“There is no question that it is racism, and it’s absolutely deplorable,” declared Democratic strategist Maria Cardona on NPR’s “Tell Me More,” referring to a Dominican Constitutional Court’s ruling, on Sept. 23, 2013, that denaturalized four generations of Dominican citizens, virtually all of them of Haitian descent. “And I do think that the United States […]
A third victim, 24-year-old Rolcy Ametis, the police shot in the head, neck and hip on Wednesday, July 17, 2013, while protesting the controversial death of Judge Jean Serge Joseph, succumbed to his injuries at State University Hospital late Friday July 19, confirmed officials. Among the seven victims of the forceful intervention of U.N. peacekeepers […]
“Of course, there is a lot of resistance to change, especially when some of the largest recipients of contracts in Haiti are the for-profit development companies that hired a lobbyist to push back on these reforms,” declared Research Associate Jake Johnston, who co-authored “Breaking Open the Black Box: Increasing Aid Transparency and Accountability in Haiti” […]
Please read part one here first: Censoring Speech While not the first head of state to politicize Haitian carnival, President Michel Martelly made history with his deliberate attack on civil liberties last February, forbidding Port-au-Prince residents to peacefully assemble and organize their carnival — a decision that not only infuriated citizens, but also a civil […]
During a live interview aired on Radio Scoop FM (107.7) 48 hours before Haiti’s carnival festivities, President Michel Martelly dispelled all rumors surrounding band selections for Cap-Haitien’s 2013 Carnival possession. “It was I, who personally decided to exclude bands from the carnival parade,” declared the president. “The decision to exclude bands, such as Brothers Posse […]
Reacting to a United Nations Security Council’s Jan. 28, 2013 press release that cilled on the Haitian government to hold free, fair, inclusive and credible senatorial and municipal elections that are 14-months overdue, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe reiterated his administration’s determination to organize elections this year, an exercise the note stressed “Is important to maintain […]
“Ki bwa li ye, bwa sa; ki bwa li ye, bwa sa,” sang euphoric young men and women, floating in a sea of people embarked on a lengthy pilgrimage to unity. At the end of the unprecedented grassroots movement in Northern city Ouanaminthe — Kita Nago — a half-ton tree trunk that symbolizes Haiti, would have, on […]
Transforming Haiti into a consumer nation, ultimately meant that a short-supplied world would force its population into mass starvation, a recurring nightmare Haitians are currently experiencing amid the recent global food crisis, which caused a wave of sporadic protests to erupt throughout the country last month. Rampant inflation sent food prices hovering well beyond the […]
“Violence in Haiti is systemic, that is to say, it’s related to the abandonment of the state, the abandonment of society by public institutions that fail to provide basic services.” “I reject the ontological definition of an inherently violent Haitian,” declared Anthropologist Rachelle Charlier Doucet at Port-au-Prince’s Hotel le Plaza on Friday, June 29, 2012. […]
“Haiti walks a fine line between a failed state and fascistic state.” More than two months before its forthcoming August 2012 released, Jeb Sprague’s book, “Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti,” stormed academia, political and diplomatic communities, delivering what some reviewers perceived as a brilliant diagnosis of the history of political violence […]
“Haitians Continue to drown at sea, fleeing, against all odds, the land their forebears fought for so heroically and valiantly on a quest for a better life.” Hardly a new phenomenon, Haitian migration took center stage as the United Nations in mid-July after a woman drowned when a boat carrying more than 100 Haitian migrants, […]
Human rights activists acclaimed a Dominican Republic (DR) court’s historic conviction and 15-year prison sentencing of two Haitian child traffickers charged with smuggling, trafficking, and exploiting Haitian children’s labor. “It is the first time Haitian traffickers have been jailed in the Dominican Republic for trafficking children,” declared the International Organization for Migration (IOM) through a […]
Haitians across the globe celebrated, on May 18, 2012, the birth of a symbol: Haiti’s bi-color blue and red; hence, commemorated 209 years since that solemn day in 1803 when Catherine Flon sewed the first Haitian flag. Mobilized around their collective aspiration, adamant bravery and inalienable rights to liberty and equality, Haiti’s Founding founders embarked on […]
“What really moved me,” admitted Jean-Paul Benoit, president of Haitians and Friends (HF) during our interview, “We realized there was no Haitian presence at the university, so we suggested the club.” After obtaining Student Government’s approval on March 1, 2012, Benoit and six other students officially launched the first Haitian organization at University of North […]
“The current governance of the country has nothing to do with democracy,” declared Evans Paul, leader of United Democratic Convention KID (French acronym), intervening live on Invite du Jour. “The country faces an autocracy in which the closest advisors of the head of state dares not provide him any council,” added Paul on Radio Vision 2000’s […]