Joe Biden - Haiti Observer Blog

The Haitian President arrived in Washington yesterday (February 4th, 2014) to finally meet with the American President Barack Obama. He will spend 4 days there and is expected to meet some high level members of the American Government.

On Wednesday, he will meet Secretary of State John Kerry at the State Department, the "Congressional Black Caucus and in the evening will attend a dinner hosted by Senator Bill Nelson of Florida at the Hilton Hotel.

On Thursday, Martelly will meet the American President Barack Obama as well as the U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden.

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Haitian President Michel Martelly and American Vice President Joe Biden have begun a dialog between the U.S. and Haiti. They met in May when Biden made a visit to Trinidad on state business and spoke by phone for approximately an hour on 6/19/2013. The agenda included post-2010 reconstruction projects, making the government of Haiti (GOH) more efficient and responsive, and initiatives to tackle anti-corruption practices within the GOH.

Most imperative, Biden stressed, is Haiti hold free, fair, and transparent elections before years' end. The international community agrees. Haiti's electoral system is bicameral, composed of the Temporary Electoral Council (TEC) and the Permanent Electoral Council (PEC). Before an election can be held, the PEC must be seated. Until this happens, the TEC acts as proxy, with no powers to oversee the ballot casting and counting process. Martelly has been embroiled with the opposition party over his PEC pick, a corrupt politician. He is insistent his guy remain on the PEC, rather than the opposition appointee.

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Haitian President Michel Martelly has been long on the heels of American President Barack Obama, hoping for a meeting between the U.S. leader and the CARICOM members to discuss issues relating to both bodies. The Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, made a recent visit to Trinidad and Tobago which has given Martelly, and those hoping for a summit between CARICOM and the U.S., great hope.

Describing Vice President Biden's visit as a significant sign that the long wished for summit will eventually, if not soon, take place, Martelly, the recently named Chairman of the Caribbean Community, is finding the fruits of his labor coming to bear. This is the first sign of traction after his open call to the U.S. for a high-level summit with the region. The president made a visit to the region once after going into office in 2008 and was last in Trinidad for the Summit of the Americas in 2009.

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The U.S. Vice-President met representatives of the Haitian community at the White House In January 2011 to discuss progress in the earthquake and other issues. Vice President Biden took this opportunity to reassure the Haitian community the Obama Government's commitment to the reconstruction of Haiti after the devastating earthquake.

Joe Biden is not new to the Haitian community. In April of 2010, In a gesture of support to the Haitian community who were affected by the earthquake, he paid a visit to Little Haiti in Miami. Vice-President Joe Biden came to Little Haiti Cultural Center and met with several Haitian-American activists and elected officials. He greeted Rev. Reginald Jean-Mary, Farah Juste and many others.

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Vice President Jo Biden and officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development will meet with the Haitian community leaders at a new cultural center in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood.

The vice president hosted a similar meeting here in January shortly after a magnitude-7 earthquake struck Haiti.

Vice President Joe Biden will be meeting with Haitian-American community leaders in Miami to discuss reconstruction efforts in Haiti. This is a sign that the Obama administration will not forget us as promised

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