Haiti’s Open Vein at Caracol Industrial Park

By Dady Chery Haiti Chery Haitians, who previously sold their kin as outright slaves and sugar-cane cutters, continue to sell them into sweatshops and other horrific work environments at home and abroad. Consider the case of Caracol Industrial Park, in … Continue reading →

Top Five Reasons Why Caracol Industrial Park is Disastrous for Haiti

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The Caracol Bay area was slated to be a World Heritage Site and Marine Park because of its breathtaking barrier reef, mangroves, and migratory birds. The area is also the site of archaeological finds including Guacanagaric, one of the largest and most complete Taino Indian villages. The area has been converted into the massive Caracol Industrial Park (or Free-Trade zone, FTZ) that is expected to pollute the Trou du Nord River and the bay and get served by a deep-water port.

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Stone-Age Animation

By Bruce Bower, Science News | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Thirty thousand years ago, when humans had just arrived to Europe from Africa and probably numbered only a few hundreds, they used cartoon-like techniques to create the illusion of wild beasts charging across cave walls.

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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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Poor Little Rich Haiti to Be Fleeced of Copper-Silver-Gold Via Caracol Deep-Water Port

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Plans are under way for Canadian and US corporations to mine Haiti’s northeast area near Caracol, which has been discovered to contain a wealth of silver and gold, in addition to copper. As in the Dominican Republic’s Pueblo Viejo project, construction of the mines will involve dynamiting of mountains, and the ore will be extracted by an opencast (or open-pit) mining process that contaminates large volumes of water with cyanide. UPDATES: Attempts to issue mining permits to the US’ VCS Mining LLC and Canada’s SOMINE SA, without any environmental impact assessment (EIA) were thwarted by Haiti’s Senate in January 2013. Plans to dredge a deep-sea port in the pristine Bay of Fort Liberte were scrapped in April 2014.

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Cave Paintings With Rare Red Pictographs Discovered in Eastern Cuba

By Orfilio Peláez, Granma. Three Cuban cave painting sites were discovered in a nature reserve in Imías municipality, Guantánamo province, in February 2012, by the Cuban Speleological Society. A use of the color red, found in these paintings, is rare and presumed to be linked to important events in the lives of the original pre-Columbian inhabitants.

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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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Scientists, and Squirrels, Regenerate a Plant — 30,000 Years on

By Staff, Seed Daily | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Scientists have managed to grow flowering plants from the 30,000-year-old flesh of a fruit retrieved from squirrel burrows in the same layer as the bones of animals from the Late Pleistocene Age.

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Caracol Haiti Industrial Park With Projected Adverse Environmental Impact | Caracol, un parc industriel d’Haïti Parc qui aurait un impact environnemental négatif

By Staff, Haiti Grassroots Watch. Part 6 of 7. The same week over 300 agricultural plots in Caracol, Haiti, were unexpectedly destroyed, the Haitian government signed an agreement with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, IDB, and Korean textile giant Sae-A Trading to convert the lands into an industrial park. This park will dump its wastes into a bay with extensive coraf reefs and one of the country’s last mangrove forests. (English | French)

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