Charcoal Is Not the Cause of Haiti’s Deforestation

by John Dale Zach Lea, Ph. D. (Haiti Liberte)

There is a widespread misconception that the use of charcoal (charbon in Kreyòl) is responsible for Haiti’s massive deforestation. Charcoal supplies 75% of energy used in Haiti. Without it, Haiti would be much more dependent on international energy suppliers and aid.

          Deforestation is caused by farmers clearing land for farming, often planting erosive crops such as corn and beans on mountainsides inappropriate for such crops. When trees are cut for charcoal, the roots are left, and the land is not plowed. Mesquite forests, Kasya, and Neem are repeatedly cut for charcoal because the trees coppice (re-sprout) and can be cut again in several years.

Legislative Elections Also Go to the PHTK and its Allies

by Catherine Charlemagne (Haiti Liberte)

Humans, unlike other animals, possess what philosophers call reason. Without entering into philosophical analysis - that is not the purpose of this chronicle at this point in the Haitian electoral process - it is now urgent that all people endowed with this faculty use their common sense.

            Using reason, let’s examine the final results of the Nov. 20, 2016 general elections, results which were challenged by the three main presidential candidates and some candidates for seats in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

            The presidential candidates – Dr. Maryse Narcisse of Fanmi Lavalas, Jude Célestin of LAPEH, and Moïse Jean-Charles of the Pitit Dessalines Platform – began protesting even before the results were published, giving a first round victory to their competitor, Jovenel Moïse of the Haitian Bald Headed Party (PHTK). But there was not just one election that day. There were also partial legislative elections (senators and deputies) and municipal races.

Remembering the violence of Guy Philippe and his FLRN paramilitary death squads

Eyewitness reports of: • harassment • false arrest • house burnings • death threats • rapes • assassinations • etc. 

This violence targeted members of the party of President Aristide immediately before and after February 29, 2004. 

Read here for testimonies of Lavalas Victims of the 2004 coup. 

Compiled by Kevin Pina for the Haiti Information Project (HIP) for the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF)

See entire report "Crushing President Aristide's Party [Lavalas] Through Violence"  Here.

Violent reprisals by Guy Philippe's Neo-Macoute supporters

Published on HAITI LIBRE

Since Friday, the day after the arrest and extradition to the United States of Senator Guy Philippe http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19721-haiti-flash-senator-guy-philippe-extradited-to-the-usa.html the Haitian National Police (PNH) had to evacuate more than 50 US citizens to secure them to safer places in Haiti, confirmed the Police Commissioner in Grand'Anse Berson Soljour.

It should be recalled that more Americans are in the region to help the population following the passage of Hurricane Matthew, so the Commissioner advised American citizens who chose to stay, not to leave their residences. He explained that US citizens were evacuated to a police station before being transferred to a United Nations base, where they waited to be transported to Port-au-Prince, others are still waiting.

Senator-Elect and Former Paramilitary Leader Guy Philippe Arrested on Drug Charges

by Jake Johnson for CEPR

Guy Philippe, a paramilitary coup leader and DEA most-wanted fugitive who was elected to Haiti’s Senate late last year, was arrested on Thursday, just days before he would have been sworn into office and obtained immunity. Philippe has been wanted under a sealed drug indictment in the United States for years, but previous attempts at arresting him failed. Last year, the DEA confirmed to me that they maintained “apprehension authority” for Philippe, but would not confirm if any active efforts were underway to do so. He will now be extradited to the United States to face charges, though no indictment has been unsealed as of Thursday night.

Popular Protests Grow in Face of Mass Voter Suppression by Authorities

Resisting the lynching of Haitian liberty!

 By: Malaika H Kambon - San Francisco Bayview Newspaper

It should be obvious by now that the U.S./UN, EU, OAS, and various hired paramilitary police have engineered a second fraudulent election in as many years in Haiti.

This latest attempt to kill Haiti’s freedom by aborting her dreams of democracy via the electoral process was designed to prevent landslide victories by Fanmi Lavalas, reminiscent of the presidential victories of Jean Bertrand Aristide. The U.S. and UN do not want to see this.

But people have turned out in force, as protests continue against the blatant sabotage of the November 20, 2016 elections, where Dr. Maryse Narcisse and Fanmi Lavalas again sought to reclaim Haiti’s freedom, only to be met – again - by a U.S. elite intent upon electoral sabotage.

But the fraudulent elections have ignited the country. Daily protests have been held for over a month. For the 35^th consecutive day, tens of thousands are in the streets, who see in the candidacy of Dr. Narcisse the fruition of their dreams: freedom, dignity and sovereignty via a political party of the people that knows what it wants to achieve.

The international press is busily trying to shore up the fraudulent "win" of PHTK (or bald head party) candidate Jovenel Moise. But even in an electoral process that was blatantly manipulated, Moise, “the banana man,” controls nothing in Haiti but his mouth, and that not very well.