A Little Dictatorship to Make the Band March in Time | Une petite dictature pour améliorer la fanfare militaire

By Frantz Duval and Robenson Geffrard, Le Nouvelliste | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Satisfied with his achievements during his first year, but frustrated about red tape that has his palace band without instruments, Michel Martelly announced that his team has started to think about an emergency law. (English | French)

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International Land Grabbers to Carve Up Haiti’s Rural Areas | Les accapareurs internationales de terre divisent les zones rurales d’Haïti

Report, Interamerican Development Bank via Relief Web | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti chery. Land tenure informality has been an obstacle to grabbing Haitian lands for use by big agricultural, mining, and power companies. Cambodia has undergone a process of mapping of land ownership similar to one proposed for Haiti. The land grabs and killings have begun in Cambodia. (English | French)

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The Rush to Haiti’s North | La ruée vers le Nord

By Roberson Alphonse, Le Nouvelliste | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. According to Dieuseul Anglade, director of Haiti’s Office of Mines and Energy in Haiti, during the negotiations for mineral exploitation, the Haitian State will keep a close watch to ensure that Haitian citizens benefit from the country’s wealth. Meanwhile, the mayors have been dismissed, and land prices have skyrocketed. (English | French)

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UN Soldiers Accused of Rape By Haitian Youth in Uruguayan Court

By staff, AHP | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | AlJazeera, YouTube. Nineteen year-old Johnny Jean from Port-Salut was heard on Thursday May 10, 2012 by Uruguayan Judge Guido Alejandro. Jean identified in court the soldiers he accuses of having raped him in a Port Salut base of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). (English | French)

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Haitian MPs Who Support Mayors’ Dismissal Will Get Community Development Funds | La Fenamh met l’exécutif en garde contre tout renvoi des cartels municipaux

By Gerard Maxineau, Le Nouvelliste | Editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The National Federation of Haitian Mayors (FENAMH) has fingered the executive and some lawmakers as having recently drafted a plan to dissolve 140 municipal councils and replace them with municipal boards at the service of the parliamentarians, but this plan was drafted abroad in the prefab constitution that came along with Haiti’s prefab president and its prefab parliament exactly one year ago. It is a plan especially designed to grab lands in northern Haiti.

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Agricultural Sector Could Boost Development | Le secteur agricole ‘pourrait constituer le poumon du développement national’

By Nocles Debreus, Le Matin | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Haiti’s agricultural sector creates 50 percent of the country’s employment overall and 80 percent in rural areas. Agronomist Phito Blémur believes that policies toward development and poverty reduction must take into account the vital role this sector played immediately after Independence when it accounted for 95 percent of the GDP, instead of the current 26 percent. (English | French)

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When Will Haiti’s Next elections Take Place? | A quand les prochaines élections en Haïti?

By Staff (EJ), Radio Metropole | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The mandates of one third of the Haitian Senate and various municipal executives expired in mid-January 2012, and the mandate of another third of the Senate expired on May 8. Mayors and local officials have been replaced by presidential decree, and no administrative provision is in place to organize new elections. (English | French)

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The Man Who Planted Trees | L’homme qui plantait des arbres | El hombre que plantaba árboles | O Homem que Plantava Árvores

By Frederic Back, You Tube | Based on Jean Giono’s short story, The Man Who Planted Trees. Director Frédéric Back’s marvellous interpretation of Giono’s allegory won an Oscar for short animation. The story is a tribute to hard work and patience. (English | French | Portuguese | Spanish, 30 min.)

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Pentavalent Vaccines Promoted by WHO Despite Deaths of Healthy Children – Part II, Haiti | Le vaccin pentavalent promu par l’OMS malgré des décès des enfants en bonne santé – 2ème Partie, Haïti

By Emmanuel Bruno Marino, AlterPresse | All-India Drug Action Network | Translations by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Within two months of the start of a campaign of vaccination with pentavalent vaccine in India by the World Health Organization (WHO), four healthy inoculated children died. Nevertheless, on April 16, 2012 Haiti announced that it would introduce the pentavalent vaccine Quinvaxem into its national immunization program at a cost $11 million. (English | French)

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Strengthened Haiti-Venezuela-Argentina Collaboration | Renforcement de la coopération entre Haïti, le Venezuela et l’Argentine

By Amos Cincir, Le Nouvelliste | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. A tripartite agreement of collaboration was signed at Haiti’s National Palace on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 between Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Lamothe, Deputy Foreign Minister of Venezuela Temir Porras, and Ambassador of Argentina to Haiti Marcelo Sebaste. The aid will consist of agricultural tools, an identification system, and literacy education. (English | French)

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Piarroux: Haiti Epidemic Could Be Gone in Months, Vaccination Target St Marc Has No Cholera | Interview du Dr Renaud Piarroux sur le choléra d’Haiti avec Priorité Santé

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery (English) | Renaud Piarroux and Claire Hedon, Priorite Sante (French). Contrary to the daily predictions of mayhem from the mainstream press about Haiti’s cholera epidemic, Dr. Renaud Piarroux, who has access to up-to-date medical information and laboratory results about the epidemic, says that cholera could be completely eradicated from Haiti in a few months, but not by the oral vaccination campaign promoted by Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population. (English | French)

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New Haitian Transport Decree Will Damage Small Agricultural Vendors | Un nouveau décret de transport en Haïti endommagera les petits vendeurs agricoles

By Staff, AHP | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. When the foreign press considers a bad road accident in Haiti, which caused no harm to their nationals, to be newsworthy, something is afoot. Two fatal Haitian road accidents immediately resulted in a ban of transit vehicles from transporting passengers with their goods and livestock. (English | French)

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Haitian Senate Suspects Counterfeiting Operation for Executive Branch | L’exécutif aurait son propre réseau de faussaires, soupçonne une commission sénatoriale d’enquête

By Staff (rh gp), AlterPresse | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. According to one of Michel Martelly’s passports, the former singer traveled to 21 countries that did not affix any seal of entry. Another passport is dated 1981 to 1991, although a Haitian passport is valid for only 5 years. (English | French)

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Caracol Free-Trade Zone Jeopardizes Natural and Cultural Heritage | La zone franche de Caracol met en péril le patrimoine naturel et culturel du Nord-Est

By Rachelle Charlier Doucet, AlterPresse | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. A massive industrial park is scheduled to open in the Caracol Bay area of Haiti, although no plan is in place to mitigate the park’s impact on a region that has been proposed as a World Heritage Site for its ecological, historical, and archaeological importance. (English | French)

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