Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 10 août 2022

More and more Haitians are becoming truck drivers in the USA

Par Jolette Joseph 

 Truck driving is a trending profession among Haitian immigrants in the United States. While some see it as a pathway to financial freedom, others express concerns over truck drivers’ working conditions

When Tharlie moved to the USA in 2017, she dreamt of becoming a fashion designer. But now, the 32-year-old is a full-time heavy-haul driver, sharing advice on social media for those looking to embrace the profession. “I wanted to have money after my divorce,” she said.

She had to take a $3,000 six-week course required to obtain the mandatory Commercial driver’s license for maneuvering trucks. In Florida, the training cost varies between $1,600- $8,000, depending on the school. After acquiring her license, she was hired by a company where she spent four additional weeks of training.

As a single mother, Tharlie faces constant criticism from her family for choosing this line of work. She sometimes spends a month on the road transporting goods, supplies, and food across state lines. And this lifestyle ended up contributing to her divorce, she said.

Most truck drivers spend an average of three weeks away from their families due to the high demands of truck drivers. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), truck drivers killed on the job accounted for more than one in seven workplace fatalities in the US, with a fatality rate of 26.8 per 100,000 workers, compared with the rate for all US workers of 3.5 deaths for every 100,000 workers. The lack of exercise, poor diet, and sleeping conditions have severe implications for the health of truck drivers.

“It’s a stressful job where I can see the danger from behind the wheel, explains Tharlie. In the beginning, I worked five or six hours a day. Now I work eleven hours. I have carried goods in almost every US state.” 

Her initial salary was $450 per week, but now she makes $1,000 weekly. Some drivers work for 80 cents per mile instead. But Tharlie prefers teaming up with another driver.

“With experience, drivers earn from $1,800 to $2,000 per week, and with this money, they can rent or buy trucks to work as owner-operators,” she explains.

That is the option Colby, 34, has chosen. He got into the business eight years ago after a friend told him how lucrative it was. Truck driving was, for him, the fastest way to pay off his student loans and launch his own business later. At first, his family disagreed with his choice. But now, he has the full support of his wife. 

After five years, Colby, who has a degree in business, has become an owner-operator. He still has monthly payments for the loan he got to buy the truck. A used truck ranges from $40,000 to $50,000, and a new one costs about $200,000.   

“If you have a mentor, it will not take much time to become an owner-operator. I did not know I could be an owner-operator after less than that length of time,” he said.

His profits vary between $15,000 to $20,000 of gross revenue. The amount depends on the volume of goods carried per week and their value. The revenue generated is based on a percentage drawn from the merchandise itself. By Colby’s estimates, an owner-operator will earn between $2,000 and $10,000 per week after all due payments such as loans for the truck, insurance, taxes, fuel, and other costs. He now sees the truck industry as his career. 

I work eleven hours. I have carried goods in almost every US state.

Tharlie Noel

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the median annual wage for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers was $48,310 per year or $23.23 per hour in May 2021. But the trucking industry has become difficult. Many manufacturing operations that used to provide trucking companies with goods and supplies are closed due to rising fuel prices and inflation. Tharlie highlights how difficult it is for anyone who leases a truck and works independently to keep up.

“In the past, when drivers rented a truck, they filled it up for $500 per week. Now it costs $2,000 per week,” she adds. 

A job with high risks

Truck driving is considered one of the most dangerous jobs in America. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine estimates that truck and bus-related crashes are responsible for approximately 4,000 casualties in the US every year. An estimated 10 to 20 percent of these crashes might have involved fatigued drivers.

The trucking industry is also notorious for its poor working conditions. As a result, it is facing a truck driver shortage – attributed to low pay and high turnover rates, where approximately 300,000 truck drivers leave the profession every year. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified this shortage, causing the closure or limited operations of training and apprenticeship programs. According to the American Trucking Association, the industry reached a historic shortage of about 80,000  truck drivers, underlining that while all sectors in the industry struggle with finding enough drivers, the driver shortage is most acute in the longer-haul (i.e., non-local) for-hire truckload market.

A shifting industry

At the same time, the industry is poised to undergo some significant changes. For starters, there is the issue of electric trucks. Colby says he knows that electric trucks are being experimented with but is convinced that not all trucks can be replaced. If that’s the case, he plans to buy an electric truck to continue to work in this industry. Tharlie believes it will take a long time before automation happens. And she might be right.

Though most companies are currently testing automated trucking, it may be some time before autonomous trucks take over the highways entirely, according to Martin Daum, Chairman of the Board of Management at Daimler Truck.            

Data from the United States Census Bureau shows that most young truckers under age 35 are women, Hispanic, and more educated than their peers aged 55 and older. The trucking industry includes hundreds of thousands of carriers and 3.36 million truck drivers employed in 2020, transporting goods locally or over long distances between cities. The sector is diverse and different segments come up with other operational characteristics. 

Despite concerns regarding the automation of the trucking industry and the shortage of truck drivers, employment of heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers is expected to rise by 6 percent from 2020 to 2030, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Florida, where many Haitians live and adopt this profession, occupied third place in fatal injuries. Florida is among the States with the highest employment level in Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers occupying third place here too, with about 88,980 truckers, where nine of every thousand jobs in the state belongs to truckers.

Opinion | As Haiti sinks into pandemonium, the international community is silent

Editorial Board

Washington Post

Saturday, August 6, 2022

As Haiti sinks ever-deeper into pandemonium, with much of the capital seized by gunfire and gang warfare, it has received recent deliveries from the United States of two commodities that can only contribute to its meltdown: weapons and deportees. Those exports — one smuggled, the other overt — are the latest symptom of the world’s callous disregard and moral myopia regarding the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. Haiti has no functional government, no democracy, no peace, no hope. And the international community’s response is silence.

Last month, in the midst of a spasm of gun violence that left hundreds dead, injured or missing in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Haitian customs officials seized shipping containers that it said held 18 “weapons of war,” plus handguns and 15,000 rounds of ammunition. According to Reuters, the items were sent from the United States to the Episcopal Church of Haiti. The church denied any knowledge of the container, whose contents were described on a cargo document as “Donated Goods, School Supplies, Dry Food Items.”

Days later, a deportation flight from Louisiana arrived in Port-au-Prince — the 120th such aircraft to arrive in Haiti just this year. Few Haitian deportees are given the chance to apply for asylum in the United States. Since the Biden administration took office, it has sent at least 26,000 Haitian migrants to their home country, where life has been upended since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse last summer. According to advocacy groups, about a fifth of the deportees have been children; hundreds were infants under the age of 2.

The United States is not alone in its heedlessness. The Organization of American States, whose stated mission is to prevent conflicts and promote stability, has done little in Haiti beyond issue tepid statements of concern. The U.N. Security Council recently extended operations of the U.N. Integrated Office in Haiti by one year, a measure that went unnoticed by most Haitians, and for good reason: It has been utterly ineffectual.

The U.N. World Food Program has been routing food deliveries to the country by sea, the better to avoid its trucks being plundered by gangs. Jean-Martin Bauer, the WFP’s Haiti director, acknowledged the gang violence means “people are not able to work, people are not able to sell their produce.” Food prices have soared by more than 50 percent over the past year, a devastating toll in a country where the WFP estimates nearly half the population of 11 million needs immediate food assistance.

Little surprise that since last October, the U.S. Coast Guard has interdicted more than 6,100 Haitians trying to reach the United States by sea, a huge increase from recent years.

It is high time for a reassessment of the convenient piety, voiced by diplomats, advocates and activists, that Haiti should be left to find a “Haitian-led solution.” The truth is that a “Haitian-led solution” is a chimera, and without muscular international intervention, the country’s suffering will deepen. To ignore that reality is to be complicit in the world’s disregard for Haiti’s anguish.

National Center of Haitian Apostolate

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (August 7^th, 2022)

Wisdom 18, 6-9; Ps. 33; Heb 11, 1-2 + 8-19; Luke 12, 32-48

https://youtu.be/tFPsrGSFt4E

Msgr. Pierre André Pierre

All the Bible readings for today in the liturgy of the church emphasize the importance of Faith and Hope before fear.

Many people in the world live in fear: they are afraid of illness, they are afraid of losing their loved ones, they are afraid of war and death, they are afraid of taking to the streets, they are afraid of today and of tomorrow. Jesus gives us assurance: "Do not be afraid!" Do not lose hope! Have faith! Even when we go through bad times, we should never lose our faith and our hope. We should always be alert to capture the presence of Jesus in the midst we

In the first reading, the book of Wisdom 18,6-9, invites us to trust in God's promises. When God's people had to go through trials and difficulties, they always remembered the night of the first Passover. When God freed the children of Israelites from slavery in Egypt, they remained steadfast in prayer while the angel of extermination struck the children of their oppressors. Their faith and hope saved them from destruction. The God who made this wonder will never be released again.

The Second Reading, from the letter to the Hebrews (11,1-2. 8-19), calls Abraham "Father of all believers," and "Father of the Faith." Abraham became a pilgrim in faith because he trusted God, he believed in God's promises. His faith never wavered, even when he was asked to sacrifice his only son. At the last minute, Isaac was saved. Abraham is our model. Like him, even when we don't see where God is leading us, we must continue to walk with him in life. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews defines Faith as "the evidence of things not seen".

The text of the Gospel (Luke 12,32-48) reinforces this same teaching. "Blessed is this servant that the Master will find alert on his return. "Always prepare yourselves, for you do not know when the Master will come." The Gospel asks us to prepare ourselves for the Lord’s coming. Our faith should be so firm, that we should always trust in Jesus, and be willing to meet him at any time.

The lesson we learn is that we must remain firm in Faith and Hope, regardless of the tribulations we encounter in life. Faith in God and Hope in his promise of victory must act as a driving force in our efforts, to always be honest, and just, to always act with a good heart of mercy. Unshakable in prayer, let us always walk tirelessly in serving those in need.

WAKE UP. GET READY TO MEET THE MASTER. HE HAS NO TIME TO COME

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 13 juillet 2022

 US allocates millions to boost security in Haiti

United States’ Under-Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman. Photo: CMC

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – United States’ Under-Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, says the Biden administration has allocated US$48 million in additional security assistance through the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement to bolster security across the country.

Wendy Sherman made the announcement in a message on Friday, on the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise.

She also assured the French-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) member state that Washington is committed to supporting a democratic and prosperous future for the Haitian people.

She recalled that Haiti has not yet recovered from the devastating 2021 earthquake of magnitude 7.2 which devastated the southern peninsula while rising food prices and fuel makes the situation particularly difficult for citizens and based on this, millions of Haitians will need humanitarian aid this year.

Sherman added that the assassination of President Moise has affected Haiti’s political system and reaffirmed the need for worldwide intervention in the midst of the crisis.

Statement on the Anniversary of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse’s Assassination

Today marks one year since the assassination of Haiti’s President, Jovenel Moïse.  The United States continues to staunchly support the pursuit of justice and accountability for those who planned, financed, and perpetrated this terrible crime.

We remain concerned about the limited progress of Haiti’s investigation into the assassination.  Although the fifth investigating judge was recently appointed, Haitian authorities have not adequately addressed the judiciary’s calls for stronger security measures to protect judicial workers assigned to the case and to preserve the chain of custody of key evidence.  Unfortunately, the same can be said for many other cases, including that of the assassination of Port-au-Prince Bar Association President Monferrier Dorval in 2020.

We urge the Haitian authorities to move forward with an independent and thorough investigation into the assassination of President Moïse, consistent with Haitian law and international rule of law standards, to ensure those responsible for this crime are brought to justice.  We remain a committed partner to supporting this aim, as shown by the extraditions of individuals alleged to have conspired in the perpetration of this offense through acts committed within U.S. jurisdiction.  We hope the joint efforts of the Haitian government and relevant international partners soon shed light on the crime, so that justice may be served, and the Haitian people can confidently say President Moïse’s murder was not met with impunity.

Haitian Heritage Month Heroes: Raymond Cassagnol (1920 – present)

Raymond Cassagnol, born September 20, 1920, is a former Haitian Air Force officer/flight instructor, one of the first Haitian Tuskegee Airmen, and Haiti's first-ever World War II-trained combat fighter pilot. Now a centenarian, Cassagnol is the last surviving Haitian Tuskegee Airmen. He is also the author of the 2004 autobiography "Mémoires d’un Révolutionaire" (Revolutionary Memoirs).  

In 1942, the United States military bequeathed to Haiti six armed Douglas O-38E observation planes to patrol the Caribbean Sea for Nazi German submarines regularly surfacing around Haiti. Soon after, Haiti built the Bowen Field airstrip in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Though Haiti commissioned officers to fly these observation planes, all lacked formal flight training, leading to unnecessary aircraft accidents and wreckage.

As a result, the Haitian government published a newspaper ad in July 1942 seeking 40 airmen recruits for the Haitian Army. The ad caused pandemonium in Port-Au-Prince on official selection day, attracting 800 frenzied airmen candidates and their families. The recruiters selected 42 candidates, including Cassagnol. One reason for his selection was that he spoke four languages: French, Spanish, Creole, and English.

By 1943, Cassagnol became a sergeant and an aircraft mechanic within the maintenance department of the newly formed Haitian Air Force or Corps d’Aviation, created by then-Haitian President Elie Lescot in 1942. He regularly worked on Haiti's aircraft even after duty hours. Considered a high performer, Cassagnol attracted the attention of pilot Dean Eshelman, provisional chief of Haiti's air squadron. One evening, Eshelman visited Bowen Airfield and noticed Cassagnol working overtime. When they asked him why he was working overtime, Cassagnol responded: "There is nothing else to do."

Intrigued, Eshelman asked Cassagnol if he would be interested in becoming a pilot. The following week, the U.S. Embassy selected three Haitians for combat flight training at the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama: Cassagnol, Philippe Celestin, and Alix Pasquet. In February 1943, the Haitian government sent the men aboard a DC-3 Skytrain aircraft to the U.S., traveling through Puerto Rico, Miami, and Jacksonville, Florida. They collectively became the first Haitians in history to train as combat fighter pilots.

Unaccustomed to Jim Crow segregation as a privileged Haitian citizen, Cassagnol made every effort to avoid leaving the Tuskegee Army Training Field campus, to avoid the humiliation of racial segregation and white southern hostilities. Nonetheless, Cassagnol became fast friends and roommates with fellow aviation classmate Daniel James Jr., who would become the U.S.'s first African American four-star general.

On July 28, 1943, Cassagnol graduated as a member of the Single Engine Section Cadet Class SE-43-G, earning his silver wings and subsequent promotion as a second lieutenant in the Haitian Air Force. A Tuskegee newspaper published an article describing Cassagnol and his two fellow Haitian pilots as a "Triple threat to the Axis.”

After graduation, Cassagnol returned to Haiti to serve in the newly formed Haitian Air Force, becoming its primary flight instructor for Haiti's wartime pilot training program. Flying North American AT-6 Texans, Cassagnol logged over 100 hours of flight time patrolling the island of Hispanola, defending against Nazi Germany's frequent, at-will submarine incursions in the area. Without the use of radar, Cassagnol and his team successfully nullified the Nazi German submarines, forcing the Germans to discontinue their incursion.

After a military overthrow of President Lescot in 1946, Cassagnol resigned from the Haitian military in April 1946. However, General Franck Lavaud denied Cassagnol's resignation on the grounds that the Haitian public and Haiti's enemies could perceive Cassagnol's resignation as evidence of a rift in the Haitian armed forces. Nonetheless, in July 1946, Cassagnol submitted his resignation again and the military accepted it.

During Haiti President Paul Magloire's administration (1950 - 1956), Cassagnol objected to Magloire and his political favoritism. When Haiti held its presidential election in 1957, a non-partisan Cassagnol objected to presidential candidate Clement Jumelle, viewing him as a continuation of Paul Magloire’s corrupt politics. Cassagnol also became a fierce opponent of François Duvalier after he won the Haitian presidency and began to systematically target and kill his political enemies.

In 1961, Cassagnol met with Dominican General Rafael Leónidas Trujillo to devise plans to overthrow Duvalier. Cassagnol later discovered that General Trujillo unfortunately had informed Duvalier three years earlier that Trujillo had given armaments to Cassagnol and former Haitian senator Louis Dejoie, another Duvalier opponent. Fearing for his life, Cassagnol and his family fled Haiti in 1962, entering the Dominican Republic as political asylees. After his arrival in the Dominican Republic, he continued to engage in anti-Duvalier efforts.

In May 1969, Cassagnol flew a B-25 over Duvalier's National palace and bombed it, but Duvalier survived. Duvalier later died of heart disease and diabetes in 1971 and was succeeded by his 19-year-old son Jean-Claude as president. Cassagnol and his family later emigrated to the U.S. In 1986 after Jean-Claude Duvalier was deposed from power, Cassagnol returned to Haiti after 17 years away from his native land. In 1999, Cassagnol deeded 200 acres of land he owned in Haiti to a charitable organization. In November 2000, at the age of 81, Cassagnol visited Tuskegee University after a 57-year absence. After living in Orlando, Florida for 20 years, Cassagnol now resides in Mobile, Alabama.

(received from Hugues Pelissier / Esther Garcia Flavien)

BID22 8bienal iberoamericana de diseño

NOTA DE PRENSA

Madrid, 4 de julio de 2022

Abierta la convocatoria para la 8ª Bienal Iberoamericana de Diseño BID22

La 8º edición de la Bienal Iberoamericana de Diseño (BID22), que tendrá lugar del 21 al 25 de noviembre de 2022, abre su convocatoria del 4 de julio al 7 de agosto de este año, para todos aquellos interesados en ser parte de la comunidad BID. 

• La BID, impulsada por DIMAD Fundación, contará con alrededor de 300 proyectos, en la exposición principal de la BID y en la galería online, de diseño de América Latina, España y Portugal.
• Llega a su octava edición con 1 millón de visitantes, 22 países, 16 años, 7 ediciones con 65 exposiciones y 15.700 proyectos a sus espaldas.
• En la semana inaugural, del 21 al 25 de noviembre, se realizarán actividades en formato híbrido en las que se hablará de las preguntas que rondan al sector del diseño en la actualidad.
• Además de la exposición principal de trabajos en Matadero Madrid, habrá exposiciones paralelas en torno al diseño iberoamericano.
• La BID en esta edición plantea dudas sobre la práctica del diseño ante la incertidumbre de estos años.

En el panorama de dos años de desastres a nivel mundial, en los que se han expuesto las contradicciones y los dilemas actuales, toca reflexionar sobre otras formas de estar en el mundo, que busquen evitar el agravamiento de la crisis climática y la desigualdad socioeconómica.

El espacio de la BID está compuesto por muchas culturas y naturalezas diferentes que se mezclan, contaminan y valoran, enfocado a dar respuestas al mundo.

¿Puede el diseño unir el Sur con el Norte y el Oeste con el Este, colaborando para reducir las desigualdades y la injusticia social?

¿Puede el diseño descarbonizar el cielo sin destruir la Tierra?

¿Puede el diseño posponer el fin del mundo?

Busca el Diseño que nos acerque, que nos identifique, que nos dignifique en comunión con el planeta, un diseño que nos reconcilie con la vida, un diseño que nos permita sobrevivir.

Con estas premisas, como todos los años pares, la BID organiza esta Bienal de Diseño haciendo un trabajo de búsqueda de los diseñadores iberoamericanos emergentes y consolidados, que en los últimos dos años, hayan realizado proyectos destacados e innovadores.

En esta edición se quiere dar más importancia a los ejes transversales, que pasan a ser las categorías BID con sus respectivos Premios BID. El diseño, cada vez más, está enfocado en solucionar los problemas que van surgiendo en la sociedad, por esto se quiere dar la importancia que se merece a estos ejes, que hasta hace poco se llamaban especiales y que ahora la organización de la BID los considera primordiales en el diseño.

Categorías BID: Diseño para el Desarrollo / Diseño y Ciudad / Diseño y Participación ciudadana / Diseño para Todas las Personas / Diseño e Innovación / Diseño y Sostenibilidad / Diseño y Emprendimiento / Diseño y Cultura / Diseño e Investigación.

Se contará además con categorías del diseño bajo sus disciplinas, como también se ha hecho en el resto de ediciones.

Las propuestas admitidas serán ratificadas por un Jurado internacional que elegirá un máximo de 25 proyectos por país y formarán parte de la Selección BID22.  El Jurado estará formado por un número de 5 a 7 destacados profesionales, ligados al diseño y a disciplinas transversales, que valorarán todos los trabajos. Este Jurado también concederá 17 premios, los Premios BID y los premios de disciplinas del diseño.

Desde 2020, debido a la situación con la pandemia, se ha añadido el formato online a la semana inaugural de la BID. En esta edición, también se contará con un formato híbrido, presencial y online, pudiendo de esta forma acoger y dar espacio a todas aquellas personas de los 22 países que no puedan desplazarse presencialmente hasta Madrid.

Los planteamientos y dudas que han surgido estos dos últimos años en el diseño, serán abordados por especialistas y profesionales en el área, en distintas actividades a lo largo de esta semana. En estos momentos de incertidumbre es cuando el diseño debe plantearse sus objetivos y su función, por ello, es un momento muy interesante en el sector que dará pie a debates de suma importancia y enriquecimiento.

La BID busca crecer cada año a pesar de las adversidades. En esta edición, se van a realizar distintas exposiciones y jornadas paralelas a la exposición de trabajos principal y semana inaugural, que se irán anunciando a través de las redes de la BID.

Los diseñadores participantes seleccionados en la BID expondrán sus proyectos físicamente y en la galería online, recibirán el sello BID, formarán parte del catálogo BID22 y optarán a los premios y menciones, así como la difusión en las redes y prensa de la BID.

A través de este formulario podrán inscribirse los proyectos siguiendo las Bases de la convocatoria de 2022.

La BID22 es posible gracias a la colaboración principal del Ayuntamiento de Madrid y el apoyo de UCCI, Unión de Ciudades Capitales Iberoamericanas.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 7 juillet 2022

 Bribery charges dismissed against two prominent Haitian-American businessmen

Dr. Joseph Baptiste's Facebook pageUpdated June 28, 2022 3:48 PM

Dr. Joseph Baptiste, the chair and founder of the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians, was granted a new trial after he was convicted in June 2019 in a Boston federal court in an alleged bribery scheme involving Haitian government officials. However, with that new trial set to start in early July 2022, federal prosecutors have dismissed the case as more evidence came to light.

Federal prosecutors will no longer be pursuing bribery charges against two Haitian-American businessmen after prosecutors discovered evidence contradicting FBI agents’ testimony and the Department of Justice’s own allegations that one of the men offered to pay a 5% bribe to Haitian officials to construct a new seaport in Haiti’s northwest region.

Federal prosecutors had accused Roger Richard Boncy and Dr. Joseph Baptiste of conspiring to funnel bribes of 5% of the cost of the construction deal to high-level Haitian government officials, including an aide to a prime minister. The 5% was “a key part of the government’s conspiracy theory.” The U.S. government also contended that the money would be funneled through Baptiste’s National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians, NOAH, a well-known nonprofit. 

The two men — Boncy is a former Haitian ambassador-at-large, and Baptiste is a Maryland dentist and retired Haitian-American U.S. Army colonel who ran NOAH — were convicted in June 2019 in federal court of conspiring to pay millions of dollars in bribes to Haitian government officials to build the port. 

Jurors in Boston had found both men, who were tried together, of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Travel Act. Baptiste was also convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and an additional Travel Act violation, while Boncy was cleared of the two counts.

A federal judge later overturned the jury’s conviction after Baptiste successfully appealed on the grounds of ineffective counsel from his lawyer. A new trial for both men was set to start next week. 

However, on Monday, U.S. prosecutors filed to dismiss the case after confirming that previously undisclosed text messages between Boncy and an undercover FBI agent confirmed the existence of a destroyed recording in which Boncy asserted that he knew nothing about the alleged 5% bribe. 

The new information confirming Boncy’s lack of knowledge was turned over to the defense and the government. 

Legal experts say the discovery of the text messages, which no longer support FBI agents’ testimony about Boncy’s alleged involvement, would raise credibility concerns in any trial had the government decided to still pursue charges against Baptiste. 

In a statement, Boncy’s legal team at the law firm Greenberg Traurig noted that he had long maintained his innocence and insisted that two calls the FBI destroyed would prove his innocence. 

“These texts — sent on the same day of the destroyed calls — specifically referenced the contents of the destroyed calls. In those texts, consistent with Boncy’s long-held defense, the FBI agent explicitly stated that ‘Richard said 5% social program money is absolutely not for bribes.’ This is exactly what Boncy has claimed all along. 

“And, more egregiously, the existence and content of these texts are directly at odds with the FBI special agents’ testimony throughout this case.” the statement said.

Jed Dwyer, who led Boncy’s defense, said: “It is clear now that Richard is innocent; no ifs, ands or buts about it. The government agrees and today dismissed the sole remaining count against our client.”

Dwyer said Boncy was adamant in his innocence and his commitment to proving his innocence. “Richard had the courage to stand up to the government, which is a rarity these days. ... Too often the government rides roughshod over defendants.”

Baptiste lawyers noted that the case had gone on for nearly five years.

“Dr. Baptiste never paid a penny in bribes, and he never agreed with Mr. Boncy or anyone else to do so,” said one of his attorneys, Daniel Marx. “Dr. Baptiste’s work to build a port in an especially impoverished part of Haiti was consistent with his lifelong commitment to improve the lives of Haitian people, in Haiti and elsewhere.” 

William Fick, co-counsel for Baptiste, said his client and Boncy “were unfortunate victims of a misguided ‘sting’ operation, in which FBI agents posed as foreign investors and played on prejudiced tropes about pervasive Haitian corruption.”

“Those agents knew nothing about Haiti, a country they had never even visited,” Fick said. “The agents had never spoken with the officials who were supposedly offered bribes or considered how their undercover operation might derail a significant development project that could better the lives of countless Haitian people.”

This story was originally published June 28, 2022 9:25 AM.

National Center of Haitian Apostolate 

REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS OF TH 14^TH SUNDAY OF THE CHURCH YEAR (JULY 3^rd, 2022)

https://youtu.be/c_nBHIS_6uU

Isaiah 66, 10-14; Psalm 66; Galatians 6, 14-18; Luke 10, 1-9

Jesus is asking us to pray for vocations:

“The harvest is abundant and the laborers are few. Pray the lord of the harvest to send laborers in his field.” China with its 1 300 000 000 inhabitants, India with its One billion and plus citizens have hardly heard of Jesus. Many countries tend to close their hearts to the Christian message. Powerful witnesses are desperately needed. We hear today that the prayers of the faithful are crucial for vocations. The Lord likes prayers to precede his gifts.

The mission of the laborers is challenging. They must be “like lambs in the midst of wolves.” They should not act as conquerors but like persuasive heralds of the Good News. Let them shout that the kingdom of God is near and that it is close to every person of good will!

The call to the kingdom is not to be the exclusive domain of the ordained ministers. Jesus is shown sending seventy-two disciples meaning lay people. Every baptized person is commissioned to participate in the spreading of the Kingdom. We are a holy nation, a priestly people. We must be aware of our communal responsibility to The Mission. 

Jesus adds count in the first place on the power of God working through you! St Paul adds that to be successful you really need to believe in the power of the Cross and become a New Creation. Jesus concludes that your unshakable trust must rest on the assurance that your name is written in heaven! May lay people and priests involve themselves wholeheartedly in the Mission!

Transforming Our Caribbean 

#AllThingsCSA

#CSA2023StCroix

Greetings Caribbean Studies Association Members, Supporters and Family:

In 2022, CSA has the honorable pleasure of celebrating our 48^thAnniversary among an awesome intergenerational legacy of Caribbeanists! 

Happy 48^th CSA Anniversary!

 I am honored to serve as CSA President for 2022-2023.  

As your CSA President, I welcome the continuation of supportive guidance from seasoned, intergenerational, and sagacious CSA leaders, scholars, elders, graduate students, and Caribbeanist practitioners who desire to strengthen standards of excellence, diversity, equity, inclusion, and prosperity that sustainably contributes to the forward progress to CSA2023 St. Croix leading to CSA’s 50^th Anniversary in 2024 and beyond.   As shared during my vice-presidency 2021-2022, the creation of environs that welcome assessments of existing conditions, evaluations of best standards of action, and data-driven practices for successful programs that are strategically relevant to 21^st century interdisciplinary, multilingual, and multicultural Caribbean studies, arts, sciences, and affairs are being prioritized.  CSA members and resourceful supporters are invited to share collaborative talents and collective expertise with the new CSA Executive Council (EC) to innovatively maintain the effective aspects of the Caribbeanist philosophical mission, vision, perspectives, protocols, principles, and practices of CSA with sound futuristic improvements as may be essential for organizational growth while being unapologetically and respectfully Caribbean.

Congratulations are extended to Immediate Past President Eris Schoburgh (2021-2022) who led the CSA2022 Jamaica Conference hosted by The University of the West Indies-Mona Campus with her supportive Program Committee co-chairs Stacey-Ann Wilson and Eleanor A. Henry with a hard-working team to organize CSA’s second virtual conference with successes beyond C19 protocol limitations and technological challenges.  Thanks are extended to CSA IT Master Kiah Graham along with UWI IT support from Howard Reid, Richard Leach and others working in the background keeping CSA membership informed, digitally empowered, calm (most of the time), and proactively engaged throughout the virtual implementation of new digital technology platforms for CSA2022 Jamaica.  Recognition and thanks are extended to past CSA EC members whose tenure expired in June 2021, yet they remained dedicated for an additional year to support CSA leadership for which we remain grateful: Nikoli Attai, Fatimah Jackson-Best and Raymond Laureano.

Special thanks are extended to the Jamaican Government (for making travel to Jamaica open, safe and welcoming in May 2022) specifically the Ministries of Education and Tourism for making CSA2022 safe and technologically savvy while making the open portal entry accessible for the new CSA Vice President and President while in Kingston. A special heartfelt thanks to Sharon Oshun Parris-Chambers and Theo Chambers of PanaCarib Business Solutions and Temple of Inner Peace for the exceptional Jamaican hospitality, ecotourism excursions, and communitarian cultural heritage exchanges provided for us during CSA2022 Jamaica. At my request, as pictured, on the evening following the CSA leadership transition morning meeting on Saturday, June 4.2022 an amicable safe social gathering was facilitated at the AC Marriott Bonvoy in Kingston. 

CSA members are encouraged to join me in welcoming new and returning seasoned, intellectually experienced, and diverse CSA Executive Council (EC) members effective June 2022.  Congratulations to new CSA EC members: Okama Ekpe Brook, Vice President (2022-2023) and Council Members Rhoda Arrindell, Nicholas Faraclas, and L. Kaifa Roland (2022-2024).  Congratulations to continuing CSA EC members: IPP Eris Schoburgh, Kristina Hinds, Patricia Saunders, Meagan Sylvester (CSA Newsletter Editor/CSA2023 St. Croix Program Chair), and Graduate Student Representative Regan Reid.  

CSA@48 welcomes the continuation of the appointments accepted by Dwaine Plaza, Treasurer/Past President and Mala Jokhan, Secretariat complementary to CSA Past Presidents, Elders and resourceful friends providing support for this important organization for Caribbeanists nationally, regionally, and internationally. The inaugural CSA Journal: Caribbean Conjunctures is preparing for publication launch in Summer 2022.   With an extensive list of multilingual and interdisciplinary editorial and advisory professionals of CSA and beyond, special thanks to Raymond Laureano, Inaugural Managing Editor with Opal Palmer Adisa, Editor-in-Chief, and Tavis Jules, Past President/Interim Managing Editor. 

As announced during the CSA2022 Virtual Business Meeting on June 1^st, CSA2023 St. Croix Virgin Islands (US) is scheduled for June 5^th to 9^th, 2023 with the theme:

Transforming Our Caribbean: Sustainable Educational Research, Cultural Creatives, Sacred Traditions, Economic Development and Environmental Solutions

On the journey to CSA2023, the new CSA EC embraces improving the long-standing legacy and sustainability of CSA through responsive creativity and equitably streamlining multilingual digital technologies, publications, projects, programs, and productions. Examples of CSA priorities include: a) Inaugural CSA Journal 2022 and 2023; b) Continuing publication of the internationally-recognized CSA Newsletter (monthly);  c) Diversification of program platforms, professional development, and services for CSA members; d) Enhancing accessibility to CSA digital/virtual collections; e) Increasing CSA membership; f) Organizing virtual/hybrid CSA webinars and new media/IT programming; g) Continuing the CSA Young Scholars Mentoring Program; and h) Increasing philanthropic and strategic fund developments.  With enhanced branding, marketing, scholarly exchanges and resourceful membership supports, the CSA membership is encouraged to explore the CSA website and monthly newsletter for informative details and relevant programming leading up to CSA2023 St. Croix and beyond.  

The Caribbean and the world have endured challenges and sustained resilient strengths that extend beyond major environmental disasters inclusive of life-threatening hurricanes, devastating earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, toxic emissions, socioeconomic instabilities, climate change and health pandemics that contribute to new global protocols that influence and impact CSA’s responsibility to advance culturally-sensitive and technologically-relevant Caribbeanist solutions while Transforming Our Caribbean.

Be safe, rejuvenate and enjoy the balance of National (US) Caribbean American Heritage Month (June annually), Juneteenth Freedom Day (19^th), Summer Solstice (21^st), VI Freedom Week (June 26^th to July 3^rd) and other Summer Season observances and holidays!

Remain Inspired!

------------------------------------ 

Chenzira Davis Kahina
President CSA 2022-2023  

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 15 juin 2022

 
Haiti’s gangs use TikTok, Instagram, Twitter to recruit and terrorize

(washingtonpost.com)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The man wears a balaclava with a wide, toothy grin on the front — a stark contrast to the angry, threat-laden rant he’s delivering.

If anyone in territory controlled by his 5 Segonn gang is killed, the amateur rapper known as “Izo” warns, he’ll slaughter 30 people in revenge. He repeats the message for his “soldiers.”

“You don’t have to wait for my orders,” Izo says in a video posted this month to tens of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram. He won’t show his gun on camera, he says — or his video might be reported to the platforms’ moderators.

The violent armed gangs that control much of Haiti are using social media to expand their reach and tighten their grip on the beleaguered Caribbean nation. Posts aimed at energizing recruits, intimidating rivals and terrorizing the population are challenging the ability of the platforms to police the problematic content. Some here are calling for tighter controls.

“The bandits would never have been as powerful as they are in Haiti without social media,” said Yvens Rumbold of Policité, a policy think tank here. “We always had bandits in Haiti, but without these platforms, they would not be as famous.”

DOJ alleges Haiti gang kidnapped Americans to free leader

Jimmy Cherizier is a former police officer on whom the United States hasimposed sanctions for allegedly leading armed groups in “coordinated, brutal attacks in Port-au-Prince neighborhoods,” the U.S. Treasury said in a release, including a five-day attack in May 2020 in which civilians were slain and houses burned. When Cherizier united warring gangs here into the G9 Family and Allies, he announced the alliance on YouTube. In a Twitter post, an account purporting to belong to him urged backers to “ransack everything.”

As violence between gangs in Port-au-Prince escalated in recent months, gang members posted photos of corpses on WhatsApp, human rights groups say. Izo uses several platforms to threaten and mock rivals, police officers and journalists.

Gangs use social media to promote themselves, push narratives, show their strength, delegitimize state institutions and recruit members. In some posts, gang leaders flash cash, gold chains and blinged-out watches, signifiers of a lifestyle that is far out of reach for the great majority in this impoverished nation.

“Social media is responsible for a lot of the insecurity climate that we have here,” said James Boyard, a political scientist at the State University of Haiti. “Social media has a huge responsibility … to vet their users, to analyze the images on the accounts and to censure them in some instances. They need to do more, frankly.”

Cherizier, in an interview with a sympathizer on YouTube, is asked specifically about the utility of social media.

“I’m thanking those who create these technologies,” he says. “Tech today gives us an opportunity to sell ourselves to the public. I’m not selling lies. I’m who I say I am. I do not do 99 percent of what they said I’ve done. … Technologies gave me an opportunity to defend myself.”

In Haiti, coronavirus and a man named Barbecue test the rule of law

The development troubles some officials here.

In October, Frantz Louis Juste, then Port-au-Prince’s top prosecutor, wrote a letter asking several platforms to “block or delete” the accounts of several individuals, including Cherizier, who he claimed were associated with criminal groups.

“These gangs instill a reign of terror in society,” he told The Washington Post. “They need less widespread publicity.”

The letter was made public but wasn’t sent to the companies that it named.

TikTok’s rules bar terrorist and criminal organizations from using the app. The company removed Izo’s account after The Post asked about it. It said it was reviewing others.

“There’s no place for violent extremism or promotion of violence on TikTok,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “We will remove content and ban accounts that violate our policies as we work to foster a safe and welcoming environment.”

Twitter said it was reviewing accounts and tweets “in line with our rules.” The company has reported receiving one legal request from Haiti to remove content. That was in 2016.

After being questioned by The Post, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, removed from Izo’s Facebook and Instagram accounts the video in which he threatens to kill 30 people. It did not remove his profiles, and the same video appeared on another Instagram account with his name.

“We regularly review organizations to determine if they violate our Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy and ban them from our platforms if they do,” the company said in a statement. “We use technology to detect violations and deploy global teams, which include native Creole speakers, to review content.”

YouTube did not respond to a request for comment.

Abductions by the busload: Haitians are being held hostage by a surge in kidnappings

Gangs have long had a presence in Haiti, but their power has grown in recent years amid a broader deterioration of democratic institutions and security conditions. Analysts estimate that they control 60 percent of the country and are on the brink of becoming, collectively, a “proto state.”

In recent years, gang kidnappings for ransom have skyrocketed. No one has been immune — victims have included American missionaries, French clergy and Haitians of all ages and backgrounds.

Haiti’s Center for Analysis and Research on Human Rights counted 225 kidnappings in the first quarter of 2022 — up nearly 60 percent from the same period last year.

Since April, armed violence in the capital between 400 Mawozo, the gang implicated in the kidnapping last year of 17 American and Canadian missionaries with an Ohio-based charity, and Chen Mechan, a rival gang, has escalated. The U.N. high commissioner for human rights has called the level of violence “unimaginable and intolerable.”

Nearly 17,000 Haitians have been displaced by the clashes, according to the United Nations, and at least 200 have been killed — almost half of them civilians. Deepening insecurity is one factor fueling an exodus of Haitians on rickety boats bound for the United States and elsewhere on sometimes deadly voyages.

Search for survivors ongoing after migrant boat sinks near Puerto Rico

Haiti’s National Human Rights Defense Network reported last month that gang members in the recent battles had raped women and girls, mutilated bodies and taken photos of these “macabre scenes” to post on social media to “maintain terror among the population.”

The nongovernmental group showed photos to The Post that it said were sharedby gang members in WhatsApp groups. The images of scattered body parts, decapitated heads and mutilated corpses were forwarded many times on the Meta-owned messaging service.

Analysts said messages from gang members often appear on WhatsApp first and are then spread on other platforms or by mainstream media organizations. WhatsApp’s encrypted chats scramble messages so only the sender and receiver can read them, making it more difficult to detect harmful content unless a user reports it.

Twitter and TikTok said their human content moderators and other tools that detect harmful content cover several languages, but they did not say whether Haitian Creole was among them.

“These social media [companies] need resources affiliated to specific regions and countries,” Rumbold said.

Still, some users are adept at slipping around efforts to block them.

After TikTok removed Izo’s account recently, he posted several Instagram stories to share the news and express his displeasure.

One Instagram story showed a TikTok page — with several of the videos from the deleted one.

“God forbid I had another account,” said the text of the story, with several flexed biceps emoji.

FEAST OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY (June 12th, 2022)    

Prov. 8, 22-31; Ps. 8; Rom. 5, 1-5; Jn. 16, 12-15

https://youtu.be/Xdjx7cR0DCU

Msgr. Pierre Andre Pierre

https://youtu.be/Xdjx7cR0DCU

In this celebration of the Holy Trinity, we may wonder how and to what extent we can understand this one God with three faces, the Trinity. Our human mind is too small to encompass this great mystery. But the Bible, already in the Old Testament, shows us that wisdom is not mere knowledge, but the art of life, understanding with the heart by reflecting on our vital experience (cf. Prov. 8, 22-31; and Ps. 8). And that experience tells us: God is love, and he comes to us in many ways, with paternal and maternal concern and care, with forgiveness and with the life that Jesus brought us, with courage and joy, hope and light shed on us by the Holy Spirit. May we deepen this experience during every Eucharist.

The Church calls us today to reverently contemplate the awesome mystery of God. Who is He in the reality of his nature, this great “One Whose Mighty Deeds Are Clearly Seen?”

When falling on our knees, we search the Scriptures, especially the texts of the New Testament our understanding of the mystery of God reaches new heights. Jesus himself is described as the Word Made Flesh. And the Word is said to be God himself. Jesus, therefore, is completely God (cf. John 1,1-18).

Jesus, in turn, sends upon us His Spirit, also described as the Spirit of the Most High yet that Spirit is shown as standing as a distinct person. The divinity is not broken down into three parts! The Word and the Spirit possess in full the divinity of the Father. We marvel, therefore at a God at once Three and One” This is what we call the Trinity, three persons equally sharing in Love their very selves: One nature; three persons! We marvel at a Relationship of Love at its Supreme Stage.

These revealed truths open our minds to the vision of a Supreme Father who is not Isolated, closed upon Himself but a Being involved in an overwhelming Love Relationship with the Word. That mutual relationship intense as a flaming fire IS the Holy Spirit who is poured upon us. Our God is a furnace of Love and of Light and of Being embracing all things including ourselves.

The genuine worshiper of this overwhelming Being of Consuming Love is called to be a witness and a promotor of Light, Love, and Truth in this created world. How glorious is our God!

U.S. focuses on U.N. presence in Haiti as it seeks to help troubled country

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES AND NORA GÁMEZ TORRES

UPDATED JUNE 10, 2022 8:30 PM

As Haiti grapples with an unprecedented wave of kidnappings and killings by armed gangs, a top State Department diplomat for Latin America and the Caribbean said Friday the U.S. is actively engaged in discussions about Haiti’s mounting security challenges and what the presence of a United Nations mission in the country should look like. “We’re looking at what the structure of that mission would be going forward and making sure that it is properly equipped to deal with the security issues in Haiti,” Assistant Secretary of State Brian A. Nichols told the Miami Herald in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the Ninth Summit of the Americas. Nichols’ comments are the first public acknowledgment that the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, known by its French acronym, BINUH, has not worked. The small mission was put in place in October 2019 after the closure of the United Nations Peacekeeping Operation after 15 years.

The closure came amid growing political and security challenges that have many observers believing that Haiti is far worse today than it was in 2004 when the international community agreed to send troops to stabilize the country after its then-president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, fled into exile amid a bloody coup. That reality has led some to agitate for a military presence to help the country’s beleaguered police force take on heavily armed gangs that now control large swaths of the capital and are helping fuel the largest exodus of Haitian boat refugees since 2004. But the U.S., which has framed the country’s current security woes as a policing and not military matter, has resisted any request for outside military assistance for Haiti. U.S. sources at the National Security Council and the U.S. mission at the United Nations told the Herald that there are no active discussions over any plans to send a new peacekeeping force to Haiti. That leaves the current U.N. political mission, which has struggled to help Haiti as it plunges deeper into political instability, human rights abuses and banditry. In October, the U.N. Security Council agreed to extend the U.N. mission by nine months. The decision came after the U.S., which wanted a one-year extension, struck an 11th-hour compromise with China. The Chinese, along with Russia, have been vocal critics of the international community’s presence in Haiti, and had sought to limit the extension to six months. As part of the compromise, the Security Council agreed to an assessment of the U.N. mission. That assessment has been circulated among council members of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, whose office on Friday also shared its latest report on the situation in Haiti ahead of its meeting in a few weeks to discuss the mission’s future. “Obviously, whatever we do in the international community, it has to support Haitian efforts to build security and to find a negotiated solution and a way forward to re-establish full democracy in Haiti,” Nichols said. Nichols insisted that the U.S. and other partners in the international partners are providing “robust assistance” to the Haiti National Police, particularly in the areas of training and equipping an anti-gang task force and special weapons and tactics units. In meetings with interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry on the sidelines of the summit in Los Angeles, U.S. officials also committed to providing additional police support and to work toward relaxing weapons and arms requirements. Haiti is subjected to a U.S. arms embargo that has not prevented gangs from being heavily armed, but has prevented the police from being properly equipped to confront them.

Read Next: As desperate Haitians take to the sea, they turn to Vodou to help guide their journeys So far, however, the United States’ offerings have yet to bear fruit, leaving the population to struggle under a wave of unabated kidnappings. U.N. agencies recently reported that in May alone there were at least 200 kidnappings and in recent days, a number of foreign citizens have been kidnapped, including three U.N. employees. One of the employees has been identified by several sources as driver for the head of the U.N. office, Helen La Lime.

Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for Guterres, told the Herald Friday that the U.N. staffer who was taken hostage May 23 “was released in good health” Thursday. “The United Nations remains mobilized with the support of the national authorities for the resolution of two further cases,” he said, without offering details. Two Belgium citizens were also grabbed in front of a building in Petionville where foreign diplomats also live. All of this has created anxiety and helplessness among other foreign citizens and Haitian nationals, and fueled a sense of exasperation among an increasingly frustrated foreign diplomatic corps. With no higher travel warning than No. 4, which is “Do Not Travel,” both the U.S. and France last year told their citizens living in Haiti to leave. France did so after the still unsolved assassination of the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse, and the U.S. did so after gangs blocked the entrance to ports that hold fuel and brought the country to a halt. “We recognize that the situation for average Haitians, it is deeply worrisome with regard to security, and kidnapping and crime remains at alarming levels,” Nichols said. “And we in the international community have to do more and better to support the Haitian people.”

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry speaks during a plenary session at the Summit of the Americas, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Los Angeles. Marcio Jose Sanchez AP On Thursday, Nichols met with interim Prime Minister Henry. On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined the foreign ministers of Canada and Mexico to discuss the situation in Haiti. There will also soon be another donors meeting — the fourth in less than a year — on Haiti, Nichols said.

“We’re not going to stop until we give the Haitian people the better future that they deserve,” he said. But how the U.S. should go about that has been a point of contention. Members of civil society in Haiti known as the Montana Group and their supporters in the U.S. Congress have been urging the Biden administration to end its support for Henry and allow a new group of mostly non-political actors to take charge of the country. Instead, the U.S. has asked both sides to reach an agreement to come up with “a Haitian-led solution.” With neither Henry nor the Montana Group, named after an accord it signed at the Montana Hotel, seemingly willing to share power, both sides have remained at loggerheads as the international community pushes for dialogue. The political paralysis, coupled with the social tensions and deepening sense of despair, have all led to large migration flows of Haitians throughout the hemisphere. Nichols Friday continued to insist on the need for a compromise, saying that the U.S. has encouraged Henry and civil society groups, “particularly the Montana group, to come together and select counselors as a way to prepare for elections so that the international community can support with technical assistance, financial resources, and make sure that preparations can take place in a secure environment and candidates can compete without fear and that voters can go to the polls in a peaceful way.”

McClatchy Senior National Security Correspondent Michael Wilner contributed to this report. This story was originally published June 10, 2022 7:22 PM.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article262402162.html