Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 11 février 2015

 Protesters march in Haiti capital to demand lower gasoline prices, call for president's ouster

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – At least 6,000 protesters marched through Haiti's capital Saturday to demand lower gas prices and the ouster of President Michel Martelly.

The protest in Port-au-Prince remained peaceful overall although police briefly threw tear gas and dispersed a crowd that had thrown trash and tires in the street to block traffic.

The protest, which diminished in strength as the afternoon wore on, was the latest in a series of demonstrations over recent weeks fueled by anger over gas prices.

The government recently lowered the price by about 25 cents to $4.50 a gallon and diesel prices dropped by about 20 cents to $3.55, but protesters say the reductions don't fully reflect the global drop in oil prices.

"The cost of living is too high," said Joel Pierre, a welder who joined Saturday's protest instead of going to work.

He said he also would join in a two-day general strike scheduled to start Monday that is aimed at forcing a shutdown of schools, banks and other institutions.

"We need to let the government know that this is serious," Pierre said.

Bus drivers struck for two days earlier in the week, stranding hundreds of thousands of workers and students.

Protesters also remain angry that President Michel Martelly began ruling by decree last month after parliament was dissolved. Long-delayed elections have not been held.

Haiti-Venezuela: the oil story

Venezuela has given Haiti tankers of oil under preferential financing terms for years. What’s not to love?

When Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez passed away earlier this year, Haiti announced a three-day period of national mourning for the man who had become “a great friend of Haiti.” One month later, President Michel Martelly’s administration announced that it would name Haiti’s second largest airport after the late Venezuelan leader.

The fêting wasn’t out of the blue. Back in 2007, thousands of Haitians spilled into the streets to welcome Chávez during a state visit that marked a new agreement with then-president René Préval. That deal has brought 26 million barrels of oil and other petroleum products to the country under preferential financing terms, which has also allowed Haiti to fund a host of other development projects. The conspicuous power plants and roads funded by the program are one reason that Haitians champion Chávez and his country so much.

Venezuela started PetroCaribe – part regional alliance, part bulwark against U.S. influence in Latin America – in 2005. The program now gives 18 countries access to oil under preferential financing terms. In Haiti’s case, it works like this: Venezuela sends the country petroleum products – a total of $2.8 billion-worth as of July 2013. (The oil accounts for 11,000 of the 12,000 barrels of oil Haiti uses each day.) Haiti then sells the fuel to local energy and petrol companies. The exact terms depend on international oil prices, but Haiti pays Venezuela for about 40 percent of the fuel imports up front. The remaining 60 percent is payable over the next 25 years at 1 percent interest, with a two-year grace period. In the meantime, that chunk of money can be used by the central government for other projects.

It’s a significant source of revenue. During a June visit from Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s new president, Martelly said that the program funded 94 percent of all current infrastructure, agriculture, and education projects. “The majority of reconstruction projects,” he said, “such as roads, housing, hospitals, squares, and public buildings currently running in the country are financed from PetroCaribe funds.” An airport runway in Cap-Haïtien was one such project, hence the Hugo Chávez International Airport moniker.

The de facto aid that comes via PetroCaribe goes straight into government coffers and can be used however the state sees fit. That sort of unrestricted and direct funding is a far cry from most external money Haiti receives. In the two years following the January 2010 earthquake, donors sent less than 1 percent of the billions in aid money to the Haitian government. Almost 80 percent of money sent by the U.S. government was awarded to contractors in the Washington, D.C., area.

Because the loan on the PetroCaribe money will ostensibly come due one day, the funds are supposed to be used in ways that will provide a return – “growth-enhancing investment projects,” as the International Monetary Fund puts it (p. 13). That’s one reason Parliament demanded an explanation from the Prime Minister’s office in May when it suspected mismanagement of the oil funds. But even setting aside those worries, the structure underpinning Haiti’s PetroCaribe system may be another cause for consternation.

Once local energy companies pay for the imported fuel, they transform it into power and then sell it right back to the state through Électricité d’Haïti (EDH), the national utility. EDH then distributes electricity to Haitian homes and businesses. But its grids have deteriorated over decades of neglect, its offices lack effective billing and collection systems, and thousands of DIY connections siphon electricity away illegally. The consequence is that EDH collects revenues for only 19 percent of the electricity it provides, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe has said. The Haitian government has covered the shortfall with subsidies, recently to the tune of about $200 million in annual losses.

Not all Venezuelan fuel imports are burned to produce electricity. Some go to gas companies and, eventually, to power the vehicles of the drivers who clog Port-au-Prince streets nearly every hour of every day. Others wind up running the diesel generators that power pockets of the country during blackouts. The prices at the pump for gasoline, diesel, and kerosene haven’t changed in more two years (p. 12), even though world fuel prices and shipping costs fluctuate regularly. The pump-price stability is no accident; the Haitian government adjusts excise taxes and customs duties on fuel – it forgoes revenues, and sometimes provides outright subsidies – to keep the prices stable.

Giving electricity to people who would otherwise have none and cheap gas to everyone is good politics but terrible economics. The IMF notes that energy and fuel subsidies are expensive and inefficient ways to help the poor – and that every subsidy must be paid for by someone, somewhere, eventually. The rich use much more energy than the poor and therefore benefit the most, energy subsidies can crowd-out the very sort of ‘growth-enhancing’ public investment PetroCaribe is supposed to support, and fuel subsidies encourage overconsumption and increase pollution. Haiti’s years-long Venezuelan-fuel bender is more than enough to give pause to anyone whose parents ever told them not to buy gas or groceries on a credit card.

As inflation, slow growth, and product shortages plague Maduro’s people at home, Venezuela has recently decided to double PetroCaribe interest rates for some countries. Haiti’s rate remains unchanged so far.

Perhaps the Haitian debt that is slowly snowballing under PetroCaribe will never actually come due. Venezuela already canceled the $395 million that was owed under the program after the 2010 earthquake. Haiti has accumulated more than $1.1 billion in PetroCaribe debt in the three-plus years since the quake, but as the least-well-off country in the program, it may receive more grace than the other 17 members. Or, with a joint Venezuela-Haiti entity in the works that will soon assume responsibility for the account – and its debt – maybe the Haitian government will be able to distance itself from the fallout of any possible future default. In the meantime, Haiti’s administration has asked to pay part of its bill with crop exports, including coffee and mangoes. They will amount to an estimated $12 million yearly, perhaps enough to cover a month’s-worth of oil repayments.

Haiti has deep ties to Venezuela; heads of state from the two nations can hardly meet without rehashing the story of early–19th-century Haitian President Alexandre Pétion providing Simón Bolívar with sanctuary and military aid in his quest to win Latin American independence from Spain. The destiny of the oil deal and its aftereffects may write the next chapter of the two countries’ relations – and determine how Haitians ultimately view Chávez and his legacy to their country.

US PRESSING CUBA FOR DIPLOMATIC TIES…

(Reuters) - The United States is pressing Cuba to allow the opening of its embassy in Havana by April, U.S. officials told Reuters, despite the Communist island's demand that it first be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

A refusal by Cuba to allow the United States to quickly establish an official embassy for the first time in half a century could complicate talks between the Cold War foes, reflecting enduring mistrust as they move to end decades of confrontation.

Striking Cuba from the terrorism list could take until June or longer, although the White House is pushing officials to move quickly, said two U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the State Department's review to take Cuba off the list.

Washington is eager to re-establish diplomatic ties before a regional summit in Panama in April, when President Barack Obama will meet Cuban leader Raul Castro for the first time since 2013, the officials said.

The two leaders announced a historic deal on Dec. 17 to restore relations. U.S. and Cuban diplomats will meet this month or in early March in Washington for a second round of talks.

While renewing diplomatic relations could happen quickly, the process to normalize, including removing the U.S. trade embargo, will take far longer.

Cuba has not made removal from the list a condition for restoring ties, U.S. officials said. But Havana made clear during the first round of talks last month that it first wants to be removed from the terrorism list.

GETTING OFF THE LIST

For Cuba, which considers its designation an injustice, getting removed from the list would be a long-coveted propaganda victory at home and abroad.

Washington placed Cuba on the list in 1982, citing then President Fidel Castro's training and arming of Communist rebels in Africa and Latin America. The list is short: just Iran, Sudan, Syria and Cuba.

But Cuba's presence on the list has been questioned in recent years. The State Department's latest annual "Country Reports on Terrorism" says Cuba has long provided a safe haven for members of the Basque separatist group ETA and Colombia's left-wing FARC guerrillas.

But ETA, severely weakened by Spanish and French police, called a ceasefire in 2011 and has pledged to disarm. And the FARC has been in peace talks with the Colombian government for the past two years, with Cuba as host.

Even the State Department acknowledged in its report that Cuba has made progress. "There was no indication that the Cuban government provided weapons or paramilitary training to terrorist groups," it said.

As part of the U.S. shift in policy toward Cuba, the White House ordered a State Department review of Cuba's listing as a state sponsor of terrorism, the U.S. officials said.

A U.S. national security official said intelligence agencies were under pressure from senior Obama administration officials to complete their role in the removal process by March.

"The process is under way," said the official.

To finalize Cuba's removal, Obama would need to submit to Congress a report stating Havana had not supported terrorism-related activities for six months, and that Cuba has provided assurances that it will not support terrorism in the future. Cuba would be automatically dropped from the list 45 days later.

Getting the embassy open is also tricky.

Converting the six-story U.S. interests sections in Havana into a full-fledged embassy after 53 years would require ending restrictions on the number of U.S. personnel in Havana, limits on diplomats' movements and appointing an ambassador. It would allow the U.S. to renovate the building and have U.S. security posted around the building, replacing Cuban police.

Cuba also wants the United States to scale back its support for Cuban dissidents when the sides meet again. U.S. administration officials have stood firm both publicly and privately that they intend to keep supporting the dissidents.

"I can't imagine that we would go to the next stage of our diplomatic relationship with an agreement not to see democracy activists," U.S. negotiator Roberta Jacobson told a hearing chaired by Sen. Marco Rubio, a vocal Republican opponent of Obama's new Cuba policy.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 17 février 2015

 Dominican Republic

Haitian Man Lynched Amid Dominican Republic Immigration Controversy

Huffington Post - The corpse of a Haitian man was found hanging from a tree in a public park in the Dominican Republic’s second-largest city [last] Wednesday morning, according the newspaper Listín Diario.

Local police said the killing in Santiago appeared to have occurred during a robbery. But human rights groups and other observers pointed out that the crime comes amid a furious debate over immigration from neighboring Haiti and a decade-long series of legal measures that have stripped birthright citizenship from thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent.

The victim, identified by the newspaper only by his nickname Tulile, worked shining shoes in Ercilia Pepín Park, where his body was found, according to Listín Diario. His hands and feet were bound, according to Dominican daily Diario Libre.

A spokesman for the Santiago police tweeted that investigators had “rejected racism as a motive,” and said investigators believed the killing resulted from a robbery.

Police declined to speak about the case by telephone with The Huffington Post.

Many view anti-Haitian sentiment in the Dominican Republic as racist in nature because the vast majority of Haitians and their Dominican-born descendants are black. Most Dominicans are mixed-race or white, and 11 percent are black, according to the CIA World Factbook.

Wade McMullen, an attorney with the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, said investigators appeared to have discounted race as a motive too quickly.

"For the Dominican authorities to rule out racism as a factor less than 24 hours after a man of Haitian descent was hanged in a public square is not just irresponsible policing, it is an outrageous example of discrimination endemic to the Dominican Republic," McMullen wrote to HuffPost in an email. "And frankly it is all too reminiscent of the shameful denials of Southern officials during the decades of terror lynchings perpetrated against African-Americans here at home."

Anti-Haitian sentiment runs high among some in the Dominican Republic. A small group of Dominican nationalists gathered in Santiago the day before the Haitian man's body was found to burn a Haitian flag and call for deportations of Haitian migrants.

A series of legal measures since 2004 have done away with birthright citizenship, and a decision by the Constitutional Court in 2013 applied the new standard retroactively, requiring the federal government to strip citizenship from Dominicans born after 1929 to undocumented Haitian parents.

A law passed in 2014 created a pathway for those who lost their citizenship to normalize their status. Fewer than 9,000 people applied, however. Human rights organization Amnesty International says that as many as 110,000 qualify.

Marselha Gonçalves Margerin, Amnesty International’s advocacy director for the Americas, said the human rights watchdog was “monitoring the situation” and urged the authorities to vigorously investigate the hanging.

“Amnesty International recalls that authorities have the obligation to thoroughly investigate the case like in any case of allegation of homicide,” Gonçalves Margerin wrote in an email to HuffPost, “but given the particular context going on in the country, special attention should be given whether it was a hate crime based on the origins or racial characteristics of the person.”

Still in Dominican Republic:

The Haitian Flag was burned

In Santiago in the Dominican Republic, organizations from the neighborhood of "Le Ciruelitos", burned a Haitian flag in the street, in what they described as an act of rebellion against the laissez-faire attitude of the Dominican government, in the face of an invasion of Haitian immigrants without papers.

JetBlue will connect Boston to Port-au-Prince

Last Wednesday, JetBlue Airways, the biggest airline company at Logan International Airport in Boston (BOS), announced three new seasonal flights without layover from Boston, one of which will be bound for Port-au-Prince.

JetBlue will offer the only connections without layover from Boston to Port-au-Prince.

The new service towards Port-au-Prince will be launched June 17th and will continue until September 5th, 2015 with flights on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It is subject to the government’s approval. The service to Haiti will complete JetBlue’s daily flights to Haiti. These include one daily flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy’s International Airport (JFK), and two daily flights from Fort-Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL).

Special launch rates will be available starting Wednesday, February 12th, 2015, from $149, for one way tickets to Port-au-Prince between August 15th and September 2nd, 2015, Wednesdays and Saturdays only. Advance purchase 21 days prior to travel date is required. Prices are subject to availability, cannot be available on every day or every flight, and can change without advance notice. Special promotions must be presented at the time of the reservation and are for one-way, non-stop (unless otherwise specified). They are not refundable and not transferable.

To make reservations, visit www.jetblue.com

The Mobilization, it is not finished …

The national platform of labor unions of faithful transport (PNFTS), regrouped about twenty public transportation labor unions in Port-au-Prince, and in provincial towns, and announced that the mobilization for the reduction of gas prices will resume after the Carnival. 

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 26 février 2015

Cette marche est une initiative du COLLECTIF QUATRE DECEMBRE.

Tôt le matin, les participants ont commence à se masser au Champs de Mars, devant le Monument de Dessalines.

On distinguait parmi ceux ayant reepondu à l’invitation du Collectif, des gens de tous ages, vieux , comme très jeunes. Des personnalités politiques, des représentants de laSociété Civile, des Avocats revêtus de leurs toges, des artistes et des enfants revêtus de leur uniformes d’école accompagnés de leurs professeurs.

Ils brandissaient le bicolore haitien mais aussi des affiches pour relancer la fierté haïtienne  . Certains slogans, cependant étaient loin d’être pacifiques et se distinguaient par leur caractère haineux, face aux Dominicains qui n’ont jamais cessé d’écraser les Haïties obliges d’aller travailler chez eux.

 La marche s’est ébranlée à partir de 10 heures du matin comme prévu et s’est dirigée vers le Ministère haïtien des Affaires étrangères, où une Déclaration a été remise au Chancelier Duly Brutus, signee  de nombreux citoyens, dénonçant les violations des droits des haïtiens en République Dominicaine.

 La marche s’est scindée en deux.

Une partie des marcheurs prenant la direction du Consulat dominicain, dans le quartier de l’église Ste Thérêse, tandis que l’autre s’est difigée vers l’ambassade de la République dominicaine, Avenue Pan américaine.

Des hommes politiques, entre autres Dieuseul Simon Desras, Charles Henry Baker, Maryse Narcisse, Myrlande Manigat, le Sénateur, Steven Benoit, l'ancien sénateur Moïse Jean-Charles, des parlementaires et anciens parlementaires, des avocats en toge, des musiciens et de nombreux autres citoyens ainsi que Jean André Victor (MOPOD) ont été remarqués dans la foule, a proximité de l’Ambassade dominicaine.

 Malgré la présence devant le Consulat de quelques Agents de l’Unité Départementales de Maintien de l’Ordre (UDMO) et de 2 ou 3 agents de la PNH, un manifestant est parvenu à escalader les grilles et à accéder au toit du Consulat, pour décrocher le drapeau Dominicain avant de le lancer en pâture, à une foule électrisée, qui hurlait des propos et des menaces le poing levé...

 Deux autres manifestants sont parvenus aussi sur le toit et malgré la présence d’un agent de l’UDMO et d’un policier présent sur le toit, ils ont pu déployer au vue de tous, notre Bicolore sous les cris de liesse d’une foule en délire. Il a est a noter que les forces haïtiennes sur le toit, ne se sont pas vraiment opposées et ont laissé faire les manifestants, tout comme les forces de l’ordre haïtiennes protégeant le Consulat, qui se contentaient d’appels au calme, n’osant vraisemblablement pas chercher un affrontement avec une foule prête à tout et hors contrôle, vu la faiblesse des effectifs policiers sur place...

Après le déploiement du drapeau haïtien sur le Consultat, un geste symbolique, que plus d’un a considéré comme une victoire, le drapeau dominicain a été brûlé et piétiné dans l’allégresse et la haine...

Par ailleurs, avant ce déplorable et grave événement diplomatique, José Ricardo Taveras, le Directeur de l'immigration dominicaine a appelé les autorités haïtiennes à la « prudence, la modération et à la retenue » en réponse à ce qu'il défini comme une campagne de racisme à l'encontre de la République Dominicaine. Il a demandé aux autorités haïtiennes à ne pas participer à la campagne d'hostilité, initié par le Collectif du 4 Décembre. Le fonctionnaire a qualifié de « légèreté répréhensible et de manipulations contre le pays », la forme irresponsable et l’intervention dans la question haïtienne, par des groupes nationaux et internationaux.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 4 mars 2015

 Haiti withdraws offer to host OAS XLV General Assembly

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) took note today of the notification of the withdrawal of its offer to host the XLV (45th) General Assembly of the Organization due to “financial and logistical constraints” currently experienced by the Government of Haiti, as expressed by the country´s Foreign Minister, Duly Brutus, in a letter sent to the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza.

The Chair of the Permanent Council and Permanent Representative of Suriname to the Organization, Niermala Badrising, informed the representatives of the situation and reported that the discussion on the new site will be on the agenda of the next meeting of the Permanent Council.

Secretary General Insulza explained that the situation raised by the decision of Haiti “is foreseen both in the OAS Charter and the rules of the General Assembly,” which indicate that “if it cannot be held in the location previously chosen, it should be held at the headquarters of the Organization,” unless another member state offers to host the event at least three months ahead of time.

The letter from the Minister of Foreign Relations of Haiti, Duly Brutus, to the Secretary General explains that the withdrawal of the offer to host the event is due to “financial and logistical constraints that could affect organization of the forty-fifth regular session of the General Assembly and Haiti's ability to host a fruitful and outstanding General Assembly, given the electoral process that the Government of the Republic has set in motion.”

During the Council meeting, the Permanent Representative of Haiti to the OAS, Bocchit Edmond, added that “it has been a difficult decision for the Government of Haiti, because we wanted to host the event twenty years after the first time in Haiti. There are reasons beyond our control that have forced us to take this decision.”

The decision to name Haiti host of the XLV General Assembly had been taken by acclamation by the member states during the XLIV General Assembly, held last year in Asuncion, Paraguay.

Attack on consulate stuns Dominican Republic-Haiti ties

Herald staff with Télam

Santo Domingo.- The government of the Dominican Republic last night protested the attack on the Dominican Consulate in Haiti Wednesday which according to local media were thousands of people who marched to protest alleged Dominican racism.

The diplomatic crisis caps two weeks of incidents in the wake of the death of a Haitian national found hanged in a park in Santiago, the country’s second biggest city

In a press conference called in haste, Dominican Foreign minister Andrés Navarro said the country cannot accept the attacks on its consulate. "A group of people not only threw stones at the facilities of our consulate, but also broke into the interior of the property, and dared to take down the Dominican flag from its pole and tried to mutilate and burn it."

He noted that while the Haitian government didn’t sponsor the assault, it should take clear steps to halt to the violence against Dominicans interests in Haiti.

Navarro said the Dominican government has been cautious and patient in its response to such violence.

The official warned Haiti’s authorities however that patience has its limit, "and we have proven to the world that we’ve made the greatest efforts to maintain a healthy, productive, respectful relationship with the Haitian government.”

Navarro said the Dominican government has called its envoy in Port au Prince for consultation and issued a diplomatic note of protest over yesterday’s violence.

He said Dominican Republic has been subjected to an international campaign, accusing it of racism, in contrast to the solidarity shown by the government and the Dominican people toward Haiti.

Navarro called the crimes in the country in recent days including the murder of two Haitian nationals, and the burglary at the residence of Haiti ambassador Fritz Cineas isolated facts, to which Dominican authorities gave a resounding and swift response, and in no way stems from official policy of the Dominican government, for which "it’s unacceptable to accuse the country of racism and xenophobia against the neighboring nation."

The official’s statements respond to a letter of protest to a missive from his Haitian counterpart Pierre Duly Brutus, accusing Dominican Republic of fostering racist policies.

Just hours after Navarro’s statement, Haiti envoy Fritz Cineas was removed from the post and replaced with Daniel Supplice, an announcement that comes one day after a group of Haitians staged a protest in Haiti’s Embassy demanding faster access to documents to qualify for Dominican residency.

THE  ROOT March 2^nd 2015

Man Celebrates 108th Birthday and 82 Years of Marriage to 104-Year-Old

Duranord Veillard knows a lot about longevity, but Saturday is a milestone for the record books. USA Today reports that not only will Veillard celebrate turning 108, he will also celebrate 82 years of marriage to his wife Jeanne, who is 104.

The husband and wife are believed to be the oldest couple in New York’s Rockland County, the report says, and both will celebrate their birthdays this weekend. Veillard’s wife, Jeanne, will turn 105 in May, but both will celebrate their birthdays at their home this weekend with family, friends and others, notes the report.

Veillard, a native of Haiti, studied law and lived in Port-au-Prince. He married Jeanne in November 1932 and together they have raised five children. He obtained a visa to visit the United States in 1968 after losing his job as a judge and never looked back, the report says. He settled in Spring Valley, N.Y., and worked as lab technician at the Good Samaritan Hospital for 10 years before retiring.

During an early birthday celebration Thursday at the couple’s home, Jeanne recounted to USA Today how they met.

“I found him in the street,” she joked in Haitian creole to a room full of relatives, the news outlet writes.

The Veillards, who leave home only to go to the doctor, have 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, the report notes.

During the celebration, Veillard revealed his secret to longevity: “That's God,” he said, USA Today writes.

The Veillards also nap early and often, the report notes.

Most peacekeepers in Haiti to return home

Buenos Aires Herald

The majority of Argentine United Nations peacekeepers based in Haiti will return to their country in April, signaling the virtual end to the Argentine commitment to the peace-keeping mission in the Caribbean island after 10 years, the government announced yesterday.

Argentina has been sending peacekeeping forces to Haiti since August 2004, when the UN established a peace mission in a resolution that had been ordered by the Security Council.

Argentine forces are returning after the UN mandated a downsizing of the peacekeeping mission in the island. The decision will not only affect Argentina, but also all the other countries that have contributed personnel.

Defense Minister Agustín Rossi, who was visiting the men and women working on the island, yesterday praised the forces, which are composed of Army, Navy and Air Force personnel. The Kirchnerite official participated in a United Nations award ceremony, where medals were given to several military groups working in Haiti — including Argentine peacekeepers.

“We are more than satisfied with the role played by Argentine armed forces throughout these 10 years,” Rossi said after visiting a hospital managed by Air Force in Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince.The medical centre will continue operating in the country with a team of 70 officers, the majority being doctors and nurses.

CDC Leads Consortium Aimed At Eliminating Malaria From Hispaniola By 2020

CDC Foundation: Consortium Aims to Eliminate Malaria on Hispaniola by 2020 Starting With $29.9 Million Grant to CDC Foundation
“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is leading a consortium of malaria partners aiming to eliminate indigenous cases of malaria on the island of Hispaniola by 2020. Acceleration of malaria elimination efforts will begin with a $29.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the CDC Foundation…” (2/25).

Confident Obama predicts success in immigration appeal

MIAMI (AP) -- President Barack Obama urged immigrants thrown into limbo by legal wrangling to keep planning for eventual relief, professing confidence Wednesday that his deportation directives won't be thrown out in court.

"This is just one federal judge," Obama said of the district judge in Texas who put Obama's order on hold. "We have appealed it very aggressively. We're going to be as aggressive as we can."

Obama said he expected to win when a U.S. circuit court hears his appeal, but added that his administration will "take it up from there" if the appeal fails, in an apparent reference to the Supreme Court. He said at each stage of the process, the White House believes it has the better argument.

The strong-willed defense of Obama's executive actions came as millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally wait to see whether Obama's order shielding them from deportation will be upheld. A 26-state coalition led by Texas is suing Obama, alleging he overstepped his legal authority.

Dismissing those hoping for a presidential about-face, Obama insisted he was "absolutely committed" to the new policy, which he described as focusing deportation efforts on felons.

"People should be gathering up their papers, make sure you can show you are a long standing resident of the United States," Obama said at a town hall meeting hosted by the Spanish-language TV network Telemundo. He said immigrants should make sure that by the time the legal issues are sorted out, "you are ready to go."

As Obama spoke in Miami, another immigration drama was playing out in Congress, where lawmakers were attempting to fund Homeland Security over the insistence by some Republicans that Obama's immigration actions be repealed at the same time. Obama derided Republicans for holding national security funding hostage and said he would veto a stand-alone measure to repeal his actions being contemplated in the Senate.

The immigration dispute has increasingly taken on political overtones as focus shifts to the campaign for Obama's successor, raising questions about whether Republicans can appeal to the fast-growing number of Hispanic voters. Obama said the first question for 2016 presidential candidates should be whether they really intend to deport 11 million people living here illegally. If not, voters should demand to know their alternative plan, Obama said.

Of Jeb Bush, a likely Republican candidate who is one of his party's more moderate voices on immigration, Obama said he appreciated that the former Florida governor was concerned about fixing the immigration system.

"I would suggest he talk to the speaker of the House and the members of his party," Obama said.