International Haiti has collapsed into Cannibalism. Nayib Bukele says he can fix it

[panamaican]

France urged to repay billions of dollars to Haiti for independence ‘ransom’​

Coalition of civil society groups says Paris should return harsh reparations imposed on Caribbean state two hundred years ago

France should repay billions of dollars to Haiti to cover a debt formerly enslaved people were forced to pay in return for recognising the island’s independence, according to a coalition of civil society groups that is launching a new push for reparations.

The Caribbean island state became the first in the region to win its independence in 1804 after a revolt by enslaved people. But in a move that many Haitians blame for two centuries of turmoil, France later imposed harsh reparations for lost income and that debt was only fully repaid in 1947.

The group of about 20 non-governmental organisations currently in Geneva for a UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) are seeking a new independent commission to oversee the restitution of the debt, which they refer to as a ransom.

They say the money should go to public works in Haiti where a transition council was installed this month in an effort to restore security after a period of devastating violence by armed groups.

“What’s important is that it’s time that France recognises this and we move forward,” Monique Clesca, a Haitian civil society activist who is coordinating the efforts, told Reuters.

The French foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. France, whose development agency has given hundreds of millions of dollars to Haiti, has previously referred to a “moral debt” owed to Haiti.

The amount paid to France is disputed by historians although the New York Times estimated Haiti’s loss at $21bn. The proposal’s backers say the amount is much higher.

“It’s $21bn plus 200 years of interest that France has enjoyed, so we’re talking more like $150bn, $200bn or more,” said Jemima Pierre, professor of global race at the University of British Columbia.

Clesca said she hoped the recommendation and others would be part of the UN forum’s conclusions due on Friday. Last year, the PFPAD suggested that a tribunal should be formed to address reparations for slavery.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/18/haiti-france-reparations

It's never going to happen. Theoretically, it should. Practically, it won't.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

France urged to repay billions of dollars to Haiti for independence ‘ransom’​

Coalition of civil society groups says Paris should return harsh reparations imposed on Caribbean state two hundred years ago

France should repay billions of dollars to Haiti to cover a debt formerly enslaved people were forced to pay in return for recognising the island’s independence, according to a coalition of civil society groups that is launching a new push for reparations.

The Caribbean island state became the first in the region to win its independence in 1804 after a revolt by enslaved people. But in a move that many Haitians blame for two centuries of turmoil, France later imposed harsh reparations for lost income and that debt was only fully repaid in 1947.

The group of about 20 non-governmental organisations currently in Geneva for a UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) are seeking a new independent commission to oversee the restitution of the debt, which they refer to as a ransom.

They say the money should go to public works in Haiti where a transition council was installed this month in an effort to restore security after a period of devastating violence by armed groups.

“What’s important is that it’s time that France recognises this and we move forward,” Monique Clesca, a Haitian civil society activist who is coordinating the efforts, told Reuters.

The French foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. France, whose development agency has given hundreds of millions of dollars to Haiti, has previously referred to a “moral debt” owed to Haiti.

The amount paid to France is disputed by historians although the New York Times estimated Haiti’s loss at $21bn. The proposal’s backers say the amount is much higher.

“It’s $21bn plus 200 years of interest that France has enjoyed, so we’re talking more like $150bn, $200bn or more,” said Jemima Pierre, professor of global race at the University of British Columbia.

Clesca said she hoped the recommendation and others would be part of the UN forum’s conclusions due on Friday. Last year, the PFPAD suggested that a tribunal should be formed to address reparations for slavery.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/18/haiti-france-reparations

Bahahahh. These tribunals and sub committees must provide some comedic relief for UN countries that matter.

France: " cheque is in the mail. Wait by your box. Try not to end up on a rotisserie while you do"

 

[Bagatur]

lol at independence ransom. they were forced to pay for the property they stole. and who should they pay it out to anyway? the criminal gangs ruling Haiti now? so they can afford better spices to go with all that delicious human meat they are roasting?

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Haiti’s government scrambles to impose tight security measures as council inauguration imminent​

BY DÁNICA COTO
Updated 4:53 PM BRT, April 23, 2024

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Armored vehicles roll slowly past Haiti’s National Palace as police scan the horizon for gangs. Every day, bullets whiz past the area, striking buildings and people alike.

Gangs control most of the territory that surrounds the palace, but a transitional council charged with selecting a new prime minister and Cabinet for Haiti is demanding that its members be sworn in at the palace.

The ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday even as officials scramble to impose tight security measures, according to two high-ranking regional officials with knowledge of the matter who asked that their names be withheld because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The push to hold the ceremony at the palace is considered by some a show of force to suggest the Haitian government is still in charge despite marauding gangs who have previously attacked the palace and have promised to derail the ceremony as a daily barrage of gunfire persists in downtown Port-au-Prince.

“No one out here is safe,” said Josil Djaimeska, 33, as he waved his hand in reference to the sprawling public park known as Champ de Mars where he sat Tuesday morning near the palace.

Just steps from where he sat, a stray bullet struck Djaimeska late last week. The bullet is still in his calf, and he’s hoping a doctor will operate on him soon.

Shortly after he spoke, a pop-pop-pop of gunfire erupted briefly nearby.

More than 2,500 people were killed or wounded across Haiti from January to March, a more than 50% increase compared with the same period last year, according to a recent U.N. report. Much of the violence is concentrated in Port-au-Prince.

In a speech Monday at the U.N. Security Council, María Isabel Salvador, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, said the council’s priorities should include a plan for near-term security.

“Gang leaders and other spoilers have stated their intention to violently disrupt the current political process,” she said. “I cannot stress enough the need to assist Haiti with its efforts to reestablish security.”

While gangs have long operated in Haiti, they now control 80% of Port-au-Prince, and the coordinated attacks launched starting Feb. 29 have paralyzed the capital and beyond. They have burned police stations and hospitals, opened fire on the main international airport that remains closed since early March and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

“I am 63 years old and this is the first time I see something like this in Port-au-Prince,” said Renoir Auxil, who now lives in an abandoned bathroom in the Champ de Mars park after gangs raided his neighborhood.

He said the ongoing violence should not deter Haiti from moving forward.

“Whatever the circumstance is, they have to swear in the council,” he said.

The transitional council consists of nine members, seven of them with voting powers. Those awarded a seat are Petit Desalin, a party led by former senator and presidential candidate Jean-Charles Moïse; EDE/RED, a party led by former Prime Minister Claude Joseph; the Montana Accord, a group of civil society leaders, political parties and others; Fanmi Lavalas, the party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide; the Jan. 30 Collective, which represents parties including that of former President Michel Martelly, and the private sector.

As preparations to install the council continue, sporadic gunfire broke out several times near the National Palace on Tuesday.

It’s a sound that hundreds of people who were forced to flee their homes and are now living in a makeshift shelter close to the palace have gotten used to. But they are still talking about the shooting that occurred Sunday. One of their own was hit in the back by a stray bullet in the yard of the shelter while buying spaghetti.

The man remains hospitalized and requires surgery, said Chesnel Joseph, 46, director of the shelter, which previously housed Haiti’s Ministry of Communications.

Joseph once worked as a math teacher, but since nearly all schools in Port-au-Prince have closed as a result of the violence, he is now unemployed.

Regional officials told The Associated Press that swearing in the council at the National Palace is considered too risky and that they are urging members to choose a safer venue.

While the venue of the ceremony is still being debated, some Haitians like Marie-André Blain, 46, doubt it will be held at the palace.

“There is no security in this country. You just basically pray to God,” she said. “If the higher ranks aren’t safe, we ourselves aren’t safe.”

https://apnews.com/article/haiti-ga...ional-palace-a58c05e995d6c6bbc237700af0a47e00

 

[Osculater]

Seen the video of the gang member leader cutting off a chunk of a burnt dead body and then eating it.

Was it well seasoned?

 

[Rod1]

It's never going to happen. Theoretically, it should. Practically, it won't.

And pay to whom exactly? there is no functional government, should the money just be air-dropped in crates like those planes delivering food in Gaza?

 

[panamaican]

And pay to whom exactly? there is no functional government, should the money just be air-dropped in crates like those planes delivering food in Gaza?

Theoretically, if there was a government, it would be paid to the government. What I said elsewhere on this subject is that the payment should come in the form of infrastructure investment. Essentially, paying for the type of capital improvements that the money could have funded if it had remained there. So, bridges, upgrades to airports, roads, electricity plants, etc.

But, obviously, Haiti has to settle into something more functional than its current form.

 

[LeonardoBjj]

New Haiti government sworn in during secret ceremony​

‘Transitional council’ takes oath of office after prime minister formally resigns as gang violence continues to rock capital

Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, has formally resigned and a new provisional government has been sworn in during a secret ceremony at the presidential palace, nearly two months after a criminal insurrection plunged the capital into chaos.

The nine-person “transitional council” was officially established on Thursday during an event at the national palace in Port-au-Prince. As its members took their oaths, Henry, who is in the US having been locked out of Haiti by the gang uprising, announced in a letter that he was stepping down.

“We have served the nation during difficult times,” wrote Henry, a neurosurgeon turned politician who came to power after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Henry had announced last month that he was quitting.

Thursday’s early morning ceremony was cloaked in secrecy and was not publicly announced because of the threat of violence. On the eve of the event, reports suggested it would take place in another government property, a mansion on the outskirts of town.

Police patrol the area near the presidential palace the day before the ceremony. Photograph: Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters

In recent days there have been shootouts between police and armed criminals in the downtown area around the palace. A prominent gang spokesperson, Jimmy Chérizier, this week warned Haiti’s incoming caretaker leaders to “brace yourselves”.

Despite that threat, the US and 15-member Caribbean Community (Caricom)-backed council pressed on with its inauguration on Thursday, almost two months after the start of the criminal rebellion on 29 February.

Since the coordinated attacks began, Port-au-Prince has in effect been cut off from the outside world, with its international airport and port closed because of gunfights, and the roads linking it to other cities commandeered by armed groups notorious for kidnapping and extortion. Only those wealthy enough to pay thousands of dollars for private helicopter flights – or desperate enough to brave the highways – have been able to get in or out of the capital.

Foreign governments have evacuated hundreds of citizens to the US or the neighbouring Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

An official photograph of Thursday’s ceremony hinted at the strife. The council’s suited members – eight men and a woman – stood on a dais decorated in the country’s red and blue national colours with a police officer wearing a ballistic helmet to their left.

As the councillors, who represent Haiti’s main political parties as well as civil society and faith groups, took their oaths, a military band announced the new leadership with trumpets, tubas and trombones.

Political activists greeted the creation of the council optimistically. Its first task will be to choose a new prime minister before paving the way for elections.

At a second ceremony marking the establishment of the council, the recently appointed US ambassador to Haiti, Dennis Hankins, said he hoped his country could help Haiti return to a path of stability, democracy and economic growth.

“Each day is a new day and this is a new day for Haiti,” Hankins said. “The parties representing really the entire range of Haitian society have shown their ability to go past their personal or party interests to work together in favour of the Haitian people. So it is an important step today. In crisis the Haitians are able to do tremendous things and we’re here to help them. We won’t be the solution but hopefully we’ll be part of helping those finding the solution.”

Hankins recognised that the US was partly responsible for Haiti’s current drama, given the large number of weapons flowing into the hands of Haiti’s gangs from the US. “The fact that many of the arms that come here come from the United States I think is indisputable and that has a direct impact [here],” admitted the ambassador, who said he believed his government was now working to limit the export of such firearms.

Haiti, which is still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake that levelled the capital and killed tens of thousands of people, has no elected officials and has not held an election since 2016. Armed groups are said to control at least 80% of the capital, with outgunned police fighting to keep the politically connected gangs at bay.

More than 50,000 people have been displaced by the violence, with at least 2,500 people killed or injured since the start of the year and 1.6 million people on the brink of famine.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/25/new-haiti-government-sworn-in-during-secret-ceremony