What's Up Little Haiti

Détails: Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti; Création : 3 janvier 2018

Trump Reopens an Old Wound for Haitians

By Edwidge Danticat

December 29, 2017

In the early nineteen-eighties, soon after cases of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (aids) were first discovered in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control named four groups at “high risk” for the disease: intravenous drug users, homosexuals, hemophiliacs, and Haitians. Haitians were the only ones solely identified by nationality, in part because of twenty or so Haitian patients who’d shown up at Jackson Memorial Hospital, in Miami. “We forwarded these cases to the C.D.C.,” Dr. Arthur Fournier, who treated some of those first Haitian patients, told me recently. “The media then took off with the sensationalistic headlines.” Suddenly, every Haitian was suspected of having aids. At the junior high school I attended, in Brooklyn, some of the non-Haitian students would regularly shove and hit me and the other Haitian kids, telling us that we had dirty blood. My English as a Second Language class was excluded from a school trip to the Statue of Liberty out of fear that our sharing a school bus with the other kids might prove dangerous to them.

Last week, as many Haitians and Haitian-Americans were preparing for the Christmas holidays—some burdened by the fear that they or their loved ones might be deported in a year’s time because of the Trump’s Administration decision to end Temporary Protected Status(T.P.S.)—a Times article about President Trump’s anti-immigrant efforts brought back these memories and more. The article described a meeting that took place at the White House in June, when Trump expressed outrage that, in spite of his contested January, 2017, executive order barring refugees, particularly those from seven predominantly Muslim countries, too many immigrants had been granted visas to enter the United States. According to the Times, Trump was angry that fifteen thousand Haitians were among them. They “all have aids,” he allegedly said.

We are used to Trump insulting people of color with callous or racist remarks. He has referred to Mexicans as criminals and rapists and, in the June meeting described in the Times, Trump reportedly also complained that forty thousand Nigerian visa recipients would never “go back to their huts,” while branding Afghanistan a terrorist haven. (The White House has denied that Trump denigrated immigrant groups during the meeting.) Still, Trump’s alleged remark about Haiti and aids cut deep, reopening a painful wound that goes back several decades.

Haiti: Charles Aznavour in concert for Haiti’s economic elite

Eric FEFERBERG / AFP

Charles Aznavour gave a sole concert on Friday, December 29^th, 2017 in Port-au-Prince. The singer, who is 93-year-old, performed in Haiti in the past but only once in 1974. Seeing his popularity with Haitians, his recent performance could have been a national event. But everything was done so that only the country’s economic elite could take advantage of Aznavour’s visit.

With our correspondent in Haiti, Amélie Baron

Aznavour cannot be any more popular in Haiti, but his concert had nothing for the larger public. The venue was accessible only by car, but the biggest deterrent was the ticket prices which range between 100 and 250 US dollars. This was totally out of reach for the immense majority of Haitians, as the writer Lyonel Trouillot expressed.

"Two hundred and fifty dollars, is more than my monthly salary at the University of Haiti. And then the chosen place, we have the impression that it recalled the Duvalier years when you had the rich displaying their money while demonstrating complete contempt for the living conditions of the majority of the population."

Lyonel Trouillot said: "The company which invited him is managed by the son of the former president of the Republic. The management of the public affairs is continually questioned. Today, I would like Aznavour to sing some songs of social character which he may have written or sang, because it is necessary to remind these people that they are rich because to the poverty of others."

This concert by Charles Aznavour's could have been a national event, instead it constitutes a new proof of the immense economic and social disparities in Haiti.

Message from American Secretary of State

In a recent press release, American Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, while at a party to celebrate Haiti’s independence on January 1^st, declared:

"On behalf of the government of the United States, I offer my best wishes to the Haitian people while you celebrate the 214^th anniversary of Haiti’s independence.

The United States and Haiti share a long history of close relations, and our future is even more closely linked due to the fact that nearly a million of Americans of Haitian origin contribute to Haiti’s economic growth.

We recognize the tremendous progress realized by Haiti during the last year. The inauguration of President Moses in February and the work undertaken by Haiti to stabilize its electoral system in the future, can reaffirm the commitment of the Haitian people in favor of the democracy, the rights of man and the rule of law. We also note significant progress regarding security and greet the efforts displayed by Haiti to develop its farming sector.

As friend and long-time partner, the United States remain determined to support Haiti while it tries hard to increase economic growth and investments, by releasing all of its potential.”

The Diaspora is going to be able to look at contents by TNH

Last Friday, Gamall Augustin the Managing director of the National Television of Haiti (TNH) and Clifford Dessables who heads of Focused Media Team LLC (Florida), signed an agreement which is going to allow the Haitian Diaspora to view the contents of TNH on cable television platforms.

Under the terms of the agreement, TNH grants permission to the Focused Media Team to look for distribution spaces for the contents of TNH, with the operators specialized in the distribution of television contents. This will help open the international market to the productions of the Haitian public service channel.

In this partnership, several parameters are taken into account in particular the quality of the production, but especially the respect for the copyright guaranteeing the signature of TNH, even beyond Haiti’s borders. As a result, certain segments of productions by TNH can be part of a menu offered by big international content distribution firms on the world market.

HL/HaïtiLibre

If This Is America

Roger Cohen

Roger Cohen DEC. 22, 2017

If this is America, with a cabinet of terrorized toadies genuflecting to the Great Leader, a vice president offering a compliment every 12 seconds to Mussolini’s understudy, and a White House that believes in “alternative facts,” then it is time to “keep your head when all about you are losing theirs.”

If this is America, where the Great Leader threatens allies who do not fall in line, retweets the anti-Muslim racism of British fascists, insults the Muslim mayor of London, dreams up a terror attack in Sweden, invents a call from the Mexican president, claims the Russia story is a “total fabrication,” then you will have to “bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.”

If this is America, less than a year into the Trump Presidency; yes, if this is still America, where Representative Diane Black, Republican of Tennessee, thanks the Great Leader for “allowing us to have you as our president,” and Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, says Trump’s will be the greatest presidency “maybe ever,” and the Great Leader celebrates a tax cut that saves his family millions but allows CHIP health insurance to expire for sick children, then you must “force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone.”

If this is not Turkmenistan, nor yet the land of Newspeak, but our America after all, where the curiously coiffed Great Leader of childish petulance accuses all media dissenters of distributing “FAKE NEWS,” and attacks the judiciary, and adores an autocrat, and labors night and day for his wealthiest cronies in the name of some phony “middle-class miracle,” then you must “hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’ ”

If, beyond every abuse, this is yet America, where the Great Leader’s administration recommends that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not use the words “fetus,” “transgender,” “science-based” or “diversity,” (but can still, according to a New Yorker cartoon, use the word “moron”), and climate change is no longer a strategic threat (or even an admissible term in government circles), then it is time to heed the poet’s admonition: “Being lied about, don’t deal in lies.”

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If this is America, our America of government for the people, by the people, and you cannot believe how low the Great Leader will stoop, how much lower he will go than seemed possible, and sometimes you feel the need to wash the ambient crassness and vulgarity from your skin, for they seep into you whatever protection you may wear, and you are aghast at how the G.O.P. has morphed into palace courtiers outdoing each other in praise of their plutocratic reality-show prince, then it is time to ponder the poet’s words:

“If you can dream — and not make dreams your master; if you can think — and not make thoughts your aim; if you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.”

If this is America, where the Great Leader wants you to believe that 2+2=5, and would usher you down his rabbit hole, and struggles to find in himself unequivocal condemnation of neo-Nazis, and you recall perhaps the words of Hannah Arendt, “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e. the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e. the standards of thought) no longer exist” — if all this you have lived and felt and thought across this beautiful and spacious land, then you must be prepared to “watch the things you gave your life to, broken, and stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools.”

If this is America, and you know where militarism and nationalism and disdain for intellectuals and artists, and the cultivation of enemies and scapegoats, and contempt for a free press can lead, and it pains you to see the world voting against the United States at the United Nations with the exception of Micronesia and Nauru and Palau (and a few others), then you will see that this, Trump’s American travesty, is in fact a lie and an affront and a betrayal.

America cannot be “first,” as Trump insists. It can be a thug and a bully only in the betrayal of itself. It must be itself, a certain idea of liberty and democracy and openness, or it is nothing, just a squalid, oversized, greedy place past the zenith of its greatness.

Throughout this column, I have been quoting Kipling’s poem, “If,” an evocation, addressed to his son, of the qualities that make a man. It incudes these lines:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss.

As a new year approaches, stoicism will prevail, decency will prevail, contestation will prevail, over the Great Leader’s plundering of truth and thought. This is not America. It must be fought for and won back.

Détails: Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti; Création : 11 janvier 2018

Death of Emerante de Pradines Morse

Emerante of Pradine lived almost a century.

Dancer and choreographer, she was one of the girls of Canjo, a very well-known musician during her time. Emerante kept her vitality almost until the very end.

She looked after the Ollofson Hotel with her son.

She loved to tell stories about how she never went out without making her bed. She explained that her father would say, if something ever happens to you and we have to transport you home, we should not find your bed unmade.

She had a first school in Martissant. Then she had a second closer to the hotel. Because she liked walking, Emerante would go to that one on foot.

She taught dance, body movement, and singing. Once she arrived in Haiti, she dedicated herself to primary school education.

She was never able to stay without keeping busy. It was something vital for her.

Death of the anthropologist Rachel Beauvoir

The anthropologist, voodoo priestess and university professor, Rachel Beauvoir, died on Friday, January 5^th, in Carrefour, according to the on-line agency Alter-Presse. Beauvoir was the daughter of Max Gesner Beauvoir and the wife of the architect Didier Dominique.

Rachel Beauvoir trained as a cultural anthropologist at Tufts University in Boston, as well as at Oxford University in Great Britain.

Along with her husband Didier Dominique, she is the co-author of “Savalou E”, published in 2003 by the International Center of documentation and Haitian, Caribbean and afro-Canadian Information (CIDIHCA), established in 1983, in Montreal.

The book “Savalou E”, which deals with Haitian voodoo, received the first prize for "Casa de las Americans” in Havana, Cuba.

She is also an author of "The old cathedral of Port-au-Prince", published in 1991 as well as of numerous articles, on contemporary society and traditions.

As a founding member of the Foundation dedicated to the conservation of Haitian cultural traditions, she was also a recipient of the Jean Price-Mars Medal, of the State University of Haiti.

She was the sole blood decedent of Hounfò of Mariani, which was left passed down by her deceased father Max Beauvoir.

Max Gesner Beauvoir died on September 12^th, 2015 in Port-au-Prince, at the age of 79 (in August 25th, 1936 - September 12th, 2015), as a result of a cancer.

Vatican and DR caught in a heated debate because of Haiti

A lively debate has been brewing during the last few days between the State of Vatican and the Dominican Republic. It all started as a result of an article published recently in the Vatican’s Gazette, “Osservatore Romano” whose title resounds as a plea "Rispetto per gli Haitiani" (Respect for the Haitians). The political and religious organ of the Roman Catholic Church accuses the Dominican Republic of poorly treating citizens without Haitian papers during the deportations.

"The living conditions of Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic continue to raise concerns in the Roman Catholic Church. Last year, in fact, about forty seven thousand Haitians were repatriated without the possibility of returning to the country where they had found work." This excerpt of the article can be read in the Dominican newspaper “Diaro Libre.”

Sarodj Bertin survives a fight in the Dominican Republic

Sarodj Bertin took part in a concert by Bad Bunny and Ozuna in an amphitheater in December 31st, 2017 in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

The Puerto Rican singer Ozuna was not able to end his performance because the party turned sour. A fight broke out between participants at the event. Punches were launched and chairs were thrown, and chaos seized the scene, according to the report from the newspaper “Diaro.”

In a video which circulated on social media, we see Miss Haiti 2010 running away hastily and making her way into a swimming pool.

Afterward, the actress and television presenter preferred to laugh about it on Instagram: "Yes, it was a great concert, but there was a big fight, and I found an escape!!! The swimming pool,and why not? Jajajajjaj. We have to do what’s necessary to keep safe. Thank God, I can laugh at it today."

The former top model said she took herself out of harm’s way, shielded from punches and possible injury during the fight. "Obviously I did not want that a bottle or a chair strike me," she explained.

The Dominican newspaper did not reveal an assessment of the injuries or the damage that resulted from the fight.

New UN mission to take innovative approach to strengthening rule of law

REPORT

from UN News Service

3 January 2018 – The head of the new United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti, known asMINUJUSTH, has said the operation will carry out its work in an innovative in the island nation – complete with an unusually tight timeframe and a bench-marking exit strategy.

Describing what is unique about the mission, the Special Representative and Head of MINUJUSTH, Susan Page, underscored that it focusses “exclusively on the rule of law.”

“The new mandate by the [UN] Security Council is to work with the Government of Haiti to strengthen its rule of law intuitions. It's also to continue to support the HNP, the Haitian National Police, and to work on justice and human rights – and that includes human rights reporting, monitoring and analysis,” she told UN News.

MINUJUSTH is also unique in that its mandate calls for a benchmarking exit strategy.

“Within two years, we can figure out how we [will exit the country] but with benchmarks for progress that can be measured,” she stressed.

The mission head stated that the country team created a framework with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which, along with SDG 16 –to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies– is working in conjunction with the Haitian Government.

“This is a way of bringing the entire country team together, along with the peacekeeping mission, to attain those goals,” she continued, adding that the Government “has already signed up to be a partner in trying to accomplish this for its own development.”

Mobile team approach

Ms. Page explained that while MINUJUSTH is almost exclusively based in the capital, Port-au-Prince, it will also have a 'mobile approach' that will take teams into the field – reaching the greatest number of people.

The mission chief told UN News that the teams will focus on peace, justice and rule of law, to help the people figure out their needs, and then connect them with top-level political figures to see how the UN can help the Government address those needs.

“Once they have a baseline of what the people are looking for, what they need knowledge about, we hope that this bottom-up and top-down approach will help Haiti to strengthen its own institutions with a bit of push from us,” she explained.

Ms. Page sees this new approach as a possible new peacekeeping model, commenting that with the aim of doing more with less, “one of the ways we can reach people is by being more flexible and being more mobile.”

On the ground

Turning to the situation on the ground, Ms. Page noted that while Haiti's political system had been less than stable, “now, all of that is settled.”

“Now that Haiti has its elected officials at all levels, including at the lowest levels in the communes, we have something to work with,” she said.

“The police will continue to work with the Haitian National Police on their strategic development plan, but they also have a programme that is strengthening the mid-level to upper level cadres of the National Police,” she added

As for the ongoing combat against cholera in the country, Ms. Page expressed hope to get to zero transmission.

“One of the ways we continue to work is through the country team,” she said, mentioning the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), which are working to strengthen sanitation and water systems.

“It's really a whole of UN approach; and with the Government's strategic vision and roadmap of how they intend to get there. And we can help them with that,” she said reassuringly.

Rwanda: is nearing a ban on the import of used clothing, despite threats by the USA

Rwandan president Paul Kagame underlined that Rwanda will pursue its project aiming at the progressive abolition of the import of used clothing in spite of threats by the United States, which warned that this decision could lead to the revision of the eligibility of the country to have access to tax-free goods on the American market.

President Kagame made his statement at a press conference, moments after having submitted his application as a candidate with the National Election Board (CEN).

Indeed, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and South Sudan decided to completely forbid the import of used clothes and shoes by 2019, arguing that this measure would allow the member countries to stimulate their local clothing industry.

However, members of the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association - SMART), an association of companies in the textile industry in the United States, expressed that this decision of the Community of east Africa (EAC) forbidding the import of used clothes and shoes imposes considerable economic hardship on the American industry of secondhand clothes. The petitioners assert that this ban is in direct contradiction with the requirements of the law, according to which the beneficiaries of the law must work towards the elimination of barriers to the growth and the potentialities of Africa (AGOA).

Consequently, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) launched the revision of the eligibility of Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania and the advantages they receive from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA trade program provides eligible sub-Saharan countries duty-free access to the United States on condition they meet certain statutory eligibility requirements, including eliminating barriers to U.S. trade and investment, among others.

U.S. AGOA imports from Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda totaled $43 million in 2016, up from $33 million in 2015, according to the USTR. U.S. exports to Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda were $281 million in 2016, up from $257 million the year before.

Détails: Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti; Création : 18 janvier 2018

Haitians respond to Trump: "Here is what my shithole country looks like" INTERNATIONAL - "Here is what my shithole country looks like." The response of Haitians and Haitian-American came very quickly after Donald Trump's divisive outburst on Thursday, January 11^th. Between photos of their island and testimonies of immigration, countless contributed to the thread.

Quickly after the publication of the article in the Washington Post, Mia Love, the first American-Haitian woman elected the the American Congress, shared on Twitter the history of her parents and qualified "as unkind, divisive and elitists" the words of Donald Trump, for which she demanded an apology.

"My parents are native of one of these countries but proudly made the oath of allegiance to the United States and accepted all the responsibilities coming with their American citizenship. They never took anything from our federal government. They worked hard, paid taxes, and started with nothing to take care of their children and offer them a better life. They taught their children to do the same. That's is the American dream."

Norway Renames Itself ‘Shithole’ In Solidarity with Countries Trump Insulted

(Oslo, Shithole) - After being singled out by President Trump as a preferable source of immigration compared to ‘shithole’ nations like Haiti and many countries in Africa, Norway has taken the drastic step of renaming itself to show it does not approve of such behavior.

Though acknowledging Norway was probably only singled out due to her being the last leader of a majority white country that Trump met with, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said it is important to make a statement that will be heard.

“We Norwegians are a pragmatic people who don’t much care what the country is called. If renaming it Shithole sends a progressive message of goodwill then that’s what being Norwegian is all about.”

After passing quickly through parliament and being approved by King Harald V, Norway will be known as Shithole as of noon CET (officially the Kingdom of Shithole), or Dritthull in Norwegian.

“If Trump wants us, we’ll be coming from Shithole.”

U.S. president reported to have disparaged Haitians and African countries

Aaron Wherry · CBC News - January 12, 2018

Former Canadian governor general Michaëlle Jean, who was born in Haiti, has condemned Donald Trump's reported derogatory comments about that country and unnamed African countries.

"Today, January 12, marks the commemoration of the earthquake that devastated Haiti eight years ago," Jean said in a statement, "and it was so disturbing this morning to hear President Trump's comments reported all over the news calling my poor native land, and African countries, 'shithole' nations.

"It is such an insult before humanity. For the First Representative of the United States of America to speak in such a manner is quite troubling and offensive."

An American diplomat was summoned and received at the Haitian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Published 1/13/2018¦ Le Nouvelliste

In reaction to the offensive words of the American president qualifying Haiti as a "shithole country," Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs summoned on Friday, January 12^th the American account manager in Port-au-Prince. Antonio Rodrigue spoke to the diplomat Robin Diallo about the statements by Donald Trump.

The chargé d'affaires at the American embassy in Port-au-Prince confirmed to the Nouvelliste that the diplomat Robin Diallo was summoned and was received on Friday by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Diallo “Met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs yesterday (EDITOR'S NOTE: on Friday, January 12th). We thank the Secretary for an honest discussion and repeat our commitment to a solid partnership between the people of Haiti and the United States," wrote Jeanne Clark in a text message to the Nouvelliste in answer to a question by the newspaper.

The Nouveliste writer has tried in vain since the Trump’s statements to get in touch with the Haitian chancellor, Antonio Rodrigue who, usually promptly returns calls and telephone messages from the newspaper.

IciHaïti - Canada: a Haitian wins an award for writing the best scientific article

The School of Superior Technology (ETS) of Montreal, is proud to announce that Suze Youance, (a student of Haitian origin, who emigrated to Montreal in 2006), and who now holds a doctorate in construction engineering, and is the junior lecturer in the construction engineering department of ETS, received the prestigious Sir Casimir Gzowski medal awarded by the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (SCGC).

This honor is awarded for the best scientific article in Canada, following the publication in the Canadian Magazine of Civil Engineering of an article by Suze Youance, on the consequences of earthquakes on hospital infrastructures entitled, “Effect of Critical Sub-System Failures on the Post-Earthquake Functionality of Buildings: A Case Study for Montreal Hospitals.” Youance will resume her doctoral thesis.

A moving message by Secretary ANGLADE to her parents who died in Haiti

Minister of the Economy, Dominique Anglade, published a moving message last week intended for her parents who died during the earthquake arisen in Haiti eight years ago.

Besides having lost their father, Georges Anglade, and their mother, Mireille Neptune, Dominique Anglade and her sister Pascale also lost an uncle and a cousin during this tragedy.

The Vice Prime Minister paid tribute, on her page Facebook, to the "heritage” left by her parents, but also to the "contributions" of the Haitian nation which "has marked our humanity ".

Here is her message:

"Dad, Mom, age it’s been eight years already since you left us with Phil and Jean-Olivier. Nevertheless, not a day goes by without you occupying my thoughts. Moments of our childhood return to me frequently to guide the decisions of the mother I have become. I reread handwritten letters sent decades ago. Dad, you lavished so much advice in writing to be certain that we grasp everything you meant. Mom, nothing could compare to a phone call to help us make decisions. But especially this unconditional love which we have never doubted Pascale and I. Know that you did not really leave us, as we wrote you already eight years ago. You did not really leave because your values to commitment, your teaching, your writings, your fight for women’s issues and social justice always live through those to whom you transmitted them. And the same debates continue to give rhythm to our daily lives.

That political leaders allow themselves today to denigrate in a shameless way this Haitian nation only reveals their ignorance in the face of the contribution of this country. From the abolition of slavery, the emancipation of black people, the liberation of Latin America, as well as the literary, social and scientific contributions, Haiti has participating in numerous battles which have marked our humanity. Dad and Mom, it is thanks to you that I carry proudly this inheritance. Eternal Love."

Détails: Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti; Création : 25 janvier 2018

DAYS AFTER 'SHITHOLE' CONTROVERSY, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BANS HAITI FROM APPLYING FOR LOW-SKILLED WORK VISA

BY CHRISTINA ZHAOAND REUTERS ON 1/18/18

Following reports that President Donald Trump referred to several countries, including Haiti, as "shitholes" (reports the president partially denied), on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has now barred people from the Caribbean country from applying for low-skilled working visas.

DHS said in a regulatory filing that it was removing Haiti from a list of more than 80 countries whose citizens can be granted H-2A and H-2B visas, given to seasonal workers in agriculture and other industries.

It justified the decision by citing the “high levels of fraud and abuse” from Haitians on the program, and “a high rate of overstaying the terms” of their visas.

GETTY

Approximately 40 percent of Haitians overstayed on a variety of non-immigrant U.S. visas, including H-2As and H-2Bs, in the 2016 fiscal year, according to a DHS report.

Just a few dozen Haitians entered the United States on the visas each year since they were given permission to do so in 2012 by the Obama administration, according to DHS data.

Sixty-five Haitians entered the United States on H-2A visas, given for agricultural work, in the 2016 fiscal year, and 54 Haitians were granted H-2A visas by the State Department between March and November 2017. The number of Haitians entering in 2016 on H-2B visas, which are for non-agricultural seasonal work, was more than zero but too low to report, according to DHS.

Belize and Samoa were also removed from the lists, for risks stemming from human trafficking and not taking back nationals ordered removed from the United States, respectively.

Supporters of the visas say they gave Haitians a rare opportunity to work legally in the United States, contribute to the U.S. economy and help fund the recovery of Haiti after a major earthquake in 2010, which killed more than 200,000 people.

The announcement was made less than a week after President Donald Trump reportedly asked lawmakers “why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”—referring to El Salvador, Haiti and several African nations.

The controversial comment came during a heated discussion on the future of immigration policy between Republican and Democrat lawmakers in the Oval Office, where Trump questioned why the U.S. would continue to take in immigrants from poor countries. The president also reportedly wondered why the U.S. didn't have more immigrants from predominantly white and economically stable countries like Norway.

However, though Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said Trump used the slur, Republican lawmakers, including Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, said they could not recall the word being used. Trump defended his harsh language, but later denied using the language reported. He defended and his relationship with Haiti in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday.

“I love the people. There’s a tremendous warmth. And they’re very hard-working people,” he said.

Curious by Trump’s words, Conan lands in Haiti

Port-au-Prince, Thursday, January 18^th, 2018 ((rezonodwes.com)) - Promises are made to be kept! The famous TV personality, Conan O' Brien, visited Haiti for the shooting of his show, as he had announced just after the revelation of the offensive words by Donald Trump about Haiti, El Salvador and African countries.

The television host and American humorist, Conan O' Brien, walked early, on Thursday, January 18^th, 2018, on Haitian soil for a stay that allowed him to shoot his show in a variety of settings to sell the country’s best attractions.

He was received by Minister of Tourism Madam Colombe Emily Jessy Menos in the diplomatic lounge of the Toussaint Louverture International Airport.

After being host of NBC’s Late Night with Conan O' Brien in his early days, he then replaced Jay Leno as host of the famous Tonight Show for less than one year from 2009 till 2010. He eventually resigned, and has since hosted the Conan O’Brien show on TBS.

Conan Christopher O' Brien grew up in a family of Irish origin in Boston. His father, Thomas O'Brien, is a doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard University. His mother, Ruth Reardon O' Brien, is a lawyer who worked for the firm Ropes and Gray of Boston.

His sister Jane is a scriptwriter and a producer. Awarded a diploma by Brookline High School, Conan O' Brien was accepted at Harvard University. During his four year stay at the prestigious school, he was a writer for the Harvard Lampoon, a humorous campus magazine. He was awarded a diploma by Harvard magna cum laude in 1985 with a Bachelor’s of Arts in American history.

Haiti-born West Point graduate explains tear-filled photo during graduation parade

2nd Lt. Idrache, originally from Haiti, graduated at the top of his class in physics and planned to attend an army aviation school at Fort Rucker, Alabama

A graduate of America’s West Point military academy in 2016, he has become a celebrated viral sensation after he was photographed crying with emotion during his graduation parade.

Second Lieutenant Alix Schoelcher Idrache, who was born in Haiti, graduated from the academy as the top-ranking physics student and aims to become a pilot.

“At this moment, I was overwhelmed with emotions. Three things came to mind and led to those tears,” 2nd Lt. Idrache explained in a comment on Instagram. “The first is where I started ... The second is where I am ... The third is my future.”

2nd Lt. Idrache went from speaking basic English in a poor area of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince to graduating from the country's most prestigious military academy in seven years.

In an army press release, 2nd Lt. Idrache is said to have begun working towards becoming a pilot after witnessing the US military conducting humanitarian missions in Haiti.

The press release quotes 2nd Lt. Idrache as saying: “People where I'm from don't grow up to be pilots right? Like they don't dream of flying a helicopter, that's not something you do.”

He added: “You don't just say I'm going to be a pilot and make it happen. There’re no aviation, there’re no helicopters, no flight schools. There’re none of that.”

Following his graduation he will enter the Amy Aviation Centre for Excellence in Fort Rucker, Alabama.

2nd Lt. Idrache came to the US in 2009 after his father had migrated in search of better prospects for his family. After joining his father, he enrolled in the Maryland National Guard before leaving to attend Westpoint.

In doing so 2nd Lt. Idrache became the Maryland Army National Guard’s first West Point graduate.

Sean Penn responds to Donald Trump

(An extract)

Within days of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, 29 American volunteers and I became quickly embedded with the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. Alongside our military mentors, our hands and souls touched the bodies of the dying and the dead. Our doctors tended the injured. Our educators moved swiftly to establish schools and normalcy for the youth, many of whom had been abruptly orphaned in the disaster that killed as many as 300,000 Haitians.

President Barack Obama deployed about 22,000 U.S. service men and women to Haiti, on one of the most extraordinary missions of support in humanitarian history. No other country in the world offered the generosity of support to the Haitian people that ours did — with our church groups and other NGOs, the money and supplies sent by average citizens. Perhaps most moving for those 30 of us was the extraordinary humanity, respect and commitment offered Haiti by our soldiers. On this pale blue dot Earth that we call home, the Haitian people are our neighbors, to whom our support is both the policy of a great America as it is a sacred duty.

While nothing could bring back those hundreds of thousands of lives and little could console their families, from day one there was not a broken street I could look upon from the ground without thinking, “This can be fixed. Or rather, I can fix this." But soon, I came to realize: Only the Haitians themselves could fix this. Our true sacred duty was to understand the support they may need in their effort.

The solution to our current divisiveness does not live in the White House. Instead, we will find unity only when we recognize that in our current president we have elected, perhaps for the first time in our history, an enemy of compassion. Indeed, we can be unified not only with each other but with Africa, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico, the Middle East and beyond if we recognize President Donald Trump is an enemy of Americans, Republicans, Democrats, Independents and every new child born. An enemy of mankind. He is indeed an enemy of the state.

A Haitian school is among the finalists of the most prestigious classical ballet competition

The Institute of Dance Lynn William Rouzier made Haiti proud during the two semi-finals of the Philadelphia Youth America Grand Prix, which took place from January 4 – 7, 2018. Thanks to their great execution of a choreography titled "After the Shock," three young dancers from the school qualified to participate in the big finale planned for April 12 - 20 in New York. This competition is, according to several web sites, the most prestigious and biggest in the field of classical ballet worldwide.

Published 2018-01-16 ¦ Le Nouvelliste

Détails: Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti; Création : 5 février 2018

What Really Happened with the Clinton Foundation and Haiti?

By David Love -

January 24, 2018

Atlanta Black Star

The Clinton Foundation faces accusations it mishandled funds intended for Haiti earthquake relief, as the Justice Department investigates whether the Clintons gave or promised policy-related favors to foundation donors.

As a result of the recent comments by President Donald Trump — in which he called Haiti and African nations “shithole countries” and said, “Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out” — the issue Haiti’s plight has resurfaced, but within a different context. The Clinton Foundation has been accused of corruption and misuse of funds, including allegations the foundation committed fraud in Haiti.

As The Hill reported this month, the Justice Department is conducting an investigation in Little Rock, Ark., into whether the Clinton Foundation engaged in “pay to play” politics while Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State under Obama. Specifically, the FBI is investigating whether the Clintons promised or fulfilled any policy-related favors to foundation donors, or if donors gave to the charity for the purpose of receiving access to Clinton or particular outcomes from the government. Trump, whose campaign and supporters adopted the phrase “Lock her up!” has called for investigations into his former political rival. When he was on the campaign trail supporting Trump, now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions accused Hillary Clinton of using her position leading the Obama State Department to extort foreign governments to benefit the Clinton Foundation.

A November 2, 2016, report from the BBC immediately before the election noted that Trump has criticized the Clintons’ work in Haiti. “I was in Little Haiti the other day in Florida. And I want to tell you, they hate the Clintons because what’s happened in Haiti with the Clinton Foundation is a disgrace,” Trump said in the final presidential debate with Clinton. In the 1980s, Haiti accused former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier of laundering money he stole from Haiti by purchasing an apartment in Trump Tower. Trump sold the Trump Tower apartment to Duvalier through a Panamanian shell corporation in 1983, a practice which hides the finances and identities of buyers.

The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed an estimated 220,000 people. International donors pledged an estimated $13.3 billion in aid to the Caribbean nation in the wake of the devastation. Along with Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, former President Bill Clinton, who was UN Special Envoy to Haiti, became co-chairman of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC). From January 2010 through June 2012, $9.04 billion in international funding was raised — $3.04 billion from individuals and companies, and $6.04 billion from bilateral and multilateral donors. Of the $6.04 billion, 9.6 percent, or $580 million went to the Haitian government, while 0.6 percent or $36.2 million went to local Haitian organizations. The lion’s share, 89.8 percent of $5.4 billion went to non-Haitian organizations, including private contractors, international NGOs, and military and civilian agencies of donor countries, including the Pentagon, which charged the State Department hundreds of millions of dollars.

Critics have pointed at the Clinton Foundation, alleging the charity had control over the billions of dollars in aid to Haiti. During the 2016 presidential campaign, the Clintons’ involvement in Haiti translated into mixed feelings in the Haitian-American community about Hillary Clinton, ranging from low enthusiasm to disappointment and anger. As secretary of state, Clinton supported the presidency of Michel Martelly, intruding into Haitian electoral politics by flying to Haiti in 2011 to pressure President René Préval to allow Martelly to participate in a two-person runoff. Martelly won. As president, Martelly selected Special Envoy Bill Clinton’s chief of staff as prime minister, and gave important positions to people with criminal backgrounds, and was known for corruption and violent government repression, and attempting to install his successor. Mrs. Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham, became a member of an advisory board of a mining company that owns a gold mine in Haiti and was introduced to the company through the Clinton Global Initiative arm of the Clinton Foundation. All of this fueled speculation that the United States and the Clintons were installing a puppet government and engaging in profiteering and drew the ire of Haitians and Haitian-Americans.

Reflecting the anger against the Clintons among the Haitian-American community, on January 12, the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti (Komokoda) held a protest outside the Clinton Foundation headquarters in New York City. Speaking at the protest was Dahoud Andre, president of Komokoda and a radio host.

The organization says it continues to protest the Clintons because “there is still no justice despite the billions they have stolen through Bill Clinton’s position (as) UN Special Envoy to Haiti in March of 2009 in the aftermath of 4 major storms which devastated parts of our country; through the post 2010 earthquake Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission; through foreign governments and corporations funneling hundreds of millions (most of them undisclosed) for favors from then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Clinton Foundation under the guise of helping Haiti; and through the Clinton-Bush Fund,” Komokoda said in a press statement. In light of the announcement by the Justice Department, the group says it remains vigilant and demands a serious investigation, and that any crimes are fully prosecuted and punished. “It is itself a crime that this Justice Department prosecuted and got a conviction against Corrine Brown, Florida’s first African-American Congressperson since Reconstruction for corruption related to $800,000 from her ‘One Door for Education’ charity and yet it took them this long to even start an investigation of the Clintons,” the statement added.

Komokoda’s claims of the Justice Department’s tardiness in looking at the Clintons notwithstanding, Bill and Hillary Clinton have together and separately weathered multiple federal and congressional investigations ranging from Whitewater in the 1990s through the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of private email servers as secretary of state that wrapped up in 2016 during her campaign for president. The latest probe, a renewal of an investigation that began under the Obama administration, has found the Clintons prepared to respond.

The Clinton Foundation told Atlanta Black Star that it raised $30 million for the Haiti earthquake relief efforts, and did not have control over the bulk of the $9 billion raised for Haiti. “Overall, we’d point out that many of the claims about the Clinton Foundation and Haiti have been found to be flat-out false,” the Clinton Foundation press office said in a statement. “All funding collected by the Clinton Foundation for Haiti was distributed in full to aid groups on the ground, and we have documented which groups received this funding and what it was for. The Clinton Foundation did not take a penny in overhead for our work.”

The foundation also pointed to various refuted claims, including Trump’s assertion that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did favors for Clinton Foundation donors, and that “Hillary Clinton set aside environmental and labor rules to help a South Korean company with a record of violating workers’ rights set up what amounts to a sweatshop in Haiti.” Politifact depicted his claim as “mostly false.” BBC reported that the foundation and the State Department arranged with the Haitian government for a $300 million, 600-acre factory to produce clothing for retail giants such as Target, Walmart and Old Navy. Several hundred farmers were evicted to clear the land, and the South Korean textile company Sae-A Trading Co. later donated between $50,000 and $100,000 to the foundation. While Clinton said the facility would produce 100,000 jobs, only 8,000 were created.

While there is disagreement over the role of the Clinton Foundation in Haiti, it is certain that billions of dollars were raised for Haiti. The American Red Cross raised $500 million for Haiti, spent one-quarter of the funds on internal expenses and only built six houses. The people of Haiti, the first Black republic, have suffered and continue to suffer. Everyone has failed Haiti.

Official - Sweet Micky excluded from the Carnival of Gonaïves

The carnival committee wants a parade without violence and without obscene words. Sweet Micky will thus be replaced by Roody Rood Boy.

Gonaives, on Wednesday, January 24^th, 2018 ((rezonodwes.com)) - The group
“Sweet Micky” led by the singer Michel Joseph Martelly, lost its spot to participate in the three days carnival in Gonaives.

This decision was taken by the municipal committee of the 2018 carnival following a meeting with the group "Les Indépendants" which had demanded the banishment of the group because of its insults against women and the obscene words usually uttered by former President Martelly during his performances.

The president of the Gonaives Carnival Committee, Réginald Jean Baptiste, who confirmed the news to journalists, also revealed that Sweet Micky’s sponsor decided to no longer support him. He believes that the Haitian family must be protected.

Réginald Jean Baptiste declared that the authorities want to organize a carnival without violence and without bad language. He indicated that the preparations are progressing well to realize this second edition of the carnival." All the groups already have their contract. The building of stands is well underway, and approximately two hundred police officers will come to reinforce the PNH troops, based in the municipality.

In Jacmel, where the former president encountered the same difficulties, Mayor Marky Kessa met with members of the private sector, and promised to make a decision very soon.

With Rolguy Docteur

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