- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
Massive Haitian infiltration
DOMINICAN-TODAY - The participation of illegal Haitians in jobs in the country has been increasing.
There are no areas that have not been affected by this phenomenon.
From traditional, such as the sugar industry, agriculture, and construction, they have extended their presence to public transportation, street sales, domestic service, security companies, hotels, and an endless number of informal trades.
Although there is a regulation in the Labor Code (article 135) that establishes a quota of 20 percent of the jobs in formal companies for legal foreigners, this is not complied with.
And precisely, this is a challenge that President Luis Abinader promised to face when he proclaimed that jobs, primarily, should be for Dominicans.
In support of this legal predicament, the National Confederation of Transportation Organizations (CONATRA) has ordered its unions, federations, and companies not to allow illegal Haitians to be employed on their routes, much less to allow them to use them.
CONATRA is exercising an attribute that should be observed by the rest of the formal companies in the country if we genuinely want to reestablish the value that the migration law and the Labor Code itself have to regulate the entrance and permanence of foreigners on our soil.
It is a restorative measure since numerous cases have been reported of Haitian drivers or motoconchistas, primarily illegal, operating public transportation routes in rented or purchased vehicles without documents.
This massive presence of illegal Haitians is stirring up the spirits of many Dominicans and entities of society, who frequently protest against the misconduct or involvement of these immigrants in criminal acts in the face of the apparent negligence of the authorities responsible for enforcing the laws.
We cannot allow society to become fed up with this problem and then opt for drastic solutions if the authorities continue to be incapable of achieving it by the simple means of the law and the will of those in power.
Migrants from Africa and Haiti clash again in Mexico
James3 days ago
A migrant was beaten this Wednesday (April 6) by another migrant of a different nationality, leaving her unconscious, which caused a confrontation between foreigners from Africa and Haiti in the city of Tapachula, in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
The woman, presumably of African origin and who was beaten, fainted and they tried to revive her, but minutes later she recovered, picked up stones and tried on several occasions to break the security fence of the National Guard to throw the rocks at the Haitians who were behind the riot squads they had hit.
The extracontinentals attacked the migration elements using the metal fences that serve as protection and to divide the lines of migrants when they arrive to carry out procedures.
Likewise, in response to their anger, they threw stones at the Haitians who were sheltering to avoid further incidents.
For more than 5 minutes, the Africans and Haitians threw stones at each other, causing chaos and uncertainty among the people who circulated in the area.
Falua, of African origin, denounced that undocumented immigrants from Haiti are selling entrance passes to the offices for 1,000 pesos, when the documents are free.
“The Haitians are working with the immigration agents,” he said in an interview with Efe.
This is the first confrontation recorded between migrants from Africa and Haiti less than 48 hours after the reopening of the migratory regularization offices in Tapachula.
The region is experiencing a record flow of migrants to the United States, whose Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office detected more than 1.7 million undocumented immigrants on the border with Mexico in fiscal year 2021, which ended on September 30.
Mexico deported more than 114,000 foreigners in 2021, according to data from the Migration Policy Unit of the country’s Ministry of the Interior.
In addition, the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar) received a record 131,448 refugee applications in 2021.
HAITIAN WOMAN KILLS HER TWO CHILDREN
‘I don’t want them anymore,’ mother told Miami cops. They found her kids, 3 and 5, dead.
MIAMI HERALD
Updated April 13, 2022 7:59 PM
Odette Joassaint called 911 repeatedly, sounding agitated and incoherent, unable to explain why she was calling. It became horribly clear when Miami police officers arrived. “Come get them, I don’t want them anymore,” she told officers, according to a police report.
When police rushed inside her Little River apartment Tuesday night, they found Joassaint’s own children — Jeffrey and Laural Belval, just 3 and 5 years old — hog-tied and strangled. The heart-breaking discovery shook even veteran officers and homicide detectives.
By Wednesday, Joassaint, 41, had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and had been ordered held without bond in her first appearance in Miami-Dade Court. Joassaint, who wore a padded gown designed to prevent suicide, said nothing during the brief proceeding.
But according to Miami police reports she told detectives hours after the killings Tuesday night that she had been struggling financially and her “kids were suffering and that they would suffer less if they were dead,” according to a police report.
Frantzy Belval, the father of both children but estranged from Joassaint, painted a picture of an unstable mother who had not worked for a year, and had been begging to move back in with him. He said he’d consistently refused.
“I told her, ‘You are crazy. You create too much problems,’” Belval said in an interview with the Miami Herald..
The grieving Belval said the children lived with Joassaint full time, although they would normally visit him once a week on Saturdays. “They loved me so much,” he said. “Every week, I buy clothes for the kids.”
Public records show that Joassaint’s life had been in turmoil.
She’d gone through a series of nasty domestic spats with Belval. Each parent had been jailed at least once on allegations of domestic violence, and over the years they’d come to the attention of Florida’s child welfare agency, the Florida Department of Children and Families.
The exact scope of the agency’s involvement with the family was not clear on Wednesday. DCF, citing a confidentiality law, declined to provide more information on the family.
“The events that unfolded yesterday in this home are devastating. The Department is working closely with law enforcement to uncover the circumstances that caused the tragic and untimely death of these two children,” the agency said in a statement. “We have launched a full investigation and will provide updates regularly and publicly.”
It was Joassaint’s own 911 call that brought Miami police to her apartment home on the 100 block of Northeast 75th Street.
“She was having a mental crisis and was irate,” said Miami Police Spokesman Michael Vega, describing the disturbing call. The scene inside the Little River apartment was gut-wrenching: two kids, laying in bed face-down on a bed, hands, feet and necks bound together. According to the police report, Joassaint said she strangled each child with a red ribbon. Officers and Miami Fire Rescue tried desperately to resuscitate the children.
During hours of questioning, the distraught Jossaint ultimately confessed, police said. An appointed public defender could not be reached for comment.
The children’s father told The Herald that Joassaint had lost custody of a third child, a 14-year-old girl, a claim that could not immediately be verified.
The couple had come to the attention of police and state child-welfare authorities in the past. In March, Belval said, the police were called to her apartment when they got into an argument in front of the children. No one was arrested.
In 2017, Joassaint was arrested for misdemeanor battery in Homestead after police said she got into a heated argument with Belval over money. She’d bitten Belval, leaving teeth marks on his arm, and was “the primary aggressor,” according to a police report. Prosecutors wound up dropping the case.
Two years later, when Joassaint was pregnant with their youngest, Belval was arrested in North Miami Beach on a charge of aggravated battery. He was accused of striking Joassaint — who sported a swollen eye and small cut on her lip — during an argument over her being on the phone too long.
Joassaint, however, refused to give a statement to the police. Prosecutors did not press the charge.
She did, however, go to family court to get a restraining order, alleging multiple instances of abuse. Among the allegations: that he threatened to pour boiling water on her, and “brandished” his gun and threatened to shoot her.
A permanent injunction was issued, but later withdrawn after Joassaint wrote the court saying they wished to “reconcile for our children’s well being.”
Her petition also noted that the DCF “[has] gotten involved in the past.”
This story was originally published in the Miami Herald April 13, 2022 9:49 AM.
Opinion: Haiti needs Washington’s help to exit its quagmire
Editorial Board | April 10, 2022
The Washington Post
Haiti passed a grim milestone in February, when the traditional presidential inauguration day came and went with no president taking the oath of office, no realistic prospect of presidential elections, and no established consensus on how to restore some semblance of functioning democracy in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. Meanwhile, the Biden administration props up an interim prime minister whose writ, so far as it runs, is to preside over a government with no claim to legitimacy.
That prime minister, Ariel Henry, was named to the job by President Jovenel Moïse, who was assassinated two days later, before Mr. Henry could be sworn in. On Feb. 7, Moïse’s term expired. Mr. Henry has said he will organize elections this year, but that promise is empty, given how far-fetched it is that balloting could be staged amid rampant insecurity and the current power vacuum.
A potentially hopeful sign was the emergence last year of a coalition of civic organizations that proposes installing an interim government for two years, after which elections would be held. The coalition, which calls itself the Montana Accord, after a hotel in the capital where it meets, consists of political parties, faith groups, professional associations, human rights organizations and trade unions.
However broad-based, the coalition has no more constitutional legitimacy than does Mr. Henry. Moreover, its plan to run the country with a prime minister plus a five-member council exercising presidential powers is unwieldy, to say the least. Even if it assumed power by some unforeseeable means, there is no credible prospect that it would establish control over the nearly 15,000-member police force, which is rife with corruption. Without that, chances are nil that it could stabilize Haiti, mount elections and resuscitate the economy.
The country of more than 11 million has just a handful of elected officials, the terms of scores of others having expired in the absence of elections. Mr. Henry took office largely on the strength of support from a U.S.-led group of ambassadors. But the government and national institutions are in shambles.
Moreover, Mr. Henry’s commitment to bring Moïse’s killers to justice has proved not just hollow but suspicious after a report that he was in contact with a key suspect before and just after the assassination. Although signs point to the involvement of drug-trafficking figures in the president’s killing, most of the kingpins who have been implicated remain at liberty. Haiti’s own authorities have made no meaningful progress in the murder investigation. Meanwhile, according to The Post, U.S. prosecutors, who allege that the killing was partly planned in the United States, have charged two suspects and are seeking the extradition of a third.
The Biden administration has ruled out sending troops, instead paying lip service to finding a Haitian-led exit from the crisis. If there is such a way out — a big if — it might consist in a consensus between the Montana Accord coalition and Mr. Henry’s own forces. Forging such an agreement should be high on the Biden administration’s agenda. But there is little sign Washington is paying attention to events in the impoverished country — despite its long history of devolving into crises that then become impossible to ignore.
- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
US HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS IN HAITI
HSI expands permanent presence in Haiti to combat transnational crime, help bring security through ongoing partnership
PORT-AU-PRINCE — On Thursday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officially opened a permanent HSI office at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, expanding HSI’s international presence around the world.
The permanent positions in Haiti are intended to further strengthen country relations to combat gang related crimes, bring criminals to justice, and protect public safety.
HSI Executive Associate Director (EAD) Steve Francis joined Charge d’Affairs Kenneth Merten and Deputy Chief of Mission Nicole Theriot for a ribbon cutting ceremony to open the new office.
HSI Port-au-Prince will develop and foster relationships with host government law enforcement partners to exchange information, coordinate, and support investigations, and facilitate enforcement actions and prosecutions to deter the ability of transnational criminal organizations and gangs to smuggle contraband with a nexus to Haiti and the United States. HSI Port-au-Prince will work with its counterparts in Haiti to identify and target sources of supply and illuminate and disrupt transportation and smuggling routes.
HSI Port-au-Prince has begun working towards the establishment of a Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit in Haiti by building relationships with the host country law enforcement and customs organizations. HSI’s TCIUs comprise trained and vetted foreign law enforcement officials who work closely alongside HSI to investigate and prosecute individuals involved in transnational criminal activity. These units facilitate information exchange and rapid bilateral investigation of many of the violations of law within HSI’s investigative purview.
“For more than 15 years, HSI has worked alongside international law enforcement agencies around the world, to investigate and prosecute individuals involved in transnational criminal activity,” said Francis. “As partners, and most importantly allies, we are united in our resolve to support Haiti as they seek ways to prevent further gang violence and restore safety for Haitian citizens.”
In the last year, HSI has deployed multiple special agents to Haiti in support of Operation CITADEL. Operation CITADEL acts as a force multiplier and is designed to strengthen law enforcement, customs, and immigration enforcement capabilities of host nations, while supporting HSI investigations. Operation CITADEL focuses on identifying and disrupting transnational criminal organizations by targeting the mechanisms used to move migrants, illicit funds, and contraband throughout the Caribbean and South and Central America.
In 2019, HSI established the Caribbean Firearms Initiative (CFI) to counter firearms trafficking in the region. Through CFI, HSI works with host nation partners to identify unknown networks and facilitators involved in U.S.-origin firearms smuggling and its associated violence. The CFI has and will continue to facilitate operational support to HSI domestic offices and actively seek opportunities for international cooperation when firearms are identified and seized in route to the Caribbean.
HSI’s International Operations Division develops and supports investigations, initiatives, and operations conducted or supported by HSI attaché offices and builds relationships with foreign law enforcement partners to support domestic cases, combat transnational criminal organizations, and prevent terrorist activities. While doing this, International Operations protects the nation’s borders by conducting international law enforcement operations and partnering with foreign and domestic counterparts to detect, deter, and dismantle transnational criminal organizations that threaten the U.S. and host nation’s national security.
In FY21, HSI arrested 34,974 criminals and seized more than $973 million in criminally derived currency, dealing a significant blow to the bad actors seeking to profit from their crimes.
“HSI’s investigative breadth, deep technical experience, and operational agility enables us to be a helpful and supportive partner in preventing gang related crime and weapons smuggling within the Caribbean region,” said Francis.
HSI is a directorate of ICE and the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move.
HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 7,100 special agents assigned to 220 cities throughout the United States, and 80 overseas locations in 53 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.
A convicted Haitian drug trafficker is brought to U.S. to face new narcotics charges
Updated April 07, 2022
Jean Eliobert Jasme, in handcuffs, stands in the middle of this photo with DEA and Haitian National Police officers in Port-au-Prince Thursday before his transfer to the United States on new cocaine smuggling charges. Haiti social media
A convicted Haitian cocaine smuggler who had assisted a U.S. investigation of drug trafficking in the administration of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been brought once again to the United States to face new narcotics charges.
This time, Jean Eliobert Jasme, who was taken into custody Thursday, is facing narcotics charges in federal court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He’s accused of conspiring with two Haitian police officers to smuggle cocaine from Colombia through Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas into the United States.
Over his lifetime, Jasme, 59, has gained a notorious reputation in the U.S. war on drugs.
Jasme was expelled by Aristide in 2003, the year before the president’s ouster. The following year, Jasme pleaded guilty in Miami federal court to two counts of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, following charges in separate indictments out of Miami and Brooklyn.
Calling Jasme “one of the top-level traffickers in Haiti,” a federal prosecutor linked him to Colombian suppliers, Haitian distributors and several boatloads of cocaine seized on the Miami River in 2000. The prosecutor also tied him to cocaine seized at Miami International Airport.
Although reluctant at first to assist U.S. authorities, Jasme later became a central witness in the federal government’s mission to slow the flow of cocaine from Colombia via Haiti to South Florida. Jasme contributed to at least 17 prosecutions of Haitian government officials, senior police officers and other cocaine smugglers — with all but one ending in convictions.
He was rewarded by prosecutors for his cooperation in 2009 when a federal judge cut his 20-year prison sentence in half.
But Jasme did not leave the drug trade, according to new charges filed by federal prosecutors in Milwaukee.
Jasme was arrested by Haitian National Police on Oct. 28, 2020, with 83 kilograms of cocaine in Gressier, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. He was jailed and later released.
Then last month, Jasme, also known as “Eddy One,” was arrested in a sting operation in Petionville by the Haitian National Police’s anti-drug trafficking unit. His arrest was considered significant in light of his high-level ties to previous Haitian government officials over the years and his stature in the Colombian cocaine trafficking trade.
Jasme’s extradition was signed off by Haiti’s justice minister, the Miami Herald confirmed. Two Haitian police officers also charged in his indictment — Ysa Dieudonne and Alex Mompremier — face extradition to the United States as well. Federal court records suggest the officers are fugitives.
The signed paperwork paved the way for Jasme’s transfer to the United States on Thursday. Jasme was turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration. A photo circulating on social media showed him smiling on the tarmac alongside DEA agents.
It remains to be seen whether Jasme will reprise his role as a federal informant.
More than a decade ago, prosecutors lauded Jasme for providing incriminating information on a variety of trafficking suspects with ties to the Aristide government, but they stopped short of naming the former president as one of them.
At the time, however, Jasme’s attorney, Paul Petruzzi, said that his client “cooperated” against the former president, who was forced from power and fled to South Africa in February 2004. He later returned to Haiti.
”It’s no secret that Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been under investigation for drug trafficking and money laundering,” Petruzzi said in 2009.
But federal authorities were never able to prove allegations that Aristide was paid millions of dollars by Haitian traffickers to allow them to use the country as a hub for shipping Colombian cocaine to the United States. Aristide, through his attorney in Miami, always denied any wrongdoing.
This story was originally published April 7, 2022 6:04 PM.
Haitian government honors Dr. Paul Farmer on World Health Day
BY THE HAITIAN TIMES APR. 08, 2022
The Haitian TimesJan. 29, 2020
Didi B. Farmer (middle) posing for a picture with a plaque given in honor of her late husband Dr. Paul Farmer on World Health Day on April 7, 2022; Acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry stands on Farmer's right. Photo via Ariel Henry's Twitter account
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry honored Dr. Paul Farmeron World Health Day to recognize the late medical anthropologist and infectious disease specialist’s impact on Haiti.
“This shows our gratitude to this eminent doctor whose charitable works continue to benefit thousands of our compatriots,” Henry tweeted after giving a plaque to Didi B. Farmer, the doctor’s widow.
Farmer helped found Partners in Health / Zanmi Lasante hospital, the country’s largest healthcare provider outside of the Haitian government located in Cange, a remote village in Mirebalais. He was known for his decades of extensive work in Haiti dating back to the 1980s when he was a medical student at Harvard.
Farmer died of a sudden cardiac event in his sleep in Rwanda Feb. 21.World Health Day has been celebrated annually on April 7th by the World’s Health Organization (WHO) since 1948. This year’s theme is “our planet, our health.” This year WHO will focus on urgent actions needed to keep humans and the planet healthy and foster a movement to create societies focused on well-being, the organization said on its website.
- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
Money transfer tax lawsuit : allegations against Haitian rulers
BY THE HAITIAN TIMES APR. 01, 2022
The lawsuit against Haiti’s last three presidents and remittances and phone companies — Celestin v. Caribbean Air Mail — has been winding its way through the courts since 2018. In 2021, a district court dismissed it on the grounds that United States courts cannot render another country’s laws invalid. On Thursday, a federal panel of three judges weighed in, saying the case may proceed.
The Haitian Times dug through a https://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/f0d10ad9-f15c-4d8f-821a-1fbf3891ed1e/1/hilite/">29-page ruling on the lawsuit from the United States Court of Appeals and the Celestin v. Martelly detailed lawsuit to provide a recap. Below are 15 major allegations and legal developments to know about based on that review.
1. Defendants— Haitian government officials and multinational corporations—conspired to fix the prices of remittances and telephone calls from the United States to Haiti. The defendants allegedly agreed to produce official instruments, including a Presidential Order and two Circulars of the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH) to disguise their agreement as a tax for domestic education programs.
2. Martelly allegedly orchestrated a far-reaching price-fixing agreement with the Corporate Defendants before becoming President in 2011. The “mechanism” for implementing the agreement was a Presidential Order and two Circulars of the Bank of the Republic of Haiti that Martelly would issue after taking office.
3. The Presidential Order set a “floor price for all incoming international call[s]” at $0.23 per minute and required that $0.05 per minute be “turned over to the Government.” Similarly, the Circulars “memorialized” Defendants’ agreement to add a $1.50 fee to remittances of food and money sent to Haiti from certain countries, including the United States.
4. Under both the Presidential Order and the Circulars, the Corporate Defendants and Natcom collected these surcharges as a condition of eligibility to provide services.
5. Martelly represented to the public that these policies would raise revenues to support a Haitian compulsory education program. But in fact, Plaintiffs say, no such program existed.
6. Rather, just months after publication of the Presidential Order, “it was discovered that [$26] million in the new National Fund for Education was missing.” Plaintiffs assert that each Corporate Defendant retained a portion of the fees it collected rather than transmitting the full amount to the Haitian treasury.
7. Martelly, and successors Jocelerme Privert and Jovenel Moise, during their respective terms, profited personally from the fees as well, according to the suit.
8. For example, according to one accusation, Martelly used the transfer tax money for a beach house.
9. Furthermore, the Presidential Order and Circulars ran afoul of Haitian law because “only the parliament may raise taxes and fees for the benefit of the state.” As part of the scheme, Plaintiffs allege, Defendants told customers that these fees were in fact collected pursuant to a “lawful tax” for education.
10.A district court in 2021 granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss all claims based on (1) the act of state doctrine and (2) in the alternative, as to some Defendants, forum non conveniens.
11.A federal panel of judges on March 31 chose to REVERSE the district court’s dismissal of the antitrust claim under the act of state doctrine and VACATE the dismissal of the fifteen state-law claims for reanalysis under the proper standard. it also REMANDED the case for further proceedings.
12.We may give the Presidential Order and Circulars their full purported legal effect and still conclude that Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged illegal price-fixing under the Sherman Act.
13.Plaintiffs’ antitrust claim depends not on “whether the alleged acts are valid, but whether they occurred” in a way that gives rise to liability.
14.The plaintiffs are listed as: Odilon S. Celestin, Widimir Romelien, Goldie Lamothe-Alexandre, Vincent Marazita
Local airline, charters in Haiti suspend flights after protesters burn airplane
Updated March 29, 2022
Domestic and charter airline operators have temporarily halted local flight service in Haiti after protesters in the southwestern city of Les Cayes on Tuesday tore apart and then burned a plane used by a Florida-based charity.
The eight-seat Piper Navajo Chieftain aircraft belonged to Agape Flights, which is based in Venice, Florida, a spokeswoman for Agape Flights told the Miami Herald.
“For 42 years we’ve been flying to Haiti and we have weekly mission flights carrying cargo, mail and humanitarian aid to missionary families throughout Haiti,” she said. “It is devastating but we are just thankful that the team is safe.”
On its web page the group announced that for the safety of its affiliated missionaries and staff, this week’s flight has been canceled.
The violence unfolded during a day of protests in Haiti against rising insecurity with demonstrators calling for an end to kidnappings. While mostly peaceful in the capital, they turned violent in Les Cayes, where protesters gained access to the airport and attacked the plane, which had arrived Sunday with a team of humanitarian aid workers helping in the region’s recovery from last August’s devastating magnitude 7.2 earthquake that left over 2,000 dead.
Haiti police said that at least one protester died and five others were injured, including four police officers who were attacked with rocks. Police spokesman Garry Desrosiers confirmed that a plane in the southeastern city of Jacmel was also burned Tuesday, but it was “not the same situation as Les Cayes.” The plane had crash-landed in November under mysterious circumstances and was abandoned.
“It had already been vandalized and a group of people threw something in it,” he said.
In response to the incident, the country’s leading domestic carrier, Sunrise Airways, temporarily halted all flights to Les Cayes. Soon after, Mission Aviation Fellowship announced it was grounding all charter flights throughout Haiti for Wednesday.
Sunrise Airways Director Philippe Bayard told the Miami Herald that for now only flights to Les Cayes will be canceled.
“We’ve stopped the flights and are seeing what kind of security they are implementing at the airport because we cannot put at risk the people who are working with us, the passengers or the airplane,” Bayard said. “I know they are doing an evaluation to see how much damage they did at the airport and after that, we will make a decision.”
He called Tuesday’s violence in Les Cayes “sad” and “unacceptable.”
“It’s a missionary group that has come to do good in a country and they burned the airplane. Is this something that is acceptable?” Bayard said. “Regardless of the reasons why people were protesting, is the destruction they did here justifiable? It’s something that is lamentable.”
Tuesday marked the 35th anniversary of Haiti’s 1987 Constitution. Amid growing discontent over a surge in kidnappings and gang criminality, Haitians have taken to circulating a petition demanding that Prime Minister Ariel Henry do something to address the problems. Condemning the incident in Les Cayes, Henry said in a tweet that he has ordered authorities to track down those behind the violence.
Les Cayes now becomes the latest big city to be without scheduled air service in Haiti, where armed gangs have made traveling the country’s national roads to large cities outside of the capital a dangerous undertaking.
Since June, more than 20,000 Haitians have been forced from their homes in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Martissant at the southern entrance of the capital, which serves as the gateway to five different regional areas including those struck by the August 14 earthquake. Gangs are attacking public buses and carjacking motorists and holding them for ransom.
The violence on the roads has led to full domestic flights and an increased demand for private charters. In Les Cayes, demonstrators have accused airline owners and the government of profiteering from the insecurity in Martissant.
“A business cannot exist on a road that is closed and an area that is isolated,” said Bayard. “Insecurity with chaos and disorder has never been good for anyone.”
Bayard said Les Cayes has long been in need of regular air service, and after starting it a year ago, demand began to increase after the earthquake. The air service also allowed aid to pour in quickly after the earthquake. While customers come for air travel because of the insecurity in Martissant, he said, there are also fewer people traveling because they don’t want to go to Port-au-Prince because of the security issues.
Richard Hervé Fourcand, a former senator who lives in Les Cayes and provided his personal aircraft to take injured earthquake victims to safety, said “activists went too far” on Tuesday.
He called the protesters’ argument against the local air carriers “exaggerated.” He acknowledged that the situation in Martissant is increasingly becoming unbearable and affecting the recovery of the south. “Everything is expensive,” he said. “You have to pay four gangs just to get one container through.”
Agape Flights, the spokeswoman said, is focused on getting their team members safely back home rather than future plans.
This story was originally published March 29, 2022 8:28 PM.
Humanitarian missions continue to Haiti despite plane set on fire by protestors
Staff was not injured in the incident
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Staff from Agape, the Sarasota-based missionary group is speaking out after one of their planes helping with humanitarian aid in Haiti was burned by protesters.
"You're instantly hurt and devastated and as the day goes on you realize, you know what, no one on our team was harmed in all this," said Abby Duncan the communications manager for Agape.
Duncan said their group flew into Haiti on Sunday to do earthquake relief, and when the fire happened they were helping rebuild a church in a remote village.
They weren't injured in the fire, but the organization is working to bring them back.
"The aircraft is a tool. It's a very useful tool. It's our ministry but we're so thankful that our team is safe," said Duncan. "The aircraft can be replaced but lives cannot."
Agape has been flying to Haiti for 42 years and takes weekly flights to Haiti, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and serves about 300 missionary families.
Haiti remains a nation in turmoil.
This incident follows peaceful protests in other parts of the nation calling for the government to address gang violence and kidnappings.
Agape staff said demonstrators may have mistaken their aircraft for a politician's plane.
"When they see a private aircraft, they think that those are people profiting from their misfortune and Agape's plane happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, they didn't realize it was a nonprofit's plane," said Duncan.
"I was shocked, we've been in that airport many times last fall after the earthquake hit, it's getting unsettling," said Joe Karavensh the president/pilot of Missionary Flights International (MFI), a Chrisitan-based non-profit organization. "I actually flew yesterday (Tuesday) and I hadn't heard about it until I landed here."
MFI was founded over 50 years ago and provides transportation for about 550 different Christian organizations, mostly working in Haiti but also working in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.
Karavensh said they are in and out of Haiti twice a week from the
Treasure Coast bringing in about 3,000-4,000 people a year doing short-term mission projects as well as a quarter-million pounds of baggage and cargo to help with churches, hospitals, clinics, schools and more.
"We don't want to risk having any incidents happening. Even if we're on the flight and we fly over the airport, we generally do a visual looking down where we come around and land and if it looks like there's a crowd of people or something that's not normal, we'll bypass it. That's our precautions right now on our plane," said Karavensh.
WPTV reporter Joel Lopez asked Karavensh:
"Your volunteers, were there any concerns after this news especially with the flight being so close to when the events happened?"
"We contacted all the ones that are traveling tomorrow and, at this point, I understand that they're all aware of what happened but they're all still ready to go," said Karavensh.
WPTV reporter Joel Lopez asked Karavensh:
"Your volunteers, were there any concerns after this news especially with the flight being so close to when the events happened?"
"We contacted all the ones that are traveling tomorrow and, at this point, I understand that they're all aware of what happened but they're all still ready to go," said Karavensh.
The non-profit said some 10 volunteers and supplies are flying into Haiti Thursday morning.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada announces judicial appointment in province of Québec
29 Mar 2022
The Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointment under the judicial application process established in 2016. This process emphasizes transparency, merit, and the diversity of the Canadian population, and will continue to ensure the appointment of jurists who meet the highest standards of excellence and integrity.
Marie-Hélène Dubé, Senior Partner at Goldwater, Dubé in Montréal, is appointed a puisne Judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montréal. Justice Dubé replaces Justice J. Mainville (Montréal), who elected to become a supernumerary judge effective November 21, 2021.
Quote
“I wish Justice Dubé every success in her new role. I know she will serve the people of Québec well as a member of the Superior Court.”
-The Hon. David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Biography
Justice Marie-Hélène Dubé graduated from the Université de Montréal and was called to the Bar of Quebec in 1991.
Justice Dubé began her career with the firm Goldwater, Dubé, where she gained a great deal of experience in family and civil litigation, including cases involving constitutional law, which led to frequent appearances before the Superior Court of Quebec and the Quebec Court of Appeal and, on two occasions, before the Supreme Court of Canada. She also practised as a mediator in family law matters. She has been actively involved with the Bar of Quebec, where she was part of a group of experts in family law, and in with the Bar of Montreal as a member of the committee on ethno-cultural diversity.
Justice Dubé’s commitment to the legal community has also been evident in her many efforts in mentoring and training young lawyers. In this capacity, she recently collaborated with the École du Barreau du Québec to develop training on the right to equality in legal practice, as well as with the Quebec section of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers. Justice Dubé has also presented at conferences and written various articles, notably as co-author of the section on the maintenance obligations of former spouses in the publication JurisClasseur – Personnes et Famille. In the course of her career, she has provided pro bono legal services to improve access to justice in the context of matters of public interest.
Justice Dubé is fluent in French, English, and Haitian Creole. She raised her three children in a Montreal neighbourhood known for its great social mix.
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- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
HAITIAN MIGRANTS
Congresswoman demands policy changes, visits detained Haitians
TAMARAC. FLA. (WSVN) - Months after becoming the first Haitian from Florida to be elected to Congress, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is working to help Haitians who sail to South Florida look for better and safer lives.
“We’re still discriminating against Haitian migrants,” said Cherfilus-McCormick.
Weeks after hundreds of men, women and children, desperate to escape conditions in Haiti, boarded boats to make it to the U.S., Cherfilus-McCormick and other Haitian Americans are demanding policy changes to make the immigration process fair.
“We’re seeing the terror that’s going on in Haiti. It’s a terror that’s similar to what we see in other areas and in other countries that are being granted asylum, but yet the Haitian community is still being denied asylum,” said Cherfilus-McCormick.
A Trump era directive called Title 42, which uses the COVID pandemic as a reason to expel migrants, is still in place. Some Ukrainians, however, have reportedly been allowed in to argue their case.
“Our Haitian brothers and sisters are desperate. That’s the only way you’ll risk your life like that. When you’re a mom and you have your babies, you’ll go to any extent to protect them,” said State Representative Rosalind Osgood.
President Joe Biden, while campaigning in Little Haiti in 2020, said, “I won’t quit on my part as your president, making sure the Haitian community has an even shot, gets back on its feet and moves in the directions that they’ll realize it’s incredible, incredible potential.”
Cherfilus-McCormick sent a letter to the Biden administration, asking Title 42 be rescinded.
“We stand here representing the Haitian diaspora, demanding that equity in immigration is actually enforced,” said Cherfilus-McCormick.
Elected officials and activists toured the Broward Transitional Center where many Haitian migrants are kept until they are deported. She said they are concerned about the conditions they saw there.
National Center of Haitian Apostolate
FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT (March 27, 2022)
The Prodigal Son OR The Merciful Father
Let us be touched by the teachings conveyed by the well-known parable of the PRODIGAL SON. Let’s refresh our memory! A thoughtless young man, not waiting for his father’s death, demands his share of heritage. The rich father yields to the request and the light-headed son goes away to a distant land where he squanders his fortune with prostitutes. Reduced to extreme poverty, he comes back to his senses and returns to the Father’s House pleading for forgiveness. But the old father, instead of blaming him, orders to slaughter the fattened calf and throws a welcome party for his return.
That short story concerns you and me. We are God’s children since the day of our baptism. But when we sin, we act like the mindless prodigal son. We give up God’s treasures of grace blindly seeking the passing pleasures of sin. We greedily go after money and the cravings of the flesh.
Jesus in this parable begs us to come to our senses and return to the real joys procured by repentance.
Don’t we realize that God is a God of infinite mercy like the good rich man of the story? He persists in his love for us in spite of our disgusting conduct. The delights of grace await the repentant sinner!
Like St Paul, I implore you on behalf of Christ “Be reconciled to God.” Lent is a time for reconciliation and Penance! The priest in the confessional is the dispenser of God’s mercy! Don’t delay! Taste and see the goodness of the Lord. Confess your sins and come back to the banquet of Holy Communion!
Former Haitian sports minister Evans Lescouflair accused of raping children
THE GUARDIAN - A former sports minister of Haiti has been accused of repeatedly raping an 11-year-old pupil while a teacher in the 1980s and is facing a civil lawsuit brought by several other alleged victims who claim he sexually abused them.
Complaints against Evans Lescouflair, who served in several posts at Haiti’s Ministry of Youth, Sports and Civic Action between 2008 and 2011 and remains influential in Haitian football as president of youth side Club Sportif Saint-Louis, were sent to the commissaire of Port-au-Prince governorate on Thursday by lawyers working on behalf of Claude-Alix Bertrand and several other alleged victims. It is understood that they contain accusations that one of Lescouflair’s alleged victims killed themselves in 2008.
“It’s a criminal complaint about the repeated rape of minors under 15 years old,” the lawyer Franck Vanéus told the Guardian. “The sentence for this crime is life imprisonment.”
Bertrand – the Haitian ambassador to Unesco and captain of Haiti’s national polo team – told the Guardian that he was abused by Lescouflair when he was an 11-year-old student at Saint-Louis de Gonzague at the end of the 1980s.
“He touched my intimate parts in a way that no one did before,” said Bertrand. “It was so uncomfortable. I didn’t understand anything, I was just a child. I asked him why he was doing it. He kept doing it and asked me: ‘You don’t like it?’
“After that day, I tried to avoid his look. But he kept me a second time, a third time. Each time he kept me apart after a class, things were going further until the day he raped me. He penetrated me. I cried, begging him to stop but nothing changed. It lasted for two years. It happened in an office far away from the classroom.”
Bertrand says that he experienced severe depression but did not report the abuse because he was afraid of the potential consequences.
“I grew up in a society where the teachers had all the rights,” he said. “I thought that no one would believe me. I even thought that I may be punished for it … I was only 11 years old, I was a child and I was so scared. He kept going until the day I became sick.”
Bertrand’s family subsequently moved to the United States, where he has received psychiatric treatment for several years.
…
Lescouflair refused to answer questions from the Guardian but told the Haitian newspaper La Nouvelliste in February after Bertrand’s accusations first went public that he had “nothing to say, since the man who made this statement is married to a man of foreign nationality” – a reference to the fact that Bertrand is gay.
Former Haitian Senator to be extradited to the US
BY CANDICE HAUGHTON
Observer Online
Former Haitian Senator, Joseph Joel John, a person of interest in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, has consented to be extradited to the United States.
The extradition application was brought before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Thursday, by Senior Deputy Director of Prosecutions, Jeremy Taylor.
"Your Honour, this is the matter of the request for extradition of Joseph Joel John, a citizen 0f Haiti to the United States," Taylor said, adding that a provisional warrant of arrest was issued for John on Tuesday by virtue of the extradition treaty between the US and Jamaica.
He also noted that under this treaty the US has 60 days to provide evidence of the supposed crime.
Taylor made it clear in court that only John is required to be extradited.
Before signing the written consent, John expressed his concerns about leaving his family behind. However, through an interpreter it was explained that he will not be sent to the US immediately.
Senior Parish Judge, Lori-Ann Montague-Cole advised John to "prepare himself" to be extradited after the written consent was handed to her.
She also said she can "appreciate a man having a concern about leaving his wife and children."
After the situation was explained to her in detail, John's wife, Edume, was observed with an asthma inhaler in hand and hyperventilating.
John, his wife and two children, were arrested in south-east St Elizabeth on January 20.
His family have since applied for asylum in Jamaica through the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), the application pending a response from the Permanent Secretary's Office in the Ministry of National Security. It was revealed that the permanent secretary is not in the country.
Meanwhile, Montague-Cole commended the police officers for their care of John's seven-year-old son, who was seen sleeping on the laps of the officers.
"The JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) has some good aunts and uncles," Montague-Cole said, noting that there is still kindness in the justice system.
The family is to return to court on April 5 for the decision regarding refugee status from the Permanent Secretary's Office.
Moïse was killed on July 7 when a hit team invaded the presidential residence and shot him dead. His wife, Martine was wounded but survived. Judicial police have questioned at least 21 presidential guards who were present on the fateful night.
- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden President of the United States The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Biden,
March 17, 2022
As members of Congress, we are committed to strengthening bilateral and trade relations with the Republic of Haiti, the second oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere. However, we are deeply concerned regarding the ongoing political crisis in the country. Therefore, we urge your administration to allow the people of Haiti to determine their political destiny by supporting consensus among political actors, civil society, religious and private sectors to create a civil society-led democratic transition.
Due to the extent of the insecurity challenges in Haiti, it is impossible to hold elections in this climate. In 2016, roughly 21 percent of the voting population participated in the presidential election. While elections are often a sign of democracy, holding elections in a climate where citizens are afraid to leave their homes for fear of being kidnapped or killed would severely undermine the electoral process. Hence, your administration must prioritize peace, safety, and security. Elections are necessary but not sufficient to bring about stability in the country if optimal conditions are not met, and consensus among various sectors has not been achieved.
We believe there is a path forward to a democratic transition in Haiti backed by the Haitian people. However, any steps taken to lead to such a transition have limited prospects for success if the United States continues to support the de facto government of Dr. Ariel Henry, who has no incentive to negotiate in good faith while enjoying unfettered support from the United States. There is no doubt that aspects of U.S. policy towards Haiti have undermined the nation's development, peace, and security. However, we have a chance to fix our past mistakes and support the Haitian people to put their country on a path toward true democracy. Now is the time.
Furthermore, your administration's support for Dr. Henry appears contradictory to your stated goal that the United States will not tilt the scales of Haitian politics. Dr. Henry lacks the legitimacy to organize elections and does not have the consensus needed to galvanize the Haitian people to the polls. Dr. Henry's legitimacy comes from the international community, not the Haitian people. We are aware that a growing number of civil societies, the private sector, and political organizations in Haiti have mobilized to offer a more representative inclusive path forward to steer Haiti towards
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the direction of sustainable democracy. We are hopeful that your administration will take meaningful steps to substantively engage with these groups.
Additionally, we are deeply concerned that, under the Henry government, there continues to be little progress in the investigation of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse that took place last July and that those investigating the case in Haiti have faced threats and intimidation. It is crucial that the intellectual authors and those directly involved in President Moïse’s assassination be held accountable to provide clarity and best help Haiti resolve its political crisis. As members of Congress, we urge your administration to take the necessary steps to keep us apprised of the investigation and to thoroughly examine and disclose any roles that American citizens or organizations may have played in the assassination, including any individual who has previously worked as an informant for the United States.
In closing, we humbly request that your administration allow the people of Haiti to determine their own political destiny and withdraw support from the de facto government; assist actors working to investigate the assassination and to address insecurity and other institutional challenges; and support free, fair, transparent, and inclusive elections in Haiti only after security and political conditions allow, as determined by the Haitian people. Policies coming out of Washington must be consistent with the will of the Haitian people, democratic ideals, and the rule of law.
Sincerely,
_________________________ Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20) Member of Congress
_________________________ Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8) Member of Congress
_________________________ Val Demings (FL-10)
Member of Congress
_________________________ Dwight Evans (PA-3)
Member of Congress
_________________________ Andy Levin (MI-9)
Member of Congress
_________________________ Yvette Clarke (NY-9)
Member of Congress
_________________________ Mondaire Jones (NY-17) Member of Congress
______________________ Ayanna Pressley (MA-7) Member of Congress
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CC:
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken
U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian A. Nichols
Haiti wants Jamaica to turn over second suspect in president’s assassination
Updated March 15, 2022 2:20 PM
Haiti wants a former politician accused in the brazen assassination of President Jovenel Moïse last July to be returned to the country from Jamaica.
The country’s foreign minister has sent an official request to Jamaica seeking the return of former senator John Joël Joseph, a high-ranking Haitian government source confirmed to the Miami Herald.
In Jamaica, Joseph is charged with illegal entry after he, his wife and two sons were arrested in January in rural St. Elizabeth parish. It is unclear if Haitian authorities are requesting Joseph’s deportation or extradition. Haiti and Jamaica do not share an extradition agreement. Joseph, who also goes by the name Joseph Joël John, is a Haitian citizen. He ended up in Jamaica after spending months in hiding after the July 7, 2021, assassination of Moïse at his private residence.
The late president, whose mandate officially ended last month according to the international community’s timetable, was shot 12 times and his wife was seriously injured after an alleged hit squad of former Colombian military stormed his home. They were joined by two Haitian Americans and current and former Haiti National Police officers.
Joseph is considered a key suspect in the case who can shed light on the motive behind Moïse’s slaying and why the mission changed from kidnapping and arresting the president to killing him. Several other suspects interviewed by both Haitian and U.S. investigators have said the initial plan was to arrest the president, who had been accused by opponents of remaining in office beyond his term.
Haitian police say Joseph was in contact with several of the suspects in the assassination plot and attended meetings about the attack. A 124-page Haiti National Police investigative report obtained by the Herald also accused him of paying for the rental vehicles that were to be used in the assassination.
Documents seeking Joseph’s return to Haiti were sent to Jamaica on March 10, the same day that Joseph appeared in a Kingston court, where a judge put off a decision on his fate.
“Mr. John Joël Joseph is considered a fugitive from justice and is suspected of being an accessory to a crime,” the Haiti official said. “All of this has been clearly stated in the correspondence.”
Jamaica Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck did not respond to an inquiry from the Herald about the request.
The investigation of Moïse’s murder has stalled in Haiti, where the first investigative judge resigned from the case before even starting, the second had it taken from him after he was accused of corruption and failed to meet a legal deadline to bring formal charges, and a third turned down a request to take over the investigation due to safety concerns.
Earlier this month a fourth investigative judge, Merlan Belabre, was assigned to the case. But in a handwritten press release dated Saturday, Belabre expressed concerns about his safety, saying that 10 days after his naming no effort had been made to ensure his and his family’s security.
“The executive power, the superior council of the judicial power have delivered me and my family to the assassins and kidnappers,” he said in the note, which several sources confirmed was written by him.
The little progress there has been in the investigation has occurred in the U.S. Two suspects are currently in custody when they voluntarily came to the U.S. after being detained outside of Haiti. A Colombian former soldier, Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, was picked up by U.S. federal agents in Panama on Jan. 3 during the process of being deported to Colombia by Jamaica.
The second suspect, Rodolphe Jaar, a convicted drug trafficker, was escorted by U.S. federal agents to Miami last month after being detained in the Dominican Republic. Both are believed to be cooperating with U.S. prosecutors, who in a criminal complaint have accused both of conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping outside of the United States and providing material support resulting in death, knowing that such support would be used to carry out a plot to kill the Haitian president.
An American national of Haitian origin arrested at Toussaint Louverture Airport
Agents of the National Police of Haiti apprehended this Saturday, (March 19th) at Toussaint Louverture International Airport, an American national of Haitian origin. This is Jean-Baptiste Jean Appolon who had a 9 mm caliber pistol in his possession, informs the PNH.
Port-au-Prince, March 19, 2022.- Agents of the Brigade for the Fight Against Narcotics Trafficking (BLTS), a specialized unit of the National Police of Haiti, proceeded to the arrest this Saturday at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, of an American citizen of Haitian origin.
This is Jean-Baptiste Jean Appolon. The latter had in his possession a 9 mm caliber pistol, informs the PNH.
He was about to board a flight to New York.
The pistol he had in his possession is a Glock and serial BGAB363, police said.
For the moment, the defendant is kept in sight at the DCPJ (Central Directorate of the Judicial Police) pending his transfer to the judicial authorities after a hearing.
Jean Allens Macajoux
HAITI SECURITY
Vant Bèf Info
Police officer Davickson Désir and three other people killed Friday in Carrefour. Death yesterday Friday (March 18th) in Carrefour, of the police officer Davickson Désir and three other individuals in different circumstances.
Carrefour, March 19, 2022. At least four gunshot deaths were recorded for Friday alone in Carrefour.
It is a policeman, Davickson Désir, and three other individuals. Two of the other victims would be members of a gang operating in Martissant, we learned.
These individuals were shot at Mon Repos 36, not far from the tribunal de paix.
MURDER OF POLICE OFFICER
Vant Bèf Info
As part of the investigation into the assassination of police officer Henry Marc Mollians, the national police apprehend the named Kecheler Pierre Louis.
Canaan, March 19, 2022. The National Police of Haiti arrested this Saturday, one of the alleged assassins of police officer Henry Marc Mollians.
He responds to the name of Kecheler Pierre Louis.
Born on November 15, 1994 in Moron, this individual is a member of the gang operating in the locality of Canaan, commune of Croix-des-Bouquets.
Apart from this assassination, the police accuse him of involvement in the armed attacks perpetrated against the Canaan police station.
Armed individuals had murdered the policeman last week after breaking into his house in Canaan.
The victim was assigned to the Central Directorate of Judicial Police (DCPJ).