PetroCaribe - Haiti Observer Blog

Breaking news - Popular radio host of Radio Vision 2000, Valery Numa, just announced that he will make public tomorrow all information about the various projects currently being funded by Petrocaribe. According to the radio host, he will give a list of all the projects estimated to be over 200 from 2008 to 2015. In addition, he promised to release the cost for each project, how much money has been released for each and who has the money.

This is explosive information as Mr. Numa mentioned. Many listeners on the show sent emails and text messages, suggestion medication that are good for Diarrhea as they assume that many of the people responsible for the implementation of the projects will likely be sick in their stomach.

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Allegations the government of Haiti (GOH) has been misappropriating PetroCaribe funds has been hotly refuted by Pedro Antonio Canino Gonzales, Venezuela's Ambassador to Haiti. The charges come from the World Bank Envoy to Haiti, Mary Barton-Dock. She alleges the GOH has not made sufficient disclosures as to where and what projects the PetroCaribe funds go to.

The Venezuelan government established the Petro Caribe cabal to give member countries discounted rates and flexible repayment schedules, when buying oil from Venezuela. This arrangement permits users of PetroCaribe to amass funds for social improvement projects to create employment opportunities and steady economic growth.

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The Washington D.C., traditionally United States citizen led, World Bank has found yet another problem with Haiti's oil relationship with Venezuela. A special envoy from the bank with well over 100 international members has expressed concern with the lack of transparency regarding how the government uses the public funds being saved via the conditions of the PetroCaribe deal.

That the bank was concerned was revealed by Mary Barton-Dock, the local branch director of the World Bank at a recent press luncheon in Port-au-Prince. She claims that, after accruing state savings from the deal which allows Haiti to buy fuel from Venezuela at a rate of only 40% up front, with the remaining being payable over a period of a quarter century, the government is then not being held answerable as to how this money is spent. This allows them to use the public funds, valuing some $300 million per annum, as they see fit. Not only would she call for transparency, but also the better management of the investment budget from the project and a system of arbitration.

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Last week, Mary Barton-Dock, the Special Envoy of the World Bank publicly criticized the government of Haiti for the way they has been managing the fund from PetroCaribe. She wants more transparency over the management of the fund.

Mezanmi, Mary Barton-Dock antre nan ron san yo pa invite li

According to HaitiLibre.com. On Sunday, the Ambassador of Venezuela in Haiti, Pedro Antonio Canino showed his fury for the statement. He finds them inappropriate. According to Canino, the World Bank had no business to interfere in the Petrocaribe program. He actually demanded an explanation from Mary Barton-Dock, saying that this is something between Haiti and Venezuela.

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Mezanmi, opozisyon an gin jett nan min yo. The special envoy to Haiti for the World Bank said he is concerned on how the Haitian government is using the money generated by Venezuelan petroleum. According to him, that is a lack of transparency.

Blan-an di: "Nou pa ka kite sourit Ap veye format"

Sanble ke World Bank pete yon abse!

Mary Barton-Dock who is the director of the World Bank's office in Haiti, said that lack of transparency was the biggest obstacle to Haiti's economic development.

Ginyin yon proveb ki di, lafimin pa jam soty san dife

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The controversy over the Dominican Republic (DR) High Court ruling may cause DR natural-born citizens of Haitian descent to become stateless continues to raise ire in the international community.

Dr. Gonsalves, St. Vincent Prime Minister, wants the DR excluded from CARIFORUM. He has informed DR President Medina that Gonsalves has advised Venezuelan President Maduro to ban the DR's participation in PetroCaribe. Gonsalves added if the DR did not force the Court to rescind its ruling when the PetroCaribe Summit took place, he would put the issue on the agenda for discussion.

General La Rocque, Secretary of CARICOM, commented the ruling brings to the fore ". . . a serious question . . ." regarding the situation of natural-born citizens of Haitian descent. Gonsalves wrote Danilo the ruling was "unacceptable in any civilized community."

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The government of Haiti (GOH) is in hot water over allegations it has misappropriated a $3.4 million paid by Uruguay.

Five soldiers from the Uruguayan unit were charged in the sexual assault of a young Haitian soldier, Johnny Jean.

The GOH did not deposit the check into the Treasury, and hasn't been able to offer an explanation of where the money went. But Minister Pierre Richard Casimir of Foreign Affairs claims he received the money and transferred $1.8 million of it to the Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation for the Jalousie project. But Minister of Justice and aide to Prime Minister Lamothe, Brunache, disagrees, and says the funds for the Jalousie project came from the Petrocaribe loan.

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Laurent Lamothe, Haiti's Prime Minister, flew to Nicaragua for the Eighth Petrocaribe Summit held in Managua this year. Accompanied by President of Foreign Affairs, Wenceslas Lambert, and Marie Auguste, Deputy Minister for Human Rights and Fight against Extreme Poverty, they came to negotiate with Venezuela on forming an economic zone.

Eighteen countries constitute the Petrocaribe, a consortium of South Region nations. This year's summit was held on June 28th and 29th. President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela chaired the discussion panel and addressed the proposal of government of Haiti (GOH) for a trade program between the two countries. With the creation of an economic zone, it will be possible to increase Haiti's oil usage from 14,000-20,000 barrels per diem to a more beneficial quota.

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The present Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro paid his first official visit to Haiti on Tuesday, June 25, 2013. The meeting between Nicolas Maduro and the Haitian President, Michel Martelly took place on the grounds where once the National Palace stood before it collapsed during the earthquake of 2010. For several hours the meeting was held privately and was aimed towards starting the negotiations so that the flow of special funds could be renewed. Special funds refer to the oil money used primarily for infrastructure projects.

It must be noted that Venezuela is the biggest contributor or donor that has been helping Haiti to get back on its feet after the country was hit by the 2010 earthquake. A huge support came from the PetroCaribe fund of Venezuela. Millions of dollars from the PetroCaribe pact has been used by Haiti for renovating power station, rebuilding international airport runway and also for paying for fuel. The international airport in the second largest city of Haiti has been named after the former Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez.

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Dominican Media reported that the Haitian President Michel Martelly admitted that he lied over poultry products from the Dominican Republic.

According to Dominicantoday.com, Dominican President President Danilo Medina, during a meeting held on Sunday(6/30/13) with Michell Martelly and Haiti Foreign minister Pierre-Richard Casimir, the Haitian leader admitted that poultry products from the Dominican Republic are of good quality and that the Haitian ban was strictly economic.

The meeting was held during the summit of the Petrocaribe member nations in Nicaragua where the Haitian Government said that his country loses around $300 million in unpaid tax revenue due to chicken and eggs import from the Dominican Republic

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