International

North Miami has voted for Dr. Smith Joseph to finish out the mayoral term of Lucille Tondreau, charged with mortgage fraud. Joseph ran against two-time former North Miami mayor, Ken Burns, winning by a small margin. Talk is it is tough for a Caucasian to win the mayor's office due to the fact an urban black voting bloc makes up the majority of voters. But some say otherwise, that Burns, having already run the city twice is a known commodity ". . . and we know his work, but the situation of the city is changing."

If Joseph wants to hold onto the mayor's office he will need to run again in another six months when Tondreau's term expires. As a neophyte politician, is he going to be able to work effectively with the City Council to push through civic improvement projects citizens are anxious to see happen? Two projects in particular the city is working to move forward are the Biscayne Landing site, to be developed by Oleta Partners, and the downtown redevelopment plan to include a new Museum of Contemporary Art.

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Flying to Haiti from Miami for the sole purpose of obtaining a national identification card will be a thing of the past as the Miami Haiti consulate will begin issuing new cards within the next month. This document is necessary for the ability to vote in Haitian elections as well as to obtain a Haitian passport.

The Haitian diaspora is necessary to Haiti, as such, having the link between Haitians living abroad and the Caribbean country be easy is highly important. Even though there has been a three-year delay on the calling of the local elections in Haiti, the reports are that people always flock to the necessary office when they arrive in the country, making the issuing of their papers a number-one priority. Still, making the advent of diaspora voting work isn't without its kinks, as the country has yet to test whether the program will work due to the delay in the local elections.

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Thieves who ransacked the Haitian Embassy in Nassau, Bahamas were not attempting to make off with documents of a confidential nature or any passports according to Haitian Ambassador, Antonio Rodrigue. What they were apparently after were two safes that held an un-revealed sum of money.

The thieves targeted the building, which is on Shirley Street, on a Sunday night, well into the hours of the next morning and ransacked all the drawers, but they only walked away with the two safes, leaving behind all the documents and computers. The break-in was discovered the next morning when normal work began at around 8 a.m., and the authorities were informed.
Ambassador Rodrigue said the robbery was likely part of a spate of illegal activity that has been taking place recently in the city. Just weeks ago, the Department of Immigration was also broken into. At that building, security bars were pried open and access was gained to the building, leading to the theft of personal items of the Department's employees and electronics. In this incident, those items that had been locked away safely had not been stolen.

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Haiti found itself among the the 50 countries that receives USAID funding for 2014 but did not meet the minimum requirements set by The State Department and USAID. Don't worry, just like the other countries, Haiti is considered to be at risk of political devastation and strategic consequences if the funding is stopped and as a consequence will continue to receive aid as usual.

Kreyol Pale, Kreyol Kompran!

Gouvernman Amerikin bay 50 payi lajan kom aid, min li pa kapab di tout sa payi sa yo fè ak lajan sa. Ayiti se yonn nan payi sa yo. Min pou ki sa Amerikin pa koupe aid sa yo, se paske li panse si aid sa yo koupe, ka payi sa yo ape pi tris

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On Thursday, March 5th, Blas Peralta, the President of the National Federation of Dominican Transportation (Fenatrado), has confirmed that 27 trailers and Dominican trucks, loaded with cement, rebars and food, were seized at Ouanaminthe after registering with the Haitian customs authority. In spite of requests from the Dominican authority, and by Jhovanny Escoto, the representative of the Fenatrado (Dominican Republic's biggest truckers union with a force of around 7,000 trucks) the Haitian customs has decided to retain the trucks as they had already been registered with their customs, but asked the Dominican drivers to return to their territory until the situation returns to normalcy. A total of 24 trucks was blocked in the customs area of Ouanaminthe and 3, at the exit of Cap-Haitien because of planned protests and threats of retaliation against the Dominican drivers.

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As per news report dated March 9th, 2015, Pierre Duly Brutus, the Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs has informed his Dominican counterpart, Andrés Navarro about the new measures to ensure safety and security of the ambassador, consuls and other staff working on diplomatic missions in the Embassy and the five Dominican consulates in Haiti. We may remember that in the last week the Dominican government had announced a notice of temporary closure of its consular offices in Port-au-Prince, Ouanaminthe, Cap-Haïtien Anse-à-Pitre and Belladère. The Chancellor Navarro has welcomed this safety move taken by the Martelly administration and stated that the five consulates that were closed temporarily will be reopened soon. Navarro has also stated that he would meet his Haitian counterpart Duly Brutus, during the Summit of Heads of State of the Central American Integration System (SICA) on March 10 in Antigua. The Dominican authority is ready to maintain open and respectful dialogue with neighboring Haitian authorities. His Haitian counterpart Duly Brutus has also reiterated that we will use all diplomatic channels to reduce tensions between the two peoples.

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Haitian heads of state President Martelly and Prime Minister Lamothe have sent their heartiest congratulations to newly re-elected Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Martelly expressed the government of Haiti looks forward to ". . . its commitment to strengthen and consolidate the relations of friendship and cooperation that exist between Haiti and Brazil."Rousseff, who ran as a Workers Party candidate, barely edged out Aecio Neves, winning 51.64% to 48.36%. She was able to amass a huge campaign war chest and ran ads promising to lift the living standards of the poor, and they turned out in great numbers to vote for her.

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President Martelly, after visiting Germany as part of his tour in Europe, visited Paris on October 31, 2014. On the same day, the Haitian President and his delegation team visited the Elysee Palace to meet the French President François Hollande for nearly an hour. After the meeting, the French President has stated that the discussion between the two heads of the states had evolved around cooperation on matters relating to development and political issues. Presently, France is supporting Haiti on some hospital construction projects and development of residential areas in the country. The French President has also mentioned his plan to visit Haiti in the next year or sometime in 2016 because his government wants to contribute more on cooperation in the region with a noticeable presence in French Guiana, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. He did not mention any specific date of travel, but, however, has said that there will be several occasions in the future, both in 2015 and 2016, from which he can take out an opportunity to visit Haiti and travel to French West Indies.

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Several dozens of Haitians have been demonstrating in front of the Haitian Embassy in Santo Domingo to demand the delivery of their passports. Many stated that it has been over 5 Months since they applied for their passport, when the paid US $ 110 and they are still waiting to receive them

These people have been waiting for these passports which will enable them to take advantage of the new normalization program in Dominican Republic. The program is expected to end in may, 2015

Kreyol Pale kreol kompran

Ayisyen nan sSt Domingue revolte avek Ambasad Ayisyen-an. Pliziè moun payee 110 Dolar Amerikin pou Passpor yo, jisja prezan, Consil Ayisyen-a pa bay yo.

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Haiti and Cuba, these two Caribbean nations are separated by the Windward Passage that lies between the easternmost region of Cuba and the northwest of Haiti. These countries are the two perfect examples of extreme political ideologies--Haiti an unsuccessful capitalism and Cuba an example of failed communism. These two countries had remained under the Spanish colonial dominance for a long time. Cuba was once a pearl in the Spanish empire in the Caribbean and Haiti is the only example in the world that got independence through a successful slave revolution.

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