Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 24 juillet 2019

‘I am alarmed,’ U.N. Secretary General says about 2018 Haiti massacre

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The secretary general of the United Nations said Wednesday he is “alarmed” by the findings of his human-rights investigators on a 2018 massacre in a Haiti slum, as well as the lack of any judicial action against the accused, including two former Haiti National Police officers and a current government official.

“The allegations of complicity by at least two police officers and a representative of the State call for authorities to act swiftly to bring to justice those who are responsible for the crimes,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in his first public comments about a U.N.-issued report on the November 2018 massacre in Port-au-Prince’s La Saline neighborhood.

Haiti-based human rights organizations have put the death toll in La Saline as high as 71. U.N. investigators , who acknowledged that their probe was not exhaustive, say at least 26 people, including a 10-month-old and 72-year-old, were killed. The killings took place over two days and were “a well-planned operation” carried out by five different gangs, the U.N. said. 

Witnesses reported that a Haitian government official, the appointed delegate for the West region, was seen in the company of police officers and gang members during the attack. One of those police officers had previously been implicated in another massacre in the Grande Ravine slum of Port-au-Prince a year earlier. As in La Saline, no legal proceedings have been initiated to date in relation to the Grande Ravine killings.

‘If Haiti gives me a government, we can work together toward a better future’ | Opinion

BY JOVENEL MOISE

JULY 12, 2019 08:11 PM, UPDATED JULY 12, 2019 08:11 PM

The past few weeks have been some of the most difficult of my presidency. Haitians are no strangers to political instability. Politics is etched into daily life in Haiti — debated in the street and daubed on walls across the country. Political differences are healthy and inherently Haitian. But the current instability comes with a cost we cannot afford to pay.

It has plunged Haiti into a state of gridlock. With a minority in Parliament refusing to vote on the appointment of a government, last year’s budget sat gathering dust, and no easy solution is in sight. So many people require urgent attention: According to the National Council for Food Security, there are approximately 7 million living in poverty, 3 million of whom live in extreme poverty; 350,000 Haitian children do not attend school; and 100,000 children under 5 are malnourished. Haitians have understandably taken to the street demanding answers to pressing questions — and demanding action.

It’s right for the public to hold me, as president, accountable for this country’s governance. I hold myself accountable as well. I was elected by the people with a mandate to improve Haitians’ lives. Each day that our politicians spend fighting among themselves at the expense of the issues that matter to the people — opportunity, safety, rule of law and good governance — is one day too many. I accept my responsibility for that. It is time others do, too.

I am working day and night to fix the current crisis. That has meant trying everything possible to bring together groups for dialogue to find a path forward, no matter how acrimonious the disagreements. It has also meant answering questions that the Haitian people have for me.

The PetroCaribe corruption crisis has plagued our country. Anger is palpable and entirely understandable. For my part, I took to the airwaves to directly answer allegations made against me in a report about PetroCaribe funds. Before running for office, I was a banana farmer and then a successful agricultural entrepreneur in northern Haiti. In 2014, my company was contracted to renovate a road that had fallen into disrepair. The report incorrectly alleges that the work was not done, and that the funds were therefore stolen. That is patently untrue — Agritrans renovated three kilometres of unmetalled road, 85 percent of the total, despite being paid just 35 percent of the total due, or 15 million gourdes. I invite any interested observers to travel to the road and drive along it today.

I have addressed this subject directly and on several occasions. I hope Haitians will see the accusations for what they are: a tool to further the cynical political and financial interests of a small group of people who have been abusing weaknesses in our system for a long time. The PetroCaribe wrongdoing is a decade-old problem, and genuine justice is long overdue. In this hyper-partisan, fractious environment, honesty and justice are distant goals. That is why I am working with the Organization of American States to assemble a team of independent international financial experts for a commission that will work around our broken politics to deliver a fair, credible, objective audit so that Haitian judges can pursue accountability for anyone found to have committed crimes and stolen from the Haitian people.

Appointing this commission is the only way for Haiti’s political system to return to the business of governing. And our first order of business must be to appoint a new government. I have certainly done my part, making compromises in the formation of my own cabinet. Numerous members of the opposition will receive cabinet posts under my proposals. I am ready to go, we need to get moving. There are no excuses left.

The appointment of a government will unlock billions of dollars in development funding that currently sits waiting for our empty parliament to act, earmarked for our electrical grid, agricultural projects and the health and education of the Haitian people. These monies form part of a Citizen’s Development Plan secured from our allies in the United States, Taiwan, Europe, and international financial institutions — it must not be sacrificed on the altar of politics. This is the cost of political gridlock.

While this development plan is crucial and stands to affect Haitians across the country, gaining access to those funds is not the end of the road. We need to think farther ahead. We need to break the cycle of political chaos, thinking past the upcoming parliamentary elections in October and past the end of my administration.

This will be a primary goal of the government I form. I will serve until the end of my term in 2022, then leave office. But without serious, sober reform and commitment to changing who we are truly working for and how we are working for it, the next president — and the president thereafter — will be condemned to face the same challenges that I and those who preceded me have faced. And the people and our country will wind up with nothing.

Working closely with international partners, we will need to design and legislate effective reforms for transparency that have real teeth and give Haitians a sense of accountability and trust in elected officials. We will need to de-politicize and strengthen our electoral commission — to inspire genuine confidence ahead of October’s parliamentary elections. To pass these and other measures, we will need to work together across party lines. Nothing meaningful can be done alone, and I pledge to work with all sectors and parties in Haiti.

We all must be willing. This is difficult and important work that needs to begin immediately. Our country and our people deserve to have hope. They deserve a democratic system that works and a government that gets things done.

The people are waiting.

Jovenel Moise is the president of Haiti.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article232622617.html#storylink=cpy

Few Signs of Immigration Raids Outside of New York City | Newsmax.com 

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said efforts to deport families with orders to leave the country will continue after an upcoming national sweep that President Donald Trump said would start Sunday.

But just after noon on Sunday, there were few reports or signs that the raids were being conducted.

Immigration attorneys and advocates around the country said they had not heard any reports of ICE activity.

"We've not heard anything," Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said on MSNBC on Sunday morning.

Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, would not confirm that the raids had even started.

"I can't speak to operational specifics and won't," he said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was getting reports that a nationwide crackdown on immigrants facing deportation is already underway in his city.

The sweeps were expected to start Sunday, but de Blasio tweeted on Saturday that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency had already taken action in New York.

The mayor said ICE agents did not succeed in rounding up any residents of Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood and Harlem.

Immigrants who've been given orders to leave the country are government targets in at least 10 cities.

Advocates are coaching them on their rights, including instructions not to respond if agents knock on the door unless shown a warrant signed by a judge.

De Blasio has said his city would not cooperate with ICE.

A group of Chicago aldermen and activists were patrolling the city on bike to look for immigration authorities detaining people as part of broader federal immigration sweeps.

Roughly 65 people were  taking part in Sunday's bike patrol, which is focusing on the immigrant-heavy neighborhood of Albany Park on the city's northwest side.

Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez said the idea is to keep people informed. She said bikers would ride in shifts, possibly for several days.

She said an attorney is also available to help people who do get detained.

The Wall Street Journal reported that ICE agents went to residences in the Harlem section of Manhattan and Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood. The agents were rejected by people at the residences because they didn’t have warrants, but plan to return to Sunset Park tomorrow, the Journal reported.

Elsewhere, however, immigration experts said they were seeing few if any signs of a massive dragnet.

The Miami Herald reported that South Florida advocacy groups redirected their efforts from helping detainees to spreading information and awareness of immigrant rights.

"At the ICE central processing facility in Miramar, all was quiet. No agents were seen entering or leaving the building before sunrise, and only a single RV was stationed inside the fenced-in center," the Herald reported.

"Also quiet were hot lines set up by attorneys and others who had been anticipating the removal of thousands of immigrants with deportation orders. They had not received any calls from immigrants or their families seeking help Sunday morning."

Immigration sources told the Herald that it’s possible that ICE agents had not acquired the warrants necessary to carry out the removals.

Matthew Albence, the agency's acting director, said targets were on an "accelerated docket" of immigration court cases for predominantly Central Americans who recently arrived at the U.S. border in unprecedented numbers. Similar operations occurred in 2016 under President Barack Obama and in 2017 under Trump.

"This family operation is nothing new," Albence told The Associated Press. "It's part of our day-to-day operations. We're trying to surge some additional resources to deal with this glut of cases that came out of the accelerated docket, but after this operation is over, these cases are still going to be viable cases that we'll be out there investigating and pursuing."

The operation will target people with final deportation orders on 10 major court dockets, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Miami. Albence said that doesn't mean arrests will be limited to certain areas. Authorities will go where their investigations lead, even if it's five states away from where the case is filed.

Trump said authorities were "focused on criminals as much as we can before we do anything else."

"It starts on Sunday and they're going to take people out and they're going to bring them back to their countries or they're going to take criminals out, put them in prison, or put them in prison in the countries they came from."

The operation further inflamed the political debate over immigration as Trump appeals to his base with a pledge to crack down on migrants and Democrats cast the president and his administration as inhumane for going after families.

The Obama-era family operation in 2016 resulted in about 10% of those targeted being arrested, and the 2017 effort had a lower arrest rate, Albence said. Other operations that have targeted people with criminal arrest records have yielded arrests rates of about 30%, aided by access to law enforcement databases.

"If you have an individual that's been arrested for a criminal violation, you're going to have much more of an investigative footprint," Albence said.

Administration officials have said they are targeting about 2,000 people, which would yield about 200 arrests based on previous crackdowns. Trump has said on Twitter that his agents plan to arrest millions of immigrants in the country illegally.

It is highly unusual to announce an enforcement sting before it begins. The president postponed the effort once before after a phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but immigration officials said it was also due in part to law enforcement concerns over officer safety because details had leaked.

But they're pressing ahead with this one, even though the president and other administration officials have discussed the long-planned family operation for months.

"Nothing to be secret about," Trump said. "If the word gets out, it gets out because hundreds of people know about it."

The operation will target entire families that have been ordered removed, but some family may be separated if some members are in the country legally. Albence gave a hypothetical example of a father and child in the U.S. illegally but a mother who isn't

"If the mother wants to return voluntarily on her own with the family, she'll have an opportunity to do so," he said.

Families may be temporarily housed in hotels until they can be transferred to a detention center or deported. Marriott said it would not allow ICE to use its hotels for holding immigrants.

If ICE runs out of space, it may be forced to separate some family members, Albence said. The government has limited space in its family detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania.

"If hotels or other places do not want to allow us to utilize that, it's almost forcing us into a situation where we're going to have to take one of the parents and put them in custody and separate them from the rest of their families," he said.

Meanwhile, activists ramped up efforts to prepare by circulating information about hotlines and planning public demonstrations. Vigils outside of detention centers and hundreds of other locations nationwide were set for Friday evening, to be followed by protests Saturday.

Haiti’s government is hurting for cash. It just hired yet another lobbyist in D.C.

“Haiti should be focused on domestic problems to provide medicines to hospitals, potable water to its population and education to its youth,” said Gary Bodeau, the president of the Lower Chamber of Deputies. “That amount of money could be used in a more efficient way, not to satisfy lobbyists to promote a political agenda.”

The country’s designated prime minister still can’t get confirmed. Civil servants and diplomats in its foreign embassies aren’t getting paid. And hospital staffs are dealing with rolling blackouts and a dire shortage of blood .

Despite the ongoing turmoil, however, Haitian officials appear to once again be more concerned about their image in Washington.

According to forms filed with the U.S. Justice Department, the international law firm Dentons US LLP is now working for Haiti, the third lobbying shop on the cash-strapped government’s payroll. The global public relations firm Mercury, hired back in February 2018 to soften Haiti’s image after President Donald Trump reportedly derided the country as a “shithole” during a White House meeting, remains active. So does Johanna LeBlanc, a consultant hired by the country’s Washington embassy in March.

Mercury, which has helped Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and other government ministers land opinion pieces in major U.S. dailies including the Miami Herald, said it was to be paid $4,690 a month in a 2018 filing until December, and then continue on a month-to-month basis thereafter. 

In her March 2019 filing, LeBlanc said she was being paid $5,000 a month until September to interact with “U.S. government officials and public entities in order to promote the interests of the State of Haiti and its citizens in the United States.”

Dentons, meanwhile, is charging a flat rate of $25,000 per month for 12 months, for what it describes as legal advice on various matters and lobbying. The firm’s principal contact, David Tafuri, did not respond to a Miami Herald inquiry about the scope of its work on behalf of the Haitian government.

Haiti Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond, who is listed as Dentons’ contact in the June 28 filing, would not provide specifics on what the international firm will be tasked with, and why the country needs a third firm to lobby for its interests. (A fourth firm is also registered, but it has been contracted by the Association of Haiti Industries to set up meetings for government ministers in order to push for extension of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act.) 

“A state has the right to contract the service of a firm at the same time identifying the kind of service it is seeking,” said Edmond, referring to the ongoing contract with Mercury, which he said the government is currently “reconsidering.”

“We are not dissatisfied [with] Mercury. I must admit they have been very helpful. But we wanted to assess Dentons’ work. We just contracted them so we are on [a] trial period,” added the minister, who in a June letter to Haiti’s diplomatic missions abroad acknowledged that the country was having financial difficulties and “it has been some time since you have received your pay.”

While it is not unusual for countries to hire lobbyists, the latest decision raises questions about Haiti’s priorities at a time when hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid are stalled because there is no functioning government to vote on a budget, and the Parliament has refused to even vote on an accord to receive a $150 million low-interest loan from the Republic of Taiwan to revamp the capital’s electrical grid. 

Recently, the finance minister announced that tax revenues had fallen by more than 35 percent due to the ongoing protests and instability, and the World Bank predicted a 0.4 percent annual growth rate for Haiti — far less than the 2.8 percent forecast.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 31 juillet 2019

 Skepticism geared toward new government

Sociopolitical sectors are expressing skepticism at the formation of new Prime Minister Fritz William Michel’s cabinet. The majority of the people making up the cabinet are of unknown personalities according to senator Pierre François Sildor who asks to wait to see which direction Michel’s general policy statement will go at the time of voting. 

“What means will the new government use to solve the big challenges of the hour: the expensive life, the insecurity, the environment, the return to school and the socio-economic situation,” Sildor said.

“Haiti en Folie” festival takes over Montreal

Thousands of festival-goers attended Montréal’s Place des Festivals on Monday to attend the opening show of the Festival en Folie organized as part of Juste pour Rire, which runs through July 28. Musicians Emeline Michel and James Germain kicked off the festivities that commemorate the 215 years of Haitian independence and the 60 years of presence of Haitians in Quebec. Also involved the festival includes DJ’s Rock Steady, Buzz and Sweet Larock and on Friday, a tribute will be paid to the singer Cornelia “Ti Corn” Schutt, born in Haiti to German parents and raised in Cap-Haitien.

Artists struggle to save Haiti museum after 2010 earthquake

DÁnica Coto | APJuly 19

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Franck Louissaint sighed and frowned as he stepped onto his patio and flung aside shower curtains protecting a painting by a former voodoo priest who became a renowned Haitian artist.

The painting from the 1960s once depicted a seemingly joyous voodoo spirit known as a loa, but it warped into something that looked like a three-dimensional satellite image of mountains after it was damaged by rubble and waterlogged when a 2010 earthquake hit the museum where it was displayed.

“It’s like the skin of a crocodile!” exclaimed Louissaint, an artist who expects seven more months of work to fully restore the painting by Robert Saint-Brice.

It is one of dozens of well-known paintings that artists are still trying to rescue nearly a decade after the magnitude 7.0 quake killed an estimated 300,000 people or more and struck countless buildings, including the Museum of Haitian Art of St. Pierre College — one of the country’s top institutions. More than 600 other watercolors and paintings by prominent artists are still in storage and in danger of decaying as a small group of artists struggles to restore the damaged works.

While life has begun anew for much of Haiti since the quake, the museum has been shuttered for nine years and only recently opened a tiny room to display a small quantity of art.

On a recent day, 91-year-old museum president Louis Du Bois walked briskly through the building, pointing out the damaged roof and walls as he occasionally put on his glasses to inspect certain paintings.

“We have to reopen to the public,” he said. “All the great artists are here.”

The quake also devastated other public spaces dedicated to art across Haiti, with $30 million in losses reported at the Museum d’Art Nader, which had one of the world’s most extensive collections of Haitian art.

But the Museum of Haitian Art is one of the few worldwide to host Haitian paintings from the 20th century. The museum, which previously drew 9,000 visitors a year, was established in the 1970s by art lovers to commemorate U.S. painter DeWitt Peters and is tucked into the southeast corner of Port-au-Prince’s historic area. It features mostly donated artwork.

Fewer than a dozen paintings are currently on display, including one titled “Marriage of Interest” by Rigaud Benoit, who is considered a master of Haitian painting, and “Tower of Babel” by Préfète Duffaut, whose work was collected by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Both men also painted murals inside a cathedral in Port-au-Prince that was flattened by the earthquake.

The museum’s oldest painting dates to 1945 and is by seminal Haitian artist Hector Hyppolite.

The Smithsonian Institution has helped the museum restore some paintings, as has the Louvre, which also donated 1,000 copies of a catalog illustrating all of Hyppolite’s paintings so local officials could sell them to help generate money.

But the museum still has blank, white walls, with hundreds of works stacked in a narrow storage area exposed to heat, humidity and other dangers. They are taken out only for the occasional cleaning while the more than 30 earthquake-damaged works are being restored.

Among those needing attention is a 1960s lush jungle scene by Jean-Claude Toussaint, which is nearly ripped in half and also slashed diagonally. The painting remains rolled up with yellowed masking tape that has lost its stickiness.

Du Bois estimates that the museum needs $50,000 to reopen, noting the roof must be fixed and the electricity repaired before additional paintings can be displayed.

For now, he and others are relying solely on the restoration efforts of artists such as Erntz Jeudy of nearby Quisqueya University.

Jeudy recently sat in front of a 71-by-79-inch (180-by-200-centimeter) painting by Miami-based artist Edouard Duval Carrié titled “The Republican Army of Santo Domingo,” which was stripped down to blank canvas in certain areas.

“This means a lot to me because it’s the restoration of a very rich heritage,” he said. “It’s great to be able to work and transmit this to future generations.”

It’s a feeling familiar for Louissaint, who works up to 10 hours at a time to restore Brice’s painting. He said it makes him proud to have permission to touch such artwork.

“It’s the story of the old Haiti,” he said. “It starts to live again.”

Soles With Soul: Donna Karan and Kenneth Cole Are Collaborating With Artisans in Haiti on Summer Sandals

Donna Karan and Kenneth Cole: two iconic names in the New York fashion industry; a combined 70 years of experience between them; never collaborated! Until today, that is. (Let’s chalk it up to collaborations being a 2010s thing.)

Like most great ideas, this one started with a personal story: Three years ago, Karan purchased a pair of leather sandals with a plush rubber sole from Cole’s Gentle Souls line (which fuses performance technology with natural materials), and they instantly became her summer signature. “Everyone was constantly asking where I got my sandals,” she says. “They are seriously the most comfortable shoes in the entire world—they are beyond comfortable. I can’t even explain it!” That got her thinking about the leather sandals she was producing in Haiti through her label, Urban Zen, which sparked another thought: What if she could get these crazy-comfy, foamy soles into the hands of the artisans and create something totally new and modern?

She called up Cole, who has also been working in Haiti for nearly a decade, to discuss a potential partnership. (Another point of similarity between the two designers: Both immediately went to Haiti after its devastating 2010 earthquake and have aided health care, education, and cultural preservation initiatives ever since.) Cole and his team had been working with a group of artisans making shoes out of local materials, “but they were a little stiff and uncomfortable,” he admits. So Karan connected his team with Pascale Théard, a longtime Urban Zen partner and highly skilled local workshop owner. In January, Cole and Karan flew down to her shop in Port-au-Prince and finalized 10 designs, all of which merge Cole’s comfy soles with traditional Haitian leather-working.

The finished products are equal parts Cole and Karan: gladiator sandals with cushioned soles, fringed and embroidered leather uppers, and braided straps that wrap around the ankle. “You know when you try on a shoe and go, Oh, my gosh! It’s that kind of feeling when you put these on,” Karan says. “I always say, if you can’t sleep in it and go out in it, I don’t want it. [I want] things that go from day to night, with an artisanal hand, with a story, with a meaning, with a soul. I always say it’s never about me—it’s about we and who we work with.”

Following a low-key launch party in the Hamptons over the weekend, the shoes are arriving in Cole’s store on the Bowery, at Urban Zen in Sag Harbor and New York City’s West Village, and on both designers’ websites today, with prices starting at $325. “Hopefully it becomes an ongoing sustainable business,” Cole says. “If nothing else, it shines a light on a culture that deserves to be celebrated. We’re making these in very limited quantities to start. We want them to be a vehicle for telling the story of this community.”

Haiti's Notorious Gang Leader Arnel Joseph Arrested

WASHINGTON/PORT-AU-PRINCE - A wounded Arnel Joseph was lying on a stretcher, ready to be wheeled into an operating room at the Bonne Fin hospital of Les Cayes, a Caribbean seaport located in Haiti's southern region, when members of a special unit of the National Police Force's (PNH) swooped in to arrest him.

"We've captured Arnel!" the officers shouted angrily, then they fired their weapons into the air, in a video seen by VOA Creole.

The alleged gang leader, considered to be one of the country's most dangerous and wanted fugitives, was awaiting surgery on his wounded leg, when he was found and captured, according to National Police Chief Michel Ange Gedeon. The leg was wounded during a fire fight with rival gang leader Ti Sourit, Arnel told reporters as they snapped photos and recorded video of him after his arrest.

Police Chief Gédeon tweeted the news to a stunned nation. 

"The gang leader Arnel Joseph (who) the national police force spent months trying to locate has been apprehended Monday at the Hopital Bonne Fin (Cayes). Thank you to our police officers and to the people of Haiti."

The police had been tracking him for months and suspected he was hiding out in the lush seaside of Artibonite in the agricultural region of the country.

Gedeon said the arrest "had been an obsession for the 15,000 police officers of the institution," during an interview with radio station Magik9 Tuesday morning.

In 2018, PNH had offered a $27,000 reward (2 million gourdes) for any information leading to Arnel's arrest.

Post arrest photos go viral 

Photos of the tall, thin young man in his 20s, lying naked on a dirt surface as people shouted questions at him quickly went viral on Haitian social media Monday night. In one photo obtained by VOA Creole, the tan Timberland-style boot of a police officer wearing camouflage pants can be seen pressing down on his chest. Arnel looks up in bewilderment.

The image sparked questions about whether human rights activists and MINUJUSTH, The United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti would investigate the circumstances of Arnel's arrest and his treatment by police afterward.  The special unit had decided to move in on Arnel before the surgical procedure, rather than waiting until after it was over to swoop in.  

MINUJUSTH's stated mission is "strengthening Haiti's rule of law institutions, developing the Haitian National Police, and promoting and protecting human rights."  

Who is Arnel Joseph?

The 20-something Arnel had been arrested and sentenced to six years in jail  in 2011 for the murder of several policemen. He was released in May of 2017.   Haiti's penal code is based on the French judicial system. It is unclear how his sentence was determined. 

Arnel is accused of terrorizing residents of the Village de Dieu slum of the capital, and more recently of robbing trucks loaded with merchandise, raping, kidnapping and attacking motorists on National Highway #1, which links the capital and cities to the north.

In a conversation with journalists posted on YouTube, he said he considers himself to be a "representative" of the Village de Dieu slum of the capital, Port-au-Prince. "Our revolution is the Haitian people's revolution," he said.

Links to lawmakers

In April, the discovery of of 24 mobile calls between Arnel and Senator Garcia Delva roiled the nation.  Senator Delva, who represents the Artibonite agricultural department of the country where the alleged gang leader had been hiding out, denied any wrongdoing.

"I only have one position on this," he told reporters. "If the commission finds that I, in my conversations with Arnel, ever agreed to associate myself with his (illegal) activities then I agree and accept to pay the consequences. For once, this country needs justice."

When journalists pressed him about why he was in contact with the gang leader in the first place, Delva responded that he "talks to everyone."

"Everyone knows my number, I've never changed it - so everyone calls me - anyone can call me. Anyway, I don't think I'm the only one who converses with him," Delva said.   The senator refused to divulge what they discussed and alleged that prominent Haitian businessman and opposition leader Reginald Boulos recognizes Arnel as a community leader. He said Boulos confirmed that in a conversation with a local radio station.

How the phone calls were tracked remains unclear.

Senator Senatus told reporters the commission (Senate Commission for Justice, Security and Defense) had received information that led to them asking the National Telecommunications Council (CONATEL) to provide information about the calls made to and from Senator Delva's phone.  But Jean David Rodney, the institution's executive director, denied ever receiving such a request in an interview with Haiti Libre newspaper. He said CONATEL has "no direct relationship with the Senate."

Former Senate leader Youri Latortue, who also represents the Artibonite region in the Senate, echoed his colleague Delva's claims about other prominent politicians being linked to the gang leader.

"I think there are a lot of other names on the list of connections to Arnel," Latortue told VOA Creole. "For example there's Vladimir Jean-Louis "Ti Vlad" who does security work for (former president Michel) Martelly - he's on the list too. We have to investigate the links between what they said exists (between) - the president and the thugs - because some people say it was the president who brought Arnel to Port au Prince.

Those allegations remain unsubstantiated.

Conditions to turn himself in to law enforcement

Prior to his arrest on Monday, Arnel expressed a willingness to turn himself in if the government met certain conditions. 

His conditions were: finishing potable water projects, building roads, boosting agriculture and providing electricity to the population.

What's next?

Arnel's capture put an end to years of living on the lam, but the police investigation into his criminal activities continues, according to Carl-Henry Boucher, the administrative director of the national police force.

On social media, reaction to the arrest was mixed.

"Good Job" @michaljoseph9341 commented on VOA Creole's Instagram page.

User @albandywedson questioned why the police waited until he sought treatment to arrest him.

And @benaldo_paul was skeptical of justice really being served, commenting "jomo (President Jovenel Moise) and the honorable garcia delva will have him released."

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 10 aout 2019

Trump to Haitians awaiting green cards: You can’t come to the U.S., wait in Haiti

The Trump administration is ending an Obama-era immigration program that allowed thousands of Haitians who were eligible to receive a green card in two years to wait it out in the United States with relatives.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday that it was ending the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program, and will now decide whether to allow Haitians to travel to the U.S. to await their lawful permanent resident status on a case-by-case and humanitarian basis. 

The decision, USCIS said, is consistent with a 2017 executive order on Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements. The order limits access to asylum, expands the use of detention, enhances enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border, and ensures that parole into the U.S. is exercised on a case-by-case basis.

USAID Awards New Agreement to Tackle Human Trafficking in Haiti

Port-au-Prince, July 31, 2019- In an effort to increase public awareness and protect victims, USAID signed a four-year cooperative agreement with the LUMOS Foundation to support a major acceleration of the Haitian government’s and civil society’s efforts to deliver transformative progress on the endemic issue of human trafficking, with a special focus on child trafficking and the thousands of children victim to cross-border trafficking and who have been placed in institutionalized care and domestic servitude.

This project will be implemented nationwide from 2019 to 2023 with an overarching goal of strengthening the capacity of the Haitian Government, local authorities and civil society to prevent, recognize, respond and prevent trafficking. USAID and LUMOS will increase public awareness of the dangers, legal consequences, and various forms of trafficking; develop and implement victim-centered services to provide protection and assistance to trafficked persons at the national and departmental levels; and enable the National Counter-Trafficking Committee (NCTC), L'Institut du Bien-Etre Social et de Recherches (IBESR), and partners to more effectively coordinate counter Trafficking in Persons activities. 

“There are many reasons vulnerable citizens can become trafficked - from their socio-economic conditions, to geographic locations, or their age,” said Acting Mission Director Gary Juste. “In Haiti, these situations tend to manifest themselves among children or those living along the border with Dominican Republic.  I look forward to USAID continuing its progress with the Government of Haiti to provide resources for victims and ensure that traffickers are brought to justice.”

This new project will build upon previous anti-trafficking successes by the Government of Haiti with support from the U.S. government. In the last seven years, the government of Haiti has closed several abusive orphanages and worked to reconstruct its foster care system to support child trafficking victims and reduce vulnerability to abuse. The government also increased the number of trained police; deployed its first class of border police trained to detect and combat trafficking; and increased coordination and oversight of its anti-trafficking efforts.

In Haiti, at least 30,000 children live in institutions, most of them in abusive orphanages where they are often subject to trafficking. Another form of trafficking in Haiti can be found within the widespread practice of placing children with other families to perform domestic worker, known as restavèks. In exchange for performing domestic tasks, children of families too poor to care for them should receive some sort of care and education from the receiving family. However, this practice is often characterized by children that are physically abused while in domestic servitude, unpaid for their work and prevented from attending school. In 2016, UNICEF published a report on children in domesticity, which estimated that 400,000 children are involved in domestic work; of those, 207,000 under age 15 are in unacceptable conditions.

\Lawsuit filed by Little Haiti resident over new development

Magic City Mega Complex developers plan to build 17 buildings in area

MIAMI - A development debate is creating controversy in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood.   

The Magic City Mega Complex got the green light to transform the neighborhood, but now one resident's new lawsuit is holding it up. 

Warren Perry didn't get to give his say on the issue with the city commission because he's a renter not a property owner. 

He is suing for standing. Whether he gets it or not remains to be seen. 

Perry and some others are opposed to not only the size of the development, but the entertainment components that they fear will create noise from traffic and ruin the quality of life. 

Developers said it will enhance the area and have promised to bring programs to the area and other benefits.

Although he is a renter, Perry maintains that he is a resident and, as such, has just as much stake in the neighborhood.

"It's too large for the scale of the community," Perry said about the new development.

Perry's lawsuit is the latest attempt to stop the development after it got final approvals five weeks ago.

Haiti senator tied to kidnapping committed by notorious gang leader, police say

A Haiti senator who recently questioned his own qualifications to hold public office is being tied to one of several kidnappings carried out by a notorious Haitian gang leader. 

Haiti National Police sources say an investigation into several kidnappings by infamous gang leader Arnel Joseph, who was arrested last week, reveal that during one of the kidnappings the gang leader was in contact with Haitian senator Garcia Delva.

The victim was a neighbor of Delva’s who had been kidnapped along with two of his employees in March as they drove from Léogâne to Port-au-Prince. During negotiations to secure the group’s release, the businessman’s wife reached out to Delva for help.

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Unbeknownst to the victim’s wife, police say, Delva had already spoken with the gang leader, first on his cellphone and then seconds later on the kidnap victim’s telephone. The kidnapped group was eventually released after a ransom of $110,500 was paid.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Pierre Esperance, a human rights advocate who is familiar with the police investigation, said of Delva. “He is a deportee of the United States who is implicated in wrongdoing and he’s repeating what he used to do before. He has dirtied the image of the Senate like other senators.”

Delva, 45, did not return calls from the Miami Herald seeking comment. Founder and lead singer of the Haitian konpa band Mass Konpa, Delva earlier this year expressed his desire to run for president of Haiti and recently said during a live radio broadcast that there are many more Haitian citizens “who are are much more qualified than myself to be senator.”

Telling Haitians they should have the courage to run for office, he said: “I don’t want you to have another senator like me.”

This is not the first time that Joseph has been tied to Delva, who was charged with battery in 2000 in Miami-Dade County.

In April, the head of the Senate’s justice commission, Sen. Jean-Renel Senatus, told reporters that “there were a total of 24 phone conversations, some of which lasted 15 minutes, 92 seconds, others which lasted a minute” between Delva and Joseph. Senatus, a former government prosecutor, said the calls were made between Feb. 7 and Feb. 22. During that period, Joseph was being sought by Haitian police and even appeared, alongside members of his gang, at an anti-government protest near the presidential palace openly brandishing his gun. 

“The Senate has only one thing to do in this case and it is to remove Sen. Delva’s immunity,” said Esperance, who visited Joseph on Tuesday. 

The allegation involving Delva raises questions about the credibility of the Haitian Parliament, which has been derided as “legal bandits,” given the number of lawmakers with criminal histories. It also underscores concerns about the collusion between those in power in Haiti and gangs. In a detailed U.N. report on a gang-led massacre in the La Saline slum in November, human-rights investigators raised a number of concerns about the abuses committed against residents and the alleged involvement of government officials..

The allegation involving Delva raises questions about the credibility of the Haitian Parliament, which has been derided as “legal bandits,” given the number of lawmakers with criminal histories. It also underscores concerns about the collusion between those in power in Haiti and gangs. In a detailed U.N. report on a gang-led massacre in the La Saline slum in November, human-rights investigators raised a number of concerns about the abuses committed against residents and the alleged involvement of government officials..

At the time of his arrest, Joseph was preparing to head into surgery for a wounded leg when specialized Haiti National Police units swooped into Bonne Fin hospital in Les Cayes and arrested him. Laying on the ground naked as reporters took photos and videotaped him, Joseph said in Creole that his leg had been wounded during a shootout with a rival gang, Ti Sourit.

Considered Haiti’s most wanted fugitive, Joseph had spent more than a year eluding police as his gang terrorized residents in Port-au-Prince’s Village de Dieu slum and in the Artibonite Valley, where earlier this year the gang attacked a police station

On Wednesday, Joseph was released from a local hospital, after finally having surgery on his leg, and into the custody of the judicial police. That same day, Police Chief Michel-Ange Gédéon, who has been lauded for Joseph’s arrest, announced the arrest of nine other members of Joseph’s gangs. Gédéon and his top brass also appeared before the Senate in a closed-door hearing to discuss the current state of security and Joseph, who police said raised tens of thousands of dollars through ransom-kidnappings and other criminal activities.

During the hearing, police were also questioned about the allegations concerning Delva. Delva was present during the questioning.

“The polices said they were 98 percent certain Sen. Delva is involved in kidnapping with Arnel Joseph,” said Sen. Patrice Dumont, who was present during the questioning.

Dumont said that based on police revelations, he wrote to the Senate bureau asking that Delva, who serves as vice treasurer, not continue to assume the role. Dumont said the Senate’s internal rules do not permit him or any other senator to ask Delva to resign or for them to remove his immunity, which all Haitian lawmakers have. The Senate, he said, can vote to authorize Delva to present himself before the courts, should a Haitian judge ask him to. something Dumont said he’s prepared to do if a judge were to ask.

“There is just too much evidence,” Dumont said.

AG RACINE LEADS MULTISTATE COALITION CHALLENGING TRUMP’S MOVE TO GUT PROTECTIONS FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS FLEEING PERSECUTION

21 Attorneys General Argue Changes to Asylum Standards Violate Federal Law and Judicial Precedent

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine today led a group of 21 State Attorneys General to challenge the Trump administration’s proposed changes to asylum standards. If implemented, these changes would allow the Executive branch to arbitrarily deny asylum claims to immigrants seeking haven from domestic or gang violence. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed in Grace v. Barr before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, AG Racine and his counterparts argue that these stringent revisions—which would effectively bar asylum claims based on domestic or gang-related violence—go against longstanding federal law and judicial precedent, undermining the rule of law itself.

“Denying asylum to people fleeing persecution in their home countries will mean forsaking victims of gang and domestic violence, particularly vulnerable women and children, to unspeakable fates,” said AG Racine. “We cannot allow this administration to abandon our values for the sake of their unlawful, fear-based agenda. Our coalition of State Attorneys General is urging the Judiciary to police the administration’s compliance with longstanding statutes and legal precedents, which these changes seek to undermine. The president may believe that he is above the law, but his administration must still follow it.” 

The District of Columbia and partner states filed this amicus brief in Grace v. Barr, in support of the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Trump administration’s heightened asylum standards. The lawsuit was first filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, the ACLU of Texas, and the ACLU of D.C., in response to a policy former Attorney General Jeff Sessions implemented in June 2018. 

Sessions articulated this policy change in Matter of A-B-, while intervening in the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)’s decision to grant a Salvadoran woman asylum based on her claim of spousal abuse. In his ruling, Sessions broke sharply from existing precedent to argue that BIA should reject asylum claims regarding domestic or gang violence. Shortly after, the United States Customs and Immigration Service issued guidelines for implementing this policy, emphasizing denial of such claims.

In December 2018, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia struck down the change, ruling it incompatible with existing law. The Department of Justice is now appealing the ruling in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

In this amicus brief, the states collectively argue that the District Court’s decision to reject the administration’s heightened standards should be upheld, on the basis that:

• The standards violate established federal law: A near categorical bar to asylum claims based on domestic or gang violence, as Matter of A-B-recommends, would illegally prevent victims of such violence from attaining asylum protection. The asylum process is rooted in the Immigration and Nationality Act. Among other things, that legislation makes it legal for anyone who arrives at the U.S. border to apply for asylum over a “well-founded fear of persecution” in one’s home country. Subsequent court cases have validated the legitimacy of claims made based on gang or domestic violence.
• The standards are inconsistent with state, federal, and international policies protecting victims of violence: All 50 states have enacted provisions in their criminal and civil codes to protect victims of domestic violence, and the federal government has acknowledged the need to assist immigrant women who have been victimized by domestic violence. Both have dedicated programs and resources to gang violence prevention.Furthermore, in signing the 1967 United Nations Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, the United States vowed to protect individuals escaping persecution. The Trump administration’s policy clashes with these commitments.
• The standards restrict states’ abilities to grow their economies: Immigrants make significant contributions to the economy, and American society more broadly. This is evident in D.C., where more than one in seven residents, and one in six workers, is an immigrant. It’s also borne out in study after study, and through recent experience nationwide. For example, nearly half of all new residents in the Great Lakes region between 2000-2015 were foreign-born, arriving at a moment when the region’s population growth lagged behind the national average. This influx of foreign-born residents boosted jobs and wages in the region. Given that the majority of asylum grantees are of working age and can contribute to a state’s economic activity, the Trump administration’s standards would limit states’ access to a valuable source of labor.

AG Racine is leading today’s friend-of-the-court brief and is joined by Attorneys General from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

The brief as filed in Grace v. Barr is available at: https://oag.dc.gov/sites/default/files/2019-08/Grace-v-Barr-Amicus.pdf

This is the latest effort by AG Racine to protect established federal immigration policy, defend asylum rights, and stand up for immigrants in the District and nationwide. In 2018, AG Racine led a similar coalition of states in filing an amicus brief in this case, then referred to as Grace v. Sessions, while it was under review in the District Court for the District of Columbia. He also joined with other Attorneys General to take action against the Trump administration to protect public safety funding for “sanctuary” cities; prevent attempts to close the Southern border to asylum seekers; block immigration-related conditions on law enforcement grants; stop a cruel family separation policy; keep longtime District residents from El Salvador, Haiti, and Honduras from losing their protected status; fight for hard-working “dreamers” to stay in the United States; and to oppose the “Muslim travel ban.”

###

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) works to protect and defend District residents, enforce District laws, and provide legal advice to D.C. government agencies. Karl A. Racine leads OAG as the first elected Attorney General of the District of Columbia. Visit www.oag.dc.gov to learn more.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 14 aout 2019

 La Culture haïtienne est-elle aussi en voie de disparition ?

LA VALLEE DE JACMEL, 10 Août – On se plaint qu’il n’existe pas de salles de cinéma en Haïti, les dernières ont disparu avec le séisme du 12 janvier 2010, mais est-ce une si grande perte quand on sait ce qui se produit aujourd’hui comme oeuvres cinématographiques ?

Jusqu’à Miami que ce ne sont que de très jeunes qui se bousculent à l’entrée des salles.

Celles-ci pourvues certes de toutes les dernières trouvailles en matière technologique. Car le cinéma aujourd’hui n’est plus ce qu’il était.

Fini le temps où l’on se bousculait au Rex, au Capitole, à l’Impérial ou au Triomphe pour les dernières œuvres des metteurs en scène français Claude Chabrol ou Costa Gavras (L’Aveu) ou américains Francis Ford Coppola ou Georges Lucas (Star Wars), aujourd’hui le cinéma n’est pas une affaire de savoir bien raconter une histoire (la Guerre du Vietnam est déjà loin et l’Espace est colonisé depuis belle lurette, le président Trump ne déclare-t-il pas que Mars sera bientôt habité … par les Américains bien sûr, America first !), le cinéma nouveau, qu’il ne faut pas comprendre avec le nouveau cinéma comme on disait nouveau roman qui signifie une révolution dans le domaine, l’œuvre cinématographique aujourd’hui est davantage le produit d’une compétition à coups de trouvailles technologiques : les multiples possibilités que procure le montage numérique passant avant le fait culturel cinématographique proprement dit.

Or ce sont les grandes compagnies (‘Majors’) qui font la distribution dans les métropoles ou plutôt mégapoles comme Miami.

Aussi faut-il attendre leur passage à la télé - européenne (de préférence) - pour voir les deux derniers films de Raoul Peck : ‘Young Karl Marx’ et ‘I’m not your negro’ sur la vie et l’œuvre de l’écrivain afro-africain James Baldwin.

Fini le temps où aux Etats-Unis la télévision publique (PBS) ou la chaine BRAVO passait des chefs d’œuvres culturels (musique, danse, cinéma …).

Cela a diminué depuis que l’administration fédérale, sous l’influence des élus Républicains, a décidé de réduire les subventions nécessaires.

Quant à la télévision en Haïti, elle ne possède pas les droits de reproduction.

Cette redirection de l’art cinématographique vers la primauté du technologique est peut-être l’une des causes aussi de l’arrêt observé dans une production cinématographique haïtienne naissante.

Y compris à l’extérieur (Etats-Unis, Canada).

L’une de nos vedettes ne s’est-elle pas reconvertie dans la politique. C’est Nice Simon, aujourd’hui mairesse élue de Tabarre.

Le Ciné Institute de Jacmel fait de moins en moins parler de lui.

Une tentative de ciné club ces dernières années à Pétionville, on n’en entend plus rien non plus.

Pas une note de solfège ...

Que nous reste-t-il ? La musique. Presque totalement dominée par le Rap créole et le ‘Rabòday.’

Ou cette nouvelle création des vacances d’été 2019 appelée ‘Car Wash’ (les jeunes qui bloquent toute circulation dans un quartier pour danser et faire la fête … dans un monde de total dénuement, hélas).

Cependant cela ne mène pas loin en fait de patrimoine culturel.

Nos nouveaux musiciens - comme le proclamait, s’en glorifiait même l’un d’entre eux, un certain Joseph Michel Martelly, profession troubadour - ne savent pas une note de solfège.

D’où nous viendront les nouveaux Guy Durosier, Antalcidas Murat, Gérald Merceron, Issa El Saieh, Joe Trouillot, Martha Jean Claude, Frantz Casséus, Carmen Brouard, Micheline Laudun Denis, voire Ludovic Lamothe, Justin Elie et leurs œuvres restées immortelles ?

Si l’Etat haïtien ne se décide pas hic et nunc (ici et maintenant) à investir profondément dans la culture. Mais la vraie.

Disparaître corps et biens ...

Notre pays fait peur actuellement. Haïti laisse l’impression de s’enfoncer dans la disparition totale, corps et biens (enfin ce qu’il en reste).

Sur les plans économique et structurel c’est le néant total. On ne voit rien à l’horizon. Tout le monde le constate et le répète.

Mais comme avait dit un de nos écrivains au lendemain du séisme de janvier 2010 : Quand tout aura disparu, en Haïti il nous restera la culture !

Oui mais la culture n’est pas un simple don de Dieu, n’est pas la science infuse mais avant tout une accumulation d’expériences vécues.

Pour nos gouvernants actuels, cette culture-là consiste en des millions déversés aux élus locaux pour la fête patronale.

Or jusqu’à ce jour notre pays pullule de jeunes passionnés par le théâtre, la grande musique ou la danse classique comme on l’a vu lors de la tournée en Haïti en 2016-2017 des orchestres philarmoniques des universités de Yale et de Cornell qui, avec notre Orchestre philarmonique de Sainte Trinité, ont donné des concerts en plein air (au Champ de Mars comme au Palais Sans Souci, de Milot - Cap-Haïtien) tout comme les nombreuses compagnies de danse locales qui ont accompagné la tournée du Martha Graham Dance Company à Port-au-Prince comme à Jacmel.

Ce n’est pas souhaiter la disparition totale de notre pays comme cela semble avoir commencé, que de rappeler que si Haïti survivra par sa culture, il n’est pas trop tôt pour commencer à renforcer cette dernière.  

Et cela vaut aussi pour ce qu’on appelle le secteur privé.

Evidemment !

Marcus-Haïti en Marche, 10 Août 2019

L’EVENEMENT

Grand-Ravine ou l’Etat Haïtien mis en fuite par les Gangs p.1

POLITIQUE

Reprise annoncée (mais avortée) de la séance de mise en accusation de Jovenel Moïse p.1

La montagne aurait-elle accouché d’une souris ? p.6

LUTTE ANTI-CORRUPTION

Pourquoi Premier ministre et Ministre de la planification ? p.1

PROFESSION JOURNALISTE

Pour une Presse Libre mais aussi Responsable p.1

DANS LE MONDE

Réseaux sociaux sur la sellette p.1

HAITI DEMAIN ?

La Culture haïtienne est-elle aussi en voie de disparition ? p.1

Chatiman nan Doub Sans p.13

SCIENCES

Le racisme ‘scientifique’ renait de ses cendres p.2

LUTTE CONTRE L’INSECURITE

13 personnes tuées, dont 11 présumés bandits et 1 policier p.2

67 nouveaux commissaires de police diplômés p.9

LA ROUTE TUE

22 morts dont 4 enfants ... p.2

Levée de la grève des transports à la frontière Mallepasse-Jimani p.3

OUR ENGLISH SPECIAL

63 years of hurricanes (1954-2017) p.10

COOPERATION

Départ des policiers rwandais p.11

DEVELOPPEMENT

Union des nations sud-américaines UNASUR p.13

PATRIMWAN

Dr Marie Rose Bleus nonmen ‘Principal’ nan Lakeview Elementary p.15

Insécurité : Au moins 13 personnes tuées, dont 11 bandits et 1 policier durant le week-end

ALIX LAROCHE12 août 2019

HPN - Environ treize (13) personnes ont été tuées au cours du week-end. Parmi elles, on a dénombré au moins 11 présumés bandits et un policier, ont rapporté plusieurs médias de la capitale.

D'après le commissaire de police, responsable de la juridiction de Thomazeau où opère un gang dénommé : « les 400 mawozo », 8 présumés bandits de ce gang, dont le chef, ont trouvé la mort, le samedi 10 août, dans le cadre d’un affrontement avec un gang rival. La police et le juge de paix qui ont été sur les lieux n'ont pas pu faire le constat légal des corps séparés de leur tête et calcinés, a fait savoir aussi l'officier de police.

Pendant la même période, trois autres bandits ont été stoppés par la police au niveau de Tabarre. Les forces de l’ordre étaient en train d’exécuter un mandat contre un nommé « Ti chinois », soupçonné d’implication dans l’assassinat d’un policier et de sa femme sous les yeux de leur fille de 5 ans.

Attaqués à coup de feu par des individus sur les lieux, les policiers qui ont répliqué, ont pu stopper trois des malfrats, a rapporté de son côté dans les médias, le porte-parole de la PNH, Michel-Ange Louis-Jeune.

D’autre part, a-t-on appris, des gens ont, de nouveau, été abattus à Martissant, notamment au niveau de Bréa où les gangs armés font la loi. Un policier a été également tué à Martissant 1 dans des circonstances non encore élucidées.

Alix Laroche

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Insécurité : Deux hommes, dont un policier national, tués par balles à Martissant

P-au-P, 12 août 2019 [AlterPresse] --- Deux personnes, dont un policier national, ont été tuées par balles, dans la soirée du dimanche 11 août 2019, dans le quartier de Martissant (périphérie sud de la capitale), par des individus armés, selon les informations rassemblées par l’agence en ligne AlterPresse.

Le policier appartient à la 22e promotion de la Police nationale d’Haïti (Pnh).

Un syndicaliste de transports publics, Romain Morancy, a été tué par balles, dans l’après-midi du jeudi 8 août 2019, à Martissant, non loin du commissariat de police, par des individus armés non identifiés.

Le jeudi 1er août 2019, Peterson Paul, employé de la banque commerciale Unibank, a été aussi abattu à Martissant, ainsi qu’une infirmière, dont l’identité n’a pas été révélée.

Le mardi 30 juillet 2019, des individus armés ont abattu par balles, dans cette zone, un agent de la 26e promotion de la Police nationale d’Haïti (Pnh), Salomon Saint-Louis.

INTEMPERIES: 27 familles sinistrées à Port-au-Prince après les pluies torrentielles du 9 août 2019 (Haïti Standard)

10 août 2019.- Les responsables du Comité communal de protection civile (CCPC), à la Mairie de Port-au-Prince, ont recensé 27 familles sinistrées après les récentes pluies qui se sont abattues sur la Capitale et ses environs, dans la soirée du 9 août 2019. Les personnes sinistrées ont été recensées suite aux inondations survenues dans le quartier de Canapé-Vert, notamment au niveau des rues Faustin 1er et Bois patate.

Transports : 22 morts, dont 4 enfants, dans une quarantaine d’accidents, du 5 au 11 août 2019

P-au-P, 12 août 2019 [AlterPresse] --- 22 morts, dont 4 enfants, tel est le bilan d’une quarantaine d’accidents de la route, survenus du lundi 5 au dimanche 11 août 2019, en Haïti, selon les informations rassemblées par l’agence en ligne AlterPresse.

Au total, ces accidents ont fait 176 victimes, selon les précisions de l’organisation haïtienne Services techniques et opérationnels pour pallier aux accidents (Stop accidents).

24 morts ont été dénombrés dans plus d’une trentaine d’accidents de la route, pour la semaine allant du lundi 29 juillet au dimanche 4 août 2019, avait fait savoir Stop accidents.

L’organisation n’a pas cessé d’appeler les autorités à mettre en place des dispositions concrètes et efficaces pour prévenir les accidents de la circulation sur le territoire national.

Une marche contre l’insécurité routière a été organisée, le dimanche 4 août 2019, par Stop accidents avec plusieurs partenaires, à Port-au-Prince, pour marquer le premier anniversaire de la mort d’une jeune étudiante en sciences infirmières, Wingie Charles, tuée dans un accident de la route à Fontamara 27 (périphérie sud de la capitale, Port-au-Prince).

Le 4 août 2018, Wingie Charles s’apprêtait à aller présenter, justement, son mémoire de sortie sur la sécurité routière.

Transports : 13 blessés, dont plusieurs graves, dans un accident de la route

Dépêches

lundi 12 août 2019

P-au-P, 12 août 2019 [AlterPresse] --- 13 blessés, dont plusieurs graves, ont été enregistrés, dans un accident de la route, le dimanche 11 août 2019, sur la route nationale numéro 1, au niveau de Carriès (nord de la capitale), selon les informations obtenues par l’agence en ligne AlterPresse.

Parmi les blessés, figurent des étudiants de l’Institut national d’administration, de gestion et des hautes études internationales (Inaghei), de l’Université d’Etat d’Haïti (Ueh), qui revenaient des funérailles de la mère d’un de leurs camarades.

Une quinzaine de morts ont été recensés dans trois accidents de la route, survenus le dimanche 4 août 2019, dans la Grande Anse (Sud-Ouest) et à Port-au-Prince.

DES ÉCRIVAINS HAÏTIENS PRENNENT POSITION ET EXIGENT LA DÉMISSION DE JOVENEL MOÏSE DU POUVOIR

LETTRE OUVERTE DES ECRIVAINES ET ECRIVAINS HAÏTIENS A LA NATION

Citoyennes, Citoyens,

Nous ne sommes pas d’accord avec la façon dont nous sommes gouvernés. De cela nous sommes tous convaincus aujourd’hui. Ce consensus puissant est porteur d’une vague qui s’est amorcée il y a quelques mois et qui ne s’arrêtera pas. Le spectacle dégradant que le Président de la République, le gouvernement et la majorité parlementaire donnent à la Nation et au monde est honteux. Nous vivons en direct la déroute d’un gouvernement dépassé, juste préoccupé à sauver ses privilèges et son butin mal acquis sur le dos de la Nation.

Nous sommes indignés. Mais c’est signe que nous sommes vivants et pugnaces. Cette descente aux enfers de la nation est la conséquence d’un système social basé sur l’exclusion et un trop-plein d’inégalités se traduisant en politique par une succession de régimes ou de tentatives autoritaires, loin de tous principes d’équité et de justice sociale. Nous n’en voulons plus.
Nous saluons le courage des hommes et des femmes de ce pays, des jeunes en particulier qui refusant par milliers de baisser les bras, se battent contre l’obscurité qui veut nous recouvrir. Et la rue rebelle, incandescente, imprévisible, déverse sporadiquement ses coulées de rage et de frustration légitime à travers les villes. Criant : Nous n’en pouvons plus d’avoir faim. Nous n’en pouvons plus de souffrir de la négation de nos besoins élémentaires pendant qu’on nous dépouille.

Dans la vie de chaque peuple viennent ces moments où il doit engager son histoire et son destin. Il est venu le temps du changement. Nous unissons nos voix à celles qui demandent la démission du président de la République. Mais disons-le d’emblée, haut et clair, aucune transformation durable de notre société ne se fera sans que soient pris en compte les valeurs et les principes qui seuls peuvent assurer l’avènement d’une société plus juste, solidaire et fraternelle.

Aucune construction démocratique n’est possible en Haïti sans la réduction des inégalités, sans une nouvelle éthique et des moyens pour soutenir le service public dans la valorisation du bien commun.

Aider à construire cette démocratie mais surtout croire que c’est une construction possible, tel est notre combat.

Pour l’heure, il nous incombe de prendre les décisions qui s’imposent sans perdre davantage de temps, et dans l’union.

L’union fait la force! Construisons-là cette union. Prenons au mot les propositions de nos représentants économiques et sociaux, religieux, communautaires, associatifs. Construisons un gouvernement d’unité nationale. Construisons une stratégie prioritaire de redressement de l’État de droit. Cela fait des lustres que nous parlons de conférence nationale, d’états généraux. Mais rien de cela ne sera possible s’il n’y a pas de confiance autour de la table. Ayons le courage de dire tout haut là où le bât blesse. La méfiance, les jalousies, les rivalités, le marronnage, les soifs matérielles nous divisent et nous paralysent surtout. Construisons la confiance et la tolérance pour avancer vers des solutions qui nous ressemblent et nous rassemblent.

Le premier acte susceptible de restaurer la confiance est la tenue légitime du procès PétroCaribe. Une étape essentielle dans notre processus de transformation. Pétrocaribe sera le procès de nos douleurs que nous n’avons pas pu évacuer ensemble après le 12 janvier 2010. Ce sera le procès de tous les génocides éparpillés dans notre histoire, ces morts qui attendent que nous les libérions de notre mémoire endormie. Le procès Pétrocaribe sera surtout l’occasion pour chaque haïtienne et chaque haïtien de s’interroger sur le rapport que nous entretenons avec le bien public, ce qui appartient à tous et est bon pour tous.

Et puis, préparons-nous à voter quand le temps viendra. Préparons-nous à voter dès aujourd’hui mais sur la base de politiques, de stratégies et de programmes d’intérêt national et local à l’édification desquels nous aurons contribué individuellement et collectivement, en particulier dans le cadre de nos organisations institutionnelles, professionnelles et communautaires.
Le mot qui sauve aujourd’hui est ensemble. Nos jeunes l’ont compris. Le mot de la survie est relation. Relation entre les générations. Relation entre les quartiers. Relation entre les groupes sectoriels, sociaux et professionnels. Que les filles et les femmes d’Haïti continuent leurs avancées vers les territoires sociaux et politiques comme ces femmes au Soudan au cœur de la révolte contre un régime décrié. Ensemble sans fausse pudeur. Dépouillés de nos egos trop lourds pour nos vies. Relation avec nos sœurs et frères haïtiens de la diaspora qui souffrent avec nous, qui veulent participer avec nous au grand chantier de reconstruction de notre société. Nous n’avons plus beaucoup de temps. Il n’est plus question de s’adapter vaille que vaille à un système qui ne fonctionne plus. Plus question de se taire et de faire semblant que les choses vont changer comme si cela allait de soi.

Citoyennes et citoyens,

Nous écrivains Haïtiens voulons continuer d’être utiles à la nation en maintenant vive la parole qui alerte, questionne, critique et suscite la conscience critique. Nous voulons d’un État de droit pouvant nous garantir un vrai procès Pétrocaribe historique. Nous voulons de vrais projets sociaux en faveur des populations vulnérables. Nous voulons des politiques publiques cohérentes favorisant la production nationale, l’investissement, l’éducation pour tous, les libertés individuelles, la liberté d’expression, la culture… Nous invitons chacun à jouer son rôle citoyen et à travailler à l’avènement de l’Haïti que nous voulons.

Guy Régis Jr.
James Noël
Néhémy Pierre Dahomey
Marie Andrée Etienne
Frankétienne
Evelyne Trouillot
Verly Dabel
Jean D’Amérique
Lyonel Trouillot
Dieulermesson Petit-Frère
Barbara Prezeau Stefenson
Gary Klang
Kettly Mars
Jacques Adler Jean Pierre
André Fouad
Yanick Lahens
Gary Victor
Béo Monteau
Jean-Robert Léonidas
Verly Dabel
Mirline Pierre
Elsie Suréna
Anthony Phelps
Guy Gérald Ménard
Eddy Toussaint Tontongi
Faubert Bolivar
Makenzy Orcel
Stephane Martelly

Source: 

http://www.maghaiti.org/des-ecrivains-haitiens-prennent-position-et-exigent-la-d...

Médias : Attaque armée contre le journaliste Luckson Saint-Vil

P-au-P, 07 août 2019 [AlterPresse] --- Une attaque armée a été perpétrée, dans la soirée du mardi 06 août 2019, par des individus non identifiés, contre le journaliste à l’agence en ligne Loop Haïti, Luckson Saint-vil, dans la commune de Léogâne (sud de la capitale), apprend l’agence en ligne AlterPresse.

Le véhicule du journaliste a essuyé plusieurs projectiles, au moment où il en examinait un des pneus.

Luckson Saint-vil est sorti sain et sauf de cette attaque armée, qui survient plus d’un mois après qu’il a porté plainte, suite à des menaces de mort dont il faisait l’objet.

Ancien journaliste de radio Métropole, Saint-Vil a décroché le Prix du jeune journaliste en Haïti ((2016) et le Prix Chaffanjon (2019).

Dans la soirée du mardi 16 juillet 2019, le véhicule du rédacteur en chef de radio Solidarité, Kendi Zidor, avait également essuyé plusieurs projectiles, à Delmas 60.

Insécurité : Un syndicaliste du transport en commun tué

HPN - Par la voix d’un des responsables du syndicat des transporteurs haïtien, Méhu Changeux, HPN  a appris qu’une réponse sérieuse sera donnée à l’État dans les prochains jours, pour forcer les autorités à assumer leurs responsabilités face au climat d’insécurité, notamment dans l’aile sud de la capitale (Martissant) où les bandits opèrent en toute quiétude pendant qu’ils tuent des citoyens sans mobile apparent.

Méhu Changeux a fait cette déclaration suite à l’assassinat jeudi après-midi au niveau de Martissant 1, du nommé Charles Morancy, responsable du syndicat des bus du Sud.

Sans toutefois être clair concernant la nature du mouvement des transporteurs, le syndicaliste a annoncé les couleurs. Afin de porter le gouvernement à adopter les mesures nécessaires, une éventuelle paralysie du secteur pourrait bientôt être l’un des sujets de l’actualité. 

Selon des informations parvenues à la rédaction de HPN, des bandits armés qui intimaient l’ordre à Charles Morancy d’arrêter alors qu’il était au volant de son véhicule, ont tiré en direction de ce dernier. Le conducteur a ainsi été froidement abattu pour n’avoir pas exécuté l’ordre des malfrats.

L’incident s’est produit aux environs de 5 heures 30 de l’après-midi à hauteur de Martissant 1, non loin du sous-commissariat de la zone, a déploré Méhu Changeux.

Ce dernier a expliqué que c'est grâce à un blindé de la police que le juge de paix a pu faire le constat du corps sans vie de Charles Morancy. Le syndicaliste presse les responsables de la sécurité publique de faire le nécessaire pour mettre hors d’état de nuire ces individus armés qui sèment le deuil partout.

Ce dernier assassinat, soulignons-le, vient allonger en l'espace d'une semaine, la liste des victimes par balles dans ce quartier qui constitue désormais un véritable enfer pour riverains et passants, mais aussi un défi majeur pour la police mise souvent en déroute par les bandits.

Alix Laroche

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... « C’est une fierté pour eux de conserver cette langue. « Le créole n’est ni un dialecte ni un patois. C’est une langue », poursuit le chroniqueur qui participe à l’enseignement de la langue créole. » ...

« Bannzil Kreyòl-Kiba », une organisation socioculturelle dont la présidence est assurée par le journaliste cubain et descendant d’Haïtiens, Hilario Batista Félix, se veut un espace prônant la conservation de la culture créole à Cuba et dans la Caraïbe. Depuis plusieurs années, elle anime ateliers et conférences en vue d’œuvrer à la promotion et à la diffusion de la langue créole.

« Le créole est la deuxième langue la plus parlée à Cuba », annonce tout de go Hilario Batista Félix, animateur d’une émission quotidienne réalisée, entre 2h30 et 3h de l'après-midi, en créole sur la station de radio « Habana Cuba ». Selon lui, il devient urgent de préserver cet état de fait, un objectif que l’organisation dont il est tributaire veut atteindre. « Cuba est un pays créolophone au même titre que la Guadeloupe, la Martinique et Haïti », a-t-il déclaré comme pour motiver cette passion.

Estimés entre 300 000 et 400 000, les descendants d’Haïtiens, des Cubains à part entière, représentent un pourcentage non négligeable dans la population cubaine et sont, en majorité, concentrés dans les villes de Camagüey, Guantanamo, Santiago et de La Havane. Ils ont hérité du créole de leurs parents, des immigrants d’avant-révolution (1959), des coupeurs de canne essentiellement. C’est une fierté pour eux de conserver cette langue. « Le créole n’est ni un dialecte ni un patois. C’est une langue », poursuit le chroniqueur qui participe à l’enseignement de la langue créole.

Plusieurs activités sont réalisées pour l’émancipation de cette langue, à commencer par les « aprèmidi kreyòl » où l’association met en avant la culture haïtienne par des représentations de troupes de danse et de groupes musicaux. Du fait que les mets typiques sont très appréciés, l’art culinaire haïtien n’est point négligé. Selon Hilario Batista Félix, « ce travail est nécessaire, sinon nous allons oublier notre histoire et nos origines et perdre notre identité ».

Cependant, il regrette l’absence des autorités haïtiennes à ses côtés dans cette lutte. « Nous n’avons reçu qu’une résolution de l’Académie du créole haïtien », a-t-il fustigé. Abondant dans le même sens, Consuelo Doris Diaz, une journaliste, traductrice et interprète de la langue créole, membre de la Coordination nationale de la communauté haïtienne à Cuba, a déclaré qu’ « Haïti n’envoyait que ses besoins au peuple cubain. »

Il est à souligner que l’appellation du regroupement « Bannzil Kreyòl » signifie « plusieurs îles parlant le créole ». De ce fait, il s’agit, pour eux, de se réunir pour encourager l’étude et la conservation non seulement de cette langue mais aussi de la culture créole. Pour ce faire, l’échange des expériences est nécessaire et passe par une concertation entre les acteurs du secteur.

Parlement : reprise de la séance de mise en accusation du Président fixée pour ce lundi

HPN - C’est ce lundi 12 août 2019 que les députés reprendront la séance spéciale sur la mise en accusation du président Jovenel Moïse. Cette séance organisée à la demande des députés de l’opposition et qui avait débuté le mercredi 7 août dernier, avait été mise en continuation après une demande de soumission de documents par les députés accusateurs au bureau de la Chambre.

 Ces documents sollicités préalablement, devraient être soumis à l’assemblée pour étayer les arguments de mise en accusation contre le chef de l'Etat. Parmi ces documents figure le procès verbal de la séance d’interpellation de l’ancien premier ministre Jack Guy Lafontant, le 15 juillet 2018.

 Les observateurs sont très sceptiques quant à l'aboutissement de la démarche de mise en accusation du Président Jovenel Moïse. Toutefois certains observateurs pensent que, quelle que soit l’issue des discussions, celles-ci risquent de provoquer une radicalisation des positions des acteurs politiques.

 Le leader du parti Unir-Haïti,  Clarens Renois, est de ceux-là. S’il reconnaît que les députés ont bien fait de prendre la voie légale pour forcer au départ  du président Jovenel Moïse, Clarens Renois estime que la séance sur la mise en accusation a été marquée par trop d’improvisation.

 Il n’y a pas eu de préparatifs nécessaires pour faciliter sa bonne tenue, a dit M. Renois. De son côté, Rosemond Pradel, numéro 2 de la Fusion, est du même avis. Il pense que les parlementaires devraient profiter de cette occasion pour plancher sur la loi d’application de la Constitution sur la mise en accusation d’un président en fonction.

 Ce débat nous aura permis de comprendre que le président n’est pas intouchable, a indiqué M. Pradel.

Sécurité : Graduation de 656 policières et policiers de la 30e promotion de la Police nationale d’Haïti

P-au-P, 08 août 2019 [AlterPresse]--- 656 nouvelles policières et nouveaux policiers, dont 516 hommes et 140 femmes, ont prêté serment, le jeudi 8 août 2019, lors de la cérémonie de graduation de la 30e promotion de la Police nationale d’Haïti (Pnh), à laquelle a assisté l’agence en ligne AlterPresse.

« La sécurité implique des moyens pour la Direction centrale de la police administrative, pour nos directions départementales, nos commissariats et sous-commissariats, nos unités spécialisées pour prévenir la criminalité », déclare le directeur général de la Pnh, Michel-Ange Gédéon dans un discours de circonstance.

Le haut commandement de la Pnh préconise la nuse à disponibilité de moyens adequats, devant permettre à la Direction centrale de la police judiciaire (Dcpj) de mieux conduire des enquêtes et d’identifier les criminels qui sèment le deuil au sein de la communauté.

Doivent aussi être ciblés, dans ces investigations, ceux qui sont de mèche avec les malfrats, ceux qui alimentent ces malfaiteurs, tant en armes qu’en munitions, aussi bien qu’en espèces.

La sécurité, dénominateur commun du vivre ensemble, est transversale à toutes les institutions, rappelle Michel-Ange Gédéon, qui exhorte les nouvelles policières et les nouveaux policiers nationaux à insister, dans l’exercice de leur fonction, sur le respect des droits des citoyens, et à promouvoir une bonne image de l’institution.

Pour sa part, le président Jovenel Moïse demande aux nouveaux cadres de la police nationale d’assumer pleinement leurs responsabilités dans l’intérêt de la nation.

Jovenel Moïse plaide en faveur d’une meilleure professionnalisation et modernisation de la Pnh, du renforcement des capacités opérationnelles de ses structures, ce pour une consolidation de la sécurité, dans toutes les communes et sections communales du pays.

« Les défis à relever sont énormes, et vos capacités à intervenir rapidement et efficacement sont limitées »’, reconnait le président la République.

La cérémonie de graduation de la 30e promotion de la Police nationale d’Haïti s’est déroulée, ce jeudi 8 août 2019, en présence du président Jovenel Moïse, du premier ministre démissionnaire Jean Michel Lapin et des officiels du gouvernement démissionnaire, de hauts gradés de la Pnh ainsi que des diplomates haïtiens et étrangers.

Cependant le contexte est marqué par une nette recrudescence d’actes de banditisme un peu partout sur le territoire national.

Au cours de ce mois d’août 2019, la Commission épiscopale nationale (catholique romaine) Justice et Paix (Ce-Jilap) a alerté sur la situation d’insécurité inquiétante, qui règne dans la zone métropolitaine de Port-au-Prince, en particulier à Martissant (périphérie sud de la capitale).

D’avril à juin 2019, 123 personnes y ont été victimes d’actes de violences, d’après la Jilap, soulignant combien d’autres phénomènes, comme le kidnapping (enlèvement et séquestration de personnes) refont surface dans le pays.

Insécurité : Arrestation du chef de gang Tony Dérilus , soupçonné d’implication dans la tuerie de juillet 2019 à La Saline

P-au-P, 06 août 2019 [AlterPresse] --- Le nommé Tony Dérilus, alias King Toto, un chef de gang du quartier Bwa Dòm, à La Saline (non loin du bord de mer de Port-au-Prince) et son bras droit Guitho Louis, alias Cerceau, ont été arrêtés, dans la soirée du lundi 5 août 2019, à Martissant (sud de la capitale), selon les informations parvenues à l’agence en ligne AlterPresse.

Lors de leur arrestation, ils avaient en leur possession un pistolet de calibre 9 mm.

Tony Dérilus, alias King Toto, est soupçonné d’implication dans le nouveau massacre, perpétré du 5 au 13 juillet 2019 à La Saline.

Au moins vingt (20) personnes ont perdu la vie à La Saline, deux (2) sont portées disparues et six (6) autres sont blessées par balles, dans cette tuerie de juillet 2019, selon le Réseau national de défense des droits humains (Rnddh).

Une tuerie, commise préalablement les 1er et 13 novembre 2018, avait fait au moins 71 morts, selon un rapport, publié par le Rnddh ainsi que d’autres organisations des droits humains.

Les personnes, coupables des crimes perpétrés à La Saline, doivent répondre de leurs actes devant la justice, ont par ailleurs souhaité l’ambassade de France en Haïti ainsi que le secrétaire général de l’Organisations des Nations unies (Onu), António Guterres.