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."

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.

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."

$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)

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.''

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.)

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?

Some Info On Haiti

The Trouble with Haiti: And why is it so poor?


Q. Who are the Haitians and what divides them?

A. The French first colonised Haiti in 1659, but it became an independent state in 1804 after a successful uprising by African-descended slaves, led by Pierre Dominique Toussaint-l'Ouverture. Tensions persisted between the negro population and the mulattos, those of mixed race.

Class and race go together. The vast majority of the 7 million population are descended from slaves, and are black. These are almost all impoverished. The elite, known as les blancs, are mainly coffee-coloured mulattos. Now the divisions are not quite so cut and dried. There is a black elite too. But few mulattos are poor.

Q. What are Haiti's main products / exports?

A. exports included light assembled goods and baseballs.

Q. How much of Haiti is American-owned?

A. Very little. The industry that does exist is mainly in light assembly. It is controlled by five mulatto families of Syrian and Lebanese origin.

Q. Why is Haiti so poor? Whose fault is it?

A. It used to be rich, because slaves were exploited to grow sugar. That came to an end 200 years ago. According to the most recently available World Bank data, Haiti's gross national product is less than dollars 400 per capita, and falling. Sanctions have made things worse. Three-quarters of the population is out of work. The country has no mineral wealth. It imports twice what it exports. There are also great disparities in wealth.

The poverty worsens with the high annual rate of increase (1.8 per cent) in the population, 75 per cent nominally Catholic.

Much of the natural forest has been devastated by excessive exploitation for charcoal, the main source of energy, which has contributed to soil degradation and erosion. This has further degraded the environment, leaving less and less arable land. Pollution in coastal waters has reduced the fishing catch.

Q. Why have the Americans invaded Haiti so often?

A. Actually, they haven't. Between 1849 and 1913, US warships entered Haitian waters 24 times 'to protect American lives and property'. But they invaded only in 1915, in an attempt to end tensions between the blacks and the mulattos. They left in 1934 after 40,000 died.

Lets think about this....

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has decided to continue an ill-advised Bush administration policy of deporting illegal Haitian immigrants. Haiti, already desperately poor, was devastated by storms last year. It is hard to see how an influx of up to 30,000 homeless, jobless people — the number of Haitians facing deportation from the United States — would do anything but further destabilize the country as it struggles to recover from what has been called its worst natural disaster in a century.

American advocates for Haitians have joined the Haitian government in pleading for an end to the deportations, arguing that all interests are better served by giving the detainees temporary protected status.

When a political crisis or natural disaster makes repatriation a bad idea, it is far wiser to allow people to stay put rather than be forced home where they will place further strains on local supplies of food, clean water and housing — all of which are perilously scarce in Haiti. The Haitian diaspora can do a lot more for its stricken homeland by sending home what is really needed: money.

Ending deportations of Haitians would also be consistent. Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Salvadorans and others whose countries have been hit by war, earthquakes and hurricanes have routinely been granted protected status in 18-month increments.

The strongest argument against doing so is the fear that boatloads of Haitians will take to sea in a deadly gamble. That is a legitimate concern. But the best way to address it is by helping to lessen Haiti’s misery with aid, trade and investment. Haitians living in America can help — but not if they are deported home to a country that is in no condition to accept them.