Haiti Children

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Nov. 18 -- Haiti needs to enact legislation to protect children who are working as domestics in conditions that amount to slavery, an international organization suggests.

Amnesty International announced Wednesday it is launching a campaign to press Haiti's government to protect child domestic workers from abuse, ill-treatment and exploitation.

The United Nations estimated that there were as many as 100,000 Haitian girls working as domestics in 2007. Current Haitian laws do not provide protection for children.

"Most child domestic workers in Haiti live as virtual slaves," says researcher Gerardo Ducos of Amnesty International.

Ducos says girls in Haiti are trapped in a spiral of poverty and violence, often ending up on the street as prostitutes to survive.

"The eradication of this modern form of slavery is the only way to protect the rights of thousands of children," Ducos says.

Haiti want's the Olympics

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI—Emphasizing the country's warm tropical climate, vibrant culture, and long-term plans to cultivate farmland capable of sustaining actual crops, the Haitian Olympic Committee formally announced its bid Monday to host the 2216 Summer Games.

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Officials say the Games will be broadcast via satellite should the country happen to develop a space program by then.

Organizers of the LXXXI Olympiad, which would be held in the capital city of Port- au-Prince, said the event will showcase the many attractions that are sure to be conceptualized, financed, and constructed over the next 207 years.

"These Olympics will be the greatest the world has ever seen, provided inflation doesn't render the Gourd worthless and we manage to stumble into some kind of lasting stability in the next 20 decades or so," declared committee president Jean-Edouard Baker, standing beside a stack of burning tire shavings where he believes the Olympic flame may one day be housed. "2216 is our time."

Haitian leaders believe Port-au-Prince to be the ideal location for the games due to a number of civic improvements that could, in theory, be made there.

According to Baker, the city will try to compensate for its lack of passable roads and safe bridges by building a high-speed rail system which, "with a little luck," might someday connect to an Olympic village.

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"This is the place where we may be able to possibly erect an aquatics center," said Baker, gesturing to a partially submerged field piled high with rusted-out Jeeps. "We're hoping that within a century or two we'll be able to raise enough food to feed enough workers to move enough dirt to make a hole deep enough to contain an Olympic-size pool."

Added Baker, "We don't have much in the way of potable water, but that hole ought to fill on its own when the next hurricane strikes."

Representatives from the International Olympic Committee flew to Port-au-Prince Monday to survey the proposed site, landing on the country's longest of four paved runways. A brief and heavily armored tour of the city's marathon route gave planners the chance to show visiting delegates the many wonders that may eventually make up Haiti.

A banquet was held that afternoon in a dilapidated structure that local officials plan to tear down and rebuild as a multipurpose stadium. They said they hope to name the facility after a great leader who will rise to power at some point in the future—perhaps in the 22nd century—and bring peace and prosperity to the Haitian people.

Between bursts of automatic gunfire and the frantic screams of U.N. peacekeepers deployed in the area, Haiti made its case to the IOC.

"We want at some point to begin neutering the stray-animal population, so that elite runners from around the world will not have to leap over so many frail and lethargic dogs in order to cross the finish line," urban designer Antoinne Darbouze told IOC representatives. "And yes, once we can get our hands on enough asphalt, we'll have roads in places where they're absolutely necessary."

A local artisan also gave a presentation at the banquet, showing attendees how replicas of Olympic medals could be carved from indigenous fruits and then dyed colors that are similar to gold, silver, and bronze.

"By 2216, we hope that Haiti will be an inspirational place for the world's greatest athletes to compete," said René Préval, president of Haiti, a nation whose government has been repeatedly ranked as the most corrupt in the world. "And who knows, at that point our great-great-great-grandchildren may have eliminated the near-constant threat of protozoal diarrhea."

Despite the many challenges faced by the small island nation, the IOC remained confident that Haiti is, in the sense that it has not yet been officially eliminated from consideration, a real contender for the games.

"Haiti has a long way to go to meet our standards," said IOC president Jacques Rogge, pushing away a goat that had entered through a hole in the wall and was craning its neck to reach his plate. "They need to do a lot to build up their sporting facilities and hotel infrastructure, in addition to improving environmental conditions, developing a final sector, and quelling civil unrest."

"We're not going to make any decisions for the next 200 years," Rogge continued. "Though after seeing Haiti firsthand, I can honestly say the country faces some stiff competition from Atlantis."

We need to remember

While we where in Haiti we stopped at the domino's pizza store and while we where sitting in a very hot van there was this little old lady sitting on a step she was very thin. so we all looked in our backpacks to see if we had any food that we could offer her we had just been to the orphanage and so we had given most of are snacks to the little kids but one person had one granola bar so we offered it to her she gave the biggest smile to us.
It makes you feel so good to know that for that moment they are happy for such a little thing.
we all need to remember that yes sometimes you can not give millions of dollars to a cause but even just a little bit can help someone.
"so the next time just give what you can and if we all give a little it will turn into alot!"

Marketplace for Haiti

Millions of Haitians living abroad in many countries, including the United States now have a unique opportunity to invest in Haiti's future. The United States Agency for International Development [USAID] is partnering with Fondation Sogebank, a philanthropic institution of Haiti's largest commercial bank, to establish the Haitian Diaspora Marketplace.

The Haitian Diaspora Marketplace is a 2-year pilot program designed to encourage Haitians living abroad to contribute to Haiti's economic development through direct investment in productive business activities. Diaspora entrepreneurs have a special human and financial expertise that can be of great value to the government of Haiti in advancing more productive public-private investments. The program encourages the creation and growth of small businesses in key sectors, such agriculture, tourism, and information and communication technology.

The Haitian Diaspora Marketplace will provide access to grant funding to Diaspora entrepreneurs and will also offer technical assistance to the businesses. The implementation phase of the grants will include USAID contributions ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 with a 2 to 1 minimum cost-sharing requirement.

Grant applications must include business plans for sustainable activities that will be implemented with the participation of Haitian businesses. Competitors for the funding will also be required to provide detailed plans for sustainable business activities in Haiti. As part of this initiative, credit guaranty programs with local Haitian banks will provide improved access to credit entrepreneurs from the Diaspora. USAID will provide $200,000,000 in support for the program.

Acting USAID Administrator Alonzo Fulgham spoke to the second annual Haitian Diaspora Unity Congress in Miami Beach, Florida this month. He noted that the U.S. will provide over $300,000,000 in assistance to directly support national development priorities identified by the government of Haiti. And he called on the Haitian Diaspora to do its share.

"We want to work with you – our partners in the Haitian Diaspora – to work faster, harder, and smarter to advance sustainable development in Haiti," he said. Acting Administrator Fulgham urged the Diaspora to continue to let Haitian officials at the local and national levels know that Haiti needs stable and capable government institutions. Local non-governmental organizations need the Diaspora's help in the fight against corruption, he said. And most important, said Acting Administrator Fulgham, Haiti needs the expertise and experience of the Diaspora.

"The United States," said Acting Administrator Fulgham, "looks forward to working with the Haitian Diaspora to bring meaningful economic development to Haiti."

Tropical storm's on their way

The first Tropical storm in the Atlantic ocean has formed and is projected to hit Haiti by Tuesday. lets all pray that it will not change and become stronger,then the bad news is there is another one right behind it named Bill. poor Haiti it has been through so much they do not deserve more.

Rock star for Haiti

Former President Bill Clinton listed projects worth millions of dollars that he has secured for Haiti since he was named the country’s United Nations Special Envoy three months ago.

The news delighted hundreds of attendees at the annual Haitian Diaspora Unity Congress on Aug. 9.
Clinton also told the group gathered at the Trump International Beach Resort to stay involved in its affairs and encourage others working to build the country to continue their efforts, because Haiti is at an unprecedented turning point.

“I’m an outsider, but I’ve been going to Haiti for more than 30 years, and I know a little something about economics,” said Clinton, just days after returning from North Korea, where he helped free two American journalists. “It is my opinion that this is by far the best chance that Haiti has had in the 35 years I’ve been acquainted with it.

He continued: “The most important thing I can say today is that I consider every one of you very vital for this. The more involved you [the Diaspora] are, the better the odds get.”

The appearance of Clinton, as Haiti’s latest “rock-star” cheerleader, drew about 300 Haitians from Haiti, the United States and other parts of the world to the conference. As the day of his appearance drew near, numerous conference participants said they looked forward to hearing what he had to say.

Many said they look forward to the kind of leadership Clinton will bring to this latest round of efforts to develop Haiti’s economy, institutions and, overall, pull it out of the morass that’s given it the infamous designation of poorest country in the western hemisphere.

For Marilyn Leroy, a Miami interpreter, the main concern was how Clinton, Diaspora leaders and elected officials in the governments of both Haiti and the U.S. will create security in Haiti. Leroy’s sister lives and operates an elementary school in Haiti.

“I want to know if they’re going to make any improvements, because things are pretty bad,” Leroy said.

Clinton did not disappoint. After going over his role as U.N. Special Envoy—to coordinate the multinational’s activities in Haiti, raise funds for investment from philanthropists, and portray positive images of the country – Clinton launched into a list of projects and money he’s secured from his friends around the world.

The U.S. State Department’s downgrading of its advisory for travel to Haiti from dangerous is an important first step that Clinton said he helped pass. Advocates for the change had long said changing the advisory would help people feel comfortable about traveling there for business and pleasure, and pump tourism dollars into Haiti’s economy.

Among the commitments are $25 million from the Soros Economic Development Fund for the Haiti Invest Project, former Federal Emergency Management Agency director James Lee Witt committing $250,000 to provide disaster preparedness training for women in Haiti; and the donation of five unassembled windmills from Rolando Gonzalez Bunster, of Basic Energy Ltd., in the Dominican Republic to provide renewable energy at competitive prices in Haiti.

A trade mission with international investors, which Clinton will attend, is also being planned for October, he said.

Leveraging resources from his own Clinton Global Initiative, the former president also mentioned a study his foundation is conducting that may result in numerous energy independence projects across the Caribbean.

“There could be a lot of jobs for you, and a lot of investment,” Clinton told the conference attendees.

The local community is expected to play a significant role in investing in and building the country of 9 million people, either from South Florida or in Haiti.

The conference fell short of meeting its ambitious agenda of sending resolutions on each topic discussed to Haiti’s government by the end of the four-day event. But several individuals said they are committed to doing their part in their fields, hoping their successes will reverberate from Haiti to Florida and vice versa.

Richard T. Champagne, president of the Haitian Lawyers Association and a former Broward County assistant public defender, said that after the conference, he plans to form a task force to help at-risk Haitian-American youth.

“This was a good opportunity for everyone to come together under one umbrella, to discuss the problems that have been plaguing Haiti,” Champagne said.

Numerous Haiti-based organizations also updated attendees on progress they have made in increasing security and lowering violent crime, creating a Center for the Facilitation of Investment to guide potential investors on how to do business with Haiti, and government task forces in the works to coordinate efforts at various levels and build institutions.

South Florida elected officials also promised to support Haitian-Americans in efforts to improve communities here and in Haiti.

“Whatever affects Haiti affects Dade County,” said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Dorrin D. Rolle, whose District 2 is made up of many Haitians. “When there’s chaos in Haiti, there’s chaos here.
As an honorary Haitian-American in the community, if I can create better jobs for the people here, the Haitians here can send more to the island nation of Haiti.

Rolle continued: “With Bill Clinton in charge of Haiti, that’s a big draw, because he carries a lot of weight.”

Boat hit a reef

Rescuers searched by sea and air Tuesday for nearly 70 Haitians after an overloaded sailboat ran aground and capsized in reef-studded waters off the Turks and Caicos Islands, killing at least 15 migrants fleeing the poverty of their homeland.

The boat was carrying an estimated 200 people _ men, women and teenagers _ when it struck a coral reef and broke apart in rough seas near West Caicos, part of an archipelago that has proven to be deadly for Haitians in rickety vessels.

Such perilous journeys have long been common throughout the world, but the number of migrants risking their lives to cross borders has declined amid increased enforcement in the United States and Europe and due to a global recession that has eliminated many unskilled jobs.

But people continue to set out in search of better lives, including the Haitians who crowded into a sailboat last week in northern Haiti.

Officials from the United States and the Turks and Caicos said 15 died and more than 100 were rescued, including some who were clinging for their lives to the jagged reefs or who swam two miles to shore.

Dozens more were missing, as Coast Guard boats, airplanes and a helicopter joined local authorities and volunteers in searching a 1,600-square-mile area, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Jennifer Johnson said. Any survivors in the water would be struggling with 23 mph winds and 6-foot seas.

"We hope that there are survivors and we can get them medical attention," Johnson said. "However, as time goes by, it becomes less and less likely because of exposure and fatigue."

The Haitians had been at sea for three days when they spotted a police vessel and tried to hide, accidentally steering the boat onto a reef, survivor Alces Julien told The Associated Press.

"We saw police boats and we tried to hide until they passed," he said at a hospital where survivors were treated for dehydration. "We hit a reef and the boat broke up."

But Deputy Police Commissioner Hubert Hughes said officers were not pursuing the migrant vessel _ which did not have a motor _ and were involved only as rescuers.

"They were traveling in waters that are quite dangerous if you don't know the area quite well," he said.

Turks and Caicos is a magnet for divers who come to explore its clear, shallow waters and reefs _ conditions that also make it treacherous for boaters unfamiliar with the jagged outcroppings of coral that lie menacingly just below the surface in some places.

The wooden sailboat apparently fell into just such a trap, failing to navigate a narrow passage, Minister of Public Safety Samuel Been said after speaking with 10 of the migrants in a gymnasium serving as a makeshift detention center.

"The waves broke the boat apart," Been said. "It was frightening."

Rescuers found survivors stranded on two reefs roughly two miles from West Caicos Island, said Lt. Cmdr. Matt Moorlag, a Coast Guard spokesman. Most were ferried to land by Turks and Caicos authorities in small boats.

Five survivors were found on West Caicos after apparently swimming ashore, Hughes said.

Been said one Haitian man dove off a rescue boat and tried to escape, but was caught.

"It wasn't hard to get him; he was already tired," he said.

Johnson said the boat sank Monday afternoon, but Hughes said it might have been Sunday night. Turks and Caicos authorities reported the capsizing Monday to the Coast Guard, which patrols the region for drug traffickers and illegal migrants and often helps in search and rescue efforts.

Survivors told authorities the boat set out from northern Haiti with about 160 passengers, then stopped at an unknown location and picked up 40 others before sinking near the Turks and Caicos, an island chain between Haiti and the Bahamas, Johnson said. She said overloading appeared to be a factor.

"These vessels, they are grossly overloaded," she said. "Two hundred people on a sailboat is astronomical."

Nearly 60 survivors were surrounded by private security guards at the two-story gymnasium, a beige, concrete structure near the island's small airport.

"The people are being taken care of," said Donald Mettlus, an official from the Haitian Embassy who visited them. "They can walk. They are in good health."

How sad another Boat

The U.S. Coast Guard says a vessel carrying as many 200 Haitian migrants has capsized near the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Sabrina Elgammal, a petty officer third class, says the guard has been working with police to rescue 70 people who were stranded on a reef. She said four bodies have been recovered and authorities' main goal is "to get everybody out of the water."

She said the vessel capsized around 2 p.m. Monday afternoon.

Close ties to Haiti

Did you know... Washington has close ties to Haiti. Since the 1930s, many American leaders have visited Haiti. In this context, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt ( 1933-1945 ) traveled to Haiti in 1934. Sixty-one years later, Bill Clinton became the second American president to come to Haiti. President Clinton arrived in Port-au-Prince to confer with Jean-Bertrand Aristide ( country's president ). On the other hand, Colin Powell, Secretary of State, went to the country in 2004. In 2008, Laura Bush, America's First Lady, was the guest of honour of the Haitian government. Subsequently, Hillary Clinton, current Secretary of State, accepted an invitation to visit Haiti. In Port-au-Prince, she , who visited the country in 1998, met with high-ranking Haitian officials.

In the mid-1990s, Jimmy Carter, 2002 Nobel Peace Prize and former U.S. president, played a key role in bringing an end to military rule in Haiti.

Did you Know...

Did you know... Haiti's shooters -- Ludovic Valborge, L. H. Clertmont, Astrel Rolland, Destin Destine, C. Dupre, Eloi Metullus & Ludovic Augustin -- won a bronze medal at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games -- making it the first black nation in the globe to win a Summer Olympic medal. This medal made Haiti the poorest country ever to win an Olympic medal. Surprisingly they do it in an island where there are few sports facilities. Certainly the Caribbean team was a "dark horse" in France.

Haitian team even the basics are luxuries

During his first few days as coach of the national team, Haiti's Jairo Rios asked his players to stay hydrated, eat well and rest.

It was routine advice that he had doled out several times as a coach. But the Colombian national soon found that in Haiti, these orders weren't carried out so simply.

"It's been difficult working with players who struggle to make one meal a day, let alone three," Rios said. "Sometimes they don't even have water to drink."

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Americas. About 80 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to The CIA World Factbook.

Rios indicated that many of its inhabitants lack essential resources such as water, electricity and food.

"The Haitian is in need of everything but is practically forgotten by the world," he said. "Even so, I admire the Haitian because he is happy, joyful and without resentment. He doesn't complain or cry like we do."

The lack of funds, however, has made it difficult to establish an infrastructure needed to maintain a national soccer team.

Haiti needs basic equipment such as balls and cones. Items considered necessities in other places, such as gyms, are a luxury, Rios said.

Most players on the Haitian team that is facing Mexico today in the Gold Cup quarterfinals participate in their home country's professional league, where Rios said the highest-paid player makes $200 a month.

That is why the Gold Cup has turned into a perfect platform for Haiti's players to showcase their talent in front of other countries. Professional teams have started to notice, Rios said.

In turn, the coach seeks to continue helping Haitian soccer evolve.

Rios coached several pro clubs in Honduras before reaching an agreement to lead Haiti for the year's last qualifier.

Since his arrival, Rios has felt that he has much to offer Haitian soccer through his coaching experiences and knowledge. He also feels that Haiti has had a lot to offer him personally.

"My life has changed a lot," he said. "I'm a different person. I place more value on my family, my country and everything that God has given me."

Boat capsized off Haiti

Here is a Picture of what a typical boat overloaded looks like.(How sad all they want is to have a normal life and food.)

Five people are dead and dozens are missing after a 9-metre (30-ft) boat capsized off Haiti, officials said, revising an earlier toll of six deaths.

Rescuers saved 26 people and a search is continuing for the others aboard the vessel, which emergency services believe may have been overloaded.

The boat was reportedly en route from Anse a Pitre to the southern city of Jacmel when it overturned.

Survivors were taken to a hospital in Jacmel, AFP news agency reports.

Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of Haiti's civil protection agency, said some 60 people had been aboard the boat when the accident happened between the towns of Belle-Anse and Marigot.

The local rescue coordinator, Jean-Michel Sabbat, told AFP the boat was old and may have been overloaded with passengers and goods.

Local authorities and the UN mission in Haiti were helping with the search and were requesting help from local fishermen, Ms Jean-Baptiste added.

What one person can do WOW

Parsons, KS -- A young humanitarian in Kansas is making a huge impact on orphans around the world.

Isabelle Redford is just seven years old but you could learn a lot from her. What she started as a fundraiser with homemade cards is now a global project called Art for Orphans.

It all started when her mom told her a story about two little orphans whose mom died when they were being born. It was a story that inspired her to do something to help.

Within nine month's Isabelle's efforts really added up. She raised enough to build an orphanage in Haiti.

Last month she and her parents travelled there to see it.

Now less than two years after she started her project builders are breaking ground on a second orphanage in Malawi, Africa.

To get more information check out Isabelle's website:

http://artsfororphans.blogspot.com

surprised by Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said on Wednesday a lack of cooperation between Haitian politicians, aid groups and business leaders was hurting efforts to help the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Clinton, on his first visit since being named U.N. special envoy to Haiti, said he was optimistic about its future but surprised by the continuing divide between the private and public sectors and the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Haiti.

"The most surprising thing to me ... is how little the investor community, all the elements of the government, including the legislative branch and the NGO community seem to have taught and absorbed each others' lessons," Clinton told reporters at the end of a two-day fact-finding mission.

The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has struggled to establish democratic institutions and a stable investment climate following decades of dictatorship and military rule. Most of its 9 million people live on less than $2 a day.

But the appointment of Clinton by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in May, hundreds of millions of dollars in recent donor pledges and the granting of $1.2 billion in debt relief by the World Bank, IMF and other creditors this month has raised hopes in Haiti.

The Paris Club of sovereign creditors said on Wednesday it had decided to cancel $62.73 million of Haiti's debt and committed to canceling an additional $152 million.

Clinton met on Wednesday with business leaders, heads of the executive and legislative branches of the government and NGOs and civil society groups, after a tour on Tuesday of the mud-stained city of Gonaives, where floods last year killed hundreds of people.

He promised to do all he can to collect the money Haiti needs to address some of its crucial infrastructure, education and healthcare problems but urged Haitians to solve their internal differences.

"If it is a question of money that's my problem, but if it is not about money, that's something Haitians need to resolve among themselves," he said. "That's a little surprising to me. But everybody is eager to do it."

Bill Clinton in Haiti on Monday

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Bill Clinton aims to refocus international attention on this Caribbean country's deep economic problems and environmental decay during his first visit as the United Nations' special envoy to Haiti.

The former U.S. president, who is expected to meet with Haitian President Rene Preval and visit hurricane-battered areas, is lending his prestige to the plight of the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere as world attention has shifted to the global financial crisis and other trouble spots.

He was scheduled to arrive late Monday, but no public events were planned until Tuesday, the United Nations said.

The three-day visit will be Clinton's second to Haiti this year. He toured Port-au-Prince with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, recording artist Wyclef Jean and others in March, before Ban named him to the newly created post in May.

Clinton spoke at a Haiti donors conference at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington in April that generated $324 million in aid pledges.

As U.N. envoy, his aims include investment and job creation, particularly by expanding garment factories that export to the United States, and repairing Haiti's severe deforestation.

Those priorities were laid out in a 19-page report to Ban by Oxford University professor Paul Collier in January that was praised by Preval and other leaders.

But the report has been criticized by lawmakers and other Haitians who see the garment factories as havens for exploitative labor. Workers in the factories make a minimum salary of $1.72 a day, though some are paid more.

A bill passed by Haiti's parliament to raise the daily minimum wage to $5.14 was rejected by Preval, contributing to frustrations that have fueled street protests and kept most voters away from the polls during last month's Senate elections.

"If someone can't pay a worker $5, I think we don't need that person here in Haiti," said lawmaker Steven Benoit, who sponsored the wage increase.

Many Haitians have taken to referring to Clinton with varying degrees of respect, concern and sarcasm as a colonial "governor," a term rooted in Haiti's long history of slavery under France and U.S. military occupation in the 20th century.

Still, Clinton remains widely popular — especially among the mostly poor supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who are old enough to remember Clinton's help in restoring Aristide to power in 1994 after a coup.

Aristide was forced into exile by a rebellion in 2004.

Happy 4TH of July

I have a great appreciation for the great untied states, when we here the national anthem it makes us cry. I will never take such thing as food water, and great medical care as just something that is just going to be there. I truly feel bad for those that live in a third world country. They did not ask for all the trouble there country is in They did not ask to have no way to feed there family they where just born into those circumstances. I want to thank all the service man that go off to war to fight for our freedoms. Thank you so much and God bless you.

Haiti two killed in protest

On June 12 Haitian president René Préval finally responded to a bill Parliament has passed to raise the minimum wage from 70 gourdes ($1.74) a day to 200 gourdes ($4.97). The pay hike, the first since 2003, cleared the Senate on May 5. In an official letter to the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, Préval repeated claims of Haitian business associations that the wage increase would jeopardize the subcontracting sector, the free trade zone (FTZ) factories that assemble goods largely for export. He proposed an increase to 125 gourdes for that sector, and called on Parliament to be open to negotiations on the measure. (Haiti Press Network, June 17; Radio Métropole, Haiti, June 18)

Students from the State University of Haiti (UEH) continued the militant protests in Port-au-Prince that they began on June 3 to demand that Préval make the full wage increase official by promulgating it in the government gazette, Le Moniteur. Early on the morning of June 17, students used burning tires to create barricades near the Medical School and other parts of the university. As on previous occasions, Haitian police and police agents from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) used tear gas in an attempt to disperse the protesters. The students seized a MINUSTAH police car and set it on fire; the agents fled the vehicle. Protesters also burned a bus and smashed windshields with rocks. UEH protests began earlier in the year over curriculum changes, but the demands now include the minimum wage increase and the removal of MINUSTAH, a Brazilian-led 8,000-member military and police operation that has been in Haiti since June 2004. (Radio Métropole, June 17, 18; AlterPresse, Haiti, June 17)

Anger at MINUSTAH intensified on June 18 when supporters of the Lavalas Family (FL) party of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide (1991-1996 and 2001-2004) accused Brazilian soldiers of the shooting death of an unidentified young man outside the Port-au-Prince cathedral. Lavalas supporters had attended a funeral service there for Father Gérard Jean-Juste, a well-known Catholic priest and Aristide sympathizer. According to witnesses, the MINUSTAH soldiers had been firing in the air, although it is not clear why. An angry demonstration followed in which protesters smashed windshields; the action ended with protesters carrying the young man's body to the National Palace, the president's official residence. (AlterPresse, June 18)

Jean-Juste, who died in Florida on May 27 after a long illness, had run a popular food distribution service at his church in Port-au-Prince and was a founder of the Haitian Refugee Center in Miami. He was imprisoned in July 2005 by the interim government that was put in place after Aristide was forced from office in February 2004; Jean-Juste was released in January 2006 to undergo treatment for leukemia and pneumonia in the US.

At least one person died in clashes during a runoff for a third of the Senate seats on June 21. The victim—identified as Jean Pierre Wilfrid, a supporter of the social democratic Fusion party—was reportedly killed in an altercation with supporters of the Lespwa ("Hope") party of President Préval. (AlterPresse, June 21)

Its been awhile I just returned from Haiti

I just returned from Haiti it was a eventful trip there was alot of unrest in this country. I am all ways amazed at how we as a nation have so much but we do nothing for a country that has nothing but misery and starvation. while we drive on these sad roads people will come up to the van to sell us nasty water or weeds they have picked or anything else. when you hand them something as simple as a granola bar or a little snack they are so grateful for it. where people in our country just take it for granted.But there are those that do make it out of this country to become something. There is a young man on the show so you think you can dance that has come along way.he was a orphan on the streets of Haiti and knew it was a legit way of making some pennies to live and now he is a wonderful dancer. so we can all pray that some way some how there will be a change for this country.

Madonna get's Mercy

Pop singer Madonna has reportedly convinced judges to overturn their decision, and let her adopt second Malawian child. Two of the three appeal judges were said to have given a thumbs up to the application, while the third was allegedly 'in complete unison with them. The Queen of Pop, whose two-year application to adopt the three-year-old Mercy James was turned down in March, apparently heard the news from her attorney Alan Chinula. "The paperwork is being typed up now. All recommendations are in favour of the adoption taking place. Mercy should start packing her bags. She''s off to America," the Sun quoted a source as saying. A close friend of Madonna added: "She's ecstatic. She made a promise that she wouldn't give up on Mercy and, believe me, she could move mountains when she's this determined."  Madonna’s adoption bid was rejected by a court because she was not a Malawi resident, a requirement that was waived when she adopted three-year-old David Banda from the African country in 2006. The ruling is reportedly slated to be announced soon at Malawi's Supreme Court of Appeal.

$121 Million Strategy

The World Bank on Tuesday approved a new four-year, $121 million lending strategy for Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, that focuses on economic growth, jobs and reducing the impact from natural disasters.

"With this new strategy, we are supporting Haiti's own efforts to put the difficult events of last year firmly behind it, and return to a path toward longer term growth and development," said Yvonne Tsikata, the World Bank's Country Director for the Caribbean.

"The country faces great opportunities, as well as huge challenges, and it needs strong and sustained support from the World Bank Group and other international partners."

The United Nations has some 9,000 peacekeepers in Haiti, which has long been afflicted by political instability and violence and was heavily damaged by hurricanes last year.

It is beset by high poverty, poor basic services and unemployment levels, while deforestation has left the country almost treeless.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton was named on May 18 as U.N. special envoy to Haiti in a move to attract investment to the country.

The World Bank said its lending plan provides assistance through a mix of investment projects and development policy measures. At the same time, the Bank said it aims to stimulate private sector development with help from the International Finance Corporation, the Bank's private-sector lender.

IFC said it had identified agricultural and textile manufacturing sectors as potential growth areas for Haiti.

"We are working with the government and investors to identify key feasible actions and priorities that will together have the greatest growth impact," said Atul Mehta, IFC director of the Latin America and Caribbean department. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Gary Hill)

Weary Haiti braces for Hurricane season

GONAIVES, Haiti -- Joicilia Mercius, a frail-looking woman who lives in a hillside tent city of canvas and soiled bedsheets, feels a sense of dread at even the slightest hint of rain.

First her heart leaps. Then her mind flashes back to last September when she grabbed hold of her four children and trudged through waist-high water that swallowed her humble home and buried it in mud.

''If we get the same kinds of storms we had last year, I will die. I've accepted that,'' said Mercius, 56, among more than 400 families living in a sprawling encampment on the eastern edge of this flood-prone Haitian city.

''I can't do it,'' she said. ``I don't have the strength to run to the hills.''

As the Atlantic hurricane season kicks off Monday, Mercius and countless other desperately poor Haitians fear an environmentally fragile Haiti is no more ready to weather this season's storms than last year, when a succession of tropical storms and hurricanes in a span of 30 days killed almost 800, left hundreds of thousands homeless and caused $1 billion in damage.

''I can't say we are ready. But we are better prepared than we were last year,'' said Haitian Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé. ``The government has made more of an effort . . . to control the risks from flooding, because we learned a lot.''

In the past few weeks, millions of dollars worth of heavy machinery has been dispatched to vulnerable cities like Gonaives in the northwest, Les Cayes in the southwest and the small town of Cabaret, just north of Port-au-Prince, where the bodies of dozens of children washed up following the fourth storm, Hurricane Ike.

The Bureau of Civil Protection, led by the country's lead disaster coordinator, recently launched a campaign asking the question, ''Are We Ready?'' And volunteers in several communities have been armed with bullhorns to alert of looming disasters.

''We are making a huge effort to try and develop the kind of culture we want to have,'' said coordinator Dr. Yolène Surena, who concedes the plan is far from perfect but a good start. ``We want people to understand they live in a country at risk, and if they live in a high-risk country they need to have a certain kind of attitude.''

Heavy rains this year already have killed at least 11 people, and left more than 600 newly homeless.

Rains in the southeast washed out a critical road that a U.N. World Food Program (WFP) truck used to deliver food to Baie d'Orange, where dozens of children died last year from storm-related malnutrition. WFP is now trying to find other means of reaching the isolated community.

In the Artibonite Valley, where barren mountain slopes surrounding Gonaives have left the city vulnerable to lethal flash floods, recent rains triggered such a panic that residents ran to rooftops and into the hills. The city, which sits like a clogged bathtub, has the added problem of bad drainage and accumulated earth that quickly turns to mud.

''The season could be very tough,'' said Myrta Kaulard, the WFP representative. ``Because people and infrastructure have not recovered yet from last year and are more vulnerable, a small rain can have the impact of a storm.''

That reality is not lost on the people of Gonaives, where eight months after Tropical Storm Hanna, bulldozers are still trying to remove millions of cubic millimeters of mud. The city is one of several that authorities have targeted for intense hurricane preparation. The focus has turned the city into an oversized construction pit with workers feverishly trying to unclog canals blocked with mud and debris, repair three major drains and expand and deepen miles of the La Quinte River, the principal waterway that runs through the city.

Haitian President René Préval traveled to the city three times in recent days to oversee the work. Among his concerns: the La Quinte River, where dredging only recently began and has been hobbled by a dispute between Haitian authorities and the international partners also involved in the work. Critics say the European Union and U.S. Agency for International Development, which agreed to finance a portion of the river's rehabilitation, are taking too long to get the job done.

Meanwhile, donors have expressed their own concerns, including whether a government-run construction outfit known as CNE is qualified to take on such huge infrastructure assignments. They complain that while the outfit has the heavy machinery -- the government bought $90 million worth after the storms -- vehicles are always lacking gas, and there is not enough technical expertise.

Frustrated, the government recently directed CNE to begin work on the 1.5 mile stretch of the river that CHF International was supposed to begin work on under the $16 million bid it won from USAID.

CHF Country Director Alberto Wilde said the delay was because of a required environmental impact study, and by the bidding process.

''People tend to rush into things. They want to see action but sometimes the preparation takes longer than the execution itself,'' Wilde said. Wilde and others say that the decision to widen the river to 40 meters instead of the 25 meters is contrary to the recommendation of a July 2008 EU study.

''There are environmental implications when you do anything with rivers,'' said Alex Deprez, USAID acting deputy mission director. ``The work needs to be done based on sound environmental and engineering studies, and it takes time to do work that will stand the test of the next storm season.''

Haiti's Agriculture Minister Joanas Gué said the decision to widen the river is based on Haiti's own study. ''What is important for us is protecting lives and investments, and limiting the risks,'' Gué said. ``CHF had money in their hands and up until now, they are not ready. We have no choice but to take the lead in Gonaives. Any little rain, people put their suitcases on their heads and start to run.''

Still, Haiti is treating the symptoms of the problem rather than the cause -- its deforested mountains.

''After the river has been high and some houses have been flooded, that is when you see them coming with their bulldozers to try and do something, after the damage has been done,'' Gonaives Pastor Michel Morisset said.

Morisset's Mission Evangelique Eben-Ezer church sits just off the national road, still buried underneath a newly formed lake, forcing visitors to take a grueling, 25-minute detour in or out of the city. Across the street from the church, three dozen families are living in tents.

''It's not safe,'' Morisset said of the blue tarps he recently got upgraded with a zinc ceiling and concrete slab floor. ``But it's a lot better than the [other] tents. It's not anything close to what the people need to feel safe. It's not a home.''

Further inland, dozens of residents complain that they are living in misery.

''Hunger is killing us, misery is killing us, the rains are soaking us,'' said Antoinette Paul, a 48-year-old who had to scatter her eight children around town. ''They say they would like to do this for us, discussions go back and forth but nothing is resolved. They say we don't have any problems. That is a lie,'' she said.

``You are sleeping, scorpions are biting you; snakes are crawling on top of you. The misery is just too much for us.''

Bien-Aimé said everyone living in temporary shelters was given money by the government to return home. The state, he said, can't afford to keep taking care of storm victims, but added those still living in tents will be relocated.

''They all have pretty words, but we haven't seen any action on behalf of the people,'' said Osnel Clairilus, 20, adding that they last received potable water in February from a government truck. ''Giving us a few dollars doesn't solve the problem. What we need is a place to live,'' he said. ``We have children we have to clothe and feed and send to school.''

Still bad news for Haiti and the Dominican Republic

Nearly two weeks of heavy rains in Haiti and the Dominican Republic have left at least 16 people dead, a national official says.

Emergency Management chief Alta Jean-Baptiste said 13 people were confirmed dead in Haiti. She could not confirm Haitian radio reports out of the southwestern town of Jeremie that three more deaths had occurred there, the Latin American Herald Tribune reported Sunday.

In addition to the deaths, about 2,000 Haitian families have been forced from their homes.

At least three people have died and 4,170 others have been left homeless in neighboring Dominican Republic, emergency management officials there said.

memorial for those who died at sea

Haitian religious leaders hold memorial for migrants who died at sea

Haitian religious leaders held a memorial Mass in Little Haiti for nine migrants who died off the coast of Boynton Beach

A child's coffin placed atop an adult coffin draped in Haitian flags stood before an alter inside Notre Dame D'Haiti Catholic Church.

Monday evening, despite the rain, hundreds of people filed into the Little Haiti church to grieve on a day that is supposed to be festive -- the 206th anniversary of the Haitian flag.

May 18 marks a day of pride when Haitians in Haiti and the diaspora pay homage to the red and blue flag with great fanfare. A flag firmly connected to a history of conflict and liberty.

''But today,'' Jean Souffrant said, ``we come to mourn the death of our brothers and sisters at sea.''

The empty coffins at the interfaith memorial service were symbolic of the of nine Haitians who died in the waters off Boynton Beach on May 14 in what authorities have confirmed as a smuggling operation.

Among the fatalities: a 1-year-old child and a woman who was eight months pregnant.

''Though tears are in our eyes, we continue to hold our heads high,'' said Rev. Reginald Jean-Mary to the crowd.

Most in the audience never met the deceased or even knew their names, but like Annette Jean, they wanted to pay their respects.

''We are one family. When one Haitian suffers, we all suffer,'' Jean said.

The message, both spiritual and political was a rallying cry for Haitians to unite in their fight for temporary protected status for an estimated 30,000 Haitians living in the United States.

TPS would allow Haitians to apply for U.S. work permits during times of civil strife or natural disaster on their island nation.

''The Haitian community is missing the political clout the Cubans have. The Obama administration has not felt the pressure,'' said activist Marlene Bastien, on why TPS has not been granted after Haiti was battered by two consecutive tropical storms last year.

During a candlelight vigil during the service, emotions ran high; cries and prayers alternately spilled from the audience. One woman with tears streaming down her face shouted, ``Why the baby, lord? Why?''

''We pray for all the families who are suffering and the ones who paid the ultimate price,'' said the Rev. James Saint-Julien of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Orthodox Anglican Church.

After the memorial, pallbearer Hans Mardi said granting TPS would allow family members in the United States to send more remittances to their homeland, deterring people from attempting the deadly trip.

''We don't want any more caskets,'' he said, ``We want people in Haiti to stay in Haiti.''

Heavy rains

Officials in Haiti say several days of heavy rains have killed at least 11 people, with nearly half the deaths occurring in the northern Artibonite area.

Authorities said Thursday that hundreds of homes have been flooded or destroyed by the torrential rains pounding Haiti ahead of the Atlantic hurricane season, which starts June 1. Last year, four storms devastated Haiti, killing hundreds of people and wiping out 15 percent of the country's economic output.

Haiti is the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. It is vulnerable to floods in part because of massive deforestation and poorly constructed houses.

In April, Haiti received $324 million in new aid commitments from international donors. Earlier this week, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named former U.S. President Bill Clinton as his special envoy to Haiti.

Both men visited Haiti in March to refocus international attention on restoring economic security to the Caribbean country.

Happy flag day and hopefully some good news for Haiti

Add another country to the former president’s future travels.

The United Nations, according to news reports, plans to announce on Tuesday that former President Bill Clinton will become a special envoy to Haiti, which has been ravaged by a series of storms and hurricanes that left nearly 1,000 dead.

Mr. Clinton visited the nation along with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon a few months ago, and he appealed at a donors conference here for contributions to help with disaster aid as well as investment aid.

While the former president’s actions are independent of his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, she, too, visited Haiti briefly in mid-April to call attention to the nation’s plight and to pledge rebuilding aid.

In a statement he gave to The Miami Herald, he said he would be employing the Clinton Global Initiative, his far-ranging philanthropic effort, to try to help Haiti rebuild.

It's not right

Fla. Haitians mourn 9 migrants who died at sea

MIAMI (AP) — The Rev. Reginald Jean-Mary's voice faded as he contemplated what to tell his parishioners at a prayer service Friday for the Haitian migrants aboard a boat that capsized off Florida's coast.

Hope dissolved into grief after the U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Thursday night for more survivors. At least nine people died, including a 1-year-old girl, when the boat carrying as many as 35 people capsized early Wednesday. Sixteen others were rescued that day about 15 miles off the coast of Boynton Beach, some 60 miles north of Miami.

It's a familiar service for Jean-Mary: In 2007, a dilapidated sailboat filled with 101 Haitian migrants finished its three-week journey just north of Miami. One died, and the rest faced deportation. Each year, boats packed with migrants from the Caribbean nation make similar treks. An untold number perish along the way.

"It's not right. It's not right," Jean-Mary repeated Friday, each phrase softer than the last. He paused, then forced out the words again behind a weary sigh. "It's not right."

The migrants hope to escape Haiti's oppressive poverty and chronic instability, worsened last year by four tropical storms and hurricanes that killed 793 people, caused $1 billion in damage and crippled agriculture in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Since October, the Coast Guard has stopped 1,377 Haitians trying to get to the U.S.

Jean-Mary's parishioners at Notre Dame d'Haiti, a Roman Catholic church in Miami's Little Haiti, grieve not only for their dead countrymen, but also for survivors who often are deported. They hung their heads at a Mass on Wednesday night, when Jean-Mary broke the news about the nine deaths.

"People began to cry. You could hear the whispering of despair and frustration, the sadness in their voices and in the prayers they addressed to God," Jean-Mary said.

Family members and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were working to confirm the identities of the dead, said Tony Mead, operations manager for the Palm Beach County medical examiner's office.

The Coast Guard identified 11 survivors who had been held aboard a cutter, saying they were in good health and taken ashore Friday. They were to be processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, along with five others who were already ashore.

Geraldene Lubin rejoiced at the news that her cousin, Gibson Jean-Louis, was alive.

"If he'll be able to be released and come back to his family, that will be even better," she said.

Advocates asked the Coast Guard to give survivors access to immigration attorneys.

U.S. authorities were investigating whether the trip was a case of immigrant smuggling or if other criminal activity was involved. Relatives and community leaders said the migrants likely saw the trip, even aboard an overloaded vessel, as a light at the end of a dark tunnel through poverty and constant strife.

"You can blame the smugglers, but you can't put all the blame on them," Jean-Mary said. "If in Haiti we could find better ways of living, the smugglers would not be able to find them, to manipulate them, to take them to die."

Advocates and lawmakers have asked the U.S. government to grant temporary protected status to Haitians, which blocks deportations to countries hit by natural disasters or political upheaval. A handful of African and Central American nations have such protection, but President George W. Bush denied requests for similar protection for Haiti last year.

Pierre Massillon of Loxahatchee believed his 25-year-old cousin, Frencintte Belizaire, was among the migrants on board seeking a better life. Another cousin in the Bahamas told him Belizaire left Bimini on Tuesday aboard a boat bound for Miami.

Belizaire wanted to go to college, but there was no money for more schooling with seven siblings to support in Jean-Rabel, in remote northwestern Haiti. Massillon said he warned her four years ago to find another way.

"I told her, 'If you come here (by boat), there are two chances: You might not reach here because of the high risk, and if you reach here they might deport you,'" he said. "She said, 'Whatever it takes.'"

What a sad day for Haitians

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A boat overloaded with around 30 people, possibly Haitians being smuggled to the U.S. from their desperately poor country, sank off the Florida coast early Wednesday, dropping the occupants into the sea. The Coast Guard rescued 16 and was searching for others but at least nine died, including one infant, said Petty Officer Nick Ameen.

The search was expected to last overnight, and although the Coast Guard hadn't figured out exactly how many people were aboard or how many might still be lost at sea, it appeared certain that it fit the profile of migrant smuggling.

"The boat was obviously overloaded," Coast Guard Capt. James Fitton said. "It's a tragedy that someone would be so callous with human life."

For those familiar with the plight of Haitians, the escape attempt was no surprise.

"The economic conditions in Haiti are deplorable, and I don't see them getting any better any time soon," said Andy Gomez, a University of Miami expert on Caribbean migration. "And the Haitian-American community has developed a pretty good network here in the last five or 10 years, just as the Cuban-Americans have done, so there's more of a reason to come."

Four tropical storms and hurricanes battered the Western Hemisphere's poorest country during last year's harvest season, killing 793 people, crippling agriculture and causing $1 billion in damage to irrigation, bridges and roads.

In January, United Nations-sponsored groups said more aid was urgently needed to stave off famine in several areas of the country.

Fitton said the boat apparently left Bimini in the Bahamas on Tuesday night and was believed to have capsized or collided with something at about 2 a.m. Officials didn't learn about it until another boater called more than 10 hours later.

The boat has not been found, and is thought to have sunk because it hasn't been spotted from the air. Fitton said all those rescued were expected to recover. Besides children, women also were aboard, including a pregnant woman.

Six women, two men and the infant died, Ameen said. He said there was some confusion in the numbers because of the crossover of agencies working on the recovery.

Two Coast Guard cutters, one helicopter and one jet were still searching late Wednesday about 15 miles off the shore of Boynton Beach where water temperatures by the afternoon were in the high 70s.

Since October, the Coast Guard had stopped 1,377 Haitians, up from 972 during the same seven-month period last year.

The ship's sinking came as Haitian-American leaders met in Washington on Wednesday to lobby for temporary protective status, or TPS, for those from the country who make it to the U.S.

It would be an emergency measure to keep people from being deported to their homeland so they can help their country recover following a natural disaster or major political upheaval. It has been granted to countries including El Salvador and Nicaragua but never to Haiti.

"If not now, when?" Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, asked of potentially granting Haitians protective status. "The longer it takes the administration to decide whether to grant TPS, the more people may decide to attempt to make it to our shores."

Night fell on Riviera Beach, where numerous bodies were zipped into silver bags and wheeled off on gurneys after being unloaded from a Coast Guard boat.

The Coast Guard said it was not known whether the boat's captain and any crew members were among those found and survivors haven't indicated who may have organized the trip.

"We haven't even asked those questions yet," Fitton said.

___

Associated Press writers Lisa Orkin Emmanuel, Laura Wides-Munoz and Jessica Gresko in Miami and Hilary Lehman in Riviera Beach contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects per updated Coast Guard numbers that 9 dead, 16 rescued, reason why the change. AP Video.)

International Adoptions?

Madonna’s quest to adopt a second child — a 3-year-old girl — from Malawi has once again put the celebrity in the spotlight and stirred debate about international adoptions.Save the Children (U.K.) has said that the girl Madonna wants to adopt and children like her would be better off in their home countries, and that most children in orphanages have extended family. This view of international adoption is also held by Unicef. the news media often distorts some aspects of international adoption, but can at the same time bring needed attention to important realities the biggest problem in international adoption is that many who call themselves advocates for children’s human rights press for legal restrictions that limit the ability to provide homes to children in need. Thus Save the Children calls for denying Madonna’s second adoption based on interpreting a residence requirement so as to prevent virtually all international adoption. Some 67 children’s rights organizations went into court to oppose her first adoption. Unicef calls regularly for restrictions limiting international adoption to at best last-resort status.

Many millions of children worldwide are living and dying in orphanages or on the streets, with no possibility of finding homes in their own country. Unicef argues for the creation of foster care and social welfare programs, but these things will not happen overnight, and foster care generally doesn’t work nearly as well for children as adoption.

International adoption provides good homes for the children lucky enough to be placed, and brings significant new resources into countries to improve orphanage conditions and help build welfare programs for the future. Celebrities like Madonna and Angelina Jolie have provided many millions of dollars for such efforts. While few individual adopters have their resources, many develop comparable interest as a result of their own adoptions in contributing what they can to help those children left behind. I agree with this point on International Adoptions this is what helped me and Dave see what was going on in Haiti.I know when I tell people about Haiti they are shocked they never really heard on seen images of Haiti.once they are informed they are all ways willing to help our orphanage or what ever group we know that is helping this country.So I think judges in these country's should really take in the child's life and all that the adopting parents can do to help this child plus the country they are adopting from.

Violent Past

carlos Nerilus, a Haitian man living in the Dominican Republic’s capital, Santo Domingo, was lynched and beheaded last week by an angry mob. The incident was allegedly sparked by the stabbing of a Dominican man by a Haitian worker in the Buenos Aires neighborhood.

Police say that an "inflamed throng" got a hold of Nerilus and proceeded to lynch him before gruesomely beheading him. Onlookers cheered, applauded and laughed, and some even took cell phone photos and videos of the incident.

There is a history of violence between the neighboring countries, with this incident causing tensions to run particularly high. Kély Bastien, president of the Haitian senate, insisted that due to the gravity of the crime his Government “must go beyond an official protest” and “call the Haitian ambassador in Dominican Republic to Port-au-Prince.” Dominican Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales has since condemned the act and pledged to prosecute the responsible parties.
Do you think Dominicans and Haitians will ever be able to move past their violent past?

What a Thing Haiti had to do!

Mexican government officials have expressed hope that the worst may be over, but fears over travel, goods and products related to Mexico appear to persist.

Haitian officials turned back a Mexican ship laden with corn, wheat, beans and medicine, a move that Calderon decried Wednesday as "the fruit of disinformation or of ignorance."

"Where the people are truly dying, not from the virus, the people are dying of hunger, we have sent aid systematically to Haiti," Calderon said.

This is one thing Haiti would not need in their country.They all ready have so much to face with no safe water to drink and parasites and other terrible disease.I understand why they had to make this choice.