Hey friends! Welcome to the latest edition of Woy Magazine’s weekly newsletter, providing you with must-know news and commentary on Haiti and our Diaspora.
Last week, we told you about a small, peaceful protest abruptly crashed by violent police officers. This week, tensions between activists calling for an end to insecurity and the militarized police force reached new heights. Moments after a larger crowd began carrying out another peaceful protest to highlight the growing insecurity int he country, police officers fired canisters of tear gas into the crowd to disperse the group.
France24 reports:
Police used large amounts of tear gas and fired shots in the air to disperse the gathering of around 200 people in front of the Justice Ministry, an AFP journalist at the scene confirmed.
The police action came a week after protesters tried to establish a sit-in in front of the ministry but were chased off by police officers who tore up their banners.
Haiti had been racked by months of protests against the government, which demonstrators accuse of widespread corruption, before the coronavirus hit the country.
Immediately following the the peaceful sit-in came a counter-protest march — this time featuring more than a dozen, armed young men. In the video below which was posted to twitter, the crowd of young men can be heard chanting, “Ayiti nou pa vle wè a” — a play on and an attack on the Ayiti Nou Vle A movement:
With any uprising, you are sure to come across those who do not wish to “play politics” or involve themselves with what’s happening out in the streets. In a piece published on Monday, Le Nouvelliste offers a certain rebuke of this thinking, calling in those who may share those sentiments:
Toi, le petit bourgeois qui dit « je ne me mêle pas de politique »; toi, le petit entrepreneur qui ne pense qu’à tes petites affaires qui ne peuvent que rester petites si tu es honnête dans le contexte Moïse/PHTK ; toi, la bonne mère de famille dont les aînés ont peut-être l’âge de ceux qui sont dehors à défendre les droits de tous, tes droits, les droits de tes enfants à toi ; toi « l’artiste » qui ne parle que de son art et de sa personne; si vous n’êtes pas des salauds, le moment est plus que venu de dire non. S’il y a une zone de sincérité du PHTK, c'est dans son affirmation de sa nature néo-duvaliéro-jean-claudiste.
Today, the New York Times published a new article detailing how ICE is spreading the novel coronavirus in the states, as well as abroad. The investigative piece found that out of the more than 30 immigrant detainees interviewed by the Times reporters, “at least four…from India, Haiti, Guatemala and El Salvador, tested positive for the virus shortly after arriving from the United States.”
Admild, an undocumented immigrant from Haiti, was feeling sick as he approached the deportation plane that was going to take him back to the country he had fled in fear. Two weeks before that day in May, while being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Louisiana, he had tested positive for the coronavirus — and he was still showing symptoms.
He disclosed his condition to an ICE official at the airport, who sent him to a nurse.
“She just gave me Tylenol,” said Admild, who feared reprisals if his last name was published.
This new report comes as ICE has announced a new deportation order, which would revoke the visas of international students who are not taking in-person classes. So far, both Harvard and MIT have filed a lawsuit attempting to block this ruling, and more colleges and universities are expected to follow in their steps.
Professors are also finding loopholes to protect their students, with some planning to use their offices for in-person independent study courses. American-born students are opting out of attending in-person classes to offer their seats to international students.
As of today, Haiti has 6,486 reported cases of COVID-19, resulting in 123 deaths. According to the Caribbean National Weekly, the country has recorded a total of 13 deaths in a two-day period this week.
It said that the last seven cases were from the West Department, the North-East Department and the Airbonite Department, where four people- the majority- of the cases were recorded.
It’s the weekend (again), so if you’re looking into some art and conversations to get lost in, be sure to checkout the following two videos:
A new interview with Richard Morse of RAM:
This moving piece two-part video on the state of the country:
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