International

On April 30, 2014, Haitian President Michel Martelly had participated in the 6th Summit of the Heads of the State and Government of the Association of Caribbean States (AEC) in Merida, Mexico. The President was accompanied by Duly Brutus the Minister of Foreign Affairs and other important officials from his ministries. On this occasion on Wednesday, the Haitian President had put forward three proposals--(a) Creation of Troika Mechanism within the organization to deal with the relevant issues in the world, (b) Empowerment of synergies through regional integration; & (c) Enhancement of the budget for the Organization.

Alfonso Munera, the Secretary General of the ACS who was present in the occasion, appreciated President Martelly's brief speech in which he has clearly described every important achievement of his administration.

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Haiti's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced President Martelly will be paying a visit to Taiwan to meet with President Ma Ying-jeou for four days. The visit will be in conjunction with the anniversary of the two nation's diplomatic relationship, which began in April 1956. A phalanx of 30 senior government officials and business executives will accompany him. Among them are Duly Brutus, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Wilson Laleau, Minister of Commerce and Industry; and Thomas Jacques, Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Rural Development.

A meeting between Brutus and Taiwanese Foreign Minister, David Lin, will center on Haitian rice production, and solutions to increasing the yield. It is expected the two men will co-sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the rice issue.

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This can't look good for the Haitian community. First female Haitian-American Mayor of North Miami, Marie Lucie Tondreau, was among four people indicted on Mortgage found Monday, May 19, 2014.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida on Monday filed criminal charges for activities from December 2005 to May 2008 well before Marie Lucie Tondreau had become the Mayor of North Miami.

Tondreau along side with Karl Oreste, Okechukwu Josiah Odunna and Kelly Augustin were all charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. If convicted, she is likely to face up to 30 years in prison.

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A gathering of neighborhood legislators and pioneers, headed by Enterprise Florida, was last month called for a trade mission. The group included Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief, and also involved nearby business pioneers of the Dominican Republic. Governor Rick Scott was invited, but couldn't attend.

Now the HAPC (Haitian American Professionals Coalition), a non-profit that supports the necessities of the Haitian people is publicly challenging Sharief, and other pioneers, for their participation.

The reason, of course, stems from the Dominican Republic's unpopular new law that de-nationalized thousands of Haitians. The group views the participation of the assembled leaders as capable of sending the message to the Dominican government that their way is right and not a violation of the human rights of their Haitian neighbors. If not, then they have betrayed the smaller country by choosing to ignore the situation.

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Linda Dorcena Forry is a 41 year old Haitian American woman who was born and raised in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. She is a Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate who represents the first Suffolk district since June 2013. While presiding the recent elegant South Boston's annual St. Patrick's Day Breakfast, this State Senator has redeemed Southie's gritty honor on Sunday March 16. State Senator Linda Dorcena Forry is the first woman to command the podium, the first Dorchester resident, the first Haitian-American and the first person of color to helm the legendary event-- to host Sunday's St. Patrick's Day Breakfast in South Boston. It is a venue where politicians poke fun at themselves and colleagues.

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Convergent histories aren't the only things that Haiti shares with the nations of the African Union. There is also a similar outlook for the future regarding their countries. It is this current and future point of synchronicity that Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe wished to capitalize on when he participated in the Assembly of the African Union's 22nd Ordinary Session.

Fresh off his part in the Economic Forum's 44th session in Davos, Lamothe flew to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the AU meeting held from January 28 to 31, 2014. With the aim of the meeting being to hold talks on issues such as the security of food and agriculture, peace, the security of Africa and international trade, Lamothe found himself in a good position as observer of the meeting to glean new ideas and discuss possible partnerships to better aid Haiti.

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Guyana began as a Dutch colony in the 17th century, becoming a British territory in 1815. When slavery became outlawed, blacks moved to metro areas, and indentured servants were imported from India to toil on sugar plantations. Since then, the ethnic and cultural dichotomy has endured, causing internal strife.

Guyana won independence from Britain in 1966, its governments favoring socialist agendas. In 1992, Guyana held its first free elections, picking Cheddi Jagan as its first democratic president. He held office for five years, dying of unexplained causes. Janet Jagan, his spouse, took over, but left office in 1999 because of ill health. Since then, Jagan's successor, Bharrat Gdeo, has won election twice, most recently in 2006.

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Haiti's advocates aren't exactly a dime a dozen. It is a sorry state that radio-show host, Bahamian, Louby Georges spoke about recently, among other sentiments such as his country acting as a 'big brother' to Haiti. The occasion was the screening of the short-film 'Passage', by Kareem Mortimer at the National Art Gallery of the Caribbean's most prosperous country.

During his address to the audience as part of a panel discussion after the viewing, Georges used his considerable platform as host of the popular Kreyol Connection, to plead the cause of Haiti which he says, has been forgotten by the rest of the world, never mind the attention it gained post the 2010 earthquake.

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Very rarely does the United States get left out of any group, especially one including every country in its hemisphere save its North American neighbor, Canada. But, excluded have both countries been from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. CELAC, an acronym from the community's Spanish name, started in 2011, in an endeavor to achieve greater integration within the Americas and act as an equalizing force against the might of the U.S.

On the 26th of January, leaders from the community's member nations, including Haiti's Michel Martelly, Evo Morales from Bolivia, Argentina's Cristina Fernandez and Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, met to discuss the regional challenges of inequality and poverty at a summit held in Cuba. Pre-meetings between officials of the lower level took place earlier over the weekend, with foreign ministers taking the fore on Monday, January 27.

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A Quebec human rights group, Concertation pour Haiti (CPH), is advocating on behalf of the government of Haiti (GOH) about Canada and the international community's (IC) questionable ethics on helping Haiti rebuild its infrastructure after the 2010 earthquake. Specifically, CPH says the Canadian government won't reveal how $555 million in foreign aid is being spent on reconstruction efforts.

University of Montréal researcher, Paul Cliché, thinks Canada has spent far too much money on quick fixes for the housing problem in Haiti. Instead of constructing permanent housing, or rebuilding damaged residences, it is subsidizing ghetto-type temporary housing. This is to encourage Haitians still surviving in tent cities to move out of them. The problem, though, is the subsidies don't extend longer than a year, and with 60% of Haitians out of work, they could end up on the streets again.

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