Haiti: Elections & Continued Dependence
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Re: Rice Visits Haiti Ahead of Elections
<font size="5"><center>Préval looks ready to take presidency </font size>
<font size="4">Despite talk of a runoff and questions about ballot security,
former president René Préval looked likely to regain Haiti's top post.</font size></center>
The Miami Herald
By JACQUELINE CHARLES AND JOE MOZINGO
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
Saturday, Feb 11, 2006
MARMELADE, Haiti - Former president René Préval, with massive support from Haiti's urban poor, held an insurmountable lead Friday in elections for a new president. But it remained unclear whether he could avoid a runoff.
The slow pace of the vote count added to the uncertainty over the balloting, which many Haitians hope will help end the political and economic chaos that trailed the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide two years ago.
With 1.1 million votes counted, Préval held 50.26 percent, Haiti's electoral council announced late Friday. Turnout has been estimated at 1.75 million, or half the country's registered voters.
''The chances to go to a second round are 50-50,'' Jacques Bernard, director general of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, told The Miami Herald just before the announcement.
But one electoral advisor who has been monitoring the vote count closely said he expected Préval would wind up with 53 percent -- well above the simple majority he needs to avoid a runoff against the second-place finisher.
Bernard said he hoped the council would know today whether Préval will have to face off March 19 against one of the two candidates battling for second: former President Leslie Manigat or businessman Charles Henri Baker. Runoffs also will be held for the 129 legislative seats for which no candidate wins a majority of votes.
The Baker campaign Friday sent a letter to the electoral council alleging vote fraud and asking it to nullify the votes ``where there were too many irregularities.''
''People voted two, three and four times,'' said Hans Tippenhauer, a Baker campaign advisor. ``We do say we will accept the results, as long as they [council members] are doing their part,''
International election observers said that while they saw some problems, they were isolated. They commended the Haitian people for their large turnout, and called on electoral officials to correct problems, including late-opening polls and ballots thrown out after they were counted, for the second round.
''Our mission deplores some isolated incidents, in particular the destruction of ballots,'' said Jean-Pierre Kingsley, chairman of the 127-member International Mission for Monitoring Haitian Elections. ''That being said, we would like to emphasize the general absence of intimidation and violence at polling centers.'' Préval's campaign advisors acknowledged Friday that his lead might be shrinking as reports from the provinces trickle in. They had predicted an outright victory one day after the vote when the tallies included only the Port-au-Prince region.
The former president and one-time Aristide ally won overwhelming support in urban slums such as Cité Soleil, where Aristide was considered a hero for his defense of the vast majority of Haitians who live on less than $1 a day and whose plight makes their nation the poorest in the western hemisphere.
Préval, who has been keeping a low profile in his family's hometown of Marmelade, a mountain village 70 miles north of Port-au-Prince, told The Miami Herald on Friday that he was not surprised by the high percentage of votes he received in Cité Soleil. He received about 90 percent of the vote there.
''During the electoral campaign, I felt the enthusiasm. This is my third campaign, my second running for president, and this was the most enthusiastic,'' said Préval, who remained in high spirits at the bamboo, coffee and citrus cooperative he started in Marmelade years back.
Support for Préval in Marmelade is near-total.
Since moving into his grandparents' home here in 2001, he has devoted himself to projects that help peasants grow more profitable crops, particularly coffee, while replanting deforested hillsides with bamboo and citrus trees.
''He does good work,'' said Efrain Jesmar, 28, an unemployed man lingering by the road a few miles from Marmelade. ``He loves the country. He's not into schemes all the time.''
Préval has said that he's not really a politician and decided to run for president only after some 1,000 peasants showed up at the cooperative meeting area and urged him to run. They told him he would be a traitor if he didn't.
But those close say he would also like to redeem his image. His five years in office, from 1996 to 2001, brought some stability and development to Haiti, although many believed that Aristide really ran the country. At the end of his term Préval became the first president in Haitian history to surrender power to an elected successor, Aristide.
These days in Marmelade, few people seem to miss Aristide, living in exile in South Africa since in 2004.
Said Jesmar: ``He's not here, so what can he do for me? Préval is giving hope.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/13845332.htm
<font size="5"><center>Préval looks ready to take presidency </font size>
<font size="4">Despite talk of a runoff and questions about ballot security,
former president René Préval looked likely to regain Haiti's top post.</font size></center>
The Miami Herald
By JACQUELINE CHARLES AND JOE MOZINGO
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
Saturday, Feb 11, 2006
MARMELADE, Haiti - Former president René Préval, with massive support from Haiti's urban poor, held an insurmountable lead Friday in elections for a new president. But it remained unclear whether he could avoid a runoff.
The slow pace of the vote count added to the uncertainty over the balloting, which many Haitians hope will help end the political and economic chaos that trailed the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide two years ago.
With 1.1 million votes counted, Préval held 50.26 percent, Haiti's electoral council announced late Friday. Turnout has been estimated at 1.75 million, or half the country's registered voters.
''The chances to go to a second round are 50-50,'' Jacques Bernard, director general of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, told The Miami Herald just before the announcement.
But one electoral advisor who has been monitoring the vote count closely said he expected Préval would wind up with 53 percent -- well above the simple majority he needs to avoid a runoff against the second-place finisher.
Bernard said he hoped the council would know today whether Préval will have to face off March 19 against one of the two candidates battling for second: former President Leslie Manigat or businessman Charles Henri Baker. Runoffs also will be held for the 129 legislative seats for which no candidate wins a majority of votes.
The Baker campaign Friday sent a letter to the electoral council alleging vote fraud and asking it to nullify the votes ``where there were too many irregularities.''
''People voted two, three and four times,'' said Hans Tippenhauer, a Baker campaign advisor. ``We do say we will accept the results, as long as they [council members] are doing their part,''
International election observers said that while they saw some problems, they were isolated. They commended the Haitian people for their large turnout, and called on electoral officials to correct problems, including late-opening polls and ballots thrown out after they were counted, for the second round.
''Our mission deplores some isolated incidents, in particular the destruction of ballots,'' said Jean-Pierre Kingsley, chairman of the 127-member International Mission for Monitoring Haitian Elections. ''That being said, we would like to emphasize the general absence of intimidation and violence at polling centers.'' Préval's campaign advisors acknowledged Friday that his lead might be shrinking as reports from the provinces trickle in. They had predicted an outright victory one day after the vote when the tallies included only the Port-au-Prince region.
The former president and one-time Aristide ally won overwhelming support in urban slums such as Cité Soleil, where Aristide was considered a hero for his defense of the vast majority of Haitians who live on less than $1 a day and whose plight makes their nation the poorest in the western hemisphere.
Préval, who has been keeping a low profile in his family's hometown of Marmelade, a mountain village 70 miles north of Port-au-Prince, told The Miami Herald on Friday that he was not surprised by the high percentage of votes he received in Cité Soleil. He received about 90 percent of the vote there.
''During the electoral campaign, I felt the enthusiasm. This is my third campaign, my second running for president, and this was the most enthusiastic,'' said Préval, who remained in high spirits at the bamboo, coffee and citrus cooperative he started in Marmelade years back.
Support for Préval in Marmelade is near-total.
Since moving into his grandparents' home here in 2001, he has devoted himself to projects that help peasants grow more profitable crops, particularly coffee, while replanting deforested hillsides with bamboo and citrus trees.
''He does good work,'' said Efrain Jesmar, 28, an unemployed man lingering by the road a few miles from Marmelade. ``He loves the country. He's not into schemes all the time.''
Préval has said that he's not really a politician and decided to run for president only after some 1,000 peasants showed up at the cooperative meeting area and urged him to run. They told him he would be a traitor if he didn't.
But those close say he would also like to redeem his image. His five years in office, from 1996 to 2001, brought some stability and development to Haiti, although many believed that Aristide really ran the country. At the end of his term Préval became the first president in Haitian history to surrender power to an elected successor, Aristide.
These days in Marmelade, few people seem to miss Aristide, living in exile in South Africa since in 2004.
Said Jesmar: ``He's not here, so what can he do for me? Préval is giving hope.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/13845332.htm
They're Burning Preval Ballots in Haiti now- +UN troops kill 2
Haiti's Preval claims vote fraud, burnt ballots found
Wed Feb 15, 2006 4:08 AM GMT
By Joseph Guyler Delva and Jim Loney
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Former Haitian President Rene Preval said on Tuesday massive fraud had prevented him from winning a first-round victory in last week's election but the government had agreed to delay publishing the result while he gathered proof.
A few hours after he spoke, hundreds and possibly thousands of burnt and still smoldering ballots, many cast a week ago for Preval, were found on a Port-au-Prince garbage dump, outraging Preval supporters and setting off demonstrations after nightfall.
A one-time ally of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and opposed by the wealthy elite who drove Aristide out two years ago. Preval called earlier for his supporters to continue their protests but to tear down barricades of smoking tires and rubble that had brought Port-au-Prince to a standstill.
"We are sure of having won in the first round," Preval said at his sister's hilltop home on the outskirts of the Haitian capital, where his angry supporters thronged through the streets on Monday, storming the city's top luxury hotel.
"We are convinced there was massive fraud and gross errors that affected the process," he said in his first major comments since last Tuesday's vote.
The impoverished Caribbean nation of 8.5 million has been on tenterhooks for a week amid concern that election officials were manipulating the ballot, the first since Aristide fled into exile, to force Preval into a March 19 runoff.
Results, unchanged since Monday, gave Preval 48.7 percent of the vote with 90 percent counted. He needs a simple majority to avoid a second round.
"If they publish these results as they are, we will contest them and if Lespwa (Preval's political movement) contests them, the Haitian people will contest them," Preval said.
Members of the provisional electoral council said the demonstrations and roadblocks that have afflicted Port-au-Prince since Sunday had prevented ballot workers from completing the count anyway.
Rosemond Pradel, secretary general of the council, promised an investigation after charred ballot papers were found in a large state dump in the capital.
"That's absolutely unacceptable," said Pradel.
He said securing the ballots after they had been cast was the responsibility of the 9,000-strong U.N. force trying to keep the peace in Haiti.
U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst said ballots were supposed to have been sealed in bags and placed in a container, protected by U.N. troops. "It's not normal to have these ballots there."
Wimhurst suggested the discarded ballots could have come from nine polling stations outside Port-au-Prince ransacked during the election, with the loss of around 35,000 votes.
In the district of Truitier, where the burnt ballots were found, angry Preval supporters and local residents denounced what they saw as an attempt to deny them a voice in Haiti's fractious and fragile democracy.
"They took all Preval's ballots. They threw them away in order to prevent the vote of the people from passing. That is a crime," said Rene Monplaisir, an official in the Preval campaign.
While many of Preval's presidential rivals have conceded he won an easy victory, some, including third-placed industrialist Charles Baker, considered the candidate of the wealthy elite, have vowed to join forces in a second round.
Ex-President Leslie Manigat was in second place with 11.8 percent and Baker was third with 7.9 percent.
Preval said his campaign had credible evidence the vote count had been manipulated. He cited an independent tabulation by the National Democratic Institute, a U.S. nonprofit group, which showed he had carried 54 percent of the vote.
Haiti's Preval claims vote fraud, burnt ballots found
Wed Feb 15, 2006 4:08 AM GMT
By Joseph Guyler Delva and Jim Loney
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Former Haitian President Rene Preval said on Tuesday massive fraud had prevented him from winning a first-round victory in last week's election but the government had agreed to delay publishing the result while he gathered proof.
A few hours after he spoke, hundreds and possibly thousands of burnt and still smoldering ballots, many cast a week ago for Preval, were found on a Port-au-Prince garbage dump, outraging Preval supporters and setting off demonstrations after nightfall.
A one-time ally of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and opposed by the wealthy elite who drove Aristide out two years ago. Preval called earlier for his supporters to continue their protests but to tear down barricades of smoking tires and rubble that had brought Port-au-Prince to a standstill.
"We are sure of having won in the first round," Preval said at his sister's hilltop home on the outskirts of the Haitian capital, where his angry supporters thronged through the streets on Monday, storming the city's top luxury hotel.
"We are convinced there was massive fraud and gross errors that affected the process," he said in his first major comments since last Tuesday's vote.
The impoverished Caribbean nation of 8.5 million has been on tenterhooks for a week amid concern that election officials were manipulating the ballot, the first since Aristide fled into exile, to force Preval into a March 19 runoff.
Results, unchanged since Monday, gave Preval 48.7 percent of the vote with 90 percent counted. He needs a simple majority to avoid a second round.
"If they publish these results as they are, we will contest them and if Lespwa (Preval's political movement) contests them, the Haitian people will contest them," Preval said.
Members of the provisional electoral council said the demonstrations and roadblocks that have afflicted Port-au-Prince since Sunday had prevented ballot workers from completing the count anyway.
Rosemond Pradel, secretary general of the council, promised an investigation after charred ballot papers were found in a large state dump in the capital.
"That's absolutely unacceptable," said Pradel.
He said securing the ballots after they had been cast was the responsibility of the 9,000-strong U.N. force trying to keep the peace in Haiti.
U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst said ballots were supposed to have been sealed in bags and placed in a container, protected by U.N. troops. "It's not normal to have these ballots there."
Wimhurst suggested the discarded ballots could have come from nine polling stations outside Port-au-Prince ransacked during the election, with the loss of around 35,000 votes.
In the district of Truitier, where the burnt ballots were found, angry Preval supporters and local residents denounced what they saw as an attempt to deny them a voice in Haiti's fractious and fragile democracy.
"They took all Preval's ballots. They threw them away in order to prevent the vote of the people from passing. That is a crime," said Rene Monplaisir, an official in the Preval campaign.
While many of Preval's presidential rivals have conceded he won an easy victory, some, including third-placed industrialist Charles Baker, considered the candidate of the wealthy elite, have vowed to join forces in a second round.
Ex-President Leslie Manigat was in second place with 11.8 percent and Baker was third with 7.9 percent.
Preval said his campaign had credible evidence the vote count had been manipulated. He cited an independent tabulation by the National Democratic Institute, a U.S. nonprofit group, which showed he had carried 54 percent of the vote.
Re: Rice Visits Haiti Ahead of Elections
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Published on TaipeiTimes
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/05/16/2003308469
Preval sworn in as president of Haiti
SECOND CHANCE: The new Haitian president took power only hours after a riot in a jail just two blocks from parliament resulted in the death of two inmates
AP , PORT-AU-PRINCE
Tuesday, May 16, 2006,Page 7
Advertising Advertising
Rene Preval took power as Haiti's president for the second time in a decade, urging his battered and divided population to unite for peace two years after an armed uprising ousted his predecessor and pushed the nation into chaos.
Thousands of Haitians thronged the national palace to take part in Sunday's inauguration for Preval, a soft-spoken 63-year-old who replaces a US-backed interim government installed after former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled into exile amid the bloody February 2004 revolt.
Preval, a champion of the poor, urged Haiti's fractured society to put aside their differences and work together for a stable, democratic future.
"Haitian people, the solution to our problems is in our hands," Preval said in his inaugural address outside the palace, where a sea of people cheered and waved Haitian flags.
"We need to make peace through dialogue and talking to each other so we can decide where we want to go together," he said. "If we don't talk, then we will only fight and there will be no peace."
Some of the loudest applause from the crowd came when Preval bid farewell to Haiti's two former interim leaders, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and President Boniface Alexandre, who were unpopular among many poor Haitians who accused their transitional government of persecuting Aristide supporters.
Preval, a former Aristide ally, will have to overcome big challenges to govern, including a corrupt state bureaucracy, a wrecked economy and rampant crime.
Earlier, Preval took the oath of office inside a sweltering parliamentary chamber crowded with Haitian legislators, UN officials and foreign dignitaries representing 40 countries. Among them was Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who led the US delegation, Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean and US actor Danny Glover.
Outside, several hundred Preval supporters gathered in an adjacent park, hoping to catch a glimpse of their new president. Some waved portraits of Aristide and called for his return, chanting: "Aristide's blood is our blood!" and "We want him back!"
Preval has said Haiti's constitution allows the former president to return from exile in South Africa. However, Preval hasn't said if he would welcome back Aristide -- a move the US has warned would destabilize the country.
Aristide and his supporters accuse the US of kidnapping him and flying him to Africa amid the revolt -- a charge Washington denies.
Hours before Sunday's ceremony, prisoners demanding their freedom rioted at the national penitentiary, just a few blocks from the parliament. Inmates later massed on the roof and held up two bodies, apparently of prisoners. Haitian police and UN troops quickly surrounded the prison, and the disturbance was quelled.
Officials offered no immediate comment on the incident, which was a strong reminder of the challenges Preval faces reforming Haiti's broken justice system.
The UN envoy to Haiti, Juan Gabriel Valdes, has urged Preval to take quick action on the prison, where many inmates have languished for years without being charged with a crime.
Preval promised to create jobs and attract investment after winning Feb. 7 elections. In his first official act as president, he signed an accord integrating Haiti into a Venezuelan oil pact that supplies Caribbean countries with fuel under preferential terms.
In a joint statement with Preval, Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Haiti would receive 100,000 barrels of oil yesterday as its first shipment under the Petrocaribe pact.
------------------------------------------------
First Venez Oil Shipment Arrives in Haiti
Port-Au-Prince, May 15 (Prensa Latina) The first shipment of Venezuelan oil under the Petrocaribe energy supply program for the Caribbean Basin arrived in Haiti.
The oil tanker Neptuno brought 40,000 barrels of gas and 60,000 of diesel, a part of which will be donated to operate the local hospitals' boilers.
Venezuela will also donate asphalt for 12 months with which a Brazilian contingent will pave the streets.
Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel signed the official agreement Sunday with President Rene Preval under which Venezuela will make daily supplies of 11,000 oil barrels.
Rangel said Petrocaribe will channel 7,000 barrels and the other 4,000 will reach under the 1980 San Jose Agreement that secures oil supplies and promote development of its six signatories.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/05/16/2003308469
Preval sworn in as president of Haiti
SECOND CHANCE: The new Haitian president took power only hours after a riot in a jail just two blocks from parliament resulted in the death of two inmates
AP , PORT-AU-PRINCE
Tuesday, May 16, 2006,Page 7
Advertising Advertising
Rene Preval took power as Haiti's president for the second time in a decade, urging his battered and divided population to unite for peace two years after an armed uprising ousted his predecessor and pushed the nation into chaos.
Thousands of Haitians thronged the national palace to take part in Sunday's inauguration for Preval, a soft-spoken 63-year-old who replaces a US-backed interim government installed after former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled into exile amid the bloody February 2004 revolt.
Preval, a champion of the poor, urged Haiti's fractured society to put aside their differences and work together for a stable, democratic future.
"Haitian people, the solution to our problems is in our hands," Preval said in his inaugural address outside the palace, where a sea of people cheered and waved Haitian flags.
"We need to make peace through dialogue and talking to each other so we can decide where we want to go together," he said. "If we don't talk, then we will only fight and there will be no peace."
Some of the loudest applause from the crowd came when Preval bid farewell to Haiti's two former interim leaders, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and President Boniface Alexandre, who were unpopular among many poor Haitians who accused their transitional government of persecuting Aristide supporters.
Preval, a former Aristide ally, will have to overcome big challenges to govern, including a corrupt state bureaucracy, a wrecked economy and rampant crime.
Earlier, Preval took the oath of office inside a sweltering parliamentary chamber crowded with Haitian legislators, UN officials and foreign dignitaries representing 40 countries. Among them was Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who led the US delegation, Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean and US actor Danny Glover.
Outside, several hundred Preval supporters gathered in an adjacent park, hoping to catch a glimpse of their new president. Some waved portraits of Aristide and called for his return, chanting: "Aristide's blood is our blood!" and "We want him back!"
Preval has said Haiti's constitution allows the former president to return from exile in South Africa. However, Preval hasn't said if he would welcome back Aristide -- a move the US has warned would destabilize the country.
Aristide and his supporters accuse the US of kidnapping him and flying him to Africa amid the revolt -- a charge Washington denies.
Hours before Sunday's ceremony, prisoners demanding their freedom rioted at the national penitentiary, just a few blocks from the parliament. Inmates later massed on the roof and held up two bodies, apparently of prisoners. Haitian police and UN troops quickly surrounded the prison, and the disturbance was quelled.
Officials offered no immediate comment on the incident, which was a strong reminder of the challenges Preval faces reforming Haiti's broken justice system.
The UN envoy to Haiti, Juan Gabriel Valdes, has urged Preval to take quick action on the prison, where many inmates have languished for years without being charged with a crime.
Preval promised to create jobs and attract investment after winning Feb. 7 elections. In his first official act as president, he signed an accord integrating Haiti into a Venezuelan oil pact that supplies Caribbean countries with fuel under preferential terms.
In a joint statement with Preval, Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Haiti would receive 100,000 barrels of oil yesterday as its first shipment under the Petrocaribe pact.
------------------------------------------------
First Venez Oil Shipment Arrives in Haiti
Port-Au-Prince, May 15 (Prensa Latina) The first shipment of Venezuelan oil under the Petrocaribe energy supply program for the Caribbean Basin arrived in Haiti.
The oil tanker Neptuno brought 40,000 barrels of gas and 60,000 of diesel, a part of which will be donated to operate the local hospitals' boilers.
Venezuela will also donate asphalt for 12 months with which a Brazilian contingent will pave the streets.
Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel signed the official agreement Sunday with President Rene Preval under which Venezuela will make daily supplies of 11,000 oil barrels.
Rangel said Petrocaribe will channel 7,000 barrels and the other 4,000 will reach under the 1980 San Jose Agreement that secures oil supplies and promote development of its six signatories.
<font size="5"><center>
Haiti finally gets a new government</font size></center>
This recent government handout shows new Haitian Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis pictured
at her office desk in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. Haiti has been gripped by a political stale-
mate for three months, since prime minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis was ousted on April 12
amid riots over skyrocketing food prices. Pierre-Louis is the third candidate to be submitted for
the job by President Rene Preval since Alexis quit, after the previous two were rejected by the
legislature. Pierre-Louis studied economics at Queens College in New York and airport manage-
ment in France. Since 1995 she has headed FOKAL, a non-governmental organization
financed by US billionaire George Soros. She also teaches education at a private university in
Port-au-Prince. In early April, thousands of people took to the streets around Haiti in violent
demonstrations against food and fuel price rises that forced UN peacekeepers to intervene.
Seventy percent of Haiti's population lives on less than two dollars per day and half of its
8.5 million people are unemployed.
Reuters
By Joseph Guyler Delva
Fri Sep 5, 2008
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitian Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis belatedly took office on Friday with a promise to aid those left destitute by recent storms while preparing for looming Hurricane Ike.
"We are ready for the battle," Pierre-Louis said during her installation ceremony at the National Palace.
"My government will take all necessary measures to deal with the bad weather threatening the country over the next hours and to bring help to the population who fell victim of the past natural disasters."
Previous Government Dismissed April 2008
Haitian lawmakers finally approved the installation of a new government early on Friday to replace the one dismissed in April after violent food price protests in the impoverished Caribbean country.
Haiti has been battered by a hurricane and two tropical storms in less than a month that together have killed more than 200 people, mostly in flooding and mudslides. Powerful Hurricane Ike was forecast to pass north of Haiti over the weekend, bringing more torrential rains.
Pierre-Louis, who is in her early 60s, concluded the installation ceremony by ordering government ministers to go to their departments and get to work.
Five-Month Impasse
She won final approval during overnight negotiations in the Senate. Initially only 15 senators voted to approve her program, with two abstentions. The economist needed at least 16 favorable votes to get to work.
Government supporters refused to accept the initial result and called a break in the middle of the night to persuade one of the abstainers to change his vote.
The vote ended a five-month impasse that began when senators censured and dismissed the government of Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.
Alexis was fired because of soaring food prices that triggered violent protests in which seven people died.
Lawmakers rejected two of President Rene Preval's suggested replacements as prime minister before voting in favor of Pierre-Louis, head of a foundation that provides libraries, youth education programs and women's networks.
But Pierre-Louis was required to appear before both legislative chambers in separate sessions to present a detailed policy plan before taking office. That process was delayed by weeks of political infighting and squabbling over positions of power in the new government.
Pierre-Louis has said her priorities will be food production, job creation, security and the establishment of an environment favorable to national and foreign investment.
"The principle axis of my government will be social and economic inclusion and management based on resolve and accountability before Parliament, on dialogue with our institutions and on our economic, social and cultural partners," she said.
(Writing by Jane Sutton and Michael Christie; Editing by Xavier Briand)
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0530145320080905
Haiti finally gets a new government</font size></center>
This recent government handout shows new Haitian Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis pictured
at her office desk in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. Haiti has been gripped by a political stale-
mate for three months, since prime minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis was ousted on April 12
amid riots over skyrocketing food prices. Pierre-Louis is the third candidate to be submitted for
the job by President Rene Preval since Alexis quit, after the previous two were rejected by the
legislature. Pierre-Louis studied economics at Queens College in New York and airport manage-
ment in France. Since 1995 she has headed FOKAL, a non-governmental organization
financed by US billionaire George Soros. She also teaches education at a private university in
Port-au-Prince. In early April, thousands of people took to the streets around Haiti in violent
demonstrations against food and fuel price rises that forced UN peacekeepers to intervene.
Seventy percent of Haiti's population lives on less than two dollars per day and half of its
8.5 million people are unemployed.
Reuters
By Joseph Guyler Delva
Fri Sep 5, 2008
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitian Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis belatedly took office on Friday with a promise to aid those left destitute by recent storms while preparing for looming Hurricane Ike.
"We are ready for the battle," Pierre-Louis said during her installation ceremony at the National Palace.
"My government will take all necessary measures to deal with the bad weather threatening the country over the next hours and to bring help to the population who fell victim of the past natural disasters."
Previous Government Dismissed April 2008
Haitian lawmakers finally approved the installation of a new government early on Friday to replace the one dismissed in April after violent food price protests in the impoverished Caribbean country.
Haiti has been battered by a hurricane and two tropical storms in less than a month that together have killed more than 200 people, mostly in flooding and mudslides. Powerful Hurricane Ike was forecast to pass north of Haiti over the weekend, bringing more torrential rains.
Pierre-Louis, who is in her early 60s, concluded the installation ceremony by ordering government ministers to go to their departments and get to work.
Five-Month Impasse
She won final approval during overnight negotiations in the Senate. Initially only 15 senators voted to approve her program, with two abstentions. The economist needed at least 16 favorable votes to get to work.
Government supporters refused to accept the initial result and called a break in the middle of the night to persuade one of the abstainers to change his vote.
The vote ended a five-month impasse that began when senators censured and dismissed the government of Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.
Alexis was fired because of soaring food prices that triggered violent protests in which seven people died.
Lawmakers rejected two of President Rene Preval's suggested replacements as prime minister before voting in favor of Pierre-Louis, head of a foundation that provides libraries, youth education programs and women's networks.
But Pierre-Louis was required to appear before both legislative chambers in separate sessions to present a detailed policy plan before taking office. That process was delayed by weeks of political infighting and squabbling over positions of power in the new government.
Pierre-Louis has said her priorities will be food production, job creation, security and the establishment of an environment favorable to national and foreign investment.
"The principle axis of my government will be social and economic inclusion and management based on resolve and accountability before Parliament, on dialogue with our institutions and on our economic, social and cultural partners," she said.
(Writing by Jane Sutton and Michael Christie; Editing by Xavier Briand)
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0530145320080905
bump
bump
HAITI AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE
U.S. urges Haiti's Preval to schedule elections
<font size="5"><center>
Préval urged to set elections</font size><font size="4">
As legislation to help Haiti stalls in Congress, Haitian President
René Préval is being called on to kick-start the election process</font size></center>
Miami Herald
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
Haitian President René Préval is being urged to move faster to schedule presidential and parliamentary elections in quake-battered Haiti or risk losing the confidence of the U.S. Congress.
<font size="4">8-PAGE REPORT</font size>
The warning comes from an influential member of Congress, who in an eight-page report obtained by The Miami Herald calls for Préval -- whose presidential mandate ends in 2011 -- to ``issue the appropriate decree establishing an official date for presidential and parliamentary elections, without delay.''
``Our government is sympathetic to the plight of Haitians, as demonstrated by the assistance our military, diplomats and development experts provided in the wake of the disaster,'' Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., ranking member of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, said. ``But the positive effect of assistance programs will be limited if Haiti lacks a responsible, popularly-elected government.''
Préval has repeatedly expressed his desire to hold elections, telling Haitians as recently as last week during an appearance in the Dominican Republic to prepare to go to the polls. And while he has been reluctant to announce a formal date, his advisors told The Miami Herald that a presidential decree authorizing the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) to schedule the elections for Nov. 28 is currently under review and should be published in the coming days.
The report calls on Préval and his government to show ``strong leadership'' on the matter of elections and recommends that the U.S. State Department ask him to issue the presidential decree ``in earnest'' and restructure the membership of Haiti's beleaguered CEP in consultation with the international partners in a way that ``demonstrates a clear political commitment to contesting credible elections.''
The State Department is also being urged to ask donors to disburse a portion of the estimated $38 million needed to hold elections as soon as Préval issues the decree. The State Department also is being asked ``to seek an agreement with the CEP and all political parties, including factions of Fanmi Lavalas, to ensure that the parties meet the CEP's legal requirements and are not excluded from elections because of perceived technicalities.''
<font size="4">`COMPROMISES'</font size>
``The outpouring of goodwill and resources by the United Sates and the international community should be leveraged by Haiti's leaders to catalyze compromises on contentious issues so that all sides can go forward and rebuild Haiti together,'' Lugar said.
The report comes as legislation to provide Haiti with billions of dollars in reconstruction aid stalls in Congress. Last month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee agreed to give Haiti $2 billion over the next two years for reconstruction efforts. The amount was less than the $3.5 billion Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was seeking over the next five years. The House has yet to vote.
Though support for Haiti remains on Capitol Hill, there is growing concern that a Haitian political crisis could derail U.S. efforts to help the country rebuild, especially as the catastrophic Jan. 12 quake becomes a distant memory and U.S. taxpayers increasingly focus on domestic issues, such as unemployment.
``The people of Haiti are confronted with a unique opportunity to alter fundamentally the trajectory of their economic, social and political future,'' Lugar said. ``The United States and the international community have demonstrated their desire to support the people of Haiti as they attempt to realize this objective. But this commitment should not be taken for granted.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/10/1672416/preval-urged-to-set-elections.html
U.S. urges Haiti's Preval to schedule elections
<font size="5"><center>
Préval urged to set elections</font size><font size="4">
As legislation to help Haiti stalls in Congress, Haitian President
René Préval is being called on to kick-start the election process</font size></center>
Miami Herald
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
Haitian President René Préval is being urged to move faster to schedule presidential and parliamentary elections in quake-battered Haiti or risk losing the confidence of the U.S. Congress.
<font size="4">8-PAGE REPORT</font size>
The warning comes from an influential member of Congress, who in an eight-page report obtained by The Miami Herald calls for Préval -- whose presidential mandate ends in 2011 -- to ``issue the appropriate decree establishing an official date for presidential and parliamentary elections, without delay.''
``Our government is sympathetic to the plight of Haitians, as demonstrated by the assistance our military, diplomats and development experts provided in the wake of the disaster,'' Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., ranking member of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, said. ``But the positive effect of assistance programs will be limited if Haiti lacks a responsible, popularly-elected government.''
Préval has repeatedly expressed his desire to hold elections, telling Haitians as recently as last week during an appearance in the Dominican Republic to prepare to go to the polls. And while he has been reluctant to announce a formal date, his advisors told The Miami Herald that a presidential decree authorizing the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) to schedule the elections for Nov. 28 is currently under review and should be published in the coming days.
The report calls on Préval and his government to show ``strong leadership'' on the matter of elections and recommends that the U.S. State Department ask him to issue the presidential decree ``in earnest'' and restructure the membership of Haiti's beleaguered CEP in consultation with the international partners in a way that ``demonstrates a clear political commitment to contesting credible elections.''
The State Department is also being urged to ask donors to disburse a portion of the estimated $38 million needed to hold elections as soon as Préval issues the decree. The State Department also is being asked ``to seek an agreement with the CEP and all political parties, including factions of Fanmi Lavalas, to ensure that the parties meet the CEP's legal requirements and are not excluded from elections because of perceived technicalities.''
<font size="4">`COMPROMISES'</font size>
``The outpouring of goodwill and resources by the United Sates and the international community should be leveraged by Haiti's leaders to catalyze compromises on contentious issues so that all sides can go forward and rebuild Haiti together,'' Lugar said.
The report comes as legislation to provide Haiti with billions of dollars in reconstruction aid stalls in Congress. Last month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee agreed to give Haiti $2 billion over the next two years for reconstruction efforts. The amount was less than the $3.5 billion Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was seeking over the next five years. The House has yet to vote.
Though support for Haiti remains on Capitol Hill, there is growing concern that a Haitian political crisis could derail U.S. efforts to help the country rebuild, especially as the catastrophic Jan. 12 quake becomes a distant memory and U.S. taxpayers increasingly focus on domestic issues, such as unemployment.
``The people of Haiti are confronted with a unique opportunity to alter fundamentally the trajectory of their economic, social and political future,'' Lugar said. ``The United States and the international community have demonstrated their desire to support the people of Haiti as they attempt to realize this objective. But this commitment should not be taken for granted.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/10/1672416/preval-urged-to-set-elections.html
<font size="5"><center>
Wyclef Jean to Run for President of Haiti</font size></center>
Wyclef Jean photographed in New York,
August 2, 2010. Peter Hapak for TIME
TIME
By Tim Padgett/Port-au-Prince
Tuesday, Aug. 03, 2010
Hip-hop, more than most pop genres, is something of a pulpit, urban fire and brimstone garbed in baggy pants and backward caps. So it's little wonder that one of the music's icons, Haitian-American superstar Wyclef Jean, is the son of a Nazarene preacher — or that he likens himself, as a child of the Haitian diaspora, to a modern-day Moses destined to return and lead his people out of bondage. Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake, which ravaged the western hemisphere's poorest country and killed more than 200,000 people, was the biblical event that sealed his calling. After days of helping ferry mangled Haitian corpses to morgues, Jean felt as if he'd "finished the journey from my basket in the bulrushes to standing in front of the burning bush," he told me this week. "I knew I'd have to take the next step."
That would be running for President of Haiti. Jean told TIME that he is going to announce his candidacy in the Nov. 28 election just days before the Aug. 7 deadline. One plan being discussed called for him to declare his candidacy on Larry King's CNN show on Aug. 5 after arriving in Port-au-Prince from New York, where he grew up after leaving Haiti with his family at age nine. "If not for the earthquake, I probably would have waited another 10 years before doing this," Jean says. "The quake drove home to me that Haiti can't wait another 10 years for us to bring it into the 21st century." Jean sees no contradiction between his life as an artist and his ambitions as a politician. "If I can't take five years out to serve my country as President," he argues, "then everything I've been singing about, like equal rights, doesn't mean anything."
(See exclusive photos of the destruction in Haiti.)
It's tempting to dismiss all this as flaky performance art, a publicity stunt from the same guy who just a few years ago recorded a number called "If I Was President." But Jean's chances as well as his motives seem solid. And there are good reasons for Haitians — and the U.S.-led international donor community, which is bankrolling Haiti's long slog to the 21st century — to take this particular hip-hop politician seriously. Pop-culture celebrity hardly disqualifies you for high office today. (The last time I looked, an action hero was still running California.) And in Haiti, where half the population of around 9 million is under age 25, it's an asset as golden as a rapper's chains. Amid Haiti's gray, post-quake rubble, Jean is far more popular with that young cohort than their chronically corrupt and inept mainstream politicians, and he'll likely galvanize youth participation in the election.
(See how Wyclef Jean helped mobilize fundraising after the Haiti earthquake.)
More important, Jean stands to prove that fame can do more than lift voter turnout — or raise millions of dollars for earthquake victims, as his Yele Haiti Foundation has this year. His presidential run, win or lose, could build a long-awaited bridge between Haiti and its diaspora, a legion of expatriates and their progeny, many of them successful in every field, who number 800,000 in the U.S. alone. International aid managers agree that Haiti really can't recover from the quake unless it taps the education, capital, entrepreneurial drive and love for mother country that Jean epitomizes — even if his French (one of Haiti's official languages) is poor and his Creole (the other) is rusty. "A lot of Haitians are excited about this," says Marvel Dandin, a popular Port-au-Prince radio broadcaster. "Given the awful situation in Haiti right now," he says "most people don't care if the President speaks fluent Creole."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2008588,00.html
Wyclef Jean to Run for President of Haiti</font size></center>
Wyclef Jean photographed in New York,
August 2, 2010. Peter Hapak for TIME
TIME
By Tim Padgett/Port-au-Prince
Tuesday, Aug. 03, 2010
Hip-hop, more than most pop genres, is something of a pulpit, urban fire and brimstone garbed in baggy pants and backward caps. So it's little wonder that one of the music's icons, Haitian-American superstar Wyclef Jean, is the son of a Nazarene preacher — or that he likens himself, as a child of the Haitian diaspora, to a modern-day Moses destined to return and lead his people out of bondage. Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake, which ravaged the western hemisphere's poorest country and killed more than 200,000 people, was the biblical event that sealed his calling. After days of helping ferry mangled Haitian corpses to morgues, Jean felt as if he'd "finished the journey from my basket in the bulrushes to standing in front of the burning bush," he told me this week. "I knew I'd have to take the next step."
That would be running for President of Haiti. Jean told TIME that he is going to announce his candidacy in the Nov. 28 election just days before the Aug. 7 deadline. One plan being discussed called for him to declare his candidacy on Larry King's CNN show on Aug. 5 after arriving in Port-au-Prince from New York, where he grew up after leaving Haiti with his family at age nine. "If not for the earthquake, I probably would have waited another 10 years before doing this," Jean says. "The quake drove home to me that Haiti can't wait another 10 years for us to bring it into the 21st century." Jean sees no contradiction between his life as an artist and his ambitions as a politician. "If I can't take five years out to serve my country as President," he argues, "then everything I've been singing about, like equal rights, doesn't mean anything."
(See exclusive photos of the destruction in Haiti.)
It's tempting to dismiss all this as flaky performance art, a publicity stunt from the same guy who just a few years ago recorded a number called "If I Was President." But Jean's chances as well as his motives seem solid. And there are good reasons for Haitians — and the U.S.-led international donor community, which is bankrolling Haiti's long slog to the 21st century — to take this particular hip-hop politician seriously. Pop-culture celebrity hardly disqualifies you for high office today. (The last time I looked, an action hero was still running California.) And in Haiti, where half the population of around 9 million is under age 25, it's an asset as golden as a rapper's chains. Amid Haiti's gray, post-quake rubble, Jean is far more popular with that young cohort than their chronically corrupt and inept mainstream politicians, and he'll likely galvanize youth participation in the election.
(See how Wyclef Jean helped mobilize fundraising after the Haiti earthquake.)
More important, Jean stands to prove that fame can do more than lift voter turnout — or raise millions of dollars for earthquake victims, as his Yele Haiti Foundation has this year. His presidential run, win or lose, could build a long-awaited bridge between Haiti and its diaspora, a legion of expatriates and their progeny, many of them successful in every field, who number 800,000 in the U.S. alone. International aid managers agree that Haiti really can't recover from the quake unless it taps the education, capital, entrepreneurial drive and love for mother country that Jean epitomizes — even if his French (one of Haiti's official languages) is poor and his Creole (the other) is rusty. "A lot of Haitians are excited about this," says Marvel Dandin, a popular Port-au-Prince radio broadcaster. "Given the awful situation in Haiti right now," he says "most people don't care if the President speaks fluent Creole."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2008588,00.html
<font size="5"><center>
Wyclef Jean can't run for president</font size><font size="4">
After days of examining applications, a list of 19
people eligible to run for president was released</font size></center>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/k7b7tQWpdZQ?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/k7b7tQWpdZQ?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Miami Herald
By JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
Saturday, August 21, 2010
PETIONVILLE, Haiti -- Hip-hop star Wyclef Jean's bid to become Haiti's next president ended late Friday, after the country's Provisional Electoral Council made its long-awaited announcement.
Jean was not among the 19 candidates who made the final cut to be eligible to compete on the Nov. 28 presidential ballot.
Also out: Miami activist Lavarice Gaudin.
As the council made its announcement, Jean was en route to Lasser, after having spent most of the day in an upstairs room at the Kinam Hotel, while his supporters gathered outside the wrought iron gates.
Moments before leaving, he spoke on local radio telling supporters to be calm but ``prepare to mobilize.''
He left without addressing the crowd -- a who's who of Haitian hip-hop that had descended on the hillside hotel.
After the council's announcement, carried live on Haitian radio, the pitch black streets outside the electoral body's headquarters were calm, except one lone motorcyclist who screamed ``viv, Wyclef Jean!''
``It is not Clef who will lose. It's an entire generation that will lose out,'' said Lord Kinomorsa ``King Kino'' Divers, a slum activist, singer and Jean's personal consultant.
``Clef will return to his beautiful home in New Jersey. The people in the tents, the people in misery, the people who have no jobs, they are the ones who will lose out. He came here with a good heart.''
But even with Jean out of the race, the road to the Haitian presidency will prove to be a difficult journey.
Among the candidates: several ministers in former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's cabinet, as well as members of Haitian President René Préval's INITE (Unity) platform.
The list also includes two former prime ministers and musician Michel (Sweet Micky) Martelly.
Préval's pick, Jude Célestin, made the list.
``Célestin, with the backing of Préval and INITE, is the great favorite,'' said Robert Fatton, a Haiti politics expert at the University of Virginia. ``There are two major ``unknowns'' at the moment: what does Wyclef do? And who has the backing of the international community?''
The governing body charged with picking the list of candidates to compete for Haiti's presidency took its time making that decision Friday, pushing its deadline late into the night as supporters gathered in the streets and peacekeepers kept an uneasy watch.
A spokesperson read off the names and none of the council members stayed around to comment. It was not a unanimous decision.
As the intrigue continued into the night, a somber Jean had held firm to his belief that he would be on the final list of candidates allowed to compete in the Nov. 28 presidential ballot, based on his conversation with Haitian President René Préval.
Most experts don't expect this election season will be peaceful.
``Will there be violence? Yes,'' said James Morrell, a longtime Haiti observer and executive director of the Haiti Democracy Project in Washington, D.C. ``The question is how strong and widespread.''
Already, Pétionville and other neighborhoods in the hills above Port-au-Prince have been the site of kidnappings, the United Nations and others say.
They add that some political figures are tapping gang leaders to instigate unrest and to carry out abductions to collect money to hire street protesters.
``It would come as no surprise if we were to find interested parties behind the gangs,'' said David Wimhurst, a U.N. spokesman. ``They're going to go back to their old tricks.''
Earlier this week, Haitian police tightened Haiti's porous borders with the Dominican Republic.
Meanwhile, United Nations police in riot gear were strategically positioned across the capital to prevent problems.
Earlier in the day U.N. police along with Haitian National Police arrested 68 suspects in Cité Soleil slum, said Jean-François Vezina, U.N. police spokesman.
Vezina said the operation had nothing to do with the elections, or anxiety over street violence if Jean or other candidates didn't make the final cut.
``We are in the field at different strategic points, ready to be with the Haitian National Police,'' Vezina said.
Miami Herald staff writer Trenton Daniel contributed to this report.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/21/1785758/wyclef-jean-cant-run-for-president.html
Wyclef Jean can't run for president</font size><font size="4">
After days of examining applications, a list of 19
people eligible to run for president was released</font size></center>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/k7b7tQWpdZQ?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/k7b7tQWpdZQ?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Miami Herald
By JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
Saturday, August 21, 2010
PETIONVILLE, Haiti -- Hip-hop star Wyclef Jean's bid to become Haiti's next president ended late Friday, after the country's Provisional Electoral Council made its long-awaited announcement.
Jean was not among the 19 candidates who made the final cut to be eligible to compete on the Nov. 28 presidential ballot.
Also out: Miami activist Lavarice Gaudin.
As the council made its announcement, Jean was en route to Lasser, after having spent most of the day in an upstairs room at the Kinam Hotel, while his supporters gathered outside the wrought iron gates.
Moments before leaving, he spoke on local radio telling supporters to be calm but ``prepare to mobilize.''
He left without addressing the crowd -- a who's who of Haitian hip-hop that had descended on the hillside hotel.
After the council's announcement, carried live on Haitian radio, the pitch black streets outside the electoral body's headquarters were calm, except one lone motorcyclist who screamed ``viv, Wyclef Jean!''
``It is not Clef who will lose. It's an entire generation that will lose out,'' said Lord Kinomorsa ``King Kino'' Divers, a slum activist, singer and Jean's personal consultant.
``Clef will return to his beautiful home in New Jersey. The people in the tents, the people in misery, the people who have no jobs, they are the ones who will lose out. He came here with a good heart.''
But even with Jean out of the race, the road to the Haitian presidency will prove to be a difficult journey.
Among the candidates: several ministers in former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's cabinet, as well as members of Haitian President René Préval's INITE (Unity) platform.
The list also includes two former prime ministers and musician Michel (Sweet Micky) Martelly.
Préval's pick, Jude Célestin, made the list.
``Célestin, with the backing of Préval and INITE, is the great favorite,'' said Robert Fatton, a Haiti politics expert at the University of Virginia. ``There are two major ``unknowns'' at the moment: what does Wyclef do? And who has the backing of the international community?''
The governing body charged with picking the list of candidates to compete for Haiti's presidency took its time making that decision Friday, pushing its deadline late into the night as supporters gathered in the streets and peacekeepers kept an uneasy watch.
A spokesperson read off the names and none of the council members stayed around to comment. It was not a unanimous decision.
As the intrigue continued into the night, a somber Jean had held firm to his belief that he would be on the final list of candidates allowed to compete in the Nov. 28 presidential ballot, based on his conversation with Haitian President René Préval.
Most experts don't expect this election season will be peaceful.
``Will there be violence? Yes,'' said James Morrell, a longtime Haiti observer and executive director of the Haiti Democracy Project in Washington, D.C. ``The question is how strong and widespread.''
Already, Pétionville and other neighborhoods in the hills above Port-au-Prince have been the site of kidnappings, the United Nations and others say.
They add that some political figures are tapping gang leaders to instigate unrest and to carry out abductions to collect money to hire street protesters.
``It would come as no surprise if we were to find interested parties behind the gangs,'' said David Wimhurst, a U.N. spokesman. ``They're going to go back to their old tricks.''
Earlier this week, Haitian police tightened Haiti's porous borders with the Dominican Republic.
Meanwhile, United Nations police in riot gear were strategically positioned across the capital to prevent problems.
Earlier in the day U.N. police along with Haitian National Police arrested 68 suspects in Cité Soleil slum, said Jean-François Vezina, U.N. police spokesman.
Vezina said the operation had nothing to do with the elections, or anxiety over street violence if Jean or other candidates didn't make the final cut.
``We are in the field at different strategic points, ready to be with the Haitian National Police,'' Vezina said.
Miami Herald staff writer Trenton Daniel contributed to this report.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/21/1785758/wyclef-jean-cant-run-for-president.html
<font size="5">
Statement issued by Wyclef Jean</font size>
August 20. 2010
9:45 p.m.
It is with a heavy heart that I tell you today that the board of elections in
Haiti has disqualified me from my run for the presidency of the country.
Though I disagree with the ruling, I respectfully accept the committee’s final
decision, and I urge my supporters to do the same. We must all honor the
memories of those we’ve lost--whether in the earthquake, or at anytime--by
responding peacefully and responsibly to this disappointment.
I was inspired to run for president because I know Haiti can become great
with the right leadership, and I believe I could be that leader; but, ultimately,
we must respect the rule of law in order for our island to become the great
nation we all aspire for it to be.
I want to assure my countrymen that I will continue to work for Haiti’s renewal;
though the board has determined that I am not a resident of Haiti, home is
where the heart is--and my heart has and will always be in Haiti. This ruling
just tells me that I can’t officially seek the office of president. More impor-
tantly, there is no one who can tell me to stop my work in Haiti, and there
is no one who could. I think of my daughter, Angelina, and it makes me want
to redouble my efforts to help give all the children in Haiti better days.
I also want to honor the memory of my father, a minister; I know that he
would tell me that even though I’ve faced a setback, I must continue in all
my good-faith efforts to help Haiti turn a corner to a better and brighter
future. Do not think that my role in the future of Haiti is over; it’s just a
different role than I had anticipated it to be.
Rest assured, this isn’t the end of my efforts to help improve my beloved
country but only marks a new beginning.
//s// Wyclef Jean
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/20/1785754/statement-issued-by-wyclef-jean.html
Statement issued by Wyclef Jean</font size>
August 20. 2010
9:45 p.m.
It is with a heavy heart that I tell you today that the board of elections in
Haiti has disqualified me from my run for the presidency of the country.
Though I disagree with the ruling, I respectfully accept the committee’s final
decision, and I urge my supporters to do the same. We must all honor the
memories of those we’ve lost--whether in the earthquake, or at anytime--by
responding peacefully and responsibly to this disappointment.
I was inspired to run for president because I know Haiti can become great
with the right leadership, and I believe I could be that leader; but, ultimately,
we must respect the rule of law in order for our island to become the great
nation we all aspire for it to be.
I want to assure my countrymen that I will continue to work for Haiti’s renewal;
though the board has determined that I am not a resident of Haiti, home is
where the heart is--and my heart has and will always be in Haiti. This ruling
just tells me that I can’t officially seek the office of president. More impor-
tantly, there is no one who can tell me to stop my work in Haiti, and there
is no one who could. I think of my daughter, Angelina, and it makes me want
to redouble my efforts to help give all the children in Haiti better days.
I also want to honor the memory of my father, a minister; I know that he
would tell me that even though I’ve faced a setback, I must continue in all
my good-faith efforts to help Haiti turn a corner to a better and brighter
future. Do not think that my role in the future of Haiti is over; it’s just a
different role than I had anticipated it to be.
Rest assured, this isn’t the end of my efforts to help improve my beloved
country but only marks a new beginning.
//s// Wyclef Jean
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/20/1785754/statement-issued-by-wyclef-jean.html
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Wyclef says bullet grazed
hand in Haiti's capital
By TRENTON DANIEL
Associated Press
Sunday, Mar. 20, 2011
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Musician Wyclef Jean said Sunday that a bullet grazed his hand as he stepped out of a car to make a telephone call, but said he was only slightly injured.
Jean, who has been in Haiti helping the presidential campaign of his friend and fellow musician Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, said the bullet grazed him late Saturday night as he stepped out of his car in the Delmas section of the capital, Port-au-Prince, to make a call on his cellphone.
"The way I can explain it is that the bullet grazed me in my right hand," Jean told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I heard blow, blow, blow, and I just looked at my hand."
Jean, who was with a driver and the Haitian hip-hop singer FanFan at the time, said he didn't know who fired the shots, or whether they were directed at him.
He said he got out of the car to have a private conversation that FanFan would not overhear. He heard the shots and looked down to see blood on his shirt and sneakers.
The Haitian-American performer said he was treated at a local hospital and released. Jean said he took antibiotics and recovered at an "undisclosed location" before going out to vote in Sunday's presidential election.
Jean did not say what hospital treated him. Later, Garry Andre, who handles security for the musician, said it was City Med, a private clinic, in Petionville. A pharmacist at the facility's entrance said she saw Jean pass through overnight and later leave.
Haitian police chief Mario Andresol told reporters that he wasn't sure what happened during the shooting and that Jean didn't talk to police.
"We can't tell you if he was injured by a bullet or something else," Andresol said. "He will have to answer to police no matter what."
Later, Jean was asked by reporters to comment on rumors that he had been injured by broken glass, not a bullet. "This is Haiti; it's a city of rumors," he said as he went to vote in the Delmas section of Port-au-Prince. "There's another one with me and Busta Rhymes in the car."
A new elastic bandage covered a portion of Jean's right hand, which he used to cast his ballot. Sitting in the back of a silver Toyota Prado SUV, he showed the AP his ink-stained thumb on his bandaged hand as evidence that he voted.
Jean, a native of Haiti who rocketed to fame as a member of the hip-hop trio The Fugees, came to Haiti to support Martelly, who faces university administrator and former first lady Mirlande Manigat.
Jean had initially sought to be a candidate in the race but Haiti's electoral council disqualified him from the ballot because he didn't meet residency requirements. He has actively campaigned for Martelly, most recently joining him in a concert Thursday in downtown Port-au-Prince that drew thousands of spectators.
"We are happy that Wyclef is OK but we continue to pray for him and for a peaceful and fair election today in Haiti," the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has worked with Jean on educational issues and bringing aid to Haiti after the devastating January 2010 earthquake, said in a statement.
The statement also quoted Jimmy Rosemond, a music manager said to be accompanying Jean on his current trip to Haiti.
"It is clear that enemies of progressive change in Haiti are behind the shooting of Wyclef - those that don't want to accept that a monumental change is inevitable for the betterment of the Haitian people," Rosemond said. "This incident will not deter those of us that see the election as crucial to the country's future."
http://www.lakewyliepilot.com/2011/03/20/1061947/spokesman-wyclef-jean-shot-in.html
Amid Haiti's devastation, musician-
politician takes over as president
His Excellency Michel Martelly
Birth name: Michel Joseph Martelly
Born: 12 February 1961 (age 50)
Political party: Farmers' Response Party
Spouse(s): Sophia Martelly
Children: 4
Profession: Musician, Composer
Stage name: Sweet Micky
McClatchy Newspapers
By Jacqueline Charles
Saturday, May 14, 2011
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A newly inaugurated Michel Martelly promised to change the image of his disaster prone nation Saturday while leading it into a new era of modernity: a country where education will be free and obligatory, he told Haitians, and change will not be compromised.
“Hand in hand, shoulder to should we are going to change Haiti. We are going to remake this country. We are going to remake its face,’’ Martelly said speaking forcefully and in Creole from the transformed grounds of the broken National Palace. “We cannot continue with this humiliation of having to extend our hand for help all of the time.’’
Martelly opened his speech by acknowledging former President Eartha Truillot and Rene Preval, who, along with the Provisional Electoral Council, were jeered by the festive crowds looking at the ceremony through the wrought-iron green gate. Speaking in Creole, French and English, Martelly, 50, emphasized strong leadership and continued with his campaign of promises saying that his will be a presidency that will not tolerate people blocking change, and that he will not tolerate anything preventing investments including land anarchy and instability.
Turning to the international community, he said in English, “Haiti is open for business.’’
Sitting in the audience was former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who serves as co-chair of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission. Also present among the 100 delegates were the presidents of the Dominican Republic, Suriname and Honduras, and the Prime Minister of Jamaica.
Martelly’s inauguration has been met with mixed reviews. While his supporters are optimistic that he will change Haiti for the better, others are taking a wait-and-see attitude.
“I hope he can do it, but you never know who will change the country really,’’ said Wilmine Desir, 25, who is unemployed.
Colin Abraham, 26, was more certain saying Martelly will help Haiti’s youth, who account for more than 50 percent of the 10 million citizens.
“We have given him power so he can remove all of the people from underneath the tents and he can create jobs for all of the country’s youth,’’ he said. “If he doesn’t succeed it’s because parliament is blocking him and we’ll block them too.’’
A popular musician, Martelly had long ago crowned himself president, but of konpa music, a popular form of Haitian music that made him a star on the party circuit. But it wasn’t until Saturday’s investiture inside a crowded temporary building that he became the president of Haiti. Taking the oath of office in the dark, after the lights went out, he swore to obey the constitution of this nation, a country wrecked by disaster and instability, and struggling to dig itself out from the devastation of last year’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake.
With the parliament, presidential palace and National Cathedral _ all destroyed in the quake that claimed more than 300,000 lives _ the $4.5 million inaugural affair took place underneath newly constructed structures, draped in the red and blue of the Haitian flag.
As Martelly and outgoing Preval sat side-by-side inside the “parliament’’ structure, the two-shared a joke, showing their familiarity and friendliness before last fall’s electoral crisis plunged Haiti into a months long political crisis. Martelly later reminded Haitians that Preval had written a page in the history books. He is the only president in 207 years of Haitian history to have served and completed two presidential mandates, and the first to peacefully transfer power to a member of the opposition, also democratically elected.
Bernardito Cleopas Auza, the Roman Catholic Church's Apostolic Nuncio, called Saturday a good day for Haiti.
"Personally, I'm very happy for Haiti, and I hope we can have some reconciliation going forward, he said.
The new president has generated energy, optimism. There is really a lot of hope for this new mandate that we can see progress and finally projects of reconstruction taking place, Auza said.
Gracia Delva, another well-known Haitian musician who was recently elected to parliament, agreed.
Martelly’s campaign was rich with promises, and we hope he can realize them all, he said.
Dignitaries at the inauguration included Clinton, Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding and delegations from France, Brazil and Taiwan. The head of the U.N. Peacekeeping operations also attended.
“To see a democratic transition from one former president to another president is a great achievement for Haiti,” said Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General of the UN Peacekeeping Operations.
The two-month electoral crisis finally ended with a second round between Martelly and former first lady Mirlande Manigat. Martelly won with 67 percent of the vote.
But with most of the 4.3 million voters staying home, and his victory representing just 16 percent of the electorate, Martelly has difficult road ahead.
As he arrived on the grounds of the broken presidential palace on Saturday, thousands outside the wrought iron green fence chanted. Earlier, a small band of protesters took to the streets wearing green and white T-shirts, saying in Creole, “We fired them,” referring to Preval’s government.
(Charles is a reporter for The Miami Herald.)
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/14/114209/amid-haitis-devastation-musician.html
WikiLeaks Says US Meddeled In Haitian Elections
source: The Nation
WikiLeaks Haiti: The PetroCaribe Files
When René Préval took the oath of Haiti’s presidential office in a ceremony at Haiti’s National Palace on May 14, 2006, he was anxious to allay fears in Washington that he would not be a reliable partner. “He wants to bury once and for all the suspicion in Haiti that the United States is wary of him,” said US Ambassador Janet Sanderson in a March 26, 2006, cable. “He is seeking to enhance his status domestically and internationally with a successful visit to the United States.”
This was so important that Préval “declined invitations to visit France, Cuba, and Venezuela in order to visit Washington first,” Sanderson noted. “Preval has close personal ties to Cuba, having received prostate cancer treatment there, but has stressed to the Embassy that he will manage relations with Cuba and Venezuela solely for the benefit of the Haitian people, and not based on any ideological affinity toward those governments.”
Soon, however, it became clear that managing relations with those US adversaries “solely for the benefit to the Haitian people” would be enough to put Préval in Washington’s bad graces—especially when it came to the sensitive matter of oil.
Immediately after his inauguration ceremony, Préval summoned the press to a room in the National Palace, where he inked a deal with Venezuelan Vice President José Vicente Rangel to join Caracas’s Caribbean oil alliance, PetroCaribe. Under the terms of the deal, Haiti would buy oil from Venezuela, paying only 60 percent up front with the remainder payable over twenty-five years at 1 percent interest.
As the press conference rolled on, just a mile away from the National Palace, in the bay of Port-au-Prince, sat a tanker from Venezuela carrying 100,000 barrels of PetroCaribe diesel and unleaded fuel.
Préval’s dramatic inauguration day oil deal won high marks from many Haitians, who had demonstrated against high oil prices and the lack of electricity. But it ushered in a multiyear geopolitical battle among Caracas, Havana and Washington over how oil would be delivered to Haiti and who would benefit.
The revelations come in a trove of 1,918 cables made available to the Haitian weekly newspaper Haïti Liberté by the transparency group WikiLeaks. As part of a collaboration with Haïti Liberté, The Nation is publishing English-language articles based on those cables.
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the disclosures in this article.
According to the leaked US Embassy cables, Washington and its allies, including Big Oil majors like ExxonMobil and Chevron, maneuvered aggressively behind the scenes to scuttle the PetroCaribe deal.
For the Haitian government the oil support from Venezuela was key in providing basic needs and services to 10 million Haitians, securing a guaranteed supply of oil at stable prices, and laying the basis for Haitian energy independence from the United States.
Further, Haiti “would save USD 100 million per year from the delayed payments,” noted the Embassy in a July 7, 2006, cable. Préval earmarked these funds for hospitals, schools and emergency needs, such as disaster relief. But the US Embassy opposed the deal.
“Post [the Embassy] will continue to pressure Preval against joining PetroCaribe,” Ambassador Sanderson wrote in one April 19, 2006, cable. “Ambassador will see Preval’s senior advisor Bob Manuel today. In previous meetings, he has acknowledged our concerns and is aware that a deal with Chavez would cause problems with us.”
In a cable nine days later, on April 28, Sanderson recognized that Préval was under “increasing pressure to produce immediate and tangible changes in Haiti’s desperate situation.” She also noted that “Preval has privately expressed some disdain toward Chavez with Emboffs [Embassy officials]…. Nevertheless, the chance to score political points [with the Haitian people] and generate revenue he can control himself proved too good an opportunity to miss.”
Sanderson, who had been appointed ambassador to Haiti by President Bush, is now deputy assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration.
To implement the PetroCaribe deal, Haiti had to meet certain terms and reorganize its internal oil market. As a result, it would be almost two years before PetroCaribe oil would begin consistently flowing into Haiti. The key obstacles, though, remained the US Embassy and Big Oil, which controlled oil shipping and distribution networks in Haiti, according to the WikiLeaks cables.
“International oil companies are increasingly concerned—both Texaco and Esso will meet with the Ambassador in the near future—that they will have to buy their oil from the GOH [Government of Haiti],” wrote Ambassador Sanderson in a May 17, 2006, cable, concluding that “we will continue to raise our concerns about the PetroCaribe deal with the highest levels of government.”
Christian Porter, ExxonMobil’s country manager, “speaking for both ExxonMobil and Chevron, stressed that they would not be willing” to buy oil from the Haitian government “because they would lose their off-shore margins and because of PetroCaribe's unreliable reputation” for timely deliveries, Sanderson wrote. She concluded that it was a “dubious proposal that neither the U.S. oil companies in Haiti—responsible for about 45 percent of Haiti's petroleum imports—nor Venezuela, for that matter, is likely to agree to.”
She was wrong about Venezuela but right about the oil companies. An October 13, 2006, cable explains that ExxonMobil and Texaco/Chevron were “shocked” but hadn’t “informed the government of their concerns,” which Sanderson encouraged the two companies to do.
Sanderson reiterated that despite her “numerous attempts to discuss (and discourage) GOH intentions to move forward with the PetroCaribe agreement, the GOH insists the agreement, implemented in full, will result in a net gain for Haiti.”
The US ambassador also detailed how the oil companies were attempting to sabotage the agreement: “Following Preval's September 27 meeting with all four oil companies... the oil industry association (Association des Professionals du Petrole—APP) received an invitation to meet with representatives of the Venezuelan oil company who were in Haiti. All four companies refused to attend. Also, the companies received letters separately requesting information on importation and distribution from the GOH on October 9. So far, no one has responded.”
Sanderson concluded one long October 13 cable by explaining how she had stressed “the larger negative message that [the PetroCaribe deal] would send to the international community [i.e., Washington and its allies] at a time when the GOH is trying to increase foreign investment,” and lamenting that “President Preval and his inner circle are seduced by [PetroCaribe’s] payment plan.”
The Oil Companies and US Embassy Dig In
With parliamentary ratification and technical details resolved, by early 2007 Préval thought he finally had everything in place to get PetroCaribe implemented. But the oil companies were not done trying to undermine the deal.
Michael Lecorps, appointed by Préval to head the government’s Monetization Office for Aid and Development Programs (formally known as the PL-480 office), which would handle PetroCaribe matters, told the oil companies that they would have to purchase PetroCaribe oil from the Haitian government, but the US companies said no. Quickly, there was a standoff.
Lecorps, “apparently infuriated by Chevron's lack of cooperation with the GoH, stressed that Petrocaribe is no longer negotiable,” the chargé d’affaires, Thomas C. Tighe, reported in a January 18, 2007, cable. He also said that “ExxonMobil has made it clear that it will not cooperate with the current GoH proposal either.”
“Chevron country manager Patryck Peru Dumesnil confirmed his company’s anti-Petrocaribe position and said that ExxonMobil, the only other U.S. oil company operating in Haiti, has told the GoH that it will not import Petrocaribe products,” Tighe wrote in the same cable.
The embassy’s political officer reported that Chevron “refused to move forward with the discussions because ‘their representatives would rather import their own petroleum products.’”
Tighe continued that the Haitian government was “enraged that ‘an oil company which controls only 30% of Haiti's petroleum products’ would have the audacity to try and elude an agreement that would benefit the Haitian population.”
The Haitian government stressed that they “would not be held hostage to ‘capitalist attitudes’ toward Petrocaribe and that if the GoH could not find a compromise with certain oil companies, the companies may have to leave Haiti,” reported Tighe.
Enter Hugo Chávez
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez arrived in Haiti on March 12, 2007, to a spontaneous hero’s welcome by tens of thousands of Haitians, who jogged alongside his motorcade from the airport to the National Palace. The Venezuelan president came bearing many gifts.
“Venezuela pledged funds for improvement to provincial Haitian airports and airport runways (also previously announced) and experts on economic planning to help identify development priorities. Other pledges include Cuban commitment to bring medical coverage to all Haitian communes, Cuban and Venezuelan electrical experts to improve energy generation, and a trilateral cooperation bureau in Port-au-Prince,” Sanderson wrote.
In subsequent cables, Sanderson sounds increasingly cynical about Préval’s arm’s-length posture toward Chávez, which she clearly regards as disingenuous.
“To hear President Rene Preval tell it, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ visit to Haiti on March 12 was a logistical nightmare and an annoyance to the GoH,” Sanderson says in the “Summary” of that cable.
“Preval told Ambassador the evening of March 13 that Chavez was a difficult guest” and “did not have a GOH invitation but insisted on coming to mark Venezuelan flag day.”
Préval apparently tried to put Sanderson’s mind at ease.
“Responding to Ambassador’s observation that giving Chavez a platform to spout anti-American slogans here was hard to explain given our close relationship and support of Haiti and of Preval’s government in particular, Preval stressed that he had worked hard to stop much of Chavez’ proposed grandstanding,” Sanderson wrote. The ambassador reported that Préval said he is “‘just an independent petit bourgeoisie’ and doesn't go for the grand gestures that Chavez favors. Haiti needs aid from all its friends, Preval added, and he is sure that the US understands his difficult position.”
Sanderson concluded, in frustration, “At no time has Preval given any indication that he is interested in associating Haiti with Chavez’s broader ‘revolutionary agenda’” but “it is neither in his character—nor in his calculation—to repudiate Chavez, even as the Venezuelan abuses his hospitality at home.”
Préval’s “Obliviousness”
Despite Sanderson’s scoldings and Préval’s reassurances, the Haitian president kept angering Washington. On April 26, 2007, senior presidential adviser Fritz Longchamp told the embassy’s political counselor that “Preval will attend the ALBA [Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas] summit in Venzuela [sic] as a ‘special observer’ for the express purpose of finalizing a tri-lateral assistance agreement between Haiti, Venezuela, and Cuba, whereby Venezuela will finance the presence of Cuban doctors and other technicians in rural Haiti,” according to a cable Sanderson wrote the same day.
Sanderson said the meeting with the embassy was “specifically to raise our displeasure with Preval’s Venezuela trip” and that “Longchamp’s reaction probably reflects Preval’s own obliviousness to the impact and consequences his accommodation of Chavez has on relations with us.” Longchamp “betrayed a common trait among Haitian officials in misjudging the relative importance that U.S. policy makers attach to Haiti versus Venezuela and Chavez’ regional impact.”
The Haitians, in other words, were too convinced of their own relevance to grasp that the real concern for the United States was stemming the Chávez tide. Sanderson suggested that the United States “convey our discontent with Preval's actions at the highest possible level when he next visits Washington.”
Préval returned from Caracas with “Chavez’ promises to provide a combined total of 160 megawatts of electricity” to Haiti, after “parading with Chavez’ rogues gallery [sic] of ALBA leaders,” Sanderson fumed in a May 4, 2007, cable.
She outlined the essence of the Venezuelan/Cuban aid package: “The Cubans will replace two million light bulbs throughout Port-au-Prince with low-energy bulbs. The initiative will cost USD four million, but save the country 60 megawatts of electricity, which costs the country USD 70 million annually. Venezuela promised to repair the power plant in Carrefour, generating an additional 40 megawatts of electricity. Additionally, Venezuela will by December of this year build new power plants across the country to add 30 megawatts to Port-au-Prince’s electrical grid and 15 additional megawatts each for Gonaives and Cap-Haitian, all of which will use heavy Venezuelan fuel oil, a more efficient and less-expensive alternative to diesel.”
Meanwhile, as this broader energy package took shape, the tensions over PetroCaribe were still simmering.
On May 4, Sanderson sent a second cable explaining that “the head of Haiti's Petrocaribe office, Michael Lecorps, gave the four oil companies operating in Haiti until July 1 to sign the GoH contract on Petrocaribe,” hoping that “the four companies will sign the agreement voluntarily, instead of passing legislation obliging oil companies operating in Haiti to participate in the Petrocaribe agreement.”
After talking to ExxonMobil Caribbean sales manager Bill Eisner, the embassy reported that Eisner “was shocked when he realized that Lecorps expected the oil industry to coordinate the Petrocaribe deal on behalf of the GoH” which would “make the oil industry prisoner to two incompetent governments,” Haiti and Venezuela, in Sanderson’s words.
President Bush took up the issue of Préval’s relationship with Chávez during the Haitian president’s spring 2007 visit to Washington, after which Sanderson expressed “hope that President Bush’s clear message on Venezuela sank in, but only time will tell.”
Two weeks after Préval’s return, on June 12–13, 2007, a transport strike “gripped Haiti’s major cities and underscored a mounting crisis over fuel prices, which rose nearly 20 percent in just two weeks,” Inter Press Service reported at the time. Many believed that Haiti’s joining PetroCaribe “would alleviate high gasoline costs,” and word was leaking out that “the two large US oil companies that export to Haiti are said to have stonewalled negotiations” for PetroCaribe’s implementation. The July 1 deadline for PetroCaribe compliance was fast approaching.
The standoff over PetroCaribe would continue through the rest of 2007, with Chevron the most resistant to working within the PetroCaribe framework. Haiti needed Chevron to ship the oil from Venezuela.
“It was ridiculous because they had been buying and shipping petroleum products from Venezuela for 25 years,” Lecorps, the Haitian official who oversaw PetroCaribe, told the weekly Haitian newspaper Haïti Liberté. “And you know, Chevron is an American company, so maybe there were some politics behind that too, maybe because of Venezuela and Chávez. But they never said anything about that.”
Lecorps’s suspicions that Chevron had political concerns were warranted.
After returning to Haiti on December 22, 2007, from a PetroCaribe summit, Préval announced that the negotiations with Chevron were nearing a close. “We're going to sign with Chevron and then we’re going to start ordering oil,” he said at the airport, according to the Associated Press, adding that Venezuelan technicians would visit Haiti to consult on the project.
But, as Sanderson noted in a February 15, 2008, cable, “Chevron management in the U.S. does not want to make a lot of ‘noise’ about the agreement because they do not want to appear to support PetroCaribe.”
Sanderson explained that the deal was sealed when “Chevron finally obtained its desired terms from the GOH,” whereby the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., or PDVSA, “will sell to the GoH, which will then sell to private oil traders, who finally will sell to the oil companies in Haiti for distribution.... Chevron also agreed to ship the refined petrol on one of its tankers. The GoH expects to receive a PetroCaribe shipment in late February or early March.”
And PetroCaribe shipments, covering all of Haiti’s fuel needs, did begin on March 8, 2008, marking a victory for Venezuela and Haiti in surmounting the roadblocks thrown up by the US Embassy and Big Oil.
The extraordinary story that the Haiti WikiLeaks cables tell of the US Embassy’s campaign against PetroCaribe—which provides such obvious benefits for Haiti—lays bare the real priorities of “Haiti's most important and reliable bi-lateral partner,” as Sanderson calls the United States.
As for Préval and his officials, the cables indicate that, faced with Washington’s might, they employed a preferred form of Haitian resistance, dating back to slavery, known as “marronage,” where you pretend to go along with something but do the opposite. This dynamic of US pressure and subtle Haitian pushback has persisted under the Obama administration, which has moved to marginalize Préval’s INITE political party in favor of new president Michel Martelly and his group of pro-American Haitian business supporters.
Under President Martelly, the fate of PetroCaribe remains unclear. But those who appreciate what the program has done for Haiti see reason to worry. While Préval tried to walk the battle-line between Washington and the ALBA alliance, Martelly had a pre-inauguration meeting not with the foreign minister of Venezuela, but that of Colombia, whose US-oriented neoliberal development plan he has said he will emulate.
source: The Nation
WikiLeaks Haiti: The PetroCaribe Files
When René Préval took the oath of Haiti’s presidential office in a ceremony at Haiti’s National Palace on May 14, 2006, he was anxious to allay fears in Washington that he would not be a reliable partner. “He wants to bury once and for all the suspicion in Haiti that the United States is wary of him,” said US Ambassador Janet Sanderson in a March 26, 2006, cable. “He is seeking to enhance his status domestically and internationally with a successful visit to the United States.”
This was so important that Préval “declined invitations to visit France, Cuba, and Venezuela in order to visit Washington first,” Sanderson noted. “Preval has close personal ties to Cuba, having received prostate cancer treatment there, but has stressed to the Embassy that he will manage relations with Cuba and Venezuela solely for the benefit of the Haitian people, and not based on any ideological affinity toward those governments.”
Soon, however, it became clear that managing relations with those US adversaries “solely for the benefit to the Haitian people” would be enough to put Préval in Washington’s bad graces—especially when it came to the sensitive matter of oil.
Immediately after his inauguration ceremony, Préval summoned the press to a room in the National Palace, where he inked a deal with Venezuelan Vice President José Vicente Rangel to join Caracas’s Caribbean oil alliance, PetroCaribe. Under the terms of the deal, Haiti would buy oil from Venezuela, paying only 60 percent up front with the remainder payable over twenty-five years at 1 percent interest.
As the press conference rolled on, just a mile away from the National Palace, in the bay of Port-au-Prince, sat a tanker from Venezuela carrying 100,000 barrels of PetroCaribe diesel and unleaded fuel.
Préval’s dramatic inauguration day oil deal won high marks from many Haitians, who had demonstrated against high oil prices and the lack of electricity. But it ushered in a multiyear geopolitical battle among Caracas, Havana and Washington over how oil would be delivered to Haiti and who would benefit.
The revelations come in a trove of 1,918 cables made available to the Haitian weekly newspaper Haïti Liberté by the transparency group WikiLeaks. As part of a collaboration with Haïti Liberté, The Nation is publishing English-language articles based on those cables.
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the disclosures in this article.
According to the leaked US Embassy cables, Washington and its allies, including Big Oil majors like ExxonMobil and Chevron, maneuvered aggressively behind the scenes to scuttle the PetroCaribe deal.
For the Haitian government the oil support from Venezuela was key in providing basic needs and services to 10 million Haitians, securing a guaranteed supply of oil at stable prices, and laying the basis for Haitian energy independence from the United States.
Further, Haiti “would save USD 100 million per year from the delayed payments,” noted the Embassy in a July 7, 2006, cable. Préval earmarked these funds for hospitals, schools and emergency needs, such as disaster relief. But the US Embassy opposed the deal.
“Post [the Embassy] will continue to pressure Preval against joining PetroCaribe,” Ambassador Sanderson wrote in one April 19, 2006, cable. “Ambassador will see Preval’s senior advisor Bob Manuel today. In previous meetings, he has acknowledged our concerns and is aware that a deal with Chavez would cause problems with us.”
In a cable nine days later, on April 28, Sanderson recognized that Préval was under “increasing pressure to produce immediate and tangible changes in Haiti’s desperate situation.” She also noted that “Preval has privately expressed some disdain toward Chavez with Emboffs [Embassy officials]…. Nevertheless, the chance to score political points [with the Haitian people] and generate revenue he can control himself proved too good an opportunity to miss.”
Sanderson, who had been appointed ambassador to Haiti by President Bush, is now deputy assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration.
To implement the PetroCaribe deal, Haiti had to meet certain terms and reorganize its internal oil market. As a result, it would be almost two years before PetroCaribe oil would begin consistently flowing into Haiti. The key obstacles, though, remained the US Embassy and Big Oil, which controlled oil shipping and distribution networks in Haiti, according to the WikiLeaks cables.
“International oil companies are increasingly concerned—both Texaco and Esso will meet with the Ambassador in the near future—that they will have to buy their oil from the GOH [Government of Haiti],” wrote Ambassador Sanderson in a May 17, 2006, cable, concluding that “we will continue to raise our concerns about the PetroCaribe deal with the highest levels of government.”
Christian Porter, ExxonMobil’s country manager, “speaking for both ExxonMobil and Chevron, stressed that they would not be willing” to buy oil from the Haitian government “because they would lose their off-shore margins and because of PetroCaribe's unreliable reputation” for timely deliveries, Sanderson wrote. She concluded that it was a “dubious proposal that neither the U.S. oil companies in Haiti—responsible for about 45 percent of Haiti's petroleum imports—nor Venezuela, for that matter, is likely to agree to.”
She was wrong about Venezuela but right about the oil companies. An October 13, 2006, cable explains that ExxonMobil and Texaco/Chevron were “shocked” but hadn’t “informed the government of their concerns,” which Sanderson encouraged the two companies to do.
Sanderson reiterated that despite her “numerous attempts to discuss (and discourage) GOH intentions to move forward with the PetroCaribe agreement, the GOH insists the agreement, implemented in full, will result in a net gain for Haiti.”
The US ambassador also detailed how the oil companies were attempting to sabotage the agreement: “Following Preval's September 27 meeting with all four oil companies... the oil industry association (Association des Professionals du Petrole—APP) received an invitation to meet with representatives of the Venezuelan oil company who were in Haiti. All four companies refused to attend. Also, the companies received letters separately requesting information on importation and distribution from the GOH on October 9. So far, no one has responded.”
Sanderson concluded one long October 13 cable by explaining how she had stressed “the larger negative message that [the PetroCaribe deal] would send to the international community [i.e., Washington and its allies] at a time when the GOH is trying to increase foreign investment,” and lamenting that “President Preval and his inner circle are seduced by [PetroCaribe’s] payment plan.”
The Oil Companies and US Embassy Dig In
With parliamentary ratification and technical details resolved, by early 2007 Préval thought he finally had everything in place to get PetroCaribe implemented. But the oil companies were not done trying to undermine the deal.
Michael Lecorps, appointed by Préval to head the government’s Monetization Office for Aid and Development Programs (formally known as the PL-480 office), which would handle PetroCaribe matters, told the oil companies that they would have to purchase PetroCaribe oil from the Haitian government, but the US companies said no. Quickly, there was a standoff.
Lecorps, “apparently infuriated by Chevron's lack of cooperation with the GoH, stressed that Petrocaribe is no longer negotiable,” the chargé d’affaires, Thomas C. Tighe, reported in a January 18, 2007, cable. He also said that “ExxonMobil has made it clear that it will not cooperate with the current GoH proposal either.”
“Chevron country manager Patryck Peru Dumesnil confirmed his company’s anti-Petrocaribe position and said that ExxonMobil, the only other U.S. oil company operating in Haiti, has told the GoH that it will not import Petrocaribe products,” Tighe wrote in the same cable.
The embassy’s political officer reported that Chevron “refused to move forward with the discussions because ‘their representatives would rather import their own petroleum products.’”
Tighe continued that the Haitian government was “enraged that ‘an oil company which controls only 30% of Haiti's petroleum products’ would have the audacity to try and elude an agreement that would benefit the Haitian population.”
The Haitian government stressed that they “would not be held hostage to ‘capitalist attitudes’ toward Petrocaribe and that if the GoH could not find a compromise with certain oil companies, the companies may have to leave Haiti,” reported Tighe.
Enter Hugo Chávez
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez arrived in Haiti on March 12, 2007, to a spontaneous hero’s welcome by tens of thousands of Haitians, who jogged alongside his motorcade from the airport to the National Palace. The Venezuelan president came bearing many gifts.
“Venezuela pledged funds for improvement to provincial Haitian airports and airport runways (also previously announced) and experts on economic planning to help identify development priorities. Other pledges include Cuban commitment to bring medical coverage to all Haitian communes, Cuban and Venezuelan electrical experts to improve energy generation, and a trilateral cooperation bureau in Port-au-Prince,” Sanderson wrote.
In subsequent cables, Sanderson sounds increasingly cynical about Préval’s arm’s-length posture toward Chávez, which she clearly regards as disingenuous.
“To hear President Rene Preval tell it, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ visit to Haiti on March 12 was a logistical nightmare and an annoyance to the GoH,” Sanderson says in the “Summary” of that cable.
“Preval told Ambassador the evening of March 13 that Chavez was a difficult guest” and “did not have a GOH invitation but insisted on coming to mark Venezuelan flag day.”
Préval apparently tried to put Sanderson’s mind at ease.
“Responding to Ambassador’s observation that giving Chavez a platform to spout anti-American slogans here was hard to explain given our close relationship and support of Haiti and of Preval’s government in particular, Preval stressed that he had worked hard to stop much of Chavez’ proposed grandstanding,” Sanderson wrote. The ambassador reported that Préval said he is “‘just an independent petit bourgeoisie’ and doesn't go for the grand gestures that Chavez favors. Haiti needs aid from all its friends, Preval added, and he is sure that the US understands his difficult position.”
Sanderson concluded, in frustration, “At no time has Preval given any indication that he is interested in associating Haiti with Chavez’s broader ‘revolutionary agenda’” but “it is neither in his character—nor in his calculation—to repudiate Chavez, even as the Venezuelan abuses his hospitality at home.”
Préval’s “Obliviousness”
Despite Sanderson’s scoldings and Préval’s reassurances, the Haitian president kept angering Washington. On April 26, 2007, senior presidential adviser Fritz Longchamp told the embassy’s political counselor that “Preval will attend the ALBA [Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas] summit in Venzuela [sic] as a ‘special observer’ for the express purpose of finalizing a tri-lateral assistance agreement between Haiti, Venezuela, and Cuba, whereby Venezuela will finance the presence of Cuban doctors and other technicians in rural Haiti,” according to a cable Sanderson wrote the same day.
Sanderson said the meeting with the embassy was “specifically to raise our displeasure with Preval’s Venezuela trip” and that “Longchamp’s reaction probably reflects Preval’s own obliviousness to the impact and consequences his accommodation of Chavez has on relations with us.” Longchamp “betrayed a common trait among Haitian officials in misjudging the relative importance that U.S. policy makers attach to Haiti versus Venezuela and Chavez’ regional impact.”
The Haitians, in other words, were too convinced of their own relevance to grasp that the real concern for the United States was stemming the Chávez tide. Sanderson suggested that the United States “convey our discontent with Preval's actions at the highest possible level when he next visits Washington.”
Préval returned from Caracas with “Chavez’ promises to provide a combined total of 160 megawatts of electricity” to Haiti, after “parading with Chavez’ rogues gallery [sic] of ALBA leaders,” Sanderson fumed in a May 4, 2007, cable.
She outlined the essence of the Venezuelan/Cuban aid package: “The Cubans will replace two million light bulbs throughout Port-au-Prince with low-energy bulbs. The initiative will cost USD four million, but save the country 60 megawatts of electricity, which costs the country USD 70 million annually. Venezuela promised to repair the power plant in Carrefour, generating an additional 40 megawatts of electricity. Additionally, Venezuela will by December of this year build new power plants across the country to add 30 megawatts to Port-au-Prince’s electrical grid and 15 additional megawatts each for Gonaives and Cap-Haitian, all of which will use heavy Venezuelan fuel oil, a more efficient and less-expensive alternative to diesel.”
Meanwhile, as this broader energy package took shape, the tensions over PetroCaribe were still simmering.
On May 4, Sanderson sent a second cable explaining that “the head of Haiti's Petrocaribe office, Michael Lecorps, gave the four oil companies operating in Haiti until July 1 to sign the GoH contract on Petrocaribe,” hoping that “the four companies will sign the agreement voluntarily, instead of passing legislation obliging oil companies operating in Haiti to participate in the Petrocaribe agreement.”
After talking to ExxonMobil Caribbean sales manager Bill Eisner, the embassy reported that Eisner “was shocked when he realized that Lecorps expected the oil industry to coordinate the Petrocaribe deal on behalf of the GoH” which would “make the oil industry prisoner to two incompetent governments,” Haiti and Venezuela, in Sanderson’s words.
President Bush took up the issue of Préval’s relationship with Chávez during the Haitian president’s spring 2007 visit to Washington, after which Sanderson expressed “hope that President Bush’s clear message on Venezuela sank in, but only time will tell.”
Two weeks after Préval’s return, on June 12–13, 2007, a transport strike “gripped Haiti’s major cities and underscored a mounting crisis over fuel prices, which rose nearly 20 percent in just two weeks,” Inter Press Service reported at the time. Many believed that Haiti’s joining PetroCaribe “would alleviate high gasoline costs,” and word was leaking out that “the two large US oil companies that export to Haiti are said to have stonewalled negotiations” for PetroCaribe’s implementation. The July 1 deadline for PetroCaribe compliance was fast approaching.
The standoff over PetroCaribe would continue through the rest of 2007, with Chevron the most resistant to working within the PetroCaribe framework. Haiti needed Chevron to ship the oil from Venezuela.
“It was ridiculous because they had been buying and shipping petroleum products from Venezuela for 25 years,” Lecorps, the Haitian official who oversaw PetroCaribe, told the weekly Haitian newspaper Haïti Liberté. “And you know, Chevron is an American company, so maybe there were some politics behind that too, maybe because of Venezuela and Chávez. But they never said anything about that.”
Lecorps’s suspicions that Chevron had political concerns were warranted.
After returning to Haiti on December 22, 2007, from a PetroCaribe summit, Préval announced that the negotiations with Chevron were nearing a close. “We're going to sign with Chevron and then we’re going to start ordering oil,” he said at the airport, according to the Associated Press, adding that Venezuelan technicians would visit Haiti to consult on the project.
But, as Sanderson noted in a February 15, 2008, cable, “Chevron management in the U.S. does not want to make a lot of ‘noise’ about the agreement because they do not want to appear to support PetroCaribe.”
Sanderson explained that the deal was sealed when “Chevron finally obtained its desired terms from the GOH,” whereby the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., or PDVSA, “will sell to the GoH, which will then sell to private oil traders, who finally will sell to the oil companies in Haiti for distribution.... Chevron also agreed to ship the refined petrol on one of its tankers. The GoH expects to receive a PetroCaribe shipment in late February or early March.”
And PetroCaribe shipments, covering all of Haiti’s fuel needs, did begin on March 8, 2008, marking a victory for Venezuela and Haiti in surmounting the roadblocks thrown up by the US Embassy and Big Oil.
The extraordinary story that the Haiti WikiLeaks cables tell of the US Embassy’s campaign against PetroCaribe—which provides such obvious benefits for Haiti—lays bare the real priorities of “Haiti's most important and reliable bi-lateral partner,” as Sanderson calls the United States.
As for Préval and his officials, the cables indicate that, faced with Washington’s might, they employed a preferred form of Haitian resistance, dating back to slavery, known as “marronage,” where you pretend to go along with something but do the opposite. This dynamic of US pressure and subtle Haitian pushback has persisted under the Obama administration, which has moved to marginalize Préval’s INITE political party in favor of new president Michel Martelly and his group of pro-American Haitian business supporters.
Under President Martelly, the fate of PetroCaribe remains unclear. But those who appreciate what the program has done for Haiti see reason to worry. While Préval tried to walk the battle-line between Washington and the ALBA alliance, Martelly had a pre-inauguration meeting not with the foreign minister of Venezuela, but that of Colombia, whose US-oriented neoliberal development plan he has said he will emulate.
Re: WikiLeaks Says US Meddeled In Haitian Elections
Say it ain't so !!!!
This is like stating that the sky is blue.
Say it ain't so !!!!
This is like stating that the sky is blue.
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