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Torture Firm, Risks Incorporated, Tied To Destructive Evictions in Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Tue, 31 May 2011 19:07:00 +0000

US Security Firm Caught Training Mexican Police in Torture Techniques Is Working in the Caribbean

A National Policeman tears apart a tarp shelter in the city of Delmas with a dagger.

By Ansel Herz
Special to the Narco News Bulletin

May 29, 2011
Security forces who are tearing down makeshift tent camps inhabited by Haitians displaced in last year’s earthquake were trained by Risks Incorporated, a US private security firm involved in torture trainings in Mexico, a Narco News investigation has found. Three camps in Delmas, a district in central Port-au-Prince, have been destroyed in the past week, sending families fleeing into the street with nowhere to go.

The Delmas Mayor’s Street Control Brigade, also known by the acronym BRICOR, helped carry out the evictions. Risks Incorporated’s Andrew Wilson, who also goes by the names “Orlando” and “Jerry,” confirmed in a telephone interview that he trained them in “use of force.” In 2008, Narco News revealed that Wilson trained Mexican police in torture techniques in videos leaked to the Mexican press.

Videos posted in March 2009 on Risks Inc.’s YouTube page show a man training several dozen Haitian men in the then-partially-constructed city hall of Delmas Mayor Wilson Jeudy. Delmas is the largest municipal commune in Port-au-Prince, with at least 600,000 residents. “Yes, that’s me,” Wilson said by phone from Miami.

The men, wearing T-shirts bearing the Delmas Mayor’s emblem, perform exercises leaping over walls, kicking, and hitting tires on the ground with batons. In one scene, they practice controlling a boisterous demonstration. One group steps forward, jutting out their batons in striking motions, while the other chants in mock protest.

In the Mexico videos, Wilson is seen dragging a police trainee into his own vomit as punishment for an incomplete exercise, placing a man’s head into a dirty hole, and training police to squirt mineral water up the noses, another torture technique.

Mayor Jeudy and Daniel Antoine, the brigade chief, said in interviews last year that BRICOR received training from an American security contractor.

“BRICOR is a service that exists to control the streets, the merchants, and disorderly people. To put them in order,” Jeudy said, sitting in the pristine second floor hallway of the finished, palace-like city hall building. “[The American] was here to train them. . .We knew him from his work training the Haitian National Police.” Jeudy claimed the BRICOR training was done for free.

“The brigade is here to keep the streets clean and prevent merchants from selling in the streets,” Antoine said. “There’s a lot of disorder out there. . .and when foreign tourists come, they say, ‘This is so ugly.’”

A tent camp destroyed on May 25, 2011. DR 2011 Etant Dupain.

He said his men had received training twice, the last time in November of 2009, with Delmas Police Commissioner Carl Henry, who commands the Haitian National Police in Delmas, in attendance.

Henry and Jeudy are reported to have threatened quake victims on the grounds of St. Louis Gonzague, an elite private school in Delmas, with forced expulsion as early as last February, only one month after the quake. Haitian National Police accompanied Jeudy’s forces in this week’s camp demolitions.
Jeudy said BRICOR is a 75-member unarmed force, without batons or guns, and is not authorized to make arrests. Yet they are seen training with batons in the Risks Incorporated videos and this reporter observed BRICOR personnel with handcuffs on their belts last year. The Miami Herald reported this week that security forces descended on a camp “wielding machetes and knives…tearing through the makeshift tents as unsuspecting campers fled for cover or yelled in protest.”

Journalist and organizer Etant Dupain raised the alarm about the evictions on May 23, after posting photos online of hundreds of tents scattered and smashed into the ground that day at Carrefour Aeroport, a prominent intersection. Two days later, another camp was destroyed. Dupain’s photos show the Haitian National Police and bulldozers on the scene, as well as an image of Jeudy with a man in a BRICOR uniform at his side. Another image shows a BRICOR-clad man ripping apart a tarp shelter with a knife.

Dupain believes about 350 families have been displaced. “I saw one family today,” he said by phone. “I know their names, they have three children. They’re in the street, still at Carrefour Aeroport. And it has rained since the camps were torn down.”

Evictions of displaced earthquake victims from private property have been ongoing since the earthquake. With more than 60 percent of camps on private land, more than 47,000 people have already been evicted and 165,977 more are facing possible eviction, according to the International Organization for Migration. In March of 2010 the Inter-Press Service published a story about a camp torn down overnight at the behest of a Catholic priest.

Aid and human rights groups were taken aback by the sheer brazenness of this week’s evictions, which were both violent and directed by officials at highly visible camps. Nigel Fisher, the UN’s top humanitarian official in Haiti, wrote to Haiti’s new President Michel Martelly and his pick for Prime Minister, Daniel Rouzier, on Wednesday asking them to “immediately stop the deportation of those displaced,” unless alternatives for resettlement are found.

Amnesty International and several members of Congress also weighed in this week, urging a stop to the evictions. Jeudy was quoted in the Haitian press saying his obligation is to clear public spaces, not relocate or compensate quake victims.

Wilson said that he has worked closely with Jeudy, although he did not give specifics. The evictions were designed to root out criminals involved in a recent fatal shooting near the airport, Wilson said, and “legitimate” internally displaced camp residents had been relocated.

“A lot of the people with homes are getting food, free benefits, when in reality they have homes to go to. The thing is with the camps, they want to clear them all out, so they know what’s going on,” he said. “A good majority of the people that were in there were trying to scam the system.”

A joint study by City University of New York Professor Mark Schuller and the State University of Haiti found last year that 40 percent of camps did not have reliable access to water, and 30 percent did not have toilets of any kind. General food distributions ended last spring, and 53 members of Congress wrote to Secretary of State Clinton last month, calling on the government to “dedicate significant attention to the critical and urgent task of improving the appalling conditions in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps.”

Rep. Darrel Issa, the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee told the head of USAID, “you would be fired” if the recovery efforts had achieved the same results in the United States in a hearing last week.

“It’s not going to look nice for the media but they have to do this,” Wilson said. “I’m sure the police going through knocking down tents is not very politically correct but that’s what they have to do.”

A photo from Haiti on Risks Inc.’s Facebook page shows a man wearing a “Mayor of Delmas in Action” shirt. The men who destroyed tent camps were seen wearing the same shirts, according to witnesses.

President Martelly, a right-wing former singer who took office on May 14, plans to dismantle Port-au-Prince’s six largest tent camps in his first hundred days in office. On Thursday he distanced himself from Jeudy, saying he had “nothing to do with these operations,” stopping short of condemning them and repeating the Mayor’s assertion that armed criminals lived in the camps, Agence Haitïenne de Presse reported.

“Of course there’s violence in these areas, but if there were criminals in the camp they’d have found machetes, guns, or weapons,” Dupain said. “They didn’t find anything. They didn’t find people with machetes. That’s not a reason to destroy the camp. This is a pretext they’re using to justify what they’re doing.”

Jeudy has said that BRICOR, acting as a municipal police force, is authorized by Haiti’s constitution. Patrick Elie, who served as a security advisor to Haitian Presidents Aristide and Preval, says that is patently false.

“It’s definitely illegal. The constitution specifically says that there are only two armed public forces in Haiti, which are the Haitian army and the Haitian police,” Elie said, noting that he personally believed that someday Haiti should have municipal police forces.

Elie said the rise of private security companies in Haiti, domestic and foreign, began during the military regime following Jean Claude Duvalier’s ouster in 1987. “Those private security companies were introduced, almost without the knowledge of the Haitian people,” Elie said. “Who is to say if this mayor or the next one won’t start arming them and then have them start acting has his own Praetorian guard?”

Elie said the private security sector was experiencing “mission creep,” with companies doing everything from guarding homes to transporting funds to guarding VIPs in armed escorts. Risks Inc. advertises that it can provide services like these in Haiti and other countries, and the company’s blog says it has an office in Port-au-Prince.

Wilson said he provided security to an Al Jazeera English crew in the immediate aftermath of last year’s earthquake in Haiti. He identifies himself as veteran of the British Army who served in Northern Ireland. On his blog, he offers instructions on weapons usage and points out what he calls “fuck ups” by security forces in news articles.

In one post, he links to an article on drug violence in Jamaica and writes “They know they can kill the cops but if the cops hurt them it’s a human rights violation. I think the Western world has gone too soft. The powers that be do [not] seem to comprehend that violence is all that some understand!”

“It amazes me that the U.S. and Western Europe have got to stage where they no longer have the balls to confront and deal with those that want to kill and eliminate their cultures,” Wilson wrote in an entry last year.

Source: http://www.haitian-truth.org/torture-firm-risks-incorporated-tied-to-destructive-evictions-in-haiti-us-security-firm-caught-training-mexican-police-in-torture-techniques-is-working-in-the-caribbean-added-commentary-by-haitian-tr/

Haitian Mayor Wilson Jeudi Launches Violent Campaign to Destroy Refugee Camps

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Tue, 31 May 2011 18:59:00 +0000

Written by Beverly Bell
Friday, 27 May 2011 10:59

Result of effort to “clean” public space. Photo by Ben Depp

On May 23 and 25, police in the Delmas district of Port-au-Prince destroyed camps where people homeless since the January 2010 earthquake have taken up shelter. During the raids, police and other municipal workers arrested and beat some of those living within the camps. The mayor of Delmas announced that this is part of a new campaign to evict internally displaced persons [IDPs] from public spaces.

Those whose lodging was destroyed were amongst the million-plus people who have lived for 16 months under tents, lean-to’s of shredded tarps, or whatever repurposed materials they could scrounge, from blankets to tin. Neither the Haitian government nor the international community has offered any large-scale resettlement options.

Camps Destroyed
On the morning of May 23, two truckloads of police from Delmas, a self-governed district within the metropolitan capital, plus other armed men wearing T-shirts reading “the Delmas mayor’s office in action,” arrived at three camps rimming the intersection of Delmas Road and Airport Road. The security forces and two bulldozers smashed an estimated 100 to 200 families’ tents and all their contents, creating heaps of detritus. Trucks from the mayor’s office hauled away the remains of the disaster survivors’ only possessions.


As many as six truckloads of men participated in the destruction of IDP camps in Delmas	Photo by Gaetantguevara

During the offensive, the Delmas employees arrested three camp residents and beat three community activists who tried to protect the camps, according to eyewitnesses.

On May 25, police turned out at two other IDP camps on Delmas routes 3 and 5 and destroyed tents and belongings there.

Immediately after the destruction, Patrice Florvilus, an attorney with the non-profit group Defenders of the Oppressed, and Reyneld Sanon, an organizer with the right-to-housing coalition Force for Reflection and Action on Housing [FRAKKA] and the U.S.-based economic justice group Other Worlds, held a press conference on the scene. Delmas police and workers from the district’s garbage collection office came at the two men with shovels, machetes, and knives. Camp residents formed a security cordon and successfully protected Florvilus and Sanon.

Mayoral Campaign to “Clean” Public Spaces
In an interview with the newspaper Le Nouvelliste after the May 23 operation, Mayor Wilson Jeudi of Delmas said, “This is a public place… It can’t remain privatized by a group of people.” In the context of a hyper-concentrated city, much of it still uninhabitable due to rubble from the earthquake, with desperate survivors lodging themselves in virtually any open space, Jeudi offered a new definition of “privatize.” He went on to announce that all public spaces are going to be emptied of residents, leaving them “clean.”

Jeudi called the camps “disorderly” and claimed that many of those in the tents did not actually live there. “They just come to do their commercial activities [thievery and prostitution] and go back to their homes in the evening.”

The mayor said that no compensation would be offered to those ousted from their temporary shelter. “We were all victims of the earthquake,” he added.

Protest over Illegal Evictions Grows
In Washington on May 25, four U.S. representatives expressed alarm at the illegal expulsions. “Facing hostile conditions, including adverse weather, violence, and disease, shelter and work are the priorities for every displaced Haitian and must not be compromised,” said a statement by Representatives Donald M. Payne, Yvette Clark, Fredericka Wilson, and Maxine Waters.

They used Knives and Machetes to take down Shelters of Homeless Earthquake Survivors

In Haiti, grassroots organizations and camp committees are sponsoring a week of actions to support IDP’s right to permanent housing and to protection from eviction. The coalition will sponsor a sit-in in front of the national parliament today, May 27, to denounce Mayor Jeudi. On May 30, they will hold a press conference, and on May 31 they will file a legal complaint against the expulsions with the Ministry of Justice. On June 1, the group will hold a demonstration to demand rights for those living in temporary shelter.

Two days before the Delmas camp demolitions began, several hundred displaced people rallied against evictions in Camp Karade. The event was part of the International Forum on the Housing Crisis, held May 19 – 21 and attended by hundreds. More than 40 grassroots and Haitian non-governmental organizations from throughout the capital region and five other towns, as well as 35 displacement camp committees, were represented. In the first broad-based gathering led by impacted people since last year’s disaster, Haitians strategized with each other and with housing activists from elsewhere in the Americas about how to win their guaranteed right to housing.

Sanon from FRAKKA, the main organizing group of the forum, said in the opening address, “The right to housing is a debt that the government has toward the poor for the responsibility it never took on housing that caused so many people to die.” The toll from the earthquake, an estimated 225,000 to 300,000, was in large part this high because so many inferior quality houses collapsed.

The final declaration of the forum read in part, “We ask: [1] for the authorities to stop the violence that is accompanying evictions…; [2] for the authorities to arrest and bring to justice all those engaged in violence against those living in camps; [and 3] for them to take all measures to help people find permanent housing so they can relocate out of camps.”

Marie Hélène René, a participant of the forum who lost her home in the earthquake and now lives in a camp, said, “We’re so vulnerable. We don’t have anything to stop the flooding now [that the rainy season has arrived]. We don’t know what to do. We congratulate all those who are looking for housing, because we’re really desperate.”

Protection from Eviction a Legal Right
Displaced persons are protected by both Haitian and international law. Article 22 of the 1987 Haitian constitution guarantees “decent housing” for everyone. Article 25 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees every individual a “standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including… housing.” Many sections of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs declare protection from displacement, notably for victims of disasters. In a ruling last November, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights directed the Haitian government to stop evicting IDPs unless it provided them safe alternative shelter.

Interviewed by phone on May 26, attorney Florvilus said, “The president [Michel Martelly] who just came to power must take up his historic responsibility. He promised people [in his inaugural address] he would take them out of the tents in the camps in six months. He must now clarify if this was the formula he had in mind for accomplishing that end. Was the mayor the only one behind this attack?”

Florvilus said, “The government will have to face the nation and the justice system, if not today, then tomorrow.”

Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women’s Stories of Survival and Resistance. She coordinates Other Worlds, www.otherworldsarepossible.org, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies

Members of Congress Outraged Over Camp Destructions by Haiti’s Not So Finest

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Tue, 31 May 2011 18:20:00 +0000

Haitian Mayor’s Office of Wilson Jeudy Launches Violent Campaign to Destroy Refugee Camps

Posted on May 26, 2011

Looks like Delmas mayor, Wilson Jeudy, got tired of earthquake survivors occupying precious space and asked the Haitian National Police for help in clearing the area. During the 2004 – 2006 reign of Haiti’s illegal, unconstitutional government installed by the US, the Police were famous for extra-judicial killings, incarcerating inividuals without charge, and feeding live bodies to death squads. Can you imagine how the camp dwellers felt when the Police destroyed their tents and belongings and then beat the people? Seems alot like 2004 – 2006.

Members of Congress Outraged Over Camp Destructions by Haitian Police
Washington, DC — On Wednesday, May 25, 2011, Rep. Donald M. Payne (NJ), Rep. Yvette Clarke (NY), Rep. Frederica Wilson (FL), and Rep. Maxine Waters (CA) made a joint statement in response to the eviction and destruction of camps on public property in the Delmas district of Port-au-Prince:

“On Monday, May 23, 2011, our offices were alarmed at the startling news that three camps of internally displaced persons in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince were effectively destroyed. This included the park at the intersection of Delmas Road and Airport Road which was destroyed at the hands of the Haitian police, under direction of Mayor Wilson Jeudy. This camp is home to several hundred people and is a microcosm of the over 800,000 officially-recognized displaced persons in Haiti. It is even more disturbing that this incident occurred during the day while many Haitian women and men were out in search of employment.

Those who stayed behind witnessed the destruction of their belongings while some were violently beaten with batons by police.
“During the same time, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) Camp Coordination and Camp Management Cluster sent correspondence about the cancellation of this week’s cluster meeting, as well as the agenda for the next meeting which includes a discussion on the Martelly Administration’s ‘Return and Relocation’ pilot program. However, there was no acknowledgement about the violent obliteration of camps in Port-au-Prince. This is of great concern, and as United States Members of Congress, we will thoroughly look into this matter.

“It is mind-boggling that any government official would condone or ignore such actions during a time when Haiti is seeking to recover from the crisis stemming from the January 2010 earthquake and the subsequent sluggish rebuilding process. Facing hostile conditions, including adverse weather, violence, and disease, shelter and work are the priorities for every displaced Haitian and must not be compromised.

During President Martelly’s visit to the United States, we were all encouraged by his assertion that Haiti will face a new day—a new beginning. We extended, and continue to extend, our arms to assist and support the people of Haiti and its government as it transitions upward. We will not, however, idly stand by and hear such reports of evictions, without seeking an explanation or taking action.
“We understand that the land issues are extremely complex in Haiti and that there is an urgent need to create the appearance of progress.

However, this cannot be done by evicting people off of public land with no place to go. There must be an accelerated effort to remove the rubble and repair livable buildings, and build permanent shelter. As representatives who have historically supported the advancement and prosperity of Haiti and its Diaspora, it is our hope that President Martelly, the United States and the international community are aware of these forced evictions and are taking adequate steps to address this issue.” Camp D

Source: http://hcvanalysis.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/members-of-congress-outraged-over-camp-destructions-by-haitis-not-so-finest/

Lawyers Denounce Shortcomings in Conduct of Duvalier Prosecution

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Tue, 31 May 2011 18:15:00 +0000

The Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) continue to express their outrage at the cavalier manner in which the prosecution of former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier is being conducted, and their concern over the investigating judge’s apparent lack of interest to pursue this case in accordance with the law. This prosecution presents a historic opportunity to end the impunity that has torn the social fabric of Haiti for many decades and has prevented the establishment of a democratic constitutional state.

The day after charges were filed against the former dictator, the judge charged with investigating the case paid a courtesy visit to Mr. Duvalier in the hotel where he was staying, in violation of Article 49 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The judge also failed to follow proper procedure when he issued a preliminary indictment against the defendant without first having questioned him, constituting a violation of Haitian law.

The judge’s blatant disregard of the Code of Criminal Procedure, despite his knowledge of the law, demonstrates an apparent bias in favor of the accused and serves as a slap in the face of the victims who have come forth to seek justice through the law. Moreover, by issuing a preliminary indictment fraught with these procedural errors, the judge is effectively giving the defense the ability to overturn the indictment on appeal based on technicalities. This seriously calls into question the judge’s commitment to see justice served in this case. We demand that the judge immediately recuse himself from the case to prevent the entire process from being irreparably tainted.

The integrity of the process has been further undermined by Jean-Claude Duvalier’s failure to appear in court. Each time he is called in for questioning, Mr. Duvalier falls ill and visits the hospital. Despite the suspicious timing of Mr. Duvalier’s hospital visits, the judge does not call him back to court once he is released from the hospital.

Meanwhile, Mr. Duvalier routinely defies an order placing him under house arrest and travels the country as if he were a candidate in an electoral campaign, adding insult to injury to the countless victims who suffered human rights abuses under his regime. Mr. Duvalier’s free movement around the country suggests that the Haitian justice system is not yet willing to break with Hai¨ti’s history of impunity.

The BAI and IJDH ask all to mobilize and to remain vigilant until justice is served and impunity is ended. This will be achieved when Duvalier is properly tried and convicted. Therefore, we call on victims of Jean-Claude Duvalier’s brutal regime to continue to come forward and file complaints against him and all complainants to immediately seek the removal of the judge from this case.

The BAI and IJDH ask the victims and supporters of the rule of law to multiply their efforts to stand up against impunity in Haiti. We remind everyone that justice for crimes committed by dictators and their agents will require persistent efforts. In Latin America, dictators’ crimes have commonly been justified by the adoption of emergency laws by their governments. But the perseverance, courage and audacity of the people of those countries have allowed them to overcome barriers to justice. We must arm ourselves with these attributes so that we may finish the crusade against impunity in the Americas and bring this last dictator to justice.

###

Download copy: Lawyers Denounce Shortcomings in Conduct of Duvalier Prosecution Press Release

May 17, 2011
Joan Drake
2532 Q Street NW, Apt. 1
Washington, DC 20007

Port-au-Prince, May 10, 2011
ORIGINAL: FRENCH
Contacts:

Mario Joseph, Av., Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, mario@ijdh.org, +509-3701-9879 (Haiti; Creole, French);
Brian Concannon Jr., Esq., Director, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, Brian@ijdh.org, 617-652-0876 (U.S.), 541-263-0029 (U.S. cell)

US Southern Command to Build Humanitarian Projects in Haiti: Sinking Teeth Deeper into the Country?

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Tue, 31 May 2011 18:04:00 +0000

U.S. Southern Command Public Affairs

Courtesy Story

LES CAYES, Haiti - U.S. Southern Command broke ground, May 9, in Les Cayes, Haiti to mark the beginning of construction of 58 projects that are part of the SOUTHCOM Humanitarian Assistance Program. The projects are located throughout Haiti to assist the country in preparing for any future natural disasters.

The ceremony took place at the site of two contracts. The first consists of a 4,000-square foot Emergency Operations Center and a 4,800-square foot Disaster Relief Warehouse that will provide the Regional Department of Civil Protection the ability to coordinate and effectively respond to emergencies and provide necessary relief to the Haitian people. The lead contractor is GDG Benton & Construction from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The second contract is a community cluster which consists of an eight-classroom school, community center, medical clinic and water well. The community cluster provides much needed facilities to the local population but will also function as evacuation centers in the case of hurricanes or other natural disaster. The lead contractor is Palgag Building Technologies from Kibutz Gaash, Israel.

"Through the construction of these emergency operations centers and disaster relief warehouses, the U.S. Government seeks to strengthen the capacity of the Haitian Government to protect its people, and in doing so, reduce Haiti's vulnerability to natural disasters," said the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth H. Merten.

The two projects commenced during the groundbreaking total $2.9 million and are scheduled to be completed in November and September 2011, respectively.

Participants in the groundbreaking ceremony were The Honorable Kenneth H. Merten, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti; Antoine Bien Aime, Minister of Interior, Government of Haiti; Kevenor Estinvil, Departmental Delegate, Government of Haiti; Cmdr. John Reed, Senior Defense Official, U.S. Embassy; Yvon Cherry, Mayor of Les Cayes; Lt. Cmdr. Luis Holkon, resident officer in charge of Construction Haiti, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast; Yoav Zilber, Regional Manager, Palgag Building Technologies, Ltd.; and Sony Gay, Vice President, GDG Benton & Construction, S.A.

Overall, the $31 million SOUTHCOM HAP projects will construct an EOC and DRW in each of the 10 Haitian departments (analogous to States); 10 fire stations; and eight community clusters throughout Haiti. Construction of the Haiti HAP projects are expected to continue until the end of fiscal year 2012.

ROICC Haiti was established by NAVFAC Southeast in November 2010 as a forward-deployed field office to administer the Haiti HAP construction projects. They currently manage eight multi-project contracts in Haiti, with an additional 10 contracts to be awarded prior to September 2011. Besides ROICC Haiti, a robust team of Project Managers, Architects/Engineers, Contract Specialists and others diligently support the Haiti HAP projects back at NAVFAC's Facilities Engineering Command in Jacksonville, Fla.

Source: http://www.dvidshub.net/news/70223/groundbreaking-marks-beginning-haiti-construction-program

Haiti: Just When You Think It Can't Get Worse

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Tue, 31 May 2011 17:58:00 +0000

Funeral of Samuel Georges, 18-year-old who died eight hours after contracting cholera. Cholera is on the rise in Haiti. Photo: Ben Depp, www.bendepp.com

Saturday 7 May 2011

by: Beverly Bell, Other Worlds

We may soon look back on this period in Haiti with greater appreciation. Amidst the world-historic levels of death and suffering from last January’s earthquake, citizens have at least been spared the scale of government violence that has marked much of their nation’s past (notwithstanding attacks against internally displaced persons during forced evictions, and occasionally against street protesters.)

This may change under Michel Martelly, the incoming president. For starters, he wants to bring back the army that former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide dismantled in 1995. Since Haiti already has a police force to maintain public order and the country is not expected to go to war, Martelly can have only one aim for reintroducing armed forces: to reclaim the tool that past presidents have used to shore up their power by means of violent repression of dissent and competition.

Forces are already readying for violence, which will likely be exerted both through the army and through gangs. Journalist Isabeau Doucet filed this eyewitness report last month: “For over a year, on a hillside south of Port-au-Prince, around 100 former soldiers and young recruits train three times a week. They claim to have a network of camps all over the country where Haitian men meet and exercise, learn military protocol and martial arts and receive basic training... The black-and-red flag of Jean-Claude Duvalier’s party hangs in their tarpaulin dressing room… Somebody is paying for this, even though they claim that it’s all-volunteer, and the current government is turning a blind eye, if not giving tacit support.”

Just how the forces of violence may ally with various backers - some combination of Martelly and those surrounding the returned former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier - is one question. Another is how much they may tyrannize a citizens’ movement which is demanding solutions to widespread homelessness, unemployment, and extreme poverty. Two U.S.-based groups supporting community organizing in Haiti are already preparing emergency responses in case significant political violence should erupt.

Beyond Martelly’s plans for an army, his past associations raise concerns about what policies he may bring to office. Martelly was public in his support for the death squad-friendly regimes that reigned after coups d’état against Aristide (1991 and 2004). More recently, Martelly has made such public statements as "I would kill Aristide to? stick a dick up his ass."

Martelly won in a run-off in which less than one in four registered voters bothered to turn out, meaning he was endorsed by 16.7% of all registered voters. If this sounds abysmally low for a mandate, it is lofty compared to the 4.6% who are believed to have supported Martelly in the first round. No one knows the figure for sure, because that round was so fraudulent that even the government’s Provisional Electoral Council refused to ratify it with a majority vote. While legally, this should have nullified the first round, the Organization of American States and the U.S. government intensively pressured the Haitian government to approve the elections and send Martelly to the run-offs. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even traveled to Haiti to ensure these outcomes.

After Martelly was declared president, Clinton said, “Now he has a chance to lead and we are behind him. He is committed to results. He wants to deliver for the Haitian people. And we are committed to helping him do so.”

Other bad news dogs Haiti. The lives of those left displaced from the earthquake are growing more, not less, vulnerable, contrary to what one might expect with the passing of time and the many billions of aid dollars circulating.

A primary risk is cholera, which is due to spike once the imminent rainy season hits, because the near-daily storms will leave standing water and mud in most camps. The camps are already the perfect breeding ground for this disease of poverty, with their densely concentrated populations who are frequently weak and ill, often lack water – not just drinking water but often any water at all – and suffer from a dearth of hygiene options and medical care. A recent study in the medical journal The Lancet predicted 779,000 cases and 11,100 deaths from cholera by the end of November.

With all humanitarian and international agencies in Haiti aware of the dire risk of this illness, which can result in death only a few hours after infection, 39% of ‘transitional shelters’ still do not receive water or basic sanitation services. Michelle Karshan, an American advocate engaged in anti-cholera efforts, reported: “There is a deadly shortage of available cholera prevention and treatment supplies. And the most important prevention of cholera transmission – creation of a water system infrastructure making treated water widely available – is still not off the ground, while distribution of water continues to reach only a minuscule number of camps. The majority of the resource-poor camps are left to fend for themselves." [1] The U.N. Cholera Appeal for Haiti has only received 45% of the funds it needs.

The deeper worry is why, with up to 1.5 million people still homeless after 16 months, water purification tablets and port-o-potties are being discussed as a solution. The only way to make people safe from this disease is to resettle them into decent housing. Yet still neither the international community nor the Haitian government has any workable plans. The government has yet to invoke its constitutional right to declare eminent domain and claim large plots of unused private land in order to relocate people. International aid has yet to be significantly employed in clearing rubble, 80% of which remains, rendering much of Port-au-Prince uninhabitable.

Another hazard that internally displaced persons (IDPs) face is being forced out of their camps, left in even greater precariousness. According to the International Organization for Migration, 820,000 of the original set of IDPs dwellers – more than half - have left the camps, but not because they have found a better situation. Only 4.7% have gone to new or repaired housing. The remainder, as reported by the International Organization for Migration and substantiated by many community watchdog groups in Haiti, have fled for two reasons. One is an anywhere-but-here response, in which families have escaped to dangerously earthquake-damaged structures, ravines, crowded rooms, or whatever they can find. Others have been evicted in a growing wave of expulsions – some violent, many illegal - by both government institutions and private landowners.

As they have since the earthquake, coalitions of progressive NGOs, community groups, and camp committees are trying to mount pressure to win gains in a broad-based agenda which includes democratic participation and socio-economic rights. Predominant strategies include popular education, legal support for camp residents, policy advocacy, and grassroots mobilization. A snapshot of some of the groups’ activities in the three-week period surrounding this article includes: a three-day May Day mobilization for workers’ rights; a three-day symposium critiquing disaster capitalism, “What Financing for What Reconstruction?”, and a three-day exchange to strengthen efforts to force resettlement of IDPs, “International Forum for the Right to Housing.”

These movements currently lack funding and cohesion. At many points in Haitian history, however, pressure from below has proven to be the critical variable in forcing change. Given the disappointing track record of the international community and development industry, and the ominous prospects of Martelly’s presidency, they may be Haiti’s best hope.

[1] Email from Michelle Karshan to Beverly Bell, April 27, 2011.

We extend our gratitude to the organizations in the Haiti Response Coalition for their careful observation and steady stream of vital information. We send special thanks to the Center for Economic and Policy Research and to Just Foreign Policy for their consistently excellent research. Once again, many thanks for Ben Depp for the gift of his photographs.

Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance. She coordinates Other Worlds, www.otherworldsarepossible.org, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.

Beverly Bell

Beverly Bell first went to Haiti as a teenager. Since then she has dedicated most of her life to working for democracy, women’s rights, and economic justice in that country. She founded or co-founded six organizations and networks dedicated exclusively to supporting the Haitian people, including the Lambi Fund of Haiti. She worked for both presidents Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Rene Preval and wrote Walking on Fire: Haitian Women’s Stories of Survival and Resistance (Cornell University Press, 2001). Today she is associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and runs the economic justice group Other Worlds.

Haiti Cholera Death Toll Tops 4,000

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 03:48:00 +0000

The death toll from Haiti's cholera epidemic has risen to at least 4,030 more than three months after the disease broke out in the country's Artibonite Valley, the health ministry said.

The number of cholera cases in Haiti totalled 209,034 as of January 24, the ministry said.

The severity of the epidemic has diminished over time, but the ministry's figures show that Haitians are still dying from the bacterial infection, which can strike swiftly with intense diarrhoea and vomiting leading to dehydration and sometimes death.

In the latest twist in the evolution of the epidemic, Haitian and international health officials are investigating a cluster of cases of paralysis in recovering cholera patients within days of them being discharged from a treatment centre.

"Experts, including toxicologists, are investigating possible contamination at a hospital or at home from medication, food, or another source as the cause of death in these cases," the Pan American Health Organisation said.

Another possible cause is polio, it said, but officials believe that is highly unlikely because polio is rarely lethal and three of the four patients who suffered paralysis died.

The health crisis broke out in mid-October as Haiti was struggling to recover from a 7.0-magnitude quake that killed more than 220,000 people, left 1.3 million homeless, and the capital in ruins.

While the epidemic is subsiding in Haiti, Venezuelan authorities announced emergency measures on Thursday after 452 Venezuelans were exposed to cholera at a wedding on Saturday in the Dominican Republic, which borders Haiti.

There were at least 37 confirmed cholera cases among Venezuelans returning from the wedding, and officials in Caracas were trying to track down more than 400 others known to have attended the event.

- AFP

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/28/3123904.htm

Authorities Search and Copy U.S. Journalist’s Notes, Computer and Cameras After Returning from Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 03:29:00 +0000

Brandon Jourdon reporting on G20 in Queenspark

Independent journalist Brandon Jourdan recently returned from Haiti after being on assignment documenting the rebuilding of schools in the earthquake-devastated country. However, when he returned to the United States, he was immediately detained after deboarding the plane by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He was questioned about his travels and had all of his documents, computer, phone and camera flash drives searched and copied. This is the seventh time Jourdan says he has been subjected to lengthy searches in five years, and has been told by officials that he is “on a list.” Jourdan joins us in our studio. Catherine Crump, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, says that Jourdan is not the only one facing such treatment by the Obama administration. Crump says many journalists and lawyers who often work abroad have also experienced similar interrogations—and the ACLU believes the First and Fourth Amendments must be honored within U.S. airports. [includes rush transcript]

Guests:

Brandon Jourdan, Independent journalist subjected to repeated searches and interrogations by U.S. customs at airports during his international travels. Jourdan most recently worked for Democracy Now! as a videographer covering the G-20 protests in Canada.
Catherine Crump, Staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who focuses on free speech and privacy rights.

AMY GOODMAN: U.S. citizens returning home from foreign travel can be searched by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents just like anyone else. But our next guest is an independent journalist who estimates he’s been subjected to lengthy searches at least seven times in the last five years.

Brandon Jourdan most recently worked as a videographer for Democracy Now! covering the G-20 protests in Canada. This past weekend, Brandon was returning to New York from Haiti when ICE subjected him to a five-hour search and copied the contents of his laptop, along with his external hard drive and phone.

Brandon Jourdan joins me here in New York. We’re also joined by Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, specializing in free speech and privacy issues.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Brandon, talk about what happened to you when you flew into JFK Airport from Port-au-Prince.

BRANDON JOURDAN: When I flew into New York from Haiti, after I’d worked for two weeks covering rebuilding projects on schools in Haiti, I had first heard on the intercom that they wanted everyone to have their passports out. I pulled my passport out. When I walked out onto the skyway, two Immigration and Customers Enforcement officers took me by the arm and led me to a Homeland Security room.

AMY GOODMAN: Wait, so are saying that they told everyone to have their passports out because actually they were looking for you?

BRANDON JOURDAN: They were looking for me.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, how do you know, once you left, that they didn’t go through everyone else’s passports on the plane?

BRANDON JOURDAN: They left with me. They didn’t continue—they didn’t continue looking at passports.

AMY GOODMAN: And what did they do? Where did they take you?

BRANDON JOURDAN: They took me to, I guess, a Homeland Security office within the JFK airport. At that point, they began looking through all of my clothes, everything. I strategically put a copy of the First and Fourth Amendment in my bags, because this has happened before, and also on my computer and my smartphone and on my hard drives. They took my journal, all my business cards, all that. They said they were going to photocopy them all. They took—

AMY GOODMAN: Did they explain why they were doing this?

BRANDON JOURDAN: I asked them, “Why are you doing this?” They basically said, “You’re on a list. We don’t know why. These are orders"—

AMY GOODMAN: You’re on a list?

BRANDON JOURDAN: Yeah. And “These are orders from Washington.” And they copied my hard drive. They copied my laptop. They copied every single one of my compact flash cards that I use for my camera, which is absurd to me, because I was documenting people building schools and a country devastated by an earthquake.

AMY GOODMAN: And then they gave everything back, after many hours?

BRANDON JOURDAN: I think, if I’m correct, around 6:30, I left the airport. I mean, around 6:30, I left the plane, and it was 10:30, 11:00 before I left, which is about medium for what I have to go through.

AMY GOODMAN: Catherine Crump, you’re with the ACLU. What rights does a passenger have coming into the airport?

CATHERINE CRUMP: The ACLU believes that people have a First and Fourth Amendment right not to have the materials they bring with them, specifically their expressive materials—their laptops, their cell phones, their papers—searched unless the government has a reasonable suspicion that they have engaged in wrongdoing. Unfortunately, the Obama administration, like the Bush administration, has taken the view that it can search people’s electronic devices at the border for any reason or no reason at all. So they think they don’t have to have any suspicion that the laptop contains evidence of a crime before they search it.

AMY GOODMAN: The Obama administration?

CATHERINE CRUMP: The Obama administration believes that. And we filed a lawsuit challenging that policy, because we think that the Constitution says otherwise.

AMY GOODMAN: Brandon Jourdan, this isn’t the first time.

BRANDON JOURDAN: No.

AMY GOODMAN: What happened before this?

BRANDON JOURDAN: OK, well, for instance, on November 7, 2010, I had just got back from seeing my girlfriend, now my fiancée, who is a professor at the University of Leiden. Before I got on the plane—

AMY GOODMAN: And this was in the plane where?

BRANDON JOURDAN: This was in Amsterdam at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Before I even got on the plane, ICE approached me and questioned me.

AMY GOODMAN: American authorities.

BRANDON JOURDAN: American authorities in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, ICE, questioned me. They asked what I had been doing. I said, “I went and saw my girlfriend, Marianne Maeckelbergh. She’s a professor,” which I thought was really weird. I mean, why do they care? And then they asked me, “You sure you didn’t go anywhere else in Europe?” And if I had of went somewhere else in Europe, there’s nothing criminal about that.

Then I got back. I got back to the United States. I was pulled off the plane. This time they announced my name over the intercom. They said, “Everyone have their passports out. William Jourdan,”—William is my first name—“report to the cabin crew.” I reported to them. Once again, everything was photocopied. My computer, everything was copied. I was held for, I think, approximately about six hours. I was tired. I was jet-lagged. I just wanted to go home. I hadn’t done anything wrong. My work as a journalist is protected, or should be protected.

AMY GOODMAN: And what did they say to you then, why they were doing this?

BRANDON JOURDAN: I, honestly—they didn’t really respond at all. They were more forthcoming with information this time than they had in the past. All they’ve usually said in the past is like, “You’re on a list,” or “We don’t know.”

AMY GOODMAN: When did this all start?

BRANDON JOURDAN: Well, I worked in 2008 in the Gaza Strip. I was working—I was commissioned by a nonprofit called the Council for National Interest, which is a bunch of former State Department people, whatnot, who basically collect information on what’s happening in the Middle East. Now, during that time, we interviewed a lot of people, for instance, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry—the former Egyptian Foreign Minister, the U.S. embassies. And we went into the Gaza Strip, and we interviewed people from the U.N., and we also interviewed Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, a controversial figure, but the work I was doing was documenting something and something that I feel serves a public good.

AMY GOODMAN: So, after Gaza, what happened?

BRANDON JOURDAN: After Gaza—the first time, I don’t think they pulled me from the plane. The first time, I just went through. When I was going through the regular customs thing, they pulled me aside, and then they questioned me. They photocopied all my journal. They photocopied all my business cards. They were really interested in anything that was in Arabic. And that’s when it began.

And then, the same summer, within—I flew back to New York. I finished up some work in Washington, as well, and then I flew to Japan, where I was invited to speak at the G-8 protests that were happening, not at the protest, but at some universities while it was going on. I did a lot of work on the movement against corporate globalization. And when I came back, that was when they really started pulling me from the plane. And that was when I realized that the way I travel was forever altered, that I’m on a list, and this is the way—this is a routine now. This is protocol for how they handle me.

AMY GOODMAN: When you came back from Haiti, you had a camera?

BRANDON JOURDAN: Oh, yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: They took the camera?

BRANDON JOURDAN: They took my camera. They took anything—anything that had media that they could copy, they copied it. And when I worked for the—

AMY GOODMAN: They know how to work the camera?

BRANDON JOURDAN: They took the flash card. They didn’t really need the camera. Now, when I came back from—when I worked for Democracy Now! at the G-20 protests, they asked me how to use my camera. They took my tapes.

AMY GOODMAN: And then they said?

BRANDON JOURDAN: They said, you know, “How do we turn this on?”

AMY GOODMAN: Catherine Crump?

CATHERINE CRUMP: This is a distressingly common scenario. One of the plaintiffs in our ongoing lawsuit is the National Press Photographers Association. Their members have been searched previously, just like you’ve been searched. And of course, journalists have a special interest in not having their expressive materials searched. Many people speak to confidential sources and often become very concerned that their sources overseas aren’t going to be able to trust them anymore, if they know that talking to a journalist means that when you cross the border, the U.S. government may access the journalist’s notes or pictures and so forth. So it’s a real problem.

AMY GOODMAN: I mean, a journalist then becomes an agent of the state, because they are just gathering information that is then collected by the state when they return.

CATHERINE CRUMP: That’s right. And the problem even goes beyond journalists. It certainly affects journalists, but lawyers who are defending people have the same problem. Many people who have defended Guantánamo detainees have had to go overseas to gather evidence. And the idea that they would be gathering evidence to defend someone who’s being prosecuted by the U.S. government and then, by crossing the border, turned all of that over to the U.S. government is something that really threatens a lawyer’s ability to do their job, just like it threatens journalists’ ability to do their jobs. But, you know, even people who aren’t part of the professions often have very sensitive information on their computers. When you think about it, people have their financial records, their family photographs, their personal diaries. And the idea that we, as Americans, should have to show all of that stuff to the government just because we travel internationally is really contrary to our basic values.

AMY GOODMAN: Brandon, did you have journals?

BRANDON JOURDAN: I mean, after this situation started, I quit writing down certain details. If I have to, I find another way to get it home. I’m also very cognitive of the fact that I can jeopardize the subjects that I’m trying to record. And so, I take—and Amy, I have to go through this all the time. I mean, I just had to do a deposition for some footage that I shot at the inauguration in 2005. And I willingly did that, because it was actually for activists, and I didn’t mind going forward because it helped their case.

AMY GOODMAN: How does this make you feel when you go through this?

BRANDON JOURDAN: It makes me paranoid. It makes me angry. And—

AMY GOODMAN: Will you sue?

BRANDON JOURDAN: Of course. As soon as I find a lawyer to do it, I will sue everyone until I can be removed from this list, until I can get justice. And I’m not an individualist. I’m doing this because—out of principle, because if I’m getting searched, I guarantee you there are a whole bunch of people that have a similar experience.

AMY GOODMAN: Catherine Crump, who are you representing in your suit?

CATHERINE CRUMP: We represent two organizations and an individual. We represent the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Press Photographers Association and a man named Pascal Abidor. He is a U.S. citizen who’s studying in Canada. And when he was coming across the border on the train, a border agent stopped him, asked what he studied—he said he studied Islamic studies—and asked where he’d been—and he had been to Jordan and Lebanon—and on that basis, hauled him to the cafe car, opened up his laptop, and proceeded to require him to turn over his passport and—password to his laptop, and then searched the contents. I don’t believe that the mere fact that someone chooses to study Islamic studies means that the government has a good reason to go through their laptop.

AMY GOODMAN: Catherine, do passengers have any rights to privacy under the Obama administration?

CATHERINE CRUMP: Unfortunately, the Obama administration has taken a very anti-privacy view here. The policy is extremely broad. It’s not just that the government can search the contents of your laptop.

AMY GOODMAN: We have just ten seconds.

CATHERINE CRUMP: They can copy it. They can even detain it for, they say, as long as they need to make sure that you’re not carrying anything criminal. And we think they need reasonable suspicion in order to do so.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you both very much for being with us.

BRANDON JOURDAN: Thank you, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the ACLU, and Brandon Jourdan, an independent journalist who has been searched repeatedly by federal authorities when he comes into airports here in the United States and even outside.

Source: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/15/exclusive_authorities_search_and_copy_us

Why is Former Congressman/CIA Bob Barr Advising Baby Doc Duvalier?

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:49:00 +0000

It is unclear why former U.S. congressman Bob Barr would be interested in assisting a monstrous individual like Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier but, his actions certainly warrant an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. Oh, "former" CIA - that might answer it.

Duvalier Advised by Ex-Congressman Barr as He Seeks Swiss Funds

Bob Barr, a former U.S. congressman, is advising Jean-Claude Duvalier as the Haitian ex-dictator seeks to unlock frozen funds left in Swiss banks after he fled to Paris exile amid a 1986 rebellion.

Duvalier “is very interested in trying to get those funds freed up, not for himself, but so they can be used to help the situation in Haiti,” Barr said by phone from Port-au-Prince yesterday. Barr, 62, was a Republican representative from Georgia in 1995-2003 and ran for president in 2008 on the Libertarian Party ticket.

Barr accompanied Duvalier Jan. 21 as the former dictator made his first public comments since his Jan. 16 return to his homeland from a 25-year exile. Also accompanying Duvalier were two other American lawyers, Ed Marger of Jasper, Georgia, and Mike Puglise of Snellville, Georgia, according to a statement issued by Barr’s office.

The 59-year-old Duvalier, also known as “Baby Doc,” apologized to victims of abuses during his government, vowed to help the quake-ravaged nation rebuild and said he expected to face “persecution” upon his return. Haitian authorities opened a corruption case against him two days after his return.

The former dictator said his desire to help Haiti rebuild from last year’s quake that killed more than 300,000 “far outweighs any harassment I could face,” according to a video of his speech posted on the website of the daily Nouvelliste.

Charges Against Duvalier
Haitian authorities accused Duvalier of criminal conspiracy, embezzlement and corruption, prosecutor Aristidas Auguste told Radio Metropole. Duvalier allegedly stole public funds during his rule and hid them in Swiss bank accounts, Enrico Monfrini, a Switzerland-based lawyer representing the Haitian government, told Metropole.

A new Swiss law set to take effect Feb. 1 may allow authorities to return to Haiti as much as $7.3 million frozen in Duvalier’s accounts, said Jenny Piaget, a spokeswoman for the Swiss foreign affairs department.

Duvalier’s 15-year rule began in 1971 when his father, Francois Duvalier, known as “Papa Doc,” appointed him president for life. The Duvaliers oversaw the killings of 20,000 to 30,000 civilians, many at the hands of the Tonton Macoutes secret police, according to Human Rights Watch.

Amnesty International, which has pressed for Duvalier to be tried for crimes against humanity, said the corruption case is “a positive step, but it is not enough,” according to a Jan. 18 statement.

When asked about the crimes against humanity charges, Barr, who is advising Duvalier and not representing him as a lawyer, said “allegations are the cheapest commodity on the market.”

Election Standoff
Duvalier returned amid a political standoff over disputed presidential elections held Nov. 28 in which opposition accused the ruling party of President Rene Preval of rigging the vote.

A second-round runoff vote set for Jan. 16 was postponed after the Organization of American States recommended that ruling party candidate Jude Celestin withdraw from the contest to replace Preval based on an analysis by foreign observers. Haiti’s electoral council is considering the report and hasn’t reset a date for a runoff.

Barr, who led the push to impeach former U.S. president Bill Clinton in 1998, said Duvalier’s return is not political.

“I don’t sense that politics is part of his agenda at this point,” Barr said.

Robert Pastor, who served as former President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser for Latin America, said in an e-mail that it’s likely Duvalier’s motive for returning was “reconstruction of his image, which was worse than Port-au- Prince after the earthquake.”

Source: http://redactednews.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-is-former-congressmancia-bob-barr.html

DEATH AND DIRTY WATER: CHOLERA'S GRIM MARCH THROUGH HAITI

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 05:28:00 +0000

An elderly cholera victim is transferred from Villard to Saint-Marc, the epicentre of Haiti's cholera outbreak where thousands have been treated.

(Toronto Star) - By Jennifer Wells

DROUIN -At 6:15 on a weekday morning Lovely Avelus is not yet in her cherry red school attire, but rather the pale brown dress in which she slept.

An adolescent boy named Venecen — a shy recent addition to the family compound — carries her past the one-bunny rabbit cage to a semi-hidden patch of ground in order to provide some privacy for her morning toilet.

After a long, patient wait, Venecen tears a piece of frond from a plantain tree and hands it to Lovely so she may clean her bottom. Then off she scampers to continue playing peek-a-boo behind the curtain of her one-room home, which is dank and cold on this morning.

In the lone bed in this single room lies Lina, the 25-year-old daughter of Lovely’s uncle, Delius Elistin. Lina, who has a wet, rattling cough, gave birth to a baby boy two days before. She has not yet received any medical care.

It is simply too much.

Here in the land of earthquakes and here in the land of hurricanes and here in the land of abject poverty, Lovely’s family can now claim residence here in the land of cholera where, as of Friday, 330 have died and 4,714 cases have been confirmed.

Lovely’s extended family, none of whom has experienced an outbreak before, has some notion of what it means to play host to the latest disease to colonize Haiti. “We put two or three drops of bleach,” says Elistin, when asked what preventive treatments are applied to the water drawn from a nearby cistern. “We’re not putting much.”

Elistin says he has heard radio advisories recommending that the onset of diarrhea be treated by adding lemon juice to the water. It is true that lemon lowers the ph of water, thus making it an effective disinfectant against vibrio cholerae. If only it were so simple. “These days we cannot find lemons,” he says of his recent market searches. It’s hardly lemon weather.

Lovely’s mother, Rosemene, is cleaning out a small plastic container with a leaf. She is asked what special precautions she takes in preparing food, to which she responds that she washes the lettuce before consumption.

At Lovely’s home in Fermathe, at some remove from the squalor of the tent cities of Port-au-Prince, messages of prevention are half received and only partially executed. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control advises eight drops of bleach per gallon of water, which must be stored in clean, covered containers. Wash your hands after defecating is a steady reminder throughout the country. Lettuce? Verboten. “Boil it, cook it, peel it, or leave it,” is a simple CDC catchphrase which authorities here would do well to adopt.

It is as if the family lies in wait, just as the world lies in wait. Will the epidemic catch in the capital among the more than one million displaced in the fetid tent cities?

Cholera plays no obvious game. There are no stated rules.

It pops up one day in Drouin, and then Villard. And now there’s Petite Rivière and unconfirmed reports in Arcahaie. It is as if the epidemic were toying with the international and Haitian health communities, as if the bacteria too were playing a grim version of peek-a-boo.

It is unwise to think one has seen the worst of Haiti, or to imagine I had seen the worst of Haiti.

To observe the cholera outbreak in its full deathly flourish, one must travel to the Artibonite lowland, and so we chose the coastal route north from Port-au-Prince to Saint-Marc and from there northeast to Pont Sondé where the highway meets the Artibonite River. With luck, if the rains held, we would trace the river’s journey from Pont Sondé north again to Villard and then west to Drouin and on to Grande Saline where the Artibonite empties into the Gulf of Gonaives.

The coastal highway is often treacherous, not so much due to the state of the road, which is quite good, at least as far as Pont Sondé, but the quality of the driving. We observed four accidents on our way. The legless body of a trucker lies supine on the road, innards spilling outward, his head wrapped in a ragged bit of blue cloth, someone’s effort at a makeshift bandage.

At Pont Sondé it is market day and it is madness. Throngs of what must be thousands: farmers who have brought their haulage of sweet potatoes; women tending sacks of Haitian rice; split-open storage bags heaping with pyramids of rough salt brought from the coast. The fresh produce, agricultural bounty, is brought in by the tonnage and shipped out to larger cities: Gonaives to the north; Port-au-Prince to the south.

Across the span of the bridge, a serious line of women hustlers sells dry goods: ribbons and sparkly sandals and cosmetics. Below lies the river.

The river. The Artibonite is a historic irrigation artery for the country, albeit one that was dammed in the far east of the country by the U.S. in 1956, flooding part of the central plateau and displacing farmers there.

Here in the lowland — so rare in such a mountainous country — rice fields spread out square upon square, as if someone kicked a giant coil of sod and it rolled itself out to carpet the land.

The rains this season have been flooding and relentless. The area has been more or less under water since July, informs one aid worker. Women have come through deep water to get to market early.

The invasion of cheap, white American rice has economically devastated the rice farmers. Still, impoverished Haitian workers migrate here during the rice harvest, eager even for the 125 gourdes a day pay.

On Monday, as the death toll rose to 259 and the number of cases to 3,342, the United Nations Office for the Co-Ordination of Humanitarian Affairs echoed Haitian health ministry officials in citing cholera’s toll among the poorest of the poor. “Assessments show the majority of cases involve people from rural areas where rice growing is prevalent,” said the OCHA in a release.

Many deaths have been seasonal labourers. How ironic that doctors informing ill patients of the trademark characteristics of cholera describe the bacterial-ridden stool of victims as emerging “like rice water.”

Not all the victims are farm workers. Beyond Pont Sondé, just before the village of Villard, Maculèz Axelis dusts her aged feet though her small amount of un-hulled rice that she sells by the road. Her 14-year-old niece, Ti Madanm, died last night. She says the villagers have been asking that at least a clinic be built. If their requests had been heard, she says, the children would not have died. Simple rehydration salts often work wonders.

From the blacktop road at Villard, the journey turns to rougher stone and very quickly time evaporates. “Blanc!” cries a young boy outside a collection of the tin-roofed mud and straw huts that the rice farmers call home. That would be me, blanc. The outsider. Bonjour, blanc.

The villages spread either side of the Artibonite, which flows not more than 10 feet from the road. Great patches of drying rice trim the road: on one side the river, and on the other the rice.

Forty minutes later we arrive at the clinic at Drouin, serving the region of Grande Saline — with a population of about 45,000 — and the same named village that anchors it. The clinic was hit hard by the outbreak a week ago. “It was chaos. There were bodies everywhere,” says Dr. Rashid al Badi, who leads the clinical day shift.

Al Badi is wearing a red Humedica vest. The German aid agency is working in concert with a team of Cuban doctors. There are two tiny cholera victims hooked to IVs a few feet away. By midweek the clinic had recorded 40 deaths. I tell him I have heard that a patient passed away moments ago.

“He came alone,” al Badi says.

The patient was rehydrated. A single dose of the antibiotic Doxycycline was administered. “He was fully hydrated, we were trying really hard,” says al Badi. “Late morning he went into cardiac arrest.” Attempts at resuscitation failed.

He estimates the patient’s age at about 30, but who knows?

“The villagers didn’t recognize him.”

Perhaps he was a seasonal worker. “They are drinking water from the river directly,” al Badi informs. Of course they are. They have for centuries.

“Even after death we don’t know who to contact. We’re waiting for someone to come.”

On a narrow passageway between the clinic and a cement wall, the body of the unknown cholera victim has been placed. On this day, Wednesday, the death count will rise to 284.

The body has been covered with a blue tarp. Small thin pieces of wood have been placed on the edges of the tarp. The winds in the late afternoon can get quite spirited. I wonder if the wood will be blown away.

When the winds come up the rains cannot be far behind.

The village of Grande Saline cannot be reached, we are told. Access is flooded. Boats have been used to retrieve the ill. And a helicopter. And so, as they say in Creole, “nou fè bak.”

In doing so we trace the journey of the stricken seeking medical care to the road back to Villard where it meets the highway, returning via Saint-Marc and on to Port-au-Prince.

It’s a mistake to become oblivious to the noise and chaos and horn blaring. The Toyota pickup on our tail appeared to be any other impatient Haitian, the words “Merci Jesus” painted on the front of his truck. He was in a great hurry. Isn’t everyone? Until I noted a hand holding an IV bag rising from the back of the truck, and let the truck pass and studied the despairing look of a young man keeping the arm of a limp old man aloft, the old man’s lean form spread across two laps in the back of the pickup.

The truck pulled up to Saint Nicolas Hospital in Saint-Marc. Earlier in the day I had revisited the clinic, my third trip in. By Wednesday at the latest a cholera treatment centre was supposed to be in place, taking the victims out of the general hospital population.

“But they had to stop construction because people didn’t want them to build this centre near their homes,” says Dr. Mayette Yfto, the hospital’s chief administrator. He’s very polite, Dr. Yfto. The locals threatened to burn the thing down.

Instead the centre will be constructed in Pont Sondé.

The good news: the number of admissions at Saint Nicolas has slowed, says Patrick Almazor, the Partners in Health director for the Artibonite region. PIH has had a long-term working alliance at Saint Nicolas and its doctors and nurses have been key to handling the crisis. Sixty-five deaths have been recorded at the hospital. More than half of those victims died before being carried through the hospital gate.

On Tuesday, Almazor saw a body on the road to Petite Rivière. “After three or four days they dump them into the river,” he says. The nameless ones.

From Saint-Marc the medical geography of Haiti’s cholera epidemic splits in two.

On Thursday, there were reports of 174 cases further south along the coastal highway at Arcahaie. The name may mean little today but there was a time when the beach strip from, roughly, Montrouis to Arcahaie featured a Club Med and other Caribbean-style getaways and there was a time when a cholera epidemic in Haiti would have been measured in lost dollars in tourism and trade.

No more. The local news reports the small street vendors are suffering some.

On the northern side of the mountains that split the lowlands from the coast, cases have been reported at Verettes and Mirebalais.

For more than a week the mayor of Mirebalais has blamed the deaths in his community on a Nepalese-staffed United Nations base situated on the Meille River, a tributary of the Artibonite.

The UN has repeatedly insisted that none of the 700 on base has tested positive for cholera and that suggestions in some media reports that uncontained excrement has leeched from latrines are not true. The seepage, says UN spokesperson Vincenzo Pugliese, can be sourced to overflowing “soak pits” containing shower and kitchen waters.

“For sure it’s about migration. For sure,” says Mayette Yfto, meaning that the epidemic has been imported from lands abroad. It is as if Haiti is desperate to prove that this one horror, this one catastrophe, is not of its own making.

There may never be an absolute answer. Even genetic markers may ultimately fail to prove the epidemic’s source.

In a news conference Friday, Gabriel Timothee, director general of the ministry of health, said “patient zero” had yet to be identified. Eight deaths have been recorded in the Artibonite since Thursday.

As the media drifted away, Michel Thieren, head of the Pan American Health Organization in Haiti, offered the simplest assessment. “This is an epidemic that will settle over months,” he said gently.

What is clear is that cholera is now an endemic part of Lovely’s Haiti. And that the Artibonite River has proved a welcoming host.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/article/883229--death-and-dirty-water-cholera-s-grim-march-through-haiti

Congresswoman Waters Opposes Plot to Control Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 19:49:00 +0000

PRESS RELEASE

January 18, 2011
Contact: Sean Bartlett
For Immediate Release

Phone: (202) 225-2201

Congresswoman Waters Opposes Plot to Control Haiti

Urges Prosecution of Duvalier for Human Rights Violations and New Elections that Respect the Will of the Haitian People

Washington - Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) issued the following statement today, upon learning that Haiti's former dictator, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, returned to Haiti after 25 years of exile in France:

The plot to control Haiti has gone from the absurd to the ridiculous. The return of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier to Haiti in the midst of a flawed election is truly shocking. The Duvalier dictatorship was absolutely brutal, and there is extensive documentation of the human rights violations suffered by the Haitian people during his reign. I was pleased to hear that the authorities had taken him into custody, and I urge that he be tried for his crimes. Nevertheless, Duvalier's return raises serious questions about who in Haiti facilitated his return and what his supporters expect to gain by bringing him back.

Duvalier's return comes in the midst of a desperate attempt by President Rene Préval to maintain control of Haiti by ensuring the election of Jude Celestin, his chosen successor. President Préval did this by appointing a Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) that was biased in his favor, which refused to allow candidates from over a dozen political parties to participate in the elections. Among those excluded was Lavalas, Haiti's largest political party and the party most popular among Haiti's poor. The result was a deeply flawed election that generated widespread and sometimes violent protests among the Haitian people.

Had the elections truly been inclusive, the most likely result would have been the election of a President who represented the impoverished majority of the Haitian people. This would have been contrary to the interests of the rich and powerful business elites of Haiti, whose main goal has always been the exploitation of the Haitian people as cheap labor. It is these wealthy Haitian elites who benefited under the reign of the Duvalier regime and who would no doubt benefit if he were to return to power.

Additional confusion was created by the Organization of American States (OAS), which attempted to salvage these flawedelections by issuing a report based on flawed methodology. The OAS did not conduct a full recount, but instead examined a sample of only 919 of the 11,181 tally sheets from voting booths across Haiti, threw out 234 of these tally sheets, and then concluded that Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly should advance to a runoff, along with Mirlande Manigat, in place of Jude Celestin. The OAS report concluded that Martelly defeated Celestin by a margin of only 0.3 percent of the votes reported on those tally sheets that the OAS chose to count. This would mean Préval's candidate, the candidate who is most likely to be trusted by the elites, would be eliminated.

However, according to an analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), tally sheets were either missing or were discounted for irregularities at 1,326 voting booths or 11.9 percent of the total. The proportion of discounted votes and other irregularities is more than sufficient to cast doubt upon the entire process, especially when the difference between the number of votes counted for Celestin and Martelly is so small. The recommendation of the OAS to change the names of the candidates included in the runoff election is an ill-advised and sloppy attempt to fix an election that should be scrapped entirely.

In any case, it is now clear that no runoff can be held this month as previously planned, and no successor will be elected prior to February 7th, the last day of President Préval's term in office under the constitution. Consequently, there is the possibility that Haiti could find itself with no President, thus creating a void and the opportunity for a dictator.

I was shocked to learn that OAS officials discussed forcing President Préval to leave the country on board a plane - much the way that former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced to leave the country in a coup d'état in 2004. Ricardo Seitanfus, the former OAS Special Representative to Haiti, recently revealed that at a meeting of United Nations, OAS and donor country officials, some representatives suggested that President Préval should leave the country and an airplane should be provided for that purpose.

The OAS and other international agencies have no right to dictate the outcome of the election and no right to plot the exile of the current President of Haiti. Despite President Préval's role in these failed and fraudulent elections, the OAS cannot be a part of a plan to try to determine the outcome of the elections.

It is absurd and outrageous that anyone would even think to take advantage of this situation to facilitate Baby Doc Duvalier's return to Haiti. Unfortunately, he has returned, and it is important to ask why. Who assisted Duvalier in his return? Where did he get the money to pay for his return? Were any officials of the U.S. Government aware of his plans to return? Was the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) aware? If so, was any action taken to stop him from returning or to ensure that he would be arrested and prosecuted for his crimes and not allowed to usurp power if he did return?

I am deeply concerned that the wealthy elites of Haiti who supported the Duvalier regime in the past, along with the assistance of international agencies, may have encouraged Duvalier to return in the hope that the flawed elections will create a power vacuum that could allow him to take power once again. I am even more concerned that OAS officials may be wittingly or unwittingly helping to create precisely the type of power vacuum that would enable him to do so.

It is important that we determine what role U.S. officials played, if any, in facilitating Duvalier's return. It is even more important that we determine what role the U.S. Government will play moving forward.

The U.S. Government promised to help Haiti recover from last year's earthquake and develop its economy. I introduced legislation to forgive Haiti its foreign debt, and allow the country to secure additional aid in the form of grants so that it wouldn't incur further debt. I was very pleased that Congress passed the legislation in a bipartisan manner, and that President Obama signed it into law just three months after the earthquake. President Obama also requested and Congress appropriated almost $3 billion in funds for humanitarian assistance and long-term reconstruction and development for Haiti. Meanwhile, donor countries committed more than $9 billion in aid for Haiti's reconstruction at an international donors' conference last March.

Haiti's next government will be called upon to make difficult decisions regarding the allocation of these resources. If these decisions are not made by a credible and legitimately-elected government, billions in U.S. taxpayer funds could be wasted and many donors may refuse to distribute the funds that were promised. Meanwhile, Haiti's recovery could be delayed for decades and the Haitian people will continue to suffer.

I believe the only recourse is for Haiti to organize new elections that will be free and fair, inclusive of all eligible political parties and candidates, and open to participation by all Haitian voters. The U.S. Government should demand a clear statement to that effect by both the OAS and President Préval, and the U.S. should stand ready to assist Haiti in organizing new elections.

Only through free, fair and inclusive elections will the people of Haiti be empowered to create a better future for themselves and their children.

Michel Martelly, Stealth Duvalierist

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 19:37:00 +0000

By Jeb Sprague

In the media coverage of Haiti's ongoing electoral crisis, presidential candidate Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, whom ruling Unity party candidate Jude Célestin edged out of Haiti's Jan. 16 run-off by less than 1%, has been portrayed as the victim of voting fraud and the leader of a populist upsurge against Haiti’s crooked Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).

Some have questioned his presidential suitability by pointing to his vulgar antics as a konpa musician over the last two decades, where he often made demeaning comments about women and periodically dropped his trousers to bare his backside. The real problem with Martelly, however, is not his perceived immorality, but his heinous political history and close affi liation with the reactionary “forces of darkness," as they are called in Haiti, which have snuffed out each genuine attempt Haitians have made over the past 20 years to elect a democratic government. Far from a champion of democracy, Martelly has been a cheerleader for, and perhaps even a participant in, bloody coups d'état and military rule.

Duvalierist Affi nities

Under the Duvalier dictatorship, Martelly ran the Garage, a nightclub patronized by army offi cers and members of Haiti’s tiny ruling class. At a recent press conference, Martelly spoke nostalgically of the Duvalierist era, when François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and later his son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" enforced their iron rule with gun and machete wielding Tonton Macoutes, a sort of Haitian Gestapo. “Today the dog is eating its vomit," lamented Marcus Garcia of Radio Mélodie FM in a Dec. 8 editorial. While "Michel Martelly openly defends the Duvalier regime in a press conference,” the youth who have been duped into supporting him are “without memory of [the infamous political prison] Fort Dimanche-Fort La mort, without memory of the Nov. 29, 1987 electoral massacre,” when neo-Duvalierist thugs killed hundreds of would-be voters.

In a 2002 article, the Washington Post explained how the konpa singer was a long-time “favorite of the thugs who worked on behalf of the hated Duvalier family dictatorship before its 1986 collapse.” But the mainstream media of late has yet to pick up on the singer’s past affi liations. Duvalierist affi nities should not be taken lightly. Human rights groups such as the League of Former Political Prisoners and Families of the Disappeared compiled a partial list of several thousand of the Duvalier regime’s victims, which was published in Haïti Progrès in 1987, but total estimates of those killed under the U.S.-backed 29-year long dictatorship range from 30,000 to 50,000 people. After Baby Doc’s fall in February 1986, a mass democratic movement, long repressed by the Duvaliers, burst forth and became known as the Lavalas, or fl ood. Martelly quickly became a bitter Lavalas opponent, making trenchant attacks against the popular movement in his songs played widely on Haitian radio.

The Rise of Aristide and the 1991 Coup

Following his dramatic election with 67% of the vote in Dec. 16, 1990 elections, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former parish priest and Lavalas movement leader, was inaugurated on Feb. 7, 1991 as Haiti’s democratically elected president, but then deposed by a military coup, for the fi rst time, on Sep. 30, 1991, only eight months into his fi rst term. Martelly “was closely identifi ed with sympathizers of the 1991 military coup that ousted former President Jean- Bertrand Aristide,” the Miami Herald observed in 1996.

The military junta that ruled Haiti between 1991 and 1994 was bloody and brutal. According to Human Rights Watch, some 5,000 people were murdered by the junta’s soldiers and paramilitaries, and thousands more tortured and raped. Hundreds of thousands were driven into hiding and exile. Martelly became the coup’s joker, applauding the junta while it was in power. He was friends with the dreaded Lt. Col. Michel François, who, as Police Chief, was the principal director of the coup's executioners. For instance, according to a fact-fi nding report by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark's Haiti Commission of Inquiry into the Sep. 30 Coup d'Etat, François drove a red Jeep leading several buses full of soldiers into large crowds demonstrating against the coup on the Champ de Mars in front of the National Palace on the night of Sep. 30, 1991. (A January 1991 coup d'état, nine months earlier, had been turned back by such massive demonstrations.) The crowds applauded the soldiers, thinking they had come to put down the coup. Instead, on François' signal, the bus windows opened, then police and soldiers mowed down hundreds of demonstrators with machine- gun fi re.

Martelly claims his moniker “Sweet Micky” (also the name of his band) came from a nightclub performance in 1988, but it's a nickname Col. Michel François also shared. U.S. documentary fi lmmaker and writer Kevin Pina recalls a concert at the El Rancho Hotel in Port-au-Prince in July 1993 where Colonel “Michel François, ... who was also called ‘Sweet Micky’ after the coup of 1991 because people claimed he would have a broad smile on his face as he killed Lavalas partisans, took to the stage” and “held up Martelly’s hand announcing to the crowd, ‘This is the real Sweet Micky.’” Pina adds, “That’s the fi rst time I ever heard Martelly referred to as such.” One concert that Martelly performed at the request of Michel François and military junta leaders was billed as a demonstration against Dante Caputo, the United Nations special representative to Haiti who was attempting to deploy UN human rights observers into the country. At that same time, the Haitian army and the infamous FRAPH death squads were slaughtering members of the anti-coup resistance.

Martelly, known at the time to have many friends throughout the military, explained to the Miami New Times: “I didn’t accept [the request to play] because I was Michel François’s friend, I did not accept because it was the Army. I went because I did not want Aristide back.” Most shockingly, Father Jean- Marie Vincent (who was killed by a coup death-squad on Aug. 28, 1994) accused Martelly of accompanying the Haitian police on deadly night-time raids to track down suspected Lavalas resistance leaders. “We have information that Michel Martelly has been traveling with death squads from the police when they go out at night to hunt and kill Lavalas leaders,” Vincent told fi lmmaker Pina in a videotaped interview.

After Aristide returned to Haiti in October 1994, Martelly spent most of his time living “in a condo on Miami Beach,” where he “had a regular gig at the Promenade on Ocean Drive, where his band Sweet Micky performed compas, rhythmic Haitian dance music,” according to the Miami New Times. In 2000, Aristide was overwhelmingly elected to a second term. But the George W. Bush administration, also coming into power at that time, launched a destabilization campaign to overthrow Aristide, which is detailed in Peter Hallward’s 2007 book Damming the Flood. Martelly became a willing participant in that germinating coup.

In 2002, the noose was tightening around Aristide. Former soldiers had attempted a coup on Dec. 17, 2001, and the U.S. aid embargo was taking its toll. Nonetheless, Aristide’s government had launched several social investment programs including food cooperatives, the building of unprecedented numbers of schools, subsidization of school books, and other literacy promotion. In his 2002 Carnival song, Martelly referred “to recent riots at a dockside warehouse here that were sparked by word that offi cials from Aristide’s party were stealing from a food program for the poor,”wrote the Washington Post. Although corruption under Aristide paled next to that under the 1991 military junta that Martelly supported, his Carnival song hit a nerve. By 2003, Martelly was on average spending $150,000 to $200,000 on his fl oats for Port-au-Prince’s annual Carnival, according to the Miami Herald. During Carnival, in which mockery of the government is a tradition, Martelly aimed extremely sharp and vulgar criticism at Aristide. During that time, “Kolonget manman ou Aristide" was one of Sweet Micky's refrains, perhaps the worst curse one can make in Kreyòl, meaning literally "the slave master fucked your mother.”

The 2004 Coup and its aftermath

In February 2004, Aristide was driven from power yet again. A U.S. Navy Seal team took the president from his home – Aristide called it “a modern kidnapping” – and sent him into exile in Africa, where he remains to this day. In the build-up to that coup, socalled “rebels” composed of former Haitian Army soldiers and former FRAPH death-squad paramilitaries, ran raids into Haiti’s Central Plateau and North, savagely executing dozens of Aristide supporters, government offi cials and some of their family members. Wyclef Jean, a friend of Martelly, described the “rebels” as freedom fi ghters “standing up for their rights.” Following the coup, U.S., French, and Canadian soldiers occupied Haiti and set up an illegal de facto regime. As outcry against the February coup grew, Martelly held a concert in Portau- Prince in April 2004 to counter calls for Aristide’s return. The concert was entitled: “Keep him out!”

In September 2004, Tropical Storm Jeanne fl ooded the northwest city of Gonaïves, killing some 3,000 people. U.S.-installed de facto Prime Minister Gérard Latortue was widely criticized for his ineffective and belated response to the disaster. One of his few initiatives was to hold a fundraiser with business leaders of the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce. Martelly, who had used his music only to undermine Aristide, headlined the Latortue gala, the Miami Herald reported. In 2006, with Lavalas militants driven into hiding, jailed, or murdered, the Latortue regime held an election which brought former-President René Préval back to power. The Lavalas base supported Préval, thinking he would bring Aristide back, free all the coup's political prisoners, and reverse the neoliberal march of the Latortue dictatorship.

But Préval betrayed these expectations, creating a government dominated by coup supporters and working closely with the foreign military occupation which had now been handed off to the UN. He soon became reviled by large swathes of the poor for failing to enable Aristide's return or to restart many of Aristide's popular social investment programs. By 2009, Préval's CEP banned Aristide's party, the Lavalas Family (FL), from partial senatorial elections and later presidential and parliamentary elections. Préval's weak response to the catastrophic January 2010 earthquake accelerated his decline.

The 2010 Selections and Martelly’s Rise

Finally, the CEP fi xed general elections for Nov. 28, 2010. The Associated Press reported Dec. 10 that Martelly’s “political popularity took off in the weeks before the vote and seems to have surged since it appeared he had been narrowly disqualifi ed from the race.” This surge owes a lot to Martelly’s hi-tech campaign, which outgunned and outclassed his 18 rivals by launching tens of thousands of computerized messages asking people to vote for him. Martelly hired a slick Spanish public relations fi rm to manage his campaign and break into the spotlight. “The Madrid-based Sola, who played an indispensable role in getting Mexico's Felipe Calderón into the president's chair in 2006, has been running the Martelly campaign for the past seven weeks, which goes a long way toward explaining how the antic-prone musician suddenly emerged as a leading contender for Haiti's presidency,” reported The Toronto Star on Dec. 6.

Calderón is widely considered to have stolen the 2006 election from leftist candidate López Obrador, a dirty victory which pleased Washington. The fi rm Ostos & Sola has also helped the campaign of Lech Walesa, the transnational elite's darling in Poland. Damian Merlo, Ostos & Sola's executive director and Martelly campaign point-man, worked on the presidential campaign of U.S. Republican John McCain before joining the fi rm. All of these associations raise questions about what "hidden hand” may be behind the Martelly campaign. “Today’s $50 million question: who is the Miami businessman who reached out to Antonia Sola to be Michel Martelly’s campaign fi xer?” wrote the Toronto Star. “Sola smiles at the question, all Spanish charm. He’s not saying. ‘A friend, a businessman, presented Michel to us in the U.S.,’ he says.” The key to Sola’s formula for Martelly was to present him as an “outsider,” even though he had been the ultimate “insider” with the procoup bourgeoisie that overthrew Aristide twice.

On Nov. 28, as it became apparent that Haiti’s election was riddled with fraud and disenfranchisement, Martelly joined with 11 other candidates to call for election’s annulment. But later that day, Edmond Mulet, who heads the UN Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH), personally called Martelly to tell him that he was leading, Al Jazeera reported. Sweet Micky, without even telling the other candidates in the impromptu front, jumped back in the race. The next day, Martelly denied he had ever signed the joint letter read in his nodding presence at the candidates’ joint press conference on Nov. 28 calling for the election’s annulment. He explained “his change of position by saying his candidacy had been leading in polling stations where there had not been fraud,”Chicago’s Daily Herald reported.

“He saw all the fraud happening on election day,” motorcycle taxi driver Weed Charlot told IPS about Martelly. “But now he sees he has some votes and power. So he’ll accept the election.” The same day he spoke to Martelly, Mulet called candidate Mirlande Manigat to also tell her she was leading in the vote. She too pulled out of the candidates’ annulment front. Then, on Dec. 7, the CEP announced that Manigat was leading with Unity's Célestin in second-place, and hence the second-round. Martelly, who apparently came in third with just over 21%, about 6,800 votes short of Célestin, switched back into protest-mode. Popular anger was already high with Préval and the CEP for excluding the Lavalas Family (only 23% of Haiti's 4.7 million voters turned out, according to the CEP). The election mess was the last straw.

Furthermore, there was rage at MINUSTAH for attempting to cover-up that its troops in Mirebalais had accidentally introduced cholera into Haiti, where the disease is now a pandemic. With Wyclef Jean at his side predicting “civil war,’ Martelly channeled the deep popular frustration to attack the government for “robbing” him of a victory he claimed should have been his. The result has been a wave of election-related mayhem. “It is clear that most of the acts of violence in Haiti around the election have been carried out by Martelly’s supporters," said Ricot Dupuy of Radio Soleil d'Haïti, based in Brooklyn. “Thousands of his supporters have paralyzed the capital and other cities in protests that included attacks on public buildings,” Reuters reported. Some people have died in driveby shootings and skirmishes between Martelly's supporters and those of Célestin. In late November, Haitian journalist Wadner Pierre witnessed a group of Martelly supporters at the Building 2004 voting center in Port-au-Prince throw rocks and chant: “If you don’t let us vote, we will burn this building down.” Martelly supporters are responsible for burning a number of government buildings in the capital and in the southern city of Aux Cayes. They have also assaulted some opponents, while Célestin backers have been accused of killing at least one Martelly supporter.

Former Col. Himmler Rébu said on Haiti's Signal FM that he had witnessed the tactics of Martelly's troops in the street. "This is not something simple," he said, a Kreyòl understatement that implies there are hidden forces at work. In short, there are two movements in Haiti today which are being simplifi ed into one. There are the Lavalas masses mobilized against Préval's fraudulent exclusionary elections and the UN occupation, as well as for Aristide's return.

Then there is the bid by Martelly, using his and Wyclef's celebrity and Ostos & Sola's scientifi c techniques, to coopt this movement to bring him to power. To confuse people, he equates Préval with Aristide, pretending they are the twin governments responsible for the "failed policies” of the past two decades. In reality, Haiti's sad state today can be mostly attributed to the 1991 and 2004 coups which Martelly supported. Furthermore, the power behind Préval - Haiti's pro-coup bourgeoisie - is close to Martelly, and imperialism is not threatened by him. We are witnessing a fi erce rivalry between two factions which share the same two backers: Haiti's anti-Lavalas business class and transnational elites with the U.S. as their most powerful state apparatus.

As Martelly explained to the Huffi ngton Post’s Georgianne Nienaber, he is very much in tune with Washington’s prescription for Haiti, supporting “anything that will help exports... anything that will help the private sector.” Secondly, Martelly does not support the people’s call to end the UN occupation of Haiti: “I want to say to the international community, the diplomatic corps, and non-governmental agencies that we need them,” he said in the same interview. Ultimately, Martelly is not a “dark horse” candidate, as Canada’s Globe & Mail suggests, who has come out of nowhere to lead “Haiti’s young and dispossessed.” He is a man with a long history of service to Haiti’s “Morally Repugnant Elite.” During his campaign, Martelly was fond of saying that in Haiti “it’s more about the man than about the plan.” If this is true, Haitians should have grave misgiving about a man who has backed two coup regimes that used death-squads to silence the poor majority and throttle Haiti’s nascent democracy.

Source: http://www.haiti-liberte.com/archives/volume4-22/MichelMartelly_Stealth_Duvalierist.asp

Waiting for Justice in Haiti: One Year Later

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 06:29:00 +0000

What:
Panel One: Bringing Haiti Home: The Reality on the Ground Maricia Jean, Women Victims Get Up Stand Up (FAVILEK) Alexis Erkert Depp, Haiti Advocacy Coordinator of Mennonite Central Committee Camille Chalmers, Executive Director Platform to Advocate for an Alternative Development (PAPDA) Josette Perard, Co-Founder of Lambi Fund of Haiti Special Guest, Danny Glover, Chair of the Board of Directors, TransAfrica Forum

Panel Two: Assessing One Year In: Accountability and Justice Manolia Charlotin, Editor of the Boston Haitian Reporter Gina Ulysse, Associate Professor at Wesleyan UniversityNicole Lee, President of TransAfrica Forum

Free and Open to the Public For more information or to RSVP contact TransAfrica Forum at info@transafricaforum.org.

When:
Monday, January 17, 2011
9:00AM - Noon

Where:
Busboys and Poets, 2041 14th Street, NW (14th & V), Washington, DC 20009

Audio:

http://transafrica.org/2010/12/uncategorized/waiting-for-justice-in-haiti-one-year-later/

Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Tools of Freedom: FULL TEXT 'Letter from a Birmingham Jail'

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 20:18:00 +0000

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ed. Note: For Americans that actually care about justice, rather than just give it lip service, it is important to note that in 1999 during a televised trial, yet unknown to the masses of asses, Dr. William Pepper won his case, proving that there had been a conspiracy that colluded in the murder of Dr. King, that it was not James Earl Ray, that in fact was all of your favorite fascist suspect factions of the Memphis Police, the Tennessee State Police, the FBI, the CIA and the US Military. There is a link below for those friends needing the education.

Ethan Jacobs, J.D. --

Introduction:
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated April 4, 1968, shortly after he started speaking out against the global elite and the injustice they inflict on all of humanity though orchestrated wars and economic oppression. He believed that "a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."[1]

While King may not physically be with us today, we are fortunate that he left us with powerful principles and tools for defeating tyranny. King, Gandhi and many others have set the precedent for our liberation, proving that courage, love, persistence, and some simple tools are ultimately victorious.

In fact, the tools and principles utilized by King are so powerful that they rocked the foundation of the global elite’s power structure. As Andrew Gavin Marshall writes:

Read the Full Story at RedactedNews>>

Exiled dictator 'Baby Doc' Duvalier returns to Haiti: Why?

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:59:00 +0000

Evil Begets

I come to pick the bones of Haiti.

Signed
Baby Doc Duvalier

FRANÇOIS & JEAN CLAUDE DUVALIER
Presidents-for-Life of Haiti

In 1957 François "Papa Doc" Duvalier became Haiti's President-for-Life, establishing a strategic relationship with the U.S. that lasted into the 1970s, when he was succeeded by his son Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. During their 30 year rule, 60,000 Haitians were killed and countless more were tortured by the Duvaliers' Tonton Macoutes death squads, but in 1969, after 13 years of murderous rule by Papa Doc, U.S. Ambassador Clinton Knox shook hands with the dictator and called for increased aid to Haiti. PapaDoc made him an honorary Tonton Macoute. While Haiti became the poorest country in the Westem hemisphere, the Duvaliers enriched themselves by stealing foreign aid money. In 1980, for instance, the International Monetary Fund granted Haiti a $22 million budget supplement. Within weeks, $16 million was "unaccounted for," presumably in Baby Doc's bank account.

Papa Doc liked to compare himself to Christ and adapted the Lord's Prayer to read "Our Doc who art in the National Palace for life, hallowed be Thy name by present and future generations." Baby Doc, on the other hand, made Haiti into a trans-shipment point for Colombian cocaine. He allegedly let his father-in-law use Haiti's national airline to ship drugs to the U.S., and his brother-in-law was convicted of cocaine trafficking by a Puerto Rican court. Nevertheless, as long as Papa and Baby Doc were anti-communists, they could do no wrong in the U.S. government's eyes. Their regime finally ended in 1986, when Baby Doc fled angry mobs of Haitians for the comfort of a Parisian villa, where he now resides.

From Russia Today: The former dictator of Haiti, Jean-Claude Duvalier, also known as 'Baby Doc', has returned to the country 26 years after he was overthrown. He greeted crowds of supporters, but did not say why he chose to return or what he would do. Duvalier inherited power from his father at 19 and presided over one of the darkest chapters in Haitian history. He is accused of torturing and killing political opponents, ruling in an atmosphere of fear and repression ensured by his feared secret police force.

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Where Did All the Haiti Relief Money Go?

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 04:31:00 +0000

In this Jan. 17, 2010 file photo below, people walk down a street amid earthquake rubble in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

The amount of money raised for Haiti earthquake relief has reached a staggeringly high $1.4 billion in less than one year from the United States alone. Everyone from celebrities to regular people held telethons, bake sales and dinner parties whose proceeds went to help Haiti earthquake victims.

A year later, people who opened their purse strings and wallets so generously are asking where the money went and how well was it spent. According to a survey by the Chronicle of Philanthropy of 60 major relief organizations, only 38 percent of that money has been spent to provide recovery and rebuilding aid. By comparison, in New Orleans, about 80 percent of the money raised for Hurricane Katrina victims has been spent.

Click here to view a slideshow of images from Haiti after the quake

Furthermore, only 63.6 percent of the money pledged for 2010 has been disbursed, according to the U.N special envoy for Haiti. The Haiti money train tends to take two different tracks. There is the money that was raised and donated shortly after the earthquake. That money has been spent on emergency relief efforts. And then there are billions pledged by foreign nations, most of which may not now be disbursed after all, according to many officials with knowledge of the process.

WATCH ORIGINAL GRIO COVERAGE OF HAITI: ONE YEAR LATER:

Carleene Dei, director of the United States Agency for International Development told reporters in a January 7 conference call that there was a "lack of understanding" about the pace at which pledges from March's donors conference could be met, referring to the UN conference where nations pledged more than $10 billion to help Haiti rebuild itself.

"A pledge is not a check," she said. "A pledge has to be turned into legislation. Legislation has to be turned into plans. Plans have to be vetted and approved. And money has to be made available."

While Dei did not point the fingers at any one entity for the shortcomings, many experts have criticized the Haitian government for not following up on the steps Dei outlined. With a lame duck president Rene Preval, whose term expires next month, there is little chance that Haiti will be in a position any time soon to mount any significant diplomatic and lobbying efforts necessary to turn pledges into cash.
Still, aid organizations said that they've made great strides in reducing the misery in Haiti and averted a greater catastrophe than the 300,000 deaths and 1.5 million homeless created by the earthquake.

Throughout the week, scores of organizations have sent journalists press releases outlining their one-year achievements. Many others have held conference calls for reporters.

"Nobody can pretend that this has been a hugely successful humanitarian response," said Paul Conneally, a spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "If anything, it demonstrates the limitations of humanitarian action."

Organizations like the Red Cross have said that because of an ineffectual Haitian government they have had to play roles that they were ill equipped to fill. For instance, the Red Cross said that it has to essentially provide water and sanitation to the Metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. But the Red Cross received more than $1 billion in donations after the earthquake, the largest response in its history.
UNICEF officials said last week that they have provided more than 11,000 latrines, serving more than 800,000 people. In addition some 360,000 insecticide-treated bed nets were distributed to more than 160,000 households in malaria endemic Southern coastal regions.

WATCH MORE COVERAGE OF HAITI: ONE YEAR LATER HERE:

"We have seen results in the past year, but significant gaps remain and much more must be done," said Francoise Gruloons-Ackermans, UNICEF's representative in Haiti. "Haiti poses huge institutional and systemic issues that predated the earthquake and that require more than an emergency response to resolved."

According to Gruloos-Ackermans, four million children in Haiti still face inequitable access to water, sanitation, health care and protection from disease.

While the aid organizations were tampering their progress with a dose of reality, many Haitians say that part of the problems stem from the fact that projects are designed and implemented with little input from Haitian government officials or Haitians who know what's going on on the ground. For instance, six weeks before the UN donors' conference a group of more than 1,700 Haitian community organizers fanned across the country asking villagers and city dwellers what their hopes and aspirations for the development of their country. Most people said that they had a desire for self-determination and direct participation in the rebuilding effort after the earthquake.

"I'm working with a lot of sophisticated people but who have absolutely no notions of what this country is about," Michelle Montas told Slate recently. Montas, who retired as UN Secretary General's Ban Ki Moon press secretary came back to work with the UN as a special adviser with the UN mission in Haiti. Even she couldn't convince the UN brass to incorporate Haitians in their decision making.

"I work at the U.N and every day I have to go to meetings. I"m the only Haitian there, and I have to tell them, 'your perception is not right.' I feel that is a lost battle."

Where should Haiti go from here?

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 22:03:00 +0000

A woman walks past an earthquake damaged building Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson)

By Garry Pierre-Pierre | Grio
2:37 PM on 01/12/2011

When an earthquake heaped rubble onto Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital city, one year ago, there was a sense from many people that this catastrophe could be turned into something positive.

After all, many Haitian professionals had mused that what Haiti needed, particularly in its capital, was a huge bulldozer to clear the mountain of anarchic construction that dotted the hilly city. While everyone knows that advocating such a policy publicly was akin to political suicide, the earthquake provided the notion cover.

Click here to view a slideshow of images from Port-au-Prince (a.k.a. the City of Rubble)

Suddenly with more than half of the city destroyed, rebuilding it seemed less challenging than before. Raising the money required would be simple because the world was ready to open its pockets.

While rebuilding would not be an easy task by any yardstick, the bold leadership that it requires from the Haitian government and the private sector has not materialized. Instead, a year later, Haitians have reverted to finger pointing, micromanaging and are unwilling to open up the country to real economic development, according to Haitians and foreigners who have followed the situation closely.

WATCH theGRIO's VIDEO REPORT ON HAITI'S RECONSTRUCTION HERE:

For a while now, talk of reconstruction seemed to have given way to the elections that consumed the local media as nearly 20 candidates vied for the presidency. The elections, which were supposed to be a democratic achievement for the Haitian government and the international community, turned out to be poorly managed and were, at best, a fiasco. A runoff scheduled for January 16th has been postponed. On Tuesday, the Organization of American States recommended that two candidates, Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly be declared the top two winners and head for a yet to be scheduled runoff.

With so much riding on the outcome of this election and wanting to get the results right, the international backers of Haiti intervened and pressured the government to make sure that the right candidates be declared the winner. It was widely believed that President Rene Preval threw full support behind and helped bankroll Jude Celestin, who finished in third place, but was declared the second top vote getter behind Manigat by the Provisional Electoral Council.

That move resulted in two days of intense violence across the city that shut most of the country down, with major airlines canceling flights into Haiti and people unable to leave their homes as thousands burned tires, cars and property.

Such sentiments are always ever present and if whoever wins the elections doesn't find a way to create jobs, the redevelopment of Port-au-Prince will be stymied and the country will be worse than before.
Fabienne Doucet, a professor at New York University, has created an organization to help employ Haitians, said that strong and visionary leadership is what's needed at this time. Doucet, like many others, believe that Haiti needs to also recruit the professionals and technicians needed to help the country not only rebuild itself, but to manage itself.

"In the last year, I've seen many serious plans that have gone nowhere," Doucet said. "We need to start executing some of these plans to move forward."

Furthermore, the new government will need to find a way to attract investors into the country. Just about everything, from agricultural development to hotels to factories, needs funding. But to woo investors, leaders have to understand that business is not a zero-sum game and that they should be willing to make concessions. And the first deals may not be the best.

"The private sector has been acting like a middle man, a merchant," said Jocelyn McCalla, a political consultant who has worked with the Haitian government. "So their ability to be real business broker is curtailed because there isn't a strong enough partnership with the public sector."

These two entities, which should be natural partners, have been locked in a century-old battle with each side deeply suspicious of the other. The Haitian private sector consists largely of the country's tiny light-skinned elite, while the dark-skinned Haitians dominate the political class. To most private sector entrepreneurs, the government is inherently corrupt, while government officials view the other side as obsessed with maintaining a monopoly and not paying taxes.

This climate has not helped the country move forward. The foreign capital necessary to jump-start the economy has not been coming in. Disrespect for the rule of law and political unrest have made investment in Haiti as attractive as the plague.

"Whatever our emotional attachment to the country, we must always bear in mind that emotion is not a particularly useful negotiating tool for sustained success," said Reginald Dumas, during a conference on Haiti reconstruction several months ago.

"Neither is an obsession with the grievances of the past. What we must do - if, as we always say, we want a better world - is elevate action over the rhetoric and hand-wringing to which we often seem addicted. We must work conscientiously and clear-headedly together to the extent possible, in the spirit of the words of the United Nations Charter that commit the peoples of the United Nations to "employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples," Dumas, who is from Tobago, added.

As Haitian leaders contemplate the future of their country, they must remember these words and try to apply them: They could take the country to a place where once and for all it can lose its notorious title of "the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere."

Partners In Health - Breaks Ground on Teaching Hospital in Mirebalais, Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 05:39:00 +0000

Posted on 07/12/10

On July 3, Partners In Health (PIH) and our Haitian sister organization, Zanmi Lasante (ZL), broke ground in Mirebalais, Haiti, for a innovative teaching hospital. Mirebalais will be a national referral facility, the flagship of our efforts to help rebuild Haiti’s health sector. By the first anniversary of the earthquake—January 12, 2011—the seven buildings of the main hospital campus, comprising 180,000 square feet, will be standing, with work on the interiors begun. Plans call for the hospital to be accepting patients by the end of 2011.

The new hospital will have 320 beds—equivalent in capacity to all 12 of the sites in which PIH currently works in Haiti, combined—and will offer clinical facilities not available at any public site in the country, including an intensive care unit and an operating theatre complex with six operating rooms equipped for thoracic surgery. The original plans for a 108-bed referral hospital for the lower plateau, offering comprehensive, community-based primary and prenatal care as well as treatment for TB, HIV, malaria, and malnutrition were expanded at the request of the Ministry of Health following the January 12 earthquake.

Click to view full screen.

Dr. Alex Larsen, Minister of Health, said “What Haiti needs now are true partners to help us build back better by strengthening our country's public infrastructure. The new teaching hospital at Mirebalais will be a model for our national health system, offering high-quality medical services, a place for our clinicians to study and train, and hope and dignity to all who will seek—and offer—care there. We look forward to building upon our long-standing partnership with Partners In Health/Zanmi Lasante with this desperately-needed facility."

Mirebalais Hospital will include not just more beds and operating rooms, but state-of-the-art infection control, wall-mounted oxygen and medical gases, improved diagnostics (digital x-ray and ultrasound), and increased space around the beds to accommodate teaching rounds for medical and nursing students. Partnerships with leading universities and teaching hospitals will support the medical training and education of Haitian clinicians, as well as that of visiting international clinicians. The hospital will include the technological and logistical capacity to support educational exchanges, distance learning and remote collaborations.

Dr. Paul Farmer, co-Founder of PIH, Chair of the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, calls the Mirebalais hospital project “exactly the sort of building back better in Haiti that also seeks to improve the very nature of development assistance. Too often, NGOs and research universities do too little to help create a strong public sector, without which public health and public education will always be anemic.

“For some of us, this hospital is the culmination of a dream dating back a quarter-century, and underlines our commitment to the country and people of Haiti, which is stronger than ever after the earthquake. It is also a manifestation of our integrated model of research, teaching and service, and will serve as a site for all three. Mirebalais is being developed by a broad coalition which includes hundreds of individuals, several foundations, private corporations, Harvard teaching hospitals including Brigham and Women’s, Harvard Medical School, and of course our Haitian colleagues at ZL and the Ministry of Health. We are fortunate to be building upon the lessons learned in ZL's long experience of building infrastructure in Haiti, and to have the support of many old and new partners in this essential effort.”

Dr. David Walton, PIH’s Deputy Chief of Mission in Haiti and a physician at Brigham and Women’s, is leading the project together with Jim Ansara, founder and Chairman of Shawmut Design and Construction: “We are proud to be building a hospital that will offer all Haitians the care they deserve, as well as a place to learn and practice medicine at the highest level. I am grateful for the many partnerships that are making this project possible, and to the many experts and companies offering their skill and materials. It is a privilege to work with the community of Mirebalais, the Government of Haiti and our many partners to make this shared vision a reality.”

Source: http://www.pih.org/news/entry/pih-breaks-ground-on-world-class-teaching-hospital-in-mirebalais-haiti/

Nine Months After the Quake, a Million Haitians Slowly Dying

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 02:59:00 +0000

Even the sturdier shelters like this one offer little or no protection from heat, rain, thieves, rapists, or high winds and hurricanes. A million Haitians live like this, or worse, and right now thousands are being forced out of these camps with nowhere at all to go. – Photo: Gallo-Getty

October 11, 2010 by Bill Quigley

“If it gets any worse,” said Wilda, a homeless Haitian mother, “we’re not going to survive.” Mothers and grandmothers surrounding her nodded solemnly.

We are in a broiling “tent” with a group of women trying to raise their families in a public park. Around the back of the Haitian National Palace, the park hosts a regal statute of Alexandre Petion in its middle. It is now home to 5,000 people displaced by the January 2010 earthquake.

Nine months after the quake, over a million people are still homeless in Haiti.

Haiti looks like the quake could have been last month. I visited Port au Prince shortly after the quake and much of the destruction then looks the same nine months later.

The Associated Press reports only 2 percent of the rubble has been removed and only 13,000 temporary shelters have been constructed. Not a single cent of the U.S. aid pledged for rebuilding has arrived in Haiti. In the last few days the U.S. pledged it would put up 10 percent of the billion dollars in reconstruction aid promised. Only 15 percent of the aid pledged by countries and organizations around the world has reached the country so far.

With other human rights advocates from the Center for Constitutional Rights, MADRE, CUNY Law School, Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, I am huddled under faded gray tarps stamped U.S. Aid. Blue tarps staked into the ground as walls. This is not even the hot season, but the weather reports the heat index is 115.

The floor is bare dirt, soft from a recent rain. Our guide works with a vibrant grassroots women’s organization, KOFAVIV, which is working with women in many camps, and she encourages residents to tell us their stories.

Anne has seven children. She would really love to have a tent. She and her family live on a small plot of dirt 8 feet by 8 feet. Sheets are tied to pieces of wood to keep out the sun. Plastic sheeting covers the ground.

When it rains everything they have is soaked. She begs every day for food.

Imagine a child who is dear to you having nowhere else to play … or to live. – Photo: Ramon Espinosa, AP

Therese has three children, 12, 11 and 9. She has lived in the camps since the quake. A few weeks ago when she went to get a bucket of water, some men grabbed her and raped her. Before the quake she worked as a street vendor but has no money to buy supplies to sell. She prays all day every day for help.

Caroline lived with her husband and three children in an apartment in downtown Port au Prince. The quake took her husband and left the rest of the family homeless. She was raped in the first camp she settled in. When she moved, she was raped again and fought back with KOFAVIV. She and other women set up their own security with whistles and flashlights to protect each other. They push the police to arrest. Her life is now in danger because the rapists know who she is, and she is vulnerable.

We hear from dozens of other mothers and grandmothers – Alana, Beatrice, Celine, Marcie, Rene, Wilda and others. This is what they tell us.

There is no electricity at all in the camps. Some have lights on poles that work some of the time. Many have no lights at all.

There is no food. The children are terribly hungry. The food aid program was terminated in April and nothing took its place. The authorities cut off the food so people would leave the camps, but where is there to go?
Water is hard to find. For the people in Petion Park, water is delivered by truck to a central site a block or two away in the middle of several camps.

Thousands of people line up twice a day to get water before it runs out. In another camp we visited Sunday, Camp Kasim, there was no water at all for hundreds of families and none scheduled to be delivered until Monday at the earliest. Boys and girls surged around a pipe several blocks away trying to capture some water in Oxfam marked buckets.

People are coughing, sniffling and their eyes watering. Quiet babies are the norm. Many people have skin rashes and vaginal infections. There are several volunteer clinics but usually only the very sickest are seen because so many people need help. The biggest camps now have some toilets but not enough. Drainage is a big problem especially now during the rainy season.

Children cannot be kept in the suffocating tents. They play in the muddy paths. They would love to return to school but there is no money.

Security is a huge problem. Less than a dozen of the thousand plus camps have official security at night. During the day the police may come around or maybe the heavily armed MINUSTAH U.N. forces will patrol. But at night security forces vanish. With little or no light at night, tens of thousands of unguarded sheet structures and canvas walls offer thieves and gangs an inviting target.

Violence against women and girls is widespread. Women who go to the latrines at night are attacked. Some women talk of carrying rape babies. Others will do anything for the crudest abortion. When they go to the police and ask them to investigate, officers demand money for gas. Even those who pay the police usually end up frustrated. There is a sense of impunity.

There are an estimated 1,300 “camps” of homeless people in Haiti. Homeless people live literally everywhere. People are camped in the middle of many streets. Shanty structures are built right up to the edge of streets. Every park, every school yard, every parking lot appear to have people living under sheets or lean-to tents.

The most fortunate families live in modest plastic tents. The newest tents are royal blue with red flags with yellow stars on them – donated in the last week from China. Less fortunate families, and there are many of them, live under faded sheets stretched between wooden poles made from tree branches. Within the camps there are dirt paths – some only inches wide. Tents and sheet shelters are side by side – inches apart.

Evictions are starting. Churches are pushing people off their property. Schools which are reopening are turning off the water to the people camped in the ball fields. Some in authority are openly saying that people must be forced out the camps. But only 13,000 temporary structures have been built and they are far away from family, school, jobs and healthcare. There is no place to go.

The U.N., which effectively runs Haiti with the Haitians and the U.S., holds meetings nearly every day to coordinate responses to dozens of issues like security, food, water, reconstruction and gender violence. Human rights advocates in Port au Prince complain that no meetings are conducted in Kreyol, the language of the Haitian people.

Yet there is hope. The Haitian mothers and grandmothers we heard from are fighting for their lives. KOFAVIV and BAI and other grassroots human rights groups are speaking out, demonstrating, educating the people in the camps and working together for social justice.

During a torrential downpour Saturday, dozens gathered on folding chairs under the front porch overhang of BAI to work on how to get the U.S., the U.N., Haiti and the NGOs to do their jobs.

Together the people have a chance. As one woman who works against violence told us, “If there is one woman and one man, maybe the man will win. But if the woman uses whistles to alert other women and gets other women to show up, maybe the man will see he is going to lose and will run away.”

Meanwhile, Wilda and a million other Haitians are slowly dying from starvation, illness, lack of security and neglect. Nine months after the quake.

Bill Quigley is legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. He has worked in Haiti for years with Bureau des Avocats Internationaux and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. He wrote this article from Port au Prince with help from Laura Raymond and Sunita Patel. You can contact Bill at Quigley77@gmail.

From the Bay Area to Port-au-Prince: Creating Food Sovereignty in Haiti

This is another event not to miss – on Thursday, Oct. 14.The keynote speaker is Pierre Labossiere, Haitian activist with the Haiti Action Committee, who will frame the evening, followed by discussions focused on how Food Justice and Food Sovereignty are working out on the ground in Haiti and locally.

Host is Weyland Southon of KPFA’s Hard Knock Radio. Speakers are Eric Holt-Giménez, executive director of Food First, and Nikki Henderson, executive director of People’s Grocery. Musician Tacuma King and Bay Area Youth Arts will perform. Enjoy local, sustainably sourced refreshments. The program starts at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Cost: $10-$10,000 sliding scale. For more information, contact beck@ecologycenter.org, (510) 548-2220, ext. 233.

Proceeds from the series benefit the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF) sustainable agriculture programs. For more details, call (510) 548-2220, ext. 233, or visit ecologycenter.org.

Source: http://sfbayview.com/2010/nine-months-after-the-quake-a-million-haitians-slowly-dying/

Wyclef Jean and Kelly Roland "UNSKRPTD"(Art Basel Papaloka special)

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:12:00 +0000

Follow the "Unskrptd" movement as it travels south to experience world's most expansive art show-Miami's "Art Basel". Not surprisingly, many artists tried to capture and embrace the uplifting spirit of the Haitian people as a tribute to the fortitude they have exuded in a year that was filled with immense tragedy. Veteran Artist and community servant, Jude Papaloko, showcased his work to both miami locals and art lovers from across oceans. Entertainment notables Wyclef Jean and Kelly Rowland also share their perspective on Papaloko's work and it's impact on communities near and far.

Haiti Earthquake Aftermath Montage

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 05:30:00 +0000

by Khalid Mohtaseb
A week after the devastating earthquake hit Haiti, I was hired to shoot ENG footage for two international networks. This is a montage of personal footage I shot of the aftermath during my spare time, in and around Port au Prince. We were in Haiti for a total of 6 days in which 2 of those days were spent traveling to and from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Due to the situation on the ground, all the footage was shot in 2 days, under direct sunlight and a great deal of pressure. As demanding as it was, it taught me how to pick shots on the fly, and in "not so perfect" lighting or shooting conditions.

Haiti Earthquake Aftermath Montage from Khalid Mohtaseb on Vimeo.

Jude Papaloko: Way more than an Artist (pt 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 05:16:00 +0000

The Docu-Series "Unskrptd" takes you to Little Haiti, Miami where they showcase well-renowned Artist and Musician Jude Papaloka. PapaLoka breaks down his powerful messages in his paintings, misconceptions of certain haitian culture, and the perception of the devastating Earthquake. "Unskrptd" is created by Reel Mckoy Media In association w/ Mad Men Collective - From: REELMCKOYMEDIA | November 24, 2010

Lifestraw NOW! A Million Water Filters For Haiti Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 19:59:00 +0000

The Lifestraw NOW! 1,000,000 Water Filter Drive For Haiti is a coalition of individuals, organizations, businesses and churches that have joined forces to provide Lifestraw filters to assist Haiti as it battles the rapidly growing cholera outbreak. To learn more visit the International Preparedness Network: www.readyforanything.org

By Aton Edwards, Executive Director I.P.N.

Lifestraw NOW! 1,000,000 Water Filters For Haiti Drive Begins!

Five days ago, we were in the beginning stages of assembling the Lifestraw NOW! coalition and team. We’re now in full effect and growing exponentially. Our mission is clearly defined, and we are in the final stages of setting up a financial mechanism that we will utilize to purchase, ship and distribute the Lifestraws across Port-au-Prince & other locations across Haiti.

The situation on the ground is grave. To date, cholera has killed over 1100, and, nearly 30,000 have contracted the disease. The rapidly mounting death toll has created tensions that occasionally explode into sporadic attacks against UN peacekeepers.

Many Haitians believe the UN is responsible for bringing the disease to the Island and, not without good reason. Cholera is not endemic to Haiti and the specific strain that is spreading across the island like wildfire originates in Nepal according to UN health officials, and the Center For Disease Control (CDC) in the USA.

Several years ago in Nepal, a cholera outbreak swept through the nation. During this period, it is suspected that a number of the Nepalese peacekeepers in Haiti contracted the disease.

Our goal - 1,000,000 Life Straws on the ground by February. ~Aton Edwards

Aton Edwards speaks to us about the urgency of the situation on the ground in Haiti, we don't have one moment to lose. Conditions are worsening by the hour so we need to operate as rapidly as possible to get things moving. The people of Haiti need as many water filters as we can collect — and they need them NOW! to help contain this horrific Cholera outbreak.

The details of our program are listed below:

1. Lifestraw NOW! Goal(s) — to create *special fund raising mechanisms to:

A. Purchase Lifestraw filters (personal & family).

B. Ship them to Haiti & pay customs "taxes" when necessary.

C. Distribute them in Port-au-Prince*

To get involved NOW please email us at lifestraw@readyforanything.org

Use Coupon Code Dont4GetHaiti15 for the latest discount and mention Dont4GetHaiti.org.

Haiti cholera death toll approaches 800 with rapid increase feared

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 04:45:00 +0000

A woman carries a child with symptoms of cholera in Port-au-Prince. Photograph: Ramon Espinosa/AP

• Anger at leaders' response to health crisis
• Experts warn epidemic could last for years

Rory Carroll in Port-au-Prince
guardian.co.uk, Friday 12 November 2010 18.45 GMT

Slumped in a wheelchair in the hospital yard, Dieuson Dorvil had just begun spelling his name when a spasm gripped his chest and he turned away to vomit.

His mother, Isma, held him as he shuddered and heaved, filling a bucket at his feet. It seemed impossible that such an emaciated figure could produce so much but the disease was sucking the fluid from his body.

Around the yard and inside the wards babies and children, men and women, lay curled and motionless, their stares glassy. The only sound was the occasional retch.

Every so often a stretcher with a figure half shrouded in a white, soiled sheet was wheeled to the morgue. They bounced over the gravel and potholes, giving the impression the corpses were trembling.

This is what Haiti's cholera epidemic looks like. It turns people into vomit- and faeces-producing spectres. It is filthy, smelly and a horrible way to die.

The official death toll has approached 800, with 11,000 taken to hospital, and there is dread that this is just the beginning. What started a month ago as isolated diarrhoea cases in the rural Artibonite valley has turned into a nationwide cholera outbreak, with more than 1,000 new cases daily.

People in towns and villages around Gonaïves, in the north, are burying victims in mass graves, according to aid workers and photographers, and suspected cases have been detected in the south and in the Dominican Republic, which shares this Caribbean island with Haiti.

The biggest concern is the capital, Port-au-Prince. Still in ruins from January's earthquake, it is a metropolis of rubble and tents and open sewers that condemn most of its 3 million inhabitants to unsanitary, crowded conditions.

"All of the hospitals in Port-au-Prince are overflowing with patients and we're seeing seven times the total amount of cases we had three days ago," said Stefano Zannini, Médecins sans Frontières' head of mission in Haiti. "I can easily see this situation deteriorating to the point where patients are lying in the street, waiting for treatment."

Outside the gate of the cholera clinic at the city's main hospital lay a teenage girl in a peach T-shirt and khaki shorts. She appeared unconscious, her head lolling at an awkward angle, brown stains down her left leg. No one knew her name or how she had come to be there.

The clinic, an improvised centre with tarpaulin, was full. Before entering, visitors wiped their feet on a ratty yellow cloth sprayed with chlorine. The yard had about 10 silent patients attached to IV drips. The only light was a sliver of moon.

"The doctor hasn't see him yet, I don't know what's going to happen," said Isma, 42, after another bout of vomiting from Dieuson. Eyes sunken, the 24-year-old student drifted in and out of the interview. "It feels like there's something inside, squeezing," he said.

Isma said she was a restaurant cook but that business had evaporated. "No customers. Everyone's afraid of getting the infection." The family lived near the Cité Soleil slum where hundreds, possibly thousands, have been stricken. "My son is the first in our family to get sick," she said, feeling his forehead. "We don't know how it happened."

The clinic's wheelchairs have white plastic seats cut from garden furniture, lending an incongruous jauntiness to the wretchedness. When a patient missed the bucket, or became lathered in slickness, a man with a white mask and blue overalls sprayed chlorine.

In the wards men and women lay on wooden frames with a round hole cut in the middle and a red MSF bucket beneath. "We call it the Calcutta stretcher," said a young Haitian doctor, the only one on duty. "I don't know if we can keep up. It's spreading so fast." From a handful of patients earlier in the week there were now more than 70 daily.

The doctor declined to give his name. With elections due on 28 November, and mounting anger at the government's response to the crisis, the epidemic is politically sensitive.

The UN is also defensive over speculation Nepalese peacekeepers inadvertently introduced the disease, which closely resembles a south Asian variant, into the Arbonite river. Now that it is in the water supply it will last months or years, according to epidemiologists.

The UN appealed today for $163m to respond to the crisis, which it said could infect up to 200,000 people. "Cases are expected to appear in a burst of epidemics that will happen suddenly in different parts of the country," Elisabeth Byrs, of the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told a news briefing in Geneva.

With timely treatment most cholera victims survive, but poverty, fear and a destroyed infrastructure mean many Haitians seek help late, if at all. Records at Port-au-Prince's main clinic showed 24-year-old Marie Renée arrived at Rue Mgr Guilloux at 4.30pm. By 4.33pm she was dead.

A few hours later it was the turn of an elderly man. Evelt Pierre Juste, bearer of the dead, rolled the body, his 16th of the day, up the hill to the morgue. He went fast, lest other patients' eyes lingered on the shrivelled figure. He entered a dank passageway and tipped the body on to a cement floor beside the curled, naked form of Marie Renée. The fridge was locked for the night so the two strangers would lie side by side until morning.

At the morgue entrance a watchman, Wilzor, huddled by a radio listening to upbeat Compas music. He needed to listen to something cheerful, he said. "I ask myself how bad it's going to get. But only Jesus and the disease can answer that."

Haitians turn on UN peacekeepers they blame for cholera outbreak

noreply@blogger.com (Dont4gethaiti.org) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 04:31:00 +0000

Rioters and troops clash amid claims from locals that Nepalese soldiers working for UN mission brought disease to country

Rory Carroll in Port-au-Prince
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 16 November 2010 20.25 GMT

They came in 2004 as saviours to a nation which thought things could not get any worse. History and geography had conspired against Haiti, piling misery upon misfortune, but then the blue helmets arrived, and with them hope.

The 12,000 UN peacekeepers, one of the biggest such missions in the world, lived up to their name: they kept peace. Rampaging criminal gangs melted away and anarchy gave way to stability.

But those days seemed a distant memory tonight after clashes between rioters and troops left two dead, dozens injured, foreigners in hiding and an awful question hanging in the tear-gassed air: did the UN mission, known as Minustah, bring cholera to Haiti?

The boys and men hurling rocks and bottles and shooting at foreign soldiers in the northern towns of Cap-Haitien and Hinche had no doubt. Nor did the residents of Port-au-Prince, who greeted UN convoys with sullen stares and insults.

"Minustah merde!" one man on Rue de Silence yelled at a passing pick-up with blue helmets. He made a slicing motion across his throat before being enveloped in a cloud of diesel and dust. Such is the confusion and loathing it was unclear if it was a threat or a comment on the UN's possible role in the cholera outbreak.

The irony that Haiti's putative saviours, in the aftermath of hurricanes and an apocalyptic earthquake, may have brought a water-borne bacterium called Vibrio cholerae has hit what were already fraught preparations for elections on 28 November. Foreign diplomats are holding their breath for the vote to go ahead on schedule.

The facts are thus: an exploding epidemic has killed more than 1,000, infected tens of thousands and spread anxiety through slums and tent cities. There had been no cholera here in living memory. The strain appears to be from south Asia. Soldiers from Nepal, which has cholera, moved into a base beside the Artibonite river in early October. The base has sanitation problems. A week later the river was contaminated and people in the area started vomiting and getting diarrhoea.

That does not add up to proof, and there are alternative explanations, but it seemed good enough yesterday for crowds in Hinche to assault Nepalese troops with bottles and rocks, wounding six. In Cap-Haitien, the country's second city, a police sub-station was torched, roads were blocked and shots were fired at the UN.

"They're targeting [and] fighting with Minustah and so if they see white people, they can rush to judge, and target them too," Jonna Knappenberger, an aid worker in the city, wrote on the Haiti Rewired blog. "Minustah has definitely shot Haitians, at least two are dead, but of course we can't confirm directly. Haitians are firing guns too, we keep hearing it. I personally would fear for my life on the street right now, especially at night."

The UN dispatched Spanish soldiers to Cap-Haitien but today it remained cut off, with burning barricades across roads and metal barriers welded to the bridge leading to the airport.

A UN statement blamed the violence on political agitators and said troops fired in self-defence. "Minustah urges the population to remain vigilant and not to allow itself to be manipulated by the enemies of stability and democracy in the country."

Officials have denied the Nepalese brought cholera and said they all tested negative. Appeals from Haitian leaders and foreign epidemiologists for an official investigation, however, have been ignored.

The controversy has shone a new light on what has been regarded internationally as a successful Brazilian-led mission. Despite extreme poverty and destruction Haiti remains relatively peaceful.

Many Haitians, however, have long criticised the outsiders as a cumbersome occupation force that squanders $500m better spent on building up ramshackle local police and courts.

"Speaking in a personal capacity, I don't know why we have them," said Prospery Raymond, country director of the UK-based NGO Christian Aid. "Yes, we have some gangs but we don't have a war or insurgents."

Most of the population believed the cholera came from the Nepalese and that the UN will do its best to hide it, he said. "If it is confirmed to be from them this will be damaging for the UN and their peacekeeping all over the world."

In comparison US troops, who briefly led relief efforts after January's earthquake, are popular and many people want them back. "Ameriken OK," smiled Michel Ceant, a vegetable vendor in Port-au-Prince. Then he pointed to his mouth and made a retching sound. "Minustah – bleuh!"