Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 29 mai 2019

 TRAGEDY

Three Little Haiti soccer players killed in crash

NORTH MIAMI, Fla. - It's been a tough weekend for teammates and close friends of three soccer players who tragically died Saturday morning. Those three boys were supposed to play soccer at a park in Little Haiti on Sunday, but now close friends are remembering three young lives cut way too short.  

"It's really sad they had to die this way," said Julien Pierre-Louis, a friend of the victims. "I tried to be a man about it, but like 30 minutes after that, I cried like a little baby." 

Julien has known 17-year-old Richecarde Dumay since they were in middle school. He said not only did they play soccer together, but they were best friends who were always there for one another.

"I've been through a lot myself. He was always ready to help me out," Julien said. "He put me before himself, and I really appreciate that. I wish I could have told him that before he was gone." 

The pair also went to Miami Edison Senior High School. The school tweeted a picture of Richecarde, saying they lost a very good football player. Community activist Luther "Luke" Campbell also tweeted a video of what he said was Richecarde's last kick.

Richecarde, along with 13-year-old Gideon Desir and 15-year-old Lens Desir, was walking on the sidewalk heading westbound along Northeast 125th Street sometime after 5 a.m. Saturday to catch a bus so that they could attend a soccer tournament in Weston. It was at that point the driver of an SUV barreled right into them.

"It appears as through the driver of the vehicle lost control of the vehicle and somehow went on the sidewalk and struck the kids," said Officer Natalie Buissereth, a spokeswoman for the North Miami Police Department.

The boys were pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the SUV was taken to a hospital in serious condition. It's unclear what caused the crash.

Meanwhile, family and friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for the boys' funeral expenses.  

Just hours later after their tournament, fellow teammates were given the devastating news. Grief counselors and pastors were on hand to help them cope with such a heartbreaking loss. 

"They were very sad. They were hurting, crying," Pastor Mike Davis said.

DOCTOR OF MINISTRY for Klaus and Emeline.

Klaus and Emeline are thrilled to announce that Trinity Theological Seminary of South Florida selections comitee has chosen them to receive an honorary doctoral degree “Doctor of Minisry” for their contribution to mankind through their Community Thanksgiving Brunch event.

The honorary degree will be conferred on May 25^th at Greater Bethel American Church, located at 405 NW 3^RD Avenue, Pompano Beach. There will be an Alumni dinner immediately following the graduation ceremony.

Klaus ad Emeline Schulz are excited and humbled by this.

OPIC Acting President & CEO Bohigian Leads Delegation to Haiti

May 21, 2019

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – David Bohigian, Acting President and Chief Executive Officer of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, today visited Haiti, where he met with President Jovenel Moise and other senior government officials including Prime Minister Designate Jean Michel Lapin, Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond, Minister of Finance Ronald Decembre, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Haiti (BRH), Jean Baden Dubois, to promote U.S. investment and discuss enhanced security cooperation.

While in Haiti, Bohigian signed a $19.5 million financing agreement to support the expansion of Fatima Group’s future Marriott Hotel in Cap Haitien which will bolster economic activity and jobs in the city. He also led roundtables with local business leaders to discuss investment opportunities, highlight how OPIC supports private sector investment in emerging markets, and outline its priorities in the Caribbean including energy as well as agriculture and projects that empower women entrepreneurs.

“Haiti represents both a great need for investment and a promising opportunity for investors,” said Bohigian. “By working with our partners in Haiti to drive high-impact solutions to longstanding development challenges, OPIC seeks to foster prosperity, stability, and security in Haiti and beyond.”

Bohigian is leading a high-level OPIC delegation to the Caribbean to explore investment opportunities in energy and other critical sectors, and strengthen relationships with countries who are key partners in fostering stability and security in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti is the third stop on a five-country tour of the Caribbean that has included stops in the Bahamas and Jamaica, and will continue to the Dominican Republic and St. Lucia.

OPIC’s current portfolio in the Caribbean totals more than $250 million, including nearly $35 million in Haiti across a variety of projects in sectors ranging from housing and construction to food production. 

At a meeting with Caribbean leaders to discuss trade, energy investment, and security concerns, President Trump in March reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to working with its partners in the region to foster economic growth, counter predatory investment practices, and strengthen security cooperation.

###

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is a self-sustaining U.S. Government agency that helps American businesses invest in emerging markets. Established in 1971, OPIC provides businesses with the tools to manage the risks associated with foreign direct investment, fosters economic development in emerging market countries, and advances U.S. foreign policy and national security priorities.

OPIC helps American businesses gain footholds in new markets, catalyzes new revenues and contributes to jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad. OPIC fulfills its mission by providing businesses with financing, political risk insurance, advocacy and by partnering with private equity fund managers.

OPIC services are available to new and expanding businesses planning to invest in more than 160 countries worldwide. Because OPIC charges market-based fees for its products, it operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to taxpayers. All OPIC projects must adhere to best international practices and cannot cause job loss in the United States.

…

Family Action Network Movement (FANM)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         Contact: Rhenie Dalger

                                                                                                Phone: 305-756-8050

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FANM Urges Congress to Pass the Dream and Promise Act

The Dream Act and Promise Act will give permanent protections for recipients of TPS, DED, and those eligible for DACA

The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary tomorrow will markup H.R. 2820 and H.R. 2821, which are legislations that together offer a path to citizenship to Dreamers and beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). Marleine Bastien, Executive Director of Family Action Network Movement (FANM) issued the following statement:

“The Dream and Promise Act of 2019 would grant young undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, including those shielded from deportation by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an opportunity to acquire full U.S. permanent residency if they meet certain requirements. Additionally, the bill would allow hundreds of thousands of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients — as well as Liberian immigrants covered by Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) — to gain permanent lawful status.

These bills are a great step toward finding a permanent solution for these deserving families. They will provide protection to the well-deserved and hardworking taxpayers. They will trailblaze a path to permanent residency for thousands of TPS, DACA and DED recipients.  FANM is committed to the passage of this bill into law. The Dream and Promise Act will give TPS and DACA recipients a safe haven in the U.S. where they have established their lives by contributing to our economy and our communities.”

FANM's mission is to empower low to moderate income families socially, financially, and politically and to give them the tools to transform their communities.

‘Even Young Children Were Not Spared.’ Haiti Police Describe Massacre In La Saline

By JACQUELINE CHARLES • MAY 16, 2019

• 
DIEU NALIO CHERY / ASSOCIATED PRESS 




It is one of Haiti’s most violent and impoverished neighborhoods, a no-go zone next to the Haitian Parliament that has become ground zero in a resurgence of gang-related and possibly politically motivated violence.

Now six months after dozens of people were tortured and killed in the worst massacre in Haiti in more than a decade, an internal Haiti police investigation report obtained by the Miami Herald provides the first official account of some of the atrocities that occurred in Port-au-Prince’s La Saline neighborhood during four days of carnage in mid-November.

During that period, Nov. 13-17, men, women and even children as young as 4 were shot to death, their bodies then fed to dogs and pigs. Women were raped and set on fire, as was a police officer, Juwon Durosier. The culprits: bandits tied to gang conflicts over control of a sprawling outdoor market where protection rackets are the norm, but also guns-for-hire by powerful politicians and well-heeled businessmen seeking to control votes in the run-up to upcoming legislative and mayoral elections.

“Among other things that show the cruelty of the killers is the murder of infants such as Geralson Belance, a baby of only 10 months old, who was cowardly lynched and whose remains were taken away in a sack by his killers,” police said.

Testimony from scores of other victims and their close relatives, compiled during the investigation carried out by the judicial police’s Bureau of Criminal Affairs, paints an equally disturbing image of the depths of the atrocities, which have been the subject of several human-rights investigations in Haiti but, so far, have resulted in little accountability from the government.

Monsanto’s Toxic Chemical Glyphosate Found In 100% Of California Wines Tested

New Study Finds Alcohol & Wine is Filled with Glyphosate

It seems Monsanto’s toxic chemical glyphosate has now found its way into wine. It isn’t surprising, however, seeing as how grapes are pesticide and herbicide-laden.

Glyphosate has been showing up in foods both directly sprayed, and even foods that haven’t been sprayed, such as organic produce. It is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, and has been used since 1974.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 5 juin 2019

 U.S. Requiring Social Media Informations from Visa applicants

By Sandra E. Garcia

• June 2, 2019
• • NEW YORK TIMES - Visa applicants to the United States are required to submit any information about social media accounts they have used in the past five years under a State Department policy that started on Friday.

Such account information would give the government access to photos, locations, dates of birth, dates of milestones and other personal data commonly shared on social media.

“We already request certain contact information, travel history, family member information, and previous addresses from all visa applicants,” the State Department said in a statement. “We are constantly working to find mechanisms to improve our screening processes to protect U.S. citizens, while supporting legitimate travel to the United States.”

In March 2017, President Trump asked the secretary of state, the attorney general, the secretary of homeland security and the director of national intelligence to put in effect “a uniform baseline for screening and vetting standards and procedures,” according to a memo published in the Federal Register. Requiring information about the social media accounts of visa applicants was part of that.

The move represents a step up from a September 2017 measure in which the Homeland Security Department proposed and enacted a regulation calling for the surveillance of social media use of all immigrants, including naturalized citizens. During the Obama administration, the State Department began to ask visa applicants to voluntarily submit their social media information.

“This seems to be part and parcel of the same effort to have an extraordinary broad surveillance of citizens and noncitizens,” Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, said on Sunday of the latest development. “Given the scope of the surveillance efforts, it is hard to find a rational basis for the broad surveillance the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security have been doing for almost two years.”

The added requirement could dissuade visa applicants, who may see it as a psychological barrier to enter the United States.

“This is a dangerous and problematic proposal, which does nothing to protect security concerns but raises significant privacy concerns and First Amendment issues for citizens and immigrants,” Hina Shamsi, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project, said on Sunday. “Research shows that this kind of monitoring has chilling effects, meaning that people are less likely to speak freely and connect with each other in online communities that are now essential to modern life.”

The social media web today is a map of our contacts, associations, habits and preferences. This kind of requirement will result in suspicion of surveillance of travelers and their networks of friends, families and business associates, Ms. Shamsi said, adding that the government had failed to explain how it would use this information.

Further, the government has been unable to prove that social media can provide reliable indications that identify a security threat, she said.

“In the absence of any such indicators, what we’ve seen domestically and abroad is government officials penalizing people’s speech, religious affiliation and other conduct,” she said.

Haitian senators ransack Parliament in failed effort to ratify a new government

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

MAY 30, 2019  

PORT-AU-PRINCE

Haiti’s third attempt to ratify a new government and prime minister ended in chaos Thursday, when a vote in the country’s Senate was interrupted as four opposition senators ransacked the chamber — dragging chairs, desks and other furniture onto the lawn — and police fired tear gas at protesters.

The act was captured on video in front of Parliament security and Haiti National Police officers, who had been called to beef up security for Thursday’s vote. The vandalism was immediately condemned by the United Nations, U.S., Canada and others in the international community.

“These deplorable events go against democratic principles,” Canada’s ambassador in Haiti Andre Frenette tweeted. “Canada is calling for a national dialogue aiming at solutions to the security, economic and social crisis that is affecting the Haitian population.”

Haiti has been without a working government for more than two months, costing the impoverished nation more than $120 million in aid from international financial institutions aimed at helping the country prepare for the upcoming hurricane season and shore up a rapidly deteriorating economy.

It was the country’s third attempt to ratify a new government and confirm nominated Prime Minister Jean Michel Lapin after the Lower Chamber of Deputies abruptly fired ex-prime minister Jean-Henry Céant on March 18.

Hearing about the opposition senators’ actions, some of their militant supporters from the nearby slums converged outside the Haitian Parliament’s gates and tried to get inside. They were stopped by police and Parliament security. A clash ensued with police, who responded by firing tear gas.

The violence extended to Grand Rue, a central street of Port-au-Prince, where flaming barricades were erected, and a truck from the government’s Centre National des Equipements construction agency was set on fire.

“What happened today pretty much opens the door for the gourde to deteriorate even further since we don’t know when we will get a government,” said economist Kesner Pharel in reference to Haiti’s national currency.

In March, the International Monetary Fund approved a zero-interest $229 million loan to Haiti. But the money — and an immediate $49 million disbursement — was contingent on the country’s having a government and a budget approved by both chambers of Parliament. The European Union, Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank had planned to provide about $75 million in budget support.

All of that is now up in the air.

On Thursday, Haiti’s Central Bank, fearing that the economy could deteriorate further, announced that it was pumping $150 million into the economy to stabilize the depreciation of the gourde. Haiti currently has a 17.7 percent inflation rate, and Haitians are spending more than 50 percent of their income on food. Meanwhile food prices have gone up by more than 20 percent in the past year.

“What the Central Bank has done may quiet the local exchange rate market for a couple of weeks. But if the deep political crisis isn’t solved, we will have the same pressures,” Pharel said.

The four senators involved were Antonio Cheramy, Évalière Beauplan, Rica Pierre, and Nènel Cassy. Cassy said they took the route they did because Senate President Carl Murat Cantave “has refused to listen to the voice of reason.“

“When he decided to side with the executive to violate the constitution, we told him that we disagreed to have former ministers that were part of the [previous] government return in the new government, which the constitution does not allow,” Cassy said.

Since the formation of Lapin’s cabinet, the senators have objected on technical and constitutional grounds to the process, accusing President Jovenel Moïse of not respecting the constitution and trying to illegally appoint ministers who lack the necessary financial clearance to serve.

On Thursday, they also claimed that the current cabinet — which was reconfigured after the second ratification hearing ended in a near fistfight — did not meet the 30 percent rule for female representation in the government.

The key point of contention has been the reappointment of Justice Minister Jean Roody Aly, one of eight ministers from the fired government to be reappointed. Earlier this year, Aly authorized the transfer of five armed Americans, including a former Navy SEAL, who had been arrested by Haiti National Police, to U.S. custody, where they were then flown out of Haiti and faced no charges in the U.S.

Sen. Ronald Lareche, a pro-government lawmaker, said he believes the key to breaking the impasse is to get rid of Aly. Dialogue is needed, Lareche said, while condemning the move by the four senators.

“Some of them decided to resort to violence, removing all of the furnishings inside the Senate, and that’s not acceptable,” Lareche said, describing the battle as one of “galactic proportions.”

But the senators also had support among some of their colleagues. 

“I am for all the means necessary to force a respect of the Haitian Constitution,” said Sen. Jean Renel Senatus, a former government prosecutor.

Senatus said he doesn’t condone the burning of vehicles. However, he dismissed the broken chairs as “no big deal” and said he supports the four opposition senators.

“President Jovenel needs to know that the country isn’t a savannah,” Senatus said. “There are laws, there is a constitution. He was sworn in under the constitution. He has a duty to respect it.”

Haiti Opposition Senators Block Prime Minister Ratification Process

WASHINGTON / PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI —

VOA NEWS - The sound of furniture being dragged across the floor disrupted the silence inside Haiti's parliament at 7:30 a.m. Thursday.

Four opposition senators and some helpers dragged chairs, desks and other furniture out of the Senate chamber and into the yard just 30 minutes before the Senate was due to begin debating the nomination of Prime Minister-designate Jean Michel Lapin.

The proceedings were canceled Thursday after the Senate furniture was removed. A new vote is planned for June.

On Wednesday, Senate leader Carl Murat Cantave had announced his intention to move forward with the process, at a standstill since March 18, when former Prime Minister Jean Henry Ceant resigned amid corruption allegations. 

Lapin's initial appearance before the Senate ended in chaos last month when a fight broke out between two senators who hurled insults and threw punches before calm was restored. 

The opposition has dug in its heels and vowed to block the process until all former members of the Ceant Cabinet are removed from Lapin's proposed new government. 

Senator Antonio Cheramy talks to VOA Creole about the furniture protest on the lawn of the Haitian parliament, May 30, 2019.

"What we did was a [deliberate] strategy," Sen. Antonio Cheramy, one of the opposition leaders who masterminded the furniture protest, told VOA Creole. He alleged that Cantave "violated various parliament regulations" during the process, which led to more drastic measures on their part. 

"We've always said that we will not be bullied [by the ruling party]," Cheramy said. "I think everyone can agree that we need a government that defends the right of the people." 

Haitians cheered Cheramy in the streets as his car made its way through downtown after leaving the Senate.

'The beginning of the revolt'

Meanwhile, outside the gates of parliament, dozens of protesters gathered in a show of support for the opposition's actions.

"Lock them up!" they chanted, referring to corrupt politicians. 

Downtown, tires burned in the middle of Rue Pave, a main thoroughfare, and cars that risked navigating the road were met with a shower of rocks, VOA Creole's reporter said. The reporter also saw two Ministry of Public Works tractors parked in the middle of the road.

Protesters gather in front of of the Haitian parliament in Port au Prince, May 30, 2019.

"The people decided to put these here because we're done, we've had enough," said a young man standing near the tractors. "We can't let our country become a nation of thieves." 

Asked where they got the equipment, the protester claimed he didn't know.

"We don't know how they got here, but what is important is that the people are watching. We know who is our enemy and who isn't. This is the beginning of the revolt," the protester said. 

In another neighborhood of the capital, protesters dropped large rocks in the middle of the road, rendering it virtually impassible. 

"We can't take it anymore," a protester yelled. "We want Jovenel [Moise, the president] to resign. Today we say, 'No, we can't take it. We are done.' " 

The young man told VOA Creole that protesters would stay in the streets until their demands are satisfied. 

Police fire tear gas to disperse protesters in front of the parliament building in Port au Prince, Haiti, May 30, 2019.

​Reactions online

On social media, reaction to the events were mostly negative. 

"These four people, I'd like them to search Google for the definition of opposition. Then analyze your actions and see if you should call yourselves something else," @jeffdenis3451 commented on VOA Creole's Instagram page. 

"These guys should be fined for what they did and then jailed," @otoniel_lafortunajean.j said. 

But @elgetseycharles3 applauded the move, saying, "Bravo."

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.