Celebrate the Season with Haitian flavors

Marie Ruth Auguste: Let's talk turkey... and Soup Joumou!Marie Ruth Auguste: Let's talk turkey... and Soup Joumou!As the saying goes, ‘Tis the season to cook, eat and be merry!

That’s exactly what my husband and I decided to do last weekend after two previous weeks of long hours at work and “sleep only” hours at home. It’s his favorite holiday of the season and after plans of going back “home” to Boston went “bust”, we decided to drive up to northern California to visit a childhood friend and her family (shout out to, “Lolo Bug”.)

As we’re accustomed to doing most of the time during the holidays, we spent a lot of our time on the drive to Palo Alto, talking and reminiscing about the days growing up as kids and all of the “house hopping” we would do on Thanksgiving Day. We naturally started talking about who made the best turkey; I would say it was me and he would say it was his sister, (we all know it was me, but I’ve got to give his sister credit, her turkey was always really spicy)!

Voices of Haiti: Revolution in Post-Quake Haiti

“If this happened in my district, they would have been rioting already.”
Congressman Bobby Rush (Chicago, IL), nine days after the earthquake

It has been eleven months now since the earthquake destroyed much of Port-au-Prince. We’ve heard the statistics repeated into infinity: more than 1.5 million people are still homeless, living under tarps and bed sheets. Add to this a six-year foreign military occupation that most recently has been accused of bringing a deadly cholera epidemic to the country, and widespread awareness that although hundreds of millions were donated to help earthquake survivors practically nothing has changed in the concrete living conditions of said survivors, and it is truly impressive how patient and peaceful Haitians have been.

Voices of Haiti: In Pursuit of the Undemocratic

Down with Selection, Long Live Election: A sign at a Dec. 5 protest in Port-au-Prince. Photo by Bri Kouri Nowel GayeDown with Selection, Long Live Election: A sign at a Dec. 5 protest in Port-au-Prince. Photo by Bri Kouri Nowel Gaye“Have you chosen me a good government, Blan?”-sarcastic question posed by a Haitian voter to a foreign election monitor at a polling station in Port-Au-Prince.

While $26 million was spent on Haiti’s November 28 elections, a great deal more is at stake for international business. Over $9 billion in reconstruction contracts will be up for grabs, and the government selected could possibly have influence on the foreign dominated Haiti Interim Reconstruction Committee (HIRC), which is tasked with determining the path of Haiti’s development.

Editorial: CEP must open books, revisit election results

BHR 12-10 front pageBHR 12-10 front pageOn Tuesday night, the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) announced the preliminary results from the November 28 elections in Haiti. President Rene Preval’s party Inite (Unity) won the majority of seats in parliament. Of the presidential candidates, former first lady Mirlande Manigat placed first – with 31.37% of the vote while Jude Celestin, the Inite party candidate came in second with 22.48%.

So, we are set for a runoff between Manigat and Celestin scheduled for January 16th. But wait, not so fast. Famed musician Michel Martelly received 21.84% of the vote – a very close third, roughly 6000 votes behind. Martelly is appealing the results and many of his supporters have taken to the streets to protest what they’ve dubbed “The Selection”.

Reports of massive demonstrations, fraught by opportunistic violence, are pouring in. Some people are passionately protesting for their right to fair elections – while others are reportedly burning the headquarters of the Inite party and even the homes of rural politicians. The chaos many predicted and feared would come of an ill-run and possible fraudulent election seems to be coming to pass in the hours after the CEP announcement.

Sen. Kerry: Disputed election could "destabilize" Haiti

Sen. John KerrySen. John KerrySen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, issued the following statement to the Boston Haitian Reporter on Thursday regarding the ongoing crisis surrounding Haiti's disputed presidential election:

"I urge the government of Haiti and the provisional electoral council (CEP) to address allegations and complaints about voting irregularities, some of which have already been verified. Failure to resolve these disputes before the runoff election scheduled for January 16 runs the risk of undermining legitimacy and confidence in the entire electoral process. It could also lead to more violence, which will only further destabilize and weaken a country that is already suffering in so many ways.”

Haiti's electoral council said Thursday that it will recount the ballots in the country's disputed presidential election, according to the Associated Press. The U.S. Embassy has said the preliminary results appeared to conflict with observers who monitored the initial count.

Flawed elections lead to political upheaval

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ Haitians entered election day hoping for the best. Within hours, ballot boxes were ripped to pieces, protesters were on the streets and nearly every presidential hopeful was united against the government.

Add it to Haiti's list: Already reeling from a catastrophic earthquake, one of the world's poorest economies, storms, a deadly cholera epidemic and unrest over U.N. peacekeepers, the Caribbean nation could now be on the edge of full-on political turmoil.

The chaos in Sunday's voting united most of the top presidential candidates against the president's heir apparent - Jude Celestin, head of the state-run construction company and beneficiary of a well-financed campaign.

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