- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
The Haitian people: Sadly and badly in need of a champion
November 26, 2020
By Sir Ronald Sanders
Human rights and constitutional violations in Haiti have been ignored for too long by the Organization of American States (OAS). The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has also avoided dealing with incendiary political issues in Haiti.
Meanwhile, more suffering is being piled on the poor people of Haiti whose body count from malnutrition and organized violence continues to grow. Against this background, it is not surprising that Haitians are seeking every means of escape from their homeland.
In desperate situations, criminals take advantage of the vulnerable. Thus, a brisk trade has begun in trafficking young Haitians – this time into the Caribbean. Evidence of this is the discovery by police in Guyana on November 7 of 26 Haitians, including 2 boys and 5 girls who were being transported to the Brazilian border by a human trafficking ring.
Both the OAS and CARICOM are obliged under their charters and declarations to call to account member states whose governments act unconstitutionally or take actions that violate the human, civil and political rights of their people.
The two organizations were active and vocal throughout the five-month impasse in the Guyana elections, from March to August this year, and afterwards. During that entire period, the constitutional and electoral situation in Haiti was worse. But not a word of condemnation of the Haitian presidency was uttered by either body.
Haitian president, Jovenel Moïse, has been running the country by decree with no elected parliament since 2019, amid accusations of corruption, protests and the deployment of the military which has been accused of atrocities.
The chair of CARICOM did publicly declare, in January 2020: “CARICOM is deeply concerned at the continuing unsettled political, economic, humanitarian and social situation in its Member State, Haiti. Indeed, we are particularly concerned about the several incidents of violence and the associated and tragic loss of life”. Since then, CARICOM said nothing more.
Yet, four months later, in its April 2020 update on Haiti, the World Food Programme said that almost four million Haitians need urgent food assistance, and that at least one million of those are suffering from severe hunger. President Moïse has been close-mouthed about the gangs that, according to the Miami’s Herald’s Jacqueline Charles (a Haitian expert), “have been on a rampage in poor neighbourhoods — kidnapping, raping and killing at will”.
An editorial in the Trinidad Express Newspaper pointed out on November 25, “The US position is particularly hypocritical in the context of its backing of Haitian president, who has been ruling by decree since dismissing parliament, and who continues to preside over unending human rights abuses and the rise of Tonton Macoute-style death squads.”
It is well known in the OAS that it is the US government that is principally behind no action on Haiti by the organization whose secretary-general, Luis Almagro, has been ardent in calling out other countries, particularly Venezuela and Nicaragua, on human rights. The US and the “Lima Group” of countries in the OAS have been dependent on Haiti’s vote to secure the bare majority needed to secure adoption for controversial resolutions against the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan governments. Hence, the suffering of the poor people of Haiti is ignored.
Whether by coincidence or cooperation, on the same day – October 29 – US Under Secretary of State, David Hale, and secretary-general Almagro urged Moïse to hold “overdue legislative elections as soon as possible”. Moïse has ignored them, continuing to operate with untrammelled power, including by making appointments of personal loyalists to key posts in violation of the Constitution which requires such appointments to be approved by the Senate.
Recently, he has appointed the Commander of the Armed Forces, the head of the Police Force, the Governor of the Central Bank, and the chairman of the National Credit Bank. The holders of these offices were all appointed without the senatorial ratifications required by the constitution. Consequently, they are not vested with the administrative and financial independence necessary to carry out their duties as guaranteed under the Constitution. They are instruments of the president, vulnerable to his sole dictates.
Unrest and violence continue as groups demonstrate against corruption and call for elections. The Police has been active in breaking up protests, reportedly shooting dead one protestor and injuring two more on November 18.
Even within the Police force, protestors exist. A secret group called “Fantom 509” has been actively protesting poor wages and conditions. The recently appointed Police Commissioner, Leon Charles, commanded his officers to confront and lock up colleagues who are “Fantom 509” members.
On Friday, October 30, president Moïse officially put the Constitution of Haiti “on hold”. He formed a committee, to “revise” the draft of a new constitution, which, reportedly, was drafted by persons appointed by him. In any event, the president has no authority to modify, reform or change the Constitution.
This unconstitutional behaviour is yet another dangerous threat to democracy and political stability in Haiti if it continues unchallenged. It violates both the Charter of the OAS and the Inter-American Democratic Charter. It is also inconsistent with the CARICOM Charter of Civil Society. At the very least, they should rebuke Moïse for his violations of the constitution.
It is unlikely that between now and January 20, when US president-elect Joe Biden assumes the presidency, that there will be any movement by the US government – by itself or in the OAS – to address the plight of the Haitian people. Nonetheless the OAS – and CARICOM within it – should act.
The Haitian people are not a political problem; they are human beings sadly and badly in need of a champion.
Haiti has cut malaria cases in half. Its successful efforts must continue | Opinion
By Marie Greta Roy Clement
November 02, 2020 04:53 PM,
COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill, crippling global health systems and challenging political leaders to strengthen public-health infrastructure. As Haiti’s minister of health, I stand in solidarity with families who have lost loved ones and struggle with the severe damage this disease has inflicted.
Malaria Day in the Americas, observed on Nov. 6, underscores the urgent need to build more sustainable, resilient health systems in countries such as Haiti as we continue tackling one of the world’s most ancient diseases amid this unprecedented pandemic. Alarming recent research shows that pausing malaria prevention efforts in developing nations such as Haiti during COVID-19 will have deadly consequences.
The fights against COVID-19 and malaria are one and the same.
Before a single case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Haiti, we developed a multi-sector action plan —now under way — to confront this outbreak. The plan reflects the strategic vision of the Haitian government to build on the community-outreach component of our health system to respond to deadly, infectious diseases. Consequently, initiatives to fight tuberculosis and HIV and, particularly to eliminate malaria, remain a priority in tandem with our COVID-19 response.
As a result, we have stepped up additional measures of communication with the public to prevent delays in the tracking, testing and treatment of each malaria case in urban and rural areas.
We have had dynamic technical and financial support from partners, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC Foundation, The Carter Center, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization and other “Malaria Zero” partners, and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). As a result, we have made immense progress toward Haiti’s goal of eliminating malaria.
Between 2010 to 2018, we cut cases of malaria in half, gathering viable data, identifying malaria hotspots and extending, through an effective community strategy, malaria diagnostic and treatment to communities that are difficult to access. This has allowed us to implement innovative interventions, such as indoor spraying and mass, targeted drug administration, which have helped prevent and significantly reduce transmission in endemic regions of the country. We have developed a more-robust disease surveillance system that lets us make rapid epidemiological decisions.
These successes in the fight against malaria given Haiti unprecedented opportunity to apply lessons learned to battling COVID-19, thanks to our heroic community health workers on the front lines. They sacrifice to ensure that their communities are safe and understand the dangers of deadly, preventable diseases. It is crucial to sustaining efforts to test, trace and treat those with malaria and COVID-19 while protecting front-line health workers.
Haiti’s health officials and partners, with the support of The Global Fund, have adapted outreach measures to protect from COVID-19 those delivering and receiving malaria interventions. We must leave no one behind; everyone’s safety depends on it.
Martine Moïse, Haiti’s first lady, has played an influential role as president of The Global Fund’s Country Coordinating Mechanism. There, she works to ensure adequate protective resources reach health workers in their efforts to save lives.
Economic hardships in Haiti prevent our population from easily exercising lifesaving measures during these challenging times. If health investments and partnerships stall, we’ll see damaging social and econonic effects. We must acknowledge that investments made to address diseases such as malaria in Haiti are matters of life and death.
We must step up the fight so that pregnant women in each community will receive life-saving bed nets to protect themselves and their unborn children from disease-carrying mosquitoes, and young children do not have to miss school because they lack access to malaria medication. These are the vulnerable voices that must be heard. They are the reason we must work to realize the vision of a malaria-free Haiti—and a malaria-free world.
Dr. Marie Greta Roy Clement is the minister of health to the Ministry of Public Health and Population in Haiti.
- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
USA-HAITI : HUMAN RIGHTS – PRESS FREEDOM – COMBAT CORRUPTION
Haiti Development, Accountability, and Institutional Transparency Initiative Act
This bill directs the Department of State to undertake specific initiatives to prioritize and assess (1) the protection and preservation of human rights in Haiti, (2) the promotion of press and assembly freedoms and the protection of journalists in Haiti, (3) efforts to combat corruption in Haiti, and (4) a strategy of post-disaster recovery and development efforts in Haiti.
US BILL H.R. 5586 Regarding Haiti passed the House of Representatives (Nov. 18, 2020)
116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION
H. R. 5586
To measure the progress of recovery and development efforts in Haiti and the strength of democracy and rule of law in the country.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 13, 2020
Mr. JEFFRIES (for himself, Mrs. WAGNER, Mr. HURD of Texas, Mr. SPANO, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. WALTZ, and Ms. LEE of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To measure the progress of recovery and development efforts in Haiti and the strength of democracy and rule of law in the country.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Haiti Development, Accountability, and Institutional Transparency Initiative Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) On January 12, 2010, a massive earth-
quake struck near the Haitian capital city of Port- au-Prince, leaving an estimated 220,000 people dead, including 103 United States citizens, 101 United Nations personnel, and nearly 18 percent of the nation’s civil service, as well as 300,000 injured, 115,000 homes destroyed, and 1,500,000 people dis- placed.
(2) The Post Disaster Needs Assessment con- ducted by the Government of Haiti, the United Na- tions, the World Bank, the Inter-American Develop- ment Bank, and others estimated that damage and economic losses from the January 12, 2010, earth- quake totaled $7,804,000,000.
(3) The international community, led by the United States and the United Nations, mounted an unprecedented humanitarian response to the earth- quake in Haiti. Through 2018, more than $8 billion has been disbursed by donors. Since the 2010 earth- quake, the United States Government has disbursed more than $4,000,000,000 in recovery and develop- ment funding.
(4) On October 4, 2016, Hurricane Matthew struck southwestern Haiti on the Tiburon Peninsula, causing widespread damage and flooding and leaving
1.4 million people in need of immediate assistance.
The strongest storm to hit Haiti since Hurricane Cleo in 1964, 2.1 million people were directly af- fected by the hurricane.
(5) Recovery efforts continue almost 3 years after Hurricane Matthew made landfall in 2016. The World Bank estimates storm-caused losses and damages valued at 32 percent of 2015 Gross Domes- tic Product.
(6) Prior to both the earthquake and hurricane, Haiti registered among the lowest socioeconomic in- dicators and the second highest rate of income dis- parity in the world, conditions that have further complicated disaster recovery and resilience efforts.
(7) In June 2019, World Food Program re- ported that Haiti has one of the highest levels of chronic food insecurity in the world with more than half of its total population chronically food insecure and 22 percent of children chronically malnourished.
(8) In October 2010, an unprecedented out- break of cholera in Haiti resulted in over 800,000 reported cases and over 9,000 deaths to date. The Pan American Health Organization reported in 2018 that the cholera incidence rate in Haiti is 25.5 cases per 100,000.
(9) With United States assistance, almost
14,000 jobs have been created, largely in the apparel industry at the Caracol Industrial Park (in partner- ship with the Inter-American Development Bank, the Haitian government, and the private sector) in northern Haiti.
(10) Evidence suggests that people displaced by the 2010 earthquake and hurricanes in following years, especially Hurricane Matthew in 2016, still face displacement-related vulnerabilities today.
(11) On November 13, 2018, at least 59 people were shot and killed in the Port-au-Prince neighbor- hood of La Saline. After months of investigations, no one has been held responsible for the La Saline massacre.
(12) Since 2018, tens of thousands of Haitians have participated in a series of demonstrations de- manding accountability over government spending of Petrocaribe resources. In early 2019, the Haitian su- perior court of auditors released an investigation im- plicating high-level government officials in the mis- appropriation of funds.
(13) From August 2018 through February 2019, local human rights organizations reported that 64 Haitian citizens were killed in protests.
(14) In 2019, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, five Haitian journalists have been shot while covering protests, including one who was killed. On September 23, 2019, Haitian Senator
Jean Marie Ralph F ́ethiere shot Associated Press photojournalist Chery Dieu-Nalio in the face after he exited his car and fired multiple shots near a crowd
of people surrounding him.
(15) Economic growth in Haiti is projected to
drop below 1.5 percent this year. Inflation is estimated to be 15 percent and the local currency has depreciated by 30 percent in the past year. The government and parliament have failed to pass a budget for two years, preventing the International Monetary Fund and other multilaterals from disbursing millions in international assistance.
Midterm elections set for October 2019 did not take place and will leave President Moise ruling by decree after two-thirds of the Haitian Senate ex-pires in January 2020.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to support the sustainable rebuilding and development of Haiti in a manner that—
(1) embraces Haitian independence, self-reliance, sovereignty, democratic governance, and efficiency;
(2) promotes efforts that are led by and support the people and Government of Haiti at all levels so that Haitians lead the course of reconstruction and development of Haiti;
(3) encourages and assists the building of long term capacity for civil society in Haiti;
(4) fosters collaboration between the Haitian diaspora in the United States and the Haitian government;
(5) combats impunity and prioritizes delivering justice to victims of human rights abuses;
(6) ensures the protection and promotion of a free Haitian press;
(7) respects the sovereignty and individual liberty of Haitian citizens to peacefully demonstrate;
(8) demands increased transparency and heightens accountability among all branches of government, including through efforts to reduce corruption and address human rights concerns;
(9) assists and helps build community resilience to environmental and weather-related impacts; and
(10) promotes the holding of free, fair, and timely elections in accordance with democratic principles and the Haitian Constitution.
SEC. 4. ACTIONS TO HOLD LA SALINE SHOOTING PER- PETRATORS AND VIOLATORS OF HUMAN
RIGHTS IN HAITI ACCOUNTABLE.
(a) SECRETARY OF STATE PRIORITIZATION.—The Secretary of State shall prioritize the protection and preservation of human rights in Haiti by carrying out the fol- lowing initiatives:
(1) Fostering strong relationships with independent civil society groups focused on monitoring human rights concerns and promoting democracy in Haiti.
(2) Collaborating with Haitian government officials to ensure that human rights violators in Haiti are held accountable for their actions.
(3) Identifying corrupt public and private sector officials and violators of human rights in Haiti.
(4) Addressing concerns of perceived impunity for hostile orchestrators of the La Saline shooting. (b) STRATEGY.—
(1) ELEMENTS.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a detailed summary of the happenings on November 13, 2018, in the Port-au- Prince neighborhood Saline and a strategy for carrying out the initiatives described in subsection (a). The strategy shall include—
(A) a breakdown of how the massacre in La Saline related to mass protests occurring concurrently in the country;
(B) an analysis of the La Saline shooting reports authored by the United Nations, the European Union, and the Government of Haiti;
(C) a detailed description of all known ac- tors implicated in the shooting;
(D) an overview of efforts taken by the Haitian government to bring the orchestrators of the La Saline shooting to justice; and
(E) an assessment of the ensuing treat- ment and displacement of the La Saline shoot- ing survivors.
(2) CONSULTATION.—In devising the strategy
required under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consult with nongovernmental organizations in Haiti and the United States.
(1) ELEMENTS.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, shall submit to the appropriate congressists in Haiti.
(3) Supporting efforts to information in Haiti.
(4) Ensuring that threats perpetrators are held accountable.
(5) Developing increased against police violence. (b) ASSESSMENT.—
strengthen access to and attacks on jour- investigated and per-
protection measures
(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The strategy required under paragraph (1) shall be made publicly available on the website of the Department of State.
SEC. 5. ACTIONS TO PROMOTE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND ASSEMBLY IN HAITI.
(a) PRIORITIZATION.—The Secretary of State shall prioritize the promotion of press and assembly freedoms as well as the protection of journalists in Haiti by carrying out the following initiatives:
(1) Advocating for increased protection of the press and freedom to peacefully assemble in Haiti. (2) Collaborating with government and non-government officials to increase security for journalists and the right to assembly in Haiti. The assessment shall include :
(A) a detailed description of all known attacks on journalists in the past 12 months;
(B) a description of protests in the past 12 months and an assessment of Haitian government response to each protest;
(C) a summary of the Haitian government’s efforts to increase protection for journalists; and
(D) a description of best practices the United States embassy can employ to promote press freedom and the freedom of expression in Haiti.
(2) CONSULTATION.—In devising the assess-
ment required under subsection (a), the Secretary of State shall consult with nongovernmental organizations in Haiti and the United States.
(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The assessment required under paragraph (1) shall be made publicly available on the website of the Department of State.
SEC. 6. ACTIONS TO COMBAT CORRUPTION IN HAITI.
(a) PRIORITIZATION.—The Secretary of State shall prioritize efforts to combat corruption in Haiti by carrying out the following initiatives:
(1) Identifying government and nongovernment officials known or alleged to have partaken in corrupt acts.
(2) Supporting the strengthening of a justice system independent of the executive branch.
(3) Ensuring that both government and non-government officials are held accountable for corrupt actions.
(4) Promoting and protecting nongovernment civil society groups monitoring institutionalized corruption in Haiti.
(5) Supporting demands for clarity and accountability in the Petrocaribe scandal.
(6) Strengthening institutional transparency and ensuring that Haitian government officials are not immune from prosecution.
(b) ASSESSMENT.—
(1) ELEMENTS.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees an assessment for combating institutional corruption in Haiti. The assessment shall include —
(A) an overview and detailed history of the Petrocaribe scandal, including an in-depth de- scription of former and current officials and businesses implicated in such scandal and the Haitian government response;
(B) a description of United States efforts to consult and engage with Haitian government officials to address growing allegations of cor- ruption within the Haitian government;
(C) an assessment of the extent of corruption, including embezzling state funds, an ac- count of steps needed to be taken to impose sanctions pursuant to the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 2656 note), and a list of government and non- government officials known or alleged to have partaken in such corruption; and
(D) a list of United States entities, including financial institutions with financial ties to alleged corrupt actors in Haiti.
(2) CONSULTATION.—In devising the assessment required under subsection (a), the Secretary of State shall consult with nongovernmental organizations in Haiti and the United States.
(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The assessment required under paragraph (1) shall be made publicly available on the website of the Department of State.
SEC. 7. ACTIONS TO ASSESS POST-EARTHQUAKE AND POST- HURRICANE RECOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT
EFFORTS IN HAITI.
(a) PRIORITIZATION.—The Secretary of State, in co- ordination with the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, shall prioritize a strategy of post-earthquake and post-hurricane recovery and development efforts in Haiti by carrying out the following initiatives:
(1) Collaborating with the Haitian government to promote a detail-oriented and transparent development plan.
(2) Supporting the strengthening of local institutions through a post-earthquake and post-hurricane recovery and development planning.
(3) Assessing both the United States and the international community’s recovery and development efforts in Haiti over the past 10 years.
(4) Supporting disaster resiliency and reconstruction efforts.
,(1) an analysis of the sustainability of United States-financed projects, including the Caracol Industrial Park and supporting infrastructure;
(2) a breakdown of local procurement by year and a description of efforts to increase local procurement, including of food aid;
(3) a strategy to assign fixed quantitative and qualitative indicators to assess progress and bench-marks for United States initiatives focused on.
1 (5) Addressing underlying causes of poverty and inequality by providing health resources, access to clean water, food security, and shelter. Identifying and responding to long-term humanitarian needs caused by natural disasters and extreme poverty.
(b) ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter for two years, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, in coordination with the Secretary of State, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees an assessment on best practices to ensure efficient and transparent earthquake and hurricane recovery and development efforts in Haiti. The assessment shall include a description of United States efforts taken
to assist Haitian pursuits for free and fair democratic elections.
SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act the term ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means—
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.
- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
November 13, 2020, Covid 19 in Florida, the DR, Haiti, Cuba, Porto Rico and Jamaica
These statistics come from the website of the Johns Hopkins University that publishes such statistics periodically for 188 countries and Florida state.
O) The State of Florida, with a population of 21.5 million people, has 870,552 cases (853,107 active) and 17,445 deaths, corresponding to 2.04 % of the cases.
O) The Dominican Republic, with a population of 11 million people, has 132,554 cases (21,006 active) and 2,280 deaths, corresponding to 1.72% of the cases.
O) Haiti, with a population of 11 million, has 9,168 cases (1285 active) and 232 deaths, corresponding to 2,53 % of the cases.
The cases and deaths in Haiti represent 6.9 % and 10.2 % of the Dominican figures respectively for the same global population of 11million.
It must be stressed that close to half a million Haitians live and work in the DR where thousands of Haitians also attend Dominican universities.
I have learned from two reliable Haitian sources recently that many Haitian residents in the DR have elected to return home to avoid infection by the virus.
Haiti seems to experience lower rates of infection due perhaps to a smaller touristic influx than the DR!
O) Cuba, with a population of 12 million people, has 7,541 cases (445 active) and 131 deaths, corresponding to 1.74 % of the cases. The lower number of cases in Cuba
reflects the fact that Cuba in March put an end to its tourism to protect its population. Cuba reopened its major airports to tourism late last month. It felt obligated to do so to
to restore the flow of hard currencies (Canadian $, the Euro, as well as Chinese currency) to its economy.
O) Porto Rico, with a population of 3.2 million people, has 41,119 cases (4,921 active) and 914 deaths, corresponding to 2.22 % of the cases.
O) Jamaica, with a population 3.2 million has 9,723 cases (4328 active) and 227 deaths, corresponding to 2.33% of the cases.
I have included the state of Florida as the American reference closest to the Caribbean. Haiti, Cuba and the DR are the larger states in the Caribbean. Porto Rico and Jamaica are more representative of the smaller islands.
All in all, the Caribbean has 41+ million people.
This viral monster is only at the beginning of its rampage: it will do more damage in the near future; that damage will also be socioeconomic!
These states are becoming tragic in the US as well!
MAX BLANCHET
Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince,
Events: Pronounced increase in kidnappings, including U.S. citizens has led the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince to temporarily restrict personal travel after dark (5:30pm) to the Tabarre area only.
Actions to take:
· Always ensure your communications equipment is functioning and charged before you travel.
· Always carry your cell phone.
· Always ensure that you have important phone numbers programmed into your phone.
· Travel in groups of at least two people.
· Be aware of your surroundings. If you notice something suspicious, try to retreat to a safe area.
· Do not travel in areas unfamiliar to you and be aware that navigation apps are highly unreliable in Haiti.
· Travel at times when traffic is expected to be lighter, such as early in the morning.
· Ensure adequate spacing between vehicles to provide options for evading a potentially dangerous situation.
· Patronize shops or restaurants that provide secure, enclosed, and well-lit parking.
· Install window tint/mylar film on personal vehicles.
· If being confronted by armed perpetrators, do not resist. Comply with their instructions and avoid any movement or action that would give them reason to believe you are resisting.
· Always make sure your vehicle is in good driving condition. Check the vehicle fluids and spare tires.
· Avoid travel after dark in Port au Prince.
· Do not attempt to drive through roadblocks.
· If you encounter a roadblock, turn around and get to a safe area.
· Read the full Level Four travel advisory for Haiti at : https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/haiti-travel-advisory.html
Assistance:
U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Tabarre 41, Route de Tabarre
Emergencies: +509-2229-8000
Non-emergency inquiries:
AMERICAN CITIZEN SERVICES
U.S.EMBASSY
Due to covid-19 the US EMBASSY’S SUSPENSION OF ALL ROUTINE VISA SERVICES REMAINS IN PLACE. AT THIS TIME, ONLY EMERGENCY NON-IMMIGRANT AND A RESTRICTED NUMBER OF IMMIGRANT VISA CASES CAN BE PROCESSED.
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Natalie Marika Fouché
OCTOBER 13, 1989 – NOVEMBER 11, 2020
Natalie Marika Fouché, age 31, of Queens Village, NY, passed away peacefully at home on November 11, 2020, after a long battle with Lupus and ensuing complications.
She lived a full thirty-one years. Her passions included movies, reading, travel and writing scripts. She enjoyed an extensive collection of thriller and horror movies.
She had the good fortune to travel through the Caribbean, Europe and Asia. She lived in Gwangju, South Korea, teaching English to young students for a year.
Her career in tennis, from the age of seven through High School, was rewarded with many honors, including the Mayor’s Cup Junior Championship and High School City Doubles Championship, despite her debilitating illness.
She also enjoyed a rewarding career in the field of advertising and media. Towards the end of her life she was instrumental in supporting her mother’s efforts in providing aid and education to the children of Haiti, through the production of writing and film.
She is a graduate of St. Francis Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows and received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York in 2011.
She is survived by her Mother, Marie; Father, Pierre; Brothers, Patrick and Philip; Sisters-In-Law, Lori and Jenny; and nieces, Hailey, Lindsay, Emily and Eliza.
The mass for Natalie will be held on Saturday at 10:00 am at Incarnation Parish and we STRONGLY encourage everyone to view the service on https://incrcc.org/ due to COVID-19 concerns.
For more details about Natalie’s life please visit: https://tinyurl.com/yxklperd. The family welcomes you to add your memories of Natalie.
We in the Haitian Apostolate share the sorrow of Pierre and Marie Fouché at the death of their beloved thirty-one year old daughter Natalie Our condolences extend also to Patrick and Philippe the two younger brothers of the deceased as well as to their wives and children.
Natalie has been a very gifted young lady who excelled as a teacher, who travelled extensively in an insatiable thirst for knowledge and for people. She visited Europe, Asia and many of the Caribbean islands. She excelled in many fields.
We can appreciate the deep pain of her parents and as we offer our sincere sympathies we pray that the lights that shine from the Risen Lord will dispel the gloom inevitably associated with death. Life on earth is passing. REAL LIFE is BEYOND THE VEIL. The FACE-TO-FACE ENCOUNTER WITH LIFE ITSELF is our real destiny. Death is not extinction, it’s a bounce toward ETERNITY. It’s the crossing of the RED SEA toward the PROMISED LAND.
Our prayers escort Natalie in this crucial JOURNEY and you too Pierre and Marie we pray for you that HOPE will be your SHIELD! Death is a step forward, the “far better thing” in the words of St Paul.
Bishop Sansaricq / National Center of Haitian Apostolate
- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
BARACK OBAMA CONGRATULATES JOE BIDEN
I could not be prouder to congratulate our next President, Joe Biden, and our next First Lady, Jill Biden.
I also couldn’t be prouder to congratulate Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff for Kamala’s groundbreaking election as our next Vice President.
In this election, under circumstances never experienced, Americans turned out in numbers never seen. And once every vote is counted, President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris will have won a historic and decisive victory.
We’re fortunate that Joe’s got what it takes to be President and already carries himself that way. Because when he walks into the White House in January, he’ll face a series of extraordinary challenges no incoming President ever has – a raging pandemic, an unequal economy and justice system, a democracy at risk, and a climate in peril.
I know he’ll do the job with the best interests of every American at heart, whether or not he had their vote. So I encourage every American to give him a chance and lend him your support. The election results at every level show that the country remains deeply and bitterly divided. It will be up to not just Joe and Kamala, but each of us, to do our part – to reach out beyond our comfort zone, to listen to others, to lower the temperature and find some common ground from which to move forward, all of us remembering that we are one nation, under God.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who worked, organized, and volunteered for the Biden campaign, every American who got involved in their own way, and everybody who voted for the first time. Your efforts made a difference. Enjoy this moment. Then stay engaged. I know it can be exhausting. But for this democracy to endure, it requires our active citizenship and sustained focus on the issues – not just in an election season, but all the days in between.
Our democracy needs all of us more than ever. And Michelle and I look forward to supporting our next President and First Lady however we can.
Barack Obama
BERNIE SANDERS CONGRATULATIONS
Bernie Sanders: "I want to congratulate all those who worked so hard to make this historic day possible. Now, through our continued grassroots organizing, let us create a government that works for ALL and not the few." https://abcn.ws/3n2llHX
Haiti : Vandal Knocks Down Dessalines Statue In Cap-Haitian
HAITIAN TIMES
A vandal knocked down a statue of Jean-Jacques Dessalines at La Place de Notre-Dame in the city of Cap-Haitian, Thursday Nov. 4th, smashing the historic monument.
Multiple residents said the suspect, Lucien Calixte, suffers from a mental illness. When officials interrogated him, the 40-year-old struggled to answer or give a motive.
Other historic sites and monuments have been vandalized in the Northern Department. The Catholic Church of Milot, which served as the Royal Chapel during King Henry Christophe’s reign, was set on fire last April.
March For Murdered Student Draws Hundreds Protesting Impunity
HATIAN TIMES
More than 100 classmates of murdered student Evelyne Sincere took to the streets in Port-au-Prince Thursday (Nov. 5) to ask for justice.
Evelyne Sincere, a high school senior, was kidnapped last week. She was dead in a garbage dump Nov. 1.
Students at Jacques Roumain High School, the school Sincere attended, organized the march. Joined by family and hundreds of other supporters along the way, the protesters walked from Fontamara 43 to the Ministry of Justice, where they asked officials to keep working on the case.
The students plan to march again next week, according to Panel Magik.
A HAITIAN DOCTOR IS WORKING AROUND THE CLOCK AGAINST CORONAVIRUS
Haitian times
Doctors, nurses and hospital employees across New York City are on the frontlines of the war against the coronavirus pandemic, which has now taken thousands of lives and infected every borough.
Dr. Tamara Moise, a Haitian-American emergency room doctor who opened the first Black-owned Urgent Care Center in Brooklyn, has been working around the clock to help save lives from the deadly virus.
Dr. Moise splits her time between the emergency room at Brookdale Hospital Medical Center and the Urgent Care she owns on Church Avenue, working tirelessly to help patients that are increasingly showing up more and more sick.
She works about 4-6 shifts in the emergency room each month, averaging about two shifts each week. She then spends the rest of her time helping patients at the Urgent Care, hoping to relieve some of the load felt by emergency rooms across Brooklyn. Her co-owner also works at a hospital and the two split time at the Urgent Care, doing their best to see everyone that comes in.
At the hospital, Dr. Moise said they’re now seeing less patients due in small part to recent governmental efforts to keep people at home and lower the infection rate. But each of the patients that does decide to come to the emergency room are showing up extremely sick, even “deathly ill” she said.
“Even though it’s less people, it’s a lot of resources and it’s very, very sick people. I’m in the hood, so it’s sick people. We are not a healthy population. It’s a very tough situation because I’m in Brooklyn, in the Brownsville and East New York Area. We get Haitian patients here and a lot of West Indians. Unfortunately, our community is not the healthiest, sometimes due to a lack of resources and other reasons,” Dr. Moise said.
“The problem is that because we have such high rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease, we’re the ones that suffer a lot from this because the coronavirus attacks the people that have those medical problems especially, so it’s tough.”
Dr. Moise’s on-the-ground assessment has been proven true in recent days by dozens of reports from across the country showing that Black communities are being hit particularly hard by coronavirus.
Data from communities in Milwaukee, Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago and New York released this week shows Black people are bearing the brunt of the virus due to a variety of health conditions endemic to communities of color. During a White House press conference on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke passionately about how staggering it was to look at the data and see how the virus was disproportionately killing Black people across the country due to longstanding systemic healthcare issues.
- Détails
- Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti
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.