Some 20,000 jobs to be created at new industrial park in Haiti

U.S., Haiti team up with Korean garment firm to create 20,000 jobs and country’s first fabric mill.

       Standing in the middle of the dirt-poor rural village on a cool afternoon, the neatly dressed Korean garment tycoon surveyed the rugged mountaintops and surrounding bean fields as he tried to envision the future a year from now.
But it wasn’t until Kim Woong Ki stared into the curious faces surrounding him that the chairman of Korea’s leading manufacturer and exporter of textiles and clothing, realized the real value of his $78 million business investment decision.
“I didn’t really set out to bring people hope,’’ Kim said, as he rode away from the village on Haiti’s northern coast halfway between the cities of Cap-Haitien and Ouanaminthe. “Coming here, seeing the site and walking among the people, I realized that what I’m going to do here in creating the factory and the jobs, is give people hope.’’      

      A major supplier to U.S. retailers Target, Wal-Mart, Kohl’s and GAP, Sae-A is expanding its garment-making operations to Haiti as the anchor tenant in a new 617-acre industrial park being created in the country’s underdeveloped northern region. For the first time, Haiti’s 2 million-a-week T-shirt-stitching industry will also include the country’s only knit and dyeing mill with Sae-A pumping 6,000 tons of ground water a day for its export operations.
“For the first time ever, apparel sewn in Haiti will be using fabric made in Haiti,’’ said Kim, whose company already has operations in Guatemala and Nicaragua.
With the company gearing up to recruit Haitian managers as early as next month for a planned March 2012 opening, the deal is already having a multiplier effect. Local hotel and restaurant owners are optimistic, as are potential workers like 23-year-old Luckner Peter, about the possibility of 20,000 new jobs in the area. Luckner was among dozens of young men hired by the government at 50 cents a hole to help install a fence around the property.
“This is going to change our community,’’ said Louicot Alexandre, president of the chamber of commerce for Northeast Haiti, a region of about 300,000 residents. “This shows that Haiti is prepared to do business with the world, and it’s OK to do business with Haiti.’’
Valued at about $300 million, the job-creation package is one of Haiti’s biggest foreign investments. U.S. officials call it an “unprecedented collaboration’’ between the Haitian and U.S. governments, and the Inter-American Development Bank. So much is at stake that some Haiti observers mused that it was perhaps one of the reasons for the United States’ heavy involvement in the Nov. 28 presidential election debacle. Twice before, Kim had tried to invest in Haiti. Each time, his decision was thwarted. There was political turmoil in 1994 after he signed a memorandum of understanding and then the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake shortly after another trip.
“We have in our business proposal a huge chapter called hurdles and obstacles,’’ said Lon Garwood, advisor to Kim. “Our initial business proposal didn’t look like a business proposal. It looked like why we can’t do business in Haiti.’’
But that was before the U.S. government stepped in, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s personal plea on behalf of Haiti during a Korea visit.   

      With the Haitian government donating the land and compensating farmers, the U.S. plans to build 5,000 houses, a 25-megawatt electricity grid for the park and surrounding area, and a waste and water treatment plant as part of its $124 million contribution. The Inter-American Development Bank is contributing over $100 million for construction of buildings and roads.
“These kinds of investment deals are incredibly hard,’’ said Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s chief of staff, who has been credited with leading the effort for more than a year to bring together all sides including Haiti’s private sector. “They take prolonged coordination and consultation, and accommodation and negotiation. But ultimately what they really take is an audacious amount of faith.’’
It is this faith, the U.S. and others are banking on as they seek to revive Haiti’s post-earthquake shattered economy by helping the nation’s garment industry take better advantage of U.S.-Congress approved duty-free trade legislation. Once boasting 100,000 jobs, the industry has just 28,000. About 9,000 of those were created because of the removal of tariffs.
Last May, a sympathetic Congress extended the trade benefits to 2020.
Now Haiti’s private sector is hoping to attract 60,000 new jobs with the industrial park in the north. They are also eyeing another park in the south, just outside of the quake-ravaged capital of Port-au-Prince.
“We are no longer talking just about garment assembly. We are talking about a true textile industry short of planting cotton. That is what is being developed,’’ said Georges Sassine, who is also responsible for implementing the U.S. Congress-approved duty-free legislation benefiting the garment industry.
Sae-A’s revenues are more than doubled Haiti’s garment industry’s $512 million exports for 2009. In addition to Haitian managers, the company has committed to pay line workers at least four times Haiti’s average $640 GDP per capita. The facility itself will boast a cooling system, recreational facilities and a football field. With the construction bid package currently being prepared to go out next month, the first phase has already been laid out. Sae-A’s operations will occupy 126 of 185 acres, said Mark D’Sa, a Miami-based executive with GAP who has been on loan with the State Department to help Haiti better take advantage of trade legislation.
D’Sa said other potential clients include a furniture maker and two other apparel companies. Not far from the site, and separate from the industrial park, the Dominican government is planning to build a university.
Still, the deal has detractors with some protesting using farmland for what some are calling “sweatshops.’’ Government officials say the land belongs to the state and compensation packages are being worked out for farmers who have been illegally living off it.
“We have sought investments outside of Port-au-Prince for years,’’ said Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive. “In Haiti, the real tough infrastructure investments in energy, ports, and industrial zones have largely been avoided. It’s these investments that will generate the productive base of which Haiti can grow and prosper economically.’’
    
          By jacqueline Charles of Miami Herald

NOT A GOOD NEWS , STEPHEN HENDER FROM BOSTON IS MISSING

That guy is missing in the Boston area , he is a well known parking manager and a very nice guy . He is a diabetic and in very need of INSULIN  so if you can help by any way to find him , HELPPPPP!!!

Les chanceliers dominicain et colombien attendus à Port-au-Prince

Motif officiel de la visite : planification d’une réunion du Conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies sur l’aide aux victimes du séisme/Les chanceliers rencontreront séparément les 2 candidats à la présidence

Les chanceliers dominicain et colombien Carlos Morales Troncoso et Maria Angela Holguin, sont attendus mercredi à Port-au-Prince où ils doivent avoir des discussions avec le président René Préval et le premier ministre Jean Max Bellerive autour d’une réunion du Conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies sur l’aide aux victimes du tremblement de terre du 12 janvier 2010. Ladite réunion doit être dirigée par le président colombien Juan Manuel Santos, annonce le quotidien dominicain Listin Diario.
Les deux chanceliers doivent profiter de l’occasion pour rencontrer séparément les deux candidats à la présidence, Mirlande Hyppolite Manigat (RDNP) et Michel Joseph Martelly (Repons Peyizan). Le journal dominicain ne précise pas le menu des discussions séparées qu’ils auront avec les deux candidats à la veille de la publication des résultats préliminaires du deuxième tour des élections législatives et présidentielles.
La publication de ces résultats suscite des appréhensions dans divers milieux en raison des éventuels troubles politiques et sociaux qui pourraient en découler, compte tenu de la polarisation marquée des forces politiques regroupées autour des candidats à la présidence et aux législatives. Des rumeurs sur la manipulation éventuelle de l’expression populaire au profit de l’un des deux candidats à la présidence alimentent ces appréhensions. [jmd/Radio Kiskeya]

Preval a perdu INITE

«Non seulement il a perdu le contrôle de sa plateforme politique, le président René Préval, en fin de mandat est également largué par ses collaborateurs à INITE, a dénoncé le sénateur Jean-Hector Anacacis qui dit rester toujours fidèle au chef de l'Etat. « Président Préval, c'est le passé. Il ne lui reste qu'à passer l'écharpe présidentielle au prochain président. Ses amis l'ont abandonné alors qu'il est en difficulté », a-t-il déclaré, lundi, à l'émission Panel Magik sur radio Magik 9. Le parlementaire prévoit des jours de grandes difficultés pour le prochain locataire du Palais national.

Haïti: « L'INITE se trouve dans une situation difficile, a déclaré le sénateur Jean-Hector Anacacis. Cette organisation politique a trop de chefs, trop de maîtres. Le président de la République ne représente plus rien à INITE, a-t-il avancé comme pour dire que le chef de l'Etat ne contrôle plus la plateforme politique qu'il a lui-même fondée. René Préval étant un président sortant, il est lâché par ses anciens collaborateurs politiques qui s'alignent maintenant sur le prochain président pressenti, a-t-il dit sans citer de nom. »

La plateforme INITE a été formée sur base d'embauchage. Ses membres n'ont eu aucune conviction politique, de l'avis de Jean-Hector Anacacis « INITE va imploser et sa structure éclatera en plusieurs fragments. Le sénateur Kelly aura sa branche, le sénateur Lambert sa part, le ministre Jasmin une branche, le ministre Paul Denis une autre branche, le Premier ministre M. Bellerive sa part, le président M. Préval sa branche et Jude Célestin sa part », a prédit l'ancien candidat à la présidence.

Selon lui, les 100 premiers jours du prochain président de la République seront caractérisés par un bouleversement total. « C'est pour la première fois qu'on aura un président qui n'a aucun représentant au Parlement. Des parlementaires seront achetés ou soudoyés pour la cause du nouveau chef de l'Etat », a dit M. Anacacis.  Ce qui amènera à l'éclatement de la plateforme présidentielle INITE.

Par ailleurs, Jean-Hector Anacacis fait des prévisions très sombres pour le pays. « La cohabitation sera difficile entre le prochain président et son chef de gouvernement », prévoit-il. Le prochain chef de gouvernement devra être quelqu'un qui connaît ses dossiers, souple et il ne doit pas être arrogant, de l'avis de M. Anacacis. 

Selon l'ancien candidat à la présidence, ni Manigat ni Martelly ne va améliorer la situation de la population. « En promettant de la nourriture, de l'éducation... à tout le monde, je ne crois pas qu'ils pourront tenir leurs promesses », a-t-il renchéri.  Continuer > 

Pendant la période de la campagne du second tour, le parlementaire avait gardé un profil bas. « J'ai une conviction et une idéologie, c'est la raison pour laquelle je n'ai supporté aucun des deux candidats à la présidence, a-t-il expliqué. J'avais, par sagesse politique, pris de la distance pour mieux cerner la situation. Et, c'est cette distance qui m'a permis de comprendre que même ceux qui savent lire se trouvaient dans l'incapacité de produire une réflexion objective à partir des éléments d'analyse. Il fallait être pour Madame Manigat ou pour ''Tet kale''. Je n'étais ni pour l'un ni l'autre... »

Pour lui, après le scrutin du 20 mars dernier, le peuple a pris sa décision à travers les urnes. « Devant le fait accompli, je me suis toujours arrangé pour fonctionner », a-t-il avancé. Avec Manigat ou Martelly, il trouvera, en tout cas, une façon de s'accommoder, a-t-il dit implicitement. 

Il a tenté d'établir une certaine différence entre les discours de campagne des deux prétendants à la magistrature suprême. « J'ai écouté les deux candidats à la présidence. L'un avait un discours cultivé, alors que l'autre avait des biais populistes dans le sien. Mais le discours politique est un discours de peuple. Vous pouvez toujours réfléchir en gens cultivés, mais il faut atteindre la population dans son discours », a-t-il dit. 

Dans un autre registre, l'ancien candidat à la présidence a critiqué le comportement du CEP qui interdit aux journalistes de publier des résultats après le scrutin. « C'est très malheureux qu'après 24 ans d'existence de la Constitution, la presse soit censurée par le Conseil électoral provisoire (CEP) », a-t-il dénoncé. M. Anacacis a rejeté d'un revers de main les arguments avancés par l'institution électorale, selon lesquels, les résultats publiés par certains médias après le vote n'étaient pas représentatifs de la réalité que cela pourrait prêter à confusion. « ''Mesye ann bay bagay la jan-l ye a''. Chacun avait ses préférences », a-t-il ajouté en faisant allusion aux relations existant entre les deux candidats et les conseillers électoraux.   

Selon lui, cette attente de résultats a mis le peuple dans une situation de frustration et d'énervement. Il attend trop les résultats des élections, a estimé le sénateur.

Encore une fois, Jean-Hector Anacacis a lancé des flèches sur la communauté internationale qui, selon lui, a écarté de la course électorale Jude Célestin au profit d'un autre candidat plus favorable à ses intérêts. « Vous avez vu avec quelle facilité le blanc a écarté Jude! », a-t-il déploré.
Robenson Geffrard

rgeffrard@lenouvelliste.com

Connecticut walk for Haiti April 9

WEST HARTFORD – The CT Walks for Haiti committee, along with the West Hartford Town Council and the Mayor’s office, invites the public to join the second annual CT Walks for Haiti event on April 9. Mayor Scott Slifka, Miss Connecticut and the Project 8 rock band are among those expected to be in attendance.The goal of the walk is to raise money for the projects of five established charities that have been working in Haiti for decades.• The Haitian Health Foundation needs $5,000 to provide healthcare workers and medical supplies for the Adopt-a-Village Program.• Haitian Humanitarian Network needs $3,500 for Cholera outreach and education for the village of Beulieau and surrounding areas.• Medical Aid to Haiti wishes for $6,000 to pay the salaries of three Haitian nurses for the mobile clinic for one year.• Outreach to Haiti, the successor organization to Hospice St. Joseph and Partners for Haiti, would like to raise $5,000 to provide scholarships for 15 children, including after-school nutrition, vaccinations and educational resources.• Partners in Health needs $150 per child for a six to eight week regimen of therapeutic food products for severely malnourished children. No number of children has been estimated.After the devastating earthquake last year Haiti has again been hit by tragedy with an epidemic of cholera. One hundred percent of all funds raised will directly support these projects.The 2.5 mile walk will travel through West Hartford Center and Blue Back Square. Registration will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon at The Church of St. Peter Claver, 147 Pleasant Street, West Hartford. Music, Haitian food and crafts and a silent auction will be available to enjoy from 10:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. The walk is expected to last from 12-2 p.m. with a wrap-up and prizes at the starting point from 1:30-2:30 p.m.For more information visit www.ctwalksforhaiti.org, email mail@ctwalksforhaiti.org or call Karen Fritsche (860) 521-4150.

Jean Claude Duvalier left hospital

PORT-AU-PRINCE—Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier was released from a private hospital where he was being treated for an undisclosed ailment, his longtime companion told AFP.
"He's going back home. He's doing much better," Duvalier's partner Veronique Roy told AFP.
Duvalier was admitted to the hospital last week shortly after receiving a court order limiting his mobility to the Haitian capital.
A close Duvalier associate told AFP however that the ailing former dictator was still not completely well.
"He is very sick," the friend said, asking not to be identified.
"He's going home because he can receive visits from his friends there," the associate said.
Duvalier's attorneys have said they would file an appeal challenging the restriction on his movements, which they decried as unfair and "arbitrary."
Duvalier made a surprise return to Haiti in January, prompting prosecutors to charge the 59-year-old with corruption, embezzlement of public funds and criminal association during his 15-year rule that ended in 1986.
Human rights activists and experts have accused Duvalier of returning to Haiti to prevent the confiscation of at least $5.7 million in frozen Swiss bank accounts.
The former dictator upon his return said he had come back to work for national unity.
He was preceded as Haiti's president by his father Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, who also imposed authoritarian rule on the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Election Result Delayed until April 4th !!!!!??????

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti elections officials are delaying the announcement of preliminary elections results in the country's presidential and legislative elections until Monday.
The preliminary announcement over who won the March 20 runoff presidential elections that pitted Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, 50, against former first lady Mirlande Manigat, 70, was due Thursday.
But on Tuesday, elections officials released a communique saying that the volume and verification of the vote required that the announcement be delayed by four days.
"The volume of the tally sheets examined by the lawyers in the vote tabulation center has been augmented significantly," the announcement said. "The tabulation center's primary mission is to protect the integrity of the election and the vote."
In the first round, only about 10 per cent of the tally sheets were inspected. Now, more than 15,200 — or 60 per cent — of all the tally sheets that arrived in the voting tabulation center following the runoff have been set aside for inspection of fraud.
Because of this, "the verification process by the lawyers is much larger and more complex and longer for each tally sheet particularly for those regarding the presidential elections," the communique said.
Workers must open all of the bags and verify the voting identifications with barcode readers. The bags and tally sheets also are inspected for tampering.
Also affecting the process are recommendations the Organization of American States asked elections officials to put in place following the chaotic and fraud-ridden first round to ensure the integrity of the vote.
Foreign observers say some fraud is being discovered, although different from the simple ballot stuffing of the first round.
© Copyright (c) McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

By Jacqueline Charles, The Miami Herald

Haiti election : Mystery at the Tabulation Center

Between March 26 and March 28, the latest report issued by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) only 27 minutes supplementary were treated (tabulation completed, minutes in the database). Note that the CEP has not published report between these two dates. The number of minutes under treatment remains unchanged, given that 26 minutes waiting to be received, are arrived at the Tabulation Center.

At 3 days of the publication of preliminary results, only 35.90% of minutes have completed their treatment and 16.320 minutes (62.93%) are still under treatment. The CEP not providing information about the progress status of the minutes under treatment, we assume that it is very advanced and that in the next 3 days everything will be completed, for the publication of preliminary results expected for the March 31, 2011.

For the second round of presidential and legislative elections in Haiti, the progress in the process at the Vote Tabulation Centre (CTV) on March 28, 2011 at 5:46pm was the following:

President:
Total number of minutes : 11,182

Minutes processed (tabulation completed) : 3,870 (34.61%)
Minutes in progress of treatment : 7,213 (64.51%)
Minutes to receive : 99 (0.89%)

Senator:
Total number of minutes : 5,134

Minutes processed (tabulation completed) : 1,253 (24.41%)
Minutes in progress of treatment : 3,799 (74.00%)
Minutes to receive : 82 (1.60%)

Deputy:
Total number of minutes : 9,619

Minutes processed (tabulation completed) : 4,188 (43.54%)
Minutes in progress of treatment : 5,308 (5518%)
Minutes to receive : 123 (1.28%)

TOTAL of the Tabulation completed : 9,311 minutes (35.90%)
TOTAL of the Tabulation in treatment : 16,320 minutes (62.93%)
TOTAL of the minutes to receive : 304 minutes (1.17%)
                              From Haitilibrecom

Sean Penn :" I don't get along with people very well"

Sean Penn has said that his dedication to helping Haiti’s earthquake victims does not make him a good person.
'I'm not,' the Hollywood star told Zoe Heller writing for the New York Times magazine. 'I mean – I'm really not [a good person].'
The Milk star, whose aid group J/P Haitian Relief Organisation has been running since last March, insisted that his charitable work has not altered his long-running problems of dealing with the world.
'I have great moments where I feel very connected and loving toward humankind, but I never have a good moment toward human beings.
“That's the way it is – I love humankind, I don't like humans. I don't get along with people very well – I never did,' he said.
And the actor-director – who is currently rumoured to be dating actress Scarlett Johansson – also admitted that his commitment to the ongoing relief efforts in Haiti keeps him out of trouble.
'If I wasn't here, I know what I'd be doing – and it's probably got to do with designs on women,” he said. “Probably it would be reduced to that…”

Haiti: earthquake victims remain homeless

The number of displaced Haitians living in camps in the Port-au-Prince area after the destruction of their homes in a January 2010 earthquake has now fallen to about 680,000, according to estimates by the International Organization for Migration (IOM, or OIM in French). In July about 1.5 million people were living in 1,555 camps in the metropolitan area, the IOM reported; the number of camps has come down to 1,061.
But a survey of 1,033 heads of households found that the people who left the camps haven't necessarily found better shelter: about 50% are still living in inadequate housing. Most are staying in tents in their old neighborhoods, while some are staying with relatives or friends. Others have gone back to their damaged homes, despite the risks involved. An IOM report found that while some people moved out of the camps because they managed to get transitional housing, many left because of forced expulsions, the deterioration of sanitary conditions, the high rate of crime in the camps or the reduction of services there.
Most of the organizations responsible for managing the camps expect to withdraw between April and June, just as the rainy season is starting, due to lack of funds. (AlterPresse, Haiti, March 24) Adding to the problems for Port-au-Prince residents, access to drinking water has become more difficult, the National Potable Water and Sanitation Directorate (DINEPA) reported on March 22, World Water Day. (Radio Métropole, Haiti, March 25) Haiti continues to suffer from a cholera epidemic that began last October; access to clean drinking water is crucial to preventing the spread of the disease.
The nongovernmental Haitian Platform Advocating an Alternative Development (PAPDA) reports that only 30% of the $5 billion that various donor nations promised for 2010 has arrived in the country. The promises of financial aid were made to reinforce control by certain countries and international institutions and to define policies in Haiti, according to PAPDA's analysis. "It's clear: nothing has gone forward," the groups says. "Because of the crisis of capitalism, it's utopian to believe that they are going to unblock $11 billion to carry out reconstruction…. There is no way this can happen." PAPDA and other groups are planning a conference on April 28 and 29--entitled "Which Financing for Which Reconstruction?"—bringing together national and international experts to develop proposals for internal mechanisms capable of mobilizing internal resources for reconstruction, according to PAPDA program director Ricot Jean Pierre. (AlterPresse, March 25)

Haiti seeks international help to prosecute Baby Doc

Haiti's government says it would need help from international jurists to prosecute former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier for alleged human rights crimes committed during his reign more than 25 years ago.

Justice Minister Andre Antoine told the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Monday that Haiti's judges and prosecutors lack the training and experience necessary to handle a case of crimes against humanity.

"The magistrates are players in this game, it is like a football match: if they don't have a good manager, it will be difficult to win," Antoine said.

"We recognise that our justice system is weak and needs to be reinforced."

Former justice minister Jean-Joseph Exume told the commission that 16 individual cases had been filed against Duvalier in the court system starting immediately after his January 16 return to the country from 25 years of exile.

Exume said "concrete measures" would be necessary to protect plaintiffs and witnesses.

Antoine also said prosecution of Duvalier for human rights violations was of international importance.

"It is not only a Haitian matter, because convicting Duvalier would send a psychological message to humanity, to all the dictators or to those who are tempted by power (that) the law will not pardon them, that punishments await them," he said.

Duvalier ruled Haiti from 1971 until his overthrow by a popular uprising in 1986. His father, Francois, ruled as "president for life" from 1957 until his death.

The family reign has long been accused of widespread human rights violations including murders, torture and disappearances.