Haiti
Weapons seized at the port of Cap-Haitien
Brigadiers of the General Customs Administration (AGD) seized three firearms at the port of Cap-Haitien Wednesday morning.
During a check of containers at Cap-Haitien customs as part of the fight against fraud and smuggling, a brigade discovered three firearms including an M4 rifle, a 9mm caliber pistol and another of caliber 22. The brigade also found 3,100 cartridges, including 1,100 for the M4 assault rifle in the container.
The weapons and ammunition were hidden in new speakers and had not yet been assembled. A justice of the peace went there to make the legal finding, prosecution will be brought against the culprits, said a customs official. No arrests were made. Continue reading
ANAMAH calls for strike against insecurity
The National Association of Haitian Magistrates calls on magistrates to observe three days of work stoppage from March 11 to Friday March 13 in protest against the insecurity in the country.
In reference to the attack on the judge at the Court of Appeal Durin Duret Junior and adviser to the CSPJ on March 9, the National Association of Haitian Magistrates (ANAMAH) considers that the red line has been crossed. It requires the serenity necessary for the proper functioning of the Judicial Power. Otherwise, “the Courts and Tribunals will be forced to cease most of their activities,” said the note from ANAMAH.
In the meantime, as a warning, the National Association of Haitian Magistrates (ANAMAH) invites magistrates who wish to observe three days of work stoppage from this Wednesday March 11 until Friday March 13 in solidarity with former President Durin Duret Junior, other victim magistrates and with the members of the judicial personnel victims in general to signify its refusal vis-a-vis the tyranny of this climate of generalized insecurity. Continue reading
Need for institutional arrangements in response to the imminent risk of the introduction of the Covid-19 pandemic in Haiti
Through the Ministries of the Interior and local authorities (Mict), education and vocational training (Menfp), the state authorities call for other authorities to take steps to deal with the imminent risk of the introduction of the Covid-19 pandemic (novel coronavirus) in Haiti.
“Airlines operating on national territory must take the necessary measures to prohibit the boarding of any passenger from the red zones,” said a note from the Mict, dated March 9th.
The red areas concerned are “areas at high risk of Covid-19 contamination, having not spent 14 days outside of a risk-free area (area without local transmission of Covid-19),” according to the Ministry of interior and local authorities. Continue reading
Financial support: Prime Minister Jouthe is racing, and the IMF is waiting for “the conditions to allow it”
Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe told Le Nouvelliste last Friday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) welcomes “the establishment of the government.” He was optimistic about the resumption of funding stopped for almost a year after the resignation of the government of Jean Henry Céant and the absence of a budget regularly voted by the Parliament.
“The IMF had asked for a government. The IMF welcomes the establishment of the government. The other donors are waiting for the IMF to open the floodgates to let go of the purse strings, “he said, stressing that the fund strongly encourages the executive to ”pass a budget by decree.”
The IMF also encourages to draw up decrees with “the other economic bills which remained blocked in the Parliament since the last two legislatures of which the bill on the cadastre among others”. “About 11 bills that remained stuck in Parliament, including the Chamber of Deputies,” said Jouthe. “The IMF also wants to have elections this year.” Continue reading
Haitian-American businessmen convicted of port bribery scheme get new trial
Two Haitian-American businessmen convicted of conspiring to pay millions of dollars in bribes to Haitian government officials, including the aide to a prime minister, for a northwest Haiti port will be getting a new trial.
Dr. Joseph Baptiste, a Maryland dentist and retired Haitian-American U.S. Army colonel, and Roger Richard Boncy, a former Haitian ambassador-at-large, were found guilty in June by a Boston federal jury of an $84 million Haiti port bribery scheme. Jurors convicted both men of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Travel Act. Baptiste was also convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and an additional Travel Act violation, while Boncy was cleared of the two counts. Continue reading
Florida
Fighting for the Soul of Little Haiti in Miami
In the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of Haitian refugees fleeing the brutal Duvalier dictatorship landed on Florida’s southern shores. Many settled in Lemon City, an economically disadvantaged Miami neighborhood north of downtown’s glitz and grit and across Biscayne Bay from South Beach’s famed white sand and aquamarine sea.
The neighborhood came to be known as Little Haiti. Though Miamians made it plain that Haitians weren’t welcome elsewhere in the city, here within the boundaries of Lemon City, the Haitians had a community. Continue reading
Editorial
Why the Haitian Diaspora Has an Important Role to Play in US Elections
The Florida Democratic primary is only a week away, and as candidates turn their attention to the Sunshine state the Haitian diaspora has a unique opportunity to put Haitian issues on agenda. Especially Cubans, but also, more recently Venezuelans have been extremely effective in organizing themselves in the diaspora to push for their desired US policy. When Florida politics come up, that’s where the focus usually lands.
But often overlooked in this conversation are the more than 300,000 residents of Florida who were born in Haiti, and the hundreds of thousands more who report having Haitian ancestry. In raw numbers, the Haitian diaspora in Florida is more than double the size of the Venezuelan diaspora. And it is not limited solely to Florida; there are significant population centers of Haitian diaspora in both New York and Massachusetts. Continue reading