Hey there! Welcome to the latest edition of Woy Magazine’s weekly newsletter, providing you with must-know news and commentary on Haiti and our Diaspora.
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What Can We Do?
In the face of mounting tragedies, many of us are feeling helpless in how we can be of service to our families and people back home. In a new piece for Woy Magazine, Melodie Cerin provides us with a clean breakdown of everything currently taking place coupled with tangible ways we can offer a lending hand to those who’ve been victimized:
There is constant debate over whether regular citizens should demand the government take action or whether we should share our own resources in such moments of humanitarian crisis. Scholars analyze this tension by breaking down the various roles the civil society often plays: supplementing, complementing or pushing the state. Times like these remind us that we must do all.
The situation is dire, and while the government refuses to act we have a duty to help our neighbours. Even as the gangs extend their control under the passivity of this government, let us continue to erect a wall of solidarity, love and resources around our brothers and sisters in Matisan, Bèlè, lower Delma and Lasalin.
Domestic Refugees
It’s been more than 20 days since many Matisan residents were displaced from their homes by warring gangs, and their anxiety and fears while housed in the Kafou Sports Centre is palpable. According to new updates published by Le Nouvelliste, those who’ve been forcefully removed are either eager to go back home, or completely dreading the prospect of returning to their devastated neighborhood.
Furthermore, the conditions in the Centre have left young women and girls even more vulnerable to harassment and sexual assault:
La notion de pudeur est pratiquement inexistante au centre sportif de Carrefour où plus de 1 500 personnes se côtoient dans une sorte de grande salle. Les hommes se promènent tranquillement torse nu et certains en caleçon. C'est surtout les jeunes filles et les enfants, notamment les petites filles qui sont les plus vulnérables et les plus exposés.
Sur autorisation de sa mère, Judelaine, 16 ans, confie au Nouvelliste tout son embarras quand elle doit prendre une douche ou se changer. «C'est encore plus embarrassant quand des hommes adultes qui pourraient être mon père me dévisagent quand je suis en train de mettre mes sous-vêtements. Il y en a un qui m'a même fait des avances», confie cette adolescente qui vient de perdre une année scolaire à cause des affrontements armés entre les gangs à Martissant.
UNICEF estimates that more than 8,000 women and children have been forced to flee their homes over the past month because of gang violence in the capital.
La Piste
Not too far away, another makeshift refugee center has taken shape in Petionville. Following a devastating fire resulting from gang violence at La Piste, many people living with physical disabilities have been moved to a school building for shelter. The conditions and infrastructure of the building are greatly lacking with no COVID-19 precautions being taken to prevent any possible spread of the virus:
Des sanitaires […] en mauvais état, absence d'eau potable, les sinistrés dénoncent les conditions dans lesquelles ils sont logées. Ils demandent aux autorités compétentes de prendre les mesures nécessaires afin de les placer dans un endroit approprié. Pour l’instant, l’aide est assurée par la secrétaire d’Etat à l’Intégration des personnes handicapées, Soinette Désir, confient des sinistrés qui jugent qu’elle est toutefois insuffisante. « Depuis ce matin (mardi 22 juin) j’ai rien mangé. D’habitude on nous donne du pain et du fromage le matin. Mais aujourd’hui j’ai rien reçu », s’est plaint un unijambiste, qui se rappelle que la veille on lui a apporté un peu de nourriture à 22 heures alors qu’il était plongé dans un profond sommeil après avoir passé une journée sans rien avaler. (Source: Le Nouvelliste)
Looking to Return
Haitians have been no strangers to domestic displacement in recent years due to the country’s worsening security crisis. The people of Bèlè, a community that continues to be at the mercy of gangs, are demanding that government authorities put in place protective measures to allow the return of displaced families back to the area:
Des voix s’élèvent au Bel Air, quartier du centre de la capitale, meurtri par la terreur des gangs, pour demander aux autorités de mettre en place des dispositions sécuritaires pour faciliter le retour des familles déplacées.
Les gangs armés ont détruit les petites entreprises des gens, qui ont passé plusieurs années à les mettre sur pied. Des personnes, ayant passé plus de 20 ans pour construire une maison, au Bel Air, se retrouvent maintenant à dormir chez de bons samaritains, se désole-t-il.
Il appelle l’institution policière à se ressaisir et à se mettre au service de la population, et non d’un pouvoir délinquant, qui supporte des gangs. (Source: AlterPresse)
Into Exile
The violence isn’t just forcing everyday people to flee their homes, it is also pushing out noted media figures out the country. Last week, it was reported that respected photojournalist Chery Dieu-Niallo would be going into self-imposed exile with his family after being threatened by multiple gangs for doing his job. After photographing several gang members dragging away the bodies of murder victims, Dieu-Niallo has been on the receiving end of death threats and even attacks on his car:
Pour ne pas se faire assassiner, Dieu-Nalio prend uniquement quelques photos et s’enfuit avec son assistant-chauffeur. Un journaliste l’appellera par la suite pour l’informer qu’un bandit du G9, une coalition de gangs fédérés par La Commission nationale de Désarmement, Démantèlement et Réinsertion (CNDDR), est à sa recherche.
Depuis, Chery Dieu-Nalio vit dans le stress avec sa famille. Sa voiture sera criblée de balles. Par chance, il n’était pas dans le véhicule au moment des faits. Devant le grand danger, et « la mort qui s’approche de jour en jour », il quitte le pays avec sa famille. (Source: Ayibopost)
Murder for Hire
This isn’t the first time Dieu-Nallo has been harmed for his work. He was wounded by a state senator in late 2019 after the lawmaker shot into a group ouyside of parliament. That same year, radio reporter Néhémie Joseph was shot and killed after delivering several searing critiques against PHTK. And months later, Dieu- Associated Press reporter would sustain a gunshot wound when a ruling party senator fired in an open group outside of parliament. (Source: Reporters Without Borders)
Now, The Guardian is reporting that disgraced and suspended vice-president and former head of referees of the Haitian Football Federation Rosnick Grant may have possibly looked into putting out a murder hit on a local journalist whose been working to expose the abuse allegations surrounding the Federation:
Rosnick Grant, a former international referee who was provisionally suspended from all football-related activities by Fifa’s Ethics Committee in February as it continues to investigate allegations of sexual abuse, was summoned by the local magistrate in Croix-des-Bouquets after a complaint was made against him.
According to court papers seen by the Guardian, he has been accused of trying to arrange the killing of a radio journalist who had been attempting to uncover alleged corruption at the FHF.
As you may recall, Grant was banned from participating in any sports activities after he was found complicit in the sexual assault and rape allegations against former Federation president Yves Jean-Bart.
BBQ’s Revolution
Meanwhile, notorious gang leader Jimmy Chérizer seems to be striking out on his own, throwing off his long-held connections with the state. In a new five-minute viral video, the infamous bandit put out a rallying cry and call to arms to young, poor people to join his “revolution” seemingly against the state and the elites in response to the role they’ve played in the current state of the country. In it, he claims, these same elites have armed kids in the ghettos, while stunting the growth of the country’s progress:
Jimmy Chérizier, considéré par plus d’un comme un allié de l’exécutif, a voulu se démarquer du pouvoir en place et de l’opposition. « Le PHTK (parti au pouvoir) veut organiser un référendum et des élections pour défendre ses intérêts. L’opposition exige un gouvernement de transition afin de pouvoir dilapider les ressources publiques. Les membres du secteur privé bénéficient de franchise et ne paient pas de taxes. En revanche, le peuple se retrouve seul, dépourvu de tout. Le temps est révolu. Nous allons utiliser nos armes contre tous ces secteurs », avertit-il. (Source: Le Nouvelliste)
Last year, the United States government sanctioned Cherizier along with two members of the Jovenel Moïse regime for orchestrating and carrying out the massacre in La Saline where 71 residents were killed with countless others wounded and displaced. (Source: Haitian Times)
Non-negotiables
This week, plaintiffs in the PetroCaribe case announced that they would be pushing back against Judge Ramoncite Accimé regarding an order he issued on the investigation into the whereabouts of the Venezuala program funds:
En conférence de presse, jeudi au local du Réseau national de défense des droits humains (RNDDH), les avocats constitués dans ce procès et la partie civile dénoncent le caractère déshonorant de la décision du magistrat instructeur Ramoncite Accimé évoquant l’absence d’arrêt de débet pour suspendre l’instruction.
En guise d’action, le Réseau des plaignants Petro Caribe envisage de saisir le Tribunal de première instance de Port-au-Prince pour interjeter appel de l’ordonnance À cet effet, une déclaration d’appel sera signifiée, ce jeudi au greffe du Tribunal civil, a annoncé Marc-Antoine Maisonneuve. (Source: Rezo Nòdwes)
Many on the plaintiff side, including lawyer and activist André Michel, see the judge’s actions as an attempt at a possible cover-up, and clear normalizing of impunity and corruption tactics in the judicial space.
COVID Update
Haiti’s coronavirus spike remains in full swing. This week, we learned that the head of the nation’s Supreme Court, René Sylvestre, died of complications from COVID, leaving the judicial branch in a bit of a quagmire:
Jacques Letang, president of the Haitian Bar Federation, said Sylvestre’s death presents “a huge institutional crisis,” for the 12-member Supreme Court, now reduced to six and already undergoing a crisis, as well as for the Superior Council of Judicial Power. (Source: Miami Herald)
In the meantime, vaccines have yet to be delivered to our side of the island. Radio RFM reported in a tweet on Thursday that the Ministry of Public Health has given the greenlight to pharmaceutical companies to begin importing vaccines. The Biden Administration is said to be working with the Moïse government to determine logistics for storing the shots once they’ve been delivered, and the expected shipment from the COVAX program which was expected this week has been delayed. (Source: Miami Herald)
Speaking of the COVAX program, the Guardian ran a new op-ed by K.K. Shailaja, a member of Kerala’s Legislative Assembly and former Health Minister; Anyang’ Nyong’o, the Governor of Kisumu County, Kenya; and Rogelio Mayta, the Foreign Minister of Bolivia calling out how Western nations and pharmaceutical companies have prioritized profit over people when it comes to global distribution of the vaccine. In it, they remark how poorer nations, like Haiti, will continue to pay the price for such mishandling of needed resources:
The G7 plan is not only stingy. It is also stupid: the ICC has estimated a cost of $9.2tn to the global economy for the failure to deliver vaccines to every country. And – in the final count – it may also prove suicidal: the longer the virus travels, the more often it mutates, and the more viciously it may boomerang back to the rich countries that are already rolling out vaccination programs.
But the problem runs much deeper than the number of doses in the G7 pledge. The Covid-19 virus will continue to circulate across the world for the foreseeable future. Without a transformation in the global health system, governments everywhere will have to shell out billions for annual purchases of boosters from big pharma corporations like Pfizer – or beg the US government to come to the rescue.
As the option of taking a vaccine finally begins to look like a reality for people in Haiti, there is still the great hurdle of tackling the people’s fears of it. For those of you with families back home, feel free to share the infographics from the following Twitter threads to help your relatives make the best decision for themselves and communities:
The Debt of It All
As PHTK continues to celebrate 10 years in power, the incredible harm they’ve inflicted on the country is more apparent than ever. In a new editorial for Le Nouvelliste, critically-acclaimed writer Lyonel Trouillot takes a look at what a decade of Martelly-Moïse has done for Haiti:
Des routes que personne n’ose plus prendre. Sortir est devenu un risque. On ne sait sur quel parcours on rencontrera des hommes armés qui vous prendront votre véhicule, vos biens, peut-être votre vie. Pays livré au banditisme par un pouvoir qui en a fait son arme de prédilection et qui ne contrôle plus ses escadrons.
Une épidémie qui tue et une absence totale de politique sanitaire. « Chak chen… » Ceux qui le peuvent partent se faire vacciner, ceux qui sont en contact avec des réseaux se démerdent…
Une perte quasi totale de civilité. La défense de ses intérêts personnels et privés. Grandes magouilles, petites magouilles. Porte ouverte à toutes les concurrences déloyales.
For most of its 10 years, PHTK has enjoyed incredible support from the United Nations, even in the face of growing economic woes and massacres. Last Friday, Haitian-Americans in New York protested the UN’s enabling policies in front of its headquarters. The activation came soon after acting prime minister Claude Joseph delivered remarks to the members of the UN Security Council regarding upcoming elections and the delayed referendum.
Happy Anniversary, Magnum Band
Last week, popular group Magnum Band celebrated their 45th anniversary by playing a show at the Little Haiti Cultural Center in Miami. Check out some clips of their performance below, and be sure to enjoy your weekend! We’ll talk next week!
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