Haiti Observer

The President of the Chamber of Deputy, Gary Bodeau, does not seems to be intimidated by recent accusations on members of the Haitian parliament. These accusations consist of having the legislative power working for their self-interest instead of the interest of the entire population.

The president of the Deputy Chamber, Gary Bodeau, said that he is not afraid of being involved in the appointment of ministers under the new government. He further argued that it would be preferable that important positions of the public administration are entrusted to competent personalities. The evaluation of competence will likely be done by people like him and his peers.

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Four years ago, the SLS South Beach Hotel in Miami was hit with a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for alleged discrimination against their Haitian workers. Seventeen Haitian dishwashers employed there were forbidden from speaking Haitian Creole. The Haitian workers were also asked to drag heavy items up the the 13th floor of the hotel by stairs. For the Hispanic workers, not only they were free to chat Spanish, they also did not have to carry any heavy items anywhere.

One time, a Haitian worker asked his manager to fix the broken service elevator in the hotel, the boss stated:

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Frantz Pierre, a Haitian-American Commissioner in North Miami Beach Florida was indicted Wednesday July 25, 2018, charged with accepting bribe from a strip club owner.

According to Miami Herald, Commissioner Frantz Pierre and his non-profit organization received more than $20,000 from the owner of Dean's Gold strip club in North Miami Beach in exchange for his vote for a special operating license allowing the club to serve alcohol after-hours. He offered his commission vote in exchange for money to a strip club owner in an attempt to renew a business license.

He was charged with one count each of bribery, unlawful compensation, organized scheme to defraud and grand theft and seven counts of money laundering.

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US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that work permit for Haitians on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) has been extended. There are over 4,650 Haitians who will benefit from this decision as their applications were still pending as of July 20, 2018. This was made public by Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson

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This is a little-known fact in history that Haiti played an important role in U.S. independence. In December 1778, with the capture of Savannah in Georgia by the British forces, the about-to-be-formed United States lost one of its important and good sources of finance. The U.S Major General Benjamin badly needed a little hand in regaining this port. The French came forward to the aid of future United States of America and sent one Frenchman, Charles Henri d'Estaing to the rescue. On October 9, 1779, a force comprised of American, French, and free Haitian soldiers under the leadership of d'Estaing laid siege on the city in an attempt to oust the British from their Southern stronghold. D'Estaing, the French General, had an army of about 800 (or 1,500, historians differ out of total 3,500 troops) mulattoes and black Haitians who shed their blood in the effort of the French and Americans to recover Savannah from the British. Those gallant soldiers were known as Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue.

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Outgoing Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant is being called a racist by former Haiti Prime Minister Evans Paul and Deputy Jerry Tardieu regarding his as they see it, derogatory, inadequate, anti-democratic and racist statements. This took place at the Tribune of the Chamber of Deputies as he was announcing his resignation.

According to Mr. Evans Paul, the resigning Prime Minister stigmatized an entire sector of the Haitian population, namely the people from Pétion-ville or Kenskoff, whom he estimates are not entitled to be involved in politic. The Deputy of Petion-Ville, Jerry Tardieu went even further by calling these statements, discriminatory and racist.

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François Nicolas Duvalier, a potential candidate on the next Presidential election in Haiti that will take place in 2021 sent his message following the violent and deadly protests sparked by the proposed plan to raise fuel prices. Here is his statement below:

"My dear fellow citizens, like so many fellow citizens, I have been at the forefront of the events of the past few days, until we can take stock of the losses in human life and the damage caused, I extend my sympathies to those who have lost a loved one, those who have lost their jobs, who do not yet know how they will be able to support themselves and their families, and who do not yet know how they will send their children to the school, the entrepreneurs and job creators who have seen the hard work go up in smoke and all those who have been somehow victimized by this climate of terror.

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On Saturday, July 14, Haiti Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant declared in the lower house of Haiti's legislature: "I submitted my resignation to the president of the republic", who has "accepted my resignation". With this statement, the Prime Minister had managed to avoid a likely vote of no confidence to stepped down.

Mr. Lafontant took office less than one year and half ago, in February 2017. On Saturday, the Haitian parliament had been debating whether or not to give Lafontant a vote of confidence for more than three hours. With the resignation of the prime minister, Haiti now has no functioning government. President Jovenel Moise will need to dominate a new Prime Minister.

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It seems like Prime Minister Jack Guy lafontant is ready for a fight tomorrow at the Haitian Parliament this Saturday (7/14/18). Is it only me or do you also feel this way? PM Lafontant declared in all confidence that he will be at the historic rendez-vous in Parliament this Saturday to respond to the invitation of the deputies in opposition.

Since the violent protest last weekend, rumors have been circulating in the media about the fate of Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant. He remains confident after all. PM Lafontant took office in February 2017. He had faced widespread criticism even before this latest incident.

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An official of International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that fuel that is being subsidized by the Haitian government is benefiting for the most part, the rich and the powerful in Haiti. The international organization has reached an agreement with the government where they would make funding available to the government once their finance is in order. Haiti must strengthen its revenues by increasing tax collection and eliminating fuel subsidies.

Following the recent announce on July 6 by the Haitian government to increase the price to close to 50 percent which triggered protests throughout the country, the official from FMI suggested for the Haitian Government to withdrawn the subsidies gradually and also to assist the population with targeted aids in order to ease the effects.

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