Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 19 mai 2022

 ELEVEN DEATH AFTER HAITIAN MIGRANT VESSEL CAPSIZES NEAR PUERTO RICO

Reuters –

By

 Rezo Nòdwès

Migrants, particularly from Haiti, have in recent months been attempting to escape gang violence and poverty through dangerous voyages on unseaworthy vessels.

At least 11 people drowned when a vessel carrying Haitian migrants capsized near Puerto Rico, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday, amid a steady increase in migrants attempting reach U.S. shores in dangerous marine voyages.

The vessel, which was carrying « an undetermined number of people, » was spotted 10 nautical miles north of Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico. As of 6 p.m., 11 deceased and 31 survivors had been found, the Coast Guard said on Twitter.

« There’s a fast response Cutter from Sector San Juan that’s on scene, and Coast Guard helicopters from air station Borinquen are still searching and flying tonight, » a Coast Guard spokesperson told Reuters.

The survivors have been taken to Puerto Rico, with eight of them being treated at a local hospital, said Jeffrey Quinones, Public Affairs Officer for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Puerto and the Virgin Islands.

Migrants, particularly from Haiti, have in recent months been attempting to escape gang violence and poverty through dangerous voyages on unseaworthy vessels.

17 PEOPLE FROM TOURIST BUS HAVE BEEN ABDUCTED

BBC News

 Haiti’s 400 Mawozo gang abducts 17 people from tourist bus

.

Lundi 9 mai 2022 ((rezonodwes.com))–

Eight of the passengers are reportedly Turkish nationals, the remaining eight are Haitian and the driver is from the Dominican Republic.

They were kidnapped in the same area outside the capital, Port-au-Prince, in which a Dominican diplomat was abducted last month.

The diplomat was freed after four days.

Dominican newspaper El Día described the Turkish nationals as « missionaries » who had crossed into Haiti from neighbouring Dominican Republic.

But the Turkish consul in Haiti said they were « with an organisation promoting education ».

Haitian media said they were seized in Croix-des Bouquets, the stronghold of the 400 Mawozo gang.

Kidnappings for ransom have surged in Haiti in the past two years.

More than 1,200 people, 81 of them foreign nationals, were abducted last year, according to Haiti’s Center for Analysis and Research on Human Rights.

Among the foreigners kidnapped last year were 17 Christian missionaries from the US and Canada. The 400 Mawozo gang demanded $1m (£800,000) for the release of each of them.

US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Haitian Gang Leader Charged with Kidnapping of 16 U.S. Missionaries in Fall 2021

Most Victims Held for 61 Days in Effort to Secure Gang Leader’s Release from Prison

A Haitian national was indicted today by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for conspiracy to commit hostage taking for his role in the armed kidnapping of 16 U.S. citizens in Haiti in the fall of 2021. The victims were Christian missionaries serving in Haiti and most of them were held captive for 61 days before escaping.

The indictment charges Joly Germine, 29, aka Yonyon, who is described as a leader of the 400 Mawozo gang. He is the first defendant to be charged in connection with the missionaries’ kidnapping. Germine was previously charged with firearms trafficking in a separate case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Haitian government transferred Germine from a Haitian jail into U.S. custody on May 3, 2022, on the basis of an arrest warrant in that matter, and Germine has since been detained in the District of Columbia.

“This case shows that the Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to track down anyone who kidnaps a U.S. citizen abroad,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “We will utilize the full reach of our law enforcement authorities to hold accountable anyone responsible for undermining the safety of Americans anywhere in the world.”

“Today’s indictment demonstrates that the United States will not tolerate crime against our citizens, here or abroad,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The FBI will continue to work aggressively with our international partners to keep our citizens safe and bring perpetrators to justice.”

“This indictment is a step towards achieving justice for the victims who were volunteering their services in Haiti when they were kidnapped and held for weeks on end,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia. “Along with our law enforcement partners, we are committed to holding accountable those who carry out acts of violence against Americans abroad to further their own aims.”

The charges brought today are related to the Oct. 16, 2021, kidnapping of 17 Christian missionaries near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Sixteen of the kidnapping victims were U.S. citizens, including five children, one as young as eight months old. 

According to the indictment, Germine, who was in a Haitian prison at the time of the kidnapping, directed and asserted control of 400 Mawozo gang members’ kidnapping operations, including ransom negotiation for the hostages’ release.  One of the gang’s stated goals in holding the hostages was to secure from the Haitian government Germine’s release from prison. Germine is alleged to have been in regular contact with other 400 Mawozo leaders about the hostages’ kidnapping, captivity, and ransom. Two of the hostages were released on or about Nov. 20, 2021, and three more were released on or about Dec. 5, 2021. The remaining hostages escaped captivity on or about Dec. 16, 2021. 

Germine will have his initial appearance in the case tomorrow in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. If convicted of any offense, a defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Miami Field Office. Valuable assistance was provided by the Haitian National Police. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen P. Seifert, with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Jorge Casillas and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Hunter Deeley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Component(s): Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Office of the Attorney General
USAO – District of Columbia
Press Release Number: 22-493Updated May 10, 2022

SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS HAS PROBLEMS

By Nora Gámez Torres and Jacqueline Charles Updated May 11, 2022 5:39 PMThe White House has not made a final decision on which countries will be invited to the forthcoming Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, following warnings by Mexico’s president that he would skip the regional gathering next month if the authoritarian leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are excluded. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is not the only one threatening to boycott the largest gathering of leaders from the Western Hemisphere, which the U.S. will host for the first time since the inaugural Summit in Miami in 1994.

Reuters reported that President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil is planning to skip it. The president of Bolivia said he would also not attend “if the exclusion of sister nations persists.” And leaders of the 15-member Caribbean-Community block known as CARICOM plan to meet Thursday to decide whether they will boycott the event after agreeing in March to do so if Cuba and Venezuela were excluded, a source told the Miami Herald. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday she could not say whether representatives from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua will be invited because “a final decision has not been made yet,” leaving the matter still in the air. “We haven’t made a decision about who will be invited, and no invitations have been issued yet,” she said in a press briefing.

Previously, U.S. officials have said that the Summit will welcome representatives of democratically elected governments. Brian Nichols, assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, told reporters last week that those three countries were “unlikely” to be invited. But Mexico’s president took issue with the exclusion and asked president Joe Biden to reconsider it during a phone call last month. Following a visit to Cuba on Sunday in which he praised Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel and met with Raúl Castro, López Obrador doubled down Tuesday on his demand, threatening to skip the event. “If they’re excluded, if not all [countries] are invited, a representative from the Mexican government would go, but I wouldn’t,” Lopez Obrador said in a press conference on Tuesday. He made clear his comments should be read as a protest message, adding that he wanted to see “changes” in U.S. policies for Latin America. The Summit is seen as an opportunity for the Biden administration to assert U.S. leadership and dispel criticisms that it does not prioritize the region. And there was hope among experts that it would help set a clear policy agenda addressing the needs of countries that have been among the most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.But the possible absence of leaders of several nations, including some heavyweights like Mexico and Brazil, adds to the Biden administration’s struggles to generate enthusiasm about the gathering. The event had already received criticism for an overly focused agenda on what some countries perceived as mainly a domestic U.S. issue — immigration — and the lack of a trade component, despite some late efforts reported by Bloomberg to include some economic topics in the discussion. A Mexican president’s absence from a summit to be hosted in Los Angeles and centered around immigration, in particular, has set off alarms. The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, was quickly dispatched Tuesday to meet López Obrador. The meeting, however, did not move the Mexican president. In his daily press conference, known as La Mañanera, López-Obrador said he reiterated his position to Salazar. 

“There is still time to address this matter, but it had to be put on the table,” he said. With only a few weeks left before the summit begins on June 6, the controversy over the invitations is shifting the narrative away from the event’s proposed theme of “Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future” to expose deep regional divisions about what the summit stands for and resentment about some U.S. policies. “The Summit of the Americas is in danger,” Sir Ronald Sanders, Antigua and Barbuda ambassador to the U.S., said during a Florida International University event in which he suggested that Caribbean nations may decide to boycott if Cuba is not invited. Sanders also said that the “insistence” by some members of Congress on including Juan Guaidó, Venezuela’s opposition leader, “will also result in a number of countries not attending.” Guaidó is recognized by the U.S. and other governments as the country’s interim president. The Biden administration is the host government, Sanders said. “Now does that give the United States the right to decide who in the Western Hemisphere should or should not be invited?” he asked. “This is a critical issue and it is one that we will have to address or that summit is in danger.” Whether it is organizational issues or diplomatic deliberations, the delay in issuing the invitations created an opportunity for Cuba to rally support for the demand that all governments be invited, regardless of how they stay in power. 

The summit’s aim is to gather the leaders of the countries that are members of the Organization of American States. In 2001, the organization adopted the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which states that “the unconstitutional alteration or interruption of the democratic order” is “an insurmountable obstacle” to participation in the Summit of the Americas process. “More to the point, carrying water for the brutal Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela dictatorships deep into the 21st century is just not something that instills confidence in a future-oriented, pragmatic approach to economic competitiveness and social development,” said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas in Washington, D.C.“It seems the hemisphere has taken a giant step back since the first Summit of the Americas in Miami in 1994,” he added. 

This story was originally published May 11, 2022 5:18 PM.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 11 mai 2022

 UN raises concern over Haitian gangs’ recruitment of children

Thousands of people have been displaced and dozens killed as gang violence escalates in Haiti’s capital, officials say.

The United Nations has expressed concern over the recruitment of children by Haitian gangs, as escalating violence in the capital, Port-au-Prince, has forced thousands from their homes and killed dozens of civilians.

The UN “is particularly worried about the recruitment of minors within the gangs, one of the six serious violations of the rights of the child”, the Integrated Office of the United Nations in Haiti tweeted on Wednesday.

The UN in Haiti “condemns the armed gang violence ongoing since April 24 that is affecting the communities in the north and northeast of Port-au-Prince, which has killed dozens of Haitians and injured and displaced thousands of others”, it said.

A day earlier, the UN’s deputy spokesman Farhan Haq warned that unrest was growing between gangs in the neighbourhoods of Croix-des-Bouquets, Cite Soleil, Bas Delmas and Martissant.

“According to our humanitarian colleagues, violence in the commune of Croix-des-Bouquets has displaced more than 1,200 people … at least 26 civilians have been killed and 22 injured, although these figures are probably higher,” he said, according to a statement.

While gang violence has been a problem in Haiti for years, it has worsened in the aftermath of President Jovenel Moise’s July 2021 assassination, which plunged the country into an even deeper political and social crisis.

Last week, a video circulated on Haitian social media showing a masked pre-teen child wielding a high-calibre automatic weapon.

In the clip, taken in Martissant, a poor neighbourhood in western Port-au-Prince that has been entirely controlled by gangs since last year, the boy explains he is at war with a rival gang’s leader.

The UN’s denunciation of the criminal groups’ inclusion of children comes as gang control has continued to spread to the city’s northern and eastern suburbs.

In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, Haiti’s civil protection authority estimated that at least 39 people have been killed and 68 injured between April 24 and May 2. It also said about 9,000 people were displaced from three communities in suburban Port-au-Prince.

“Forty-eight schools, five medical centres and eight markets have been closed because of the situation,” the statement said.

Earlier in the day, the foreign minister of the Dominican Republic said that a diplomat kidnapped in Haiti in late April had been released after “four days of kidnapping”.

The national police and other government officials have not yet commented on this latest outbreak of violence. In October of last year, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry condemned the rise in gang violence and kidnappings.

“If they do not stop their wrongdoing, the law will apply to them,” Henry said in a televised address at that time. “The only option for bandits and all their sponsors is imprisonment or death if they do not want to change professions.”

Leader of Haiti’s 400 Mawozo gang, which kidnapped American missionaries, is flown to U.S.

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Updated May 03, 2022 5:34 PM

The leader of an infamous gang behind an ongoing armed conflict with another gang in Haiti was flown by federal agents from Port-au-Prince to the United States on Tuesday in connection with last year’s kidnapping of 16 American missionaries.

Haiti National Police confirmed that Germine Joly, better known as Yonyon, was sent to the U.S. aboard a special FBI flight following a request from the U.S. on April 22. Police did not say where he was being taken and the FBI did not immediately respond to request for comment, but a source told the Miami Herald that Joly was being flown to Washington, D.C.

Joly is considered to be the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang, which has been involved in an ongoing armed conflict that has led to the deaths of at least 20 civilians over the past nine days and forced hundreds of Haitians from their home in the area east of Port-au-Prince. 

Until his transfer Tuesday, Joly had been held at the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince. From behind bars, he ran 400 Mawozo using his cell phone and negotiated the release of hostages while also trying to negotiate his freedom. Known for its mass abductions, the gang was behind the kidnapping last year of a group of Roman Catholic clergy, including French citizens, and then later a group of 17 American and Canadian missionaries with Ohio-based charity Christian Aid Ministries.

Some of the U.S. missionaries were held for as long as two months before finally being released after an undisclosed ransom amount was paid. During their captivity, the gang asked for $17 million and its second-in-command, Wilson Joseph, known as Lanmò Sanjou, threatened on social media to “put a bullet” in the missionaries if the gang’s demand for $1 million per hostage wasn’t met.

As the missionaries were being held hostage, federal agents arrested three Florida residents on federal charges for allegedly smuggling firearms in barrels from South Florida to 400 Mawozo. The criminal complaint unsealed in late October said that Eliande Tunis, Jocelyn Dor and Walder St. Louis filled orders for weapons such as AK-47s and AR-15 for two unnamed 400 Mawozo leaders. Tunis is a U.S. citizen, while Dor and St. Louis are Haitian nationals.

Prosecutors claim that Tunis lived in Florida and “is a member of 400 Mawozo.” The complaint says that on Oct. 9, , Tunis sent an audio file to “co-conspirator 1 on WhatsApp in Creole saying ‘We are snakes. We slither to get where we are going. They would be shocked to see Mawozo invade Miami.’”

The FBI criminal complaint for all three defendants doesn’t identify Joly by name but says co-conspirator 1 “is a Haitian national and a leader of 400 Mawozo” who is “incarcerated, but still serves as a leader in the organization and directs operations from prison using an unmonitored cellular phone.” That individual is believed to be Joly. 

The complaint also speaks of another individual, though not by name. He is described as serving as a leader and appearing on “videos posted on social media, stated his name and declared himself as the leader of 400 Mawozo.” That individual is believed to be “Lanmò Sanjou,” which means “death doesn’t know which day its coming.” 

The 400 Mawozo gang is believed to be behind the recent kidnapping of a Dominican diplomat and U.S. citizen, Carlos Guillén Tatis, who went missing on Friday while traveling through the gang’s stronghold in Croix-des-Bouquets on his way to the border.

Sources familiar with Joly’s activities said much of the ransom money collected by his gang went directly to him, which he in turn used to purchase arms and keep police officers and lawyers on his payroll. After the arrest of the three Floridians, he grew increasingly concern about his possible extradition, sources told the Miami Herald.

The ongoing armed conflict may have sped up Joly’s extradition. For weeks, rumors had circulated of a planned prison break involving the National Penitentiary, and concerns grew that Joly might meet the same fate as Arnel Joseph, another notorious gang leader the FBI had targeted. Joseph was was shot by police last February while traveling on a motorcycle in the town of L’Estère after a deadly prison break of the Croix-des-Bouquets Civil Prison.

In a statement on its Facebook page, Haiti police said Joly is being prosecuted via an international warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for conspiracy and violation of the U.S. Export and Contraband Control Reform Act, importation of weapons of war and kidnapping of American citizens.

Joly’s arrest is likely to spread panic among Haitian gangs, because it offers U.S. law enforcement and State Department officials the opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of 400 Mawozo, which controls one of the largest territories in Haiti. Following the release of the American missionaries, the gang had splintered, with Joly controlling one group and reportedly launching an attack while he was in prison to show he was still in charge.

“With the transfers of Yonyon to the U.S., we can learn a lot about how the gang functions and the people connected to them and giving them guns,” said Pierre Esperance, a human rights activist in Haiti.

In their statement Tuesday, Haiti police described Joly as “the leader of the criminal organization called ‘400 Mawozo’ involved in several criminal acts including assassination, kidnapping, vehicle theft, destruction of private property and arson, etc.”

Joly was taken by federal agents nine days after his gang launched an attack against a rival gang, Chen Mechan, in the lowland east of metropolitan Port-au-Prince. The armed conflict has killed at least 20 civilians and led to several torched homes. Hundreds of people have had to flee the combat area.

During the conflict, Lanmò Sanjou released a voice note saying he had been warned by a Haitian official of an attempt to kill Joly and that he would kill “thousands” if anything were to happen to the gang leader.

Joly was first arrested in Haiti in 2014 after authorities accused him of armed robbery, membership in a gang and kidnapping. 

Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.

This story was originally published  May 3, 2022 5:06 PM.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 4 mai 2022

 Leader of Haiti’s 400 Mawozo gang, which kidnapped American missionaries, is flown to U.S.

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Updated May 03, 2022 5:34 PM

The leader of an infamous gang behind an ongoing armed conflict with another gang in Haiti was flown by federal agents from Port-au-Prince to the United States on Tuesday in connection with last year’s kidnapping of 16 American missionaries.

Haiti National Police confirmed that Germine Joly, better known as Yonyon, was sent to the U.S. aboard a special FBI flight following a request from the U.S. on April 22. Police did not say where he was being taken and the FBI did not immediately respond to request for comment, but a source told the Miami Herald that Joly was being flown to Washington, D.C.

Joly is considered to be the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang, which has been involved in an ongoing armed conflict that has led to the deaths of at least 20 civilians over the past nine days and forced hundreds of Haitians from their home in the area east of Port-au-Prince. 

Until his transfer Tuesday, Joly had been held at the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince. From behind bars, he ran 400 Mawozo using his cell phone and negotiated the release of hostages while also trying to negotiate his freedom. Known for its mass abductions, the gang was behind the kidnapping last year of a group of Roman Catholic clergy, including French citizens, and then later a group of 17 American and Canadian missionaries with Ohio-based charity Christian Aid Ministries.

Some of the U.S. missionaries were held for as long as two months before finally being released after an undisclosed ransom amount was paid. During their captivity, the gang asked for $17 million and its second-in-command, Wilson Joseph, known as Lanmò Sanjou, threatened on social media to “put a bullet” in the missionaries if the gang’s demand for $1 million per hostage wasn’t met.

As the missionaries were being held hostage, federal agents arrested three Florida residents on federal charges for allegedly smuggling firearms in barrels from South Florida to 400 Mawozo. The criminal complaint unsealed in late October said that Eliande Tunis, Jocelyn Dor and Walder St. Louis filled orders for weapons such as AK-47s and AR-15 for two unnamed 400 Mawozo leaders. Tunis is a U.S. citizen, while Dor and St. Louis are Haitian nationals.

Prosecutors claim that Tunis lived in Florida and “is a member of 400 Mawozo.” The complaint says that on Oct. 9, , Tunis sent an audio file to “co-conspirator 1 on WhatsApp in Creole saying ‘We are snakes. We slither to get where we are going. They would be shocked to see Mawozo invade Miami.’”

The FBI criminal complaint for all three defendants doesn’t identify Joly by name but says co-conspirator 1 “is a Haitian national and a leader of 400 Mawozo” who is “incarcerated, but still serves as a leader in the organization and directs operations from prison using an unmonitored cellular phone.” That individual is believed to be Joly. 

The complaint also speaks of another individual, though not by name. He is described as serving as a leader and appearing on “videos posted on social media, stated his name and declared himself as the leader of 400 Mawozo.” That individual is believed to be “Lanmò Sanjou,” which means “death doesn’t know which day its coming.” 

The 400 Mawozo gang is believed to be behind the recent kidnapping of a Dominican diplomat and U.S. citizen, Carlos Guillén Tatis, who went missing on Friday while traveling through the gang’s stronghold in Croix-des-Bouquets on his way to the border.

Sources familiar with Joly’s activities said much of the ransom money collected by his gang went directly to him, which he in turn used to purchase arms and keep police officers and lawyers on his payroll. After the arrest of the three Floridians, he grew increasingly concern about his possible extradition, sources told the Miami Herald.

The ongoing armed conflict may have sped up Joly’s extradition. For weeks, rumors had circulated of a planned prison break involving the National Penitentiary, and concerns grew that Joly might meet the same fate as Arnel Joseph, another notorious gang leader the FBI had targeted. Joseph was was shot by police last February while traveling on a motorcycle in the town of L’Estère after a deadly prison break of the Croix-des-Bouquets Civil Prison.

In a statement on its Facebook page, Haiti police said Joly is being prosecuted via an international warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for conspiracy and violation of the U.S. Export and Contraband Control Reform Act, importation of weapons of war and kidnapping of American citizens.

Joly’s arrest is likely to spread panic among Haitian gangs, because it offers U.S. law enforcement and State Department officials the opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of 400 Mawozo, which controls one of the largest territories in Haiti. Following the release of the American missionaries, the gang had splintered, with Joly controlling one group and reportedly launching an attack while he was in prison to show he was still in charge.

“With the transfers of Yonyon to the U.S., we can learn a lot about how the gang functions and the people connected to them and giving them guns,” said Pierre Esperance, a human rights activist in Haiti.

In their statement Tuesday, Haiti police described Joly as “the leader of the criminal organization called ‘400 Mawozo’ involved in several criminal acts including assassination, kidnapping, vehicle theft, destruction of private property and arson, etc.”

Joly was taken by federal agents nine days after his gang launched an attack against a rival gang, Chen Mechan, in the lowland east of metropolitan Port-au-Prince. The armed conflict has killed at least 20 civilians and led to several torched homes. Hundreds of people have had to flee the combat area.

During the conflict, Lanmò Sanjou released a voice note saying he had been warned by a Haitian official of an attempt to kill Joly and that he would kill “thousands” if anything were to happen to the gang leader.

Joly was first arrested in Haiti in 2014 after authorities accused him of armed robbery, membership in a gang and kidnapping. 

Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.

This story was originally published  May 3, 2022 5:06 PM.

Special Advisor for the Summit of the Americas Christopher Dodd Travel to Barbados

Special Advisor for the Summit of the Americas Christopher Dodd traveled to Bridgetown, Barbados, April 19-20 to meet with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders to discuss regional priorities in advance of the Ninth Summit of the Americas this June in Los Angeles, California.

Senator Dodd engaged with CARICOM leaders in-person and virtually. The Senator spoke with Heads of Government from The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Discussion focused on such topics as energy security, climate change, disaster preparedness, and economic recovery.  CARICOM leaders acknowledged the importance of incorporating Caribbean voices and addressing these issues at the upcoming Summit of the Americas.

The Summit of the Americas, the only meeting that brings together the leaders of North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean, will play a central role in shaping the future of the hemisphere.  The region’s governments, civil society, and private sector will work to develop a shared vision built around the theme for this year’s meeting, “Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future.”

For press inquiries, contact Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser..

Cayes-Jacmel rara band involved in deadly crash wins contest

BY THE HAITIAN TIMES APR. 27, 2022

The Haitian Times

Rara band revelers at the 10th edition of Festi Rara on April 15, 2022. Photo credit: Jacmel Info

By Jean-Paul Saint-Fleur 

CAYES-JACMEL, Haiti — Three days after six fans of a rara band died in a vehicle crash, the band learned that it won the musical competition the victims attended just before the wreck.

“We’re happy that we won,” said Nesly Jeudy, the treasurer of Inosan Rara band. “Unfortunately, we can’t celebrate that victory, we’re in mourning now.”

The Festi Rara contest took place Apr. 15. The day after, coming from a parade, the Mack truck carrying revelers back to Jacmel crashed and overturned, killing six people, and injuring 72 others.

Festi Rara is the biggest rara contest in Cayes-Jacmel and has taken place on Holy Friday for the past 10 years. With the fatal crash taking precedence, the winner was not announced until Apr. 19.

Inosan received 15,000 gourdes, about USD $137, as part of the prize money from Festi Rara. The band planned to split the amount as well as other money they raised with relatives of those who died. 

“It’s a gesture to show that we’re with the family,” Jeudy said. “We will never forget them. We would do more if we had more.”

Nyvia Diclair, mother of victim Francisco Raymonde, received 10,000 gourdes as a contribution from the band.

“Despite myself, I took the envelope,” Diclair said. “No one purposely killed my son, it was an accident and the child I loved so much died.”

Another family rejected the envelope because its members are angry with the rara band leaders, Jeudy said.

To celebrate the bittersweet victory, Inosan planned to also gather fans for a big parade.

Correction: This story has been updated to clarify information that was mistranslated.

National Center of Haitian Apostolate

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER (May 1^st, 2022)

Ac 5: 27-31 + 40-41; Ps 30; Rev 5: 11-14; Jn 21: 1-19

https://youtu.be/igNdUqivoYo

Msgr. Pierre André Pierre

The stunning event of Christ’s Resurrection has taken place. Everybody is stunned. The Apostles are puzzled. On the one hand, having seen the Risen Lord with their own eyes, they joyfully proclaimed the miraculous event. But at the same time, persecuted by the Pharisees and the Jewish courts, they felt like giving up and going back to their old trade.

In today’s Gospel, we see Peter and his friends spending the whole night fishing yet catching nothing. At dawn, Jesus appears on the lakeshore. He shouts to them: Cast your net on the right side. Surprise! The nest is filled to the breaking point. A first lesson was taught. “Without me, you can do nothing.”

Another key teaching will soon follow: Peter is asked 3 times Do you love me more than these. At his successive positive answers, Jesus tells him “Feed my lambs.” “Tend my sheep.” “Feed my sheep.” Jesus then announced Peter’s future martyrdom for the sake of the Gospel concluding with the call “Follow me!” These words are directed to Peter personally not to the other apostles.

We find here a key verse assigning a pivotal and undeniable role to Peter as the official leader of the Apostles. The Pope in Rome is the successor of Peter. His mission is the preserve the unity of the Church. The twelve Apostles and their successors will have to bring Jesus’s Salvation to the whole world, but they must remain united under One Head. Otherwise, the One Church Jesus founded will be marred by division, confusion, and rivalry. Peter received the key of the Kingdom to lead the Church (Mt 16:19). Let’s hold fast to Jesus’s Message of Unity and Love. Let us adhere firmly to the community of the body of Christ.

Chaos, gang violence again erupt in Haiti. Even human rights advocates are targets

Tue, April 26, 2022

Violence is again erupting in Haiti, where armed clashes between warring violent gangs are once more forcing residents to flee their homes under a hail of bullets.

How dangerous are things right now? The head of the country’s disarmament commission narrowly escaped harm Tuesday morning along with his driver when their car was hit with a spray of gunfire.

A United Nations helicopter was reportedly hit with a bullet while parked on a runway in Port-au-Prince. A photo of the damage was making the rounds on social media. The helicopter is used to ferry U.N. workers to remote locations in the country.

Covid-19, Ukraine affecting food security in the Caribbean, new report says

The state of siege on the eastern edge of the capital began around 4 a.m. Sunday, say residents, and has stalled everything from public transportation to the operation of street markets between Croix-des-Missions and Bon Repos, seven miles northeast of the capital and not far from the sprawling encampment where victims of the 2010 earthquake sought refuge after the disaster.

“We are practically paralyzed here,” said a local resident and pastor named Steeve, who declined to give his last name, and was marking his third day in the village of Caradeux separated from his family in Tabarre because of the shootings. “We cannot do anything.”

It is unclear how many people have died or have been shot since the violence broke out — neither police nor members of the government have made any official statements, and the Haiti National Police spokesman did not respond to a phone call.

Human rights groups contacted by the Miami Herald say “it’s impossible” to know at the moment how many casualties there have been, and they are still trying to understand what’s behind the violence.

The violence is the latest chapter of chaos in a politically unstable and volatile Haiti where for days, long lines have been forming at fueling stations because of empty tanks; and security issues over the weekend led to U.S. airlines delaying takeoff after they were informed there was a temporary shortage of jet fuel at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport and they would need to bring their own.

In one instance, an American Airlines flight was forced to refuel in neighboring Santo Domingo before heading back to Miami.

Late Tuesday, the ministry of communications, addressing the panic being caused by low fuel stocks in the country, announced that new deliveries are scheduled to arrive in the country by the end of the week and the government has not taken any decision to increase the price of fuel.

By 7:30 p.m., the shooting had resumed in the area. The intense sound of high-powered rifles could be heard shooting nonstop in the Santo 17 neighborhood as terrorized residents were forced to spend another day without access to food or water.

“Haiti is blocked,” said Pierre Espérance, a leading human rights defender, who said his National Human Rights Defense Network counted several dozen residents including babies at a public park in the Clercine neighborhood who were forced to leave their homes because of the shooting. “We are in a situation where the only thing you can think about is your security. Not schooling, not anything else. There is no living here. The insecurity situation has paralyzed the country. ... If you don’t have a need to go out in Haiti, you don’t go out.”

Last week, a group of U.S. lawmakers including Reps. Gregory W. Meeks and Michael McCaul, chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a letter condemning death threats against Esperance and the staff of his National Human Rights Defense Network.

The threats against Esperance were in retaliation for his work, the letter said, and “are extremely alarming.”

“Any further attempts to silence, intimidate, harass, threaten, or cause harm to Mr. Esperance or RNDDH staff are intolerable,” the letter said. “We call on the Haitian authorities to investigate any threats made against Mr. Esperance and take all necessary steps to ensure his safety and the safety of his colleagues.”

In addition to Esperance, the outspoken head of a disarmament commission appointed by the late President Jovenel Moïse, Jean Rebel Dorcenat, said Tuesday that he had “a serious threat” hanging over his head. His car was shot up by unknown individuals in the morning, he said, adding that he and his driver were unharmed. Dorcenat has long claimed that as part of his job, he compiled a list of individuals involved in arms and ammunition trafficking in the country. However, he has never made the names public.

Residents in the neighborhoods currently under gang attack have described the violence as “shocking” and “scary.” It is fanning fears, they say, that the sprawling area of Croix-des-Bouquets, Santo and La Plaine, which connects the capital to the Central Plateau and the border with the neighboring Dominican Republic, could become Haiti’s next No Man’s Land after Martissant, the gang-ridden neighborhood to the south.

Since June, armed groups have forced the displacement of over 20,000 Haitians from their homes in Martissant and surrounding communities, and cut off Port-au-Prince from four regional departments in the south, including those devastated by last year’s deadly earthquake. .

In the cases where people have been able to cross, they’ve had to pay gangs for passage, which still offers no guarantees against violence.

Should Croix-des-Bouquets fall completely into the hands of gangs, it would leave Port-au-Prince with just one access, its northern entrance, to the rest of the country. And even there, there are no guarantees, with gang clashes near the seaport and airport also turning deadly at times.

At the center of the current violence are two gangs: One is known as Chen Mechan, which translates to “Mean Dog,” and the other is 400 Mawozo, the notorious armed group that was behindand a group ofr. The gangs are said to be fighting over territory after 400 Mawozo tried to install one of its leaders in the other gang’s territory.

A voice note circulating on social media has warned the Haitian police to stay out of the fight.

Last week, both U.S. and French diplomats told the Herald that in the coming months. Haiti’s partners have committed to embedding foreign police advisers in the force and creating anti-gang and SWAT units. Haitians, however, have warned that strengthening the police will require more than the creation of anti-gang units, but also a thorough cleaning to remove corrupt cops with ties to gang leaders.

Esperance said while police officers are implicated in that they have close ties to gang members, the Haitian authorities need to remove the power from the gangs by cracking down on the illegal importation of arms and ammunition at the country’s seaports, especially the main port in Port-au-Prince.

Until then, residents like Steeve, 40, say they are being held hostage to the violence.

“That is our biggest worry,” he said, wondering out loud if he will be able to find a motorcycle to take him to go see his four traumatized kids and wife in nearby Tabarre, the same Port-au-Prince suburb where the U.S. Embassy is located. He knows people who have been shot, Steeve said, and his brother’s house was hit with a bullet.

“The people today have no refuge,” Steeve said. “Nowhere is safe in Haiti.”

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 27 avril 2022

 A small plane crashed on a major road in Haiti capital, killing at least seven people

Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser. – MIAMI HERALD

Updated April 21, 2022

A single-engine airplane crashed in Haiti Wednesday along a major road on the southern outskirts of the capital, leaving at least seven people dead, including the pilot, who later succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital. 

Dr. Jerry Chandler, who heads Haiti’s Office of Civil Protection, said his first responders were on the scene.

The privately owned Cessna 207 was headed to the port city of Jacmel in the southeast when it crashed around 4 p.m. near a police station along the Carrefour Road in Port-au-Prince. The airplane had not too long before taken off from the Port-au-Prince domestic airport, which was about eight miles away.

Jean Elie Fortune was on a minibus coming from Jacmel, he said, when he and the other passengers saw the aircraft spinning before plunging from the sky. It was unclear how many people may have been on board as well as the total number of dead including casualties on the ground.

“I counted six dead bodies,” Fortune told the Miami Herald.

The flight’s manifest had four passengers and a pilot, according to a source. Chandler said there were conflicting reports about who may or may not have survived the crash and his team was carrying out an investigation. Jude Edouard Pierre, the mayor of Carrefour, said at least three of the dead were passengers onboard the aircraft. Two others were injured and taken to a local hospital along with the pilot, he said, when the airplane hit their vehicle as it came crashing down out of the sky.

After initially surviving the crash, the Dominican pilot, whom Pierre identified as Amando Gutierrez, died of his injuries at a local hospital, several sources confirmed, bringing the death toll to at least seven. 

Videos of the crash scene showed that when the aircraft hit the ground the engine was still running, which indicates that it may not have been total engine failure, according to a pilot. Images showed the six-seater broken into pieces, strewn across the roadway.

This is the second fatal airplane crash of a Jacmel-bound aircraft in months.

In July, two American missionaries were among six people killed when their single-engine airplane crashed in the commune of Léogâne in the locality of Mathurin, a section of Beauséjour.

Since last June when armed clashes between warring gangs caused the forced displacement of thousands of Haitians from their homes at the southern entrance of Port-au-Prince, Haitians have had to seek other routes to get to the southern regions of the country. As a result charter aircraft have been in high demand to help take passengers to areas cut off by gangs.

As a result of the increased dependence on private aircraft and the high costs of tickets, residents in the southwestern city of Les Cayes last week took to the streets in a violent protest, which led some demonstrators to tear apart and then burned a plane used by a Florida-based charity.

The eight-seat Piper Navajo Chieftain aircraft belonged to Agape Flights, which is based in Venice, Florida. The destruction led other charter operators to cancel all flights throughout Haiti the following day, and the largest domestic operator to temporarily halt flights to Les Cayes. Planes are operating again.

The spelling of the pilot’s first name is Amando Gutierrez, according to a photo of his ID. A previous version had his name misspelled as Armando.

This story was originally published  April 20, 2022 5:46 PM.

       National Center of Haitian Apostolate

Act 5: 12-16; Ps 118; Rev 1: 9-11a +12-13+17-19; Jn 20: 29-31

Msgr. Pierre André Pierre

This Sunday forcefully proclaims the great mystery of Divine Mercy. God is love. Jesus came into this world out of pity for us who go astray in acts of violence, and hatred and wade excessively in the most disgusting selfishness.

This Sunday is called “Divine Mercy Sunday” at the request of Pope John Paul II at the Canonization ceremony of St Faustina Kowalska in Rome on April 30, 2000. The saintly Pope wanted to forcefully call to the attention of the modern world the great mystery of God’s infinite love for us. For this, he resorted to the special revelations received by St Faustina of Poland in the thirties. In a vision, she saw Jesus with two rays shining forth from the open wound on his side: a white ray symbolizing the healing river of grace flowing from the Risen Lord and a red ray signifying the blood of mercy pouring out from His Heart. 

We are urged by the Word of God to believe more intensely in three key teachings:

First: God’s love for each one of us is infinite;

Second: Jesus' death on the Cross is above all an act of mercy;

Third: We too must be Ministers of MERCY in the midst of this cruel world.

Without recourse to the merciful Heart of JESUS, Peace will remain inaccessible to our hearts, to our families, to our societies, and even to the world. We have understood nothing of the Gospel of Jesus and his Cross until we have grasped that what is primordial in the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus is mercy. of God the Father dazzling like the sun in the incredible mercy of Jesus dying for us at Calvary.

Jesus is like a MODEL who teaches us to be above all ambassadors of his Mercy. We betray JESUS when we act without love, without mercy.

Mercy is a GIFT from heaven. It is a grace that is obtained by the prayer of faith. Learn to recite the Rosary of Mercy. Jesus loves you without measure. Why wait any longer? Throw yourself into his arms! In the midst of this cruel world, be a witness to Love!

Society needs your testimony to take a step on the path to peace!

Special prayers are attached to this feast day especially the chaplet of mercy. Using an ordinary rosary, instead of the “Hail Mary” recited on each bead, the believer is called to say:

“Through His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” At the end of the decade, we say: “Most Holy Father I offer you the heart and the blood, the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation and that of the whole world.”

St. Faustina heard from Jesus that as long as we fail to have recourse to his mercy, world peace will not be achieved. Grow in your unshakable trust in God’s infinite mercy and grow in mercy in all your deeds. Pray incessantly for the grace of MERCY in all your relationships.

Protest planned on Haitian Labor Day to increase minimum wage

BY THE HAITIAN TIMES APR. 22, 2022

The Haitian Times

Textile workers protesting for better pay in Port-au-Prince in February 2022. Photo credit: Pensa Latina

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Two unions representing factory workers and security guards plan to hold a two-day protest on May 1, Haiti’s Agricultural and Labor Day in Haiti, and May 2 to demand a minimum wage increase.

“May 1 in Haiti is not a commemoration for Labor Day, but of unemployment,” said Jean Wilgens Charles, head of Esklav Revolte or Rebelious Slave. “We call out on all citizens to protest against the high cost of living, hunger, misery and insecurity.”

During a news conference Apr. 21 at the offices of ESPM-BO workers rights group, organizers said the protest will start at 9:00 a.m. at the National Society of Industrial Park (SONAPI) and march via Airport Road to the National Old Age Insurance Office (ONA). 

Demonstrators will also go to the prime minister’s office through Delmas 48 to chide him for not keeping his promises to provide social assistance and debit cards to workers.

In February, thousands of workers took to the streets to demand a minimum wage of 1,500 Gourdes, about USD $13, a day. They said the increase is necessary to cope with inflation and afford basic necessities that have become so expensive since fuel prices increased. 

The Haitian government increased the minimum wage to 685 Gourdes, about $6, for subcontractors, but the unions insist on the higher amount.