Paramilitary Gangs Join UN Force in Preying on Haitian Population

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. It is hardly worthwhile to entertain some notion that the U.N. force MINUSTAH and the new paramilitary gangs are somehow at odds with each other. Both are supported by the U.S. and France, and both prey on the Haitian population and National Police. MINUSTAH’s abuses are given as the reason why a Haitian army is needed to defend the national sovereignty, and the threat of abuse by paramilitaries serves to justify MINUSTAH’s continued stay.

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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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Speakers of Haitian Parliament Issue Urgent Call for Popular Vigilance to Respect for Law | Les présidents des deux chambres appellent à la ‘Vigilance’ citoyenne pour ‘éviter le pire’

By Haitian Speaker of the Senate and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, AlterPresse | Translated by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. “You stood up in 1804, 1934, 1986 and 1990. Stand up today for respect for the preamble to the 1987 Constitution and respect for the laws passed by Parliament! Stand up and call for the President of the Republic to respect his oath and faithfully follow the Constitution and the laws of the Republic! Stand up to back democratic gains, and demand free and fair elections within the time prescribed by the law and the Constitution!” – Joint statement from Simon Dieuseul Desras and Levaillant Louis-Jeune.

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Haiti’s Elected Mayors Dismissed, Illegally Replaced by Presidential Appointees | Prefeitos Eleitos do Haiti Demitidos, Substituídos Ilegalmente por Nomeados pelo Presidente

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Thirteen Haitian mayors were dismissed and replaced on February 18, 2012 by presidential decree. In a press conference, one mayor said that a new individual recently arrived claiming to be his municipality’s new mayor, and two days later he got a letter telling him to assist this person in taking inventory of the region’s heritage. Another mayor wrote in open letter on February 3 that his life is under threat. Secretary of the Interior Georges Racine is thought to be behind the wave of illegal dismissals. (English | Portuguese)

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Carnaval 2012: A Musical Indictment of Corruption in Haiti

Music by Don Kato, Boukman Eksperyans, Vwadezil | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Nearly every Haitian Carnival 2012 song is an indictment of the current state of affairs: corruption, cholera, rapes, MINUSTAH. We’re not partying to forget but to remember. (songs in Kreyol)

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Haitian Senate Resolution: UN Soldiers Accused of Rape Should Be Tried In Place | Le Sénat vote une résolution réclamant que des soldats de l’ONU accusés de crimes soient jugés en Haïti

By staff, AHP | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The Haitian Senate has strongly condemned the latest rape of a boy on Jan 20, 2012 by Pakistani UN soldiers and noted that in such cases it is the law of the place where the crime is committed that should prevail. (English | French)

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U.N. Tightens Belt: No More Cruise Ship Hotels | La ONU se ajusta el cinturón : No mas barcos de crucero

By Thalif Deen, IPS. Compared to the $5.4 B U.N. budget for 2010-11, the 2012-13 budget will be cut by $260 M. This is a cut of less than 5%, but the news are still significant because, since its inception over 50 years ago, the U.N. has expanded every year, except for one instance 14 years ago. (English | Spanish)

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Total Withdrawal of Brazilian UN Occupation Troops Most Wanted from Rousseff

By Staff, AlterPresse | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Brazilian President Dilma Roussef visited Haiti for a few hours on Feb 1, 2012. She failed to deliver what she could easily have given and what Haitians wanted most: the withdrawal of the Brazilian MINUSTAH occupation troops. (English | French)

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Aid as a Trojan Horse: On the Anniversary of the Haitian Earthquake

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Long before the word sustainable became fashionable, before Henry David Thoreau noted that “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone,” there was Haiti.

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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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Rwandans Contributing to UN (De)stabilization of Haiti

By Staff, Defend Haiti | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. One hundred and sixty Rwandans left their country on Monday, December 26, 2011, to replace the first group of Rwandan MINUSTAH police officers, of the same number, deployed nine months before in Jeremie, a Haitian town that was not damaged by the earthquake and needs no stabilization.

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Chile to Gradually Withdraw UN Military Contingent from Haiti | Le Chili annonce le retrait progressif de son contingent d’Haïti

By Wilner Jean Louis, AHP | Staff, Xinhua. “We have proposed to the Latin American Defense Council that during 2012, we will begin to withdraw our troops in gradual, proportional and coordinated ways.” – Chilean Defense Minister Andres Allamand. The plan is to finish this withdrawal by 2016: hardly the reverse of their swift arrival. (English | French)

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Brazilian MINUSTAH Troops Torture Three Haitians Near Death | Trois individus torturés par des agents brésiliens de la MINUSTAH | Soldados Brasileiros da MINUSTAH Torturam Três Haitianos Quase Até à Morte

By RNDDH Staff, Alter Presse (French) | Defend Haiti (English) | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Enough is enough. No Haitian should render MINUSTAH personnel any more service, and this should continue until we see their backs. On the night of December 13-14, 2011, Brazilian soldiers robbed, undressed, and beat nearly to death three young Haitian men, whose truck broke down after they delivered water to Cite Soleil. (English | French | Portuguese)

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