Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 19 septembre 2018

 Haiti finally has a new government after riots over fuel prices

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES of the Miami Herald

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A well-known public notary who twice ran unsuccessfully for president became Haiti’s newest prime minister on Sunday after the Lower Chamber of Deputies overwhelmingly approved his political program and cabinet.

Jean Henry Céant’s ratification came after both chambers of parliament held separate back-to-back marathon sessions that began Friday afternoon in the Senate and ended shortly after sunrise Sunday with the vote in the Lower Chamber. Eighty-four deputies voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratification. Five were against and four abstained

One of the first tests awaiting him will come from the International Monetary Fund, which is awaiting the sitting of the new government to address the issue of the removal of fuel subsides — it still wants the fuel hikes, it has said. Meanwhile, international aid is decreasing and the local currency, the gourdes, continues to devalue.

In office for 19 months, Moïse is hard-pressed to show that his presidency is having an impact. He has been at odds with the international community, especially the Trump administration over the question of its support of Venezuela. His own police chief and his flagship public works program known as the Caravan of Change has been criticized by even his own supporters.

“The strategies the president have adopted are not good,” Sen, Kedlaire Augustin, a Moïse supporter, told Céant, while wanting to know if he will have the courage to stand up to the president. “How are you going to help the president have the courage to stand before the nation and tell them the state of the country’s finances so we don’t keep making promises?

“The president needs to have the courage to say he has problems,” with a part of the international community, the private sector and the police, Augustin said.

Augustin was among those who did not vote in favor of Céant, telling him he would abstain because he remained unsure of his sincerity and why he wanted the job.

Céant replied that he and the president shared the same vision of a better Haiti, and asked Augustin and others to join him.

“Today every Haitian, despite how they see themselves, should finally realize there is no first class or economic class in an airplane that’s in distress,” he said. “Everybody has to put their hands together, otherwise we will all perish together.

The United States demands that corrupt Haitian leaders pay for their acts!

The level of corruption and impunity among Haitian leaders is beginning to worry the international community

New York City, Friday, September 7th, 2018 - Ambassador Jonathan a representative of the United States at the United Nations, gave a speech during a U. N. Security Council Board meeting recently, during which he called upon the Haitian government to work with the MINUJUSTH and its international partners to strengthen its institutions in the judicial sector. He also called for the Haitian government to work with organization fighting against the corruption and to promote the judicial reforms to fight against the impunity and strengthen the rule of law.

Jonathan Cohen praised the Haitian National police force, for acting to protect the civilian population and abstain from any action which would have fueled the violence, during the riots of July 6 – 8, 2018.

The efforts of the PNH "allowed to avoid an escape of prisoners from the national penitentiary, which would have made even an extremely unstable situation in the city center of Port-au-Prince even more complex," noted the American diplomat. However, he added that that it is necessary to make more progress in the fight against corruption.

While he warned against the politicization of the police, Cohen also added that it is imperative that the corrupt individuals and anyone else involved in human rights violations should be held responsible for their acts.

5 people died following a lightning strike in Belladère

5 people were killed due to a lightning strike, in the afternoon of Thursday, September 13^th, 2018. Heavy rains and a lightning storm in Belladère caused the deaths of the five victims, according to the on-line AlterPresse agency.

The United Nations has a new representative in Haiti

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, recently announced Mrs. Helen Meagher La Lime's appointment, as his special Representative and Head of mission of United Nations for the support for the justice in Haiti (Minujusth).

Mrs La Lime succeeds in her fellow countryman Mrs. Susan D. Page to whom the General Secretary expressed his gratitude for her dedication and her effective leadership at the head of Minujusth.

Ambassador to Haiti has a message for young professionals in Miami.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

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The U.S. ambassador to Haiti appealed for more engagement of the Haitian diaspora, telling a group young professionals in Miami that businesses in Haiti can benefit from their mentorship and knowledge as successful entrepreneurs. 

“They need your help, your advice in order to scale up their enterprises to the next level,” Michele Sison said, delivering Saturday’s keynote address at the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce of Florida’s annual 20 Under 40 Top Young Professionals award ceremony. “Together, you are a strong force that could help shape the Haitian-American partnership in the years to come. We want to partner with Haiti in that.”

Speaking to the Miami crowd, Sison acknowledged that Haiti could do more to attract foreign and domestic investment. Many of the people she spoke to, she said, have said the Haitian government needs to improve the ease of doing business in Haiti by strengthening contract enforcement and contract liability. 

“Donor support to help Haiti with its development and broader social and economic needs is not enough,” she said. “Haiti also needs increased domestic and foreign investment.

“There has never been a stronger case for fair , open and transparent government strengthened by a strong and independent judiciary,” she later said while noting that this is one of the first conversations she intends to have with the country’s next government. “These are all key ingredients for economic growth.” 

In addition to stressing diaspora involvement, Sison touted some of the domestic revenue mobilization programs the U.S. has embarked on in Haiti to encourage Haitian self-reliance and resiliency. Among them,working with Haitian institutions, like municipalities, to increase government revenue streams through property tax and business tax collections. 

“This works,” she said. “In some municipalities revenues increased.”

ACLU Asks Federal Judge To Release Haitian Asylum Seeker Jailed For 2 Years In Chardon

(Haitian Times, Sept. 12, 2018) The American Civil Liberties Union has asked a federal judge to order the immediate release of Ansly Damus, a Haitian immigrant who has been jailed in Geauga County for nearly two years as the government continues to appeal his asylum award.

Damus was an ethics teacher in Haiti and in one of his seminars used local government official Benjamin Ocenjac as an example of someone who used bandits to terrorize the population. “La Meezorequin” (“the Shark Bones Army”), an armed gang loyal to Ocenjac, beat Damus, set his motorcycle on fire and threatened his life, according to court documents.

About ten days later, Damus fled first to Brazil, and then to the United States, where he immediately presented himself for asylum at the California border in October 2016.

He has been held since then by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Geauga County Safety Center in Chardon. He has twice been granted asylum by a U.S. Immigration Court judge in Cleveland, finding his fear of persuction credible and determining that he had not firmly resettled in Brazil, which might have nullified an asylum claim. But the government has denied his release as it appeals those rulings. (Haitian Times)    

Haitian designer runs new fashion brand in Hanoi

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 1 octobre 2018

 Haitian man served five years after getting framed. Now, he’s suing Biscayne Park cops

BY JAY WEAVER

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September 18, 2018 07:34 PM

Updated September 18, 2018 08:10 PM

Clarens Desrouleaux, a Haitian man who served five years in prison after being framed for unsolved burglaries by Biscayne Park police, is accusing the town and three officers of violating his civil rights in a federal lawsuit.

Desrouleaux, 41, was deported to his native Haiti after he completed his prison term last year. But last month, Miami-Dade prosecutors threw out his conviction after discovering that a former Biscayne Park police chief and two officers pinned three home break-ins on him that he did not commit in January 2013.

Desrouleaux’s lawyer filed the lawsuit on Friday, the very day that former Police Chief Raimundo Atesiano pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring with the other two officers in depriving the former El Portal man of his civil rights. Atesiano also admitted in court papers that he violated the civil rights of two other black men framed for other burglaries in Biscayne Park while he served as chief during 2013 and 2014.

Atesiano, 52, faces between 2 and 2 1/2 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. The other two officers, Charles Dayoub and Guillermo Ravelo, who also pleaded guilty after admitting to falsely arresting Desrouleaux, are awaiting sentence, too.

(HAITIAN TIMES)

Petition against foam utensils in Haïti

Dear citizens, supporters of the petition, please urge the Haitian government to apply the Ministerial decision of July 10, 2013, which bans the production, the importation, the commercialization and the utilization, in any form of polythene bags and other objects in polythene expanded (PSE or PS or Styrofoam) for single use, such as trays, bottles, bags, cups and plates.

It’s hygienic, practical, light, and very cheap. Small dessert plates, large containers, soup bowls, plates, large cups, lunch boxes; it is unavoidable. In Haïti, it can be found everywhere, in cooperation agencies, in NGOs, in Ministries, in restaurants, on the street, in the trees, in the ravines, in irrigation canals, in mangroves, in the sea and in the fish.

It’s a cancer. It’s a time bomb. It clogs the sewers. It pollutes. It does not decompose; it can’t be recycled. It breaks apart in tiny polluting particles. The smoke is highly toxic when burned. We call it bwat manje, anbwate, fòm, foam or Styrofoam.

It embarrasses (more or less and less than more) policy decision-makers and well-meaning organizations. And, all are outlawed since the Ministerial order of July 10, 2013 «banning the production, the importation, the commercialization and the utilization, in any form of polythene bags and other objects in polythene expanded (PSE or PS or Styrofoam) for single use, such as trays, bottles, bags, cups and plates. »

Another decree that stops nothing…

Higher incomes for mango farmers in Haiti

AUTHOR: RIK NIJLANDSeptember 2018

Wageningen researchers did a study for the World Bank to see how mango farmers could earn more from exports to the US.

‘A lot of mangos disappear or end up as juice in Haiti before they get to the harbour in Portau-Prince,’ says researcher Rene Oostewechel of Wageningen Food & Biobased Research. He and Jan Brouwers of Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation did a study for the World Bank to see how mango farmers could earn more from exports to the US.

This would require technical improvements such as different cultivation methods, good timing of the harvest and better refrigeration. The Wageningen experts also recommended setting up a more transparent system of trade, which the World Bank wants to experiment with. ‘This is a new form of Fairtrade, in fact,’ says the researcher.

For every box of mangos, the harvest location and temperature during transport are recorded digitally using blockchain technology, as are the costs of trading and transport.

The payment system is linked to this data. The Haitian farmer owns the mango until it reaches the supermarket shelf. In the end he is paid the difference between the sale price in the shop and the costs accrued along the way. Currently, farmers sell their mangos for a few cents per fruit before they have even harvested them.

Yet the new system may pose some dangers, warns Oostewechel. ‘The farmers get their money later and they run more risk – if something goes wrong in transit for example.’

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(Haitian Times)

The Japanese of Haitian origin, Naomi Osaka qualified for the semi-finals in the Tokyo tournament by beating the Czech Barbora Strýcová in two set (6-3; 6-4).

The number 3 seated player who propelled herself to the summit by winning her first major title during the US OPEN at the beginning of the month, was not in a great shape against the Czech, but she still managed to succeed.

" I played three times against Barbora Strýcová and every time, it was very difficult," declared Osaka which succeed 6 aces in the match. " I think that it is almost impossible to play perfectly every match. I knew that I did not play so today, but I still adjusted and I managed to win. I never know why certain things do not work, but I have the feeling that it is my job to do my best in this situation,” continued the # 7 world ranked-player during a press conference after the match.

Petro-Caribe: Haitians in the streets of Miami denounce the corruption in Haiti

Florida, Saturday, September 15^th, 2018 ((rezonodwes.com)) - The members of the Haitian Diaspora living in Miami demonstrated regarding #PetroCaribeChallenge during the afternoon of Saturday, September 15^th.

In a sit-in organized in front of the General Consulate of Haiti in Miami, situated at 259 SW 13th St #3, the demonstrators demanded that Haitian authorities bring to the light as soon as possible any waste of the funds of the Petro Caribe program.

"We organized this movement to demand the rendering of accounts on the 3.8 billion dollars of the program Petrocaribe, the use of $1.50 taken for more than seven years from every money transfer of money directed to Haiti and the 5 cents collected on every entering phone call," declared one of the organizers of the movement who wished to remain anonymous.

Unfortunately, there were no signs or banners in English. That’s unfortunate, because the whole world should be alerted.

The Haitian actress Fabienne Colas, is a finalist for the "Businesswomen of Quebec" award

Fabienne Colas is in 7^th place among 30 women finalists for the 2018 "Businesswomen of Quebec," organized by the Network of the Women of Quebec in cooperation with VidéoTron Affaire and Telefilm Canada.

The 39-year-old actress said she delighted by this recognition on her Facebook page: "To be among 30 finalists for the Businesswomen of Quebec Award, fills me with pride. A recognition for my commitment for diversity and inclusion through the Colas Foundation, my initiatives, my programs and seven festivals created in Canada, in the United States and in Haiti."

Born in Port-au-Prince, on March 18^th, 1979, Fabienne Colas represented Haiti to several beauty contests abroad. In Haiti, she won the star and Golden Ticket award for best actress for the movie Barikad, directed by Richard Sénécal. She also received a nomination for the same movie from the Haitian Entertainment Awards in Florida.

Trump to Cap Refugees Allowed Into U.S. at 30,000, a Record Low

WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to cap the number of refugees that can be resettled in the United States next year at 30,000, his administration announced on Monday, further cutting an already drastically scaled-back program that offers protection to foreigners fleeing violence and persecution.

Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, announced the limit at the State Department, saying it reflected the “daunting operational reality” of addressing what he called a “humanitarian crisis” involving people claiming asylum in the United States.

The number represents the lowest ceiling a president has placed on the refugee program since its creation in 1980, and a reduction of a third from the 45,000-person limit that Mr. Trump set for 2018.

The move is the latest in a series of efforts the president has made to clamp down on immigration to the United States, not only through cracking down on those who seek to enter the country illegally, but by making it more difficult to gain legal entry.

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It is also the culmination of a quiet but successful effort by Stephen Miller, the president’s senior policy adviser, to severely restrict the number of refugees offered protection inside the country. As one piece of his broader push to narrow a variety of legal pathways for migrants to make their way into the United States, Mr. Miller had pressed for capping the program at as low as 25,000 people, according to people familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.

Others inside the administration, including in the Department of Defense and, initially, the State Department, had supported maintaining the 45,000-refugee ceiling, these people said.

Mr. Pompeo, who was pivotal to the decision, had privately argued last month for keeping the number where it was, they said. He kept his final recommendation for a deep cut under wraps until Monday afternoon, when he announced it from the Treaty Room of the State Department.

In doing so, he adopted an argument made privately by Mr. Miller: that the United States needed to prioritize hundreds of thousands of people who have arrived at the United States border, claiming a credible fear of returning home, rather than refugees overseas who have already officially qualified as in need of protection and resettlement in another country.

“Some will characterize the refugee ceiling as the full barometer of America’s commitment to vulnerable people around the world,” Mr. Pompeo said. “This would be wrong.”

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 8 octobre 2018

 Paris - Tasting: Haitian chocolate seduces French specialists thanks to its unique flavor

Members of the Chocolate Lovers Club in Paris were able to sample some Haitian chocolate, which they rated as an "exceptional product."

Paris, Saturday, September 29th, 2018 ((rezonodwes.com)) - Approximately eighty chocolate amateurs and specialists participated in a meeting on a barge of the Seine, "The Liberty barge" together with Minister of Tourism, Marie Christine Stephenson, and of the Ambassador of Haiti in Paris, Vanessa Lamothe Matignon.

During this event, the chocolate concocted by approximately five French chocolate makers with Haitian cocoa, cultivated in particular by the cooperative FECCANO, was highly praised.

These edible master-pieces were presented by Chocolate Capon and savored by a very select audience for its unique flavors, under the leadership of Patrice Chapon who visited Haiti in 2015 to discover new productions of cocoa and participate in the 1^st national competition of cocoa, in Cap-Haïtien.

Invited to speak on this exceptional occasion, ambassador Matignon put the accent on the history and the patrimonial aspect of cocoa in Haiti.

For his part, Secretary Stephenson insisted on the peculiarity of Haitian cocoa with regard to the country’s climate, and on its potential role in reforestation, and providing an outlet to grow Ecotourism and rural development.

More than two hours of screen impoverishes the cognitive development of children

A study published by the British magazine Adolescent Lancet Child and Health compares the cognitive capacities of children who spend more than two hours in front of screens each day, and those whose exposure is more limited.

The study led by Canadian researchers (CHEO institute / University of Ottawa / Carleton University) concerned 4,520 children from 8 to 11 years old on 20 sites through the United States. On average, these children spent 3.6 hours a day glued to a screen - mobile phone, tablet, computer, television - beyond the Canadian recommendations for less than 2 hours of screen, 9 at 11 am of sleep and at least one hour of physical activity a day.

Sufficient sleep, limited screen time and physical activity, were the winning trio for all of the children participating in the investigation. Only one American child out of 20 (5 %) achieves the three parts of the Canadian recommendations. According to questionnaires filled by families, almost one out of three (29 %) reaches none of them: enough sleep, limited screen time and physical activity.

Sounds of Little Haiti featuring Belo

With vibrant performers, tasty food and a lively crowd, it's sure to be a good time the entire family can enjoy.

When: October 19, 2018

Where: Little Haiti Cultural Complex

Time:   6pm - 10pm

Marche in support of the legalization of abortion in Haiti

Dozens of people demonstrated, on Wednesday, September 26^th, 2018, in Port-au-Prince, for the legalization of abortion in Haiti, according to the on-line AlterPresse agency.

Because of the penalty against abortion, women are forced to have miscarriages, in secret, in bad conditions, to avoid being punished by the judicial system, explained Katia Hilaire, project officer for Fanm Ayisyèn Solidarity (Sofa), during the protest.

She wished to raise more awareness with authorities and with the population on the phenomenon of abortion, which causes death, serious illnesses or infertility in women.

The parliament is called to pass a law to legalize abortion in Haiti.

"Women must be able to control their pregnancies, and plan their lives freely. Women, across the spectrum, have to have access to quality health care," pleaded Katia Hilaire.

The demonstrators denounced the irresponsibility, shown by the State towards the poor health conditions in the country.

Some of the protesters, dressed in white T-shirts and carrying signs, expressed, their anger in the face of this critical situation.

"The Haitian State has to assign a more important financial contribution for healthcare, in the national budget, so that the population can have better access to the healthcare system," demanded the protesters.

"The Hospital does not have to be a cemetery for women," chanted the demonstrators in front of the Hospital of the State University of Haiti in the street Monseigneur Guilloux.

Among other things, the march aimed to bring awareness to and to promote access to contraception methods, on the occasion of the World Day of Contraception commemorated this year under the theme: "Reducing Unwanted Pregnancies in the world."

Charles Aznavour, the 'Frank Sinatra of France', dies aged 94

Singer best known for ballad She sold 100m records and had parallel acting career

Ben Beaumont-Thomas and Kim Willsher in Paris

Mon 1 Oct 2018 09.49 EDTFirst published on Mon 1 Oct 2018 08.14 EDT

The French singer Charles Aznavour has died at the age of 94, French media have reported, citing his spokesman.

Aznavour, who was born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris to Armenian parents, sold more than 100m records in 80 countries and had about 1,400 songs to his name, including 1,300 he wrote himself. He was sometimes described as the French answer to Frank Sinatra because of his stirring, melancholic style.

He left school aged nine to become a child actor and went on to have a successful parallel acting career, most notably appearing in François Truffaut’s new-wave classic Tirez Sur le Pianiste (Shoot the Piano Player), Claude Chabrol’s Les Fantômes du Chapelier (The Hatter’s Ghost), and the 1979 Oscar-winning film adaptation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum.

His singing career was forged in occupied Paris during the second world war, performing in cabarets as his parents secretly worked with the resistance, hiding Jews, communists and others in their apartment. “French is my working language but my family language is always Armenian,” he said in 2017.

Aznavour opened for Édith Piaf at the Moulin Rouge and the popular singer was an early adviser – and flatmate. “I brought her my youth, my madness; she loved my whole jazzy side,” he told the Guardian in 2015. She advised him to have a nose job, only to declare, “I preferred you before” after the surgery.

He is one of the most celebrated exponents of the French “chanson” form – easy-listening songs with vivid lyrics, rich in storytelling, emotion and humour. One early song, 1955’s Après l’Amour, was banned on French radio for its depiction of a couple basking in post-coital happiness. 1972’s What Makes a Man, meanwhile, is sung in the persona of a gay man who faces down homophobia to declare: “Nobody has the right to be / The judge of what is right for me.” He became perhaps best known for his gloomier numbers – the director Jean Cocteau once quipped: “Before Aznavour, despair was unpopular.”

His biggest hit in English was She, a 1974 romantic ballad in which Aznavour confronts the equal joy and strife in a relationship, nevertheless declaring “the meaning of my life is she”. It spent four weeks at No 1 in the UK singles chart, and was also recorded in French, German, Italian and Spanish. The song got a second lease of life when it was covered by Elvis Costello for the soundtrack to the 1999 film Notting Hill, reaching No 19 in the UK. Aznavour’s only other solo hit in the UK was with The Old Fashioned Way, which reached the top 40 in 1973.

Over the years he recorded duets with the likes of Sinatra, Elton John, Céline Dion, Bryan Ferry, and Sting, as well as the classical tenors Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. In 2010, he recorded Un Geste pour Haiti Chérie, a song with young French rap stars, to help raise money after that year’s devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Charles Aznavour, the 'Frank Sinatra of France', dies aged 94

 Read more

Another singing partner was Liza Minnelli, with whom he also had a brief love affair, telling the Telegraph in 2014: “She learned from me. She says that herself – or else I would have shut my mouth!”

The ballet director Sir Matthew Bourne paid tribute to Aznavour, saying he was “considered to be one of the greatest live interpreters of song. Was lucky enough to see him at Royal Albert Hall last year. His performance of his own song What Makes A Man A Man [sic] was unforgettable.”

Piers Morgan recalled interviewing him, saying: “One of the greatest singers the world has seen & such an intelligent, eloquent, graceful & charming man.”

At the unveiling of Aznavour’s star on the Hollywood walk of fame in 2017, director Peter Bogdanovich said: “Sinatra once said every song is a one-act play with one character, and Charles is an extraordinary actor as well as an extraordinary singer.”

Open Letter to the City of Miami Commission

To the City of Miami Commission

Mayor Francis Suarez

Chairman Keon Hardemon

Commissioner Ken Russel

Under the leadership of the late Father Gerard Jean-Juste and a coordinated campaign, our compatriots were released from several detention centers around the U.S. They settled in Little Haiti, an abandoned, depressed, and neglected area. Through hard work, sheer resilience and determination, the Haitian immigrants transformed Little Haiti into this inclusive and culturally diverse mecca. When I first arrived in the U.S. in 1981, an area like Sabal Palm for example in Little Haiti, was inhabited mainly by Haitian immigrants. Through the process of gentrification and forced displacement, most of the Haitians lost their homes. Today, Little Haiti is believed to be the “fastest gentrified area in the U.S.” Many home and business owners have been evicted from spaces that they’ve occupied for 30-40 years.

Three major developments have applied for Special Area Plan: Magic City is one of 3 major developments asking for SAP consideration from the City of Miami. The process to obtain an SAP (Special Area Plan) which will allow them to build up to 27 floors while the area is zoned T-5 is already going in front of the City of Miami Commission this Thursday, at 2 PM. As several local and national journalists reported, this is the fastest that they’ve ever seen, as SAPs usually take months, sometimes years. But it seems like developers in Little Haiti have strong support from the City of Miami and no concerns whatsoever for the residents of Little Haiti. To date, Magic City has refused to hold an open meeting with the community to collectively discuss concerns with the project. Instead, Magic City has chosen to do "Open Houses" where they give guided tours to small groups of people through the different parts of the project. This format does not allow the different stakeholders/leaders to listen to the concerns of others and understand how they may be resolved as a community. It not only makes for bad process, but it sows divisions in the community where individuals or groups look to their own interests instead of the interests of the broader community in a coordinated manner.

We see the consequence of this in the extremely weak community benefits package offered by the developer, and conditions on the development by the Planning and Zoning department that don't quite go far enough because the City did not have the benefit of listening to the concerns of the public. A major Magic City shareholder Neil Fairman disrespected community leaders yesterday, and walked out of a meeting organized by FANM to express our concerns stating: “I do not have time for a community meeting and I will not change the Community Benefit Package. If the City of Miami Commission moves to defer on Thursday, Guy Laliberte will pack his bag and take his millions somewhere else. If you want a community meeting, come give us your support on Thursday and we’ll discuss a meeting afterwards” and he walked out. Repeated requests for a community meeting and on-going negotiations have been consistently denied by Magic City. Efforts to meet with Chairman Keon Hardemon have also been unsuccessful. The Special Area Plan is not a Right the developer has just because it owns more than 9 acres.

The SAP is a permission the developer requests from the City and its neighbors in exchange for going far above and beyond its currently allowed zoning. In this bargain, it is the City and the neighbors acting through their elected officials, who may allow the developer to create the SAP. This is why the SAP is a negotiation of compromise and mutual benefit, not an imposition of the developer’s will over a community stated Meena Jagannath of Community Justice Project.

Added Elvis Cruz: Magic City is an enormous project that will forever change the character of the area. This mixed-use project would consist of: 7.8 million square feet of development.  At least eight buildings of 12, 20 or 25 stories in height, 2670 apartments, 6000 parking spaces, and 340,000 square feet of retail. (By comparison, a Home Depot store is around 100,000 square feet. This would be 3.4 times that.). It is also illegal under Miami 21, a fact the City will likely ignore, or creatively interpret.

The City of Miami Planning Department failed to do its job in planning for the future of Little Haiti. It must develop a comprehensive masterplan for the area involving all sectors. SAPs should be assessed collectively to assess the impact residents, small businesses and the infrastructure.

Most importantly, the City Commission must defer its decision on Thursday to allow more community input.

Sincerely,

Marleine Bastien, MSW, LCSW

Executive Director

Family Action Network Movement

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 10 octobre 2018

 Earthquake in Northern Haiti

An earthquake with 5.9 strength shook Haiti last evening. 

The whole country felt it and buildings collapsed in northern Haiti 

where as many as ten people may have died. 

It was triggered on the Septantrional Fault Line that runs from 

Eastern Cuba, along Haiti's Northern Coast, and into the Cibao in 

the Dominican Republic.

Engineer Claude Preptit, a well-known Haitian expert on the subject,  

gave a thorough  update on Pi Lwen Pi Fon of Haitian Radio Vision 2000 with Taylor Rigaud,

as to what happened yesterday. 

The earthquake that destroyed Cap-Haïtien in 1842 originated in that fault line. 

It is important to explain that the Caribbean Plate is permanently stressed by the North American plate and the South American Plate!

Preptit stressed the shocking inability of the Haitian State to research such events, plan for them, 

and institute the measures to educate the population re such seismic realities, and to impose anti-seismic 

construction norms to strengthen buildings throughout Haiti. 

It is as if the state learned nothing from the Earthquake of 2010 that physically destroyed a large part of Port-au-Prince, 

and killed and maimed 300,000 people there!

U.S. Embassy Statement following the Earthquake

in Northern Haiti

The United States expresses its condolences and support to all of those in Haiti affected by the earthquake that struck the Artibonite, North and Northwest Departments on October 6. We continue to closely monitor the situation. The United States and Haiti are strategic partners and friends, and we stand ready to assist in the relief effort if requested.

St. Boniface Haiti Foundation Inaugurates

Infectious Disease and Emergency Care Center

Supported by USAID/ASHA Grant

Fond-des-Blancs, October 04, 2018 – U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Michele Sison joined the Haitian Ministry of Health, the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to inaugurate the new Center for Infectious Disease and Emergency Care (CIDEC) in the southwestern peninsula of Haiti.

 The center is a state-of-the-art 33-bed treatment facility that includes isolation wards to treat patients and protect the public from contagious diseases like cholera and tuberculosis. Since opening in March, the emergency wing has treated nearly 5,000 patients. The infectious disease wing has already successfully treated a case of diphtheria, a highly contagious and serious bacterial infection.

The construction of CIDEC was supported by a $500,000 from USAID’s Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA).  ASHA provides assistance to schools, libraries, and medical centers; and most recently funded the construction of the new surgical ward at St. Boniface. This ward is the only fully functioning surgical center on Haiti’s southern peninsula that provides care to all patients regardless of their ability to pay. 

 “Today’s inauguration highlights the partnership between the American people and the people of Haiti,” said Ambassador Sison. “This Center for Infectious Disease and Emergency Care will enable the amazing doctors, nurses, and technicians here to respond to public health emergencies and tackle the problem of tuberculosis in the region.”

 Additional recipients of USAID/ASHA grants include St. Luke Foundation; Catholic Relief Services for equipment at Hospital St. Francois de Sales; Albert Schweitzer Hospital; and the International Child Care’s training center and inpatient childcare unit. Since 1979, ASHA grants have provided over $21 million to projects in Haiti.

 The U.S Government, through USAID Haiti, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has had a longstanding partnership with St. Boniface Hospital.  With USAID support, St. Boniface built the first program in Haiti to provide clinical and rehabilitative care to persons with spinal cord injuries.  USAID Haiti also supported a training program for Haitian engineering technicians to fix and maintain life-saving biomedical equipment. Furthermore, in coordination with CDC and PEPFAR, USAID supported a maternal and child survival program.  Separately, CDC and PEPFAR have provided technical and financial support since 2012, to St. Boniface through the Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB), to expand HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis services.

Haitians, immigration lawyers welcome ruling blocking Trump from ending TPS - for now

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES AND BRENDA MEDINA

The Miami Herald

Advocates for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Central American immigrants facing deportation from the United States said a California federal judge’s decision to temporarily block Trump administration plans to send them back home offers new hope — but also increased uncertainty.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen on Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction stopping the administration and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from terminating Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for immigrants from Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Sudan. The ruling affects over 300,000 people who, under the TPS program, have been allowed to live and work legally in the U.S. for decades after war or major natural disasters in their own countries.

“I’m happy to hear that there is still a possibility that the TPS could be extended. It gives us TPS holders hope,” Elva Castillo, 71, who immigrated from Nicaragua to Miami 21 years ago, said Thursday. “But it is important that we keep up the fight.”

Chen granted the injunction as part of a California lawsuit filed by lawyers on behalf of TPS recipients from the four countries who have U.S.-born children. Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and a private law firm sought the temporary injunction, arguing that the administration’s decision to end the program was motivated by racism and would adversely affect the immigrant families.

Some 19 states and 34 cities and counties filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the preliminary injunction, said Emi MacLean, co-legal director of NDLON.

“This is an extraordinary decision. It is the first time in the history of the TPS statute, a statute from 1990, that there has been a court-ordered halt for any TPS termination,” MacLean said Thursday, during a conference call held by the National TPS Alliance. “It is hugely important in terms of what is says about the Trump administration’s decision-making policies in the arena of immigration.”

She warned, however, that the decision is “preliminary and something we will need to continue to defend in the courts, in the streets and in Washington.”

As part of their arguments, MacLean and others cited the potential separation of families as well as President Donald Trump’s alleged reference in January to Haiti, El Salvador and some African nations as “s—hole countries.”

In the ruling, the judge said that “TPS beneficiaries and their children indisputably will suffer irreparable harm and great hardship.”

The ruling extends only for the duration of the California lawsuit. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Oct. 26. The government has said it will appeal the ruling. The Associated Press reported that Justice Department spokesman Devin O’Malley said the ruling “usurps the role of the executive branch.”

“The Justice Department completely rejects the notion that the White House or the Department of Homeland Security did anything improper. We will continue to fight for the integrity of our immigration laws and our national security,” O’Malley’s statement said, according to the AP report.

The judge had previously turned down a U.S. Justice Department request for dismissal of the lawsuit. He wrote in his ruling that the government “has failed to establish any real harm were the status quo (which has been in existence for as long as two decades) is maintained during the pendency of this litigation.”

Chen also said that evidence shows that the decision by acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke to change the criteria applied by prior administrations in deciding whether to continue or end TPS “may have been done in order to implement and justify a pre-ordained result desired by the White House.”

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, whose district includes a large concentration of Haitian-Americans, said she wasn’t surprised that the judge found “direct evidence of animus” in the Trump administration’s decision to end TPS.

“From the start of his administration, President Trump has made it more than clear, with his Muslim ban and more recently the inhumane treatment of migrant children, that people with brown skin are unwelcome here,” Wilson said. “It is incumbent upon us to do everything in our power to undo these racist acts.”

In Miami, Marleine Bastien, whose Family Action Network is a plaintiff in a suit filed in the Eastern District of New York on behalf of several South Florida Haitians enrolled in TPS, called the decision “sensible.” She said the news will bring hope to those in the program. TPS for Haiti is scheduled to end on July 22.

“I commend Judge Chen for his courage and thank him for the sigh of relief he brought to hundreds of thousands of families, including their American-born children, from the specter of family separation that loomed over them,” Bastien said. “Make no mistake, the Trump administration’s decision to terminate TPS was based on racism and xenophobia.

“Our hope is that this decision will hold to allow us to continue our efforts toward a permanent solution for those 300,000 deserving families,” she said.

Miami immigration attorney Ira Kurzban, who is among the lawyers representing FANM and others, said he hopes the California ruling will have “a positive impact on our case, as it raises similar but not identical issues.”

The group most immediately impacted are Sudanese, whose protection was set to end Nov. 2, followed by Nicaraguans, who were set to lose TPS in January.

Ouanaminthe 7 people among whom 2 judges taken by a river in flood

At least 7 people died due flooding caused by the Canarie River, on Thursday evening, in the municipality of Ouanaminthe.

The situation was the result of pouring rains in Department of the Northeast. The tragedy created a panic within the population.

Among the victims were county court judges from of Port-au-Prince - Goldie and Ostwalde Joseph, who were overtaken by water as they tried to cross the cresting river.

2 Haitian-Quebecois received the highest distinction of Quebec in 2018

Rezo Nodwes

Established in 1984, the National Order of Quebec aims at highlighting the contribution of Quebecois toward the growth and evolution of Quebec.

The highest distinction granted by the government of Quebec was awarded this year to thirty-four personalities. Among them were two Quebecois of Haitian origin - Patrick Paultre, a specialist in earthquake-resistant engineering and Wilson Sanon, the founder of the Association of sickle-cell anemia of Quebec. This year, both of these individuals were honored as knights by the National Order of Quebec.

Wilson Sanon had four children, two of whom suffer from sickle-cell anemia – the most widely-spread genetic disease in the world. Sickle-cell anemia is nearly incurable, and affects the blood. After the death of his son Nicky, he saw it necessary to create the Association of Sickle-Cell Anemia of Quebec.

He has chaired over this body since its inception in 1999, and hasn’t stopped spreading its reach, by surrounding it with a team of volunteers and partners including the Foundation of the Medical Specialists Federation of Quebec, Héma-Québec, Novartis Oncology, Operation Enfant Soleil, www.passeportsante.net, and the Pfizer Corporation.

Patrick Paultre, on the other hand, has worked to insure greater structural and mechanical safety of buildings and other constructions. In 2001, this Quebecois of Haitian origin launched the Center of Inter-University Major Seismic Infrastructures of Quebec, which he managed in its early stages.

In 2006, he established another international organization: The Center of Inter-university Research of Structures Under Extreme Loads.

After the earthquake which destroyed Haiti, his native country, in 2010, he worked to upgrade the building codes for earthquake-resistant constructions, and provide the necessary training for civil engineers and architects.

Melania Trump Responds to Criticisms of "Colonial" Hat

by Katie Kilkenny

The Hollywood Reporter

Speaking to press in Egypt while finishing up her solo, four-country African tour on Saturday, the First Lady addressed the controversial white pith helmet she had worn while embarking on a safari in Nairobi National Park in Kenya. The hat piqued some observers, who noted that the helmet is frequently associated with European colonizers of Africa and India.

"You know what, we just completed an amazing trip. We went to Ghana, we went to Malawi, Kenya, here we are in Egypt. I want to talk about my trip and now what about what I wear," Trump told reporters. "It's very important what we do, what I'm doing with U.S. aid, and what I do with my initiatives, and I wish people would focus on what I do, not what I wear."

Her wish was not heeded on Saturday, when critics compared her menswear-inspired look to the outfit worn by Michael Jackson in the "Smooth Criminal" music video, the titular character in the Carmen Sandiego computer games and villains from the Indiana Jones films.

However, others noted that the menswear look was a pointed political statement in a country that has been ranked worst for women's rights out of all Arab nations. "For me this a fascinating fashion statement for a country with a very poor record on women’s rights. In the politics of fashion realm, she’s sending a message: Women are equal," CNN reporter Kate Bennett tweeted.

Just one day earlier, however, the white pith helmet attracted criticism from experts and Twitter alike, with St. Lawrence University historian and African Studies coordinator Matt Carotenuto comparing the look to "[showing] up on an Alabama cotton farm in a confederate uniform" in an interview with CNN.

Al Jazeera English journalist Hamza Mohamed, meanwhile, tweeted, "Melania Trump went on a safari in Kenya wearing a pith helmet - a symbol of European colonial rule across Africa."

It's hardly the first time the First Lady's clothing choice sparked widespread debate: Perhaps most notably, a Zara jacket emblazoned with the phrase "I really don't care, do u?" enraged many when Trump accompanied her husband on a trip to visit an immigrant children's detention center in Texas in June.