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Posted at 8:17 p.m., Monday, April 30, 2001
Radical leftist Aristide reportedly sold sumptuous home for U.S.$12 million to the state of Haiti
No one could ever imagine that a man who claims to be president of the Republic of Haiti would sell his vast and luxurious private residence to that Caribbean state, where he has caused an incalculable number of citizens to endure abject poverty. However, radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide reportedly has sold his sumptuous private residence in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Tabare for the exorbitant sum of U.S.$12 million.
Port-au-Prince Dominican Republic Consul is accused of issuing more than 49,000 visas, most of them at an inflated price, to Haitians Dominican Republic government officials accused last week their consul stationed in Haiti of issuing more than 49,000 entry-visas, most of them at inflated price, to Haitians traveling to that country, and all from the month of January to March 2001. The unusual number of entry-visas, according to Dominican Republic Chancellor, Hugo Tolentino Dipp, costs U.S.$150.00 each - U.S$100.00 more than what a valid visa costs. The Dominican Republic consul denied all charges made against him, and said that none of the evidence implicates him personally. He blamed Haitian bandits for issuing a large number of fake entry-visas, rather. A significant number of Haitians were arrested last week at the Dominican Republic-Haiti border by immigration officials and soldiers. They were all accused of trying to enter Dominican Republic territories with fraudulent documents. Only 35,324 of the Haitians who entered the Dominican Republic between the month of January and March 2001 have returned to Haiti, El Siglo, a major daily, reported Monday. "There is no limit at all to the number of Haitians who can enter the Dominican Republic with valid passports and visas. In fact, Haiti is a market for our country's goods and services," Dominican President Hipolito Mejia said Friday in a press statement. In another development, Dominican Republic Senate President, Ramon Albuquerque, said Friday in a conference at the Institute for Higher Military Education: "Haiti is a nation that has lost its chance to prosper economically because of perpetual political fighting, involving the leaders of that country." Added Senate President Albuquerque, "That country 'Haiti' has destroyed all of its natural resources, not maintained its infrastructures, and all that is left is fratricidal political fighting. The leaders are now fighting one another. They are trying to share political power, and none of them has a plan. To be honest with you who are in this room today I am having a hard time telling you what exactly they will get because their is really nothing to fight over. Even the political power that they are fighting over is meaningless." "That country is finished. It is gone." remarked Senate President Albuquerque, as his press conference progressed. "I understand it can be difficult, but there is a possibility that it can be implemented in Haiti, such as an economic plan modeled on those of the Western nations. That's the only way the Haitian economy will ever defy its never-healthy state," said Senate President Albuquerque, who happens to be a member of the Dominican Revolutionary party, at the end of his press conference.
Posted at 1:25 a.m., Friday, 27, 2001
U.S. President Bush to send a team of technicians to Haiti
To listen to Dominican Republic President Hipolito Mejia while he was holding a press conference for journalists in the country of the same name Tuesday, as Chilean President, Ricardo Largos, who was on a 24-hour visit there stood next to him, you could be forgiven for thinking that he also wanted historians to write him up as one of the persons who helped find a solution to Haiti's long political crisis. "During the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canada I called on the United Nations and the highly industrialized countries, the very powerful countries, such as the United States, Canada and France to come to Haiti's help, at least, on a humanitarian basis," he said. Yet, in addition to explaining to President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien what the multiplying effect will be on his country, in case the long Haitian political crisis persists, what else did he tell them? "During a two-hour meeting in Quebec City, with U.S. President Georges W. Bush, his Secretary of State Collin Powell, my colleague Jean-Bertrand Aristide, including other Caribbean head of states and prime ministers, we expressed ourselves on the problem of extreme poverty in Haiti. The Haitians have two choices if a solution is not found to the long political crisis. Either they go to Florida or the Dominican Republic. I would prefer that they go to Florida. Already, my country has nearly one million of them, and this is a big social and economic cost for a poor nation like us." According to President Mejia, President Bush promised to send to Haiti in the days to come a team of technicians, and its purpose will be to evaluate and then draw a report on the social and economic problems in that country, including the Haitian populace basic needs. "When I talk about Haiti's problems I hope everybody understands that I am also talking about my problems," said President Mejia.
| "President Bush promised to send to Haiti in the days to come a team |
| of technicians, and its purpose will be to evaluate and then draw a |
| report on the social and economic problems in that country, |
| including the Haitian populace basic needs," Dominican |
| Republic President Hipolito Mejia |
President Mejia who sounded as if he no longer wanted death to be the price for Haitians defying extreme poverty by fleeing Haiti for the Dominican Republic and Florida on flimsy boats sounded very optimist that life will, in the near future, finally change for the better for the majority of them. "This time, I am very optimistic. I felt that I had achieved something fundamental after a well orchestrated campaign that bore fruits, such as the Haitian problem was taken into consideration, including the concerns we had for our own country." said President Meija at the end of his press conference, as Chilean president, Lagos, stood next to him.
Posted at 1:09 a.m., Tuesday, April 24, 2001
Radical leftist Aristide treated as a political pariah at the Summit of the Americas
Forty years ago or so, radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide did not seem destined at all to become president of the Republic of Haiti, in 1991. Nothing about his personal circumstances - his rural life, his voodoo priest father who died in a boat accident before he was born, and the abject poverty he long endured - foreshadowed that he would one day attend the 2001 Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canada, which he only did in the capacity of a de facto president. At the Summit, which in 1956 was called the Presidential Summit, when it first brought leaders of 19 countries together under the auspices of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Panama City, talks centered on trade and democracy in the Americas. Haiti, where radical leftist Aristide held a series of largely fraudulent elections last year, as he continued to kidnap, kill political opponents and supporters alike in broad daylight, was classified by the 33 leaders from the rest of the Americas participating in the Summit as a country with "special problems," suggesting that it was not a true democracy, and radical leftist Aristide was an obstacle to democracy. Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, who warmly embraced other leaders of the Americas, but timidly shook Aristide's hands, said in closing remarks Sunday "In some countries, for example Haiti, democracy remains fragile.We the leaders at this Summit, will send a fact-finding mission in Port-au-Prince later this year and pressed Mr. Aristide to act quickly to strengthen Haiti's democracy." Prime Minister Chretien's unpleasant words for leftist tyrant Aristide, however, came just a few days after U.S. President George W. Bush said during a visit at the OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C. during which he thanked the hemispheric organization's Assistant Secretary-General, Luigi Einaudi, for his efforts to help find a solution to Haiti's long political crisis, which began after radical leftist Aristide and his political godson Rene Preval held a series of largely fraudulent elections last year, giving their Lavalas Family party a monopoly (100%) in the Senate and absolute control (more than 80%) of the Chamber of Deputies and city halls. Most important was when President Bush said "he must return to the negotiation table, he must negotiate with the opposition," a reference to radical leftist Aristide, who the democratic opposition has refused to recognize as a legitimate president because of the clumsily fraudulent Nov. 26 election, which he claimed to win with nearly 92% of the votes, suggesting that unanimity would not be achieved if Haiti were were not a dictatorship of the proletariat. Hours after Prime Minister Chretien's words, reactions from many Haitians, who often accuse radical leftist Aristide of kidnapping, torturing, forcing into exile and burning their love ones alive, were remarkably unconstrained by anger, sadness, hope and demands for him to cease to be an obstacle to the cause of democracy in Haiti. "Remember our love ones he burned alive, he tortured, and forced into exile. Remember our love ones he tortured and raped," they said. He shattered our lives for ever. "We will welcome the arrival of such a delegation in Haiti, and believe it will certainly become a catalyst for the Caribbean country to finally become a democracy. But one of our demands, among many others, is that he be forced to permanently withdraw from the country's political affairs so he will no longer be an obstacle to the cause of democracy in our beloved small piece of land." But in a scene that seemed to resemble more like a boy trying to behave after being disciplined by his parents, radical leftist Aristide said Monday after returning to Haiti from the Summit "I love members of the opposition. My Lavalas government cannot achieve success without working conjointly with the opposition. I want to kiss the feet of opposition leaders, such as Evans Paul, Gerard Pierre Etienne, Victor Benoit, among many others. "The dictator had to be first disciplined, chastised at the Summit of the Americas to behave as he did to today. The presence of Aristide at the Summit was another way for Haiti to be further humiliated. He was not even allowed to speak at the Summit, as planned, but was, rather, severely blamed for his dictatorial habitudes," said Evans Paul on Radio, a democratic opposition leader, on Radio Vision 2000, in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The official declaration signed by the leaders, with the exception of Cuba' Fidel Castro who was not invited for instituting, implementing and consolidating a socialistic system of terror in his country since 1959, of the 34 nations Sunday, as the Summit came to an end, envisioned the economic union will embrace approximately 800 million people whose combined production of goods and services is estimated to be worth (current market value) $11.4 trillion - a third of the world total output. So, too, the 34 leaders committed their nations to respond to military coups or anti-democratic actions in the Americas. "Any unconstitutional alteration or interruption of the democratic order in a state of the hemisphere constitutes an insurmountable obstacle to the participation of that state's government in the Summit of the Americas process,' says the official declaration. Certainly tyrant Aristide, who continues to apply his questionable fortune, which many believe to have mainly derived from the growing drug trade in Haiti, in the pursuit of additional dictatorial powers, was treated as a political pariah. If in the months or years to come he completely forgets that the 34 leaders, including himself, before parted company pledged equal support to democracy and free trade he will most likely be treated as such again. In the meantime, his bandits continue to rage war, raping, robbing, wounding and killing an innumerable number of peaceful citizens, in the Port-au-Prince despicable horrible slum of Cite Soleil. More than fifteen houses have so far succumbed to flames. In other parts of the capital city of Port-au-Prince, many citizens continue to be kidnapped. Some of them have regained their liberty only after their parents pay tens of thousands of dollars to his bandits as ransom. "War is the pursuit of politics by other means," the Prussian military theorist Clausewitz famously wrote.
Updated at 9:29 p.m., Friday, April 20, 2001
A few very unpleasant words from a Haitian democratic opposition leader for radical leftist Aristide
When only in dictatorships is unanimity attained in elections, as has been the case in Haiti, where radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide claimed to emerge as the president-elect, with nearly 92% of the votes, after a Nov. 26th election that was so clumsily fraudulent and as a result the democratic opposition has since refused to recognize him as a legitimate head of state, you can always expect advocates of human rights and democracy to have a few unpleasant words for you - even if you happen to be at the Miami International Airport. As radical leftist Aristide was at the Miami International Airport Thursday, about 6:30 p.m., en route to the Summit of the Americas, in Quebec City, where he will address presidents and Prime Ministers from the rest of the Americas, including invited guests, on the issue of "Cultural Diversity," which has nothing at all to do with his fellow Haitian compatriots, who continue to leave in abject poverty, and which he is largely responsible for, Mr. Samir Moura, a voluntary exiled Haitian democratic opposition leader and president of the newly founded Miami-based political party, "Patriotes Unis Pour Delivrer Haiti (United Patriots to Rescue Haiti), had a few unpleasant words for the Haitian notorious chief bandit and leftist totalitarian dictator. So surprised was he, including a few people who were with him, that they all visibly trembled. How did the political incident, which has been unanimously applauded by the Haitian democratic opposition, advocates of human rights and democracy, exactly happened? Thanks to a brief telephone interview Mr. Moura granted us today from his private residence in Miami we were able to obtain some first hand information, as you will find below, pertinent to the early Thursday evening political incident. Wehaitians.com: Is Mr. Samir Moura there? Mr. Moura: Speaking. Wehaitians.com: This is Yves A. Isidor calling from wehaitians.com for an interview. I heard that an incident took place early Thursday evening at the Miami International Airport between you and radical leftist Aristide. I want to write an article about it, and since I want to have first hand information before doing so can you please tell me exactly what happened? Mr. Moura: Sorry, I have to put you on hold. Wehaitians.com: Yves A. Isidor waited. Mr. Moura again: Hello! Wehaitians.com: We can now start the interview. Mr. Moura once again: Sorry, I have to put you on hold. Wehaitians.com: Oke! Mr. Moura: Just give a few seconds. Wehaitians.com: that's fine. Mr. Moura: I am still on a long distance telephone call. Can you call me back in five minutes? I have your number. I can call you back. Wehaitians.com: Oke! I will call you again in five minutes. Wehaitians.com again: This is Yves A. Isidor calling again from wehaitians.com. Mr. Moura: I am glad you called again. I have been so busy talking on the telephone. Wehaitians.com: May you please tell me what exactly happened Thursday evening? Mr. Moura: First, thank you for calling me. I have on many occasions visited Wehaitians.com.We inquired about when Aristide would arrive at the Miami International Airport. Late Thursday afternoon, we all went there to hold a picket-line, to protest his presence on U.S. soil, and voice our mecontentment about all of his dictatorial acts in Haiti. Wehaitians.com: This is the type of treatment that a tyrant, a leftist dictator like Aristide deserves. Good job! Keep up with the good job! Mr. Moura: Thank you! We were all in front of the Miami International Airport, and after waiting in vain for him to emerge from the airport building, where we were all standing, two us, including me Moura and Romana Saintil, went inside. There was Aristide walking, accompanied by two Secret Service Agents, including a few other persons. Right after seeing me those accompagnig Arisitide said to the Secret Service Agents that I was at the airport to cause trouble. First, one them asked me to produce my license and then asked me what I was at the airport for. I responded that I was there to exercise my constitutional rights. As he continued to talk to me I said let me have my license back if you really have nothing else to ask me. Anyway, you keep the license ... I have to ran ... I need to tell him what he does not want to hear. In the meantime, Romana Saintil was being questioned by a police officer. Then, I ran outside to a waiting-limousine that was to take to Aristide, his wife Mildred Trouillot-Aristide, including the Haitian Miami Consul to an undisclosed location. There, I was two feet away from Aristide. All television cameras were immediately turned on me. I said to Aristide, but in English, You criminal!You dictator! You assassin! You drug dealer! You drug dealer! You drug dealer you do not belong here on U.S. soil. The Americans do not want their tax moneys to be used to pay for the cost of security for a drug dealer, a dictator, a criminal, an assassin, a tyrant like you, who held a series of largely fraudulent elections." Wehaitians.com: How did Aristide react? Mr. Moura: So panicked were Aristide and companies that the waiting limousine sped away. Then we all left, including Romana Saintil, who was questioned earlier by a police officer inside the airport building." Wehaitians.com: Anything else you want to add? Mr. Moura: I heard that the police arrested me. I physically attacked Jean-Bertrand. Absolutely not true. I don't know where people got that from. First, after I had the opportunity to tell Aristide right in his face what he did not expect to hear we all went to Hotel Piedmont to find out if he were there. After we realized that he was not there we all then went to Hotel InterContinental. There we saw the same Secret Service Agents that we saw at the airport. Since we did not have a permit to demonstrate we went home and started calling the hotel. We asked the persons who answered the telephone how come you let a drug dealer like Aristide stay at such a prestigious hotel. Wehaitians.com: What did they say? Mr.Moura: Vague answers. Wehaitians.com: Anything else that you all did afterward? Mr. Moura: Since we knew Aristide registered at the hotel under the name of Augustin we repeatedly called the hotel, to be precise, all night long. We asked for Augustin. They transferred us to his room. He answered the telephone, and we told him what he did not want to hear. Wehaitians.com: What did the leftist tyrant say ... any reaction? Mr. Moura: Nothing at all. All he did was listening. In fact, I must tell you we called so many times that he stopped answering the telephone and turned the answering machine on. Still, we continued to call. Mr. Moura had to put us on hold more than twice during the telephone interview that lasted less than ten minutes because so many people, including journalists from the world over, he said, were calling him.
A complaint filed with the State of Florida calls for the arrest of radical leftist Aristide Dr. Gregoire Eugene, a Miami-based Haitian democratic opposition leader, filed a complaint with the State of Florida this week, asking authorities to take radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide away in handcuffs for drug trafficking while transiting in Miami, from the summit of the Americas, in Quebec City, Canada, to Haiti early next week.
Mob at work again in Haiti; five killed; bodies set on fire More than one hundred thieves, armed with machetes, sticks and pistols, attacked Friday, about 10 a.m., the compound that housed the transmitter of two radio stations, Radio Vision Nouvelle and Radio Lumiere, both with separate offices in the trash-filled capital city of Port-au-Prince, taking with them an estimated U.S.$200,000 worth of radio equipment. Felix Jean-Charles, 28, a Radio Lumiere security guard, was shot three times in the head, bringing the number of people - not including the 55 or so killed by radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's bandits in politically motivated violence - who have been killed by thieves to more 50 this month. Alcis Delce, also 28, but a security guard for Radio Vision Nouvelle, was wounded when he was slashed twice by a machete. Wilfrid Etelier, who said "in this anarchy, anything is possible, anyone can be killed anytime," was, too, a victim. He had his watch and tennis shoes stolen. Hours later, an enraged mob, armed with handguns and machetes, hunted down some of the presumed thieves, killing five of them, and then burned their bodies. A few hours later, not even one police officer could be found in the Drouillard section of Port-au-Prince, where the brutal killing of the security guard and those of the presumed thieves only followed the killing of an American, Alejandro Morales, on April 4th, among many others. As usual, for fear of being overwhelmed in an ambush. The latest incident came one day after police arrested a provincial mayor and four aids - all members of radical leftist Aristide's Lavalas Family party - on charges of torturing a judge during a streak of political violence. As we previously reported in this month journal, Dongot Joseph, the mayor who was arrested Thursday in Hinche, 45 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince, tortured Feliton Gauthier, the judge, who hours earlier issued an arrest warrant for the arrest of four of his close supporters accused of stealing cows. The suspected cow thieves, who also participated in the beating of Judge Gautier, accused him of opposition supporter, a reference to Haiti's democratic opposition, which has refused to recognize radical leftist Aristide as president because of a series of largely fraudulent votes, including the Nov. 26th presidential election, held last year. On the same very exact day, Thursday, Luc Especa, a spokesperson for the de facto government of radical leftist Aristide said "fifty people, contrary to the 39 reported in March, died from eating the ackee fruit in the northern provinces." The fruit, which grows on an evergreen tree of the soapberry family, originated from West Africa. The latest death toll, which resulted from eating the ackee fruit, came after an exorbitant number of hungry citizens expired years earlier after consuming the fruit of the same name, including in 1991 when at least 10 people died. Not a surprise at all for us because "Haiti," said a recently UN report "is the third hungriest country, after Afghanistan and Somalia in the world."
Posted at 5:29 p.m., Wednesday, April 18, 2001
Josephine Premice, Haitian-American actress, died April 13rd, aged 74
Seeing a large number of hungry, tired and dirty Haitian people disembarking on the coasts of Florida, most of the time after traveling on flimsy boats for nearly two weeks from Haiti, in search of economic opportunity, in search of political freedom, is what Haiti seems to be known for, as the average citizens of many countries from around the world often contend. Haiti may be a troubled nation, as we often call it, however, many of its citizen have often occupied positions of responsibility in the United States and elsewhere in the world and performed at a superior level. Josephine Premice, a first class U.S. actress who was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1926 to Haitian parents, was one of them. Ms. Premice, who expired Friday, April 13 after suffering from emphysema, was nominated for Tony Awards for her performances in the musical "Jamaica" and "A Hand Is on the Gate," an evening of black poetry. Ms. Premice, whose married name was Fales, also starred on Broadway, from 1976 to 1977, in the musical "Bubbling Brown Sugar." Reviewing the production in the New York Times, Clives Barnes wrote that Ms. Premice "can almost make a feather boa come alive." Ms. Premice, who grew up in New York and Haiti and studied dance with Martha Graham, including Katherine Dunham, was also known for her other Broadway appearances. They included: "Mister Johnson" in 1956, a play about Nigeria by Norman Rosten, based on the novel by Joyce Cary. In a 1957 article, written by the New York Times dance critic, Jennifer Dunning, about Ms. Premice performance in "Jamaica," which starred Leona Horne, the author described her as a "razzle-dazzle lead performer who was hot flame to Horne's cool fire." Ms. Premice was also know for "A Hand on the Gate," which moved in 1966 to the Longacre Theater from the New York Shakespeare Festival, where it originated under the title "An Evening of Poetry and Folk Music of American Negroes." So, too, she was known for working frequently for Joseph Papp, appearing in all-black production of "Electra" for the Shakespeare Festival's mobile theater. Those who followed Ms. Premice, who began her theatrical career in the1945 production of "Blue Holiday" at the Belasco Theater alongside Ethel Waters and Joseph White, the folk singer, will remember the unusual Haitian-American for her role in the "House of Flowers," a musical comedy by Truman Capote that was choreographed by George Balanchine and featured Pearl Bailey, Juanita Hall, and Diahann Carroll. But even after the play moved to Philadelphia from Broadway she appeared in an Off Broadway revival of the play in 1968. So, too, they will remember her for the festival's 1973 production of "The Cherry Orchard," directed by James Earl Jones. She was a frequent guest star on the "Merv Griffin Show and sitcom "Different World." Ms. Premice who also played Louise Jefferson's sister on the "Jeffersons" and appeared on "The Cosby Show" is survived by her husband, Capt. Timothy Fales of Paris; a son, Enrico Fales; a daughter, Susan Fales-Hill; and a sister, Adele Premice, all of New York.
A tyrant at the Summit of the Americas After years of holding largely fraudulent elections, assassinating political opponents, including causing the Haitian people to experience more than ever abject poverty, still Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been invited to participate in the Summit of the Americas, in Quebec City, Canada, this week-end. Given radical leftist Aristide's troubled human rights record, especially someone who was fraudulently elected in a Nov. 26th presidential election during which his bandits killed a significant number of Haitians, should be invited to join the democratically elected heads of states and Prime Ministers, with the exception of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, of the Americas, at the summit, which will begin Friday and end Sunday? The Haitian democratic opposition does not think so. The presence of radical leftist Aristide, whose speech is said will center on "cultural diversity in the Americas," a topic that has nothing at all to do with the multitude of problems that he continues to cause his fellow Haitian compatriots to experience, will certainly, according to the Haitian democratic opposition and advocates of democracy, retard the cause for a democratic Haiti. "Inviting a tyrant like Aristide is certainly an indication that Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien has no respect at all for Haitians," an enraged Dr. Hubert de Ronceray and member of the democratic opposition said Monday in interviews with radio stations in Haiti. Paul Denis, another democratic opposition leader said Tuesday "Aristide cannot claim to be an elected president and attend the Summit of the Americas as such." Though the Haitian democratic opposition has not been invited to participate in the Summit of the Americas, still, said Dr. de Ronceray, it will send a delegation, composed of Messrs. Paul Denis and Sauveur Pierre Etienne, to Quebec City, in an effort to publicize the misdeeds of radical leftist Aristide, beginning with a Friday morning press conference. "The dictator and his bandits are killing so many of us that the U.S. State Department issued a communiqué Monday urging American citizens to not to travel to Haiti. Sure, inviting a criminal like Aristide, and so incompetent he is that he does know what his topic should be to help Haiti gets out of the mess that it has long been, is a really slap in the face for all of us Haitians who dream of a democratic Haiti," many Haitians said Monday. While heads of state and Prime Ministers from the Americas will be meeting in Quebec City this week-end, however, their will be a meeting in Haiti, what the democratic opposition calls "a day of reflection." To be precise, such a meeting will take place at the Port-au-Prince Villa Creole. Radical leftist Aristide and his Lavalas Family party, which many Haitians now call "the party of death," have been invited.
Posted at 10:55 p.m., Monday, April 16, 2001
In Boston, a professional association of journalists to be formed
In a large Haitian-American basement-turned-church in the Boston's section of Hyde Park with its clean white walls and folding chairs, a significant number of Haitian-Americans gathered there early Saturday evening for a meeting that could easily be perceived by most residents of the building as a group of whoshipers asking God to pardon them for sins committed so they would not go to hell, as Easter Sunday was only a few hours away. Praise the Lord! God is coming back! Only those who are here will be saved! Allelluhah! Allelluhah! Amen! Amen! God is great! Satan go away! " The singing... when Jesus Christ comes back tomorrow only us will be saved and Satan will be out of business! Refrain ... when Jesus Christ comes back tomorrow only us will be saved and Satan will be out of business! Allelluhah! Amen! It was not so at all. The Saturday evening meeting was, rather, an unprecedented concerted effort by many Boston area Haitian-American journalists, including the newly founded radio station Belle Hayiti and Energy, which has been in existence for quite sometime, to form a first-ever association of Haitian-American journalists in the State of Massachusetts. Mr. Marcus Darbouze, a Boston area journalist welcomed participants and thanked them for their presence. Then was Mr. Evens Monestime, who for about 10 minutes, addressed participants and introduced Mr. Guy Derce Delva, the feature-guest speaker, in French, before retiring to his seat, slightly behind Mr. Delva, on the right side of the very much pulpit-like podium. Mr. Delva, the president of Haitian Association of journalists, in Haiti, was first approached about the idea of serving in the capacity of a feature-guest speaker at the Saturday evening meeting when he was visiting Boston from Washington, D.C. late last week. Sure, Mr. Delva, a person who seemed to possess a great deal of information as to how the Western newsmdia functions, had many interesting things to say, but he centered his eloquent speech, if we may call it so, on the importance of forming an association of Haitian-American journalists in Boston and area. Of importance to Mr. Delva, who returned to Haiti today, from Boston, was the minimum of general knowledge needed, such as one must first understand the legal system of a given country, international economics, international relations, and other relevant subjects, before he could truly become a professional journalist. He stressed only when Boston's Haitian-American journalists are organized, regroup themselves into an organization that they will be able to effectively approach a U.S. organization, such as the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), for anything that may be of concern. Attention was also paid to the various problems that Haitian journalists based in Haiti continued to experience. He cited, for example, the case of a Haitian journalist who was beaten by police in the Southeastern region of the country for reporting on an incident, which they gave a totally different version for. His association, the Haitian Association of Journalists, he said, is still pressuring authorities so justice may be served. Mr. Delva was critical, though constructively, of many men and women, particularly in Haiti, who called themselves journalists when in fact they were far from being so. Consider the questions paused by participants at the meeting. They were all interesting and instructive. Mr. David Cange is many men in one - not only the fonder and owner of Boston's Belle Ayiti radio station, owner and host of Radio Haiti Diaspora Inter, a daily radio magazine program broadcast on the 1550 and 1330 AM bands - he is above all a successful restaurateur: one who is often said would be a strong candidate for the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, which has long become the standard of excellence of some of America's best entrepreneurial companies - all small, medium and major sizes - since Ernst & Young, Inc. Magazine, and Merrill Lynch more than a decade ago joined forces nationally to recognize and honor outstanding entrepreneurs through the annually Entrepreneur of the Year Awards program. Mr. Cange, whose nickname is "the man with the business plan," a tribute for his reputation for starting successful business ventures from scratch, is very active in other community-related activity affairs. He was one of the first journalist-participants to ask a few questions. Other journalist-participants, who grilled Mr. Delva with questions, but were all very polite, as was Mr. Cange, included: Messrs. Jean-Claude Charlet, Ralph Myrtil, Herve Pierre Noel, Claude Clairmont, Sylvane Simon, and Ronald Charles, to name only these ones. Mr. Simon is the owner and Executive Director of Radio Nouveaute, also based in Boston. We should not forget Mr.Yvon Jean-Charles, a co-host of the weekly Radio Liberation magazine program who said he was a radioman, meaning an amateur journalist, after introducing himself. It seemed like he had an exorbitant number of questions for Mr. Delva, but, too, was very polite. Mr.Yvon Grandchamps, the owner and president of Radio Energy, again one of the radio stations that organized the meeting, could as well have questions for Mr. Delva. But for reasons unknown to us, he could most of the time be seen in the studios of that station upstairs. Mr. Ronald Nelson, a co-host of Tele-Diaspora, a weekly television magazine program, left before the meeting started. The presence of non-journalists was also noticed. They were: Joseph Bernard and Figaro Bien-Aime, among many others. "Many of the people calling radio talk shows in Boston have no respect at all for listeners," said Bien-Aime. As the meeting was coming to an end, at the urging of Mr. Delva an initiative committee was formed. First, Mr.David Cange was unanimously chosen as the coordinator of that committee. Then were appointed other members of the said committee. Mr. Sylvane Simon became co-ordinator and Mr.Claude Clairmont Clerk. The event ended forty five minutes or so after participants and organizers alike finished consuming food - rice and red beans, rice and black beans, salad, and fried pork - and drinks, such as Pepsi and coca cola, provided at no economic cost for the occasion by two Boston Haitian-American restaurants, Fritay and Picasso. "The meeting was well organized, and the food tasted so good that I can only use one word to describe the meeting this evening," said a participant who declined to give his name. Pressed for a few words, he simply responded: "Everything was excellent." For our spokesperson and executive editor,Yves A. Isidor, who covered the event for us, however, having been also an academic specialist and political animal, he understands very well the need for an association of Haitian-American journalists in the State of Massachusetts to work conjointly with the Association of Haitian Journalists based in Haiti, which Mr. Delva is president. So much he does he called the Saturday evening meeting "a long-awaited exercise in commanding respect among the major presses, particularly those in the United States."
Posted at 7:17 p.m., Friday, April 13, 2001
In Haiti, a call for the arrest of a notorious bandit
He was born Ronald Camille, and was known as so until two years ago. But in tribute to his reputation for violence, including a police commissioner he nearly burned alive last year, in 1999, his surname was unofficially changed to Cadave or Cadaver. So exorbitant is the number of people he has killed Haitians are unable to provide an exact account of his victims. Still, they believe that it is close to 500. This week, a significant number of Haitians took to the streets, calling on Haitian de facto authorities to take him out of the circulation. Since most of the people killed were assumed to be or opponents of radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide, de facto authorities turned a deaf ear to the protesters' call for his arrest. He was a few hours later appointed "Chief Security" at the Port-au-Prince's Customs House, despite of his reputation as a notorious criminal and grade school education.
De facto Mayor tells de facto Interior Minister to prepare himself for war The Mayor of the provincial city of Saint-Marc, about 30 miles north of Port-au-Prince, told de facto Interior Minister Henrie Claude Menard Friday, who Monday said Lavalas, a reference to radical leftist Aristide's party, plans to stay on power for the next ten years, to prepare himself for a gunfight. The de facto Mayor lashed out at de facto Interior Minister Menard after the latter issued a communiqué early this week, informing all mayors of his plan to disarm them. "I am an elected official as is Jean-Bertrand Aristide. I have the right to be armed so I can defend myself, if need be. No one is going to take my guns away. He better prepares himself for a gun battle," the Mayor said Friday in interviews with radio stations. In Many provincial cities, Mayors, all members of radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Family party, have been acting as law enforcement officers, often torture even judges, after handcuffing them. In December, a Mayor in the Town of Cavaillon, south of Port-au-Prince, ordered a priest and parishioners, after they were severely beaten, to vacate their church because he assumed they were praying God, asking him to kill radical leftist Aristide.
Updated at 4:01 p.m., Wednesday, April 11, 2001
Terror at sea, attempted suicide at sea To equate Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand to state terrorism, abject poverty, and gross incompetence, all you have to do is taking a look at the plight of a group of 86 Haitian migrants who were picked up by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter Friday near the island of Great Inagua, in the Bahamas, as they were trying to illegally enter the U.S., in search of a better quality of life. Many of those migrants are poor, even by Haitian standards. Their mud shacks in Haiti have running water only when tropical storms come through the roof. Their mud shacks are so small when they lay down to sleep their feet stick out of the door. They have never been part of the formal economy. In an effort to stop the U.S. Coast Guard from returning them to the abject poverty they left behind in Haiti, Monday the migrants piled blankets on the institution of the same name cutter's flight deck, where they wer been held since Friday, and threatened to start a fire, forcing crewmen to douse them with hoses. "We already have enough with Haiti, and we do not want to return there. It is better that we now kill ourselves than returning to the extreme suffering we left behind," the migrants said. . "Some attempted to jump overboard. The situation was finally put under control after four ringleaders were removed," said Coast Guard petty officer Dana Warr. "It was a possible riot situation and we used the hoses to subdue them," added Warr. As has always been the case, the migrants were finally dropped off at the Haitian Capital city of Port-au-Prince Tuesday.
Radical leftist Aristide asks UN Secretary General Annan to name a UN envoy to Haiti After he was repeatedly told by the international community that he was nothing more than a "political pariah" for holding a series of largely fraudulent elections last year, and for continuing to assassinate political opponents in broad daylight, Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide sent this week a letter to UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, asking the world institution to name a special envoy to his desperately poor Caribbean country. A UN spokesperson affirmed the reception of radical leftist Aristide's letter. "President Aristide has written a letter to the secretary-general asking for a representative to be appointed, and that request was being considered," he said.
Posted at 1:25 a.m., Wednesday, April 11, 2001
Radical leftist Lavalas Family political party is as divided and explosive as ever; radical leftist Aristide is said to be forced out of illegal office If history is made by men, and not just ineluctable forces, then Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide can claim a starring role. No single Haitian has done as much to answer for in the court of historical judgment than the former little red priest of the shantytowns. The verdict of history, however, seems not to be remote for the exorbitant number of other Haitian citizens affected by his incalculable number of crimes, including burning political opponents alive. You can fill a large hall, by U.S. standards, with drug dealers, many of them de facto Senators and Deputies, all members of his Lavalas Family party. But more than that, the presence of Dany Toussaint, Joseph Medard, and Florel Celestin, all well known drug barons, in Haiti's de facto Congress continues to reflect widespread mecontentment among other members. One of their colleagues' argument Tuesday was "there is no room in parliament for drug dealers." This then led to accusations, such as "those who express an interest in having anti-narcotics bills voted into law are bought by the U.S., are paid by the U.S., to do so." So, too, their colleague's anti-narcotics position nearly lead to a fist fight. The latest incident, which further reflected how divided was Haiti's de facto Congress, happened hours before two U.S. Congressmen, James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and John Conyers (D-MI) left Haiti after a two-day meeting, discussing a large range of issues with members of the Caribbean democratic opposition, radical leftist Aristide, including other political leaders not affiliated with the latter two. One of the issues discussed was a series of largely fraudulent elections held last year. As the meeting was coming to end, radical leftist Aristide was reportedly ordered to address the issues involving illegal immigration of Haitians, from Haiti to the U.S.; growing drug trafficking; the series of kidnappings and killings of U.S. citizens over the past three weeks in the country; politically motivated killings and, drug trafficking. All of the above issues the U.S. Congressmen ordered radical leftist Aristide to address should, at least, be interpreted as a quasi-recognition of his de facto government by the U.S. Unfortunately, not so. There was also the issue a forced withdrawal of radical leftist Aristide from the Haitian political scene, suggesting that he be demanded to distance himself from the office of the presidency he has since Feb.7th illegally occupied.
Posted at 12:01, Tuesday, April 10, 2001
Radical leftist Aristides's days as de facto president are numbered "You cannot live through life without failing into prostration and cynicism," wrote Leon Trotsky in 1934 while in exile in Mexico, "unless you have a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness ..." Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Betrand Aristide, a small impulsive man, who only a little more than a decade ago proudly regarded the United States as a "tragedy," when he said scandalous maldistribution of wealth and a culture of avarice were the norms in that capitalistic nation, has lately been getting in more trouble with the same U.S. he also blamed for the suffering of the Haitian people. "The continuing politically motivated violence in Haiti,' wrote former U.S. Congressman Walter Fontroy in a March 26th memorandum to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, "has been paid for and fomented by Jean-Bertrand Aristide." "The purpose of the violence, which intensified after the Organization of American States (OAS) arguably refused to accept his proposition, such as reducing the mandate of his Senators and Deputies, from five to two years," added Congressman Fontoy, "is to intimidate members of the country's democratic opposition and those those of the Civil Society." The latter has been trying to help find a solution to the country's long political crisis. Congressman Fontroy urged the U.S. and the international community to take immediate actions against radical leftist Aristide and cohorts so democracy can finally (hopefully) flourish in the Caribbean country and economic development proves beneficial for its citizens, including the small private sector. "The international community must pressure Aristide to negotiate with the opposition, and any negotiation between these two parties must be overseen by Haiti's Civil Society and the Organization of American States," he wrote. "I urge the United States to freeze the bank accounts and revoke the visas of Haitian government officials suspecting of trafficking in cocaine," also read the memorandum. For other actions that the international community, including the U.S., must take against radical leftist Aristide there is the OAS 1080 resolution, meaning that imposing an economic embargo on his de facto leftist government for holding a series of elections that were clumsily fraudulent last year. One of Congressman Fontroy's final recommendations, however, "If Aristide refuses to negotiation with the democratic opposition he must be forced out of the office of the presidency, as was the case of dictator-for-life Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier, in 1986." Also, considering the 48-hour visit of a U.S. bipartisan congressional visit in Haiti Sunday one may conclude that radical leftist Aristide who proudly used to say radical socialism was the savior of the Haitian people may soon be spoken of in the past tense. More especially, an end to burning alive political opponents.
Posted at 2:45 p.m., Friday, April 6, 2001
American businessman kidnapped in Haiti regains freedom Marc Ashton, a longtime Haiti American businessman who was abducted Friday outside his mansion by at least five bandits lying in wait escaped his captors a few hours later, said family members. The family of Mr. Ashton, a major stockholder of a Toyota dealer, and whose bandits demanded a $1 million ransom for his release, left the troubled Caribbean country Friday on a flight to Miami, said a friend of the victim's family who spoke to us on condition of anonymity.
No millions for Haitian-American born woman, forget about the Ferrari automobile She lost, and big. After a 21/2 week trial a six-person Miami-Dade County Circuit jury decided Friday against awarding millions of dollars in monetary damages to a 59-year-old Haitian-American born woman who sued the Tabasco industry, blaming secondhand smoking for her respiratory illness, including sarcoidosis she was first diagnosed with in 1987. The millions of dollars sought by Ms. Marie Fontana were also for mental anguish, lost of wages and medical costs, including approximately $300,000 to pay for the cost of a double-lung transplant at Jackson Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital. Ms. Fontana, who six years ago terminated her employment as a flight attendant with TWA after working there for 23 years, also suffers from bronchitis, emphysema and pulmonary disease, which her unsuccessful attorneys argued in court were caused by cigarette smoking by airline passengers.
Posted at 8:50 p.m., Wednesday, April 4, 2001
Another U.S. citizen shot dead in Haiti About two weeks (March 23rd) after Maureen Neilson, aged 26, an American orphanage worker, was shot dead by bandits in an attempted robbery immediately after she left a bank in the trash-filled capital city of Port-au-Prince, Alejandro Morales, 41, of Miami Lakes, Florida, found death today in approximately the same condition that Ms. Neilson did. Mr. Morales was shot dead today by bandits, who first tried to stop and then rob him in the Drouillard district of Port-au-Prince. "A bullet went through his lungs and heart," said radio stations in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The death of Morales, a specialized electronics mechanic, who went to Haiti two years ago to work for Haitian Tractor, in an effort to help Thomas Edison's revolution takes place in the dirt poor Caribbean country, as power shortage continued to be the order of the day, also preceded that of a said unidentified deranged man believed to be of the White race, whose nationality was not made public. The unidentified man, who is said was running completely undressed on a Port-au-Prince street, found death after police first attempted to stop him so they could then bring him to a nearby hospital for treatment. As usual, his body reportedly remained on the street where he was shot dead for several hours before it was finally taken to a morgue, which citizens were not sure was working because of the severe power shortage that the country continued to experience. He reportedly was shot dead Tuesday, about 2:00 p.m., by Ronald Cadavre, a radical left Jean-Bertrand Aristide's notorious bandit. "What the hell is that," reportedly shouted Cadavre before he several times shot him.
| Shooting in Haiti said to stem from family murder plot |
| By John Ellement |
| Globe Staff |
Editor's notes: This article was not written by the staff writers of WeHaitians. We obtained it from the Boston Globe of April 4, 2001, pp. B1-4. We made the decision to publish the said article in its entirety, rather than writing our own piece, as usual, because it is rich in information. From his cell at the Nashua Street Jail, where he was awaiting trial for rape, Maxene Pierre allegedly devised a ruthless scheme to regain his freedom: He would hire a hit man to kill his wife in Haiti. Then he would collect her $400,000 insurance policy. Finally, he would use the money to pay for the murder of the only witness who who could link him to the rape. And if his wife's brother got in the way, authorities say, Pierre declared that he, too, could be killed. "I don't think we can ever underestimate how much evil pervades people's minds," said Hughes Bonhomme, the brother-in-law Pierre allegedly targeted for death. Bonhomme was in Boston Municipal Court yesterday as a Hyde Park woman, Yannick Merilas, was arraigned on three counts of conspiring with Pierre to murder Pierre's wife, her brother, and the witness to the gang rape. She pleaded not guilty and was held on $1 million bail. Prosecutors say Merilas had sold her home for $280, and was planning to move to Florida Monday night. "This was a conspiracy that was extremely complicated, very sophisticated, and quite ruthless," Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Timothy Bradl said in court. And the first part of the plot nearly succeeded, prosecutors say. Last month, Pierre's wife, Suze Bonhomme, was shot four times in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's, where she had been sent by Pierre to collect money and documents. Pierre, prosecutors say, was so determined to see his wife die that he ordered the Haitian hit men to steal her purse so she could not pay for medical care if she survived the gunfire. Suze Bonhomme did survive and her large extended family in the Boston area and Haiti arranged for her to be airlifted to a Miami hospital the day after the shooting. She is with family in the Boston area and is slowly recovering from wounds caused by the .22-caliber bullets that pulverized her jaw, sliced through her left hand, and skimmed her stomach. Her jaw is wired shut, her brother said. Hughes Bonhomme said his sister married Pierre about 18 months ago and that she was estranged from him before he sent her to Haiti last month. The brother believes Pierre used threats and intimidation to force Suze to Haiti, which the naturalized American citizen hadn't visited in 17 years. The family's suspicious about Pierre intensified after the shooting. Hughes Bonhomme said random violence is rare in Haiti. Suze Bonhomme was apolitical, hadn't been in the country long enough to anger anyone, and had taken precautions against being identified as rich, toting a clear plastic bag, he said. "All she had in the bag was her Bible," Hughes Bonhomme said. Once his sister returned, Hughes Bonhomme turned to authorities for help. Unknown to the Bonhommes at the time, a Nashua Street Jail inmate that Pierre had allegedly hired to murder the witness to the gang rape was talking to police. The inmate told Boston police Sergeant Detective Thomas O'Leary that Pierre had offered to finance a trucking business for him and buy him a house, all with the proceeds from Pierre's wife's life insurance policy, if he would shoot the witness who could link him to the rape. The inmate became an informant. He got to know Merilas, who was a regular visitor to Pierre, authorities said. Merilas posted bail for Pierre and the informant/inmate and later, according to Bradl, the assistant district attorney, identified the man Pierre wanted killed. According to court records, Merilas is Pierre's sister-in-law. She is also the owner of the SUV that Pierre and two other men were in when they allegedly raped a woman in Franklin Park last August while holding her boyfriend at bay with a gun. Pierre is being held in a federal immigration center in Rhode Island. Hughes Bonhomme said he is relieved that Pierre and Merilas will be prosecuted for the alleged murder conspiracy, but he's not convinced the violence is over. "The whole family feels unsafe," he said. "We have to be vigilant at all times." Globe correspondent Katleen Burge contributed to this report.
American missionaries may leave Haiti as more citizens rely on charities while de facto authorities become richer American missionaries who for years have been feeding, clothing and providing medical and educational services to residents of Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince's biggest despicable slum, were again shot at several times this week by bandits who on many occasions kill citizens assumed to be opponents of radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The missionaries reportedly are now exploring the possibility of permanently departing Haiti after the closed down the schools and infirmaries where they were helping thousands of poor citizens. Many Cite Soleil residents protested Tuesday in front of the Haitian national palace, asking de facto authorities to have police establish a presence in their slum so hopefully the missionaries will change their minds and reopen the infirmaries and schools in their neighborhood and not leave the country.
Posted at 1:01 a.m., Tuesday, April 3, 2001
Radical leftist Aristide's bandits are burning again In what seemed to be a commanded demonstration Haiti's radical leftist Jean-Bertrand Aristide's bandits took to the streets of Port-au-Prince Monday, burning used car tires, further causing environmental and health problems in a country where there is only one doctor for 7,500 people and one hospital bed for every 1,179 people. The bandits demanded new talks between the de facto government of radical leftist Aristide and the opposition, which has refused to recognize him as president because he was not duly elected in a Nov. 26th election. Those same bandits nearly burned the week before last a school where about two hundred children were attending classes. Radical leftist Aristide ordered bandits to have the school consumed by flames because it was owned by Gerard Gourgue, an alternative president installed on Feb. 7th by the Caribbean country democratic opposition, better known as the Convergence Democratique, after a series of largely fraudulent elections were held last year for parliament, too. Return to top of page.
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