Haiti News Updates on Wednesdays and Fridays (may change to one day a week).
This week in Haiti:
After having his 1st 2 nominations rejected by Parliament, President Martelly's 3rd nomination for Haiti's most powerful position--Prime Minister--is Gary Conille. Gary Conille is Bill Clinton"s Chief of Staff for Clinton's role as the UN Special Envoy to Hati.
Wikileaks reveals--The Clinton Bush Fund's VP is Timothy Carney. He green-lighted an assault on a pro-Aristide slum despite knowing there would be "inevitable civilian causalities." Instead of trying to prevent the assault, he advised the Haitian elite who were planning it about how to handle its aftermath.
Wikileaks reveals-- That the US' priority in Haiti is privatization, not effective recovery.
Yet another study proves that the Nepalese UN troops brought cholera to Haiti.
The new report on conditions for women in Haiti is bleak. However, grassroots women's groups are organizing and fighting for rights.
The report on USAID's role in recovery paints a dismal picture of US foreign aid.
Brazil has the largest contingent of UN troops in Haiti; they are called MINUSTAH. Talk of Brazil pulling troops out of Haiti continues to grow.
(Wikileaks is proving what our Haiti Book Diary read in Damming The Flood)
Longterm success of the coup would require:
In the longer term, it would require, intensification of the process that might "integrate" Haiti into a suitably stable regional order: the adoption of untrammeled privatization and neo-liberal adjustment, increased reliance on foreign aid, increased penetration of the economy by foreign NGOs, increased international supervision of the national police, and so on. All of these measures would serve to reinforce the class barriers that were briefly threatened by the ad-hoc alliance of the 1990 and then challenged by a united and well-organized Fanmi Lavalas in 2000. (Damming The Flood, P251)
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US tightens its grasp on Haiti
- Garry Conille: The Neo-Liberal Pedigree of Haiti’s Latest Prime Minister Nominee
But now, following interventions by the U.S. Embassy (see accompanying article by Yves Pierre-Louis) and UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton with Martelly and Parliamentary leaders, a “compromise” nominee has emerged: Garry Conille, Clinton’s chief of staff in Haiti. Barring any surprises in the all-important background documents, Conille’s ratification is all but assured....
African economist Samir Amin submits the Millennium Development Goal strategy to a withering analysis in the March 2006 issue of Monthly Review. “A critical examination of the formulation of the goals as well as the definition of the means that would be required to implement them can only lead to the conclusion that the MDGs cannot be taken seriously,” Amin writes. “A litany of pious hopes commits no one. And when the expression of these pious hopes is accompanied by conditions that essentially eliminate the possibility of their becoming reality, the question must be asked: are not the authors of the document actually pursuing other priorities that have nothing to do with ‘poverty reduction’ and all the rest? In this case, should the exercise not be described as pure hypocrisy, as pulling the wool over the eyes of those who are being forced to accept the dictates of liberalism in the service of the quite particular and exclusive interests of dominant globalized capital?”
- Bill Clinton aide named as Haiti's 3rd pick for PM - 2004 Coup Mission Accomplished Bill Clinton will have sweatshops
- As U.S. Charge D’Affairs, Clinton Bush Haiti Fund VP Green Lighted Assault on Slum Despite “Inevitable …civilian casualties"
Carney warned them that this would “inevitably cause unintended civilian casualties”. But rather than a warning that such an operation should be out of the question, considering the “inevitable” civilian deaths it would entail, Carney merely cautioned that the business leaders should follow up the raid with “social programs and social spending”, presumably to calm the expected outrage among Cite Soleil residents:
- WikiLeaks: Embassy’s “Privatization Update” Shows Shock Doctrine in Action in Haiti - Mediahacker
Despite assurances that privatization is a still a priority for the government, as elections draw nearer we are increasingly skeptical that privatization, in whatever form, will happen under the watch of the IGOH. Time is running out and we are not convinced that the IGOH has the technical capacity nor political will to carry out even one privatization prior to turning over power to an elected government. We will continue to advocate strongly on behalf of privatization and/or private management. Post repeats its recommendation in reftels that privatization be a requirement under future agreements with the IFIs, including an IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) to be negotiated with the new government. Indeed we believe that the only reason that the audits will eventually be completed is because it is a requirement of the World Bank program.
- US Ambassador to Haiti James Foley, Aug. 25, 2005
- WikiLeaks: Disaster Capitalism in Quake Relief Effort:
- Women's Rights
- Haitian women fight back against abuses - CSMonitor.com
But women are fighting back, Ms. Carline says, from grassroots efforts of individuals to national campaigns. She formed Kofaviv, for example, a volunteer neighborhood watch group of tent city inhabitants. The Ministry of Women's Affairs has galvanized women’s rights organizations around the nation to push for the passage of an anti-violence bill that penalizes assailants who perpetrate violence against women, from beatings to rape, as well as public safety officials who do not enforce the law. The Ministry of Women's Affairs is also working with international non-profits to lead anti-violence workshops across the country.
- Haiti:Earthquake Recovery Failing Women and Girls| Human Rights Watch
... The report also describes how hunger has led women to trade sex for food and how poor camp conditions exacerbate the impact of sexual violence because of difficulties accessing post-rape care. It looks at how recovery efforts have failed to adequately address the needs and rights of women and girls, particularly their rights to health and security. Haitian authorities and donors should take concrete steps to improve access to services and to protect the human rights of these women and girls, Human Rights Watch said.
- Women forced to sell sex for food in Haiti's quake nightmare
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- HAITI: Patchy Healthcare Adds to Miseries of Women and Girls
- Martelly's Failure to Lead
- Haiti’s Chronic Crisis of Leadership »
Increasingly apparent signs of disenchantment with Martelly are coupled with evidence of increasing nostalgia for Aristide. Martelly has never held overwhelming support amongst the Haitian populace: in the first round of Haiti’s presidential elections, only 20 percent of eligible voters even participated; of that, Martelly earned a mere 22 percent of the vote. Martelly managed to earn a majority in the run-off election, but this round was also plagued by low voter turnout, at 23 percent.[xi] Aristide, however, has continued to concern the United States and other Western nations on account of his unfailing popularity. On March 18, 2011, when Aristide returned to Haiti after a seven-year exile, he was greeted in Port-au-Prince by hordes of journalists and thousands of cheering fans. Since then, analysts have suggested that Aristide may attempt to return to Haitian politics.[xii] Recent WikiLeaks evidence reveals that Aristide’s exile in South Africa was partly organized by the United States, which advocated his continued absence from Haiti. That “obsessive” and “far-reaching” campaign, as Haïti Liberté states, was likely a response to the fear that Aristide’s return to Haiti would be met with so much support that it would be difficult to keep him out of Haitian politics thereafter.[xiii]
Amidst Haiti’s deep-seated crisis of governance, the country’s demand for strong leadership may be at an all-time high. But with the a of legitimate leaders waiting in the wings of Haiti’s political stage, coupled with a seemingly never-ending dictatorship of foreign intervention, it seems unlikely that a successful recovery—if one ever truly takes off—could possibly be fueled by Haiti’s current politicians.
- Audio: Some Haitian Views on President Martelly’s First 100 Days- Mediahacker
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- AlJazeera Martelly 1st 100 days FINAL A lot of frustration and disillusionment on street. Where are the promised homes he promised? Promises Broken?
- Demonstrations and Police Reaction
- Violent demonstration to l’Estère Martelly's reign- police opened fire on crowd killing 1 person. Police said all was calm after intervention.
Protesters furious, have accused the police officers of having shot on the crowd and invaded the police station that they looted, making flee the police officers and the detained the police station.
In Port-au-Prince, Frantz Lerebours, spokesman for the National Police indicated that armed individuals were among the demonstrators, but that the situation had returned to normal after the intervention of the National Police and agents of the Departmental Unit for the Maintenance of Order (UDMO) .
- Haiti - Social :The strikers of the HUEH demonstrated yesterday in Port-au-Prince
- MINUSTAH
- Endgame for Brazil’s role in MINUSTAH?:
Brasilia racked up a huge leadership role in MINUSTAH, which had as its mission to aid the transitional government that gained control of Haiti (via the UNSC’s resolution 1542) after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in early 2004. The mission was controversial at the time and drew heavy criticism from its inception as it was regarded as a type of colonial government by the UN in the wake of Aristide’s abrupt forced departure from power, following major national protests and violence. At the time, there were persistent accusations that the U.S., Canada and France had a role in the Haitian head of state’s ouster.
- U.S. Embassy: “Without a UN-sanctioned …force, we would be getting far less help …in managing Haiti.”:
- Evictions
- HAITI, Land of Freedom Wave of Illegal, Violent Evictions Swells in Port ...
Mathias O is 34 years old. He is one of about 600,000 people still homeless from the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He lives with his wife and her 2 year old under a homemade shelter made out of several tarps. They sleep on the rocky ground inside. The side tarp walls are reinforced by pieces of cardboard boxes taped together. Candles provide the only inside light at night. There is no running water. No electricity. They live near a canal and suffer from lots of mosquitoes. There are hundreds of families living in tents beside him. This is the third tent community he has lived in since the earthquake.
- Deportations:
- Dominican Republic Grows Weary of Haitian Refugees:
For Haitians in the Dominican Republic, life is getting tougher, which may be the point.
Gabriel G. Teodoro, 31, said he lost his job as a messenger at a law firm because he could not renew his national identity card. Although born in the Dominican Republic — and ignorant of the Haitian language or culture — he was turned away at the immigration office under the new law because his parents were illegal immigrants, Mr. Teodoro said.
“This country benefits from our labor, but I am being denied because of my Haitian heritage,” he said. His is one of dozens of cases human rights advocates are appealing.
On a recent morning here, a stream of Haitian migrants walked out from their hovels in the brush to fill a church and register to leave under the International Organization for Migration’s program.
Pedite François came clutching his 14-month-old daughter, Cedita. “It is hard to find work,” he said. “A day without work is a day without food.”
Reliable Haiti Sources
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Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti:
IJDH Does amazing work in Haiti. I donate to them whenever I can. Please support IJDH's work.
IJDH draws on its founders’ internationally-acclaimed success accompanying Haiti’s poor majority in the fields of law, medicine and social justice activism. We seek the restoration of the rule of law and democracy in the short term, and work for the long-term sustainable change necessary to avert Haiti’s next crisis.
"For friends of Haiti who seek to support a progressive and principled human rights organization that gets its facts right and does not erase history, look no further than the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti."
— Paul Farmer, Co-Founder, Partners in Health
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti:
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Twitter AP Reporter:
@KatzOnEarth Jonathan M. Katz
Danticat: To make a difference support grassroots women's organizations ... that deal with gender violence including FAVILEK & @IJDH
6 Jul via web Unfavorite Undo Retweet Reply
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The Aristide Foundation for Democracy (AFD) was created in 1996 by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide (the first democratically elected president of Haiti) with a simple principle in mind: "The promise of democracy can only be fulfilled if all sectors of Haitian society are able to actively participate in the democratic life of the nation."
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Haiti Emergency Relief Foundation (HERF):
Haiti’s grassroots movement – including labor unions, women’s groups, educators and human rights activists, support committees for political prisoners, and agricultural cooperatives – are funneling needed aid to those most hit by the earthquake. They are doing what they can – with the most limited of funds – to make a difference. Please take this chance to lend them your support. All donations to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund will be forwarded to our partners on the ground to help them rebuild what has been destroyed.
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Partners in Health At its root, our mission is both medical and moral. It is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. When a person in Peru, or Siberia, or rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of the means at our disposal to make them well—from pressuring drug manufacturers, to lobbying policy makers, to providing medical care and social services. Whatever it takes. Just as we would do if a member of our own family—or we ourselves—were ill. |
Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods(SOIL)
Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting soil resources, empowering communities and transforming wastes into resources in Haiti. We believe that the path to sustainability is through transformation, of both disempowered people and discarded materials, turning apathy and pollution into valuable resources. |