Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 12 juin 2019

 Deaths, protests in Haiti as Venezuela aid scandal increases calls for president to go

Jacqueline Charles ( The Miami Herald

Thousands of angry Haitians marched in protest in Port-au-Prince on Sunday, decrying corruption and stepping up calls for the resignation of President Jovenel Moïse, who has been implicated in two government audits on the misuse of billions of dollars in Venezuelan aid meant to help the country’s poor. 

Though the protest started off calm, tensions mounted later in the day throughout the country. Protesters vandalized buildings with rocks, blocked roads, doused a former government official in the city of Jacmel with gasoline and tried to burn down a supermarket near one of the symbols of the graft: an old, abandoned movie theater that received, what critics say can best described as a $5 million paint job.

Police Spokesman Michel-Ange Louis-Jeune said a preliminary tally shows there were at least two deaths from gunshots, four injuries also from gunshots and 12 arrests were made. Reports of vandalism, which including rock throwing and setting vehicles and two buildings aflame were also reported. 

Some opposition groups have said that the number of arrests are far more than what police are reporting. Concerns have also been raised about possible police repression after a video circulated on the WhatsAPP messaging platform showing a Haiti National Police officer stoning a protester with rocks as he laid face down in the hills above Petionville not far from Moïse’s Pelerin 5 residence.

The incident triggered immediate calls for an investigation despite the insistence of Petionville Police Commissioner Paul Ménard that “the video is not from today.”

As proof, Ménard in a Miami Herald interview pointed to the dirt road, saying the road near the president’s home is asphalted. But people familiar with the neighborhood said the incident is about 200 meters from the road leading to Moïse’s residence, and it is a dirt path.

“We are asking the [director general of the Haiti National Police] to launch an immediate investigation on the matter,” Sen. Patrice Dumont said. “This was an attempted murder if the person did not die.”

In a communique to the press, Police Chief Michel-Ange Gédéon said police were instructed not to use excessive force and he has instructed his inspector general’s office to launch an investigate into the incident. 

The mounting tensions in Haiti come as opposition senators, political parties and the grassroots anti-corruption group known as Petrochallengers, promise to keep the pressure going until Moïse steps down from power. Some groups have called for a general strike on Monday and Tuesday. 

“We are telling the people to ‘hold on.’ The fight isn’t easy,” Sen. Antonio “Don Kato” Cheramy said at a press conference on the Champ de Mars not far from the presidential palace. “Don’t let go.”

Moïse has not made any public statements since the corruption audit was released. But in private “Our country is shamefully trapped in corruption at the highest level of society,” the Episcopal Conference of Haiti said. “Unabated corruption has become an endemic evil, a messy swamp, a degradation, an organized robbery. It has become a real social plague that is clogging our institutions, makes politics ill, threatens democracy and social peace, and thus seriously undermines, both from an ethical and an economic point of view, the development of our country.”

Without naming any names, the bishops said those implicated in the recent court of auditors report and a previous one issued in January, should “repair the social injustice” by submitting themselves to “the justice of their country, if it is the price to pay to restore the moral authority of the state and its leaders.”

The May 31 audit is the second installment of a three-part investigation into how Haiti managed billions of dollars in savings from the Venezuelan oil program between 2008-16. Among the most damning accusations, millions of dollars in aid money were mismanaged and embezzled during the administration of former president Michel Martelly, 2011-1016. This includes $5 million that

the Private Sector reiterated its appeal for dialogue, while a group of politicians from various political parties began circulating a transition plan focused on reforming the constitution, political parties structure and fiscal operations.

Business leaders noted that five months after they first asked the president, parliamentarians and opposition to urgently work toward “a sincere dialogue,” they have noticed a “total failure, the worsening of the economic and social situation, the unacceptable insecurity, the lost of control of the geographical departments by the public powers and so many other problems known to all.”

“The country is nearing a cliff,” the pro-business Economic Forum said in its statement. 

Business leaders said while they recognize the collective responsibility of all Haitians in Haiti’s failure and that Moïse and the parliament inherited a dysfunctional country, they have, through bad decisions, “contributed to dragging the country even further into crisis and proven that they are part of the problem and not part of the solution.”

Memorial for the three Haitian Kids killed by a drunk driver.

A Memorial for 3 very Young Ayisyen boys with Promising Lives.

2 of the boys were sent from Ayiti without their immediate family for a better opportunity here in the states. The parents of the 2 boys are still in Ayiti and could not be assisting at the Memorial.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 19 juin 2019

 Accused by judges, Haitian president denies corruption allegations

(HAITIAN TIMES)

Haitian President Jovenel Moise last week denied allegations that he was at the center of an embezzlement scheme spanning the last decade.

"I'm looking you in the eye today to say: your president, whom you voted for, is not guilty of corruption," Moise said at a press conference.

“The people who mishandled and misused state funds will be brought to justice in a fair, equitable trial without political persecution,” he added.

The judges of Haiti's High Court of Auditors said in a voluminous report at the end of May that Moise was at the center of an embezzlement scheme that siphoned off Venezuelan aid money intended for road repairs, laying out what they said was a litany of examples of corruption and mismanagement.

The magistrates said they discovered, for example, that in 2014 Haitian authorities signed contracts with two different companies -- Agritrans and Betexs -- for the same road-repair project. The two turned out to have the same tax registration number and the same personnel.

Before he came to power in 2017, Moise headed Agritrans, which received more than 33 million gourdes ($700,000 at the time) to do the road work, though the company in principle did nothing but grow bananas.

Agritrans received an advance two months before the road-repair contract was signed, leading the magistrates to believe "there was collusion, favoritism and embezzlement."

"To those who think it's alright to criticize the company I led before being president, before being a candidate, I say that justice is doing its work. The business is there and all the paperwork exists," Moise responded Wednesday.

As tensions continue to escalate in Haiti over president, journalists come under attack

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

JUNE 11, 2019 06:52 PM

The day before a journalist was gunned down near downtown Port-au-Prince and anti-government protesters attacked a Haitian broadcast station, someone plastered the station’s exterior yellow walls with images of President Donald Trump and Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

“It said ‘Down with Donald Trump’ and ‘Long Live Maduro,’” said Jean Lucien Borges, 60, the owner of Radio Télé Ginen, recalling the threats against his Port-au-Prince TV and radio station after it began showing images of demonstrators turning violent Sunday. The protesters were demanding the ouster of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in a new round of anti-government and anti-corruption protests.

On Monday, as the first day of a two-day strike paralyzed Port-au-Prince, the threats went beyond just posters of Trump and Maduro that were also plastered around the capital. A crowd of protesters had barricaded both ends of Delmas 31, where Radio Télé Ginen is located, with burning tires, Borges said, and proceeded to burn and loot a van, while setting fire to several other vehicles. Vehicles that weren’t burned were vandalized with rocks before police arrived.

“All of our journalists were inside,” Borges said.

In Haiti’s escalating tensions over corruption allegations against Moïse and fresh demands for his resignation, journalists are increasingly becoming targets of aggression as both sides accuse them of working for or against the government. Their Twitter handles are being photo-shopped with fake tweets. Their images are being distributed in videos. Their cars are being burned. And they are being physically attacked.

The deadliest of the aggressions came Monday night when radio journalist Rospide Pétion, 45, was gunned down in Portal Léogâne in Port-au-Prince while on his way home. He had just finished his broadcast for Radio Sans Fin, and was driving home when people approached his car and opened fire, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said in a statement condemning the killing.

“The Haitian authorities must shed light on this sordid execution and bring to justice those responsible for the death,“ said Emmanuel Colombié, director of the Latin America office for Reporters Without Borders. “It is also the responsibility of the government to guarantee the safety of the journalists covering the demonstrations, whose role during this turbulent period is fundamental. “

Pétion’s final broadcast was about the allegations against Moïse, who has been implicated in two government audits on the misuse of billions of dollars from Venezuela’s PetroCaribe oil program. He also denounced the attacks against Radio Télé Ginen by demonstrators.

“This is outrageous and unacceptable,” the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, a Boston-based human rights group said. It added that it had once represented Pétion who had survived being a political prisoner in 2004-05.

On Tuesday, Moïse, who has yet to speak publicly since auditors sent a second audit on May 31 to the president of the Senate, condemned the attacks against Radio Télé Ginen and Pétion in two separate tweets..

“The assassination of RSF’s journalist Rospide Pétion is a heinous act. I vehemently condemn this despicable crime,” he said. “Once again, the Haitian press is in mourning.”

Several media organizations have also spoken out about the attacks and demand that police protect journalists.

Several media organizations have also spoken out about the attacks and demand that police protect journalists.

“Let the journalists and media do their job,” the Association of National Haitian Media and the Association of Independent Media of Haiti said in a joint statement. “Do not attack their vehicles. Do not attack their buildings. Do not prevent them from moving freely.”

“Attacks against journalists, attacks against media.... are contrary to democracy, they are contrary to freedom of the press, they are contrary to the freedom of expression,” Jacques Desrosiers, the secretary general of the Association of Haitian Journalists, told Magik 9 radio station last week.

Carnival Cruise ship rescues fishermen who were stuck at sea for two days

Michael Hollan3 days ago

Carnival Cruise Line ships keep coming to the rescue.

One of the cruise line’s ships heading towards Miami made a detour to come to the aid of a small fishing boat. Seven passengers were successfully rescued after reportedly spending two days stuck at sea.

Carnival Horizon was returning to Miami from Aruba on Friday when they were alerted to the smaller boat’s calls for help, Local 10 reports. Passengers took pictures as the boat rescued the seven Haitian fishermen. Horizon is still expected to return to Port Miami on Sunday as scheduled with the fishermen on board.

A spokesperson for Carnival provided the following statement to Local 10: ”Continuing its longstanding tradition of assisting mariners in distress, Carnival Horizon was alerted to a small craft in need of assistance. Following the direction of the U.S. Coast Guard, Carnival Horizon diverted its course and participated in a search and rescue mission, bringing several passengers from the craft on board. The passengers were given food, water and medical treatment. There is no expected impact to the ship’s arrival on Sunday.”

He got off the plane from Haiti. He was immediately taken into custody.

When Pascal Joly landed at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport from his native Haiti last Wednesday, U.S. Marshals were waiting for him, poised to charge him with one count of child abuse and one count of soliciting sexual battery of a child by a custodial adult. 

Joly, 63, sits in Palm Beach County Jail with $25,000 bond. Tuesday, the child abuse charge was dropped and the latter charge was downgraded to misdemeanor domestic battery.

According to a domestic violence probable cause affidavit, a girl told Boynton Beach police that on Feb. 6, Joly began talking about “her private areas and trying to get her to lay in his bed with him.” She also said he foot massaged her vaginal area and squeezed her breast. To back up her claim, the affidavit says, she played a recording she made of the interaction.

In his interview with police, Joly denied saying “anything to (the girl) in a sexual manner and claimed that he was probably just joking around. Pascal said “if he touched (her) thigh area with his foot, it was probably him kicking at her to get her away from him.”

By the time Boynton cops talked to Joly again, the affidavit said, a detective fluent in Creole had listened to the recording and determined it supported the girl’s accusation. The affidavit claims Joly admitted both claims the girl made were true.

This was at least the second time this year that a man wanted by the Boynton Beach police for sexual battery got taken into custody by U.S. Marshals at a Florida airport.

Also in Palm Beach County Jail, but granted no bond, is Pascal Estime. Estime was facing two counts of sexual battery and had a hearing scheduled for Feb. 19. But Homeland Security heard on Feb. 17 that Estime had bought a one-way ticket to Haiti. The U.S. Marshals picked up Estime at Orlando International Airport on Feb. 18.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 26 juin 2019

 OAS tells Haiti opposition to back off — and tells president to start governing

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JUNE 19, 2019  

A fact-finding mission from the Organization of American States concluded its visit on Wednesday to a politically volatile Haiti with two messages, and a proposal to help bring those implicated in a Venezuela PetroCaribe aid corruption scandal to justice. 

For the frustrated masses seeking to depose Haitian President Jovenel Moïse: “We will always support rule of law. If you don’t like Moïse, the solution is to beat him at the ballot box. We are not going to ask him to resign,” said an official speaking on background because of the sensitive nature of the discussions. Moïse is in the third year of a five-year term.

And for the president: “You have to govern, and right now you are not governing.”

During the talk with Moïse, the delegation proposed putting together an OAS-sanctioned commission made up of international financial experts to help Haitian government auditors determine how much was stolen from the PetroCaribe aid fund, and who should be prosecuted.

Moïse, the official said, agreed. “He said he was ready to go to Washington and sign. He said he has nothing to hide.”

The handpicked successor of former Haitian President Michel Martelly, Moïse is among several Martelly supporters and ex-government officials accused of embezzling millions of dollars in the latest government audit of the program. The audit was issued on May 31 by Haiti’s Superior Court of Auditors and Administrative Disputes. It looks at six governments under three different presidents, but it is the alleged corruption involving Moïse, who sold himself as a banana farmer during the presidential campaign, that has spurred nationwide violent protests and growing calls for his resignation.

“There can’ t be impunity. Whoever stole money needs to be held accountable,” the official said.

The delegation drove through the capital, where, nearly 10 years after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake, government ministries are still unrestored. The buildings were supposed to be replaced with money from the PetroCaribe fund. A lot of that money was wasted or stolen, according to auditors.

“It was very apparent,” the official said. “A lot of fraud took place.”

The high-level visit, led by U.S. OAS Ambassador Carlos Trujillo, who chairs the permanent council and general committee of the hemispheric organization, lasted about five hours. He was joined by U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Michele Sison, OAS Haiti representative Cristobal Dupouy and Gonzalo Koncke, chief of staff for OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro.

After arriving in Port-au-Prince early Wednesday morning, Trujillo headed straight to Moïse’s residence in the hills of the capital, where he was joined by the foreign minister, Bocchit Edmond. Having refused suggestions for about a month to bring Haiti’s crisis to the attention of the OAS permanent council, Edmond finally did so on June 14, asking Trujillo if he could come see if the OAS can facilitate dialogue between the president and those demanding his resignation.

“We are not mediators,” said the official, adding that the aim of the OAS is to help put in place conditions for a dialogue, not dictate one.

It was at the president’s residence that the delegation made it clear to the president that he has to step up. The protests have stalled government functions. Banks are opened half a day. Revenues are not coming in or being collected, and earlier this week the finance minister said instead of 2.5 percent economic growth, Haiti can expect to see less than 1 percent.

Moïse, the official said, complained that while he has support in the lower chamber of deputies, he lacks a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which has thwarted his ability to get a new government in place, four months after the lower chamber fired the last prime minister. Of 29 senators, only four are viewed as opposition.

“You don’t need an absolute majority,” the official insisted.

After meeting with Moïse, the group conferred with the representatives of Canada, Brazil, the United Nations and other OAS member countries. They also heard from four members of civil society, and the representatives of two of the more moderate political parties, Fusion and OPL, along with an ex-Senate president, Kely Bastien.

Not part of the discussions: representatives of the private sector, which has been asking the president for months for a dialogue. Also not invited were members of the structured grassroots movement Nou Pap Domi (We are not sleeping) and the radical opposition, both of which have been rallying Haitians into the streets in demonstrations that have become increasingly violent.

If Trujillo was hoping to find a more moderate stance on whether Moïse should stay, and a dialogue was possible, some in attendance said he did not get it. Meanwhile, the exclusion of the more outspoken players in Haiti’s brewing political crisis had even some members of the foreign diplomatic corps, wondering if the OAS’ visit could produce the needed dialogue between Moïse and those demanding his departure.

“This shows a willingness by the OAS to impose a solution without listening to the popular demands of the population,” Nou Pap Domi said in a statement. “[But] we at Nou Pap Domi are committed to finding a solution to Haiti with Haitians.

“The presence of the OAS does not change our position,” the organization added. “But we wrote the OAS on June 8, 2019, to inform them that we do not recognize the legitimacy of President Jovenel Moïse and we have no trust in him leading the country because he has serious allegations that involve corruption.”

Edmonde Supplice Beauzile, a former senator and current head of Fusion, said the meeting has not changed her party’s position on Moïse.

“We cannot lose time with him. He’s not credible,” she said of the president. “The OAS has to start working for the goodwill of the Haitian people and not a person who doesn’t have leadership or credibility.”

OAS should promote systemic change in Haiti not an external agenda

Jun 21, 2019

By Sir Ronald Sanders

In what is increasingly becoming a pattern of ignoring established procedures and authority in the Organisation of American States (OAS), a delegation went to troubled Haiti on June 19 without any discussion or mandate by the Permanent Council, the organ responsible for making and overseeing policy between General Assemblies.

The results of the unmandated OAS delegation to Haiti are left to be seen, but early reports by the US public service broadcaster, the Voice of America (VOA), indicate a hostile response so far.

Over the last few weeks, massive protests have rocked Haiti with thousands nationwide demanding the resignation of President Jovenel MoÏse over fraud and corruption allegations.  A report, published on May 31, concerning misspending of monies from a PetroCaribe Fund implicated two companies closely connected to President MoÏse.  While he has denied the allegations, protests have intensified.

A May 2019 report on Haiti by the US-based Institute for Justice and Democracy states that MoÏse’s “administration has engaged in human rights abuses, flouted the rule of law, and mismanaged the economy in ways that disproportionately impact the poor. In the long term, this administration’s failures are enabled by years of flawed elections, a dysfunctional justice system and domestic and foreign economic policies that have impoverished the majority of Haitians”.

The usual response in the OAS to situations such as Haiti now faces, is that countries, like the United States and Canada, backed by others, call for the establishment of a Working Group to monitor the situation in the country; demand the establishment of investigatory machinery; insist that the Government provide guarantees for safety of protestors; and stipulate that a supervised process of dialogue be instituted between all political parties. Further the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights quickly produces reports that are used to rouse international pressure on governments.

This is what occurred in relation to other countries, most recently Nicaragua, but oddly it is not what happened in relation to Haiti, even though the MoÏse government joined in OAS resolutions that condemned the governments of Venezuela and Nicaragua.

In fairness, I note that the delegation of Canada had weeks ago suggested to the Haitian representatives that the situation in the country be brought before the Permanent Council – a request that was resisted by Haiti’s representation at the OAS.

Instead of action being taken on the authority of the Permanent Council after due deliberation and decision, the visit of a delegation to Haiti seems to have been organised between the Ambassador of the United States, Carlos Trujillo, and the Secretary-General, Luis Almagro in response to a letter of invitation from the Government of Haiti that, most unusually, was not distributed to OAS member states as is the norm.

The Haitian letter, dated June 14 according to the Miami Herald newspaper, has still not been circulated to member states of the OAS up to the time of writing.

The first official inkling that any OAS member state had of a delegation going to Haiti came on June 17 in an announcement by Ambassador Trujillo, unusually, in a meeting of a committee preparing for the OAS General Assembly and not in the right body, the Permanent Council.   Ambassador Trujillo stated that: “The United States is pleased to accept this invitation in representation of all Council members”.  Thereafter, a team he headed that included Gonzalo Koncke, the Chief of Staff to the OAS Secretary-General, went to Haiti on Wednesday, June 19 with no prior mandate or authority from the Permanent Council.

It is most unlikely that, having not discussed, authorized or mandated the delegation to Haiti and having never been made privy to the Haitian letter, that the entire Permanent Council of the OAS can embrace it, particularly as, according to media reports, the OAS was vilified by protestors.  The VOA reported a representative of one protest group as stating: “That’s why we want everyone to know we do not recognize this (OAS) mission. Before they even arrived, we considered them persona non grata.”

In the event, the visit by Ambassador Trujillo’s delegation which was always a risky endeavour because of its suddenness, does not appear to have assuaged the concerns that have motivated the recent riots in Haiti or to have promoted dialogue.  But time and events will better judge the efficacy of the effort.

Any OAS endeavour in Haiti required careful pre-planning with dedicated time to consulting fully with all sectors of the society for as long as it takes.  A one-day visit, while a bold attempt, might not have been adequate.

The external approach to Haiti’s deep-seated problems is often rooted in the objective of stopping the thousands who flee its shores as refugees from its desperate poverty and in curbing the trafficking of drugs also occasioned by its abject poverty.  The objective is less about helping Haiti and more about protecting the interests of others.

Yet, Haiti, with a population of 11 million, has less than a million people in permanent employment; over 60 percent of the population live in extreme poverty; the level of literacy is 61 per cent (in the rest of the Caribbean it is an average of 92 per cent); and it is plagued by corruption.  In short, Haiti is a continuing powder keg of dissatisfaction.  That it has managed not to erupt in greater conflict is a tribute to the tenacity of its people to survive; it is also an indication of how beaten-down and helpless the great majority feel.

Further, Haiti has been impoverished and kept in thrall to foreign occupiers for most of its existence since its revolution in 1804 to free its people from enslavement.  Therefore, its people’s distrust of foreign interposition, especially when they feel the purpose is not in their broad interest, is understandable and should always be considered.

No piece meal response to Haiti’s fundamental economic and social problems and their attendant political instability, and no lectures, promises and pressures will quell disquiet.

The Haitian people are owed a great debt for their historic struggle that ended enslavement in their own country and opened the pathways to end slavery in all the Americas, especially as they continued to pay the price for almost two hundred years.

The OAS should address the situation in Haiti not in ad-hoc ways, but by using its convening capacity, in association with legitimate representatives of the Haitian community, to bring together the institutions of the international community in the delivery of a comprehensive scheme to reform and transform the country in all aspects of the governance of its political, social and economic systems.

(The writer is Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the United States and the Organisation of American States.  He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and at Massey College in the University of Toronto.  The views expressed are entirely his own)

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On Wednesday, June 19, 2019, Marcel Duret <Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.> wrote:

His Excellency Sir Ronald Sanders

Barbados representative at the OAS

Excellency,

My name is Marcel Duret and I am the former Haitian Ambassador in Japan.

I am writing you because you were instrumental to find a solution about 5 years ago when the mandate of President Martelly expired. I thank you very much for your invaluable contribution.

Most probably you are one of the members of the new OAS delegation which is already in Haiti. As food for thoughts I am sharing with you the following ideas:

- considering that Preaident Jovenel Moise has lost all of his credibility in the overall Haitian population, there is not much that can be done with him in terms of dialogue. All possible solutions must include his resignation;

- considering the weakness of most if not all the institutions in the country;

- considering that the constitution does not offer a valuable altwrnative;

- considering that certain changes must be included in the overall system that can not be brought to bear by one individual or one political party;

- considering that Haiti suffers from a lack of qualified men and women;

- considering that 5 years ago an attempt was made to create the Club of the Former Prime Ministers which rwpresent a wealth of experience and competence;

We, a group of Haitians who are worried about the future of our country Haiti, make the following humble suggestions:

1) the Club of the Ex Prime Minisyers is reactivited;

2) those who are cited as being involved in the PetroCaribe affairs would not be called upon to join;

3) the group would become the memwbers of a State Council whose mandate would be 3-4 years;

4) the OAS delegation objective should be to meet these individual on a one to one basis and later  meet with them as a group;

5) on a rotation basis the position of the Council President would be changed every 6 months. The President of the Council being the President of Haiti.

6) the internal regulations of the Council would be elaborated by the members themselves with probably the help of the OAS.

Dears Ambassador Sanders,

This is a humble suggestion from some Haitians citizen who hope that the OAS delegation will give it some thoughts and share it with others they are meeting during their stay.

Thanks for your support to reach a solution which will be beneficial to all Haitians.

Best,

Marcel Duret

Former Haitian Ambassador in Japan

Tel: 3695-2134

Director-General urges justice for murder of journalist Rospide Pétion in Haiti

The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, has condemned and called for an investigation into the killing of radio journalist Rospide Pétion in Haiti on 10 June. 

“I condemn the killing of Rospide Pétion,” said the Director-General. “Investigating cases of violence against journalists and bringing their perpetrators to trial is indispensable for the defense of freedom of expression and of the press.”

Rospide Pétion, a journalist for Radio Sin Fin, was killed in Port-au Prince, capital of Haiti, as he was driving home from work in a company vehicle.

UNESCO promotes the safety of journalists through global awareness-raising, capacity building and a range of actions, notably in the framework of the UN Plan of Action on the

Two U.S. businessmen convicted of bribery in scheme involving $84M Haiti port project

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June 20, 2019 10:22 PM

Dr. Joseph Baptiste, the chair and founder of the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians, was convicted in a Boston court in a bribery scheme involving Haitian government officials.

A Haitian ambassador-at-large and his business partner, a prominent retired U.S. Army colonel, were both found guilty by a federal jury in Boston on Thursday of participating in a scheme to bribe Haitian government officials in exchange for business advantages on an $84 million port project in northwest Haiti. 

Roger Boncy, the CEO of Hispaniola Invest, LLC, and a dual citizen of the United States and Haiti who lived in Madrid, and Dr. Joseph Baptiste, a Maryland dentist and founder and chairman of the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians (NOAH), were convicted after a two-week jury trial. Both were found guilty of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Travel Act, while Baptiste, 66, was also convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and an additional Travel Act violation. Boncy, 74, was cleared of the latter two counts.

Under the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, it is illegal for Americans or U.S. companies to pay foreign officials to win business. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Travel Act counts carry a maximum of five years each in prison, while the more serious money-laundering conspiracy charge carries a maximum of 20 years. Both men are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 12 and will remain free until then, Boncy’s lawyer, Jed Dwyer of Greenberg Traurig said.

“Mr. Boncy is happy the jury acquitted him of the most serious counts,” Dwyer told the Miami Herald. “We disagree with, but respect, the jury’s decision on the least serious count.”

Baptiste’s attorney Donald LaRoche said: “Obviously we don’t agree with the verdict, but we are not done fighting.”

Both men came under the glare of U.S. officials after the FBI received a tip about the alleged scheme. It then conducted a sting operation in Boston, using undercover FBI agents posing as potential investors interested in the port project. The agents, for example, gave Baptiste two separate payments of $25,000 meant to be used to bribe Haitian government officials. The money was funneled through Baptiste’s nonprofit charity. The money, however, was “ultimately used ... for personal purposes” by Baptiste, an agent said in the criminal complaint. 

Baptiste and Boncy were charged after prosecutors accused them of conspiring to pay millions of dollars in bribes to Haitian officials to be able to develop the port project in Mȏle St. Nicolas, a city in northwest Haiti. Prior to the charges, Boncy made frequent visits to Haiti, where he often spoke of the benefits of the project in bringing jobs to one of Haiti’s poorest regions and his frustrations with the lack of support from government officials.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 6 juillet 2019

 U.N. establishes a replacement for departing Haiti peacekeepers

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

The Miami Herald

JUNE 25, 2019 12:54 PM

The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday approved the establishment of a new political mission for Haiti to replace its departing blue-helmet peacekeepers this October after 15 years in the country.

With the United States calling it “a historic moment,” Security Council members voted 13-0 — with China and the Dominican Republic both abstaining — to request that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres establish the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, or BINUH, to succeed its U.N. Mission for Justice Support in Haiti.

The mandate of the latter will end on Oct. 15, and the new smaller special political mission will go into effect on Oct. 16. It will have an initial mandate of 12 months and, like its predecessors, be headed by a special representative of the secretary-general.

No one voted against the resolution, and the New York meeting lacked the vigorous debate of past Security Council discussions on the situation in Haiti. However, the representatives of Peru, Germany, France and the Dominican Republic all highlighted their disappointment on the lack of mention of climate change in the resolution, and its ramifications on Haiti’s security and stability.

“Haiti is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the adverse effects of climate change,” said Germany’s Permanent Representative Christoph Heusgen, who noted that this is the first time since 2011 that the Security Council failed to include a mention of climate change. “[The] effects of climate change in the case of Haiti constitute a threat multiplier, threatening to destabilize the country further to create new conflicts over increasingly diminished resources and to derail efforts in pace-building and stabilization.”

Patrick Saint-Hilaire, Haiti’s newly appointed chargé d’affaires to the U.N., said the new mission was “a step in the right direction,” and something President Jovenel Moïse has been working toward since January.

While he acknowledged Haiti is undergoing what he described as “major difficulties,” Saint-Hilaire said the situation “is no real threat to peace and international security.” Still, given Haiti’s vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change, on top of its ongoing humanitarian challenges and inability to revise agricultural production, he conceded: “We even fear hunger riots.”

This is the Security Council’s second transition in Haiti since peacekeepers returned in 2004 amid a bloody coup. After 13 years, a mixed legacy of stability and controversy, it ended its large multinational military presence in the country in 2017. It was succeeded by the current mission focused on justice, human rights and police development.

As that goes away, Haiti is once again in the throes of a deepening political crisis with violent protests demanding the resignation of Moïse amid corruption allegations.

At the same time, Haitians are seeing skyrocketing inflation, a rapid deterioration of their domestic currency, the gourde, and a recurrence of the kind of deadly gang violence that U.N. peacekeepers spent their first few years battling. A recently released U.N. investigation into a November massacre in the poor Haiti slum of La Saline in Port-au-Prince pointed the finger at the Haitian government and criticized the U.N.-trained police force for not doing enough to stop the slaughter.

MIGRATION

"When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty."

The captain of the Sea-Watch 3 charity rescue vessel threatened Tuesday to enter Italian waters illegally to bring 42 migrants to shore after they spent 13 days in limbo at sea.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has banned the Dutch-flagged vessel from approaching under a "closed ports" policy, which has seen migrants repeatedly stranded at sea.

"I will enter Italian waters and bring them to safety on Lampedusa," Carola Rackete said in an interview with La Repubblica daily, in reference to Italy's southernmost island.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg on Tuesday declined to intervene but called on Italy to "continue to provide all necessary assistance" to vulnerable migrants.

The German NGO Sea-Watch had asked the ECHR to impose "interim measures" on Italy, saying the court could ask Rome to take urgent steps to resolve the standoff in order to "prevent serious and irremediable violations of human rights".

Salvini said Tuesday the charity vessel could "stay there until Christmas and New Year" but would never be allowed in.

Of the 53 migrants initially rescued by the Sea-Watch 3 off Libya on June 12, Italy took in 11 vulnerable people.

"That's enough! Whatever Strasbourg tells us, with great serenity we will maintain our position," Salvini said.

"Imagine if a country like Italy -- the second-largest industrial power in Europe -- let an NGO dictate immigration rules," he said.

On Lampedusa, where Salvini's far-right League won 45 percent in May's European elections, a priest has camped in the street to demand those on board -- including three minors -- be allowed to disembark.

Dozens of German cities have said they are ready to welcome them, and the Bishop of Turin, Cesare Noviglia, said Monday his diocese would be willing to take them in.

"We can't hold on any longer. It's like we're in a prison because we are deprived of everything. Help us, think of us," one migrant from the Ivory Coast said in a video broadcast by Sea-Watch.

In January, 32 migrants rescued by the vessel were stranded on board for 18 days before they were allowed to disembark in Malta thanks to a distribution deal made between several European countries.

Those on-board Sea-Watch 3 risk prosecution for aiding illegal immigration, as well as the seizure of the boat and a fine of 50,000 euros, according to a new decree of the Italian Minister of the Interior.

Doctors Without Borders humanitarian affairs adviser Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui told the Star: “Every stand-off at sea further exposes how broken the European asylum system is, as politicians prioritize political point-scoring rather than the wellbeing of vulnerable people.

“Men, women and children continue to flee Libya, where many suffer in detention centers in inhumane conditions amidst an active conflict. There must be sustainable, reliable and predictable disembarkation systems for survivors where they will be treated humanely and will be able to seek asylum.

“As European governments criminalize search and rescue efforts, we see that they are losing their humanity.

“Fining humanitarian actors for rescuing people at sea is like fining ambulances for bringing patients to hospital.

“Saving lives is not a crime, it’s a duty. Life must prevail over political grandstanding.”

We urge the European Institutions, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights to take action and protect Carola against any charges. Saving life cannot be criminalized.

Beach hotels on the Côte des Arcadins are about to close their doors!

HaitiReyèl 3

Because of the insecurity that has arisen in recent days due to political turbulence, most of the beaches in this tourist area have closed.

Royal Decameron is in a difficult situation, dropping from 420 to 20 employees… The dismissal of staff has become the catchword to severely avoid any possible bankruptcy.

Moulin Sur Mer, known for its attractions that bring

explorers, is on the verge of closing because in recent weeks it has not had a single customer.

Those who work in the tourism sector are mourning with tears, as each political commotion causes the involuntary withdrawal of tourists, and the ongoing removal of Haiti on the world tourism map. Each political unrest reaffirms that the country is not prepared to peacefully receive visitors, not ready for investors jockeying for its development, and not prepared for tourists who want to explore our territory, and immerse in its tropical atmosphere.

As a result, it is Haiti that loses. It is our local entrepreneurs who close the doors of their businesses. It is the employees who are going home without hope as the unemployment rate continues to rise.

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Asylum-seeker from Haiti finds an army of supporters in Cleveland

CBS News

Ansly Damus spent over two years in jail despite having committed no crime. Ted Koppel reports on how he came to live in Melody Hart and Gary Benjamin's upstairs bedroom in Cleveland Heights, Ohio

It's a proud Independence Day tradition, naturalization ceremonies for new U.S. citizens across the land, including one at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. Yet even as others take the oath of citizenship this Thursday, a refugee from the Caribbean is continuing his fight for the right to stay.

This is the story of how Ansly Damus, a 42-year-old asylum seeker from Haiti, came to be living in Melody Hart and Gary Benjamin's upstairs bedroom in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Melody and Gary told Ted Koppel of "CBS Sunday Morning" no discussion was needed before taking Ansly in.

"We knew that could be his room without talking to each other," Gary said.

Gary, Melody and a bunch of neighbors who began calling themselves "Ansly's Army" were outraged that an asylum seeker who had committed no crime, was spending endless months in jail. He clearly needed help and they were ready to provide it.

But we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Back in Haiti, where he was a teacher, Ansly spoke Creole and French. He taught mathematics and physics and ethics and pedagogy.

You know, "pedagogy," the theory and practice of education. Ansly Damus is an educated man.

His troubles began back in Haiti in 2014, when one of his former teachers went into politics.  Ansly began peppering his lectures with references to that teacher's corruption.

In retaliation, he says in a court statement, the politician sent thugs to beat him and threaten his life. Ansly's father called him and told him to get out.

"'Leave your house. Leave your house,'" Ansly recalled him saying.

Ansly was afraid, he says, that if he stayed, his wife and two children would be in danger. So he left Haiti, ending up in Brazil. After 18 months, he says, he found Brazil too violent and claims he encountered too much discrimination.

So he decided to come to the United States.

Baja, California, is where Ansly sought asylum, where he was processed by the border patrol and ultimately shipped to a jail outside Cleveland to await his day in court. That turned into a very long stay.

"Two years, 27 days," Ansly said.

Understand, a jail is not the same as a prison. Jails are meant for short stays. This jail doesn't have exercise facilities, inside or outside. And you can't see through the windows.

After his first six months in jail, Ansly got word that an immigration judge, had ruled in his favor, but twice, Ansly was granted asylum by immigration courts and twice the government successfully appealed. All the while, Ansly stayed in jail.

According to Cecillia Wang, the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, the long-term detention of asylum seekers is pretty commonplace these days. 

"The vast majority of people who are now in immigration custody, 50,000 human beings on any given day, have no criminal record," Wang said. "They are fighting their deportation cases, and the majority of them don't pose a flight risk or a danger; and we are spending our tax money to lock people up in these abominable conditions."

The Trump administration makes no bones about trying to discourage asylum seekers; and Ansly Damus was certainly getting discouraged.

For more than a year, Ansly's only visitor had been his pro-bono lawyer. Until one day, out of the blue, Melody Hart and Gary Benjamin showed up. 

"He'd been in jail about 14 months when we decided we would apply for-- to be sponsors," Melody said.

Melody, a financial consultant, and her husband, Gary, an attorney, learned about Ansly through a friend.

They went to visit him; but even that was an arm's length proposition.

"You sit there and you pick up the phone and you look at him in a monitor, and he sees you in a monitor," Melody said.

Now, here's the problem, noise level, hard to hear, you don't speak French, he doesn't speak English at that point.

"I don't understand Melody," Ansly said. "She talk and I… yeah."

But he understood he had a sponsor.

"After Melody and Gary come, I-- my life change," Ansly said.

It was the difference between a life of isolation and having a support network.

"What we could do is put money in his commissary account," Melody said.

"He wanted to be able to go to the commissary because he couldn't get soap or toothpaste or a toothbrush," Gary said. "They didn't hand those out, you had to buy them."

To give him a connection to the outside world, Melody and Gary started sending Ansly photos of their house to show him where he'd be living when he came out. 

"'Here's your room, here's the yard and here's the dog,'" Melody said. "But then we'd take pictures of the seasons because he hadn't seen it. So we took pictures of the leaves turning we sent him snow pictures."

Loneliness, though, remained a constant problem.

"He wanted more companionship," Gary said. "So we started talking to people about sending him letters and sending him cards. And when we couldn't go on some Sundays, other people would fill in."

Which is how Ansly's Army got its start. It's forces rallied outside the ICE office in Cleveland, urging his release from jail; and they began holding regular meetings. At this point, Gary and Melody still hadn't been officially approved as sponsors. Ansly's release from jail was rejected on the grounds that he was a flight risk and lacked community support.

"So we did our second application," Gary said. "We tried to make it bulletproof. We got our bishop endorsing us, three doctors, a local judge, a priest, a rabbi. It was a pretty good showing of support in the community."

And it was rejected again.

"Flight risk and-- and not enough contact in the community," Gary said.

That's when the ACLU filed a petition stating that Ansly's detention was unlawful. The government was keeping him locked up indefinitely and denying his release without providing any evidence.  

"We went to court and we chartered a bus and got Ansly's Army on the bus," Melody said.

Melody said 35 people showed up for Ansly.

"We filled the courtroom," Melody said. "They had to pull in more chairs."

Which clearly had the intended impact on the judge.

"And she said, 'Well, you know, it says here that he has no community ties. Who are all these people?'" Melody said. "And she says, 'So I'm just gonna cross that off if that's not a valid reason.'"

And, last November before the judge had a chance to rule, the government finally agreed to release Ansly from jail, on the condition that he wear an ankle bracelet, and live with his sponsors, Melody and Gary, while his asylum case is being appealed.

Ansly's Army is still active. Last winter, they held a fundraiser raising $10,000.

He is studying English diligently, in class and also with volunteer tutors from his army. 

He now gets himself to one part-time job doing maintenance at a church. He also works part-time as an electrician restoring houses.

As for the troops in Ansly's Army, they're involved in more of a crusade than a military operation 

"A reason why I got involved is because I felt that the way Ansly was treated was so un-American," one member said. "I wanted to stand up for principles that I think are important for this country."

"I think we're all people of faith, deep faith," another said. "In our values and how we treat other human beings."

Which brings us back to Gary and Melody and that upstairs bedroom, now occupied by Ansly Damus. All in all, it could be two years before his asylum case is finally resolved.

In the meantime, Ansly video-chats with his wife and kids every day. And, yes, he is thinking about how and when he can bring them to Cleveland.  

"I told my wife all the time - Cleveland is very cool," Ansly said. "I don't have life before. People in Cleveland give me my life."