Wave of Illegal, Violent Evictions Swells in Port au Prince

Two smiling children in Champs de Mars campin the neighboring
of Natitional Palace, Feb.2010. Photo by  Wadner Pierre

 By Bill Quigley
First published on HuffingtongPost
Mathias O is 34 years old. He is one of about 600,000 people still homeless from the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He lives with his wife and her 2 year old under a homemade shelter made out of several tarps. They sleep on the rocky ground inside. The side tarp walls are reinforced by pieces of cardboard boxes taped together. Candles provide the only inside light at night. There is no running water. No electricity. They live near a canal and suffer from lots of mosquitoes. There are hundreds of families living in tents beside him. This is the third tent community he has lived in since the earthquake.

Martelly Still Unable to Appoint New PM

By Wadner Pierre
Published by IPS

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 22, 2011 (IPS) - Almost three months since he was sworn in as the country’s president, Michel J. Martelly has already attempted to appoint two prime ministers to guide his government. Bernard Gousse, a minister of justice under the Gérard Latortue dictatorship (2004-2006) and businessman Daniel Rouzier, were both rejected by Haitian lawmakers.

Rouzier was rejected by lower chamber over technicalities. Gousse was rejected by a group of 16 legislators in the Senate because of his appalling human rights record. Under Gousse, the jails were filled with political prisoners - mostly people from poor neighbourhoods where there was strong support for ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The country is now suffering because there is no prime minister to form a new government to apply the programme of the new president. When he campaigned, Martelly promised to send all Haitian children to school for free. The Haitian people are waiting for him to deliver his promise in September when schools reopen theirs doors.

Bye-Bye MINUSTAH!

By Dady Chery.

Published first on Axis of Logic

Monday, Aug 15, 2011

Photograph: Ben Depp

As one of his first measures in office, Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim plans to conclude Brazil’s participation in the notorious United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Various sectors of the Brazilian government, including Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs agree with Mr. Amorim, who says that the important thing now is to formulate an exit strategy.

L-R Bill Clinton, US Envoy to Haiti, Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim and Robert Greenhill, president of the International Canadian Agency for the Development (ACDI) negotiating Haiti's future at Davos.

Mr. Amorim was sworn in on Thursday August 4th and only took office the following Monday, but as early as Saturday he held a meeting at the Presidential Palace with Brazil’s Army commanders and Joint Chiefs of Staff to discuss a possible draw down of the troops. According to one participant in this meeting, there was a "convergence of opinion" about the Brazilian troops.

Haiti: Interview with Ambassador of Venezuela to Haiti, Mr. Pedro Gonzalez Canino

 Print This ShareThis

By Lionel Lafortune & Ambassador Canino. Translated for Axis of Logic by Dady Chery

Haiti Progrès. Axis of Logic (Translation)

Wednesday, Jul 20, 2011

Translated from Haiti Progrès for Axis of Logic by Dady Chery*

July 19, 2011
This interview was conducted on the 200th anniversary of the independence of Venezuela. In recent years Venezuela has consistently provided Haiti with invaluable support and obviously has not forgotten the support given to help free herself from the metropolitan power.
Ambassador Canino: I apologize for being unable to see you last week. We were busy with the work of cooperation between Venezuela and Haiti.
Lionel Lafortune (Haiti Progrès): Good morning, Mr. Ambassador. Thank you for seeing us. Please tell us about the 200th anniversary of the independence of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. We know that your country is a true friend of Haiti. How do you see the participation of our ancestors in her liberation?

Is Haiti's Church Hierarchy Failing in its Mission? Bishop Louis Kébreau’s Immoral Advice to Martelly

era

By Wadner Pierre

Did Catholic Bishop Louis Kébreau, President of the Haitian Episcopal Conference, call on Haitian President Michel Martelly to be ruthless and dictatorial? That is what many Haitians believe after Kébreau, the only bishop to attend Martelly’s inauguration, urged the president to “put his Sweet Micky pants on” in order to “put Haiti back on track,” in a recent interview with Radio Vision 2000. He later said that he was calling on Martelly to enforce “law and order and discipline.” Bishop Lois Kebreau walking in a religious march Dec. 8, 2011 . Photo by Wadner Pierre “Sweet Micky” was the name of Martelly’s vulgar konpa music persona, whose greatest claim to fame was as the principal cheerleader for Haiti’s bloody 1991 and 2004 coups d’état. “Sweet Micky” defended and celebrated the repression that followed Aristide’s overthrows, during which a combined total of some 8,000 Haitians were killed. Now President Martelly remains without a Prime Minister because both of his nominees – Daniel Gérard Rouzier and Bernard Honorat Gousse – were staunch defenders of the coups. The Parliament rejected both of them.

Brazil Needs to Quit Haiti

Brazilian occupying troops,  march 28, 2011 by Wadner Pierre

Mark Weisbrot (CEPR.net)

U.S. diplomatic cables now released from Wikileaks make it clearer than ever before that foreign troops occupying Haiti for more than seven years have no legitimate reason to be there; that this is a U.S. occupation, as much as in Iraq or Afghanistan; that it is part of a decades-long U.S. strategy to deny Haitians the right to democracy and self-determination; and that the Latin American governments supplying troops -- including Brazil -- are getting tired of participating.