Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 8 novembre 2020

 TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WANTS LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS BY JANUARY; PRESIDENT JOVENEL MOISE WANTS A NEW CONSTITUTION FIRSTBy Jacqueline Charles

October 27, 2020 05:32 PM,

Updated October 27, 2020

If Haitian President Jovenel Moïse thought his good relations with Washington would allow him to achieve what all Haitian presidents have wanted— to delay elections and change the country’s constitution to his liking— the Trump administration begs to differ.

Moïse, in a surprise announcement last Friday, told Haitians that elections would take place only after they have had a chance to vote on a new constitution through a referendum. He did not say when such a vote would happen, or more importantly, who would draft this new constitution.

But a U.S. State Department spokesperson said the U.S. is expecting elections in Haiti no later than January to renew the entire Lower Chamber of Deputies, two-thirds of the 30-member Senate and all local offices, including mayors. The dismissal of Parliament in early January 2020 has left Moïse ruling by decree and the end of mayoral terms this past July, means that he’s now one of just 11 elected officials in the country of 11 million residents. The other elected officials are the remaining 10 senators who are in effect powerless and can’t even garner a quorum to assemble.

“We want to see Haitians afforded the right to elect their representatives and have been very clear and consistent on that point,” a spokesperson with the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs told the Miami Herald. “We want to see Haitians afforded the right to elect their representatives.... In a democracy, the people’s interests are represented by their elected representatives, yet today in Haiti, the legislative branch of government is not working.”

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “Haiti’s legislative elections are now overdue.” While the U.S. wanted them to be held as soon as “technically feasible,” Pompeo pointed out that the Organization of American States wants them to be held by the end of January 2021.

“We support the OAS’ assessment that elections can and should happen by no later than January 2021,” the spokesperson said.

Technically, there are serious doubts that such a deadline can be met. The representatives of other foreign governments in Port-au-Prince have said a number of technical, political and security conditions in Haiti must be met before balloting can take place. This includes voters being assured they can cast their votes without being pressured by illegal armed groups; the completion of the electoral list, and the distribution of new national identification cards that double as electoral cards.

Of approximately 6.8 million Haitians of voting age, just over 2 million have received the controversial new ID card, according to Office of National Identification spokesman Wandi Charles. Several satellite offices have been vandalized and burned, including the call center and the largest card distribution office.

“At the political level, there must also be the broadest possible consensus,” said one foreign diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity.

During his Friday address, Moïse, refusing to name names, said he’s been in talks with members of the divided opposition. Leading opposition figures, however, have said no such talks are taking place, even amid talk that some people are in talks with the president, who may be seeking to shore up his rule by making changes in his administration. Opponents are continuing to demand Moïse’s resignation, while pushing for a transition government in lieu of elections to replace him.

Elections are never easy in Haiti.

If presidents in Haiti are not trying to delay the vote, they are being accused of trying to stack the deck in their favor, while opposition parties also seek their own advantage by boycotting talks and refusing to register with the Provisional Electoral Council. Meanwhile, the holding of legislative elections has often been the death-knell of elected presidents following accusations of electoral fraud.

With political infighting often snarling the process, the U.S. and other major supporters usually respond with stepped up diplomatic missions, visa cancellations and threats to withhold funding for needed projects.

So far, there has been none of that since Moïse’s announcement, as Haiti’s major international supporters disagree over whether conditions in the country would permit free and fair elections.

Whether trying to take advantage of the division or factoring in the United States’s own Nov. 3 election, Moïse, may have overplayed his hand.

His push for a new constitution has received harsh criticism from legal scholars and opposition figures who accuse him of making an illegal move. They argue that any referendum would be “a sham” because it is forbidden by the current amended constitution, which was first passed in 1987 after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship.

“It will take us straight to dictatorship and to the African pattern in which the local leaders hold a referendum when they want a prohibited third term, as in Guinea or Rwanda,” said Georges Michel, who was involved in the creation of the 1987 constitution, which Moïse has described as “an act of corruption.”

A historian, Michel said the reason for the prohibition against change by referendum goes back to the 1930s, when another Haitian president, Sténio Vincent, replaced the democratic constitution of 1932 by another one via a sham referendum.

“In 1935, Vincent gave himself a five-year extension to his term that was due to expire on May 15, 1936. He left on May 15, 1941 instead,” Michel said. “Jovenel wants us to go 85 years backwards.”

The State Department spokesman said the issue of constitutional reform is up to the Haitian people. Still, there doesn’t appear to be much support for Moïse’s proposal.

“Any change to the constitution should be made in accord with Haiti’s own laws and constitutional processes and in full accord with internationally recognized democratic standards,” the spokesperson said.

U.S. Embassy Haiti on Twitter

Oct 28

Palman ayisyen an dwe re-etabli pi vit ke posib pou #Ayiti retounen sou yon chemen demokratik. Enstitisyon demokratik ayisyèn yo ta dwe detèmine mekanis legal ki apwopriye pou chanjman konstitisyonèl la, ak kontribisyon sosyete sivil la.

Haiti’s Parliament must be restored as soon as possible for Haiti to return to a democratic path. Haitian democratic institutions should determine the proper legal mechanism for constitutional change, with input from civil society.

An Earthquake, an Orphanage, and New Beginnings for Haitian Children in America

After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, 19 children from one orphanage were flown to the U.S. to be adopted by American families. One would later meet President Trump.

By Catherine Porter and Serge F. Kovaleski

Oct. 19, 2020

Judge Amy Coney Barrett and her seven children, including two adopted from Haiti, met President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, at the White House last month. Doug Mills/The New York Times

When a devastating earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, a teenager named John Peter was playing basketball in the yard outside the small orphanage where he lived. He felt the earth bounce below him. He heard screams and watched a mushroom cloud of dust rising over the walls.

Two weeks later, he and 18 other children from the orphanage boarded a charter plane in the middle of the night as part of an American humanitarian effort. They landed in Sanford, Fla., to start new lives, in a new country, with new families.

“I saw the disaster and death all around. Dead moms, holding their dead kids,” John Peter Schlecht, now 23 and known as “JP,” said from St. Cloud, Minn., where he works three jobs. “I got out of there, but all those people were left. They didn’t get the chance I got.”

Since then, the children have headed in all directions. Some are studying in high school or college, or making a living of their own. Others have struggled with problems brought on by the early hardship in their lives, profound culture shock and the inability of their new parents to handle the challenges. Some were institutionalized or sent into foster care.

And in perhaps the most unlikely development, one boy and his older adopted Haitian sister ended up in the Rose Garden last month, introduced to the world by President Trump as two of Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s seven children.

“She opened her home and her heart, and adopted two beautiful children from Haiti,” he said, introducing Judge Barrett as his nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.

The orphanage, A New Arrival, was typical of many in Haiti. Food was in short supply, and many children weren’t literal orphans — their parents simply couldn’t afford to care for them.

Like most, it was basic, operating out of a four-bedroom house in Petionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, and had up to 40 children at a time, the former director, Rock Cayo, said in an interview. They looked forward to a better life with new families.

“That was the dream — to come to America,” said Jennifer Downard, 21, a business student and nursing assistant in Colorado who was adopted by a family in Washington State in 2008. “I was going to drink water, get food on the table, I would not be scared at night.”

Judge Barrett’s son, also named John Peter and then about 3 years old, was on that flight out of Haiti following the earthquake. He and his sister, Vivian, who was adopted from the same orphanage more than five years earlier, form a key part of the Barretts’ family story.

Judge Barrett has talked about their adoptions regularly in public speeches. She was inspired to adopt, she once explained, because “there are so many children in need.”

Just as everything with her nomination, the adoptions have been hard to totally separate from the politics of the moment.

Some critics have noted the irony of a president who has worked to close the United States to disaster refugees and once referred to Haiti with an expletivelauding the Barretts’ adoptions. And an ongoing debate over international adoption has played out as well. Advocates hope the Barretts’ story will encourage other prospective parents to come forward. Detractors have criticized as “white saviorism” the judge’s public accounts of her children’s dire situations before they left Haiti.

A small group of families who adopted children from the same orphanage, some at the very same time, are asking more intimate questions.

“I’d be really interested to hear how the kids are,” said Cara Leadingham, a mother of 11 from Illinois who remembers holding “Little” John Peter during many visits to the orphanage while waiting for the adoption of her daughter to be finalized. Though she doesn’t agree with Judge Barrett’s political positions, nor with the timing of her nomination, she’d love to hear what the past decade has been like for the family.

“There are success stories and equally as many challenging stories,” Ms. Leadingham said.

Inspired to adopt by a couple they met in their marriage preparation course, Judge Barrett has said they chose Haiti because of its overwhelming poverty and proximity to the United States, so “we could go as a family and be involved in Haiti as the children got older.”

She chose a Montana-based international adoption agency, A New Arrival Inc., that added Haiti to the dozen countries it worked with in 2003, when it hired Mr. Cayo to open a new orphanage there.

Neither the Barretts nor the White House would comment for this article. But in speeches, Judge Barrett and her husband, Jesse, have offered bleak glimpses of the orphanage.

While they were visiting Haiti in 2004, a child at the orphanage died, Mr. Barrett said in a speech about his wife at her investiture as a federal circuit judge in 2018. They expected their daughter Vivian to perish too — at 14 months, she “was wearing size 0 to 3-month-old clothing because she was so malnourished,” Judge Barrett said in a public interview at the Notre Dame Club in Washington, D.C., in 2019. Last week, while introducing her daughter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, she remarked that “we were told she would never talk or walk normally.”

“Now, she dead lifts as much as the male athletes in our gym and, I assure you, she has no trouble talking,” she said.

In 2019, Judge Barrett called the orphanage “wonderful” and said the nannies there “loved the children immensely.”

Three adoptees who talked to The New York Times remembered the place with mostly hard feelings.

“If I was to put it in one word, it’s jail,” said Libien Becker, a 20-year-old business and carpentry student at Montana Technological University in Butte, who was adopted by a Montana family after the earthquake.

Teachers came to the orphanage to give classes on basic literacy and math, and often the children played basketball in the courtyard. But they also recalled stretches of hunger and corporal punishment — which although outlawed in Haiti is a common experience for 80 percent of the country’s children, according to Haiti’s 2016-17 national survey.

Mr. Cayo did not respond to the allegations of poor treatment at the orphanage, which has since been transformed into a school for poor children in the area.

Many American parents who adopted from there said they’d been promised the process would take a year or so. But they described painfully waiting years because of Haitian bureaucracy and problems with the American agency, which faced lawsuits from at least two sets of parents. In both cases, the families reached legal agreements without going to trial.

In one case, Patrick Eibs and his wife at the time claimed the agency and its director, Lorraine A. Jones, “misrepresented the legal stages of the adoption proceedings, misrepresented the time the adoptions would take to proceed, misrepresented the defendants’ competence, forced the plaintiffs to pay for expenses in excess and beyond that provided by the parties’ written agreement and charged unreasonable fees for the services provided.”

A New Arrival Inc. was decertified in 2017 by an accreditation agency used by the U.S. State Department. That same year, it ceased operations, according to tax records.

The Barretts confronted their own problems adopting John Peter. During the 2019 interview, Judge Barrett said they’d been in the process when “paperwork things had just gone south.” They got a call from the adoption agency in 2009, delivering the difficult news that it wouldn’t happen, she said.

“Mentally and emotionally, we had closed that door,” she said.

A month later, on Jan. 12, 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, killing hundreds of thousands of people and destroying large swaths of Port-au-Prince.

Six days later, the U.S. government announced it would lift visa requirements for orphans already in the process of adoption, as part of its disaster-relief efforts. The humanitarian parole program brought about 1,150 children from Haiti to the United States over the next few months — more than were adopted by American families in the previous three years — and was later criticized for insufficiently screening some children and their would-be parents in the rush. But, the government employees who oversaw it and many adopting parents considered it life-saving.

The Barretts got another call from the adoption agency, this one bearing good news: John Peter could become part of the program.

“Will you still take him?” Judge Barrett recalled someone from the agency asking. “We said, ‘Of course.’”

The orphanage had been remarkably untouched by the earthquake. But the children were sleeping in a tent fashioned from bedsheets and blankets in the courtyard, for fear of aftershocks, and their American parents spent sleepless nights worrying about their security.

One of the parents, Jacob Bissaillon, jumped on a plane to the Dominican Republic and drove across the border into Haiti with the orphanage director, Mr. Cayo. Together, they spent a week recreating the dossiers of adopting parents that were buried in the rubble of government buildings — printing documents, photos and receipts to take to the American embassy in hopes of enrolling the children in the new program.

“Every single day, it would change — which kids were allowed to come home,” said Mr. Bissaillon, who was in the process of adopting two children from the orphanage. One day, his daughter was approved, but not his son, he said. The next, it was the reverse.

On Jan. 24, he and Mr. Cayo drove a pickup truck jammed with children to the embassy for the final time — 19 were on the list that day, including Mr. Bissaillon’s two children and the little boy who would join the Barrett family.

They were escorted by military personnel to the airport, loaded onto a military plane, ordered off the plane, and then told to board a charter. Mr. Bissaillon said he didn’t know where the plane was destined until moments before it landed at Orlando Sanford International Airport.

Over the next day, the children were processed and released to their waiting, anxiety-worn parents, many of whom had been in Florida, trying to get their own flights to Haiti.

Jesse Barrett flew to Florida to meet John Peter and take him home to meet his large new family in South Bend, Ind. In her testimony last week, Judge Barrett recalled the boy’s initial reaction.

“Jesse, who brought him home, still describes the shock on JP’s face when he got off the plane in wintertime Chicago,” she said. “Once that shock wore off, JP assumed the happy-go-lucky attitude that is still his signature trait.”

Susan C. Beachy and Harold Isaac contributed research.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 29 octobre 2020

 Academics, Strategists Track Down Haitian-American Voting Data To Turn Florida Blue

Haitian American Voting Data to turn Florida blue

When Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden visited Little Haiti two weeks ago, he said Haitian-Americans could turn the state Blue. It appears his party has the data to prove it. Data that has informed much of the get-out-the-vote efforts undertaken by Democratic party workers, volunteers, and community advocates to reach Haitian-Americans — in person and virtually. Having the details, proponents of the approach said, better informs efforts to engage the community and, more importantly, shows the growing clout of Haitian-Americans in Florida.

“In official statistics, it’s important to delineate what separates Haitians from other groups they are categorized with, like Jamaicans and Black Americans,” said Santra Denis, president and founder of the South Florida-based organization Avanse Ansanm. “People typically think about the Black community as very monolithic and for Haitian-Americans, there’s a cultural need in terms of how you relate to us, what resonates with us, and what will pull us into this political cycle.”

Official voting statistics do not specify American citizens with Haitian parents or naturalized Haitian-Americans born in other countries. However, academics surfaced the data by cross-referencing official voting data with the population’s ethnicity and background. Democratic strategists then took it further by adding their analysis, based on knowledge of the community, to come up with recommendations to turn Florida Blue.

With the final weeks of the campaign in full swing, the current approach observed is largely based on a report by Herlande Rosemond, voter protection deputy director for the Florida Democratic Party. 

In the report, titled “Florida’s Haitian American Community,” Rosemond said the state’s 300,563 electors of Haitian ancestry are significant and need to be better utilized. She drew a contrast with the Venezuelan population, a group that receives much attention, whose population is less than half the number of Haitian-Americans in the Sunshine State.

“Just possibly, the road to the White House might run through Little Haiti,” the report states. 

“The road to the White House certainly runs through Florida and our campaign is working tirelessly to mobilize and turn out the Haitian-American community for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, especially as Floridians are early voting,” said Karen Andre, senior adviser to Biden’s Florida campaign. “We plan to continue our work to win their support in everything, from our organizing efforts to our paid media program, through Election Day.”

Linking voter data to country of origin

The voter data behind the strategy is based on the work of such academics at the University of Florida — Daniel Smith, chair of the Department of Political Science, and Sharon Austin, a political science professor and director of the African American Studies Program.

Smith has coded about 14 million lines of data that show a person’s national origin in order to locate their birthplace and the precincts in which they voted. The extensive, months-long task entailed working with a team of students to merge voter precinct data with individual voter files from the state, Smith said. 

Also, with Haiti spelled a multitude of different ways in the data and some people listing their country’s hometown as a place of origin, Smith’s team took educated guesses about the country of origin.

“It takes a lot of heft to do an analysis of voter participation by country of origin,” Smith said. “The state could presumably do all this, but they don’t. They will make it publicly available to show the voter breakdown by party, but other than that, they aren’t providing any information.” 

Among the findings in his research is that Haitian political participation in Florida is strong and higher than the statewide average, said Smith. Haitian voter turnout in the 2018 general election was 73 percent, compared to the state’s 64 percent overall. The 2016 levels were similar.

Austin, whose work centers on the Black vote, said the data-driven approach that she and Smith have pursued has made people realize the power of Florida’s Haitian-American voters.

“These numbers allow you to understand that Haitians vote at higher levels, that there is a large Haitian population in Florida, that there are a number of Haitians who have ran for office and won office, and that as a political group, they really have arrived,” Austin said. 

One reason Haitian voter turnout has been so high is the community’s strong sense of cultural identity and this identity is vital to tap into for expanding political representation in official statistics, he said. Smith also emphasized robust field campaigning and door-to-door canvassing as instrumental to maintaining strong enthusiasm for political participation.

Now that the first generation of Haitian immigrants has laid the bedrock, the community should continue to strengthen its political progress moving forward, community advocates say.

“The generation before us spent a lot of time making sure the foundation was where it needed to be so that we can have a strong and vibrant community,” said Denis, of Fort Lauderdale.

Direct, culturally appropriate outreach 

Rosemond’s report also outlines ways the Democratic Party could address shortcomings.

“It is necessary to include the Haitian community as important members of the overall Florida Democratic Party,” Rosemond wrote. “What this means is to address the language and cultural idiosyncrasies of this population, recognizing and utilizing members of that community in the ‘get out to vote’ movement. 

Biden’s campaign has been doing just that. 

In contrast to Trump’s campaign, his team has placed a strong emphasis on reaching out to Florida’s Haitian-American population. In addition to Andre, Karine Jean-Pierre was named as Kamala Harris’ chief of staff. 

The Biden-Harris campaign has launched a six-figure media blitz airing television and radio ads in Haitian Creole. Both Andre and Jean-Pierre have asked for the community’s support, all English, French and Creole, in media interviews, virtual events and community forums.

This week, both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris traveled to Florida with the intent of drumming up support among Caribbean voters.

Rosemond also recommended having a strong field organization that is culturally appropriate, similar to the boots-on-the-ground approach championed by Denis and Smith, for the Biden-Harris team to turn Florida Blue. 

She said the party should reach out to Haitian-Americans in Creole, citing Florida Representative Dotie Joseph’s prior use of language as among the most important factors playing into Haitian-American political participation. Joseph’s 108th House District has electors who speak Spanish, Haitian Creole and English. She has conducted events in each language to reach specific electorates.

Waiting for results

Smith said Biden is taking the right steps to energize Haitian-American voters for two reasons.

“I fully expect stronger support for Biden because of Trump’s disrespect for Haiti, which he has made very clear and obvious,” he said. “I also think that Biden has been able to distance himself from Hillary Clinton, who brought a lot of concern to the Haitian-American community.” 

Another significant component is direct engagement outreach, including knocking on doors and passing out literature, and connecting with Haitian-American millennials in particular.

For National Voter Registration Day on Sept. 22, nonprofit organization Avanse Ansanm partnered with one of the busiest Haitian bakeries in Broward County. Denis, its leader, paid for people’s orders in exchange for her to check their voter status on the spot.

With such activity underway, Denis is optimistic that more politicians like Joseph will be involved in Florida’s political landscape, which could eventually pave the way for greater representation in elected positions. 

Consequently, with greater representation, Haitian-American politicians will continue to advocate for and generate political enthusiasm within their own community. 

“We’re going to start to see a lot more Haitian elected officials as state and city commissioners, superintendents, and as members of Congress,” Denis said. “We’re involved in every aspect of life and we should have political representation as well.”

China offers $1 billion loan to Latin America and the Caribbean for access to its Covid-19 vaccine

Mexico City (CNN) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced a $1 billion loan to Latin America and the Caribbean for Covid-19 vaccine access during a virtual gathering with his Latin American counterparts on Wednesday, according to a statement released by the Mexican Foreign Affairs Ministry.

"China's Foreign Minister said that the vaccine developed in his country will be a public benefit of universal access, and that his country will designate a loan of $1 billion to support access [to the vaccinehttps://rileyantoinefuneralhome.com/book-of-memories/4203488/Kinney-Ruby/index.php">Ruby Kinney died from COVID-19 on April 22. Flint-Banks says a doctor at the nursing home, which declined to comment for this story, called to tell her the news.

“I didn't have any clue that they even thought she had COVID,” Flint-Banks says. “I just started crying, me and my husband both.”

In Massachusetts, nursing homes were hit hard and early by the coronavirus. Thousands of residents in these facilities have died from COVID-19, and the death rate from the virus in nursing homes is 90 times that of the statewide death rate.

But nursing homes across the state did not bear this burden equally.

Twenty people died from COVID-19 in Kinney’s nursing home. This is higher than the statewide average in facilities with coronavirus outbreaks: 15.5 deaths. State data also shows that nursing homes serving more residents of color had, on average, more COVID-related deaths.

This is partly explained by the fact that these facilities tend to have more residents. But even when you look at the rate of death, the disparity persists.

U.S. reports about 300,000 more deaths during pandemic than in typical year

By Vishwadha Chander

2 MIN READ

(Reuters) - Nearly 300,000 more people have died in the United States in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic than would be expected based on historical trends, with at least two-thirds due to COVID-19, a government report released on Tuesday showed, adding that COVID deaths likely were undercounted.

The report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that 299,028 more people died between Jan. 26 and Oct. 3 than the average numbers from past years would have indicated.

CDC said that about 216,000 U.S. deaths from the coronavirus had been reported by the middle of this month. “This might underestimate the total impact of the pandemic on mortality,” it said.

“There are many factors that could contribute to an increase in deaths indirectly due to the pandemic, with disruptions to health care being one factor,” study author Lauren Rossen, from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, told Reuters.

The count could miss deaths indirectly related to the pandemic, caused by disruptions in healthcare access or utilization, and from conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and respiratory diseases, the report said. But it also could reflect rises in non-COVID-19 related deaths.

The data show disproportionate increases among racial and ethnic groups that have been seen as particularly affected by COVID-19.

The CDC found the largest average percentage increase in deaths compared with previous years occurring among Hispanic people (53.6%), with deaths 32.9% above average among Black people and 36.6% above average for Asians.

A Reuters tally finds about 220,000 coronavirus-related U.S. deaths have been reported.

The CDC found that excess deaths have occurred every week since March 2020 and reached their highest points in the weeks ended April 11 and Aug. 8.

The largest percentage increase in excess deaths from all causes was among adults aged 25–44 years at 26.5%.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 20 octobre 2020

 U.S. Congress Passes Haiti-Led Trade Agreement Between America And The Caribbean

The Haitian Times

By Onz Chery

The U.S. Congress has renewed the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, an agreement that allows countries in the region to continue importing and exporting goods with America. 

Haiti, under the leadership of Haiti’s Ambassador to the United States Hervé Denis, led the way in advocating for the renewal of the CBTPA on behalf of the Caribbean region this year. He testified before the House Subcommittee on Trade of the Ways and Means Committee as part of those duties in September. During that Capitol Hill hearing, held virtually, Denis cited that the U.S. had gained a $7.4 billion trade surplus in 2018 alone, among the reasons for extending the CBTPA.

On Sept. 30, the U.S. Senate authorized the 10-year renewal and it was signed into law over the weekend of Oct. 10-11.

“It will save 60,000 [jobshttps://haitiantimes.com/2020/10/10/as-haiti-burns-government-adds-kindling-or-turns-blind-eye/">numerous killings, including that of infants, and general fear for safety across the country.

Economically, Haiti is also now dealing with a rise in its currency, the gourde (G), that may have unintended consequences. Textile industry leaders recently warned that the gourde’s appreciation threatens about25,000 jobs in that sector.

In a public statement calling for the renewal of the CBTPA, the embassy said the agreement provides duty-free eligibility for textiles and apparel made from U.S. yarns and fabrics. They said this will enable eligible countries to compete with China and other Asian apparel suppliers. 

“Haiti’s garment industry is the industrial foundation of the country’s economy, and its existence depends on the preferences granted under CBTPA and the additional HOPE/HELP programs,” the embassy said.

The CBPTA was first passed in 2000 as Public Law 106-200, the Trade and Development Act of 2000. It has been renewed every 10 years since then. 

CBTPA Highlights

The latest available CBTPA report, dated December 2019, details the trade activities for each member country and the expectations and consequences for participation. 

Highlights from the report related to Haiti include:

• Haiti has been the largest beneficiary of trade preferences in recent years. 
• Haiti has been the second leading source of U.S. imports since 2009. 
• In May 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Haiti Economic Lift Program Act that expanded existing preferences for apparel and established new preferences for certain non-apparel textile goods.
• U.S. imports under the CBI tariff preferences increased for a second consecutive year to $1 billion in 2018, up from $960 million in 2017 and $871 million in 2016. Cotton T-shirts from Haiti was one of two main reasons for the increase.  
• U.S. imports from Haiti consisted mostly of textiles and apparel. In 2018, such imports amounted to $297.4 million under CBI provisions and $649.1 million under the HOPE Acts.
• In 2018, petroleum related products accounted for approximately 30 percent of imports under the CBI preferential program.

CBTPA Embassy of Haiti factories Herve Denis textile U.S. Congress

U.S. lawmakers demand Trump administration support free, fair elections in Haiti

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October 15, 2020 05:44 PM,

Miami Congresswoman Frederica Wilson is calling on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to clarify recent comments by a top State Department official on elections in Haiti that have been widely criticized as an attack on the country’s opposition and civic groups, and a dismissal of widespread concerns about the legitimacy of the process.

Last month a senior State Department official warned political opponents of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and members of civil society that they could face “consequences” if they stand in the way of the electoral process. The official’s comments was in response to a question by the Miami Herald during a Sept. 16 State Department briefing about the refusal of Haitian opposition parties and civil society groups including the Catholic Church, Protestant Federation and human rights organizations to designate representatives to a temporary electoral commission being formed by Moïse.

“I am deeply concerned by the State Department’s response to the unfolding political crisis in Haiti,” said Wilson, who represents one of the fastest growing Haitian American communities in her congressional district. “The Haitian people must be able to make their voices heard and choose their representatives through a legitimate, democratic process.”

The Democratic lawmaker added: “Haitian civil society has raised legitimate concerns about a climate of political intimidation and a rush to construct an unconstitutional electoral process. The U.S. State Department should help elevate these voices, not threaten domestic political actors, and I sincerely hope that Secretary Pompeo clarifies the recent remarks made by a senior State Department official on this topic.”

On Thursday, Wilson made her concerns about the State Department’s response known in a bicameral letter to Pompeo signed by 25 other members of Congress.

Lawmakers said they are alarmed by the Trump administration’s calls for elections in Haiti without broad civil society involvement and despite widespread concerns about the legitimacy of the current electoral process. The letter, which was led by Wilson and fellow Democrat Edward Markey, urges the administration to support free and fair elections in Haiti. 

“While it is imperative that we support a return to full democratic order in Haiti, U.S. policy should not push for hasty elections that may further destabilize that nation’s fragile political system,” the lawmakers said. “We urge you to ensure that U.S. foreign policy toward Haiti does not legitimize undemocratic behavior. The United States, through its statements, policies, and programs, must support an electoral process that adheres to the Haitian constitution and recognizes the critical importance of participation by civil society in any democratic process.”

This is the second time in a week that members of Congress have publicly expressed concerns about Haiti’s overdue and still unscheduled legislative and local elections. 

Last week, California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who isn’t among the signers on the Pompeo letter, issued her own letter to U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison in Port-au-Prince asking her “to oppose the organization of elections in Haiti until such time as the widespread politically motivated attacks against government critics in Haiti have ceased.” Sison, Waters said, should use her “considerable diplomatic experience and influence with the government of Haiti to promote respect for the rule of law and basic human rights.”

Haiti, Waters warned, is in a downward spiral of chaos and violence. She noted several concerns — as the Pompeo letter does — about the legality of Moïse’s controversial appointment of nine individuals to a new Provisional Electoral Council. Critics and legal scholars have said the appointments and the election entity’s mission to also prepare a constitutional referendum are not constitutional. 

“When the Haitian Supreme Court refused to swear in Moïse’s hand-picked CEP members, Moïse installed them anyway, which is also a violation of the constitution,” Waters wrote. “ These disturbing events are taking place against a backdrop of unconscionable threats, intimidation, and violence targeting critics of the government of President Moïse.”

On Thursday, the United Nations Security Council voted in favor of extending the mandate of its special political mission in Haiti for another year with 13 votes in favor, and Russia and China abstaining, amid concerns over the lack of progress in the country. 

Meanwhile, events in Haiti are increasingly being raised in the U.S. political arena ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential vote. Earlier this week, 82 Florida organizations and leaders active in the Haitian-American community endorsed a letter asking for a virtual meeting with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris. The group said they want to discuss a list of urgent community priorities they would like to see a Biden-Harris administration promptly pursue if elected.

Some of those priorities were mentioned in a one-pager the Biden campaign issued ahead of a campaign stop Biden made in Little Haiti last week to court Haitian-American voters. Among them is a commitment to halt deportations of non-criminals back to Haiti during his first 100 days in office due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

Immigration activist Steve Forester noted that there has been a sharp uptick in deportations to Haiti, with six such flights landing in Port-au-Prince since Friday. While he welcomes the deportation suspension, Forester said there are equally pressing concerns Haitian Americans have.

“There are 10 separate issues in the letter, most of which are not addressed in the one-pager,” Forester said. “The one thing that is clearly addressed is reinstatement of Haitian family reunification.... But there are a whole slew of issues we just want to bring to his attention and hope to urge him that these are things he should commit to now and that a Biden administration should do.” 

Dr. JEAN-CLAUDE FOURON - GREAT HAITIAN SCIENTIST, FOUNDER OF THE FIRST UNIT OF FETAL CARDIOLOGY IN CANADA

Dr. Fouron is a senior investigator whose career started in 1967. Since then, he has constantly been involved in experimental and clinical research activities. In both cases, his main field of interest has been the physiology and pathophysiology of the fetal and neonatal cardio-circulatory system, more recently using ultrasound Doppler technology.

Jean-Claude Fouron, a native of Haiti,was a pioneer of fetal cardiology who arrived in Quebec in 1960. In 1989, he founded the first unit of fetal cardiology in Canada.

His main contribution to physiology has been the introduction of the concept that the aortic isthmus, not the ductus arteriosus, is the sole arterial shunt within fetal circulation. This concept has since been included in text books on fetal medicine. Presently, Dr Fouron is conducting detailed experimental and clinical investigations on the cardio-circulatory impact of an increase in placental vascular resistance as observed in the majority of fetuses with intra-uterine growth restriction. He also examines mechanisms and possible treatments for fetal cardiac disorders, prenatal physiopathology of the transposition of the great arteries and factors controlling postnatal closure of the ductus arteriosus.

Dr Fouron's projects have been financially supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundations of Québec and Canada, the Toronto SickKids Foundation, the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec and the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center. His works have lead to over 165 articles in international peer-reviewed journals as well as 10 chapters in pediatric and fetal cardiology books. He is also regularly invited to speak in conferences on fetal cardiology both in North America and in Europe.

Jean-Claude Fouron is a world leader in the field and a pioneer in the use of fetal ultrasound.

He has worked on many innovative projects, one of his most significant being the identification of the aortic isthmus as a single fetal aortic shunt, which has had a major influence on the improvement of infant health.

During his distinguished career, this University of Montréal Emeritus Professor trained many doctors from around the world. He also put his skills to work in his native country of Haiti to improve the health of mothers and children. A fervent ambassador of his university, his hospital and his city, this great scientist is recognized as a humanist physician and a talented pedagogue, who communicates his knowledge with humility and humor.

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Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 7 octobre 2020

 Que nous a rapporté le mariage Trump – Jovenel ?

JACMEL, 3 Octobre – Qu’est-ce que l’alliance Trump – Jovenel Moïse a fait pour les Haïtiens ? A quoi pouvait-on s’attendre connaissant le qualificatif odieux que l’actuel numéro 1 américain avait utilisé pour désigner notre pays avant même qu’on allait savoir que ce sont tous les gens de notre race, qu’il traite de la même façon.

Par conséquent aucun chef d’Etat haïtien qui se respecte (et qui respecte la fonction qu’il occupe) qui aurait accepté le rôle joué à cet égard par l’actuel occupant du palais national de Port-au-Prince.

C’est oublier la remarque du président Dumarsais Estimé (1946-1950), le président-bâtisseur, après que les Etats-Unis nous eurent refusé un crédit pour finir de payer la dette de l’Indépendance envers la France : ‘Heureux mécompte’ ! s’écria Estimé, ou Tant mieux, tant mieux ! avant d’organiser un emprunt interne qui permit d’achever le paiement de la fameuse Dette.

C’est une Histoire (avec un grand H) mais qui ne peut pas intéresser Donald Trump qui, disent tous les spécialistes (pardon les psychiatres !), n’est intéressé qu’à sa propre personne.

Est-ce le même jugement qu’il faudrait tirer pour Jovenel Moïse ? L’Histoire répondra mais en attendant son alliance avec Mr. Trump ne nous empêche pas d’être traité par l’actuel occupant de la Maison blanche avec une totale indifférence si ce n’est de la cruauté.

Personne n’est dupe à voir les initiatives prises actuellement en Haïti par les autorités américaines dans le domaine de l’épidémie du Covid-19 (distribution de quelques dizaines de respirateurs artificiels et autres démarches …).

Alors que les ravages de l’épidémie en Haïti sont bien moindres que partout ailleurs et que notre pays a besoin de bien d’autres choses pour se relever de sa position de pays le plus pauvre de l’hémisphère occidental.

Mais le gouvernement américain se prépare uniquement à pouvoir dire que Haïti est suffisamment ‘safe’ pour pouvoir accueillir les quelque 60.000 bénéficiaires du TPS (statut de résidence temporaire accordé sous le président précédent Barak Obama à quelques-unes des victimes du séisme dévastateur du 12 janvier 2010 qui avaient pu fuir Haïti à cette époque).

Récemment un tribunal a tranché pour la fin de ce statut et que ses bénéficiaires doivent rentrer dans leur pays. Y compris donc avec les enfants qui ont pris naissance entre-temps et qui ont partant la nationalité américaine (?).

Mais le président Trump laisse le sentiment qu’il n’a rien à en blairer. Est-ce que son homologue Jovenel Moïse ose lui faire savoir que Haïti n’a pas encore les moyens pour recevoir ces dizaines de milliers de nos compatriotes, et que notre pays ne réunit, pour répéter les récents propos de l’Ambassadeur de France en Haïti à propos des élections projetées par le gouvernement haïtien : ni les conditions techniques, ni les conditions sécuritaires.

Ce serait amener la vache au taureau, offrir des milliers de vies en sacrifice aux gangs armés qui parcourent actuellement le pays massacrant tout sur leur chemin ?

‘Haitian-Americans for Biden’ …

Un mouvement est en train de se constituer dans la diaspora haïtienne aux Etats-Unis avec entre autres objectifs empêcher la déportation comme nous disions autrefois de ‘nos frères et sœurs’, c’est ‘Haitian-Americans for Biden’, est-ce que les politiques haïtiens s’y intéressent ?

On ne sait. De ce côté rien ne semble être comme avant. Au point que le palais national de Port-au-Prince a osé désigner comme représentant de la diaspora dans son conseil électoral dit illégal et inconstitutionnel, une parfaite inconnue donc qui n’a reçu aucun mandat.

Ce qu’on appellerait, pour parler vulgairement nous aussi, car Mr Trump ne peut pas avoir le monopole en tout : un ‘chen san mèt.’

Mais soyons sérieux, on voit tout ce que Jovenel a apporté à son grand allié américain : le vote haïtien à l’OEA (Organisation des Etats Américains) pour faire et défaire en Amérique latine, y compris la guerre à un régime qui jusque-là nous avait aidé autant que faire se peut à supporter notre misère : les plusieurs milliards du Fonds Petrocaribe accumulés sur la vente du pétrole concédé par Caracas à des tarifs sans concurrence – quand de plus c’est le même régime incarné par Jovenel Moïse (le Pati Ayisyen Tèt Kale ou PHTK), qui en dilapidera la plus grande part.

Hier encore le vote haïtien a été utilisé pour faciliter la nomination du pion de Mr. Trump (Mr. Mauricio Claver-Carone) à la présidence de la Banque interaméricaine de développement (BID), un poste qui, depuis la création il y a 50 ans de cette institution, a toujours été occupé par un sud-américain.

De plus, tout cela n’est pas pour nous faire bien voir dans le sud du continent, pas plus dans notre propre région de la Caraïbe, où d’ailleurs le président haïtien, relève-t-on, n’est désormais plus invité lors des assemblées régulières qui se poursuivent même en vidéo-conférencce.

Est-ce que Jovenel Moïse a idée de tout ce qu’il est train de brader avec un occupant de la Maison blanche dont le mandat est obligatoirement temporaire ...

Qui conseille le président d’Haïti ?

C’est la première fois dans notre Histoire nationale. Haïti, la Mère du mouvement d’indépendance dans le continent américain, la 2^e république indépendante de l’Amérique, tout de suite après les Etats-Unis, la Geste tant glorieuse et glorifiée partout dans le continent du 18 Novembre 1803, victoire d’une armée d’esclaves sur les troupes d’expédition esclavagistes de Napoléon Bonaparte, est-ce que Jovenel Moïse a idée de tout ce qu’il est train de brader avec un occupant de la Maison blanche dont le mandat est obligatoirement temporaire ...

Qui conseille le président d’Haïti ?

Qui est avec lui ?

Qui sont les complices de ce crime qui ne touche pas seulement notre Haïti mais tout le continent ?

Alors que ‘Mosyeu’ Trump a même décidé que nous ne faisons plus partie du continent américain.

En effet non content de décider le retour des TPS, ainsi que la suppression des programmes de travailleurs invités comme les H-2 A et H-2 B qui ont bénéficié à nos concitoyens, c’est aux étudiants que la Maison Blanche ensuite s’en prend.

En effet on retrouve le nom d’Haïti dans une dernière décision de l’Immigration des Etats-Unis (United States Department of Homeland Security – DHS) décidant de réduire de 4 à 2 années le visa accordé pour des étudiants, ainsi que des experts et autres personnels qualifiés, originaires d’un certain nombre de pays dans ce qu’on appelle un programme d’échanges internationaux en vue de promouvoir la fraternité entre les nations et la paix internationale.

Ces derniers mots font se dresser tous les poils sur le dos de l’actuel occupant de la Maison Blanche, mais de plus pas un seul des pays mentionnés qui n’appartiennent à l’Europe ni à l’Amérique du Sud mais ce sont tous (plusieurs dizaines à la queu-leu-leu) des pays d’Afrique à part la Corée du Nord et le Vietnam, l’Iran bien sûr parce que pays ennemi.

Sauf exception et non des moindres : Haïti. Entre Guinée Bissau et Iran. On ne voit pas ce qui explique notre présence dans cette liste sinon que Mr Trump a définitivement un problème avec notre … couleur !

Au point même de décréter, à voir cette dernière mesure, que Haïti ne fait pas partie du Continent Américain.

Merci Jovenel Moïse !

Marcus Garcia / Haïti en Marche, 3 Octobre 2020