Displaced families fight new threat: Evictions

One our cover: Devalon Beatrice, 27, holds her daughter inside a tent in Champ de Mars, Port-au-Prince. Photo by Allyn Gaestel One our cover: Devalon Beatrice, 27, holds her daughter inside a tent in Champ de Mars, Port-au-Prince. Photo by Allyn GaestelTucked next to a gated office building off Delmas 60 in Port-au-Prince, staggered tents and makeshift shelters are packed in tiers cascading over twin hillsides. Along a path scattered with ti machans (small-scale vendors) and men playing cards beside hand-painted Michel Martelly campaign signs, live Natasha Seraphin and Cesar Emanuele Junior, a young married couple with their baby Charles.

Their shelter, like so many others filling formerly open terrain throughout the city, is meticulously designed as a tiny house. The entryway leads to a thin sitting area, with a television, powered by electricity pirated from lines along the two main thoroughfares nearby. In the corner, shelves hold dishes and utensils, and Natasha washes plates and clothes in a two-foot-wide hallway. Clothes hang along the walls, and in the back is a cramped cooking area. A bedroom packed with a makeshift bed and the rest of their belongings, closed off by tarpaulin walls and a curtained doorway, fills most of the space.

More than one year after last January’s deadly earthquake, Natasha and Junior are among the 800,000 displaced people still living in a tent camp.

But, this is not the couple’s first tent camp experience.

US double standard continues in treatment of Haitians

At a January 31 State House Haiti remembrance event with Governor Deval Patrick, Representative Linda Dorcena Forry eloquently urged President Obama to instruct Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Napolitano to promptly “parole” into the U.S. at least 55,000 beneficiaries of DHS-approved immigrant visa petitions who senselessly must wait in Haiti up to11 more years before getting their green cards.

Editorial: US diplomacy not ‘good enough’

LSecretary Clinton with Mirlande Manigatast year, the United States spent an estimated $14 million to stage national elections in Haiti – even though over 45 members of Congress, led by the Congressional Black Caucus, strongly advised against it. They argued forcefully that the devastated country was not adequately prepared to run a free and fair election. They were right. The Nov. 28 elections were an embarrassment and the efforts to “clean-up” the mess that followed has been exacerbated by poor leadership across the board — both from Haitians and international actors.

The Organization of American States (OAS) - which officially observed the elections - submitted a report that contradicted the initial findings of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP). They recommended that the March 20 election runoff should be between Mirlande Manigat and Michel “Sweet Micky”Martelly – and that the government-backed candidate Jude Celestin should be eliminated from contention.

Slavery: The Toll that Still Rings

Patrick SylvainThe narrative that proclaims that slavery is a thing of the past and therefore must be forgotten or silenced, is a dangerous and a counter-productive account that is useful only to its benefactors. Likewise, the narrative that claims that Haitians won the war of independence and curtailed the course of slavery is also counter-productive.

The truth is that the institutional mechanisms that once enabled slavery and its associated principles are an entrenched part of the Haitian reality and are codified in the letters of the law.

Amnesty International puts spotlight on Duvalier's alleged crimes

The human rights group Amnesty International has posted the video above to mark the 25th anniversary of ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier’s departure from Haiti in February 1986. Duvalier abruptly and unexpectedly returned to Haiti last month and remains there as authorities investigate charges and plan a possible prosecution of the ex-president.

The video includes archived testimonies from victims of human rights abuses committed during Duvalier’s rule. The interviews — conducted in 1985— include Evans Paul, detained and tortured in 1980, Mark Roumain, unfairly detained for three years and Sylvio Claude, arbitrarily arrested and ill treated in several occasions.

Preval remains in office for 3 more months

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Haitian President Rene Preval will stay in office for another three months as his country chooses a successor in a delayed election, his chief of staff said Monday.

Chief of Staff Fritz Longchamp confirmed Preval's exit date of May 14 in a phone interview with The Associated Press following uncertainty about the Haitian leader's plans.

Gov't-backed candidate out of Haiti's election

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Haitian electoral officials dropped the government-backed candidate from the upcoming presidential runoff on Thursday, ending a standoff with the U.S. and other international powers over the results of a first-round of voting that was marred by fraud and disorganization.

The electoral commission said the March 20 runoff will match former first lady Mirlande Manigat against Michel Martelly, a carnival singer known as "Sweet Micky." The announcement, which came after dawn following more than 13 hours of deliberations, means government-backed candidate Jude Celestin is out of the race.

Hillary Clinton visits Haiti, reassures US commitment to aid

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The United States has no plans to halt aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti in spite of a crisis over who will be the nation's next leader but does insist that the president's chosen successor be dropped from the race, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday.

Clinton arrived Sunday in the impoverished Caribbean nation for a brief visit. She met with President Rene Preval and earlier met with each of the three candidates jockeying to replace him.

Only two candidates can go on to the delayed second round, now scheduled for March 20. The U.S. is backing an Organization of American States recommendation that the candidate from Preval's party, government construction official Jude Celestin, should be left out in favor of populist rival Michel Martelly.

The top U.S. official at the United Nations, Susan Rice, said recently that "sustained support" from the United States required the OAS recommendations be implemented. Many Haitian officials, including leaders of Preval's Unity party and Martelly, interpreted that to mean the U.S. was threatening an embargo and cutting off aid.

Governor Patrick plans to dispatch National Guard unit to Haiti

Gov. Patrick to deploy National Guard unit to Haiti: The governor, left, made the announcement at a Jan. 30 ceremony. Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry is shown at right. Photo courtesy Governor's Office.

(Update 6:20 p.m.) — Governor Deval Patrick has ordered elements of the Massachusetts National Guard to prepare for an April deployment to Haiti. The 125th Quartermaster battalion out of Worcester, along with the 220th Quartermaster detachment from Bridgewater, will assist in humanitarian efforts, mainly water filtration. More than 100 service people from the Massachusetts National Guard will take part in the deployment. More details on the deployment are expected soon.

Patrick's surprise announcement came during a noontime event in the State House, where he issued a proclamation to establish a statewide Haiti remembrance month to commemorate the one year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. The governor was joined by State Representative Linda Dorcena Forry and other leaders from the Haitian community.

Inadequate cholera response in Haiti largely because of failed aid structure

Haiti - The country is small and accessible and, following last January's earthquake, it hosts one of the largest and best-funded international aid deployments in the world. An estimated 12,000 non-governmental organizations are there. Why then, have over 4,000 people died of cholera, a disease that's easily treated and controlled?

I recently went to Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, and found my Doctors Without Borders (MSF) colleagues overwhelmed, having already treated more than 75,000 cholera cases. We and a brigade of Cuban doctors were doing our best to treat hundreds of patients every day, but few other agencies seemed to be implementing critical cholera control measures, such as chlorinated water distribution and waste management. In the year since the quake, little has been done to improve sanitation across the country, allowing cholera to spread at a dizzying pace.

Boston Haitian Reporter