Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 12 février 2020

University Hospital in Haiti Earns Global Accreditation as Teaching Institution

Partners in Health

University Hospital in Mirebalais, Haiti, received accreditation from an international oversight group, affirming that the hospital meets the highest global standards as a teaching institution—and causing Dr. Paul Farmer to reach for a seat.  

“There’s a Haitian expression—news that demands a chair,” said Farmer, Partners In Health co-founder and chief strategist. “Usually it’s bad news, but this is truly exceptional. I have no way to express my gratitude and admiration to the Zanmi Lasante team. They have been tireless.”

PIH was founded in Haiti more than 30 years ago and is known in Haiti as Zanmi Lasante. The team opened University Hospital in Mirebalais in 2013, in collaboration with Haiti’s Ministry of Health. The 300-bed teaching hospital is home to residency programs in internal and family medicine, pediatrics, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, nurse anesthetists, and emergency medicine. 

ACGME-I, the international arm of the U.S.-based Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, notified PIH of the institution’s accreditation this week, after a multi-year process and extensive analysis. University Hospital joins internationally accredited facilities in just seven other countries and is the first such facility in the Western Hemisphere, and the first in a low-income country.

Dr. Sterman Toussaint, director of medical education at University Hospital for Zanmi Lasante, emphasized that distinction.

“This is a big achievement,” he said. “Most of the time, institutions in high - and middle-income countries get access to accreditation - not institutions in low-income countries like Haiti. This is a reflection of the commitment of PIH and Zanmi Lasante to education.”

Toussaint noted that the accreditation application was due in September, during the height of recent political unrest in Haiti that essentially shut down the country. 

“Despite all of that, we have been able to meet the standards,” he said. “PIH is committed to meeting the standards that everyone is meeting around the world.”

Dr. Edward Hundert, dean for medical education at Harvard Medical School and an advisor to PIH, praised the milestone. 

“This achievement, of the internationally recognized highest standard for the educational programs at University Hospital, represents a truly wonderful validation of the years of hard work to build these programs, and of the outstanding quality of training that they represent,” he said. “This is exciting news not just for the hospital and the people who made it happen, but ultimately for all of the patients who will be cared for by the clinicians who train in these now ACGME-I accredited programs.”

Undocumented immigrant driver’s license bill gets approval from Massachusetts transportation committee

By Michael P. Norton of State House News Service

The Transportation Committee has given a favorable recommendation to legislation that would enable undocumented immigrants to access standard driver’s licenses in Massachusetts.

Barber told the News Service the bill has been reported favorably to the Senate. The committee said it recommended a redrafted version of a bill (S 2061) filed by Senator Brendan Crighton with Barber’s bill attached. Barber said she was “thrilled” about the vote and said she did not believe the bill had previously received a favorable vote in committee. 

“Folks have been amazing to work with,” Barber said, citing efforts by a coalition to advance the bill and the support of law enforcement for the legislation. Last year, Senate President Karen Spilka, speaking to the bill’s merits, said, “I believe that for public safety reasons, even just if you look at it alone, we should pass it … There’s like 14 other states that have done this and the sky hasn’t fallen.”

US EMBASSY OFFICE OF PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Haiti-DR Private Sector Meeting on Border Security and Control

Joint Statement

On February 5, 2020, representatives of private sector organizations and government officials from Haiti and the Dominican Republic met at the CODEVI industrial park along the border to further discussions on developing a more secure and prosperous border for both nations.  This was the third such meeting convened by the U. S. government in the past eight months, and included the participation of both U.S. Ambassadors and staff and State Department officials.  Representatives from both countries’ Customs agencies, the Haitian National Police, and CESFRONT also actively participated in the meeting.  The discussion focused on best practices for the private sector to increase transparency and to formalize cross-border trade, and on improving coordination between customs and security officials from both countries.  This initiative is part of broader efforts to increase formal trade and security along the Dominican Republic-Haiti border.  The group committed to continue efforts to transform the shared border into an engine for economic prosperity for the region.

(End of text)

HAÏTIAN PRESIDENT LAYS OUT TERMS FOR DEAL WITH OPPOSITION 

Michael Weissenstein

Published: February 7, 2020, 9:45 pm
Updated: February 7, 2020, 11:13 pm

PORT-AU-PRINCE – President Jovenel Moise said Friday that he is optimistic that negotiations with a coalition of his political opponents will succeed in forging a power-sharing deal to end months of deadlock that have left Haiti without a functioning government.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Moise laid out his bargaining position in the talks that began last week in the mission of the papal envoy to Haiti with political opponents and some civil society groups. He said he would accept an opposition prime minister and a shortened term in office, but only after adoption of a constitutional reform strengthening the presidency.

Moise said his efforts to improve living conditions for Haiti's 11 million people had been thwarted during his first three years in office by the constitutional requirement that the National Assembly must approve virtually all significant presidential actions.

He said he would serve only a single term in office so he would not personally benefit from the powers of a stronger presidency. 

“It makes me optimistic to see my brothers and sisters from the political opposition, civil society and religious groups," he said. “I think we're at a crossroads.”

Moise is a former banana farmer who won 56% of the vote against three opponents in the 2016 election. He made some progress on rural infrastructure projects during his first two years in office. Then the end of subsidized Venezuelan oil aid to Haiti fueled chaos in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation.

Without the help, the economy shrank, and investigations found questionable spending of hundreds of millions of dollars over the years in aid from the Petrocaribe program run by Venezuela. Protests began over the Petrocaribe misspending and protests snowballed until Moise's opponents waged a near-total lockdown of Haiti's capital for three months last fall.

Protests were accompanied by a constant blocking of Moise's agenda in the National Assembly. A small group of opposition legislators blocked Moise proposals with tactics ranging from filibusters to throwing furniture inside the Senate chamber or calling supporters to block governing party senators access to the building.

The country was unable to organize legislative elections and the National Assembly shut down last month, leaving Moise without a constitutionally recognized government. He says the constitution allows him to rule by decree with legislative approval but he is choosing not to in order to forge national unity.

Observers say developed nations that provide Haiti with most of its state budget are ihighly reluctant to keep funding a government that could be accused of moving toward dictatorship.

Haiti's 1987 constitution was drafted after the end of three decades of dictatorship and aims in part to prevent the emergence of another strongman by sharply limiting presidential powers.

“The 1987 constitution took all the power out of the president's hands. The president has zero power and the people demand everything from the president of the republic,” Moise told AP in the foyer of his home in the hills above Port-au-Prince.

Moise said he wants a new constitution to stipulate that presidential proposals automatically pass if the National Assembly does not vote them up or down within 60 days.

He also wants all political terms to last five years. Senate terms currently range from two to six years, depending on a variety of factors, leading to constant churn and campaigning in a country where widespread insecurity and corruption make elections difficult to organize.

Convening a constitutional assembly to rewrite the charter would almost certainly take most of Moise's remaining two years in office.

Most of the political opposition has demanded that Moise significantly cut his time in office, with some demanding his immediate resignation and others asking for him to hand over power early next year.

He said negotiations would succeed “if there's good will on the part of the people involved to find a way forward with a realistic calendar."

“You can't say you're going to carry out these reforms in two months,” he said.

A coalition of relatively moderate opponents and civil society groups were unable to reach a deal with Moise's representatives last week at the papal nunciature. Another group of hard-line opponents did not participate.

Moise said he thinks he can reach a deal with enough opponents to move the country forward.

"'We need to all get together and forge a deal, even if that deal isn't accepted by everyone,” he said. “You'll have radicals, extremists who won't sign, who won't accept it, but that won't kill the republic.

“I’m not hung up on finishing my term. I’m hung up on making reforms,” he said.

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Haitian president lays out terms for deal with opposition
https://www.local10.com/news/world/2020/02/08/haitian-president-lays-out-terms-for-deal-with-opposition/

Coronavirus leads to travel bans by Caribbean nations

Jacqueline Charles

The Miami Herald

As the U.S. continues to enforce strict travel restrictions on travelers from China over the coronavirus outbreak, an increasing number of Caribbean nations are also doing the same, while taking steps to screen arriving passengers at their ports of entry.

In recent days, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Dominica, and Trinidad and Tobago have all announced China-related travel bans, even though there are no direct commercial flights between mainland China and their nations.

The Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola, have not made any official announcements about travel restrictions, but over the weekend both countries prevented Chinese visitors on a private jet from getting off the plane. Authorities in the eastern Caribbean island of St. Lucia also prevented Miami-based Carnival Corporation’s AIDA cruise ship AIDAPerla from docking at its port of Castries after it was reported that 14 passengers were being treated for upper respiratory issues.

The ship’s 4,384 passengers were also denied the right to dock in St. John’s, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda, but were later received with no problem by authorities in St. Maarten and Martinique, AIDA Cruises said in a statement.

So far, there have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Caribbean or Latin America, and all of the suspicious cases have been ruled out, said Marcos Espinal, director of the department of communicable diseases and environmental determinants of health with the Pan American Health Organization.

As of Tuesday the coronavirus had killed at least 427 people and infected more than 20,000 globally.

Espinal said health ministers representing the 15-member Caribbean Community, known as CARICOM, held an emergency meeting Monday along with representatives of PAHO — the World Health Organization’s regional office for the Americas — and the Caribbean Public Health Agency to discuss the outbreak and preventive measures being taken.

“Every day we have daily conferences,” Espinal said of his staff. “We have offices in Jamaica, Barbados, Haiti, where we have deployed international staff advising the countries. … We are making preparations for these countries to be able to test for this virus.”

While he acknowledged that some health systems in the region are weaker than others, many are already testing for influenza, which kills more people than the coronavirus.

“We should not create a panic,” Espinal said. “We have to make sure that people get the proper information.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the flu has already killed 10,000 people just across the U.S. so far this season, while sickening 19 million people and causing 180,000 hospitalizations.

The coronavirus has had far less of an impact.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 25 février 2020

 According to a UN report, Haiti experienced a 42 percent increase in homicides in 2019

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, submitted to the Security Council a periodic report on Haiti. It provides an update on the establishment of the Office and describes progress made in integrating the activities of the Office and the United Nations country team.

"[...] Haiti continues to face high and rising levels of violence, including common criminality, kidnappings, hijackings, robberies and violent attacks by heavily armed gang members. The number of reported intentional homicides increased by 42 per cent in 2019, compared with the previous year, with 910 recorded cases involving 1,081 victims (including 61 women), a ratio of 9.34 per 100,000 citizens, up from 6.67 for 2018 and 7.91 for 2017. Two thirds of those of those homicides were recorded in West Department, where criminality is traditionally more prevalent. In addition, 42 police officers were killed in 2019, a 147 per cent increase, compared with 17 in 2018, and the highest number since the inception of the Haitian National Police in 1995. Moreover, 31 of 348 police stations were vandalized countrywide (including 8 facilities set ablaze), compared with 7 recorded incidents in 2018. In most cases, the damage was caused by angry mobs in retaliation for alleged police wrongdoing. During the reporting period, 16 criminal incidents affected United Nations personnel, resulting in no casualties. In addition, one BINUH independent contractor was shot and killed on 1 December while leaving a bank in Port-au-Prince.

Sexual and gender-based violence remains prevalent but underreported. In 2019, 227 cases were reported to the police, compared with 418 in 2018. This 45 per cent decrease is attributable to severe underreporting due to heightened stigma and risk of retaliation against victims, in particular in the current security and political context. To raise awareness of the situation, the United Nations supported activities organized by national counterparts in the context of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign launched in November. In addition, the national police sex crimes unit is developing a database of sexual assault complaints that would improve case processing and provide easier access to countrywide statistics.

The political crisis added another layer of complexity to the security situation. Between 1 September and 30 November 2019, the United Nations documented at least 1,341 demonstrations, roadblocks and barricades. At the height of the mobilization in late September, protests turned violent and the presence of heavily armed individuals was observed in the streets, especially in the urban centres of West, Artibonite, South and North Departments. Those developments led to significant restrictions on movement for the United Nations, hampering operations throughout the country. Attesting to the challenges of maintaining public order, the national police reported, during a press conference held on 19 December, having carried out 2,536 interventions to clear roads between 1 September and 30 November. [...]"

Armored vehicles to fight insecurity in Haiti

Haiti standard, February 22, 2020. - The President of the Republic Jovenel Moïse, the outgoing Prime Minister, Jean Michel Lapin and officials of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) as well as those of the Armed Forces of Haiti (Fad'H) received armored vehicles, to combat insecurity in the country.

On February 21, 2020, at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, returning from Cap-Haitien (North), the Head of State indicated that the acquisition of these armored vehicles is part of the efforts carried out by his administration, in the fight against banditry and crime both in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and in provincial cities.

It should be noted that these armored vehicles are coming at a time when police officers are demanding, at the cost of violence, better working conditions and the right to form a union within the police institution.

Claims that resulted in the removal of five (5) police officers including the self-proclaimed Union Coordinator. A decision that does not seem to deter police protesters.

Michel Martelly ejected from the carnival of Cap-Haitien?

BY STEVENS JEAN FRANÇOIS

In a press release, the 350 Committee seems to have won its case before the organized structures of Cap Haitien civil society, which protested against a possible participation of Sweet Micky in the carnival parade of Cap-Haitien.

Despite the millions of gourdes spent in per diem for the officers assigned to his security and the stormy entrance of a tank that was attributed to him in the city of Cap-Haitien, the training of the former President of the Republic Joseph Michel Martelly, Sweet Micky, is presumably omitted from the carnival parade of Cap-Haitien. Priority has been given to the region in particular to young people within the framework of a policy of promotion of the region. This is stated in the note signed by Marc GEORGES, Chairman of the 350 Committee.

Does the committee have the means to prevent Sweet Micky from inviting himself to the party? Only time will tell!

Haitian state used USAID funding to arm terrorist gangs in Haiti, says police officer

Port-au-Prince, Thursday, February 20, 2020 – A masked police officer said Wednesday in an interview with a foreign journalist that a card program-gifts of $25 allowing officers to buy meals and meet other needs had never reached the hands of members of the National Police of Haiti (PNH)

The man kept a mask throughout the interview. He spoke on the sidelines of a movement that broke out one day after five police officers, fighting to form a union, were fired.

The police officer talked about low wages that have been stagnant for over a decade. He then mentioned a program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was to give each police officer a debit card of $25 a month.

The officer says the state used the funds to pay for street gangs in the country’s most deprived neighborhoods, turning these gangs into heavily armed terrorist gangs.

These are not the first allegations of links between USAID, the Haitian government and the arming and financing of terrorist gangs in the country. In October 2019, a government official was shot, but not killed, in a meeting with the terrorists in a USAID field office in Port-au-Prince.

Haiti-Foot: Melchie Dumornay "treated as a star" in Lyon

Having left the country to participate in an internship in the largest club in Europe, Melchie Daelle Dumornay has managed to impose herself as a pro, according to the statements of the president of the Haitian football federation, Yves Dadou Jean-Bart who accompanied the 15-year-old female player during her internship in France.

Melchie Dumornay has been “treated like a star,” says Dadou Jean-Bart, who never misses an opportunity to say something positive about the talented Corventina. On Saturday, November 25, she spent a week in Lyon where she trained with the reserves and the pros.

While Haiti police take frustrations out on streets, UN sounds alarm on gangs, bad cops. 

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

Haiti’s police are angry. And they are taking their frustrations out on the streets.

Haiti police want to unionize but the internal regulations of the Haiti National Police prohibit it. A few rogue officers have taken their fight to the streets, allegedly destroying property including Carnival stands.

BY JOSE A. IGLESIAS

PORT-AU-PRINCE

Angry over poor pay and miserable working conditions, members of Haiti’s U.S.-backed and United Nations-trained police force are taking their frustrations out on the streets.

They are illegally firing their weapons in the air, vandalizing government property and reportedly setting fire to viewing stands ahead of this weekend’s three-day Pre-Lenten Carnival celebration.

The anger climaxed Monday (Feb. 17^th) with Haiti National Police officers, many of them dressed in red T-shirts with their faces covered, marching through the streets of Port-au-Prince, demanding the right to unionize while decrying the lack of pay, poor treatment and health insurance. At the same time, they reminded everyone of what they do.

Soon video footage emerged showing the protesting cops creating chaos on the streets of Petionville as they discharged their weapons in the air outside of police headquarters in broad daylight before making their way to downtown Port-au-Prince. Once on the Champ de Mars, the public square where the presidential palace is located, they again began to fire as Carnival stands went up in smoke.

Videos showed young men in red shirts gathering around the fire and local media pointed the finger at the protesting officers. The National Carnival committee, which is depending on police to provide security for the festivities that start on Sunday, started rebuilding the stands on Tuesday, announcing the show will go on.

Strongly condemning Monday’s violence, acting Haiti Prime Minister Jean-Michel Lapin called on police to respect the public order and protect the institution, which “must be free from political upheavals to remain at the service of democracy,” he said.

“These barbaric acts, illegal, unacceptable and unworthy of the police, remind us of the indiscriminate violence of extremists and terrorists who are hiding behind the demands to sow disorder and chaos,” he said in a press statement issued Tuesday afternoon.

Lapin said the government has taken note of officers’ demands for better treatment, and asked them to show “serenity, patience, and foresight” while Haiti crosses a difficult path. Later in a press conference he said having a hospital for the police is a priority for the government. He also said they must have an efficient ambulance system and an efficient fire department.

The government’s condemnation came on the same day that the United Nations issued a report on gang violence in Port-au-Prince. Focused on a three-day outbreak of gang violence in the pro-opposition Bel Air neighborhood on Nov. 4-6, 2019, UN investigators accuse Haitian police of failing to protect residents from corrupt officers and gang leaders. At least three people died in the violence while six others were injured and 30 families were left homeless after their houses were set on fire, the UN said. Investigators also noted that the attacks also allegedly involved three active members of the Haiti National Police.

According to the report, one of the Haiti’s most notorious gang leaders, former police officer Jimmy Cherizier, who goes by the name Barbecue, was behind the attacks. Cherizier is the subject of a February 2019 warrant, which has not been carried out, for his alleged involvement in another massacre, this one in the the Grand Ravine neighborhood in November 2017. He has also been cited in the La Saline massacre, in November 2018.

Bel Air, UN human rights investigators noted, is under the informal control of gang leaders who engage in criminal activity such as murder, extortion and kidnappings for ransom, theft and the hijacking of trucks. The neighborhood is also considered one of the traditional bases for anti-government mobilization. The report said Cherizier in a radio interview denied his involvement in the Bel Air attack but offered to compensate the victims who lost their houses.

“Far from being an isolated incident, the Bel Air attack illustrates the recent evolution of the current context in Haiti, mainly characterized by widespread insecurity in working-class neighborhoods and slums, the impunity of criminal gang members who commit human rights abuses, the alleged collusion between them and certain political and economic actors, the links between gang members and some Haitian National Police officers, as well as the lack of police intervention to protect the population,” the report said.

Among the recommendations, investigators with the UN Human Right’s Office and the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti called on Haitian authorities to do more to protect residents in Bel Air and other similar neighborhoods, and to conduct independent and in-depth judicial investigations into acts of violence committed by gangs in Bel Air. The perpetrators of violence should also be brought to justice, they said.

While the UN report was released amid increased concerns about violence in Haiti, Monday’s violent revolt by officers was only the latest after a series of unprecedented protests, buoyed by simmering discontent, began sweeping through the Haiti National Police last year.

Founded in 1995 after Haiti was forced to disband the army, the police, which have been plagued by allegations of human rights violations and corruptions, have been the focus of ongoing rebuilding efforts ever since a U.N. peacekeeping mission returned in 2004 and found that the force had been decimated by political interference, corruption and drug trafficking.

In recent years, the United States, Canada and the U.N., have invested millions in training and recruiting officers to get the force to where it is today, about 15,000-strong. But with Haiti in a constant state of political and economic turmoil, officers have found themselves overworked, poorly equipped and poorly paid in trying to address the country’s security needs, which lately have included anti-government protests and a deadly resurgence in kidnappings.

Police officers earned on average between 20,000 gourdes and 25,000 gourdes a month, or $221 and $276 before taxes. With the country’s double-digit inflation, depreciating domestic currency and rising cost of living, the money amounts to very little, they say.

“We are sent into operations without tear gas, without bullets, without boots, without uniforms,” said Yanick Joseph, one of the leaders of the union movement.

On Nov. 17, frustrations came to a boil with Joseph and other officers announcing the formation of a union in front of police headquarters in Petionville. The move put officers in an open conflict with the high command of the police, whose internal regulations prohibit such organizing efforts.

The unionization effort, the officer said, has defined itself and after 24 years of existence, the police could take control of its own destiny, he argued. “We are in a battle. We aren’t attacking anyone and we don’t want anyone to attack,” he said.

Jeff Hassler, who lost his right leg during a police operation in the Savane Pistache neighborhood, said he received “no assistance,” following his injury.

“We will always pound the pavement demanding a union and assistance for disabled police officers,” he said, standing with the help of crutches while holding up a sign that read “Police officers suffering from a disability deserve help.”

Until recently Haitian officials and police hierarchy did not say much about the union effort despite several street protests, which drew hundreds of officers both in the capital and in Cap Haitien, the second largest city. Then came Feb. 7 when Joseph, 34, was summoned to the the Office of the Police Inspector General.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 18 mars 2020

Coronavirus vaccine could be ready by April, Chinese officials say

MORE ON:

CORONAVIRUS

Chinese officials say they’ll have a coronavirus vaccine ready next month for emergency situations and clinical trials.

Eight institutes in the country are working on five approaches to inoculations in an effort to combat COVID-19, according to the South China Morning Post. The contagious illness has sickened more than 118,000 people and killed at least 4,200 worldwide, mostly in mainland China, as of Tuesday afternoon.

“According to our estimates, we are hopeful that in April some of the vaccines will enter clinical research or be of use in emergency situations,” Zheng Zhongwei, director of the National Health Commission’s Science and Technology Development Center, said Friday.

While it would take at least 12 to 18 months to ensure the vaccines are safe for the general public, under Chinese law, they can be deployed earlier for urgent use in a major public health emergency, as long as the benefits outweigh the risks.

Zheng waved off concerns about the safety of the vaccines, saying they were being developed in ­accordance with “scientific and standardized technical requirements,” The Australian reported.

In the US, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Moderna Inc. shipped its vaccine to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for testing late last month. Initial results could be released by July or August.

Anatomy of Haiti’s kidnapping epidemic: No one seems immune

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES  MARCH 08, 2020  

What Giscard Borgard remembers most about his recent kidnapping in Haiti is not the beating he took in the car with the butt of a gun or the blood splattered on the walls of the tiny, candle-lit room where he and a friend were held captive for two days.

And it’s not the multiple gunshots regularly fired inside the teeming seaside Port-au-Prince slum, built on top of a landfill, where he was held.

It was the faces he saw the day of his release. The placid faces of the women and the children inside Village de Dieu, Village of God, who ignored him as he was publicly led at gunpoint by one of his captors, past the narrow corridors and mosquito-infested gullies, after his uncle paid his ransom.

“Everybody was selling their little food. Music was playing in the background, people were watching TV at their houses. Kids were playing and guys were walking around with big guns at every corner, like a military base,” said Borgard, 36, a Haitian-American U.S. Navy veteran. “Everyone is immune to it. Everyone knew what was happening. It was shocking to me. Even the little kids, they are immune to it by now.”

On Thursday, the U.S. State Department raised its Haiti travel advisory to Level 4 — Do Not Travel — in the wake of what violent crimes including carjackings and robberies, carried out mostly by armed criminal gangs.

“The updated Travel Advisory reflects that incidents of kidnapping are widespread and have rapidly increased in frequency since December 2019,” a U.S. Department of State official said. “Kidnappings have included targets of opportunity, and victims have included U.S. citizens, as well as Haitians and other foreign nationals.”

Since December, at least nine U.S. citizens and one French national employed by the United Nation’s World Food Program have been kidnapped and released after ransoms were paid, or they escaped. In 2018, there were zero reported kidnappings of U.S. citizens, the State Department official said. Just hours after the State Department’s advisory, three new kidnappings were confirmed.

Borgard and another Haitian American who recently returned from Haiti after being held captive, spoke with the Herald about their ordeal.

Both men are former active duty U.S. military, and one, Jerry Mardy, is still a reservist in the U.S. Army. Both were visiting Haiti on vacation last month when they were grabbed 12 days apart. Borgard had traveled to visit a hospital in the Cité Soleil slum to see about sponsoring children born to rape victims. Mardy was there to check on a house he’s building north of the capital.

Both men are among an unknown number of Haitians, some say dozens, who have been abducted in recent months while doing routine things —leaving church, driving home or riding in a Tap-Tap, the colorful buses and pick-up trucks that serve as public transport.

Some were released without harm, save for the psychological trauma of their captivity. Others never made it out — they were killed after trying to fight back or family and friends failed to secure enough money.

The story of how Borgard’s and Mardy’s abductions unfolded is similar. Both say they were stopped by a car loaded with heavily armed gang members as they drove through the city of Delmas, which has become a hotbed for the spiraling kidnapping epidemic. And both say they were taken across town to the Village de Dieu, the lawless slum that has become the kidnappers’ lair.

Located in the south of Port-au-Prince, the slum’s entrance is at the intersection of Oswald Durand and Boulevard Harry Truman. That’s less than 1,000 feet from the old U.S. embassy building that now houses the Office of the Prime Minister and 1,300 feet from the Haitian Parliament. The slum was, until recently, home to of one of Haiti’s most feared gang leaders, Arnel Joseph.

Joseph’s surprise capture last year by Haiti National Police hasn’t slowed the growing threat that appears indiscriminate in its attacks. His foot soldiers have fanned out across the capital snatching unsuspecting victims with the help of scouters to find their next hostages, and spotters to help nab them.

“The freedom of movement is not guaranteed,” Marie Yolène Gilles, a leading Haiti human-rights activist, told the United Nations Security Council recently about a country in which 23 armed gangs exist just in Port-au-Prince, and where a third of the nation is under gang control. “Roads are dangerous. The fiefdoms of armed gangs have become inaccessible to law enforcement officers and armed gangs claim total control over the civilian population living in these areas as well as those they have kidnapped.”

A LAWLESS SEASIDE SLUM

Haitian police had gained access to Village de Dieu back in November 2018, making some 80 arrests and organizing a mobile medical clinic during their two months’ presence inside. But with the government failing to build on police presence with social protection programs and other services, the area once again fell victim to gang control.

Today, police can’t even approach the entrance. This was underscored last weekend when specialized police units, supported by newly acquired armored vehicles, were met with heavy gunfire when they tried to mount an operation inside the slum. The gang’s fire power damaged several of the armored vehicles, which were later seen in the yard of the National Palace on blocks with missing tires and bullet holes.

In late 2018, Haiti National Police held a mobile medical clinic inside the Village de Dieu, Village of God, slum in Port-au-Prince. Since then, police have lost control of the slum, which today is a kidnapper’s lair.

“This situation is unacceptable,” Gilles told the Herald. “As the only people who revolted to break the chains of slavery, we cannot accept that a group of armed individuals are depriving citizens of their rights. It’s a crime that dehumanizes people... We cannot tolerate this crime in the society.”

Gilles said her human rights group, La Fondasyon Je Klere, has been unable to find out from police how many kidnapping cases have been reported since January and what they are doing to attack the problem. The Herald has also inquired and received no response. A crowd-funded effort to gather information has also been slow to gain traction.

But every day Haitians are sharing stories about individuals who have been kidnapped or videos of attempted kidnappings.

Complicating matters is also the spread of copycat kidnappings by less well-organized groups. Last weekend, one such incident was met with a deadly response when an angry mob in the rural town of Boucan Carré burned four gang members and presumed kidnappers alive after ripping them out of their jail cell.

As the anecdotes spread, some wonder if the abductions, which have involved both poor and rich, are as random as they appear. They also wonder about the role of police, who have said little about the terrifying reality. In a video of a botched kidnapping attempt in the hills above the capital, the armed kidnappers are seen dressed in Haiti National Police uniforms.

There is also another nagging matter. In several cases, after someone has been released, someone else close to the individual is also reported kidnapped. This has led some to believe that the kidnappers — already employing a network of systematic surveillance, spotters and “dispatchers” who deliver victims out of the slum after ransoms are paid — are also using victims’ phones to scout out their next targets.

Before traveling to Haiti, Jerry Mardy, 36, had heard that Haiti was experiencing a wave of kidnappings. He never thought he would become a victim. But that’s exactly what happened the day after he arrived in Port-au-Prince.

Mardy said he was driving back from the town of Arcahaie, about an hour-and-a-half north of Port-au-Prince, with a friend on Feb. 19. They were in a white pick-up truck in the Delmas 75 Fragneauville neighborhood shortly after 9 p.m. when he went to make a right turn to head to his hotel.

Suddenly, he said, there was a car in the middle of the road blocking him and five heavily armed men jumped out with “rifles pointing at me.”

“That’s when they grabbed me and put me in their car,” Mardy said. “Afterward, I kept hearing a lot of stories that there had been a lot of kidnappings in Delmas 75. I was not the first one.”

Mardy said he started fighting with his captors. Then, fearing they would kill his friend, he stopped.

“Because I was fighting with them, when I got to their place, that’s when they started beating us, a lot,” he said.

The beatings stopped, Mardy said, after his captors, members of Arnel Joseph’s gang, went through his telephone and saw a photo of him in his Army reservist uniform. They became nervous.

“They asked for us to give $1 million as ransom,” he said. “I said, ‘How am I going to pay that? There is no way I am going to find that money.’”

“Everyday, they kept calling our relatives to ask where the money was. And everyday, they kept dropping it because we didn’t have that kind of money,” said Mardy, who at the offset was handed his phone to make a call so negotiations could immediately begin.

Sources closely following Haiti’s kidnappings, where female captives also have been subjected to rape, say the gangs are notorious for asking for unreasonable amounts of cash. Eventually, however, they settle for whatever they can get depending on how well individuals negotiate. There is a limit by Haitian banks on the amount of U.S. dollars consumers can get, which perhaps explains why gangs have also started to ask for ransoms in not just dollars but also gourdes, the local currency.

Either way, it has meant that family and friends have had to turn to several banks to assemble the ransom payment, or if they live in the U.S., make multiple wire transactions.

The victims’ cellphones have also become a key prize for the gangs, who try to determine from photos and social media posts what someone may be worth.

The kidnappers apparently don’t care that the phones can be traced: They know that police can’t get into the slum where the bulk of victims are held hostage.

Mardy says he and his friend spent four days inside Village de Dieu. They were fed and allowed to shower, all at gunpoint.

There is no doubt his captors were part of a gang. “There’s a lot of them in that place,” he said, and it was obvious to him they were following strict orders.

“They were talking and one said, ‘That’s what I like about that man. Every time he goes out, he’s going to bring someone,’ “ Mardy said, recalling a conversation he heard between two gang members. “Everyday they go out, they got to bring someone; they don’t want to come back empty handed.”

For the people who live in the slum, there is complicity and indifference.

“Everybody inside knows what’s going on,” Mardy said, recalling how a young woman came into the room where he was being held to borrow a broom and a chair, and not even flinching at the site of him and his friend. “Even though you’re not the one going outside to grab people, you know what’s going on. I heard they give money to everybody.”

One day, as a gang member kept watch over his friend, Mardy said he quickly texted his Army sergeant, informing him of his predicament. The sergeant got the kidnappers’ number from his family and then called the U.S. embassy in Haiti.

“The embassy ended up calling the kidnappers on that Thursday to let them know, they knew about the case, ‘to be careful; we know who you are; we hope nothing happens to him,’ “ Mardy said. “I told the embassy, don’t call anymore because the guys were so mad because they felt threatened.”

He thought the embassy and later the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which interviewed him after his release, would have done more to help.

“I thought they were going to help, money-wise, but they did not do anything,” he said of the U.S. embassy, which does not pay ransoms. “They didn’t do anything. We ended up borrowing money and paying everything by ourselves.’

“It’s kind of frustrating,” he said, going on about his disappointment in U.S. authorities. “I am serving the country, and you don’t need to be a soldier to get help from your country in that type of situation. They know what’s happening and you still didn’t get any help. It’s kind of degrading.”

When he and his friend were eventually released, only the SIM card from his phone was returned. The gang kept his personal effects, including his U.S. passport and clothes, along with some speakers and his rental vehicle.

He returned to New York a few days ago.

“I already told my mother... I am not going back,” Mardy said about Haiti. “Even with the Army, if I have to go, they have to approve it after what happened.”

BORGARD’S STORY

Borgard, who lives in Atlanta, also says it will be a long time before he visits Haiti again.

“Haiti is where I was born, it’s where I am from and where I went to school. I don’t think anyone can scare me off from going back,” he said. “But I would say I am not going back anytime soon; I mean not until maybe four, five years.”

Borgard was kidnapped around 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 7, he said, not far from the mayor’s office in the Delmas 33 neighborhood. He and a friend, who also lives in Haiti, were driving home from dinner in a Kia SUV with dark tinted windows. Bogard was in the passenger seat.

He didn’t know it at the time, but a black Toyota pickup truck had been following them with its lights off. Suddenly, the pickup turned on its high beams, pulled out in front of the Kia and crashed into its side.

In the split second it took his friend to decide whether to put the vehicle in reverse, Borgard said, six heavily armed men “were already pointing big guns in our faces,” banging on the windows, demanding that they open the door.

“Two of them had... 9 mm, small guns,” he said. “The other four had long-range guns.”

After putting both in the back seat of the Kia, while the pickup lead the way, Borgard said his captors started driving off and “hitting me from the side with their gun, telling me someone sent them and that they either are going to kill me or make some money with me.”

“We were scared,” he said. “I thought I was dreaming. I didn’t think something like this would happen to me.”

The car sped through drove Delmas to downtown Port-au-Prince, jumping over speed bumps. As they approached Grand Rue, the main street downtown, Borgard said the kidnappers blindfolded them both with a black shirt.

Recalling his military training, he “started counting seconds to see exactly where we were headed. I know Port-au-Prince and so as they were turning, I had a sense of where I was going.”

After arriving inside the cinderblock slum, they were pushed onto a patio with a carpet. “The first crew who grabbed us, we never saw them again,” he said. “They pick up people and drop them off to a second set of people.”

It was then, he realized he had been kidnapped.

“There were locks on every single door,” he said.

Like Mardy, he tried never to make eye contact.

Over time, Mardy realized that no one had set him up, and perhaps he’d fallen prey because they had been riding “in a nice car.” After asking him to unlock his iPhone, one of his abductors started going through his photos.

“He saw pictures of me traveling; he saw pictures of me with nice cars and he was like, ‘You are better off than [President Jovenel Moise]; you’re traveling all over the place. You must have money,’ Bogard said. “Thankfully, he saw a picture of me holding a gun in uniform. He asked if I were the police. I said, ‘No. I am former military.’ ”

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 24 mars 2020

 Haiti declares emergency over coronavirus, imposes curfew, shuts borders

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haiti’s government on Thursday declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus outbreak, closing the borders of the Americas’ poorest nation and imposing a curfew after authorities detected the first two cases of infection.

President Jovenel Moise told a news conference that all the Caribbean country’s ports, airports and borders would be closed to people from midnight on Thursday, though they would remain open for goods traffic.

Schools, universities, places of worship and industrial parks would be closed, and a curfew would be in force from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. as of Friday, he added.

Haiti was one of the last Caribbean nations to remain coronavirus-free and had suspended flights from Europe, Latin America and Canada and imposed major restrictions on the border with the neighboring Dominican Republic earlier this week in a bid to prevent the disease’s entry.

The country struggles to deal with serious outbreaks of disease because of a lack of sanitation infrastructure and inadequate healthcare services. One of the key recommendations for staving off coronavirus is to wash hands frequently with soap and water, but most Haitians do not have running water.

More than half the population lives under the poverty line of $2.41 per day, according to the World Bank, and the country is only just recovering from a nine-year cholera outbreak that the United Nations said killed nearly 10,000.

Reporting by Andre Paultre; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

Haiti Opens National Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory with U.S. Government Support

Port-au-Prince, Haiti – Thursday, December 21, 2017, the Ministry of Public Health and Population’s National Public Health Laboratory (LNSP) celebrated the inauguration of a national biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory.

The U.S. Government through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and other international and local partners supported the establishment of the laboratory which will be used for tuberculosis (TB) and multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) diagnosis and treatment. In addition to increasing Haiti’s capacity to diagnose and treat cases of TB and MDR-TB, the lab will allow the country to monitor the evolution of TB drug resistance in Haiti and to handle emerging infectious agents that pose a significant risk to laboratory staff and the environment.

Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Hannan attended the ceremony noting the critical role laboratory services play in diagnosing, treating, and responding to potential disease threats. “With the opening of the BSL-3 laboratory, Haiti is taking another crucial step toward health security. The Ministry will be able to carry out TB culture, allowing for critical diagnoses; and to conduct the vital research necessary to help better understand and control drug resistance in Haiti.”

Dr. Lauré Adrien, Director General of the Ministry of Public Health and Population, thanked the U.S. Government for their support in establishing the laboratory and noted that a health system cannot exist without a strong laboratory system.

Haiti has the highest incidence of TB in the Western Hemisphere. During the 2010 earthquake response, CDC supported intensified disease surveillance, which helped improve diagnosis and treatment of TB cases. The opening of the national BSL-3 laboratory reaffirms Haiti’s commitment to controlling the spread of TB and MDR-TB and addressing infectious disease threats.

Haiti/ Coronavirus: Three store managers in Haiti were arrested for price-gouging

On Sunday, state authorities arrested at least three supermarket and pharmacy managers for price-gouging the products.

Managers from “Fresh Market” and “Konpa Market” and “Obonsoins” pharmacies were arrested on Sunday, March 22 by police and judicial authorities, according to a reporter from Vant Bèf Info (VBI). These arrests were made during a series of inspection visits by the Minister of Trade and Industry accompanied among others by a justice of the peace and police officers.

These company managers are accused of price-gouging products in violation of the law and at the expense of the public.

They took advantage of the Coronavirus situation to increase product prices.

The authorities also visited Big Star Market but did not arrest anyone.

Representatives from Minister of Trade and Industry and other authorities of the judicial system also visited Caribbean Market in Petion-Ville.

Vant Bèf Info (VBI)

Cuba gives permission for cruise ship carrying COVID-19 patients to dock citing solidarity and health as a human right

News from Cuba

A British cruise ship carrying five passengers who have tested positive for the coronavirus was to dock in Cuba after being turned away by other countries. The MS Braemar, which is carrying six hundred passengers, most of whom are British, had been stranded at sea for two days while trying to find a country which would allow it to dock.

Several other countries refused permission, causing the British government to request help from Cuba. The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement today which said that "Given the urgency of the situation and the risk to the life of sick people, the Cuban government has decided to allow the docking of this ship."

The passengers will repatriated by air to the UK and their home countries. The Cuban government said: "These are times of solidarity, of understanding health as a human right, of reinforcing international cooperation to face our common challenges, values that are inherent in the humanistic practice of the Revolution and of our people."

Miami Workers Face Bleak Uncertainty as Restaurants Close

ZACHARY FAGENSON

The nightmare scenario arrived Tuesday morning when Miami-Dade County Deputy Mayor Jennifer Moon and Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber gathered with other local officials and business owners at Joe's Stone Crab to announce that restaurants must close all operations except delivery, takeout, and pickup in an effort to curb the growing coronavirus pandemic.

In Miami Beach, restaurant kitchens are allowed to remain open until midnight, while public gatherings of more than ten people will become a crime.

Conspiracy Theories, Misinformation Abound as Haitians Brace for Coronavirus

WASHINGTON / PORT-AU-PRINCE - As Haitian government officials intensify their efforts to inform and prepare the nation for the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world, residents of Petionville, a suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince, seemed woefully uninformed about the deadly disease.

“Do you know how people get infected with coronavirus?” a woman who didn’t want to appear on camera asked VOA Creole’s reporter. “It’s the result of too many sins. That’s why the disease is spreading worldwide. This is God’s way of punishing us.”

Louis Jeune Francois, a voodoo worshiper who had just attended a service believes the pandemic is a conspiracy.

“There are 21 families which rule the world. Maybe they feel the population is too big, so they found a way to reduce it. They created a virus to kill a group of people,” he said. “They especially want the virus to kill people in the poorest countries.”

Another voodoo worshiper told VOA she doesn’t believe coronavirus has anything to do with black magic.

“Coronavirus isn’t just a hex on Haiti, don’t you see China is infected with the virus too?” she said. “People who are blaming it on religion are wrong, the virus targets both Protestants and Pagans. You just need to be cautious.”

Another man who didn’t want to be identified seemed to understand the basics.

“From what I understand, the coronavirus is a virus. It’s a virus that’s transmitted through the air,” he said.

Asked what preventative measures they can take to avoid being infected, residents offered various solutions.

“Don’t shake hands, fist bump instead,” one man suggested.

 “Wash your hands, don’t touch your mouth, don’t pick your nose, use a handkerchief,” a woman selling clothing at the local open air market advised.

“I don’t buy this washing hands thing,” another man said. “Of course you have to wash your hands, because if your hand is dirty you won’t be able to use it. I was brought up to do that. But some people say you should eat limes, eat local fruits, because they are natural (and won’t harm your health).”

Expanding on the homeopathic remedy idea, a man told VOA he heard there are vegetable leaves you can boil to protect yourself from the virus.

“Boiling leaves is part of our culture,” he said.

Most people VOA Creole spoke to said the government should act more responsibly to inform the nation about the virus.

“Haiti is a free country, people do whatever they want here, but there are countries where planes are not allowed to land, transportation is restricted, but here there are no restrictions that I’m aware of,” a woman shopping at the open air market said. “We have no protections whatsoever. We’re in God’s hands.”

“If the government forbids groups of 500 people or more to meet, I will know that if I see that happening I should not attend,” one man said. “But if the number they give is 1,000 or 2,000 then I’ll go ahead and attend because it’s hard to get that many people in one place around here.”

Haiti’s Public Health Minister Marie Greta Roy Clement announced Wednesday that the government has stepped up efforts to keep coronavirus out. The measures include screening at the nation’s airports and official border crossings, training for health professionals and journalists, and public service announcements airing on radio and television.

Renan Toussaint in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report.

THOUSANDS ATTENDED MIAMI GAY FESTIVAL AND TESTED POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS LATER

By Julian Shen-Berro

As the coronavirus continues to spread and disrupt life worldwide, one festival is finding the memory of its celebrations tinged by the outbreak.

The Winter Party Festival, an annual, weeklong LGBTQ event held in Miami, drew thousands from across the country when it kicked off earlier this month. But though it ended March 10, in the week following the event several attendees have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to festival organizers.

“We know there are many places people could have been exposed before and after Winter Party as this virus has developed, but we wanted to make this information public as soon as possible,” Rea Carey, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, which organized the festival, said in a statement Monday. “The health and safety of anyone who participates in any Task Force event is of great importance to us.”

The festival, which began March 4 and drew 10,000 attendees throughout the week, predates the current wave of event cancellations that have swept through the nation and ranged from sporting leagues to tech conferences. In her statement, Carey emphasized that event organizers “made the most informed decision at the time, following all official guidance available at the time.”

Event organizers took additional precautions during the festival, distributing 10,000 hand sanitizer bottles and hygiene information to attendees. It remains unclear whether the virus was present in attendees for the duration of the festival, as none experienced symptoms at the time, but health officials warn the virus can still be transmitted before symptoms occur. While incubation period estimates range from 1 to 14 days, it is most commonly around 5 days, according to the World Health Organization.