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[Translation of an article from Haïti-Liberté for May 18, 2013. See original here.]

By Isabelle L. Papillon

May 14, 2013, is the second anniversary of the inauguration of President Michel Joseph Martelly as head of the country. This second anniversary is marked by catastrophe on political, economic and social levels. The situation of degradation moves inhabitants of poor neighborhoods to demonstrate in the streets of the capital to denounce the drift of tètkale-kaletèt Martelly-Lamothe rule.

Hundreds of people took to the streets at the call of the Mouvement de Liberté, d’Égalité et de la Fraternité des Haïtiens, the Parlement Populaire Haïtien and the Union Nationale des Normaliens d’Haïti to protest against the  tètkale regime, which has done nothing but increase the misery of the masses, the hunger, the unemployment. The demonstrators criticized the so-called priorities of the tètkale authorities, which rest on the “4-Es”: education, the rule of law (l’état de droit) employment and energy. According to the protesters, these priorities are so far nothing but words. Each of the organizations gave press conferences on Monday, May 13, to make an assessment of the government. The government’s tally is completely negative, according to the organizers. (more…)

After almost nine years in the country, MINUSTAH prolongs conditions of poverty and repression, securing the political and economic interests of the United States

[Translation of an interview from Brasil de Fato of São Paulo for May 9, 2013.  See original here and related articles here, here, here and here.]

By Márcio Zonta

The United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti (MINUSTAH) will be nine years old in June.  Created in 2004 by the UN Security Council, it brought the activities of foreign troops into the country after the coup against then President Bertrand Aristide.  He was kidnapped and deposed by United States forces, being forced into exile in Africa. (more…)

[Translation of an article from AlterPresse of Port-au-Prince for April 12, 2013. See original here. The writer is communications coordinator for the Jesuit Refugee Service for Latin America and the Caribbean.]

By Wooldy Edson Louidor

Bogota, Colombia, April 12 – Several South American governments are showing a clear tendency toward a hardening of their migration policies in regard to Haitian migrants who reach their border or are already in their territory.

From Ecuador to French Guiana (an overseas territory of France), Haitian migrants face an ever more complex series of difficult situations like the closing of borders, threats of deportation, increases in requirements for entering their territories and humanitarian crises. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Espacinsular of Santo Domingo for April 10, 2013. See original here.]

by Griselda Liberato

Santo Domingo, April 10 – Although it is not state policy, events suggest that government agencies are supporting violations of the migration laws. Taking into account the legal mechanisms the country has for the control and registration of immigration and reviewing the repeated occasions in which Haitians have charged that authorities do not process applications for documents or for renewal of them, it can be confirmed that the state carries out policies that increase the percentage of persons living in Dominican territory indefinitely under irregular conditions. (more…)

Stories of trafficking of immigrants are common in Quilicura, home of the largest Haitian community in the country

[Translation of an article from Opera Mundi of São Paulo, Brazil, for March 2. See original here.]

By Víctor Farinelli

Fewer than 20 ten years ago, Haitians now number almost 4,000 in Chile as a whole. The majority come through the Dominican Republic, drawn by promises of jobs and prosperity, but are then abandoned to their own fate in a country with a cold climate and a scant welcome for new inhabitants.

Between 2009 and 2011, 2,600 new Haitians came into the South American country, compared with the little more than 700 who left. In 2011 alone, of the 1,369 who arrived, 1,056 managed to stay in Andean lands.

There are many reasons for the phenomenon, but one of the main ones is the work of immigrant trafficking gangs. Although many Haitians who live in South America have passed through countries like Peru, Argentina and Brazil, the bulk of the flow into Chile comes directly through the Dominican Republic. There are at least two gangs operating there who take them directly to Santiago. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Espacinsular of Santo Domingo for February 6. See original here and related articles here and here. The study referred to, "Haitian Construction Workers in the Dominican Republic: An Exploratory Study on Indicators of Forced Labor," is here.]

Santo Domingo, February 6 – Dangerous working conditions, long hours, months with no pay, threats and physical abuse are reality for many of the Haitians working in the construction industry in the Dominican Republic, according to a study carried out by ICF International and published last September

In the past two decades, the Dominican construction industry has come to depend to a great extent on the work of Haitian migrant workers, the largest migrant community in the country. In interviews with 135 Haitian construction workers, the researchers have found many indications of forced labor. For example, there are practices like confining workers in their workplaces to prevent their claiming their rights from construction business owners. There is also evidence that the police, in cooperation with the employers, have been heavily involved in covering up accidents and abuse. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Espacinsular of Santo Domingo for January 15. See original here and related article here.]

Santo Domingo, January 14 – The continuing presence of the more than 100 Haitian workers in front of the Ministry of Labor represents a conflict with international repercussions to which the government should respond in order to avoid damaging the country’s image abroad, sociologist Max Puig has declared.

Also a former minister of labor, he expressed surprise at statements by authorities that it is a problem affecting exclusively the justice system, “when the workers labored more than ten years in businesses that were not legally registered,” for which he wondered, “where were the Migration inspectors, where were the Labor inspectors, where was the national police?”

The one-time presidential candidate believes that what is being denounced basically goes well beyond a simple labor demand. “It is a matter of a business that has caused Haitian citizens to come from Haiti to a country that has been accused frequently of human trafficking,” he added.

Puig, president of the Alianza por la Democracia party, insists “it cannot be that the Ministry (of Labor) says it has no jurisdiction and that nobody in the government has jurisdiction.”

The approximately 112 Haitian workers, who have held a picket line for more than a month in front of the Ministry of Labor, some together with their spouses and young children, worked for the [coconut producing businesses] Coquera Rea and Coquera del Kilómetro 5, in the southern province of San Cristóbal.

Rafael Emilio Luna Alonzo, owner of the businesses in question, refuses to pay the workers’ wages on the grounds that only five of the workers were legally registered.

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Haitian workers are holding a vigil at the Ministry of Labor

[Translation of an article from Espacinsular of Santo Domingo for December 27.  See original here.]

Santo Domingo, December 27 – Leaders of the Haitian diaspora offered a Christmas dinner on December 24 to 112 of their compatriots, workers who have been camped out in front of the Ministry of Labor since Friday, December 14, because of a labor dispute. Lawyers representing the undocumented workers also attended the event.

In contrast with the way they have spent their days so far, with tables arranged on the sidewalk at the government agency and under police surveillance, the workers and their families, including small children, shared Christmas eve dinner thanks to a gesture of solidarity by leaders of several Haitian community organizations in the Dominican Republic, under the coordination of the Fundación Zile. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Brecha of Montevideo, Uruguay, for December 28.  See original here.]

The United Nations Security Council resolved and Uruguay approved the extension of MINUSTAH in the Caribbean country.  The executive’s resolution, approved by the parliament, brought about discontent in the ranks of the frenteamplistas because, in addition to other factors, the law does not take into account the UNASUR decision to reduce the number of soldiers.  The FA [Frente Amplio] is proposing to debate the country’s participation in peace missions next year as well as the overall role of the armed forces and possible accords with the United States.

The Chamber of Deputies yesterday gave final approval to the law that extends the presence of Uruguayan military forces in Haiti.  The text submitted by the executive branch, which at the outset could count on unanimous approval by the Senate, says in its main paragraphs that, considering “the request by the Haitian government to extend the MINUSTAH mandate and United Nations Security Council resolution 2070, which calls for the extension, our country, as a promoter of peace and the strengthening of cooperation among countries, in accordance with international law, deems it appropriate to continue our participation in MINUSTAH.”  So the Uruguayan contingent will stay in the Caribbean country for another year.  And as has always happened in the eight years the troops have been in Haiti, the PE’s [the executive branch's] decision brought on debate within the Frente Amplio [the governing coalition of parties], although the different positions were accommodated through party discipline. (more…)

[Translations of two articles from AlterPresse Haïti for May 18 and 20. See originals here and here and related articles here, here, and here.]

Former soldiers march on flag day

Port au Prince, May 18 – More than a hundred people dressed in military fatigues claiming to be former members of the disbanded army marched in Port au Prince on May 18, the 209th anniversary of the Haitian flag, AlterPresse has learned.

With no announcement of their plans, the marchers, some of them armed, marched from Carrefour, at the southern edge of the capital, toward the center of Port au Prince.

“It is my heart that brings me here today, that is, the constitution of the country,” Serge Jean Guerrier, who claims he was part of the army disbanded in 1995, told AlterPresse. (more…)

((Johny Jean in Montevideo -- El Mostrador photo))

[Translations of two articles, the first by Spanish news agency Efe as published in El Observador of Montevideo on May 9, the second from El País of Montevideo for May 11. See originals here and here and related articles here, here, here and here.]

Haitian youth who denounced rape by Uruguayan marines to testify in Montevideo

Haitian Johny Jean, who accused five Uruguayan blue helmets of abusing him sexually last year in Haiti, will travel to Uruguay on Tuesday to testify before the judge in charge of the case.

The director of the [Haitian] Reseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH – National Network for the Defense of Human Rights), Pierre Espérance, confirmed the trip, in which a member of that organization will take part in order to observe Jean’s testimony before the Uruguayan court, planned for Thursday afternoon. (more…)

((Hartley with two Haitian sugar cane workers.))

[Translations of three articles, one by the Spanish news agency EFE as published in El Nuevo Diario of Santo Domingo on April 24, two from Listín Diario of Santo Domingo for April 24 and 25. See originals here, here and here. Christopher Hartley is featured in the film “The Price of Sugar;” for more information, go here.]

US investigates priest’s claims of slave labor

Santo Domingo – The United States Department of Labor has opened an investigation in the Dominican Republic into charges by the priest Christopher Hartley, who claims sugar producers are subjecting workers in the industry to conditions of slavery, the US embassy reports. Hartley is currently outside the Dominican Republic but from 1997 to 2006 he worked in the bateyes, workers’ villages set up on sugar plantations, in the San José de los Llanos parish, in the eastern province of San Pedro de Macorís.

The Anglo-Spanish priest has for years made denunciations on the treatment of workers who cut sugar cane, most of whom are Haitian, by large companies.

He has accused them of human trafficking, child labor, racial discrimination and failure to provide health care, as well as of exploitation, fraud and labor abuse. (more…)