Cap-Haitien Times

2003-03-15T21:04:00.000-05:00

Farewell

Well, there is an end to everything under the sun, and the sun has set on the Times. Due to time constraints and loss of interest, I will no longer be maintaining or updating this blog. Hopefully you found it helpful and informative.

Goodbye,
- John Adams

2003-03-09T19:01:00.000-05:00

More Realism, Less Ideology

This is mainly a news blog that syndicates articles from other sources, so I rarely take the time and effort to fisk someone. The last person to receive a fisking from me was none other than President Jean-Bertrand Aristide himself. This weekend I read a glowingly naïve opinion piece by a woman named Wanda Sabir in a paper (the San Francisco Bay View) touting itself as the "National Black Newspaper of the Year." I'm making the assumption that it is a left-wing rag since it ran Fidel Castro's recent op-ed piece as Page One news. (Tim Blair fisked that article beautifully here.)

Let's begin with the title—Let Haiti Live! Kite Ayiti Viv!—published in both English and Creole, apparently in a futile attempt to be clever. Anyone with a remote understanding of the current situation in Haiti would think that a reasonable article explaining the situation and calling for Aristide's cooperation with the international community is forthcoming. Not so. This is a propaganda piece from start to finish. Ms. Sabir, however, has the advantage of living on the Left Coast, where crackpot theories and breathless paeans extolling the virtues of overseas dictatorships are widely approved of—provided they come from the far left and not the far right.

Sabir writes:

When one thinks of the first independent African nation in the Western Hemisphere, Ayiti, or Haiti, the vision is that of individuals who believed in justice and human rights at the cost of death, which is why, in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces surrendered the island, then known as Saint Domingue, to the people.

While no fan of the French aristocracy, I beg to differ as to the reasons for the Haitian revolt. Justice and human rights were not at the fore of the Haitian revolution. It was simply a brave, "live free or die" movement. The only unifying force in the movement, as proven by two subsequent centuries of internal strife and violence, was mutual enmity towards the white oppressors. When that threat was removed, many leaders of the Revolution turned to robbing white landowners of their properties, murdering dissidents, and enslaving their former comrades. With the exception of the justice the French met at the blades of Haitian swords, justice was not the objective. Human rights? Well, Toussaint Louverture, a truly great man by anyone's standard, might have instilled a love for them in his people, but he was whisked away to France, where he died in an Alpine prison. The men he left behind built fortresses at the expense of 20,000 of their countrymen, and ripped French babies out of their mothers' stomachs as retribution for their own enslavement.

It’s criminal that the richest nation in this hemisphere continues to undermine the economic well being of its neighbor to the south, but such has been the case throughout Haiti’s 199-year history. This relationship has had a dire impact on Haiti’s regional political stability, as the United States continually supported corrupt regimes that allowed U.S. economic interests to flourish.

It's comical that Sabir doesn't realize how much money the United States pumped into Haiti restoring her beloved Aristide. In one year alone (1994-1995), U.S. taxpayers lavished $1 billion on a corrupt regime that to this day has done absolutely nothing to improve the quality of life. Furthermore, Sabir doesn't even understand her argument well enough to make it coherent. The U.S. didn't support corrupt regimes here (Duvalier specifically) to allow its economic interests to flourish, it did so to provide a counterweight to Fidel Castro, thus serving its own political interests.

Clinton's reinstallation of Aristide was a shrewd political maneuver as well. Hoping to kickstart his erstwhile lethargic presidency and gain some critical PR applause, he invaded a helpless country in a show of power, put Aristide back in, and then beat a hasty retreat in time for the 1996 elections. In 1997, Aristide's successor/puppet (depending on who you ask) dissolved the Parliament, and things have deteriorated since then.

This all came to a halt when a parish priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was elected overwhelmingly in 1991 to the presidency. This was the first democratic election in Haiti’s history. In a speech, Aristide says that the church should be a tool for justice, equality and freedom. “It’s hypocritical,” he states, “for the pastor to feed the peasant’s children with free foreign rice that is being sold on the market for less than the farmer’s own produce.”

Aristide changed all that.

Please give me a few moments while I laugh at this wide-eyed statement. Exactly how has Aristide helped the Haitian farmer? He still can't sell his produce, and now there's no free rice.

Not only did he set a minimum wage for employment, he also began micro-lending programs to help his citizens become entrepreneurs. During the two Lavalas administrations, Aristide (1991, 1994-6) and Rene Preval (1996-2001), the government began building schools, clinics and housing that is developing the infrastructure. This was also the first peaceful transition of power in Haiti’s history.

I haven't seen/heard of any new government-funded schools. I did notice one large government high school in the Artibonite once on a trip to Port-au-Prince, but it was only a skeleton of a building. There is a government housing project going up a mile away from my house, but it is not nearly large enough to meet Cap-Haitien's growth needs. Its construction has defiled a historical relic, the ruins of an old colonial house.

There has been a lot of construction since Aristide's return, but most of it has been off the private initiative. Humanitarian agencies and missionary organizations are doing most of the building. My father built his primary school the same month Aristide was reinstated. Some Catholics have built a school in St.-Raphael. There are a few missionaries who run medical organizations. As for housing, if Aristide's idea of developing housing includes turning a blind eye while immigrants from the country build on land owned by a radio station, then yes, he has done a whole lot. Then again, Aristide has always harbored a sort of Robin Hood mentality. The whole reason he was kicked out was because he took that idea to the extreme. He actually encouraged his hungry, zealous supporters through radio messages to burn out the rich, steal their lands, and squat on them. We have stories and tape to prove it.

“The difference was the same kind of elitist thinking. They didn’t want people to think their own independent thoughts, and it has an economic basis to it. When the peasants come to sell their products, they need to know how to read and write; otherwise they could be lied to about the weight of their product. The other thing is, when they’d get their bills, they couldn’t contest any errors. After they’d signed, they’d find out that they’d signed their life away. To this day, that’s why literacy and health are top priorities in this administration.”

Explain to me how Aristide's call-and-response speech techniques have encouraged independent thought. In a trip to Cap-Haitien last April, Aristide said things like, "Do you love your President?" to which an enthusiastic crowd, trucked in from the country, responded "Yes!" with mindless adulation. Many people still either cannot read, or cannot read well enough to be useful in a profession. They take their studies home to dimly lit shacks in shantytowns, and lose their sight at extremely early ages because Aristide's cronies at the power company haven't run lines out their way yet.

You say health is a top priority of this administration? Give me a break. A few weeks ago, my friend had a door slammed on her finger by a male whose sexual advances she had scorned. The skin had sloughed off of the wounded digit, and she was taken to the hospital at 10 mph on a deeply rutted road that Aristide promised to pave in the aforementioned speech. When she arrived at the city hospital, the doctors could not do anything for her. So she was taken to a private hospital in a nearby town over said road. By the time they found a doctor who would have been able to save her finger, it was too late. The finger was amputated because she could not get to a private medical facility in time.

I went to visit her the night the incident happened, and the halls of the public hospital are filthy. The floors are encrusted with blood, the rooms are overloaded, and patient files are stored in a cabinet left wide open for anyone to rummage through. I'll believe health is a priority when I see change.

After two paragraphs of sentimentalism about the return of Aristide, Sabir continues with this assertion:

The United States has blatantly undermined Aristide’s leadership by imposing economic embargoes as well as by harboring known terrorists. This is evident in its blockage of the Inter-American Development Bank loan of $146 million approved two years ago to assist the Haitian government in building schools, healthcare centers and roads and providing drinking water in the rural areas of Haiti, where there is much poverty and poverty-related disease.

It's interesting how much a story can change when one little fact is omitted—that Aristide's 2000 election was rigged. It was an election that went unobserved because of the unresolved controversy surrounding the May elections. Due to the absence of international observers, the election was supposed to have been monitored by the Haitian press. However, the Human Rights Report for 2000 states this: ``On November 22, nine separate explosions occurred in crowded areas of Port-au-Prince; the explosions killed two children and left many other persons injured. On November 25, marching FL members in Petit Goave staged citizen's arrests of several opposition members and detained several others. Also on November 25, an attempt was made during the evening to burn the communal electoral office (BEC) in Ganthiere. Police intervened and were able to save the electoral materials, although the building was partially destroyed."

Also, ``the day before the election, several radio stations were forced to close their news operations because of threats."

The election was characterized by low turnout, estimated to be between 5 and 20 percent. A pipe bomb exploded in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Carrefour, and ballots were burned in Anse d'Hainault. When you factor in this information, it's easy to see that the United States has not had to do anything to get Aristide to parody himself. He's a master at it himself. His vision of utopia in Haiti is a Marxist state from which all foreigners have been expelled, a state that relies on no one but itself. This utterly unrealistic and anachronistic worldview has accelerated Haiti's decline into world misery, and further entrenches its status as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide cruised into office on the backs of utterly unrealistic promises that he has never fulfilled. He is not, and never will be, the savior of Haiti. He is a semi-deluded dictator whose fury is held in check only by an American government that does not want to end up with egg on its face. The sooner he leaves/is removed from office, the better. People like Wanda Sabir do nothing to let Haiti live, they only serve to further blind the eyes of Westerners to the plight of a Haitian people in dire need of more realism and less ideology.

2003-03-05T20:50:00.000-05:00

Mardi Gras Came and Went

Revelers in flowing purple and white robes cracked bullwhips amid the crowds Monday night as part of a ritual meant to chase away evil spirits. Some people paraded about with painted faces, capes and feathered headdresses. (Read more)

2003-03-05T20:46:00.000-05:00

IMF Criticizes Haiti For Poor Economic Policies
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, must dramatically improve management of its economy, the International Monetary Fund said Monday.

The IMF "expressed deep concern about Haiti's worsening economic and social conditions, and in particular, the widening of the fiscal deficit, the accumulation of external arrears, and further increases in poverty," the IMF said in a press summary of its annual "Article IV" review of the economy.

Haiti's economy has worsened during the last two years, with rising deficits financed mainly by the central bank and through accumulation of arrears. International reserves held by the central bank have declined from efforts to support the currency, the gourde ($1=HTG41.00), which has also fallen in value.

"Political difficulties have deterred the authorities from taking corrective measures aimed at stemming the loss in international reserves, containing inflation, and promoting growth," the IMF said. Top priorities for 2003 should be rebuilding central bank reserves, now at $45 million or two weeks of imports, and containing inflation.

The government needs to improve transparency and accountability of its spending, the IMF said. The IMF "emphasized the importance of strengthening cash management by restricting the use of discretionary ministerial accounts."

The IMF also recommended enhanced banking and credit supervision, and action to privatize state-owned firms in the energy, telecommunications and transportation sectors.

-By Elizabeth Price, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9295; Elizabeth.Price@dowjones.com

Copied from Yahoo! News

2003-03-05T20:42:00.000-05:00

A hidden view of Haiti's trouble
Jim DeFede/Commentary

Michele Montas wrapped up her visit to Miami on Saturday, but she didn't return to Haiti. Instead she went into hiding.

How long she will remain outside her beloved Haiti no one knows, least of all Montas. It may just be for a few weeks. Or it may be longer. But right now Haiti is far too dangerous a place for the widow of Jean Dominique, the Haitian journalist who was killed in 2000.

On Christmas Day, there was an assassination attempt against Montas, in which her bodyguard was killed. Montas, a journalist, has been unrelenting in demanding justice for her husband's murder. Because of her efforts, the judge assigned to investigate Dominique's murder has prepared a report naming those responsible.

All that is left is for the report to be released. But once again, no one knows when that will be. In the meantime, the pressure inside Haiti builds. The attempt to murder Montas on Christmas Day was seen by many as an effort to block the report from ever being released. If Montas were dead, the theory holds, then the driving force behind releasing the report would be gone.

Before coming to Miami to receive a free speech award from People for the American Way, Montas closed the radio station she and her husband owned because of increased threats against her reporters. Radio Haiti Inter was one of the few sources for unbiased news in Haiti.

There are a lot of people in the United States who would like to use Montas' plight to attack Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Indeed, it now seems almost certain that the men responsible for Dominique's murder -- and, presumably, the assassination attempt on Montas -- will have links to Aristide's political party.

Montas, however, was very careful not to attack Aristide. Instead, she portrays Aristide as being a president who has lost control of those around him. It would be a mistake, she said during the Miami Film Festival, where a Jonathan Demme documentary about her husband was shown, to equate Aristide with the dictators of Haiti's past. Aristide, after all, was elected. And the political violence today, while still obscene, is less pervasive when compared to the thousands who were murdered under the regimes of ''Papa'' and ''Baby Doc'' Duvalier.

''Before we always knew who was shooting at us,'' she told me. ``It was the army, it was the dictatorship. Today, if I want to be honest, I have to say, I don't know who is responsible.''

Is it someone who is connected to Aristide's Lavalas Family political party? Or is it someone who claims to be aligned, but who really isn't?

Certainly Aristide needs to do more. First and foremost, he must clean up Haiti's corrupt police department. You cannot have democracy in a country where there is no rule of law or body to enforce it. ''Right now the Haitian police force is very fragile,'' Montas said.

Between 1995 and 1998, the United States provided money and technical support to help the Haitian police force. During that time, Montas said, the department was a sign of hope for Haitians. But when the U.S. abruptly, and unwisely, pulled out in 1998, the department eroded quickly.

For the past five years, the United States has blocked all aid to the Haitian government -- including much needed support for its police -- and has forced other countries and financial organizations to do the same.

The American government decided this was necessary because of a handful of contested election results in Haiti. Of course, when there were no elections in Haiti and the country had a U.S.-friendly dictatorship, the money flowed freely.

''I do not believe the embargo against Haiti is a valid answer to the country's problems,'' Montas said.

And for those in Miami who think this issue doesn't affect them, consider this: The best way to keep Haitians from fleeing to Florida is to make conditions better for them in Haiti. ''When Haiti sneezes,'' the Haitian proverb goes, ``it is the United States that catches the cold.''

Copied from the Miami Herald.

2003-02-28T14:37:00.000-05:00

Glimmer of Hope?

There may not be much to celebrate this Carnaval season, but there is always hope. The Miami Herald reports:

In a bipartisan effort to boost the desperate economy of Haiti, Floridians in Congress and other legislators began pushing Thursday for a significant trade break to increase jobs in that country's apparel industry.

A bill to change a 2000 trade law would grant duty-free status to Haitian apparel items assembled from fabric or yarn that comes from any countries that have favorable trade agreements with the United States. Currently the law grants that status only to products made from U.S. fabrics.

Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, who has visited Haiti 12 times, said the apparel industry in Haiti used to employ about 100,000 people, but that total has dropped to 30,000. He said the trade benefit would encourage job growth.

Because this work pays about $2 a day, the bill would not take away U.S. jobs, said DeWine. And the bill would cap the duty-free imports at 1.5 percent of all apparel products, so it would not affect U.S. companies, he said.

The bill has the strong backing of Florida's two senators, Bob Graham and Bill Nelson, and Reps. Clay Shaw, a Fort Lauderdale Republican, and Kendrick Meek, a Miami Democrat.

The Floridians said the trade bill could reduce the number of Haitians fleeing to South Florida.

''We've all seen the desperate attempts of Haitians to leave,'' Shaw said. ``This bill would, in a small way, unleash our economy to help these folks.''

Nelson, who recently returned from Haiti, added: ``This will give hope to the Haitian people.''

(Read the rest)

Here's the catch: For the trade benefit to go into effect, ``Bush would have to certify that the Haitian government is making progress toward political pluralism and the rule of law." Well, here's hoping.

2003-02-28T14:33:00.000-05:00

Haiti's Plight Sparks Debate Over Carnival

With Haiti's currency collapsing, the price of gas skyrocketing and many residents unable to afford even the basics, Haitians both on the island and in South Florida are debating whether their country's annual kanaval celebrations should take place this weekend.

The discussion rages on Creole radio in Miami and in Haiti. A carnival song about the country's economic crisis has become a popular request.

Even Michel Martelly, aka Sweet Micky, one of the country's most popular and colorful compas performers, remains torn over whether he will perform at Haiti Kanaval. The three-day carnival, marked by dancing in the streets, kicks off Sunday evening and ends Ash Wednesday morning in the cities of Port-au-Prince and Jacmel.

''The fact that people are not able to find water so they can take a bath, or food to eat and the money is losing value, I feel we should take this money and do something for Haiti itself,'' said Martelly, whose float usually costs between $150,000 and $200,000. ``When you spend $5 million to dance for three days and you go back to misery, it doesn't make sense.

Originally, Martelly had hoped other bands would join his efforts to protest this year's carnival. But with the effort failing, and fans demanding his participation despite their bleak circumstances, Martelly said he's torn.

''As I am speaking to you right now, I am out of carnival but there are people trying to talk me into it,'' he conceded.

Emeline Alexis, who is active in Miami-Dade County's Haitian community, understands the performer's reservations.

''Gasoline prices are up, people do not have electricity, no health services,'' said Alexis, who is also concerned about the message this weekend's carnival celebrations will send to the international community. ``How can you dance when you go home and have nothing to eat?''

Added Sidney Charles, a Haitian American who serves as Florida Republican Party co-chairman for the 17th congressional district in North Miami-Dade: ``I don't see how we can celebrate, dance and do all that stuff when our people are in the conditions they are in. Until I see some positive changes in Haiti, I feel there is nothing to celebrate.''

(Read the rest)

I must admit I'm rather torn about this, too. I leave the debate to the comment box.

2003-02-25T14:50:00.000-05:00

NYPD Victim Turns Settlement Into Philanthropy

Abner Louima, a victim of police brutality who made NYC headlines 5 years ago after being sodomized by a police officer, is turning his $5.8 million settlement into philanthropic gold.

"Maybe God saved my life for a reason," Louima said in a rare interview while visiting Haiti last week. "I believe in doing the right thing."

The 36-year-old said he plans to use his own money and donations to open community centers in Haiti, New York and his new home base of Miami-Dade County, Fla. The facilities would offer legal help, financial aid and other programs for Haitians and others.

He also hopes to raise money to build a hospital in the Caribbean country, where the poor struggle to obtain even basic health care.

Read the full story.

2003-02-25T14:44:00.000-05:00

We Lost

Haiti's soccer team lost a friendly match against Peru, 5-1 today in Lima.

2003-02-23T07:55:00.000-05:00

Dominique Honored in Miami

Hollywood-tier director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia) has finally completed his documentary on Jean Dominique, an event that took 10 years in the making. During the course of shooting the film, Dominique was assassinated. Jean Dominique was Haiti's leading journalist before his tragic and untimely death on April 3, 2000. He had spoken out vociferously against the Haitian government's corruption. Many believe that that is why he was murdered.

The film, as reported in the Miami Herald, is scheduled for a special screening at the Miami International Film Festival this week. Click here for times and information.

2003-02-19T21:24:00.000-05:00

Strikes All Around

Australia's ABC Online and the Boston Globe are the first to pick up this story:

One of Haiti's most popular radio stations has stopped broadcasting news to protest an attack last week against one of its correspondents.

The home of Goudou Jean Numa, one of Radio Metropole's leading political reporters, was surrounded by armed men on Friday local time, and later that night a car in his garage was set ablaze.

He has since gone into hiding.

Privately owned Metropole have aired a statement saying it would halt news reports for 24 hours in protest.

"Here at Radio Metropole, we have always avoided protesting publicly against the intimidation, threats and physical and verbal attacks leveled against the members of the newsroom," the statement said.

"However, the attack against our colleague Goudou Jean Numa was too much."

Radio Metropole, along with other private radio stations such as Radio Kiskeya and Radio Haiti Inter, have frequently been the target of threats and harassment from political militants claiming loyalty to Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

President Aristide, a former Catholic priest who began his second term as Haiti's president in February 2001, has been under fire in recent months from opposition groups that accuse his government of repressing journalists and human rights groups.

The Metropole statement said four of its journalists had gone into exile in the United States in the last 14 months and its correspondent in the northern city of Gonaives had been forced to flee the city as a result of threats and attacks by escaped convict and Aristide supporter Amiot Metayer.

There's more. The nation's judges have also gone on strike in protest of what they call an unfair deposition of Judge Josiard Agnant. The judge in question had recently dismissed a drug trafficking case against defendant Jean Salim Batrony, citing a lack of evidence. This quote from Sen. Pierre Prince Soncon, of Aristide's Lavalas party, is classic:

"We want to fight against drugs, against impunity. It's a question of morality."

Gee, if the Lavalas Party is this zealous about fighting drugs in Haiti, maybe they should pay closer attention to their own Evans Brillant, who cordoned off a Port-au-Prince highway to land between 1,760 and 2,200 pounds of cocaine. Brillant's stash makes Batrony's charge of possession of 128 pounds of the stuff look like a mere pittance by comparison.

2003-02-17T19:33:00.000-05:00

Representing the Voiceless

I'll be a guest blogger over at Joshua Claybourn's site on Friday. He's busy this week, so he's allowing other bloggers to fill in the gaps for him. I plan to write an article about the plight of the Haitian people and the state of U.S. immigration. Your thoughts and suggestions would be very much appreciated, as I hope to present Haitians in a good light and represent them well.

Even though I'm a missionary child, I was born and raised in Haiti, and I feel that is my special duty to be "salt and light" from now on in America, trying to open foreign eyes to the plight of a people that I feel I can safely and unabashedly call "my people."

2003-02-17T14:30:00.000-05:00

Napoleonic Blunders

The New Orleans Times-Picayune has an interesting piece today about the effect of the Haitian Revolution on the Louisiana Purchase.

2003-02-15T20:00:00.000-05:00

Drugs and Politics

ABC News is the first to run this story:

The director of a Haitian police anti-drug task force was arrested after he had his men block off a stretch of highway in the capital to allow a Colombian plan carrying about a ton of cocaine to land, a police spokesman said on Friday.

Evans Brillant, director of the Anti-Drug Trafficking Brigade of the Haitian National Police, was arrested on suspicion of involvement in narco-trafficking on Thursday with five other policemen, police Inspector General Harvel told reporters.

"The men were arrested because they were involved in the landing of drugs into the country," he said.

Jean Baptiste said the six were accused of overseeing the landing last week of a Colombian airplane laden with 1,760 to 2,200 pounds of cocaine on Port-au-Prince's crime-ridden Route 9.

Police under Brillant's supervision allegedly set up roadblocks to stop cars and provided security to ensure the cocaine's delivery, Jean Baptiste said. The cocaine has since disappeared.

And Aristide doesn't think Haiti has a drug problem...

2003-02-15T19:55:00.000-05:00

No Abortions With U.S. Money

U.S. officials have decided that no family-planning groups pushing abortion will get money to fight AIDS with, according to Reuters. This shouldn't matter too much in Haiti, where most abortions are illegal anyway.

2003-02-11T21:01:00.000-05:00

This Day in History

From UPI's Almanac:

One week from today, February 18th, will be the 10th anniversary of a dark day in Haiti's history. On February 18th, 1993, a ferry carrying more than 800 people capsized off Haiti's western coast, killing at least 150 people and leaving several hundred more missing and presumed drowned, and a missionary flight (MFI to be precise) with 13 people aboard was commandeered at gunpoint in Haiti and flown to Miami, where the alleged hijacker surrendered.

It's really hard to believe it's been ten years already...

2003-02-10T11:57:00.000-05:00

Aristide: We Are Victims, I Swear

CNN reports that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is disputing the State Department report that cites Haiti as one country that has not done enough to stem the flow of drugs from its ports to the United States. As has become typical of the president, he quickly leapt from denying the charges to accusing the U.S. of racism.

"Haiti is not guilty of these charges. We are a poor country and we feel victimized by these actions," Aristide told reporters after meeting David Lee, chief of the special mission of the Organization of American States to Haiti.

"The U.S. Coast Guard patrolling our waters sees boat people, but they never see boats transporting drugs."

And yet, they've still managed to find cocaine smuggled into Miami on several vessels arrived from Cap-Haitien. Did the racist oppressors plant flour in ship's fuel tanks in a nefarious plot to afflict yet another indignity upon the little regime that could?

One member of Parliament, whose visa was revoked, and also happens to be a Muslim, decries ``religious persecution."

Nawoon Marcellus, a deputy in Haiti's lower house of parliament and a member of Aristide's Lavalas Family political party, charged that the revocation of his visa was based on religious rather than criminal grounds.

"This is religious persecution," Marcellus, a member of Haiti's small Islamic community, said at a press conference on Tuesday. "They took my visa not because I am a drug trafficker, but because I am a Muslim."

The U.S. is gearing up for war, is undergoing a recession, and still has not yet found Osama bin Laden, but Marcellus is convinced that he has been singled out for religious discrimination. Got proof?

2003-02-07T19:49:00.000-05:00

Duvalier Day

The Guardian, a British periodical, has an article today about life since Jean-Claude. It doesn't try to make a statement as to who's right or wrong (it quotes several people for and against Aristide), it just listens. At this point, that's the best thing a foreign publication can do.

Reuters AlertNet reports that humanitarian organizations will be extending drought relief programs for at least another six months. The current political situation is just exacerbating the problem.

Here's bipartisanship in action. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and the aforementioned Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) are collaborating on a bill that would grant Haiti preferred-nation trading status with the United States. Nelsy Loute, the man who created the first Haitian radio station in Naples, Florida, has it pegged. He said, "Create more jobs over there and you won't see more people coming over in boats. That's something easy for the U.S. government to do. But they don't do that. They just use Haiti as a political case." (via Naples Daily News)

That's all for this week, folks. I'll be back Monday. Have a great weekend.

2003-02-05T22:47:00.000-05:00

More Jobs?

Sen. Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican, is sponsoring a bill which aims to revive the struggling garment business. This law is being touted as able to help out Haitian factories that have faltered since political instability began in 1986. If it is passed, it could be a great help to Haiti's floundering economy, and provide some much-needed jobs to its people.

2003-02-04T15:48:00.000-05:00

News Flashes

Sorry for the lag, folks, it's been a slow news week.

THE HAITIAN TIMES reports that progress is being made on the monument to national icon and revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines. The "Monument d'Indépendence" is to be finished before January 1, 2004, when the Haitian Republic will celebrate 200 years of independence.

THE NEWS DIRECTOR at oppositionist Radio Métropole is claiming to have been threatened by Lavalas' OP (Organisations Populaires). Read the article. (It's in French.)

MARYSE NELSON has a wonderful article on her love for the music of Joe Jacques on the United Haitians Home Page.

WINDOWS ON HAITI'S homepage is plastered with a poster that says "America, do something really brave. End the cycle of violence. World Justice, not World War." Funny they should say that. This is not a "cycle of violence." I don't recall Americans dancing in the street over loss of Iraqi life like the Iraqis did recently over America's downed space shuttle. Besides, America's way of bringing justice to Iraq wouldn't be allowing Saddam to roam wild. That wouldn't be justice at all, now would it? No, I didn't think so. I'll have a fisking of another peacenik's comments posted on my personal blog before long.

2003-02-02T22:00:00.000-05:00

Strike Averted

Cap-Haitien's city leaders averted what could have been a crippling strike by taking a novel approach—simply acquiescing to the public's demands. The conflict had come to life over the maintenance (or lack thereof) of Cap-Haitien's airport road, (Nationale 3) a major artery into the city, and a tourist route. (It runs to Palais Sans Souci and the Citadelle.) The highway, which also links to the road connecting to the Dominican border, and one of those paved during election time in 2000 to secure votes, was originally planned to be resurfaced and asphalted to the border, a distance of about 30-40 miles. In reality, however, the roadwork never got past the airport, a grand total of about a mile and a half.

Until recently, city officials had been grading the dirt part to keep it smooth. This approach worked fine, except road level is now so low due to constant grading that if they go any lower, they'll hit water. (The road is situated in a swampy area.) Neighborhood activists threatened to block the road with flaming tires, dig trenches and impede any traffic flow in or out of the city. City officials responded by sending truckloads of gravel and steamrollers to begin repair. Road conditions had gotten so horrendous that the top speed for any vehicle as of today is 5-10 mph (10-15 km/h).

The strike (for now) is off, but it remains to be seen whether road workers will get past the 500 feet they have worked on so far. In all fairness, hard rains, which were the cause of the problem in the first place, have impeded progress. This situation serves to teach two lessons. The first is that when leaders actually listen to people, things go much more smoothly than they would by cracking heads and making threats. The second is that it is now painfully obvious that Aristide's power has been weakened, both economically and politically. Common citizens are no longer afraid of the chimères —Aristide-funded thugs—since many of them have changed sides. After all, they have to drive tap-taps up and down that road, too. Aristide promised to pave N3 ``all the way to the Citadelle" in his visit to Cap in April 2002. He also promised 5 new international airports in Haiti in his inaugural address in February 2001, but at this point, who's listening?

2003-01-30T15:23:00.000-05:00

Follow-Up on AIDS Project

The State Department's factsheet has been updated to include more specific details about its new HIV/AIDS prevention program. President Bush announced the $15 billion program in his annual "State of the Union" address Tuesday night.

2003-01-29T22:55:00.000-05:00

We Know Who We Are

President Aristide granted a rare interview to the Associated Press Wednesday, run in the San Francisco Chronicle under the nauseating title of ``Embattled leader, proud to save Haiti from chaos, confident of majority support."

"Yes, we may have less (support) than we had in 1990 ... but I think the huge majority of the Haitian people continue to support me," Aristide said. "And if you compare what I have and what the one who comes behind me can get -- there you will see a huge margin of difference."

If that is true, Mr. President, then why did you see it necessary to send your thugs out to destroy ballot boxes and intimidate voters in 2000? Perhaps as a sign of your people's unfailing loyalty to you, you could introduce a vote of confidence. "Your people" will surely vote for you to stay, right?

During the 100-minute interview, Aristide blamed Haiti's many ills on a global economic and political system that "smacks of racism" -- going back to France's fight to prevent its colony from rising up against slavery. Following their revolt, Haitians founded the world's first black republic in 1804.

Aristide called the freeze in foreign aid a form of economic "apartheid" to keep blacks down.

"If some people don't want Haiti to promote economic growth, it's always to point a finger at Haiti to say, 'Hey, don't do that, you see they were the first black independent country in the world but they are so poor today -- you better stay where you are instead of fighting for freedom.' That's their goal."

The man is simply frozen in time. France is no longer a world power, no longer has any colonies, and has achieved racial equality back home. What has Aristide done? He has played on class tensions, advocated reverse racism against foreign workers and missionaries, and worked to bring about a Marxist state. He could have had industry. But he refuses to repeal the law banning foreign companies from owning property. He could have had infrastructure. But he refused to privatize the nation's failing utility companies, EDH and Teleco, and now they're both worthless and unappealing to foreign investors. Privatization worked for the Dominicans, and it could have worked in Haiti. He didn't want it. The blame for the horrible state of the economy rests squarely on your shoulders, Mr. Aristide.

Among his biggest accomplishments, Aristide said he counted keeping Haiti "from collapsing into a chaotic situation" and "in a peaceful environment ... despite not having yet many roads, many schools or hospitals."

I have neighbors that hijack my electrical pole any time they want with impunity. People are being killed every time they speak out against the government. A man bled to death from a knife wound in St. Justinien's lobby because medical workers hadn't been payed in months. If this is not a chaotic situation, I don't know what is. If this is a peaceful environment, explain to me the above and the fact that your supporters hurled flails of urine and broken bottles at anti-Aristide demonstrators, and at the CIMO forces sent there to protect them.

Of course, I forgot. It is serene and peaceful and idyllic inside the starving priest's $2 million mansion.

Aristide acknowledged he has not delivered on promises to raise Haitians "from misery to dignified poverty" but said his countrymen and women looking to mark 200 years of independence next year can be proud of their place in world history.

"Yes, the misery will exist but it will not prevent us from knowing who we are."

The only reason Aristide hasn't achieved his goals yet is because in order for his socialist goals (the equalizing of society) to be achieved, he would have to give up his big fat income for the public good. Rich people can't exist in a socialistic society, but right now the rich are becoming richer, and the poor are becoming poorer. Yes, by 2004, I think most Haitians will be assured of who they are now. In the words of my friend Carlo, and this is truly sad: "We are the laughingstock of the world."

2003-01-29T12:57:00.000-05:00

State of the Union Brings Good Tidings for AIDS Sufferers

U.S. President George W. Bush's annual State of the Union address brought good news for sufferers of HIV/AIDS around the world last night. There will be $15 billion in aid going out to governments and medical aid workers all around the globe to help fight the disease, which is projected to orphan 60 million children in Africa alone by the end of this decade.

Here's the State Department factsheet:

Combating the International HIV/AIDS Pandemic

President Bush announced the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a
five-year, $15 billion initiative to turn the tide in the global
effort to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has
killed at least 20 million of the more than 60 million people it has
infected thus far, leaving 14 million orphans worldwide.

Today, on the continent of Africa, nearly 30 million people have the
AIDS virus - including three million children under the age of 15.
There are whole countries in Africa where more than one-third of the
adult population carries the infection. More than four million require
immediate drug treatment. Yet across that continent, only 50,000 AIDS
victims are receiving the medicine they need.

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief will help the most
afflicted countries in Africa and the Caribbean wage and win the war
against HIV/AIDS, extending and saving lives. The following countries
will be the focus of the initiative: Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire,
Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda,
South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

In each of these countries, the United States will work with private
groups and willing governments to put in place a comprehensive system
for diagnosing, preventing and treating AIDS. Central hospitals will
have laboratories, specialized doctors, and nurses to anchor the
system.

Satellite clinics will provide antiretroviral drugs and education on
the prevention of AIDS. By truck and motorcycle, nurses and local
healers will reach the farthest villages and farms to test for the
disease and to deliver life-saving drugs.

The initiative is intended to:

-- Prevent 7 million new infections (60 percent of the projected 12
million new infections in the target countries);

-- Provide antiretroviral drugs for 2 million HIV-infected people; and

-- Care for 10 million HIV-infected individuals and AIDS orphans.

The $15 billion virtually triples the current U.S. commitment to
fighting AIDS internationally. It includes $10 billion in new funds,
of which $1 billion is for the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS,
Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Funding will begin with $2 billion in FY 04
and ramp up thereafter.

(Note: In text, one billion equals 1,000 million.)

Haiti was not mentioned by name in President Bush's address, but he did mention Africa and the Caribbean. Who in the Caribbean needs this money worse than Haiti? The part I like is the emphasis on private groups and individual doctors and nurses. That way, the government can't siphon off as much of the money.

2003-01-29T00:55:00.000-05:00

News Flashes

Well, so much for that resolution. As one reader has suggested, I'll be trying to include more local news from now on. The frustrating thing about local news is that you often can't include links, since it goes unreported.

THE STRIKE TURNED DEADLY last week at Cap-Haitien's St. Justinien Hospital, where underpaid and overdue staffers and medical workers went on strike. Not only did they go on strike, but they smeared the rooms of the hospital with feces in protest, not bothering to remove the patients. One man, brought in via ambulance who had a serious knife wound in the abdomen from a street fight, reportedly bled to death in the lobby. The doctors refused to help the man, instead choosing to protest outside the building. I don't care who these people are, and how long they've gone without pay, they took the Hippocratic Oath to preserve life, and last week, they failed their mission.

TWO FORMER ARMY COLONELS have been deported and imprisoned. One of them was a powerball winner, too. Both of them were convicted in absentia of participating in the Raboteau massacre of 1994. Let's see if they can buy their way out of this one.

OH, WHAT A DIFFERENCE bipartisanship makes. Ethel Kennedy, Robert Kennedy's widow, has decided to visit ``old personal friend" Jean-Bertrand Aristide to clamor for aid to be released. The delegation calls her ``out of touch with reality." Meanwhile, a bipartisan commission returns pessimistic about Aristide's willingness to do...well, anything.

AIDS MONEY will include Haiti, says Dubya.

A 17-YEAR-OLD BOY has won asylum in Miami. He was one of the people that ran onto a Miami causeway after their boat ran aground in November. Good for him.

2003-01-23T15:39:00.000-05:00

Aristide Opposition Has New Poster Child

Sorry for the lag in posting. I'll be posting every weekday from now on, whether anyone actually reads this site or not.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel has a Reuters article from yesterday about the memorial service/protest that took place in Port-au-Prince. University students carried banners and shouted protests in an emotional call for President Aristide's resignation. The protest was in response to the death of Eric Pierre, a third-year medical student.

Pierre, 27, was shot dead while walking on a street in Port-au-Prince two weeks ago during a work stoppage by public transport workers over fuel prices, which have almost doubled in recent weeks.

More than 1,000 medical students marched through the capital on Jan. 13 to protest the killing and to call for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to resign.

Chanting "Down with Aristide!" the protesters brandished placards with "Justice for Eric" written on them.

The memorial service held for Pierre was interrupted repeatedly by irate students calling for the resignation of political science student and Aristide supporter René Civil. Civil denies any activity, and has threatened litigation.

2003-01-16T11:22:00.000-05:00

News Flashes

-- Canada will continue to support the Special Mission in Haiti. North America's largest nation has already given $750,000 to the mission.

-- The Haitian government is seeking to crack down on activists. One member of Parliament proposed that anti-government demonstrations be outlawed. This proposal has elicited howls from political activists, who have labeled it a show of partisan bias, to civil-rights activists, who maintain that such a measure would be unconstitutional.

-- More specifically, the Haitian government has obtained a warrant for the arrest of activist Himmler Rebu, a former colonel in the army who led the recent anti-government demonstration that ended in violence. Rebu has been charged with injuring government supporters, a charge Mr. Rebu denies. Reuters has the full story.

2003-01-16T11:10:00.000-05:00

Public Transportation Strike Paralyzes Haiti

A strike by Haitian public transportation workers has paralyzed the Caribbean nation's two major cities.

Bus and taxi drivers refused to work Tuesday to protest recent dramatic increases in fuel costs after the government eliminated a subsidy program. Schools and businesses were closed in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and in the country's second-largest city, Cap-Haitien.

Transportation workers staged a similar walkout January 7. The government said budget deficits have made it impossible to continue the subsidies.

-- Republished from the Voice of America.

2003-01-16T11:08:00.000-05:00

Good People

Even in the midst of evil, there are always some who will choose to do good instead. One group from Kansas took a trip to Torbeck, and was reported in their hometown newspaper.

Another family adopted three Haitian boys into their family. Christianity Today has the story.

FOOTNOTE: Interested in adopting? The Precious in His Sight website details the process of international adoption. The process always includes a home study, which can be done by a private or state-sponsored social worker. www.precious.org

2003-01-11T13:33:00.000-05:00

Democracy at Work

Aristide's faithful, demonstrating their loyalty to fair, democratic procedures, showed up at the National Palace, just in time to meet an opposition party demonstrating against their beloved president. So what does a fair, open-minded group of people with a legitimately elected president do? Schedule your protest march the same day and same time as your opponents', then when you catch sight of them, charge them screaming, ``Aristide or death!" injuring at least a dozen people along the way. Should your opponents dare to accuse you of violating their constitutional rights, accuse them of something trivial but distracting--like straying outside of their protest route. If you get lucky, the police will shoot tear gas at your opponents, and blame them for the whole thing. If you're really lucky, you'll cause so much confusion that the already-biased foreign media will label it a ``clash" between you and the opposition, instead of what it really was, a hit squad paid off to discredit, discourage and intimidate the burgeoning opposition movement.

And that's exactly what happened. The best part, though, is that Aristide calls this ``peace."

Read the story at VOA, Newsday, and the BBC.

2003-01-11T13:20:00.000-05:00

Dire Straits

Aristide's in need of some cold, hard cash. Apparently paying thugs out of one's pocket takes its financial toll after a while. The president is calling for aid money--all $500m of it that has been blocked since he "won" the election back in 2000--to be unblocked so he can get on with what millionaire dictators really cared about all along--helping the poor. The BBC has the story.

2003-01-11T12:57:00.000-05:00

Asylum Granted

Two of the Haitian detainees who were videotaped scrambling onto a Miami freeway in November have won political asylum. Why? Because they testified to have suffered intense political persecution for their allegiance with the anti-Aristide coalition. (The Herald has the complete story.) This decision could be the beginning of boatloads of Haitian refugees hitting the Florida coast, but it is also shedding some light on Haiti's ``democracy." Aristide is finally beginning to be exposed for the ruthless dictator that he is.

Read more at: ABC News, News Journal, Reuters, and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

2003-01-10T13:16:00.000-05:00

Noteworthy Links

Boston Haitian Reporter (now on the sidebar)

Sakapfet.com (also on the sidebar)

Anselme.Homestead.com - A neat site with a bunch of links not found anywhere else.

2003-01-09T17:32:00.000-05:00

Aristide may not be able to buy his way out of this one.

2003-01-08T21:29:00.000-05:00

Man Killed During Strike

Things are heating up. A 25-year-old man was killed by riot police in Gonaïves during a demonstration that involved rock-throwing. Read the full story.

2003-01-07T12:55:00.000-05:00

Nation on Strike

The Boston Globe reports that 11 transportation unions are striking today all across Haiti due to the spiraling costs of food and fuel. Gasoline prices have risen as much as 85 to 90 percent since Aristide ended fuel subsidies last year, and now average at about $2.24 per gallon.

UPDATE: The AP has a better article.

2003-01-07T12:49:00.000-05:00

New Highway Completed

Haiti has its first modern highway, thanks to the generosity of Taiwan. Thanks to the Taipei Times for the link.

2003-01-06T17:51:00.000-05:00

Blind by Choice

A university professor (also the chairman of the Presidential Commission on Drug Trafficking) named Irwin Stotzky wrote a piece for the Herald entitled ``Haiti's Problem Isn't Aristide."

Under the pretentious title, he goes on to state ``The [anti-Aristide demonstrators] executed Lozama Christophe, a justice of the peace in Las Cahobas who was a member of Aristide's party, and attempted to kill police officers."

And Aristide had journalist Jean Dominique indirectly executed by his henchmen. Christophe's death is a tragedy, but violence begets violence.

It gets better. ``Aristide's response has been to call for peace, dialogue and calm."

Aristide's response has been to make more promises that he can't keep, including 14 new pipe dreams for Gonaïves alone.

``To the vast majority of Haitians, the idea that Aristide's presidency is in jeopardy of any kind is a joke. Haitians have twice overwhelmingly voted for Aristide; the first time by 67 percent of the vote, the second by more than 90 percent. In fact, despite efforts to minimize his popularity in the press, there have been ''tens of thousands'' of Aristide supporters who have peacefully demonstrated over the past several weeks to show their support for democracy. Haitians understand that the controversy is not about Aristide but about creating a democracy. Whether or not everyone is supportive of the current situation, they recognize that efforts to depose Aristide strike at the heart of their democracy."

To the vast majority of Haitians, they could give a flip. They're too busy paying two dollars a gallon for fuel and struggling to stay alive to care whether Aristide is still in power. Both elections were tampered with, especially the more recent one, as reported by the commission sent to supervise it. Ballot boxes were broken open, and voters menaced away from polling booths all over the country.

``The U.S.-led financial embargo by the InterAmerican Development Bank, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund has created the conditions for social upheaval in Haiti."

The embargo would have been lifted ages ago had Aristide simply held the elections fairly the first time, and had his predecessor and puppet, Preval, not collapsed the Parliament to rule by decree.

``...despite efforts to minimize his popularity in the press, there have been ''tens of thousands'' of Aristide supporters who have peacefully demonstrated over the past several weeks to show their support for democracy."

Despite efforts to minimize his popularity in the press, there have been a few thousand Aristide supporters who have peacefully demonstrated to show their support for Aristide-ocracy. Well, if you can call flailing bottles of urine at presidentially-appointed CIMO soldiers sent to protect those demonstrators protesting peacefully against Aristide.

``Perhaps the reasons why the country has not had a full-scale civil war are Aristide's leadership abilities, his constant call for dialogue and peace and his stature in the country."

Perhaps the reasons why Haiti has not had a full-scale civil war are Aristtide's remarkable lying and manipulative abilities, his constant call for one-sided dialogue and Pax Aristidia (meaning opposition emissaries vs. screaming mobs paid off to ransack their houses and businesses, and peace so long as everyone shuts up and doesn't complain about the fact that they're so poor, hungry, and trodden upon, that reports of Duvalier's return raised hopes of returning to better days.)

Stature in the country? I'll neglect the almost-obligatory jokes about his diminutive physical stature, and say that he has no stature except in his own eyes. His call-and-response techniques ("Do you love your president?" "Yes!" "Will you stand behind your president?" "We will!") work well on crowds paid a day's wages to fill their empty stomachs, and often bear a stronger resemblance to religious worship services than they do to presidential addresses or even political rallies.

With ignorant people like this in leadership positions under a Republican administration, I can only say God help us all.

2003-01-06T17:07:00.000-05:00

Mischievous in Miami

Venezuelan president/dictator Hugo Chávez may have met his match this morning. Two Miami DJ's pranked Caracas' Miraflores Palace, and tricked the South American leader into thinking they were Cuban despot Fidel Castro, of whom Chávez is a great admirer. Here's the link.

2003-01-06T15:29:00.000-05:00

Social Darwinism

The town of Gonaïves appears to be suffering the most from the current gas shortage. A state of anarchy has developed there, with gas tycoon and militant Marc Cubain eliminating all regional competition by force--diluting competitors' stocks of fuel with kerosene, and setting himself up as the only cock crowing. Cubain was recently liberated from prison via a battering ram, and represents a serious problem for President Aristide's administration with his despotic attempts at control over his hometown.

The National Palace has been experiencing increased difficulty and apprehending and retaining figures that could jeopardize its stability. The Brooklyn-based Haitian Times reports that `` The August jailbreak in Gonaives spread more than 150 prisoners into marronage, including a major figure who is against the president, but a recent plan to capture the dissident failed miserably. A National Palace plan to apprehend escaped convict and rebel army leader Jean Pierre, known popularly as Jean Tatoun, fell apart when a Coast Guard officer released three men being used to lure Pierre into custody."

With mounting problems at home, and ideological brethren like Hugo Chavez in turmoil overseas, the Marxist-toned Aristide administration's fate could be tied to the outcome of the current political strife in Venezuela.

ENDNOTES:

Excerpt from ``Government Fails to Capture Jean Tatoun" from The Haitian Times.

2002-12-26T23:28:00.000-05:00

Up and Running

Thanks for visiting. This blog was founded as a means of communication with the outside world. It is intended to be a source of news for those within and without Haiti who would like to keep up-to-date on current events, and get feedback in real time. This site is not intended to be objective--I do not believe objectivity to be possible or useful in a world seen so differently by each individual. It is, however, intended to be informative, honest and updated frequently, so please check back regularly.

There are three things that you can do to help me out. (I admit it is a daunting task to maintain such a site singlehandedly.)

1. Join me.

If you have a blog of your own, or some other written material available that I can read, you are more than welcome to join the blogging team.

2. E-mail me.

I'm always looking for material, and my e-mail address is on the left side of this page. Feedback is greatly appreciated as well.

3. Link to me.

If you have a personal homepage, blog, or website of any sort, just add a link to this page to your site. I would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you, and please visit again soon.