HaitianDiaspora.com/blog

Terror Suspects???

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 01:24:00 +0000

Might the government have jumped the gun on this one?

MIAMI, June 23 -- Federal authorities announced charges here Friday against seven men they described as "a homegrown terrorist cell" that planned to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower and other buildings. But officials conceded that the group never had contact with al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups and had not acquired any explosives.

Haitian Mother's Day

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Sat, 13 May 2006 09:41:00 +0000

I was abruptly awaken in the wee hours of the morning by my mother's voice commanding us to wake up, "Leve! Leve! Leve!" Rise! Rise! Rise! I turned over on the bed to find that my older brother, although confused, was already awake, but my younger brothers were still asleep next to me. My mother stood in the middle of the room with a small oil lamp in her outstretched arm, high above her head. The light flickered furiously as she floated across the room. "Leve! Leve!" she screamed again.(more...)

A Great Event on May 11

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Thu, 11 May 2006 15:08:32 +0000

a great event on May 11 at 6pm at
National COuncil of La Raza
1126 16th Street NW

I heard the guest speakers this morning and they give great background on this situation in the DR regarding Afro-Haitians, Afro-Haitian descendants, and Afro-Dominicans. They do not speak English (i don't think since the event this morning was in spanish only) but interpretation is available.

It would be great to see some Haitians there and learn more about blacks in the DR.

here is a link to the event. http://www.nclr.org/content/calendar/detail/38589/

RSVP: afrodominican@nclr.org

'Marriage Is for White People'

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 01:54:00 +0000

By Joy Jones
Washingtonpost.com
Sunday, March 26, 2006; B01

I grew up in a time when two-parent families were still the norm, in both black and white America. Then, as an adult, I saw divorce become more commonplace, then almost a rite of passage. Today it would appear that many -- particularly in the black community -- have dispensed with marriage altogether.

But as a black woman, I have witnessed the outrage of girlfriends when the ex failed to show up for his weekend with the kids, and I've seen the disappointment of children who missed having a dad around. Having enjoyed a close relationship with my own father, I made a conscious decision that I wanted a husband, not a live-in boyfriend and not a "baby's daddy," when it came my time to mate and marry.

My time never came.

A Vision of Spring to Come

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 14:33:00 +0000

I had a vision: one of neither religious nor prophetic importance, but still an arousing vision.

While turning the corner of Dazed and Confused, she suddenly appeared. Without taking the cell phone off her ear, she said, "hi," laughing, no doubt, at the bewildered look on my face...

La Frontera: An Issue of Anti-Haitianismo or Anti-Africanismo

nzinghayaa@hotmail.com (Nzingha Yaa) — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 14:38:00 +0000

March 12, 2006

La Frontera: An Issue of Anti-Haitianismo or Anti-Africanismo

Over the past few weeks there have been several reports on the deportation of Haitians from the Dominican Republic, as well as killings. Deporting Haitians from the Dominican Republic is nothing new. It’s been happening for quite some time and more so over the past few years since the 1937 Haitian Massacre

Reading the headlines from Dominican, Haitians, and International newspapers give the impression that only illegal Haitians are being expelled from the Dominican Republic. Far from the reality are Haitians with their identity cards or cedulas, Haitian descendents, and even black Dominicans are expelled from Dominican Republic. Many families have been torn apart, separated due to this ongoing situation.

There is a long history between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. A history filled with occupation, massive slavery of the Haitians working in the sugar plantations as well as a history of collaboration. Most of the border history between Dominicans and Haitians has been cooperative not adversarial.[i]

Haiti invaded three times the DR and on the third one governed and dominated for twenty two years. Haiti invaded the eastern end of the island-a Spanish colony- in 1805 with Dessalines. In 1822-1844 Haitians unify the island. It is after 1844 where Haiti will now attempt three unsuccessful invasions into the new Dominican Republic. After 1856, there are no military wars between the two nations.[ii]

The situation brought more fear and hatred towards Haitians as they were former slaves ruling those who saw themselves as white and Spanish descendents.

The issue of anti-Haitianismo or what I call anti-Africanismo is the denial and rejection of anything that has to do with Africa, can be traced back to the introduction of slavery on the island of Hispaniola. As slaves from Africa were considered inferior type incapable of any intelligence, developed and made France one of the richest colonies at that time. The legacy of colonization was that of prejudice and racial discrimination that still pervades most of Latin America and the Caribbean.

While the Tainos, aboriginals who populated Hispaniola until the arrivals of the Spaniard, the majority of them were decimated by the mid sixteen century due to the slave conditions that they were put into, the Dominicans describe themselves mainly as Indios.

For quite some time in the DR there was no acknowledgement that Africa is part of the country and if was not for Africans there would not have been the DR. Now there is acknowledgment and there is a growing black consciousness movement in the DR today. The claiming of Dominicans’ black roots dates back to the 1970s.[iii]

To truly grasp the situation at the Dominican Republic, we must look at the government of Rafaël Trujillo from 1930 to 1961. In 1929 Haiti and the Dominican Republic signed a border delimitation agreement.[iv] To finally establish the permanent limits of their respective border, Presidents Sténio Vincent of Haiti and Trujillo signed further agreements for both countries.

The border was usually filled with Haitians and Dominicans trading, visiting friends and family members. Soon after realizing that the border agreement did not change the situation at the border, that people from both sides kept going from one side to another ignoring the border as they had been doing for decades. In October 1937, Trujillo ordered the massacre of the Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. Although there is some discrepancy regarding the number of Haitians who were killed by Dominican soldiers, thousands of innocent people lost their lives including black Dominicans. One of the greatest crimes in humanity was committed that day.

Since then, Trujillo and countless other Dominican presidents and political leaders have used this incident as an opportunity to rally Dominicans against Haitians under the banner of nationalism, the case of Dominicans protecting their border against the invasion of Haitians. Trujillo anti-Haitian ideological framework is based on this xenophobia.

This massacre represents a much larger picture as Dominicans were in the process of whitening their country. By whitening I mean, presenting the country as white, populated solely by European descendents. This process has been done throughout the Americas. In Brazil for example, the idea to whiten the country started even before the end of slavery in 1888. Abolitionists and Brazilian elites were thinking of ways to replace the slave population after abolition and prevent a labor shortage. They wanted to put Brazil at the level of European nations and the only way that this could be achieved was through the importation of European immigrants and preventing other ethnic group from entering Brazil especially blacks. The Brazilian government paid for the passages of thousands of European immigrants. The elites were hoping that within a few years there would not be any trace of black blood in the new Brazil.

As blacks throughout the region are presented as illiterates, descendents of slaves, and inferior and whites in the region are European descendents, educated, and superior. To be of African descent or blacks in the DR is to admit that one is Haitian or of Haitian descent. The Dominicans are not blacks, they are proud Spanish descencts and the brave indios. This situation has created an environment of fear and contributed to much hatred. This view of the situation has failed to draw the attention of the international community because it is mainly seen as the deportation of illegal Haitians.

The number of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic varies. It is very difficult to estimate the number of legal from illegal Haitians. According to Minority Groups International, Haitians and Dominicans of Haitians descendents in the Dominican Republic is estimated at 500,000 to 700,000 in 1999.[v] It is not very clear the number of legal Haitians living in the DR, and the number of those born there.

The situation on la Frontera is horrifying. The military has continuously rounded up people at the border for deportation. How do they distinguished Haitians from Dominicans? What we know is that blacks are deported from the DR. The black population especially legal or illegal Haitians and those of Haitian descents have lived under horrible conditions of discrimination, no access to education or medical health care, no rights to citizenship, and economically exploited.

Most white Dominicans and also black and mulatto Dominicans have always refused to work in sugar fields because that type of work was too degrading. Since then, most of the Haitians sugar cane workers have established themselves in the Batayes. Thus turning Haitians cane workers into permanent slaves.

The international community has continuously failed to address the issue of blacks, of Haitians in the Batayes, and at the Frontera. As the world closed its eyes one of the most brutal crimes in History, the 1937 massacre of thousands of Haitians and black Dominicans in the Dominican Republic, today the situation in the DR is totally ignored.

The situation in the DR is not just a Haitian problem, there is blatant and a great deal of racism against blacks. Blacks are at the bottom of the economic and social echelon. They suffer from high unemployment rate because they are denied access to higher paying jobs, they have the highest illiteracy rate and lack of access to basic health care.

This situation in the DR has gone for too long. When will it stop? When will the international community stand up to its committment to stop human right abuse and xenophobia?

In peace,

Nzingha
nzinghayaa@hotmail.com

[i] Paulino, Edward.
[ii] Paulino, Edward.
[iii] Paulino, Edward.
[iv] Sagas, Ernesto. Race and Politics in the Dominican Republic. University Press of Florida. 2000. 45.
[v] Ferguson, James. Migration in the Caribbean: Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Beyond.

Francophonie 2006

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 17:06:00 +0000

Concerts:
Monday, March 27, 7:30 PM

ARNO (Belgium)
La Maison Francaise
adm. $25
reservation required

Films:
Movies will be screened at the Ring Auditorium,
Hirshhorn Museum<>

Tuesday, March 21, 7:00 PM

Kiss Me Not on the Eyes
(France - Egypt)
Gen. Adm.: $13

Tuesday, March 28, 7:00 PM

The Great Trip
(Morocco)
Gen. Adm.: $13

info: www.francophoniedc.org

Angelique Kidjo: Sunday, March 11, 7:30 p.m.

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 19:17:00 +0000

This Benin-born, Paris-based vocalist combines Afro-funk, reggae, samba, salsa, gospel, jazz, Zairean rumba, zouk and makossa for a soulful performance.

Tickets: $20-35
Lisner Auditorium,
730 21st St, NW (Foggy Bottom Metro)

3 Killed, Dozens injured in Haiti Carnival

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 05:21:00 +0000

Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:32 PM ET
By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - At least three people died and more than 50 have been injured during carnival festivities in Haiti, which has been plagued by political and gang violence, doctors and witnesses said on Tuesday.

Doctors at the general hospital in the capital said a man and two women died on Monday along the parade route in Port-au-Prince.

A 19-year-old man was killed when a float carrying a musical group ran him over. A woman died when she fell from a float and was crushed, and another woman died after being hit with a piece of a broken bottle, according to witnesses.

At least 50 people have been injured since the annual festival began on Sunday.

Hundreds of people have died in political and gang violence in Haiti in the last two years.

In the months leading up to the February 7 election, gunfire in the slums and kidnappings for ransom were a daily occurrence in the capital. But the country avoided a feared explosion of violence in connection with the vote, its first since former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was deposed by an armed revolt in February 2004.

Haiti's interim government disbursed nearly $2 million to finance the popular annual pre-Lenten carnival.

'Belgian Option' Helped Avert Crisis in Haiti

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 14:26:00 +0000

The solution for the blank-ballot issue sprang from closed-door talks between interim government officials and foreign diplomats.

By Carol J. Williams, Times Staff Writer
Source: http://www.latimes.com/

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — When word leaked out in the powder-keg streets of Port-au-Prince that former President Rene Preval's lead was shrinking, his supporters took to the hills. By the thousands, they stormed up to the hilltop Hotel Montana, where they believed the overseers of the Haitian presidential vote were holed up, clambering over the luxury compound's gates and overwhelming its meager defenses.

But electoral council officials hadn't shown up at the Montana that Monday. Neither had those administering the vote tabulation at the Sonapi industrial park near the airport. Although workers hired to input voting data had made it to the industrial park, they had been sent home for their safety.

It had been nearly a week since 2.2 million voters crushed into overwhelmed polling places Feb. 7 in Haiti's first elections in six years. Initial returns had given Preval 61%, but further counting had whittled that lead to just over 50%, and the percentage kept going lower. Suspicious that their votes were being stolen, Preval's supporters were spoiling for a confrontation.

The top United Nations diplomat in Haiti, Juan Gabriel Valdes, summoned peacekeeping commanders and officials of Haiti's interim government to an emergency meeting early Monday afternoon at the operational compound of the U.N. mission, which is known by its French acronym, MINUSTAH.

A decision was made to send a helicopter to Preval's remote hometown, Marmalade, to bring the man at the center of the spiraling unrest to the capital to calm his supporters. When Preval disembarked the U.N. helicopter, he said only that he had come to try to save the election.

Preval's camp was crying foul, pointing to the large number of blank ballots — nearly 5% of the total — as suspect. Haitians hadn't walked for miles and stood in unruly lines for hours to cast ballots for none of the 33 presidential choices, his aides argued. They wanted the blank ballots removed from the count or redistributed proportionate to each contender's vote share, either of which would boost Preval's percentage above the simple majority needed for victory.

Meanwhile, diplomats from the United States, Canada, France, Brazil, Chile, the United Nations and the Organization of American States gathered at the National Palace to meet with interim President Boniface Alexandre.

"We felt what was needed was a big brainstorming. We thought we should try to find a way to smooth things over," said Brazil's ambassador to Haiti, Paolo Cordeiro de Andrade Pinto, whose nation commands MINUSTAH forces and contributes the largest contingent.

"There was a Latin American perception that the way the blank votes were handled here is completely different from the way they are considered in any other country," Cordeiro said.

As tension mounted, political analysts blamed exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide for orchestrating the unrest and raising the specter of violence — a tactic remembered from his two truncated presidencies.

Preval emerged Tuesday morning to say he had not summoned the crowds to the streets and did not have the power to recall them. But in an address carried live on nationwide radio, he urged his supporters to keep up their demands for a fair vote count but to do so "peacefully, intelligently and with respect for private property."

Immediately, the roadblocks were lifted and Preval's supporters turned to festive marches to press their demands that he be declared the presidential victor.

Tuesday night, another political bombshell exploded. The Telemax TV station, privately owned and seen as a pro-Aristide bastion, carried footage of thousands of marked ballots and election material dumped atop a sodden trash heap. The roadblocks reemerged. The vote-counting remained suspended.

The interim government announced an investigation, but by midday Wednesday, the volatile city crackled anger.

Officials of the Provisional Electoral Council, a nine-member body named before Aristide's February 2004 departure and composed mostly of his political opponents, locked themselves into a suburban villa at 11 a.m. to hash over compromise proposals.

Preval's opponents, noting that he lacked a clear majority, wanted a second round of voting to be held March 19. But Preval refused to submit to a runoff, warning of chaos as his supporters were certain that only fraud could have deprived him of a first-round win.

"They thrashed through the different proposals and eventually settled on a formula for handling blank votes that is applied in Belgium," said David Wimhurst, a MINUSTAH spokesman who said the council's decision was made behind closed doors and solely by its members. "We were out of it, completely out of it." Others involved in suggesting solutions concede that foreign diplomats were instrumental in pointing out options.

The Belgian Option, as the compromise has come to be known, met the technical requirement of the Haitian election decree that unmarked ballots be counted, Cordeiro said. Along with Chilean Ambassador Marcel Young, he convinced counterparts from the United States, France and Canada that insistence on a runoff risked an explosion of violence.

In their respective capitals, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Celso Amorim.

"The deal cut was under the lead of Brazil and Chile. Washington and Paris reluctantly accepted it," said a source involved in the palace brainstorming. Contending that the United States has handed off responsibility for Haiti to South American allies, he said that "when you outsource an issue, you can't dictate how to run things."

Several sources privy to the three-day diplomatic scurry say the fate of Aristide didn't enter into the equation, that despite consensus that the exiled populist's return would be destabilizing, they never tried to trade declaration of a Preval victory for his promise to keep his predecessor out of the country.

One observer described the U.S. role as "pretty silent" amid more active roles by the South American diplomats whose countries contribute the bulk of MINUSTAH's forces. Cordeiro confirmed that with more than 1,200 Brazilian troops in Haiti, his government felt a responsibility to search for "creative solutions" in the face of the mounting threat of violence.

Timothy M. Carney, former U.S. ambassador and acting charge d'affaires, said he did not know whether the subject of Aristide came up during the council's deliberations because neither he nor the other diplomats spoke with the Haitian officials during their 14 hours of discussions, which ran until early Thursday.

"But there has never been any doubt about the U.S. position on Aristide's return since Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was here last autumn and said he was a man of the past," Carney said.

The council's 3 a.m. announcement that the blank vote redistribution had pushed Preval over the victory threshold inspired joyous celebrations throughout the country. But the 63-year-old president-elect's challengers denounced the declaration as illegal.

"We are not duped by this Machiavellian comedy of imposing a winner," said Leslie F. Manigat, the 75-year-old former president who finished a distant second to Preval and would have been his challenger in a runoff. He accused "foreign forces" of compelling election officials to break their own regulations.

But as congratulations poured in from around the world, Preval's election became a fait accompli.

At the U.N., Secretary-General Kofi Annan hailed the council's compromise as "a reasonable way to attempt to resolve a conflict, an impasse that could have led to conflict and violence."

Rice, in Washington, said the administration looked forward to working with the new government and expressed hope for a new beginning for a country long in the grip of dictatorship and corruption.

Preval retreated to his sister's home in the upscale Peguyville neighborhood and has yet to address his supporters.

Statement on Misinformation Attacks

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 04:33:00 +0000

November 2, 2005

“The ongoing misinformation attacks against me and the broad-based coalition of pro-democracy political parties under the banner of Tet Ansanm are meant to distract the world from the vicious cycle of violence, poverty and corruption that are strangling our beloved Haiti. We will not engage in political games to hide the fact that this cycle of violence and poverty has left Haitians unable to put food on the table. Instead, we will be a beacon of truth and shine the light on these injustices. We will talk about solutions to the myriad of challenges facing Haiti. As a nation, we are ready to move forward and start talking about how we will change the future of Haiti for the better. We are tired of the political insiders stealing from the mouths of children. Now it is time for us sweep out the failed politics and bring in strong new leadership that is not poisoned by the dirty clique of insider politics that has crippled our beautiful country.”

-- Dumarsais Siméus, Nov. 2, 2005

Haiti election body bars US citizens from ballot

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 12:33:00 +0000

Fri Nov 11, 2005 6:31 PM ET PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Haiti's electoral agency on Friday threw two Haitian-born U.S. citizens out of the race for the country's presidency, ignoring a Supreme Court decision that one of them should be allowed to run. The troubled Caribbean country's electoral council excluded Dumarsais Simeus, a Texas-based multimillionaire, and Samir Mourra from a list of authorized candidates for the election, originally due to take place November 20 but now seen as unlikely until mid-December at the earliest. Thirty-five candidates were allowed to run in the first presidential ballot since former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in February 2004 after a monthlong armed revolt and under U.S. and French pressure to quit. Once a champion of democracy in Haiti, Aristide faced accusations of increasing despotism and corruption. Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has continued to be scarred by criminal and political violence since Aristide fled, despite the presence of more than 7,000 Brazilian-led U.N. peacekeepers and international police. The decision by the electoral council to exclude Simeus and Mourra came after a panel appointed by the interim authorities recommended they be barred because of their U.S. citizenship. The electoral council also excluded a third candidate, Jose Nicholas, but gave no reason. Last month, the Supreme Court ordered the electoral council to put Simeus' name on the final list of approved presidential candidates. The electoral council has said no one holding a foreign passport can run for president. Both Simeus and Mourra say they have never renounced their Haitian citizenship and have protested attempts to keep them out of the race.

© Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

POLITICS-HAITI: (Don't) Vote for Me...

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 00:35:00 +0000

by Amy Bracken

NEW YORK, Nov 7 (IPS) - Blasting from giant speakers in Brooklyn's Crystal Manor ballroom one recent evening was a new song in Haitian Creole: "Vote! Vote Bazin for change!"

But most of those gathered at this political rally will not vote for Marc Bazin or any of the other candidates running for president of Haiti this winter. U.S. citizens face a ban on dual nationality in Haiti's Constitution, and those U.S. residents unable or unwilling to return to Haiti to vote in person have no absentee ballot option.

Still, Bazin and other Haitian candidates are campaigning hard outside Haiti because they see Haitians living abroad as enormously influential. More than 80 percent of college-educated Haitians live overseas, and the vast majority of Haiti's annual income comes from Haitians abroad sending money back to friends and family.

With 35 candidates registered to run under a provisional government that took charge after the ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide almost two years ago, this will be the most hotly contested presidential election in Haitian history, and Haitians abroad are getting more attention than ever.

In Boston, three candidates recently participated in the first Haitian presidential debate overseas -- and one of the first ever in Haitian history. Since early October, at least eight candidates have already done the rounds in Boston, New York and Miami, where most of the U.S.'s half million Haiti-born residents live. Others have campaigned as far away as France.

The candidates are looking for both money and, indirectly, votes. Leslie Voltaire, Bazin's campaign manager and formerly Aristide's Minister of Haitians Living Abroad, said Haiti's entire middle class lives overseas, and he called Bazin's first U.S. tour "a way to tell [Haitians abroad] that they count, that we count on them, and to push them to get on the phone and tell their relatives to vote for Bazin."

It is also clear to Haitian politicians what will win over Haitians outside Haiti. A major issue arising at campaign rallies, fundraisers and debates in the U.S. is, ironically, the right to vote and dual citizenship.

Those attending the events are U.S. residents and citizens, but they speak Creole, stay in close touch with loved ones back home, and think obsessively about the state of their nation. Many, who fled Haiti's violence and grueling poverty, wait for the day they can safely return to their homeland.

In an effort to show his credentials as a representative of Haitians abroad, Bazin told the 90 or so New York audience members that he had lived in Washington for 18 years, working for the World Bank. "And so I'll say to you, Haitians abroad, Diaspora, with Bazin as president, you will have the right to vote," he said. "With Bazin as president, you will have dual nationality..." The audience silenced him with wild applause.

Meanwhile, back in Haiti, all registered candidates have been forced to prove their Haitian nationality before the Provisional Electoral Council by presenting their own birth certificates and those of their parents.

One presidential candidate not on tour in the U.S. is Texas multi-millionaire businessman Dumarsais Simeus, who was born into a peasant family in Haiti's Artibonite Valley but has spent 45 years outside Haiti.

A debate is raging over whether or not he has the right to run for president, with the electoral council claiming he does not, the Supreme Court claiming he does, the interim government challenging the ruling of the Supreme Court, and the population taking a variety of positions on the issue.

But candidates touring the U.S. have been clear on the issue: Simeus should be able to run. Bazin invoked Haiti's 1987 Constitution in asserting that all Haitians in exile have the right to return home -- even brutal dictators like Jean-Claude Duvalier, who currently lives in France -- but where it infringes on the rights of Haitians overseas, Bazin questioned whether the document should be honoured.

Calling it "painful" to see a man who means well being prevented from shooting for Haiti's top job, Bazin said, "The Constitution is clear, but should we stick to the Constitution or should we look toward some sort of political compromise?"

In its 201 years, Haiti's relationship with the developed world has been highly ambivalent, with great national pride belied by the humiliation of Haitians clamouring to get on boats to leave the country at all costs, and with a nation boasting the distinction of being the first free black republic on Earth while forced into total economic dependence on others.

Fittingly, enforcement of the ban on dual citizenship has been anything but consistent. Haiti's current interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue was a resident of Boca Raton, Florida, when selected for the post, and he has said he plans to return there when his replacement is sworn in.

His predecessor, Yvon Neptune, had studied architecture in the U.S. and was popularly accused of being "American" -- a charge he denied.

Further complicating the situation, the electoral council birth certificate requirement for presidential candidates neither proves nor disproves that they have become citizens of other countries. Meanwhile, non-Haitians, including a Canadian and an African, have reported being able to register to vote in Haiti this year simply by proving residency.

According to the Constitution, one loses Haitian citizenship not only if he or she is naturalised in another country, but if they live outside the country for three years without "proper authorisation". To top it off, "Once Haitian nationality is lost, it cannot be recovered."

This harsh exclusion of foreign nationals has been challenged at home as well as abroad. Aristide, whose wife, Mildred Trouillot, is U.S.-born, supported a Constitutional amendment to allow dual citizenship. The amendment received support in Parliament, but the legislative body was dissolved before action could be taken to implement it.

Voltaire said the dual citizenship ban is supported only by an upper crust in Haiti jealous of those living abroad. "The problem is that we have an elite of five percent of the people controlling 50 percent or more of the resources, and who would not accept a lot of competition," he said.

Today, Haitian politicians show little fear of this elite, which has lost considerable electoral power in the last two decades. More than ever politicians acknowledge the dependence of Haitians in Haiti on Haitians abroad -- that is, between Haiti's nine geographic departments and Haiti's Diaspora, known as the 10th department.

Jean Claude Desgranges, Aristide's former cabinet chief and a supporter of Bazin, who splits his time between Haiti and Florida, declared in Creole to the Brooklyn crowd, "I'm of the 10th department, just like you. I'm a true Haitian, just like you... You are all living as Haitians and you are all going to die as Haitians."

Haitians at home and abroad are anxiously awaiting an announcement from the electoral council on the date of presidential and legislative elections, now only loosely scheduled for mid-December.

Already pushed back from November, the vote for president could be delayed again due to the debate over Simeus' right to run. (END/2005)

Simeus and Simeus Foods International

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 03:58:00 +0000

Topic:

Author:

Time:

DUMAS SIMEUS

Michael Collins

10/31/2005 10:53

Mr Simeus continually makes false claims with regard to his true interests in SIMEUS FOODS INTERNATIONAL.

Dumas Simeus is not the owner of Simeus Foods International; he is not the majority shareholder of Simeus Foods International; he is not the President and CEO of Simeus Foods International.

Dumas Simeus created Simeus Foods in 1996, along with several other people. All of them had shares in the company. No one was in a majority position. In 2001 Simeus Foods was sold to a Beverly Hills investment firm.
http://www.key.com/keyprincipalpartners/html/investments_prior.html#s-z

In 2004 it was passed on to another investment group and now exists as a private corporation. LEVINE LEICHTMAN CAPITAL PARTNERS
http://www.llcp.com/news_14.html
The investment group retained Dumas Simeus as Chairman, a figurehead that provided certain tax advantages since his chairmanship made the firm a minority enterprise, under tax laws.

The real President and CEO is a man called Ronald Artzer. Go to www.simeusfoods.com and click on CUSTOM to see this fact.

Simeus became a naturalized American citizen in 1970. Although he denies ever renouncing his Haitian citizenship this was a requirement when for gaining his American citizenship. He took the following oath:

"I, DUMARSAIS MECENE SIMEUS hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

If he didn't renounce his Haitian citizenship...his American citizenship will be revoked. You can't have it both ways although Simeus has claimed - on Haitian radio and TV - that his American passport is simply a travel document, forced upon him by the American government.

I am sure the Americans would love this concept...and,

Dual citizenship is not allowed in Haiti...PERIOD!!

The entire Simeus campaign seems to be constructed upon false statements. Perhaps his claim to be a millionaire falls in the same category. There are rumors to the effect that he has a $25,000,000 problem in Texas that sees everything he owns tied up as security on a collapsing situation.

Perhaps he is looking to take over the Haitian treasury - like many past Haitian leaders - to satisfy his own needs. Perhaps he should provide a Notarized financial statement to show his true situation.

Michael Collins

Dumarsais Simeus for President of Haiti?

info@haitiandiaspora.com (dyaspora) — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 14:10:00 +0000

This is the Haitian Diaspora's chance to respond and let the world know how they feel about the candidacy of Dumarsais Simeus for President of Haiti.