Haiti in this workshop.
Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group and Branson Centre, headlines the 2-day workshop and discusses how entrepreneurship in the Caribbean can and will move the region forward economically.
Additional workshop highlights include a keynote presentation by American entrepreneur and artist, Chase Jarvis, CEO of CreativeLive; a Forum immersion mini-course led by the global membership association Entrepreneurs’ Organization; interactive peer skill-building sessions led by attendees; and YLAI Labs - facilitated by Meridian andAtlas Corps.
After Guy Philippe, other expected arrests
Attorney Frandney D. Julien defends his hypothesis in a book, which will be available for sale at “Livres En Folie.”
The title of the book - “Les Non-Dits de L’Affaire Guy Phillippe, Après La Pluie … la Tempête.”
“In my book, I explained the collaboration of Guy Phillippe with American authorities. After reading it, you will know exactly which sector should be worried.”
While waiting for his final verdict on June 21, we know that Phillippe received between $1.5 to $3.5 million from drug traffickers. He also admits having benefited from the help of certain people, including police officers. As part of his plea deal, U.S. authorities have for the moment ruled out the counts of indictment of drug trafficking, which hold a maximum penalty of life in prison. Also ruled out are charges of fraudulent financial transactions, which hold a maximum penalty of 10 years. They also allowed him to plead guilty to money laundering which comes with a penalty of 20 years of prison.
If between the date the plea deal was signed and the day his sentence is rendered, it is determined that he didn’t fully cooperate, Phillippe can once again face life in prison.
USAID Supports Ministry of Health in Release of Food Pyramid
Chargé d’Affaires Brian Shukan joined Haiti’s Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant and Ministry of Health leadership on Friday, June 2nd, to launch the new Haitian food pyramid, in conjunction with the MyPlate initiative.
To address the challenge of malnutrition in Haiti, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and its partners collaborated with the Ministry of Health (MOH)to promote healthy food choices based on locally available foods and global scientific evidence. In close collaboration with the MOH, the MyPlate initiative involved pre-testing the pyramid for understanding and cultural appropriateness, printing and launching the new food pyramid, and educating.
This USAID project revised the Haitian food pyramid graphic and will use the information to educate Haitian households through a network of health providers, community health workers, community leaders, health development partners and government officials.
The pyramid-shaped food diagram represents the optimal number of servings to be eaten each day from each of the basic food groups. The Haitian Food Pyramid was originally designed and implemented by the Ministry of Health in 2005 in collaboration with the World Bank and the World Health Organization. In 2015, the MOH requested USAID assistance to update the “MyPlate" food pyramid with the most current evidence and disseminate it across the country.
The new food pyramid reflects national recommendations for dietary practices for Haitians over the age of two. The images seek to promote healthy food choices and be based on locally available grown foods and global scientific evidence. In March 2015, the USAID/Haiti Mission Director approved funding to revise the Pyramid.
The Supreme Pontiff filtered in on the technology to speak simultaneously to pupils in new country Friday.
The ingenuity of Pope Francis continues!
Last Friday, six Haitian students from Lycée Daniel Fignolé and l’École Nouvelle Zoranje communicated with him during a tele-conference facilitated by the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) in Bourdon. Students from nine other countries participated in this tele-conference as part of the program Scholas Occurrentes."
The discussion centered on different topics, including: globalization, education, religious values and new technologies. The Ministry of the Education was represented by Minister Charlotte B. Younger, a member of the cabinet.
The next session in Haiti will take place in November, 2017 in the city of Cap-Haïtien.
Haiti: strengthening of the police presence in streets
Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant informed that there has been a crime increase in the last few weeks, especially in cases of assault, theft, and murder. But the head of the government reassured that the crime rate was clearly lower when compared to this time last year. Nevertheless, he underlined that in the eyes of a victim’s relatives, these statistics meant 100 percent increase.
Jack Guy Lafontant blamed social media for increasing people’s fears regarding the crime surge in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. However he urged the population to be vigilant. "Se Mèt kò ki veye kò,” said Lafontant. He called upon the population to share information with the Haitian National Police force and help its efforts to dismantle gangs.
Diaspora Montreal: A Warning for Travelers
Haiti Libre
The Office of Consumer protection in Montreal (OPC) warned the Haitian population against the company Voyages Amigo Inc. of Montreal located 6770 Rue Jarry Est, local 230, in Montreal. The company which also operates under the name “Haiti Charter,” has been selling plane tickets for flights to Port-au-Prince even though it does not hold a travel agent's license.
The OPC reminded consumers that to offer travel services without holding a license is illegal. Moreover, by buying from a company without license, the customer goes without statutory financial protections. The consumers who bought tickets of plane or the other services from Charter Haiti and who are afraid they cannot travel, are invited to communicate with the Office. (www.opc.gouv.qc.ca/). They will receive information according to their situation so that they are capable of exercising recourses, if necessary."
The office stresses for consumers not to risk their money, and always verify a travel agent’s license.
For more information visit: voyagezbienprotege.gouv.qc.ca
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- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
Boston: Suspect in Slayings of Sisters Caught in Haiti
Officials say a man accused of killing two Boston sisters in 2011 has been captured in Haiti and will be brought back to Massachusetts to face murder charges.
BOSTON (AP) — Officials say a man accused of killing two Boston sisters in 2011 has been captured in Haiti and will be brought back to Massachusetts to face murder charges.
The U.S. Marshals Service says 35-year-old Jean Weevens Janvier was captured June 3 at his mother's home in Santo, Haiti.
Janvier is charged in the fatal shootings of his ex-girlfriend, 21-year-old Stephanie Emile, and her 23-year-old sister, Judith, in their Dorchester apartment on Nov. 14, 2011.
Authorities say responding officers discovered a 2-year-old child alive and alone with the victims.
The Suffolk County district attorney's office says Janvier will be arraigned once he's brought back to Massachusetts, which could be later this week or early next week. It couldn't immediately be determined if Janvier is being represented by an attorney.
Powerful Tech Influencers Descend Upon Haiti
The Haiti Tech Summit jumped off to a flawless start June 6, at the Royal Decameron Indigo Beach Resort & Spa. The conference was flooded by individuals from all parts of the world but comprised mostly of an amazing mix of Silicon Valley and Caribbean entrepreneurs making up a crowd of approximately 400-plus people. Speakers included executives from leading tech companies including Uber, Facebook, Google, and Airbnb.
The first day kicked off with a powerful keynote from venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, a Silicon Valley notable and the co-founder of the well-respected firm, Andreessen Horowitz. Fascinated by the Haitian culture, his talk unveiled a historical flashback to the Haitian Revolution as he compared Toussaint L'Ouverture's leadership style and his ability to reignite culture as a Haitian leader to that of building startup cultures from the ground up.
Horowitz states that keeping what works, creating shocking new rules, incorporating other cultures, and making decisions that demonstrate priorities, is the key to creating a dynamic startup culture, which are the same rules that L'Ouverture used to reprogram the mindset of the Haitian people.
"If you go into Facebook one of the big signs on the wall says, 'Move Fast and Break Things.' He's creating a rule that says, 'I want you to go so fast and innovate so much that I don't care if you break things.' That's my priority. That's what's important to me. I'm creating a rule that's going to make you think about that every second of every day," said Horowitz.
Other chats included "Entrepreneurship in the Global Startup Ecosystem," consisting of a powerful panel of five action-driven females: Angie Carrillo, Asra Nadeem, Adi Abili, Kerstin Karu, and Shaina Silva who act as regional directors for the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and America. The goal of this group is to utilize each member's resources to create innovation universally.
Fulbright Fulbright/Formation
Haitian scholarship recipients travel to study in America
Some young Haitian professionals licensed in various domains were selected for the "Fulbright" program in the United States for 2017-2019.
These scholarship recipients will leave the country in the next days to complete their master's degree at an American university.
These Haitian students participated in a rigorous selection process before being chosen among more than 150 candidates this year. These Bachelor's degree holders will have the opportunity to complete their master's degree within an American university while discovering American culture and American values.
The individuals are: Béthanie Saint-Louis who will be earning a master's degree in public policy at Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo, Michigan; Paul-Émile Brice who will be earning a master's degree in town planning - architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia; Daphney Richemond who will be earning a master's degree in environmental engineering at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana; Léon S. Jonathan Pérodin who will be earning a master's degree in art management at American University in Washington D.C; Anne Martine Augustin who will be earning a master's degree in information technology at George Masson University in Fairfax, Virginia, and Daniel G. Dupervil who will be earning a master in public health at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
All smiles (at least in public) as Central American conference begins in Miami
Vice President Mike Pence praised Central American leaders for their efforts to attack crime, corruption and narcotrafficking and assured them that "your success is our success" as a two-day summit on the region's security and prosperity opened Thursday at Florida International University.
"In a word, we're in this together," Pence said. "You have the great respect of the president of the United States and the American people...This president knows your security and your prosperity are directly connected to ours."
Pence's speech was the highlight of a charm offensive between the United States, Mexico and the leaders of Central America's so-called Northern Triangle — Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — that dominated the Conference on Prosperity and Security.
Pence and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were both full of accolades for the Central American leaders, who repaid the favor by politely avoiding — at least in the conference's public sessions — any reference to their most contentious issue with the United States, the possible U.S. deportation next year of 300,000 Central American immigrants.
About the only real diversions from the upbeat mood were Pence's brief but somber remarks about the shooting attack on Republican congressmen in Virginia Wednesday ("I served with many of these congressmen, they're my friends," he said, his voice grave) and his hard swipe at Venezuela's socialist government.
"We need only look to the nation of Venezuela to see what happens when democracy collapses," Pence said, urging the Central Americans to join Washington and "raise our voices to condemn the Venezuelan government."
The line got a lot of applause from the room. But at least one nation may not be in agreement: Haiti, whose president, Jovenel Moise, was en route to the conference to meet with Pence. Haiti has been a staunch supporter of Venezuela, and Pence's press secretary Marc Lotter confirmed that the vice president planned to raise the issue in a private meeting later in the afternoon.
Report of the meeting of the vice-president with President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti
The vice-president met Jovenel Moïse, president of Haiti, in Miami, in Florida. In the name of president Trump, the vice-president congratulated president Moise for his election at the beginning of this year, and underlined the efforts of Haiti to provide key positions within the government.
Both insisted on the importance to pursue a program of economic reforms with the aim of attracting the investments and generating some growth.
The vice-president and president Moise reaffirmed their common commitment to continue to build robust bilateral links, and to pursue their collaboration on the questions of mutual interests.
French Ambassador Elizabeth Beton-Delegue wishes to double the number of Haitians who want to study in France
While visiting the Magic 9 radio studios to promote the airing of four hours of French programming daily on Télé 20, the French Ambassador to Haiti Elizabeth Beton-Delegue talked about the opportunities for young Haitians to study in France.
"There is a window of opportunities for Haitians who want to go to study in France. We want more of them," declared the French ambassador, who says she wishes to double the number of Haitian students who want to go to study in France.
Over the years, she pursued, there was an estrangement from France. First, there is a big misunderstanding regarding the idea that a French visa is impossible to obtain. Second there is a widely-held belief that France is very expensive.
"I want to remind everyone that in France the higher education is superior and public, that means it is financed by taxpayers and foreign students are considered like French students. That is they don't have any "fees" nor contributions to pay for their studies," the French diplomat in office in Haiti said.
U.N. pushes to finance Haiti's cholera cleanup with leftover peacekeeping dollars
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
With most U.N. member nations, including the United States, refusing to contribute toward a $400 million trust fund to eliminate an imported cholera epidemic from Haiti, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres has cobbled together another way to get the money.
Guterres wants member countries to voluntarily turn over $40.5 million that will be left over when the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti ends in October.
Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed touted the unusual proposal during a public hearing on cholera at U.N. headquarters in New York on Wednesday. It comes as UNICEF and the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization face a $15 million funding shortage for this year. That shortfall, she said, threatens to reverse the progress the U.N. has made in controlling the cholera outbreak in Haiti, which was caused by U.N. peacekeepers.
"PAHO/WHO no longer has resources available for the medical and health aspects of the intensified cholera response as a result of the withdrawal of donor funding," according to the Secretary-General's latest report on incidences of suspected cholera and the U.N.'s new approach to the disease in Haiti.
Without the money, "it is very likely that the outbreak will intensify and potentially spread to other parts of the country, causing further suffering among the population and a significant setback in the elimination plans," the report said.
The report was presented to member countries ahead of Mohammed's speech. She told member states that while the new approach is helping Haiti reach its lowest level of cholera cases since 2014, "without your political will and financial support, we have only good intentions and words."
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- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
Ex-Haitian coup leader Guy Philippe gets nine years in US prison
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — A former Haitian coup leader and elected senator was sentenced to nine years in a US federal prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to conspiring to launder drug money.
Guy Philippe, a 49-year-old former senior police officer convicted of taking bribes from drug traffickers, had entered his guilty plea in April in exchange for a reduced sentence.
He had evaded law enforcement for nearly a decade and was arrested in Haiti on January 5, just days before he was to be sworn in as a senator -- which would have given him immunity from prosecution.
Philippe was elected to the Haitian parliament in November. He had close ties to the country's President Jovenel Moise.
In 2004, he helped lead an armed rebellion against then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was forced to flee the country.
The US drug charges had been hanging over him since 2005.
In his guilty plea, Philippe admitted he had abused his position as a high-ranking police officer to protect narcotics shipments headed to the United States between 1999 and 2003.
Philippe gave some of the bribe money to other Haitian police and security personnel to ensure their cooperation, the US Justice Department said.
His cut was used to buy a house in Florida, for his use and that of his family while in the US.
In one instance, Philippe was said to have wired $376,000 in drug proceeds to his joint bank account in Miami from banks in Haiti and Ecuador using the names of others.
He also admitted to organising $70,000 in drug money to be deposited into his account in amounts under the $10,000 level that triggers US reporting requirements.
Haiti’s Growth in 2017 year is worse than in 2016
According to preliminary estimates by the Directorate of Economic Statistics of the Ministry of Finance, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 1.4% in 2016, a growth rate well below the target of 3.6% that the authorities had set at the beginning of the fiscal year (October 2015 to September 2016). Marked by social and political turbulence (movements of strikes, street demonstrations especially in the first half), the year 2016 was rather difficult for economic agents.
The agricultural sector that had plagued the Haitian economy in 2015 was largely responsible for GDP growth in 2016. According to preliminary estimates based on partial and provisional data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, the alue added at constant prices of the sectors: forestry, livestock and fisheries, increased from 3,131 million gourdes in 2015 to 3,226 million gourdes in 2016, an increase of 3.0%, against a fall of 5.4% the previous year.
Among the other industries that contributed to GDP growth in 2016 include the 1.5% increase in manufacturing, which was led by the food industries (4.0%) and the Papermaking and printing (3.9%), which benefited in particular of electoral activities. Unlike previous years, the Building and Public Works sector has virtually stagnated at + 0.2%...
From a global demand perspective, growth was driven by a 1.2% increase in consumption and 1.1% in total investment. Consumption was supported in part by the 7% increase in diaspora remittances and the 12% increase in the public administration payroll. Given that public investment has fallen, the overall increase in private investment can be attributed to the private sector (2.2% increase in foreign direct investment and a 17% increase in loans granted to the private sector by the financial system). The slight increase of 0.7% in exports was mainly due to the exchange rate.
The year 2016 was also marked by a sharp depreciation of the gourde against the US dollar, from 51.8 gourdes per US dollar in September 2015 to 65.2 gourdes in September 2016, a drop of almost 26%. This depreciation of the Haitian currency impacted inflation, which, contrary to the forecast of 6.2% at the beginning of the year, reached 12.5% year-on-year at the end of the fiscal year (September 2016) [14.2% in November 2016].
In terms of prospects, it should be noted that the fiscal year 2017 is badly started because of the major natural hazards that hit the country in early October. Gains obtenained particularly in the crop of spring 2016, was almost canceled by the passage of Hurricane Matthew in at least 4 of the 10 departments of the country (Great South). This natural disaster has severely decapitated farmers, pastoralists and fishermen. If adequate actions are not taken with a view to appropriate recapitalization, this situation risks undermining the expected 2.2% performance of the Haitian economy in 2017.
Forecasts that the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) revised downward sharply for 2017 to 1% instead of the 2.2% set as target by the Government of Haiti.
The recycling of soaps helps unmarried mothers in Cite Soleil
Reducing the volume of waste, allowing vulnerable women to find decent work, and reducing the risks of diseases: the recycling of soap pieces left by guests at luxury hotels, is having inestimable socioeconomic impact in Haiti.
After four months in Southeast Asia, where she discovered this concept, Laure Bottinelli founded the Anacoana Company with two partners in January, 2016. It is the first and only recycler of soap in Haiti.
The enterprise has attracted 25 hotels in Port-au-Prince and Jacmel, a weekend destination for foreigners living in the capital.
"We are always enthusiastic to participate in national productions. There is also an educational component related to hygiene, with the cholera crisis we have here," said Maï Cardozo Stefanson, who is in charge at Montana, a famous hotel in the capital.
"In Haiti, there is never any waste: the poverty is such that everything is reused in one way or another. Usually, the staff would retrieve the soap for its personal use," she said. "Today, they collect the worn pieces and give them to Laure. In return, they receive clean soap that has been reconditioned.”
When retrieved from hotel rooms, the soap is totally disinfected, then grated and melted to be reconditioned: a task completed by three employees of the company.
"I did not return to Haiti to create another NGO," insists Laure Bottinelli, the 28-year-old business manager." To be a legal corporation, you must have women who are under contract".
"Some do not know how to read or write but it was clearly explained to them what employment is all about, that there were rules to be respected but that they also had rights which protected them," them, she explained.
Priority is given to unmarried mothers
In a country where the informal is the standard, she also likes specifying that her compagisteredregistered with commercial and fiscal authorities.
Only Haitian organic products are used to perfume the soap, and the packaging is biodegradable. The small company aims to be responsible and social, by giving priority to unmarried mothers who need employment.
"This work, it is the Good Lord who brought it to us. My small business was not enough to pay for the school of my children, the food, the rent," tells Magoiana Frémond, while carefully packing a coffee-scented soap.
"Anacaona helps the country and helps me a lot: my children are in school, they eat every day. Before, I rented a place. Now I have started building myself a house," praised this mother of five.
A part of the production is distributed in schools in Jacmel, but the company has booked orders, in particular from the French cosmetics chain Yves Rocher.
The small company thus manages simultaneously its commercial development and its social action to contribute to the reduction of waterborne diseases in Haiti.
Due to a lack of access to safe drinking water, the diarrheic diseases are one of the first causes of infant mortality in the country, according to the World Health Organization.
The epidemic of cholera, which has raged since 2010, caused the death of about 10,000 people. In addition, 72 % of the inhabitants have no toilet in their homes.
Anacaona works in particular with teachers from partnering schools to educate students about sanitation rules.
In Cite Solei, which makes up the largest slum in the Caribbean, the company also employs community agents.
These "hygiene ambassadors" circulated around this neighborhood where they themselves live, knocking on rusty steel sheet steels which act as front doors to evaluate the sanitary knowledge of the residents and remind them of the essential rules.
"Now, every time people meet me in the neighborhood, they think again about the advice that we had given them," said Judeline Joseph, who is 25. "Sometimes, they do not have the means to buy treated water but, also, some forget simply to take the precautions that really are useful."
With little money to combat cholera in Haiti, U.N. names new fundraising chief
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
A former top State Department official and head of the United Nations’ World Food Program has been tapped to develop a comprehensive fundraising strategy to finance the U.N.’s plan to clean up cholera in Haiti — a disease introduced there by U.N. peacekeepers.
Josette Sheeran’s appointment as a high-level envoy for Haiti was announced Tuesday by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. The announcement comes two days before a planned U.N. Security Council visit to the country on Thursday so members can see firsthand how the 13-year U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) is continuing its withdrawal of peacekeeping battalions and foreign police units ahead of the mission’s permanent closure in October.
Named as one of the world’s most powerful women by Forbes magazine when she was head of the World Food Program from 2007 to 2012, Sheeran is the third senior U.N. official chosen to help the world body raise funds to rid Haiti of the epidemic. But her role will be much broader than cholera fundraising, said U.N. officials who likened it to that of former President Bill Clinton, who was appointed U.N. special envoy for Haiti in 2009. As Guterres’ special envoy, Sheeran will support national efforts to reach Haiti’s 2030 sustainable development goals, as well as guide the approach to eliminate cholera in Haiti.
Scientific studies have traced the introduction of cholera in Haiti to Nepalese soldiers stationed near a river in the rural town of Mirebalais in the Central Plateau region after the devastating Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake. Since October of that year, more than 800,000 Haitians have been sickened by cholera and more than 9,000 killed, according to the country’s health ministry.
“She has accepted with a salary of $1 per year,” Guterres said, “to be fully engaged in fundraising for a program that indeed until now has received very little support from the point of view of the people and from the point of view of the U.N.”
Sheeran steps into the role as humanitarian agencies in Haiti such as the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization face serious funding shortages that threaten to reverse progress made on controlling the water-borne disease. The U.N. has been struggling to raise $400 million to fight it.
Last week, U.N. Deputy-General Secretary Amina J. Mohammed, while presenting Guterres’ latest fundraising push and report on cholera, told member states that only $2.7 million had been raised, and now only $183,000 was left. The bulk of that money was raised by Sheeran’s predecessor, Dr. David Nabarro, a British physician with more than 30 years of public health experience who previously had raised $3.5 billion for the Ebola fight.
Despite Nabarro’s success with Ebola, he ran into resistance on cholera, as the United States and other member states refused to contribute to the trust fund. Pedro Medrano Rojas, the retired Chilean diplomat who had the job before Nabarro, also left his 18-month tenure in 2015 disappointed by the international community’s failure to “acknowledge the fact that we have in Haiti the largest epidemic in the Western Hemisphere.”
In February, Guterres wrote to nations asking if they intended to make voluntary cholera contributions and received a lukewarm response. Now, he’s asking countries to turn over $40.5 million to the cholera fund, money that will be left over when the mission in Haiti ends.
So far, that plan has garnered little interest. The U.S. said it supports the idea in principle but “is not in a position to contribute in this way.”
The U.N. has struggled to raise money for Haiti, not just for cholera but also for other humanitarian efforts including last year’s Hurricane Matthew response and recovery. While some observers blame the lengthy list of crises around the globe for the reluctance to pay for cholera cleanup, others blame Haiti fatigue.
Sheeran has experience in attracting world attention to burgeoning problems. In 2008, as food prices dramatically increased, Sheeran warned of a worldwide food crisis and heavily lobbied the United States and other governments for additional aid.
She currently heads the nonprofit Asia Society, and will remain in that job as she champions Haiti. Sheeran previously served in several high-level U.N. roles and as vice chair of the World Economic Forum. Prior to her 2007 appointment as the head of the World Food Program, Sheeran served as undersecretary for economic, energy and agricultural affairs at the State Department during the George W. Bush administration, and as deputy U.S. trade representative in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
To save lives, Haiti should focus
PORT-AU-PRINCE
When Canada unveiled a new hospital in Haiti’s Artibonite Valley nearly three years ago, its ambassador described the $30 million facility as “Canada`s commitment to improving access to quality maternal, neonatal and child health care.”
But La Providence Hospital in Gonaïves would almost immediately begin to flounder. A little more than a year after its ribbon was cut, the beds lay empty first because gangs made retaining hospital staff members difficult and then due to a countrywide hospital strike.
Today, La Providence is open. But a new World Bank study released Tuesday is questioning the effectiveness and goals of that hospital and a slew of others in Haiti, where the priority, the lead author says, should be on primary and preventive healthcare and not hospitals. The study calls for Haiti’s government and donors to better coordinate health financing. It says the country, which currently devotes less than 5 percent of its budget to health, has to spend more and run a more efficient health system.
“We have a lot of hospitals that do not necessarily provide care at the level they are supposed to,” said the study’s lead author, Eleonora Cavagnero, a health economist for Haiti at the World Bank, who also advocates for a moratorium on new hospital construction. “A lot of the things that Haitians suffer from could be treated at the primary health care levels in a more cost-effective way.”
While the study found that Haiti has significantly more hospitals than many countries including Burundi and Tanzania, it spends less on healthcare per capita than its closest neighbors. The Dominican Republic spends $180, Cuba $781 and the Latin American and Caribbean region, $336 dollars. Haiti spends just $13.
What that means is that the poorest Haitian mothers are still far less likely to deliver in a health facility, and maternal and infant mortality rates are still four or five times higher many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite these and other pressing health care needs, Haiti has seen a sharp drop in government health expenditures in the last two decades with a consequent increase in donor-dependency, the report says.
“Donor financing is itself decreasing and thus, the government urgently needs to plan for increasing domestic funding for health to avoid a spike in out-of-pocket expenditures,” the report says. It urges the country to remain focused on the poorest people, who frequently bypass the public health system due to lack of trust and cost, relying instead on consultations from traditional healers or medication from unregulated providers.
"While Haitians can now expect to live longer, access to basic health services is still lacking," the report says.
Video: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article158264744.html
A healthcare crisis in Haiti festers as doctors, medical workers strike
A perfect storm of striking medical residents, missing doctors and a lack of money has virtually paralyzed an already weak healthcare system in Haiti, and no one seems to be in a hurry to fix it, critics say. Jacqueline Charles, C.M. Guerrero
Since 2004, public spending on health in Haiti has fallen from 16.6 percent of the country's approximately $2 billion budget to 4.4 percent of the latest $1.8 billion budget submitted by Haitian Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant, a physician, and approved this month by Haiti’s Parliament. Most of the healthcare money pays for administrative costs, rather than medical facilities.
Only 32 percent of health facilities in Haiti provide essential medicines, and only 31 percent possess basic medical equipment, the report notes. The best run facilities are not government owned, but those operated by non-governmental or charitable organizations, the study found.
“For example, 87 percent of the operational budget at the University Hospital of the State of Haiti is allocated towards staff payroll, which is high based on international benchmarks,” the report says. “In public facilities, administrative staff represent nearly half of the workforce, which is also high in comparison to other low-income countries.”
Shortly after taking officer earlier this year, Haiti President Jovenel Moïse toured several hospitals in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. Moïse reached some of the same conclusions as the World Bank report.
"Most of these hospitals attest to a serious human resource problem," Moïse said. Even if equipment is available, it often doesn't have technicians to operate it, and some hospitals "have been completed, but political instability has prevented them from functioning normally."
And while he’s promised to tackle the problems, another promise he made — creating a specialty hospital just for police officers — could exacerbate the situation unless the hospital is part of a network, Cavagnero said.
The Haitian government and its development partners like Canada and the United States, she says, “should spend more on primary healthcare by shifting resources away from hospitals.”
Haiti’s succession of natural disasters and political instability also have not helped. After last year’s Hurricane Matthew, the post-catastrophe response took the form of construction or rehabilitation of hospitals. This was done, the report says, “without planning for how running costs will be borne after the initial emergency has passed.”
It was the same in the aftermath of the country’s 2010 earthquake, when France and the United States agreed to finance an $84.2 million University Hospital of the State of Haiti. The construction of the 534-bed facility is now 18 months behind, projected to be completed in June 2018.
The estimated cost to run the hospital — between $12 million and $15 million a year — is far more than Haiti spends in operational costs, minus salaries, on its entire system. That amount, Cavagnero says, is $8 million.
Dr. Ronald LaRoche, who operates a network of private hospitals around the country and is a primary care advocate, said Haiti’s healthcare crisis is going to get “worse when considering the shrinking of international assistance, the lack of income coming from the government side, the inflation rate, the increase of the population and the emergence of new hazards like cholera and Zika, and the reappearance of old ones like tuberculosis.”
The solution, he said, is universal health coverage where those who can pay received an insurance card, and those who cannot are covered by the government or donors.
“This system will prevent the financing of inefficient healthcare facilities like the general hospital, which is always on strike and lacks the most basic items to save lives although everybody receives a salary every month,” LaRoche said.
But the study isn’t optimistic that even a change in the healthcare system such as that could improve health in Haiti where more than half of the population lives on less than $1.90 a day and the unemployment rate is more than 30 percent.
FOLLOW JACQUELINE CHARLES ON TWITTER: @JACQUIECHARLES
AMONG THE STUDY’S FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
▪ Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population allocates 90 percent of its operating budget to personnel costs, leaving little room for other operational costs. At the strike-prone University Hospital of the State of Haiti, 87 percent of the operational budget is allocated for staff payroll.
▪ After Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, aid increased significantly. But it remains volatile and government spending dropped significantly.
▪ The country should set up a licensing policy for hospitals to help determine whether hospitals can be built or expanded.
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▪ In public facilities, administrative staff represent nearly half of the workforce, which is also high in comparison to other low-income countries. Decentralization of human resources would make health facilities more accountable, limit absenteeism and raise productivity.
▪ Hospitals managed by non-government organizations (NGOs) are more efficient than public hospitals. Private, for-profit hospitals are the lowest-performing, and they also spend more than facilities managed by the health ministry and NGOs.
▪ Haiti doesn’t tax cigarettes but should consider imposing one, along with raising taxes on alcohol. to raise funding for health.
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
Haiti’s Sunrise Airways Adds Airbus
Haiti-based Sunrise Airways has added a major new addition to its expanding fleet: a new Airbus A320.
The 150-seat aircraft features 12 seats in first class and 138 in economy.
“The type of expansion we are pursuing throughout the Caribbean and into North and South America demands that we continually invest in modern jet aircraft offering the very best in comfort and reliability,” said Philippe Bayard, President of Sunrise Airways. “Our new A320, with seating in both first class and economy, continues our mission to elevate Caribbean aviation to new heights, while also paving the way for us to serve new and existing international markets at a high level.”
Sunrise Airways’ newest Airbus A320 currently operates from the carrier’s hub in Port-au-Prince to three destinations in Cuba – Havana, Camaguey, and Santiago de Cuba – with additional expansion throughout the Caribbean, as well as North and South America, planned for 2017 pending government approval.
Haitians will not be able to enter Chile without a visa!
On Wednesday, June 28th, 2017, in a letter sent to the Chilean Chamber of Deputies, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heraldo Benjamín Muñoz Valenzuela, informed that the government has decided to now require an entry visa from any Haitian who wants to visit Chile as a tourist.
This measure, which was suggested by Members of Parliament, would aim at containing the stream of Haitians who are settling down in Chile without documents. This situation is beginning to create hostilities in certain communities and is making these migrants vulnerable since they do not have access to all the advantages and benefits reserved for the legal residents and citizens.
According to the Secretary, this move is to protect the rights of migrants and to manage and bring order to the settling of foreigners while establishing a regulated migration.
The Secretary also revealed that Haitian authorities have been kept abreast of the discussions on this matter, and they have asserted that they understand the Chilean government’s initiative and intend to cooperate and to establish similar measures from their end.
Both parties are working on the possibility of setting up a Bilateral Commission on migratory and consular issues, in order to reach an agreement on the trafficking of human beings and the illicit traffic of migrants. (rezonodwes.com)
Caribbean migrants risk danger and discrimination for a new life in Chile
Santiago - Many Haitians and Dominicans are moving south for jobs and opportunities – and some are receiving a less than sympathetic welcome after a 3,000km trek.
More than 50,000 Haitians and 15,000 Dominicans are part of an economic story quickly moving up the political agenda.
Piotr Kozak in Santiago
Last modified on Friday 30 June 2017
Digna Batista was promised she would be heading to paradise when she paid people smugglers to take her from the Dominican Republic to Chile. Instead, she found herself walking across a desert minefield to encounter a less than sympathetic welcome in a society that is struggling to accommodate a growing number of migrants from the Caribbean.
Discrimination, labour abuse and outdated immigration policies have made adjustment difficult for many among the more than 50,000 Haitians and 15,000 Dominicans who are part of an economic migration story that is quickly moving up the political agenda before a presidential election later this year.
Batista borrowed more than $2,500 to pay coyotes (the people smugglers) for the journey across the Andes and the Atacama desert in the hope of finding a better life.
Leaving her three-year-old son behind, she first flew to Ecuador, where she continued by bus – at one point crushed with 17 others in the luggage hold – on the 3,000km overland route through Peru to the Chilean border. Once there, she and the others were told to head towards a distant light.
“We walked all night. Finally, in the morning, we got to a road, stopped a passing taxi and asked the driver to take us to the nearest hostel. He told us we’d just walked through a minefield,” she recalled.
The dangers are all too real. More than 90,000 mines were laid by the Chilean military in the 1970s – a time of dictatorship and paranoia about Peru. Although the army subsequently promised to decommission them all by 2012, progress has been slow and about 40,000 are still in place. Warning signs are either inadequate, misplaced or ignored by desperate migrants. Last year, a 24-year-old Dominican, Daniel Sosa, lost his left foot when he stepped on a mine trying to enter the country illicitly to find work after being denied a visa.
A string of such incidents – some of them fatal – have caused growing diplomatic concern that Chile’s border policies are driving people to risk illegal crossings. The Dominican Republic consul in Arica, Nina Consuegra, said Chile’s PDI border police are now stopping and denying entry to anyone who is either black or Venezuelan if they fail to show pre-paid hotel vouchers and return tickets.
But even those who arrive legally face prejudice.
Until the 1990s, Chile had only a small black population, so the recent arrival of a black migrants has caused a stir.
History suggests this ought not to be the case. A 2014 genetic study found that one in two Chileans had ancestors among the thousands of African slaves brought to the country between the 16th and 19th centuries. But Chile’s elite have long preferred to emphasise their country’s European roots and the newcomers are now the subject of a growing debate.
“[The migrants] are often very badly discriminated against,” says sociologist María Emilia Tijoux. “Some are really suffering. And it’s not just a legal problem, it’s because there’s a part of Chilean society that’s so damned racist.”
Batista says she has experienced kindness and hostility.
She now works as a maid in uptown Santiago while trying to legalise her residency so that one day she can bring her son Brayan to live with her.
Many Haitians find low-paid niches in the labour market where Chileans are reluctant to work, particularly construction, domestic service and agriculture.
Lacking full legal rights, some are exploited, said Haitian community leader Widner Darcelin, who said migrants sometimes work for months without being paid.
Earlier this month, a homeless Haitian migrant named Joseph Polycart died of hypothermia after he was twice turned away from a local hospital on a freezing night.
But there are also positive stories. N’kulama Saint Louis arrived in Santiago with his wife Patricia and two-year-old son N’kulahi in 2010, following Haiti’s devastating earthquake. Today N’kulama works as a street-sweeper, and studies sociology at the Catholic University by night. “We got a lot of support from our Chilean friends,” he said, “but the government doesn’t have a comprehensive immigration policy and that’s a huge problem.”
The current system is widely criticised as outdated. One notorious immigration law – a holdover of the Pinochet dictatorship – intrinsically views all migrants as potential subversives, said Jean Claude Pierre-Paul, a Haitian social worker.
And the situation could get worse. The centre-right candidate in the election, former president and billionaire businessman Sebastian Piñera, is following the example of Trump in the United States and Argentina’s Mauricio Macri by proposing tighter border controls and the expulsion of all irregular migrants – an estimated 150,000 people.
Given Chile’s enormous 5,000km frontier, there is no suggestion of a border wall, but tighter regulations alone could drive more migrants to attempt risky illegal crossings of mountains, deserts and minefields.
“Visas don’t control migration – migrants will just turn to people smugglers to enter the country,” said Rodrigo Sandoval, head of the ministry of the interior’s immigration department.
Sandoval said Chile needs a new immigration law that helps to attract more outsiders to offset the country’s aging population and labour shortages.
His proposals have prompted a rightwing backlash on social media, where xenophobes describe him as a traitor who is allowing Chile to be “invaded.”
Cooler heads urge self-reflection. In the Independencia neighbourhood, social worker Patricia Loredo, who helps run the Sin Fronteras migrants rights collective, believes Chileans need to be much better informed and educated about their heritage.
“Most Chileans don’t have a clear idea of their cultural identity,” she said, “but this is clearly a mixed-race society.”