Martelly - United States - Haiti Observer Blog

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES - A MATTER OF GRATITUDE AND RESPECT

Boca Raton, Florida
January 2018
President Donald Trump
The White House
Washington, D.C.

Mr. President, several years ago, I wrote an open letter to President Ronald Reagan on behalf of Haitian expatriates fleeing the murderous Duvalier regime who were seeking refuge in our country but were being deported. A similar situation is occurring today with the presence here under temporary protection status granted by President Obama of some of the victims of the terrible earthquake that killed 300,000, wounded thousands, left more than a million homeless and destroyed the infrastructures of many areas. After that disaster and the non-delivery of most of the international help that was offered, Haiti is far from recovering. To add insult to pain and suffering, you have reportedly qualified Haitians and their nation with a vulgar, blatantly mean expletive. Should you and your Government decide to deport them, Mr. President, they and their nation at least deserve respect and an apology. Many have been the arguments invoked in favor of allowing those few people to remain here - compassion, justice, human rights, protection of lives, family unification, etc. Unfortunately, all that is being defeated in the name of "law and order" and "defense of our borders". I am taking the initiative to write to you, Mr. President, not just as a request for compassion or justice, but also in defense of the honor of my native Haiti, a glorious country whose epopee is the most heroic in History, a nation to whom the whole world and the United-States in particular owe a debt of gratitude.

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U.S. State Department has issued its Fiscal Transparency Report (FTR) for 2014. The report analyzes governments' transparency in the preparation of their budgets, for them to qualify to receive foreign aid. However there are some countries that are still recipients of U.S. aid despite not meeting fiscal transparency criterion. The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was given $46.9 billion from the Treasury for the 2014 fiscal year. A total of 50 nations failed in 2014 to meet the minimum standards of budget transparency.

Haiti continues to receive U.S. aid because its circumstances are direst among poor countries in the western hemisphere. According to Executive Director Bob Perito of consultancy company, The Perito Group, Haiti is bereft of education and health systems. It also has neither a sanitation system nor running water.

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We learned that the point man for Haiti at the State Department, Thomas A. Shannon, is already in Haiti to organize the visit of State Secretary John Kerry in Haiti. According to information obtained, he came in yesterday, December 9.

The actual visit of Secretary of State Kerry has not been confirmed; however many have speculated that he will be in Haiti this Friday, December 12. By the way he is expected to arrive exactly one Month before everything in Haiti takes a turn for the worst on January, 12, 2014.

President Michel Martelly has plan to address the nation within 72 hours. Do you think the arrival of Thomas A. Shannon, the Counselor to U.S. Secretary of State Kerry and the eventual visit of US Secretary of State on Friday have anything to do with that?

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A warning has been issued to citizens of Haiti against all non essential travel to the United States especially considering the current situation prevailing there. In Washington D.C. the highest number of hate crimes has been committed. To respond to emergencies or crimes, the local authorities have limited abilities in certain areas.

Reasons To Avoid Travel

Shootings on a mass scale, gun violence, depression at high rate, ADD or Attention Deficit Disorder and epidemic rates of people getting overweight, etc are on the rise in the US. Citizens of Haiti are urged to exercise caution while visiting US.

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Haiti is known for several industries in the global market, especially in terms of agriculture and tourism. But only a few know of the country's garment and apparel industry which is slowly growing with the help of the United States government.

The U.S. government has recently launched a U.S. trade preference with Haiti in order to promote the country's apparel industry. Haiti was able to export about 18 million dollars' worth of apparel to the United States on a duty-free provision for most of 2012, a highly significant increase as compared to previous trades years back. According to the U.S. Government's Accountability Office in a recent report, local apparel firms in Haiti have been receiving more credits which can be received through utilizing U.S.-made fabric and other related materials in exchange with the United States being granted with duty-free trade preferences.

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Thanksgiving Day is not just for Americans because Haitians have their own ways of celebrating it too. While Thanksgiving is a national holiday in the United States, there are people from the Caribbean and Haiti in particular who have adopted this American tradition.

Just like Americans, Haitian families all over the world take the opportunity of the Thanksgiving Holiday to be with each other. Many of them have big turkey dinners and watch sports among other things.

The only difference is that they add a Caribbean touch and flavor to their celebration in the form of food. Many people from the U.S. with Caribbean roots, do celebrate with their own special menus for the occasion. They are the foods commonly served at Thanksgiving, but with an island flare.

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United States President Barack Obama's recent re-election has been welcomed by the Haitian government. President Michel Martelly congratulated Obama, who defeated Republican Mitt Romney. Martelly wished Obama the best of luck in running the United States for the second term. He also expressed hope that the two countries would continue their strong ties and that bilateral cooperation would strengthen even more.

Haiti is seen as one of the Caribbean nations that were probably relieved by Obama's victory. However, Interior Minister Rosnard Saint-Cyr said before the U.S. election that whoever wins the race does not really matter because the U.S. policy towards Haiti will not change. This was somehow opposed by some critics who believe that an Obama victory would be better for Haiti than a Romney leadership.

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Attorneys representing a Haiti high-level official, Rene Duperval, convicted of money laundering in a kick-back scheme between Haiti Telco and two U.S. telecom companies, filed a motion Friday afternoon to appeal his sentence. The past Director of International Relations at Haiti received a nine-year prison sentence for charges related to money laundering (19 counts) and money laundering conspiracy (2 counts). Besides the convictions, the defendant was forced to deposit close to $500,000 in bribery money that he allegedly received from Terra and Cinergy in 2003 and 2006, into a court escrow account.

Rene Duperval's attorney, John E. Bergendahl, filed the motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit, announcing his intention to appeal Duperval's prison term. When contacted by the news media, Bergendahl declined to comment.

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I would like to share with you the entire video of the victory speech of President Barack Obama.

In this video, Barack Obama addresses a large crowd in Chicago as he was declared winner of the 2012 Election in the US.

What do you think another 4 years of President Barack Obama will look like?

Do you think that Haiti will become more stsble as a consequence?

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The November 2012 presidential election in the United States is one of the most important events in world politics that could change and affect other countries greatly. For the upcoming election in the U.S., Jean Monestime was appointed to Electoral College.

The Electoral College requires the services of thousands of government officials and workers to ensure that the election will be done fair and right in choosing the next most powerful man in the world, which only happens every four years.

For Haitian-American Jean Monestime, working for the upcoming elections is a big obligation, and at the same time a huge privilege. Monestime, who is currently the Commissioner in Miami-Dade County's 2nd district, has been made a member of the Electoral College of the Florida Democratic Party. He is joined by 28 others in representing the state of Florida. The U.S. Electoral College is a set of selected individuals that represent a particular institution or organization in electing a candidate for a certain government office. The members are usually appointed just a few months before the actual elections.

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