Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 15 Mars 2022

 Haitian films slated to show at Miami Film Festival

BY THE HAITIAN TIMES MAR. 07, 2022

The Haitian Times

“Parsley” is set in the midst of the 1937 massacre that took place on the Haitian-Dominican border. Photo Credit:  Timothy K Fitzgerald/Visit Films

MIAMI — Several Haitian movies are slated for screenings during the 39th annual Miami Film Festival that kicked off last Friday showcasing dozens of films, viewable both in-person and virtually. 

“Parsley,” directed by Dominican director José María Cabral, explores the relationship between a Haitian woman and her Dominican husband in the midst of the 1937 massacre called “El Corte,” or “the cutting,” when thousands of Haitians along the border were slaughtered by Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina. 

“I just wanted to have a human story where people could identify in a way and see how decisions made by a dictatorship really affected communities, affected families, affected human beings independently of where they are from,” saidCabral in an interview with The Miami Herald.

“Parsley” is showing on the evening of Mar. 7 and will be available to stream online the following day. 

On Mar. 8, the festival will feature “Madame Pipi,” a documentary by director Rachelle Salnave that looks at the lives of Haitian women bathroom attendants in Miami’s nightclubs. 

“Freda,” a film by Jessica Généus that garnered Oscar nomination buzz last year, will show in-person on Mar. 12. Généus will participate in a Q&A following the showing.

Looking at the life of a university student in the midst of a political tumult, Freda has garnered praise from Francis Ford Coppola and is Haiti’s official selection for the upcoming Academy Awards.

ARRIVAL OF HAITIAN BOATS TO SOUTH FLORIDA

Recent arrivals of hundreds of Haitians in the Keys is a sign of new trafficking routes

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES AND DAVID GOODHUE UPDATED MARCH 11, 2022 3:50 PM

The arrival of nearly 700 Haitians in a string of dramatic migrant landings near an exclusive wealthy enclave in the Upper Florida Keys over the past four months suggests that those behind the rise in Haitian boat migration are getting bolder, and using new trafficking routes, incouding the northern coast of Cuba, to get to the United States.

The arrival of nearly 700 Haitians in a string of dramatic migrant landings near an exclusive wealthy enclave in the Upper Florida Keys over the past four months suggests that those behind the rise in Haitian boat migration are getting bolder, and using new trafficking routes to get to the United States. While smugglers are still ferrying desperate Haitians in overloaded, battered sailboats from Haiti, the clandestine voyages have become much better organized and sophisticated, U.S. and Haitian authorities say. The boats are now bigger and even engine-powered as opposed to sail, and smugglers are employing GPS technology and other methods to evade detection by the U.S. Coast Guard. “They are taking the routes that will lead them to Key West and elsewhere via areas with less surveillance by the U.S. Coast Guard,” said Eric Prévost Junior, the director general of Haiti’s Maritime and Navigation Service. “That’s the tendency; they are changing routes from time to time, because there are routes they take that always lead to interception by the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Since November, four overloaded boats crammed with Haitians fleeing desperate conditions in Haiti have ended up near the ultra exclusive Ocean Reef Club in North Key Largo, located at the end of a remote two-lane highway that was made famous by drug traffickers in the 1970s and ‘80s. The most recent landing involved 356 Haitians, whose battered wooden freighter stopped just 200 yards from the shoreline of the resort Sunday after running aground. As the boat tilted on its side, 158 migrants jumped into the ocean and swam to the shore, their rush to freedom captured on video. Another 198 who remained aboard the boat were later transferred to a U.S. Coast Guard cutter for repatriation to Haiti.

Two days earlier, another overloaded sailboat, this one jam-packed with 123 Haitians, was stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard about 10 miles off Anguilla Cay, a Bahamian island just north of Cuba. U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Benjamin Golightly of District 7, which oversees Florida and Puerto Rico, would not say whether Haitian migrants trying to illegally enter the U.S. by sea are taking new routes, citing not wanting to disclose Coast Guard “patrol patterns.” But anecdotal evidence and interviews with those monitoring the recent uptick suggests that boats are using the coastlines and territorial waters of Cuba to reach the Keys, which are located just 90 miles north of the communist island. Last fall, after several Haitians arrived in the eastern and central provinces of Cuba, the country’s foreign ministry confirmed the arrival of an unspecified number of Haitians via boat in a bid to reach the U.S. By the end of last year, Cuba had repatriated 1,362 Haitians, according to the International Office for Migration, the U.N. agency tasked with receiving returning migrants. But even as some boats carrying Haitians are interdicted by the Cubans, there are also reports of them being helped in their journey.

This week, after a group of Haitian migrants were picked up in Cabo Rojo, a town in the southwest corner of Puerto Rico, a local newspaper reported that the migrants had reportedly left from the quake-ravaged city of Jérémie along the southwest peninsula of Haiti. The waters of the Caribbean reportedly took them toward Cuba where another boat found them and gave them food and gas, and redirected them to Puerto Rico. Golightly declined to provide specifics on how Cuba handles Haitian boats passing through its waters, other than to say each case is unique. “We make every attempt to work with our partners, both nationally and internationally to stop them at the point of origin,” he said, adding that the U.S. Coast Guard is always on regular patrols throughout the straits of Florida, the Bahamas and the Windward and Mona passages and areas north of Cuba. Still, in November when the first of the boatloads arrived, some of the 63 Haitians said they had been at sea for three weeks. “Our focus remains on trying to safely stop those voyages or working with anyone who is in a position to potentially safely stop those voyages to where we don’t have vessels capsizing and potentially hundreds of people lost at sea,” Golightly said.

FLEEING GANG VIOLENCE

Haitian émigré Jean-Pierre, who arrived in the U.S. five years ago, said his wife and three young children, ages 9, 6, and 4, were among the 123 people the Coast Guard stopped off Anguilla Cay last week. They were packed on the deck of the wooden vessel, which a U.S. Coast Guard aircraft filmed bobbing up and down in the high seas. “When I see that video, I cried,” said Jean-Pierre, who did not want to give his full name, nor that of his wife, fearing for his family’s safety.

He spoke to the Miami Herald after confirming with Bahamian authorities that his family was in custody. He said Bahamian authorities would not let him speak to his wife and were planning to send them back to Haiti. “They spent five days at sea, and now they’re going to go back,” he said. “Psychologically, they’re affected. We don’t know if there’s anything we can do.” Over the past five months, the U.S. Coast Guard has interdicted 1,152 Haitians trying to reach Florida and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. The surge comes after years of negligible sea migration by Haitians, who over the last decade had chosen the dangerous jungles of South America and tenuous land borders of Central America to try to reach the U.S. But all that changed after last July’s assassination of the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse, and the deadly magnitude 7.2 earthquake that followed five weeks later in the country’s southern peninsula. Both helped fueled an increase in migration, along with an escalation in gang-related violence and kidnappings. Combined with deepening political and economic crises, Haitians are being pushed to take unimaginable risks, a study by IOM found.

National Center of Haitian Apostolate

TALK SHOW OF THE HEALTH SYSTEM OF HAITI WITH HAITIAN DOCTORS AND HAITIAN NURSE FROM 5 COUNTRIES

https://youtu.be/LsbI_s6vu9U

   The staff of Radio Telé Solidarité continues to do everything that depends on them to have a close relationship with the young people and professionals of the Haitian community of the diaspora and Haiti. Sr. Annecie Audate FMA, one the of religious stars of the Congregation of Salesian Sisters in the Eternal City and General Director of VIDES International despite her multiple obligations, has agreed to conduct a program for us once a month on Radio Telé Solidarité. The staff of Radio Telé Solidarité is very grateful to Sr. Audate. Allow me to paraphrase Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) who wrote: "Gratitude is the memory of the heart". 

    For this talk show we had: Argentina: Dr. Egzer Prophete, Dr. Mackendy Oge and Dr. Jehu Joseph, Brazil: Dr. Louis Hercule Jr. Thymogene, United States: Dr. Gabrielle Bien Aimé, Mrs. Jeannette Jean Pierre RC and Mr. Kevin Borgella, Haiti: Dr. Ralph Papouche Desmard and Dominican Republic Dr. Gerome Claff Kelly and Sr. Annecie Audate FMA directed this program.

     In the first part of the program the panelists introduced themselves and after Sr. Annecie made a presentation on the International Day of the Sick inaugurated by Blessed Pope John Paul II almost 3o years ago. Each patient is a unique person with their weaknesses and limitations. Compassion towards the sick has motivated several members of the Christian Community to found several hospitals to welcome the sick. Sr. Annecie focused on the war in Ukraine and the cases of abortions that are happening around the world, these innocent people who are sometimes murdered after 6 months in their mother's womb because they cannot speak or defend themselves. Sr. Annecie took the opportunity to ask this question to the panelists: What are the challenges of Haiti's health system?

      Dr. Gehu Joseph who studied medicine in the Dominican Republic and who practices his profession in Argentina was the first to intervene. He insisted a lot on security and education to improve the health system of Haiti. I mentioned that doctors have no back up or support in Haiti What is the salary of a doctor in Haiti? Factory workers in North America can earn better wages than many doctors in Haiti.

      Dr. Gabrielle Bien Aimé focused on social inequalities in Haiti, especially in terms of health care. The peasants of the most remote places in Haiti do not have access to health care. She insisted a lot on the health care given in the public hospitals of Haiti where the patients are obliged to buy gloves, bandages for their care. Do the doctors of Haiti still have the best medical equipment  to take care of the patients of Haiti? How can we structure Haiti's health system?

       Several of them spoke about the problem of insecurity that the doctors of Haiti face in the exercise of their profession at the time when I write this text there are at least 3 Haitian doctors who are knocked in their Clinic and the kidnappers always ask for big money for their release. They went on to reminisce with sadness despite their great love for their homeland Haiti they are not yet ready to return. Even in the Dominican Republic, Haitian doctors are more numerous than those of Haiti

     Sr. Annecie encouraged the doctors to return, she let them know that the Republic of Port-au-Prince (Port aux Crimes) is not Haiti and they will be welcomed by the people of Haiti if they are ready to practice their profession in the provinces of Haiti. She mentioned the name of her aunt Marie Abdon (Donne) Audate who is 93 years old and who practiced the profession of Midwife for nearly 70 years in her hometown of Carice in the North East Department of Haiti. Aunt Donne is among the famous people of Carice and she thanked the Lord who allowed her during her career as a Wise Woman to save the babies and her mother. To listen to this show click on the link: https://youtu.be/LsbI_s6vu9U

Brother Tob

Rally in Front of the Dania Beach Border Patrol Station to Stop The Deportation of Haitians

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Family Action Network Movement

Dania Beach Border Patrol Station

1800 NE 7th AVE, Dania Beach, FL 33004

 Family Action Network Movement (FANM) Rallies in Front of the Dania Beach Border Patrol Station Against All Haitian Refugees Expulsions 

 WHAT: Family Action Network Movement (FANM), Community Leaders, Stakeholders, Immigration Advocates, and impacted community members Strongly Urge the Biden Administration to Stop All Deportations!

WHO: Family Action Network Movement (FANM), Community Leaders/Stakeholder, Immigration Advocates and impacted community members

WHEN: Saturday, March 12, 2022

 TIME: 4:00 PM ET

WHERE:  Dania Beach Border Patrol Station, 1800 NW 7th AVE Dania Beach, FL 33004

 MIAMI, FL----  On March 6, 2022, a group of 300  Haitian refugees, including women and children were detained by U.S. authorities after arriving ashore in Key Largo. This follows the arrival of two previous large groups traveling from Haiti to the United States this past week – 179 people were detained on Sunday, February 27 , stopped just off of the Bahamian island of Andros, and 123 people were detained on Friday, March 4th.  The arrival of these refugees does not come as a surprise, given the ongoing turmoil in Haiti, amidst widespread insecurity, kidnapping, state sponsored killings, gender based violence and other atrocious acts against activists, journalists, workers  compounded by natural disasters and challenges stemming from the COVID 19 pandemic.  Family Action Network Movement (FANM) joins elected officials, community, faith, and business  leaders to urge the Biden Administration to release all of the refugees including women and children in their own recognizance and not deport them to Haiti where their lives might be in danger. 

Family Action Network Movement (FANM)  is a private not-for-profit organization dedicated to the social, economic, financial and political empowerment of low to moderate-income families.

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Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 9 Mars 2022

 
A must read. The opinion of a man who has defended US interest all his life !

 How the Ukraine crisis endsBy Henry Kissinger
PUBLIC discussion on Ukraine is all about confrontation. But do we know where we are going? In my life, I have seen four wars begun with great enthusiasm and public support, all of which we did not know how to end and from three of which we withdrew unilaterally. The test of policy is how it ends, not how it begins.

Far too often the Ukrainian issue is posed as a showdown: whether Ukraine joins the East or the West. But if Ukraine is to survive and thrive, it must not be either side’s outpost against the other – it should function as a bridge between them.

Russia must accept that to try to force Ukraine into a satellite status, and thereby move Russia’s borders again, would doom Moscow to repeat its history of self-fulfilling cycles of reciprocal pressures with Europe and the United States.

The West must understand that, to Russia, Ukraine can never be just a foreign country. Russian history began in what was called Kievan-Rus. The Russian religion spread from there. Ukraine has been part of Russia for centuries, and their histories were intertwined before then. Some of the most important battles for Russian freedom, starting with the Battle of Poltava in 1709, were fought on Ukrainian soil. 

The Black Sea Fleet – Russia’s means of projecting power in the Mediterranean – is based by long-term lease in Sevastopol, in Crimea. Even such famed dissidents as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Joseph Brodsky insisted that Ukraine was an integral part of Russian history and, indeed, of Russia.

The European Union must recognize that its bureaucratic dilatoriness and subordination of the strategic element to domestic politics in negotiating Ukraine’s relationship to Europe contributed to turning a negotiation into a crisis. Foreign policy is the art of establishing priorities.
The Ukrainians are the decisive element. They live in a country with a complex history and a polyglot composition. 

The Western part was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1939, when Stalin and Hitler divided up the spoils. Crimea, 60 per cent of whose population is Russian, became part of Ukraine only in 1954 , when Nikita Khrushchev, a Ukrainian by birth, awarded it as part of the 300th-year celebration of a Russian agreement with the Cossacks. The West is largely Catholic; the East largely Russian Orthodox. The West speaks Ukrainian; the East speaks mostly Russian. 

Any attempt by one wing of Ukraine to dominate the other – as has been the pattern – would lead eventually to civil war or breakup. To treat Ukraine as part of an East-West confrontation would scuttle for decades any prospect to bring Russia and the West – especially Russia and Europe – into a cooperative international system.

Ukraine has been independent for only 23 years; it had previously been under some kind of foreign rule since the 14th century. Not surprisingly, its leaders have not learned the art of compromise, even less of historical perspective. 

The politics of post-independence Ukraine clearly demonstrates that the root of the problem lies in efforts by Ukrainian politicians to impose their will on recalcitrant parts of the country, first by one faction, then by the other. 

That is the essence of the conflict between Viktor Yanu­kovych and his principal political rival, Yulia Tymo­shenko. They represent the two wings of Ukraine and have not been willing to share power. A wise U.S. policy toward Ukraine would seek a way for the two parts of the country to cooperate with each other. We should seek reconciliation, not the domination of a faction.

Russia and the West, and least of all the various factions in Ukraine, have not acted on this principle. Each has made the situation worse. Russia would not be able to impose a military solution without isolating itself at a time when many of its borders are already precarious. For the West, the demonization of Vladimir Putin is not a policy; it is an alibi for the absence of one.Putin should come to realize that, whatever his grievances, a policy of military impositions would produce another Cold War. For its part, the United States needs to avoid treating Russia as an aberrant to be patiently taught rules of conduct established by Washington. Putin is a serious strategist – on the premises of Russian history. Understanding U.S. values and psychology are not his strong suits. Nor has understanding Russian history and psychology been a strong point of U.S. policymakers.

Leaders of all sides should return to examining outcomes, not compete in posturing. Here is my notion of an outcome compatible with the values and security interests of all sides:

• 
  Ukraine should have the right to choose freely its economic and political associations, including with Europe.
• 
  Ukraine should not join NATO, a position I took seven years ago, when it last came up.
• 
  Ukraine should be free to create any government compatible with the expressed will of its people. Wise Ukrainian leaders would then opt for a policy of reconciliation between the various parts of their country. Internationally, they should pursue a posture comparable to that of Finland. That nation leaves no doubt about its fierce independence and cooperates with the West in most fields but carefully avoids institutional hostility toward Russia.
• 
  It is incompatible with the rules of the existing world order for Russia to annex Crimea. But it should be possible to put Crimea’s relationship to Ukraine on a less fraught basis. To that end, Russia would recognize Ukraine’s sovereignty over Crimea. Ukraine should reinforce Crimea’s autonomy in elections held in the presence of international observers. The process would include removing any ambiguities about the status of the Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol.

These are principles, not prescriptions. People familiar with the region will know that not all of them will be palatable to all parties. The test is not absolute satisfaction but balanced dissatisfaction. If some solution based on these or comparable elements is not achieved, the drift toward confrontation will accelerate. The time for that will come soon enough.

• 
  Kissinger was secretary of state from 1973 to 1977. The article was first published in Washington Post.

National Center of Haitian Apostolate

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT (MARCH 6^TH, 2022) 

Dt 26: 4-10; Ps 91; Rom 10: 8-13; Lk 4: 1-13 

Last Wednesday we began the season of Lent in preparation for Holy Week and Easter. The word Lent comes from an old English word which means springtime. As nature gears itself for harvest time, the Church calls us to ready ourselves for a season of spiritual harvest: Easter.

The recall of Jesus’ temptations in the desert dominates the scene of this 1st Sunday of Lent. These temptations are typical. Jesus is hungry after spending forty days of fasting. Satan lures him to change a stone into bread. Do we get it? Hunger is an experience of the flesh. People tend to do anything to satisfy the demands of the flesh. Jesus in rebuking the tempter teaches us that “Man does not live of bread alone.” Instead of being enslaved to the flesh, as is frequently the case, we must learn to be intent on the “things from heaven”. God’s words is much more precious than the satisfaction provided by bread. Wake up Christian! Hunger for spiritual goods!

“God alone shall you adore” is Jesus’ response to the 2nd temptation. Bow down and adore and I’ll give you power and all kinds of richness. Did it ever occur to you that many people give to the values of the world an allegiance that is due to God alone? There are new forms of idolatry. Tell me which god you worship and I will tell you who you are! Be careful!

“Don’t put God to the test” is the third answer to the third temptation: Easy success and glory. People commit all forms of crimes for the sake of money, power, pride and illicit pleasures. Let us use these forty days of Lent to strip from our hearts all evil desires and dispose our souls to a spring time of spiritual gifts! 

BIDEN STATE OT THE UNION ADDRESS

Five points, reactions most relevant for Haitians from Biden’s SOTU address

BY THE HAITIAN TIMES MAR. 03, 2022

The Haitian Times

Biden delivers his first State of the Union address amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. [Jabin Botsford, Pool via AP]

NEW YORK — President Joe Biden delivered his annual State of the Unionaddress March 1, and gained support for his key points about the Russo-Ukrainian war. Biden also touched on a variety of issues and concerns affecting the American people, including immigration, inflation and COVID — issues that are at the forefront for many Haitian families.

Below are some of the subjects most relevant to Haitian-Americans, and reactions related to those topics from others.

Immigration: “If we are to advance liberty and justice, we need to secure the border and fix the immigration system. At our border, we’ve installed new technology like cutting-edge scanners to better detect drug smuggling.”

Tens of thousands of Haitian refugees were deported last year by the Biden administration at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Reaction: “The thousands of people who tried to seek legal refuge on our southern border, how Haitian refugees have been treated by the United States, not just in past administrations, but frankly this one, is not right,” saidCongressperson Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “We really need to make sure that when we talk about accepting refugees, that we are meaning it for everybody, no matter where you come from.” 

Inflation: “With all the bright spots in our economy, record job growth and higher wages, too many families are struggling to keep up with the bills …that’s why my top priority is getting prices under control.”

Locally-owned Haitian businesses, such as restaurants in New York, have been bearing the brunt of inflation since last year. 

Reaction: “The biggest problem for President Biden is that there’s no good way to message inflation,” said Jason Furman, a White House economic official under the Obama administration. “There’s not a lot he can do about it, but he can’t get up there and say ‘The only solution here is patience and the Federal Reserve.’”

COVID-19: “We must prepare for new variants. If necessary, we’ll be able to deploy new vaccines within 100 days instead of many more months or years.”

Haitian enclaves, like those in Brooklyn’s East Flatbush neighborhood, suffered disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 infections. 

Reaction: “Under POTUS’ leadership, hundreds of millions of Americans are vaccinated against COVID-19 — it saved lives … let’s use this moment to reset,” tweeted California Congressperson Eric Swalwell. 

Health care: “The American Rescue Plan is helping millions of families on Affordable Care Act plans save $2,400 a year on their health care premiums. Let’s close the coverage gap and make those savings permanent.”  

For years, Haitian immigrants have struggled with inaccessible treatment to health care and lower rates for insurance coverage. 

Reaction: “The idea of passing some form of the bill may be alive, but it’s hanging by a thread — and the next few weeks are critical to see if lawmakers can jump-start the effort,” wrote Washington Post reporter Rachel Roubein. 

Taxes: “Nobody earning less than $400,000 a year will pay an additional penny in taxes, not a single penny.”

The household income for Black immigrants was 16% lower than the average American, with unfair tax rates disproportionately affecting their populations. 

Reaction: “On average, the top 10% of tax filers, or those earning more than $115,800, could see their after-tax income shrink if one version of Biden’s plan took effect,” according to CNN. 

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 1 Mars 2022

 Haitians in Mexico

FEB. 23, 2022

The Haitian Times

A periodic update by The Haitian Times

Many Haitians are settling in Mexico as they are finding employment.

Haitians receive largest share of humanitarian visas in Mexico

MEXICO — Mexico’s National Institute of Migration granted 41,409 humanitarian visas to Haitians in 2021, making Haitians the largest group among many nationalities to receive that type of entry document. A recent report by Mexico’s Migration Policy Department, or Unidad de Política Migratoria, provides the statistics.

The visa, called Visitors Permit due to Humanitarian Concerns, or Tarjetas de Visitantes por Razones Humanitarias, allows Haitians to apply for jobs and housing in Mexico for a one-year period. In December 2021 alone, the report shows, about 70% of these visas were granted.

The increase in humanitarian visas took place as Mexico’s National Migration Institute was relocating Haitians from Tapachula, Chiapas to other cities. 

A Dec. 5, 2021 Facebook post from the Haitian embassy in Mexico shared information on the relocation program.

“Congratulations to INAMI (Instituto Nacional de Migracion) and the Consulate of Haiti in Tapachula who were able to get 65 buses out of Tapachula on Saturday December 4, 2021 to other cities for a total of 2,951 Haitians. Good work,” read the post.

Tapachula, bordering Guatemala in the south of Mexico, is the main entry point for Haitians arriving from Chile and Brazil, and where most requests for asylum are made. 

Because Mexican migration law says asylum seekers must complete the asylum applications in the department where their initial requests were made, tens of thousands of Haitians had been waiting for months in Tapachula.

The visa will allow Haitian asylum seekers to begin settling throughout Mexico, as many have decided to stay in the country after abandoning plans to reach the United States.

Haitians slowly joining formal labor force in Mexicali, Mexico

MEXICALI — About 170 Haitians are now employed at businesses that are part of Coparmex Mexicali, an advocacy and support group comprising local businesses, despite the slow pace of hiring of immigrants, reported El Imparcial. 

Most of the jobs are in the textile industry, which has the greatest number of openings, Octavio Sandoval López, president of Coparmex Mexicali, told El Imparcial. 

Sandoval López said hiring had been stagnant due to the difficulty of getting an appointment with the Tax Administration Service and because many Haitians don’t have a physical address in the city. 

To date, local authorities have granted 200 appointments to Haitians to initiate the process of getting a Tax ID so they can seek employment.

Haitians, including 14 pregnant, moved from shelter to house ‘Stay in México’ refugees

MEXICALI — A group of 81 Haitians were relocated from a shelter in División del Norte, Mexicali, to make room for a group of Mexicans who are part of the ‘Stay in México’ program, reported Pregoreno de Baja California.

The United States government’s ‘Stay in Mexico’ program, officially known as Migrant Protocols Program, allows for asylum seekers who arrive in the U.S. by land to be returned to Mexico to wait while their immigration case is processed in the U.S.
The Haitians, which included 14 pregnant women, were relocated to various shelters in Mexicali during the weekend of Feb. 11, according to the Pregorenoreport.

Haitian children allowed to attend school in Nuevo León

NUEVO LEÓN, Mexico — The Secretary of Education of Nuevo León, México, declared that Haitian children will receive the support necessary to continue their education. That support will include making Haitian Creole teachers available in the schools, Telediario reported on Feb. 15.

Dr. Paul Farmer, global health giant, dies at 62

 (CNN) — Dr. Paul Farmer, a physician who championed global health and sought to bring modern medical science to those most in need around the world, died unexpectedly in his sleep in Rwanda on Monday, according to Partners in Health, the nonprofit organization he founded. He was 62.

Farmer, who was also an infectious disease specialist and a medical anthropologist, is survived by his wife, Didi Bertrand Farmer, and three children.

Partners in Health CEO Dr. Sheila Davis said in a statement, "Paul Farmer's loss is devastating, but his vision for the world will live on through Partners in Health. Paul taught all those around him the power of accompaniment, love for one another, and solidarity. Our deepest sympathies are with his wife and three children."

Partners in Health, founded in 1987, had two goals: to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair.

In addition to the work he did as co-founder and chief strategist of Partners in Health, Farmer was chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He was a prolific writer and authored numerous books, including "Partner to the Poor."

The global medical community responded in shock and dismay to news of Farmer's death.

"We grieve," tweeted Kimberlyn Leary, senior vice president at the Urban Institute. "A giant of a person for whom no other person was less."

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Twitter, "I am devastated by the loss of Paul Farmer -- a friend, mentor, and unparalleled visionary for global public health. Countless people are alive because of his investment in public health infrastructure, in direct care delivery, and in selflessly training other to do the same."

Farmer's life's work was the delivery of high-quality health care in resource-poor settings.

In 2017, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta visited Haiti to tour and work in University Hospital, the 300-bed, state-of-the-art facility that Partners in Health built in Mirebalais.

The hospital had intensive care units for adults and infants, a emergency ward and an oncology unit for cancer patients. 

Gupta noted that Farmer functioned under the belief that the "location and circumstances of your birth should never dictate that quality of your care."

Though Partners in Health was active around the world, Farmer and his organization continued to be mindful of health care needs closer to home, too.

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During the pandemic, Farmer recognized that the US public health system didn't have enough workers to do effective contact tracing to stop the spread of Covid-19. He partnered with the state of Massachusetts to bolster its work force and expanded to bring contact tracing to the Navajo Nation and Mexico.

"Paul was an inspiration, one of the people who drew me (and many others) to global health. My thoughts are with this his family who must be reeling at this unexpected and tragic event," wrote Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund, on Twitter.

CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta contributed to this report.

Haiti hikes minimum wage by up to 54% following worker protests

ReutersFebruary 21, 20224:50 PM EST

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Haiti's government on Monday hiked the minimum wage by as much as 54% following weeks of demonstrations by garment workers who say their wages are not enough to keep up with the rising cost of living.

The office of Prime Minister Ariel Henry on Twitter posted a sliding scale of wage hikes that vary by economic activity, with the greatest increase going to workers in areas such as the electricity and telecommunications industries.

Employees in the clothing manufacturing sector, which export finished products to U.S. retailers, received a 37% increase. That takes their wages to just under $7.50 per day, compared with the $15 per day that union leaders had demanded.

For decades, Haiti has promoted itself as a center for clothing manufacturing thanks to low wages and proximity to U.S. markets.

Workers over the years have complained that pay is too low to cover basic goods, which are often more expensive than in other countries due to weak infrastructure and gang violence.

A group of U.S. members of Congress in November said they were asking the heads of 62 American companies that import garments from Haiti for information on "protections in place for workers employed by their companies and suppliers."

Haitian officials have in the past said that increasing wages by too much would leave the garment industries at risk of losing competitiveness with respect to other countries such as the neighboring Dominican Republic.

Reporting by Gessika Thomas, writing by Brian Ellsworth; editing by Grant McCool

Haiti agrees to increase minimum wage

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 21, CMC – Haiti has announced an increase in the minimum wage less than a week after police used teargas to disperse textile workers who had taken to the streets to demand better pay.

The workers were demanding a 300 per cent increase in the minimum wage, which is now 500 Gourdes per eight-hour working day, in addition to other social benefits such as transport and food subsidies.

The Council of Ministers met on Sunday and agreed to increase the minimum wage for different categories of workers effective Monday.

According to the decree published in the Official Journal “Le Moniteur” workers in the private electricity production; financial institutions, telecommunications; import-export trade; supermarkets; jewellery stores; art galleries; furniture, furniture and appliance stores; doctor's office and polyclinics, will receive an 54 per cent increase moving their minimum wage from 500 to 770 Gourdes.

The council said workers in the buildings and public works (BTP); truck and heavy machinery rental companies; construction material rental companies; construction material transport companies; hardware stores; other financial institutions such as cooperatives, credit unions will receive a 39. 7 per cent increase with their new wages being 615 Gourdes, up from 440 Gourdes.

Another segment of workers who received 385 Gourdes per eight-hour day, will now receive 540 Gourdes and these workers are those in the restaurants; agriculture, forestry, livestock and fishing; agricultural products processing industry and retail trade.

The decree had also announced salary increases 37 to 40 per cent for workers whose daily pay ranges from 250to 440 Gourdes.

Last week, Senate President, Joseph Lambert, called for an independent investigation into the circumstances that led to cops using teargas to break up a demonstration by textile workers who had been seeking an increase in wages.

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Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 23 Février 2022

 HAITIANS IN AFRICA

The Failure of Categories: Haitians in the United Nations Organization in the Congo, 1960 – 1964

Article in Journal of Haitian Studies · August 2014 DOI: 10.1353/jhs.2014.0001

Regine Jackson

Agnes Scott College

 The United Nations and its specialized agencies began recruitment efforts to replace European administrators of African bureaucracies as early as 1958. After the Democratic Republic of Congo achieved independence from Belgium in June 1960, the UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld launched the most extensive and prominent among these efforts: the United Nations Organization in the Congo or ONUC (Organisation des National Unies au Congo).4 For four years, the Civilian Operations Program recruited

French-speaking professionals and technicians from all over the world to help establish the country’s infrastructure and to supplement the small Congolese leadership class. Hundreds of Haitians—teachers, professors, engineers, and doctors—went to Africa as part of the ONUC program. By 1962, Haitian émigrés constituted the second largest contingent of UN staff experts working in the Congo.5 Maurice Dartigue was Chief of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Africa Division. Dr. Athemas Bellerive directed the World Health Organization (WHO) medical team that included several Haitian doctors (see Figure 1). And in 1963, ONUC’s military force was commanded by Max H. Dorsinville.6

A relatively large number of Haitians participated in the UN programs in Benin and Cameroon, as well as in the Congo. Some Haitians spent career lifetimes with their families there. Yet what is known about the experiences of the estimated 7,500 Haitians in African countries amounts to undocumented fragments that have accumulated over time and are repeated in literature and various commentaries.

The historiography of post–World War II pan-Africanism focuses primarily on Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa as sites of resistance and black internationalist activism. As Martin and West note, referring to Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic and The Practice of Diaspora by Brent Hayes Edwards, “That literature, even in its more recent diasporic and Black Atlantic variations, displays a consistent Afro-Saxon bias.”7 When Haiti is mentioned at all, it is frozen in time in 1804; in popular and scholarly perception, Haiti’s impact on the world is effectively limited to the Haitian Revolution. The connections between Haiti and Africa—and the relationships between Haitian and African peoples—are imagined as largely symbolic, with no attention to the ways Haitian émigrés took tangible, self-determined action on behalf of African sovereignty.8

Equally troubling, Africa only enters the scholarship on Haitian migration in the work of epidemiologists. Here, the “Haitian hypothesis” proliferates, alleging that Haitian people brought AIDS to the United States in the 1970s after returning from Africa.9 The overall effect of these accounts is that Africa is written out of the Haitian diaspora and vice versa. More familiar narratives of migration to North America, Western Europe, and the nearby Caribbean dominate the scholarship, which naturalizes certain sites as destinations for Haitian migrants and for transnational political activity.10

The gaps in the historical record suggest a muting, if not complete erasure, of accounts that do not fit within the dominant discursive framework. The growing body of scholarship on the postcolonial period demonstrates that questions about the future of Africa animated blacks in the diaspora, who exhibited their support for the cause of African independence and development in a variety of ways. However, Haiti emerges as the “exceptional” case, somehow outside other transnational pan-Africanist movements, and Haitian migrants are locked within the mythic tropes of exile and refugee. In the current scholarly context, the idea that Haitians exercised some agency in their migration to Africa is unimaginable.

Based on a case study of Haitians in the ONUC, I propose that new interpretive frames are needed to see migration to postcolonial Africa as part of a long tradition of Haitian internationalism. As categories of analysis, “exile” and “brain drain” neglect important dimensions of migrant subjectivities. Even the term “expatriate” is baggage-laden, connoting not only whiteness but also lavish lifestyles, hedonistic pleasures, and social irresponsibility.11 I examine what is remembered about these Haitian émigrés: the common stories that circulate in the various commentaries and available accounts of the events surrounding their migration. My analysis is informed as much by what has been preserved in the archives and our collective memories as by what is missing. I make two interrelated observations: 1) the idea that Haitians saw postcolonial Africa as a space of possibility is notably absent in both official histories and personal accounts; and 2) certain interpretations of Haitian migration to the Congo seem to challenge the very logic of powerful discursive frames. I argue that this “failure of categories”—a phrase borrowed from Michel- Rolph Trouillot’s now-classic text Silencing the Past—narrows our ability to imagine how Haitians contributed to the project of mid-twentieth-century black internationalism as well as our modes of theorizing the Haitian diaspora.12 What is perhaps most significant about the story of Haitians in the ONUC, however, is how it impacts the production of Haitian history.

The research presented here is part of an ongoing collaborative study.13 In what follows, I juxtapose official historical accounts of the “Congo experiment” with autobiographical memories, oral histories, and written testimonials from Haitian nationals who lived in the Congo for at least one year during the 1960s. The sample is made up of men who were recruited to participate in the ONUC as well as their wives and adult children, born and/or raised in the Congo; the latter are especially privileged here. In the larger project, interviews with Haitian émigrés of the period who did not participate in the program and instead migrated to the United

The Failure of Categories: Haitians in the United Nations Organization in the Congo 37 States, or with those who stayed in Haiti, provide much-needed context for understanding local perceptions of the ONUC.

The principal archival sources I consulted are housed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The Papers of Maurice Dartigue, former Haitian Minister of Education, Agriculture, and Labor, were a primary focus. Dartigue went into exile in the United States after the overthrow of President Élie Lescot in 1946.14 He settled the same year in New York and began a career at the United Nations as a senior specialist in education in the Trusteeship department. He joined UNESCO in 1956, supervised the Major Latin American Project (LAMP), and was appointed Chief of UNESCO’s Africa Division in 1962. Dartigue worked with UNESCO to hire hundreds of Haitians to serve as professional and technical experts in newly independent African nations such as Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, and Nigeria. He also directed several educational and teacher-training programs in Africa until his retirement in 1971.

The Dartigue Papers attest to his important role as an advocate for Haitian migrants. They include correspondence with Haitians seeking employment opportunities outside of Haiti, as well as exchanges with Haitian presidents Paul Magloire and François Duvalier about the recruitment of Haitian professionals for projects in Africa. UN staff lists and various memoranda between Dartigue and the UN office in Paris also show him recommending Haitian nationals for posts in the Congo.15

In addition, I have conducted preliminary examinations of the records in the Council on African Affairs Collection. These include photocopies of several publications—such as the Council’s newsletter “Spotlight on Africa”—and the Printed Matter Series (1931–71) of the Ralph Bunche Papers, relating to Bunche’s career at the United Nations. Finally, the Association of Former World Health Organization Staff (AFSM) helped me to track Haitian doctors and their families who had been in the Congo in the 1960s. Archived copies of the AFSM’s quarterly newsletter, which provides news, information, and other features with the aim of promoting contacts among WHO retired staff, were a valuable resource as well. The association also collects the memoirs written by member authors in order to share valuable information about events and activities in the history of global health. Additional archival materials held in the private homes of key informants (Raoul Peck, John Dartigue, Raymond Dusseck, and others) helped fill gaps in textual, photographic, and other types of records.

Although this project aims primarily to address silences in the historical record, I am also interested in tracking the consumption of the categories used to construct individual and collective memories of Haitians in the

38 Regine O. Jackson

Congo. My concern is not only with the categories themselves, but also with the ways they structure (that is, how they both enable and disable) conceptual and empirical work.

Biden has deported nearly as many Haitians in his first year as the last three presidents – combined

February 18, 2022

Biden has expelled nearly as many Haitians in 12 months (20,200+) as were deported during the previous 20 years (21,900) under three different presidents. Indeed, Biden’s administration has likely expelled far more: In addition to these official removal numbers, another estimated 8,000 Haitians were expelled back into Mexico in September of 2021, voluntarily according to DHS Secretary Mayorkas, but in circumstances that make that characterization suspect.

The numbers

Through the end of January 2022, the Biden administration expelled 19,189 Haitians via flights to Port au Prince and Cap Haitian according to the International Organization on Migration. There have been an additional ten flights from February 1st to February 18th – bringing the estimated total number of people expelled to 20,200 and growing. For regular reporting on flights, see Witness at the Border.

Another 8,000 Haitians “volunteered” to return back to Mexico in September of 2021 according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, speaking during a press conference about the situation in the Del Rio sector. The degree to which people voluntarily went back into Mexico must be weighed against what they were facing – certain detention and deportation to Haiti. In addition, the entire fiasco that occurred at the Del Rio crossing was an abomination of human rights violations. There has been an internal DHS investigation into Border Patrol attacks on Haitian migrants and a lawsuitbrought by the Haitian Bridge Alliance and other organizations concerning the overall poor treatment of Haitians by US immigration authorities in Del Rio. 

The Trump administration expelled 6,150 Haitians. Just over 2,800 of those removals occurred early in 2017, following the Obama administration’s decision to expand deportations to Haiti in October of 2016. Indeed, of the 5,567 Haitians expelled in FY 2017, 2,737 were expelled by the Obama administration between October 2016 to January 2017. Most of the rest expelled that year occurred in February to April, and more accurately reflect an Obama policy. Trump announced his intention to suspend Temporary Protected Status for Haiti in late 2017 – but that suspension was tied up in courts throughout his presidency. 

The Obama administration expelled 6,670 Haitians over an 8 year period. As noted above 40% of those removals occurred in the first 4 months of FY 2017. Temporary Protected Status was re-designated for Haiti by the Obama administration in 2011 – a year after the massive earthquake that wrecked Port au Prince in January of 2010. Despite TPS being in place and the country in shambles, deportations continued for new arrivals and so called “criminal deportees” who did not qualify for TPS. The deportations were condemned by the United Nations and others. A detailed report on these removals was published in 2015 jointly by the law clinics at the Universities of Miami and Chicago.

In 2016 the massive increase in deportations was the result of an increase in arrivals of Haitians near San Diego, and was intended then (as today) as a deterrent. The Haitians arriving in San Diego were mostly leaving Brazil where many had relocated after the 2010 earthquake. From 2010 to 2015 Brazil admitted tens of thousands of Haitians in a drive for workers to help prepare for the Olympics and World Cup. Starting in 2015, Brazil fell into a recession, and the situation for Haitians deteriorated quickly. Many tried to come to the United States in 2015 and 2016. They were mostly blocked at the border, as the Obama administration instituted its “metering” system, which forced Haitians to wait in Mexico for their number to be called. Some are still waiting. 

The Bush administration deported 9,100 Haitians – during a time that included an increase in removals following the 9/11/2001 attacks and an increase in border militarization more generally. The Bush years also covered the 2004 coup d’etat in Haiti, following which the US Coast Guard interdicted and returned hundreds of Haitians caught at sea – though nothing like the number that had been interdicted in the 1990s. Those numbers are not included here or in any other year, as the people interdicted in this manner rarely make it to the United States.

Take Action to Stop Removals:

We need to tell Biden to halt the expulsion of Haitians. At least 85% of these expulsions have taken place using Title 42 policies – a faux public health order issued under the Trump Administration permitting the Department of Homeland Security to expel people without any possibility of asylum screening. So, not only has Biden removed far more Haitians, but he has shut many out of the possibility to apply for asylum in the process and at a time of great distress in Haiti.

This week members of the House and Senate called on the administration to halt the removals, writing:

Haiti is in the midst of a deteriorating political, climate, and economic crisis. In fact, Haitians now face the compounding challenge of increasing food insecurity, malnutrition, waterborne disease epidemics, and high vulnerability to natural hazards, all of which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. … Haiti simply cannot safely accept the repatriation of its nationals, which is why we are so deeply concerned with the large-scale removals and expulsions of individuals back to Haiti. To that end, we are concerned that the Administration’s use of the Title 42 authority is depriving legitimate asylum seekers the opportunity to pursue their claims, contrary to our obligations under international and domestic law.

See who signed the letter – and thank your Representative and/or Senator if they did!

We need to keep up the pressure: the message is halt all removals to Haiti given the current humanitarian crisis, and end Title 42 expulsion for everyone!

Send a message to Congress asking them to speak out against this policy by clicking here.

Sources: 

1. Removals under the Biden administration, from International Organization on Migration. 
2. October 2020 to January 2021, the end of FY 2020 and start of Biden’s term, is estimated based flight reports, The Biden administration has not yet issued the ICE Annual Report for FY 2021.
3. FY 2020 ICE Annual Report
4. Fiscal years 2003-2019 Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse 
5. FY 2001 to FY 2002: Immigration and Naturalization Services statistics accessed at Year Book of Immigration Statistics 2002

ICE removals