Stories in the Sun: An Interview with Director Patricia Benoit

by Kim Ives (for Haiti Liberte)

"Stones in the Sun" (Wòch nan soley) is a film about three pairs of Haitian refugees, set in New York City and Haiti. A young woman struggles to forget the atrocities she's experienced in Haiti when she reunites with her husband in Brooklyn, where he barely scrapes by as a livery cab driver. A single mother, trying to assimilate in a fancy Long Island suburb, takes in her sister, a teacher and political activist who is unable to reconcile their violent youth with her sister's seemingly banal lifestyle. And a newly married man, the host of a popular anti-government radio show, finds his estranged father (a recently ousted military leader) on his doorstep, desperate for shelter. They must confront the disturbing truth of their pasts, as their stories all intersect.

Cholera Infections Rising Again in Haiti as Rainy Season Begins, Highlighting Urgency for NGOs, Agencies to Redouble Their Efforts, CEPR Co-Director Says

By: Center For Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)

Washington, D.C.- Cholera infections are rising again with rainy weather in Haiti in a predictable seasonal shift, and the international community must act quickly to contain the epidemic, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) Co-Director Mark Weisbrot said today. Weisbrot cited a new investigative article on the cholera outbreak in the New York Times by Deborah Sontag that describes how cholera resurged during the 2011 rainy season after NGO’s pulled back their treatment and prevention efforts during the dry season months.

“We saw what happened last year,” Weisbrot said. “The international community and some NGO’s cut back on cholera treatment and prevention just before the rainy season, and there was a spike in infections and deaths. They have the resources to contain and then eliminate Haiti’s cholera epidemic. What is needed is the will to make it happen.”

Paramilitary Gangs Join UN Force in Preying on Haitian Population

by Dady Chery

This article previously appeared on Dady Chery’s web site.

“These gangs public appearances immediately followed massive demonstrations on February 29 to commemorate the 2004 coup against Aristide.”

Wannabe Tontons Macoutes have taken over the former bases of Haiti’s disbanded army – a force the U.S.-backed Haitian president was to restore. The appearance of the paramilitaries coincides with murderous attacks on supporters of ousted President Jean Bertrand-Aristide, and mounting popular demands that the hated UN occupation force, MINUSTAH, leave the country. A deadly dance seems to be in motion.

For several weeks, armed groups of young black men, presumably Haitian and too young to be veterans of the Haitian Armed Forces (disbanded in 1995), have been parading in military fatigues through Haitian towns. Some politicians and the Haitian press have been calling these men “former soldiers.” For the sake of accuracy, let us forgo this awkward and unfounded label and call them “men” or “gangs.” These marching men claim they want to enforce respect for the national sovereignty and get their back pay. One suspects their priorities are reversed.

Spectacular Corruption Charges Rock Martelly Regime

by Kim Ives (Haiti Liberte)

Follow the money, says the old adage of investigative journalism. A crusading Dominican journalist did just that with dozens of financial documents from some Dominican construction firms and uncovered shocking results.

Over the course of 2011, Joseph Michel Martelly, as a candidate, president-elect, and president of Haiti, received close to $2.6 million in over a dozen payments from a Dominican Senator named Felix Bautista, according to an explosive Mar. 31 television report by star Dominican journalist Nuria Piera.