De quoi le 4 avril sera-t-il fait?

Les Haïtiens doivent encore attendre  6 jours à compter de ce mardi pour connaitre les résultats préliminaires des élections présidentielles et législatives du 20 mars dernier, la date du 4 avril ayant été desormais retenue par le conseil électoral provisoire à cette fin.

Les deux candidats à la présidence, le chanteur Michel Martelly, sous la bannière de la plateforme Repons Peyizan et Mirlande Manigat (professeure d’université) du Rassemblement des Democrates Nationaux Progressistes,  se sont disputés le second tour des élections , il y a  aujourd'hui 10 jours .

Chacun des 2 groupes politiques opposés ont pleinement profité de cette trop longue période post 2ème tour pour continuer leur lutte comme si une nouvelle campagne avait débuté après le scrutin, celle-ci pour influencer et faire pression sur ceux d'ici ou d'ailleurs qui, croit-on, à tort ou à raison, donnent la victoire,  la victoire sortant si peu souvent des urnes .

On assiste donc à des sorties en série des équipes de campagne et des  supporteurs  qui, à chaque intervention, revendiquent la victoire de leur camp, en brandissant des chiffres venus on ne sait d’où.

Les responsables de la plateforme Repons Peyizan n’on pas attendu 24 heures après le vote pour crier victoire, aidés en ce sens par des secteurs de la presse locale et dominicaine et par  quelqu'ancien ambassadeur domnicain en Haïti,  citant des pourcentages non étayés.

 Le camp adverse, non plus à court d'arguments, ne se  laissant pas réduire au silence, brandit alors une depêche de CNN, retrouvée nulle part, pour appuyer son cri de victoire. Et dans une conférence de presse organisée peu après, il enchaîne que, sur la base des procès verbaux recueillis, sa championne est en meilleure position que son rival avec au moins 4 départements déjà gagnés.

 Agacés par cette sortie qui a semblé faire mouche, les pro-Martelly bien engagés dans la bataille des perceptions, font vite  de rétorquer en qualifiant les affirmations de leurs adversaires, de simples manœuvres politiciennes de gens affolés par la défaite.

Mais, prévenir vaut mieux que guérir, le camp Manigat, sans attendre la période des contestations, repasse à la charge et remet au CEP un mémoire sur les diférentes régions où les partisans de son adversaire auraient commis des fraudes massives et de graves irrégularités.

Et puis.... c'est le report de la date initialement prévue pour annoncer les résultats préliminaires, en raisoson de l'ampleur des fraudes. Ce n'est plus le 31 mars, mais le 4 avri.

Entre temps, sur le net, les échanges vont jusqu'à l'injure et l'insulte, comme si ça pouvait changer quelque chose.

La population ne saura peut-être pas dans quelle mesure cette guerre de « résultats et d'échanges fielleux » influencera   les résultats qui seront  proclamés par le CEP,  puisque la presse menacée de sanctions quelques heures après la fermeture des bureaux de vote, s’est autocensurée.

Le directeur du CEP, Pierre Louis Opont, a dans la soirée électorale, demandé aux médias de surseoir à la publication de la tendance des votes pour éviter, a-t-il prétexté, des dérapages.

Et puis place nette aux spéculations, aux trahisons et aux coups bas. Et depuis, chaque jour qui se lève est en faveur d'un candidat ou d'une candidate.

Les regards sont également rivés sur le centre de tabulation, car, quoiqu'on dise c'est lui qui est supposé remettre au Conseil électoral provisoire les résultats à communiquer.

Le porte-parole du CEP, M Richardson DUMESLE assure que tout s'y passe bien et que les opérations de traitement des procès-verbaux s'y déroulent avec professionnalisme et transparence.

Cependant, certaines déclarations tendent à jeter des doutes sur la bonne santé des opérations. Des observateurs n’auraient pas accès à toutes les données, à en croire le directeur exécutif du Conseil National d’Observation qui s’en est plaint à plusieurs reprises.

Un responsable du Centre d'Education, de Recherches et d'Actions en sciences sociales et pénales (CERES), Wilson Bertrand, est allé dans le même sens, faisant savoir que certaines données du centre de tabulation sont inaccessibles aux observateurs locaux, insinuant presque, que ces derniers qui déambulent à longueur de journée au centre de tabulation, ne seraient que de simples figurants incapables d'influencer, d'imposer ou d'empêcher quoique ce soit.

Y aurait-il des zones d'ombres, des zones à cacher?

Autre sujet de préoccupations: jusqu’à ce  lundi, environ 5% de procès verbaux n’étaient  toujours pas arrivés au centre de tabulation. Ces bulletins, seraient-ils retenus en chemin ou la route entre les centres de votes concernés et le centre de tabulation serait-elle à ce point longue pour que, partis le 20 ou le 21 mars, ces fameux procès-verbaux ne soient toujours pas arrivés à destination?.

En fin de compte, est-ce qu'il y aura un perdant ou une perdante le 4 avril, car tous les procès-verbaux et les arguments brandis par les deux camps, n'ont donné que des gagnants. la crédibilité? du CEP arrivera-t-elle à convaincre du contraire? Ce CEP qui lors du premier tour de la presidentielle avait publié un résultat le 7 décembre  2010pour en publier un 2ème totalement différent le 3 fevrier 2011.

Et toute cette tension et cette peur de ce futur proche sont conditionnées par le temps mis par le CEP pour publier les résultats, l'interdiction faite par le CEP de  publier les tendances du vote et la gestion, dès le début du processus par le CEP, la communauté internationale et le gouvernement haïtien

On a bien raison de retenir son souffle et d'être persuadé que la police nationale et la MINUSTAH auront du pain sur la planche.

Mais quoi qu'il advienne le 4 avril, le 16 avril 2011 ou plus tard, on ne sera pas sorti de l'auberge, le processus électoral ayant été vicié à la base.
AHP

Jazz Fest to Honor Haiti's Musical and Tragic Relationship With New Orleans

When the bands RAM Haiti and Boukman Eksperyans played at the 1994 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as part of the spring event's spotlight on Haitian arts and cultures that year, the shared aspects of the two places were hard to miss for the visiting musicians. The generations-ago influx of Afro-Caribbean traditions via the slave trade and, in particular, diaspora following the Haitian slave rebellion linked the locales by history and culture: the Vodou ceremonies and drumming that became jazz in New Orleans' Congo Square, the carnival parades, the architecture, the food. Oh yes, the food.

"Hot spices, rice and beans, a lot of similarities," says RAM Haiti founder and leader Richard A. Morse.

"We have a lot in common," says Boukman co-founder Theodore "Lolo" Beaubrun. "The food, a lot of things. New Orleans is like a Caribbean city."

They'll get to have the food again when their bands play Jazz Fest again this year as part of another spotlight on Haitian music. RAM and Boukman -- both prominent in the "mizik rasin" roots-music movement -- along with erstwhile presidential candidate Wyclef Jean, Tabou Combo, Emeline Michel and an array of parades, workshops, exhibits and art vendors will be featured during the festival that takes place over the last weekend in April and first weekend in May.

This all happens in the context of a bill that ranges from such headliners as Jimmy Buffett, Arcade Fire, the Strokes, Kid Rock and Bon Jovi, top names in jazz (Ron Carter, Terence Blanchard) and blues (Bobby "Blue" Bland, Charlie Musselwhite) and a full spectrum of artists from New Orleans (Dr. John, Allen Toussaint).

The connection is clear from the Haitians' music, as is evident in the below video for RAM's official 2009 Kanaval song. It's the kind of thing the group has been doing since the mid-'90s in weekly gigs in Port-au-Prince at the historic Hotel Oloffson, which Morse manages and has turned into a vital cultural center (and was also featured in Graham Greene's 'The Comedians').

The relationship can also be heard in Boukman's exuberant 'Ke'-M Pa Sote [I'm Not Afraid],' a prime example of the groundbreaking brand of Vodou rock that has kept the group at the forefront of Haitian music since the '80s, the African roots undiminished by the ages.

But this time there's something else shared by the two places: recent devastations. New Orleans has suffered from Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, and Haiti -- beset through the years with natural disasters, oppressive governments and, directly tied to both, crushing poverty -- was hit by a massive earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010. With all that in mind, the level of Haitian presence at Jazz Fest will be unprecedented, well beyond the '94 lineup. Anchoring the spectacle will be a Haitian village pavilion with a variety of performances, panels and a special exhibit built around the music and film archives from ethnographer Alan Lomax's stays there in the 1930s (the release of which in 2009 was the subject of an Around the World column at the time).

"For me, it all goes back to a Cyril Neville song and that's the one thing that keeps coming to my mind," says Quint Davis, Jazz Fest founder and CEO of Festival Productions. "The song is 'That's My Blood Down There.' That says it all. On the one hand, doing Haiti any time would have been totally appropriate for us. New Orleans is the only city in North America that practiced Vodou. The rhythms that came from Africa through Haiti to Congo Square created jazz, and all the human connections. So, everything the festival is about in general -- the heritage of jazz as uniquely played out in New Orleans and everything our international mission is about, getting these artists and having rara parades and getting those musicians together with local artists."

"And then comes the earthquake," he continues. "Who else in America has had their city destroyed? What other society in America had their world destroyed, completely destroyed and had to rebuild every part of their infrastructure and society and buildings and phones and utilities and educational and legal systems -- everything? Us. We know firsthand in ways no one else knows what they're going through."

When Davis started investigating the potential of a Haitian emphasis this year, one of the first people he contacted was Jimmy Buffett, who had been hands-on in the aid and recovery efforts after the quake with cash contributions, airlifts of goods and personnel via his private plane and the availability of leaders within his business empire. Chief among the latter is Donna Smith, aka Sunshine, the founder of Buffett's Margaritaville eateries chain. The musician hooked Davis up with Smith and, in August, he and Jazz Fest international arts producer Valerie Guillet headed to Haiti. The news crews had moved on and Haiti was no longer in the headlines, but the struggles remained as great as they were in the days after the quake -- something Davis knew from the New Orleans experience. The mission was clear, just as Jazz Fest's post-Katrina role was.

"We're not the builders of roads," he says. "We're the culture -- the music, the art, the food. So we brought Jazz Fest back that first year, our opportunity to shine a light in the darkness from a cultural view to show this is what we are and why it's worth fighting for. That applied perfectly to Haiti. Here's a place with all this unbelievably rich culture. For these reasons, we as the producers went to the [New Orleans Jazz & Heritage] Foundation and proposed that we dedicate the festival to Haiti and do with Haiti what we did before. We proposed putting a sizable bit of money, six figures, into the budget."

From there, all the pieces started to come together quickly. The Green Family Fund, which had been instrumental in underwriting the release of the Lomax music and film and had created a venture to present the material in those same Haitian villages where he filmed, stepped up to make the presentation of it at Jazz Fest. Haitian art collector Jacques Bartoli and longtime Jazz Fest art vendor Marie Josie Poux took the lead in tapping the community of Haitian artists and craftspeople to participate. Brand Aid, an organization that connects traditional artists with retailers worldwide, also came onboard. New Orleans Saints football star Jonathan Vilma, whose parents were born in Haiti, also joined this team as an extension of his intensive efforts in Haiti to build and rebuild schools as a key part of post-quake recovery.

And, of course, there were the musicians, with Emeline Michel and RAM's Morse enlisted to take leadership roles.

"Richard Morse not only helped on the musical side, but in general on the whole understanding of the culture, implementing the culture, getting things right, if you will," Davis says. "RAM's going to play a lot of functions in the festival. They're going to rara parade, perform onstage and do the educational workshops in the schools. And it's the RAM drummers doing all the drumming in the pavilion. All those aspects are coming out of Richard's work creating RAM itself. RAM does these kinds of things down there, weekly dance lessons. It's about consciously promoting work in the culture."

Michel, who has been overseeing a lot of cultural events at New York's Lincoln Center, is something of the "Miriam Makeba of Haiti -- a great musician but also a leader," Davis says. Among the performances she'll be doing will be a collaboration with New Orleans clarinetist/scholar Dr. Michael White to explore the links between Creole song and the fabric of traditional jazz. Michel was also instrumental in bringing in many of the other Haitian artists.

Morse sees this as a two-way dialogue. "New Orleans is becoming more aware of Haiti, but because of the way news and events happen here, Haiti is not becoming more aware of New Orleans," he says, noting that Miami in recent decades has become more the center of Haitian culture in the US. "Jazz Fest is a great opportunity to make people aware of the history. There are no real roots and culture in Miami that have to do with Haiti except for very recently. I'm hoping there will be publicity, hope they'll reach out to the Haitian people in New York and Miami and Boston to come to Jazz Fest. People will show up in the French Quarter and say, 'I'm home!'"

During the festival, Morse will certainly feel at home. "I'll be there about 10 days. My drummers will be drumming in some ceremonies, there will be rara parades, workshops. I'm really looking forward to it. So many people in the band -- about 16 people onstage -- that we can do all kinds of stuff."

In the end, Davis hopes, Jazz Fest can do for Haiti after the quake what it did for its home city after the flood.

"Our mission, our role, is to showcase the bright light that art and culture plays in society and in souls," he says. "That's what brought us back."

But for all the grand intentions, there will also be plenty of in-the-moment pleasures. "When these bands get up and play, we got it," Davis says. "We're going to be dancing."

Michel Martelly

The president of the Konpa Nation, a borderless, movable state of sustained enchantment, is contemplating his empty house. It is a lovely, two-story home in an upscale development at the edge of Wellington, but all the furniture has been packed up and shipped to its new destination, the place Michel Martelly really calls home. Port-au-Prince, chéri.

Martelly, 46, sits in the cavernous foyer on a seat he ripped out of the family van. He seems to be gazing out wistfully at the pool patio outside, but he isn’t. He is gazing well beyond it.
Just like the rest of his family, his wife and four children, Martelly is counting the minutes until he’s back in Haiti.
Months after he “retired” from the concert circuit and the back-to-back parties, he feels it’s time to take a calculated risk and go home.

Haiti is where he was born. More important, it is where Sweet Micky was born.

Sweet Micky, the charismatic, bawdy “rude boy” that has been a superstar of Haitian konpa music for nearly 20 years, is Martelly’s alter-ego, the larger-than-life figure who packs concerts, dance halls and city streets during carnival.

So dominant is Micky’s presence in Haiti’s pop culture that 13 years ago he proclaimed himself “Prezidan,” The President.

Taking jabs at the newly restored president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Micky had saluted his public in mock formality – “My fellow Haitians, this has been your president, speaking from the National Palace.”

It was a different kind of coup in a land all too familiar with coups. Micky interlaced jarring political and social commentary with the fluid dance rhythms of konpa, Haiti’s sensuous, laid-back version of a Dominican merengue. Konpa is merengue without the sharp edges. It isn’t meant to wipe you out after one dance – no, a good konpa sequence keeps you dancing all night.

But there was nothing laid-back about Micky’s onstage performances. The President jumped on stage in drag. Or in diapers – taking swigs from a bottle of Barbancourt rum. He punctuated songs with machine-fire-like riffs on his synthesizer.

“Excuse my language,” he now says, leaping to his feet for dramatic effect, “but on stage I’m what you call a bad mother———.”

Shut your mouth.

Then again – apologies to Shaft – we’re talking about Sweet Micky. And, yes, he’s a complicated man, and no one understands him like his woman.

On this recent afternoon, she’s digging through an old suitcase stuffed with Sweet Micky photographs and newspaper clippings, stopping every so often to explain the bizarre images in a matter-of-fact tone.

Sophia Martelly, 42, no longer flinches when she sees pictures of her husband on stage in underwear, or in a miniskirt. That’s not Michel – it’s Micky.

Michel is a doting father of four children, ages 19 to 6. He is the guy who cut back his hours at work to be closer to his family. He’s the dad who has instilled a love of music in his children and has encouraged them to express themselves through native song. He’s the proud Haitian expatriate who beams when his kids, all partly named Michel after him, write love songs to their homeland – in fluent kreyol. He even produced the Martelly children’s first CD and accompanying video.

Michel is nothing like.

Micky, that potty-mouthed party animal.
Broward gig

Micky is the guy who performed several nights earlier at the Marabou Café in Pembroke Pines before a packed house that seemed to bob and bounce in slow motion.

That night, just as Micky had stirred the crowd into a froth, fellow Haitian superstar Wyclef Jean, his favorite accomplice, leaped onto the stage to jam along.

Jean, the former Fugee who is Micky’s hip-hop counterpart, has recorded with the konpa star, even proclaimed him an “MVP” on one of his albums.

There they were, the most famous konpa revivalist in Haiti and the most famous voice of the Haitian diaspora, sharing a cramped stage in a random strip mall.

“Put your guns in the air and salute The President!” shouted Jean, prompting a wave of arms.

For years, as Micky dropped CDs and toured in and out of Haiti, his family made its life in a well-to-do enclave of Port-au-Prince.
The entertainer shuttled between the family home and his condo near Biscayne Bay in Miami. But two years ago, at a time when violence and kidnappings in Haiti were rampant, Martelly begged his wife to take the children to Palm Beach County, where he had found a home at Wellington View.

“Back then, they were kidnapping like 100 persons per day, or something ridiculous. These were people we knew. I was just waiting for the day when my wife would tell me that one of my kids had gotten kidnapped. I couldn’t let that happen,” he says.

But his wife wasn’t too convinced. She didn’t want to leave the extended family, the children’s school and their friends. But one day, after Martelly gave her an ultimatum, she packed up the kids and left Haiti. She was so upset she didn’t even tell her husband, who was busy performing.

“I didn’t find out until after they were here,” he says. “But it was what we had to do at the time.”
Now, he says, things aren’t as bad.

“It’s not totally safe, but it’s getting better every day. You can feel it. And the president we have now is definitely willing to change things,” says Martelly.
Changr for the better

The president, Rene Preval, who won the 2006 elections with the wide support of Haiti’s poor, is a good friend. Unlike former President Aristide, whom Martelly calls “the devil,” Preval has inspired confidence in him.

At this year’s carnival, in February, Micky ribbed the president with his best gallows humor in his annual theme song. He said he had come home just to see if the rumors about Preval were really true. Was he sick with prostate cancer, or was he just playing? Eleven years earlier, shortly after Preval had taken office in his first presidential term, Micky had taunted him, “from one president to the other,” as his float approached the National Palace.

“I want to see you dance!” Micky teased.

The newly inaugurated president obliged, swiveling his hips to the konpa strains.

That day, Micky joked about the fact that he would forever be president of the streets. Now, there are times he talks about politics in a less fleeting manner. He says he’s given some thought to political life.

“With the popularity I have and the dedication I have to help my people, you never know how it’s going to play out,” he says. “But being crazy out there, doing my music, I was lacking some maturity.

“I’m not saying I’m ready now, but I’m definitely more mature now.”

He ignores an eye-rolling look from his wife and goes on:

“And the situation has changed in Haiti. I could probably feel more secure getting into politics than 10, 15 years ago.”
Not so unsual

Elected office for Sweet Micky? Why not?

It wouldn’t be the first time a popular musician won office on the island of Hispaniola. Protest singer Manno Charlemagne served as mayor of Port-au-Prince some years ago. And next door, in the Dominican Republic, superstar merengue singer Johnny Ventura enjoyed a distinguished career in politics, including a stint as mayor of Santo Domingo.

But there will be no such mayoral path for him, Martelly insists.

“If I run for anything someday – if – I’m going to aim straight at the presidency.”

And should Michel Martelly ever become president of Haiti, it would be a remarkable feat for the mischievous kid who grew up on a middle-class street in the Carrefour section of Port-au-Prince, the son of a Shell Oil supervisor.

His church-going parents sent him to good schools, but Martelly had trouble sticking to his goals. He’d drift from subject to subject, engineering to computer programming, but never finish his coursework. He joined the Haitian army, but he says he got kicked out after he “got a girl pregnant.” “It wasn’t just a girl,” his wife, Sophia, nudges him. “No, it wasn’t just a girl,” he concedes.

It was the general’s goddaughter.

Martelly shrugs.

“It all worked out,” he says. “I became Sweet Micky, and Sweet Micky is still alive and kicking.” There may have never been a Sweet Micky if not for Sophia.

They met in Port-au-Prince in the early 1980s and started going out as friends in a group. Back then, Sophia recalls, Martelly had quite a sexy nickname.

“Don Miguel,” she enunciates in Spanish, “El que nunca falla.”

The man who never fails.

But the group split up when Don Miguel got married and went off to Colorado to live with his American wife.

Things didn’t go well for either Sophia or Martelly. Sophia suffered a dramatic breakup with her boyfriend. Martelly was having troubles with his wife. When Sophia called him to cry on his shoulder, Martelly’s wife got jealous.

Martelly divorced her and returned to Haiti, where Sophia was waiting. A year later, in 1987, they moved to Miami, where they married and had their first child, Michel Olivier.
Addiction on the job

Martelly took a job in construction, working long hours and finding himself surrounded by a new kind of temptation. In between cement deliveries, his co-workers took to smoking crack. Martelly says he got hooked. He started getting to work hours earlier, just to get high.

“Then one day I got to work at 6 in the morning and no one was there. I wanted crack. I went to the office, where we used to smoke, I got down on my knees and started looking for any little white spot I could see,” he says.

That day, as he scoured the room on his hands and knees, he stopped cold.

“I was like, ‘Wow, what am I doing?’”

So he decided to tell his boss what was going on. He didn’t get fired, he says – he got promoted. And he got a whole new crew, a clean one.

“I never went to rehab. When people say they can’t quit, that’s just bull.”

But he realized it was time for a change.

We had a baby, 1 month old. We decided to go back to Haiti,” he says with a sudden clap of hands. “Two months later, Sweet Micky was born.”

Martelly took a modest keyboard Sophia had given him for his birthday and went to play at a piano bar for a couple of months. Then one night, the owner of a club called Le Florville in Kenscoff, a mountain town south of Port-au-Prince, asked him to fill in for her traveling piano player.

“I rocked the house,” he boasts.

A family friend came up and raved:

“This is Sweet Micky for sweet people.”

The slogan stuck. After two years, Martelly shortened it to Sweet Micky.
Popularity spreads

In the early years, Micky became a favorite of the well-to-do set and the military. Although his popularity has since transcended class and race in Haiti, there were times when it was certainly convenient to have fans in powerful places. He managed to play through two coup d’etats and emerge unscathed. Most memorably, he performed right through the Sept. 30, 1991, coup that deposed Aristide.

As he was performing in the city of Arcahaie, northwest of Port-au-Prince, a military friend came to him with a warning:

“End the party now because there are some problems in the capital.” En route back to Port-au-Prince, the roads were blocked. Of course, once the guards realized it was Micky in the car, they whisked him through.

A couple of years later, as Aristide prepared to return to power, Martelly left Haiti and went into self-imposed exile in Miami. When he returned, for carnival in 1996, the country went wild. Fans mobbed the roads leading to the airport.

Sophia has those photos, images depicting swarms of people for blocks on end. The Haitian son had returned.

Martelly looks at the pictures and smiles in a mix of disbelief and anticipation. He can almost taste Haiti.

“I can’t wait to go back,” he says. “Here, I’m just a number. In Haiti, I am The President.” WebsitesCopyright © 2007, The Palm Beach Post. Published June 12, 2007.

By LIZ BALMASEDA, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer  

Vermont delegation optimistic about Haiti

Haiti’s recovery from a massive earthquake in early 2010 has been painstakingly slow, but progress is being made, two members of Vermont’s congressional delegation visiting the island nation said in a telephone news conference Tuesday.

“I have real hope for the future,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said after he and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., toured areas around the devastated capital of Port-au-Prince. “I am far more hopeful after this trip here than I was before I came down.”

Welch agreed but said it was hard to see the damage the earthquake had done to a country that was already struggling with extreme poverty. The January 2010 earthquake measured 7.0 on the Richter scale, flattened much of Port-au-Prince and killed more than 222,000 people.

“It was something I was not able to fully appreciate by reading about it,” Welch said of the earthquake’s impact. “I’m not sure I can fully appreciate it by seeing it. ... The complexity of life here is immense — just the traffic snarls and the challenge of getting from here to there.”

Leahy and Welch spent the day visiting a medical center where youths who lost limbs during the earthquake were being fitted with prostheses, observing a “rubble removal site” and meeting with American aid workers and Haitian officials, including Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.

“There’s an immense amount of suffering that you see, but what you also see is enormous amount of hope,” Welch said. “People are going about their business. They’re cleaning up the rubble, they do set up medical care facilities. They do get their kids to school.”

Leahy estimated that about 25 percent of the $1 billion the United States has dedicated to the recovery effort has been spent and said he was told that American officials were monitoring the release of the remainder of the money in order to make sure the money was not misspent.

“The concern I heard from a lot of the Haitian officials was that ‘You — the United States — have lot of things going on around the world. There’s Japan, Libya, two wars. Don’t forget us as we try to rebuild, as we try to bring people back. It cannot be done overnight.’”

Leahy and Welch said they were encouraged that the presidential election held in the country last weekend appeared to have been conducted properly and that the anticipated winner appears to be someone who will have the confidence of the Haitian people.

According to polling, entertainer Michel Martelly was the frontrunner in the contest. His closest challenger was the nation’s 70-year-old former first lady Mirlande Manigat, who is also a law professor. Results of the voting are expected to be made public next week.

“They are going to have to have a government that cares as much about the people as it does about itself,” Leahy said. “For decades, that has not been the case in Haiti.”

The two were joined for part of their tour by actor Sean Penn, who has spent months on the island helping Haitians recover from the devastation.

“I’m impressed with him,” Leahy said. “I have a lot of movie actors, entertainers who want to come in and see me because they’ve adopted the issue of the day, usually for the day, and I usually say no. He’s lived here for month after month after month. ... That’s why I’ll continue to work with him.”

Contact Sam Hemingway at 660-1850 or e-mail atshemingway@burlingtonfreepress.com. Get news updates from the Free Press via Facebook at www.facebook.com/bfpnews.

Carnival singer tipped to be Haiti's president.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – Michel Martelly, a singer and carnival entertainer with a colorful past, may have triumphed in quake-hit Haiti's presidential elections, partial results indicated Monday.

Tally sheets read out on television and radio indicated Martelly was well ahead of his rival, former first lady Mirlande Manigat, in key urban areas including Petionville and the Cite Soleil slum in the capital.

"I think he has won the election. From everything that I've heard it looks like it may even be a landslide, at least in the urban areas," said US-based Haiti expert Robert Fatton.

"It's not fully representative but it indicates a trend. Petionville, it was overwhelming, Cite Soleil was overwhelming."

Even before voting stations closed on Sunday, Martelly supporters were triumphantly taking to the streets, but there has been no claim of victory from the candidate and final results are not expected until April 16.

Out of 50 people questioned by AFP in Port-au-Prince after polls closed on Sunday at 5:00 pm local time (2200 GMT), not a single one said they had voted for Manigat, a soft-spoken 70-year-old and long-time opposition figure.
Known to fans by his former stage name "Sweet Micky," the 50-year-old Martelly waged a slick campaign built on the promise he would dramatically transform Haiti's notoriously corrupt and violent politics.

There had been fears Sunday's run-off, delayed for months by bickering over a violence-plagued first round in November, would be overshadowed by the return from exile of charismatic ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

But Aristide honored a commitment not to upset the delicate political situation and voting was largely peaceful in the Caribbean nation whose recent past has been scarred by dictatorship and violent upheaval.

The candidates are vying for the job of rebuilding a nation beset by problems, from endemic poverty and corruption to the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake, and a cholera epidemic that has claimed almost 5,000 lives since mid-October.

Pre-election opinion polls showed Martelly enjoying a slim lead over Manigat, but experts warned that such forecasts are notoriously unreliable.
                              YAHOONEWS

From pop star to president? Haiti looks set to elect 'Sweet Micky.'

While the race offers a marked contrast in personalities, both Martelly and Manigat are right-of-center moderates. Both promise to speed up rebuilding, fund education and health care, create jobs, strengthen Haitian security forces, and offer Haitians living abroad dual citizenship. Whoever wins, the political landscape will remain deeply unsettled, with former President Aristide just one of the wild cards.
“Beyond Aristide, several concerns surround the election,” says Professor Jones, the political scientist. “Can it be staged without any of the major problems that occurred last fall, which included a large numbers of voters who were turned away from the polls, voter intimidation, and outright fraud? It’s going to be a close election and the business class seems to be worried about Martelly’s inexperience, but at the same time they seem to think that they can work with him.”
Hotelier and musician Richard Morse, a first cousin of Martelly whose Oloffson Hotel has served as the campaign’s unofficial headquarters, says Martelly’s candidacy represents the will of the people.
“He got back on the ballot when the powers-that-be realized his level of popular support,” says Mr. Morse. “Martelly wants to build homes and improve the infrastructure, but billions in aid haven’t come in because there is no faith in the Haitian government. He’s not talking about right-wing or left-wing, but about helping the Haiti people.”
Opponents on the left point to Martelly’s rumored past ties to right-wing elements of the Haitian military, and the Miami Herald recently reported that in the past year he lost three South Florida properties to foreclosure after defaulting on more than $1 million in personal loans, leading some to question his business judgment.
Big challenges
Regardless, Martelly’s ability to cut across political lines impresses political observers in the capital.
“Martelly’s music and style appeals to Aristide supporters, and he is the only one in this election to match Aristide’s popularity on the street,” says Georges Michel, a historian and journalist in Port-au-Prince. “He is also a businessman and has made money by honest work. Most Haitian leaders, when they come to power they don’t know how to create wealth. They want to steal, siphon, or share whatever revenues that are available.”
Whoever wins, the next president of Haiti faces enormous challenges, including 70 percent unemployment, hundreds of thousands of tent dwellers in the capital, and a lingering cholera epidemic. "Establishing a new political leadership able to respond to the aspirations of the Haitians is an essential condition for intensifying the reconstruction and development efforts," the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said in a March 18 statement.
Though nearly $10 billion was pledged by other nations following the 2010 earthquake, as of the end of 2010 only 43 percent had been released for relief efforts.
“Some of that aid will be released when Préval is gone and the new president is enjoying a honeymoon, then a much bigger portion will continue to be withheld until the new administration proves its competence and trustworthiness,” says Jones. “Then there’s another large portion that foreign governments and NGOs have never had any intention of giving to Haiti.”

        The Christian Science Monitor

Singer Martelly woos Haiti voters with popular touch

   THOMONDE, Haiti (Reuters) - Like the seasoned entertainer that he is, Haitian carnival music star and presidential contender Michel "Sweet Mickey" Martelly is working the crowd.
    Gesticulating with one hand, cracking jokes in Creole, the 50-year-old, shaven-headed singer draws cheers and hoots of laughter from his audience, showing the powerful communication skills and popular touch he hopes will propel him into his country's top job in a run-off vote on Sunday.
    Far from being unnerved by suggestions from the camp of his politically more experienced opponent, 70-year-old former first lady and law professor Mirlande Manigat, that he lacks the profile to be president, Martelly has turned the personality issue into a campaign weapon.
    Responding to critics' jibes that his colorful past as an iconoclastic entertainer -- which has included antics like dropping his trousers on stage -- disqualifies him from being president, the wealthy star of Haiti's catchy Konpa carnival music is brashly unrepentant.
    "They've been saying I dropped my trousers. Yes, I did. But I always pulled them back up again," he said, drawing guffaws from the mostly young audience packed into the square of the farming town of Thomonde in Haiti's Central Plateau region.
    "There are people who've been dropping their trousers over the heads of Haitians for 20 years at the National Palace but they never pulled them back up," Martelly bellowed into the microphone, wearing a pink striped polo shirt and blue jeans.
    In Sunday's decisive run-off that will elect a successor to President Rene Preval, policies seem to be taking a backseat to personal styles in the contest to choose a leader for the Western Hemisphere's least developed state.
    Overwhelmed by poverty, corruption and mismanagement for decades, the hapless Caribbean country bears the still raw scars of a devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people. Haiti also suffered floods and a deadly cholera epidemic after the quake.
    The United Nations, with a more than 12,000-strong peacekeeping force in Haiti, and the United States and other major foreign donors hope Sunday's vote will deliver stable new leadership and avoid the chaos, widespread fraud and unrest that marred the Nov. 28 election first round.
    Political neophyte Martelly is telling voters his energetic style is just what the country needs to blow away the cobwebs of a jaundiced political establishment viewed as selfish, corrupt and ineffectual by most Haitians.
    "We represent a new way of doing and thinking," he told Reuters after addressing the Thomonde crowd. "We represent the wind that is blowing to establish a new state of law, a state where public function becomes service to the people, contrary to what is happening today," he added.
    A recent opinion poll by local pollster Brides put Martelly ahead in the contest, with nearly 51 percent of the vote. The survey gave rival Manigat some 46 percent.
    "PINK MILITIA"
    Underlining the contrast in styles, opposition matriarch Manigat, who has years of experience in politics and academic life, sees a possible threat to Haiti's fragile democracy in Martelly's muscular style and the way he mobilizes supporters.
    At a news conference in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday, law professor Manigat accused Martelly supporters of attacking with stones and bottles a rally she tried to hold in Mirebalais, south of Thomonde, in the Central Plateau on Tuesday. At least one person was hurt, she said.
    Referring to the party color of pink worn by Martelly and his fanatical young backers, she denounced what she called the apparent formation of a "pink militia" that she said could pose a dangerous threat of political intolerance.
    "I don't desire a dictatorship for my country, wherever it comes from," she said, appealing for calm among voters.
    Madame Manigat is battling perceptions from some critics that her Sorbonne education and professorial style may be keeping her aloof from a largely destitute and poorly educated Haitian electorate.
    The wife of former President Leslie Manigat, who was elected in 1988 but forced into exile by a coup soon afterward, Manigat gained the most votes in the November 2010 election first round but not enough to win outright. She would be Haiti's first elected female president if she wins.
    In an echo of the ill-tempered first round, Martelly exhorted supporters to "vote -- and watch out," saying plans were afoot to "steal" what he forecast would be his victory.
    Haiti's already feverish political climate is being stoked by reports that this week may see ousted ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a leftist, charismatic former Catholic priest, return from exile before Sunday's vote in a move the United States and other Western donors fear could distract voters from the Manigat-Martelly contest.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Guyler Delva, Editing by John Whitesides)
    By Pascal Fletcher

Tout pour le pouvoir , alliance avec Titid s'il le faut

Alors que la Candidate Mirlande Manigat, avait déclarée le 3 mars dernier, lors d’un point de presse a l’aéroport de Miami en Floride « Comme citoyenne, je préférerais qu'Aristide revienne après les élections [...] Je pense que ce que nous avons besoin maintenant, c'est d'avoir plus de Paix [...] s'il décide de rentrer, je ne suis pas le chef de l'Etat, je n'ai pas l'autorité nécessaire pour bloquer son retour ».

Lundi midi, lors d'une conférence de presse, Mirlande Manigat a « réajustée » son discours concernant le retour de l’ex-Président Jean Bertrand Aristide déclarant « Loin de m’opposer au retour d’Aristide en Haïti, je m’en réjouirais, vu que l'ancien Président a promis d’aider, une fois de retour dans le pays, dans le domaine de l’éducation » ajoutant « tout le monde connait la place importante qu’a l’éducation dans mon programme et si Aristide veut aider dans ce domaine, il pourra m’aider à mettre en application mon programme. »

Un ajustement nécessaire, puisque tout comme son adversaire Michel Martelly, elle cherche à s’attirer une partie des votes de l’électorat Lavalas.

Mirebalais n'aime pas Manigat

Des tirs d’armes à feu ont interrompu un meeting de la candidate à la présidence, Mirlande Manigat, à Mirebalais, commune d’Haïti situé à 57 km au nord de Port-au-Prince, la capitale.
La campagne de la candidate du RDNP à Mirebalais a été troublée par un groupe d’individus, a-t-on appris. Ces derniers se réclamant de Michel Martelly ont interrompu le meeting de Mirlande Manigat par des tirs d’armes à feu.
   Les supporteurs de Mme Manigat qui se trouvaient sur le stand de la candidate ont essuyé des jets de pierres des individus brandissant des posters du candidat de Repons Peyizan.
  Des agents de sécurité de Manigat sont intervenus et ont matraqué les fauteurs de trouble, ce qui a causé plusieurs blessés. Des arrestations ont aussi été  enregistrées dans les deux camps.

Haiti: Candidates dismiss fears over Aristide

Wednesday, 16 March 2011
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Haiti's two presidential candidates have dismissed concerns that the apparently imminent return of the exiled former president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, would disrupt the election, despite a warning from the US State Department that he could be a destabilising presence.
Michel Martelly, a pop singer known as "Sweet Micky", told reporters that he did not think Mr Aristide would influence the vote, although he would prefer that the former president wait "two or three days" and postpone his arrival until after the election.
"He is welcome to come back like Jean-Claude Duvalier did," said Mr Martelly, referring to the former dictator who made a surprise reappearance in Haiti in January. "I hope his return doesn't create instability for the elections."
Mirlande Manigat, a university administrator and former first lady, expressed no misgivings about the return of Mr Aristide, who has repeatedly said during his exile in South Africa that he wants to return home as a private citizen and work as an educator. Ms Manigat seemed even to encourage him.
"President Aristide is welcome to come back and help me with education," she said.
Both candidates have been Aristide opponents in the past. Now, both stress his right to return as a Haitian citizen under the constitution.

Haiti: Michel Martelly backed by losing candidates

Five candidates who were defeated in the first round of Haiti's presidential election have given their support to pop singer Michel Martelly in the second round run-off.
Mr Martelly will face former first lady Mirlande Manigat in the 20 March vote.
The five candidates said Mr Martelly was the candidate most likely to promote democracy and development.
But they said the best solution would have been to annul the first round because of widespread fraud.
'Spirit of openness'In a joint statement, defeated candidates Josette Bijou, Wilson Jeudy, Genard Joseph, Chavanne Jeune and Eric Smarki Charles praised Mr Martelly for the "spirit of openness" he had shown in his campaign.
"We urge all our supporters in all corners of the country to go out and vote in mass for Michel Martelly to become president on Sunday 20 March," the statement said.
But the candidates added that the "best solution for democracy" would have been to annul the "mascarade" of the first round.
ControversyMs Manigat won the most votes in the first round, but opinion polls give Mr Martelly a slight lead ahead of next weekend's decisive vote.
The election to chose a successor to outgoing Haitian president Rene Preval has been mired in controversy.
International observers said the first round on 28 November was marred by fraud and intimidation.
Violent unrest broke out when Haiti's electoral authorities announced initial results that put the governing Inite party candidate Jude Celestin in second place.
The second round was postponed, and experts from the Organisation of American States were called in to assess the result
They found there had been large-scale fraud in Mr Celestin's favour, and recommended he withdraw.
After sustained international pressure, the electoral authority announced new results which put Mr Martelly through to the run-off against Ms Manigat.
Whoever wins the election faces the task of rebuilding Haiti after last year's huge earthquake, which killed around 230,000 people and left the capital, Port-au-Prince, in ruins.
                                               BBC.co.uk

Michel Martelly smart man .

By TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com
« Previous |Page 2 of 2

      Among Martelly’s biggest fans was Army Col. Michel Francois, who used the nickname “Sweet Micky” on his police radio. Francois, a chief architect of the coup, was convicted in absentia in 1995 on murder charges and now lives in Honduras.
In early 1993, Francois asked Martelly to join protesters when Dante Caputo, the UN special representative to Haiti, arrived at the Port-au-Prince international airport to negotiate Aristide’s return. The greeting wasn’t warm.
“Grenadier! To the attack!” he yelled amid a crowd of several hundred, according to the Miami New Times. “If anyone dies, that’s his business!”
As thousands of Haitians fled the island amid a U.S.-imposed embargo, Martelly put out an album. The title: I Don’t Care. A popular song of the same name carried this refrain, in Creole: “Those who aren’t happy — get out!”
Martelly himself got out after Aristide was ousted in his second term, in 2004, and the country was rife with kidnappings and lawlessness. He also scaled back on the constant touring, spending more time with his wife and four children in a five-bedroom, two-story house the couple purchased in Royal Palm Beach. He has since defaulted on more than $1 million in loans and lost three South Florida properties to foreclosure in just over a year, public records show.
Martelly surprised the country in August when he registered at the election office, hours before his friend Wyclef Jean filed paperwork. Some initially thought the entertainer was joking.
But Martelly showed he was a fighter. When election officials released preliminary results on Dec. 7 that barred him from a run-off, thousands of supporters and anti-government protesters poured into the streets. They paralyzed the capital by burning barricades and buildings.
Under pressure from the international community, election officials released final results showing that Martelly – and not the government’s pick, Jude Celestin – made the second round with Manigat.
“This is not a gift,” Martelly told reporters at the Oloffson.
(On a January visit U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Martelly and the two other candidates. Martelly’s charm was not lost on her. Clinton said: “Whatever happens, don’t lose that smile.”)
Since the election announcement, Martelly has kept a decidedly high profile. He has toured the countryside, hosted rallies, and exchanged online banter with Wyclef. He said he wants to bring back the army Aristide disbanded, redirect government services to the countryside and provide free education to all.
“I think Martelly might become much more polarizing than people think right now,” said Hyppolite Pierre, a Haitian political analyst based in Maryland. “We don’t need polarization in the future.”
Others find him refreshing. Repeatedly, Martelly has said he doesn’t know all the answers and would solicit answers from others — the antithesis of outgoing President René Préval, a reputed micromanager.
“What I like about Martelly is that he admits he’s not a politician,” said Maarten Boute, chief executive officer of Digicel, a cell phone company in Haiti. In a visit to South Florida earlier this month, Martelly spoke to several thousand Haitians at an amphitheater in North Miami Beach. Supporters like Miami physician and philanthropist Rudy Moise joined him on stage. Moise urged the crowd to tell family members in Haiti to pick Martelly in the runoff.
Sporting a dark suit, Martelly cracked a few jokes but mostly maintained a serious tone. He spoke about the need for tourists to invest in “our house,” the importance of Haiti’s Diaspora, and the need for decentralization.
As he wrapped up his 20-minute speech, Martelly tapped into his inner Micky.
“Sak pa kontan…” he said, awaiting a response. Those who aren’t happy…
The crowed roared in delight: “Anbake!” Get out!     

The North is pink

                              Haiti - Elections : Mirlande Manigat in Cap Haitien, a few incidents


The presidential candidate Mirlande Manigat, who toured in North and Northeast is arrived, yesterday Thursday afternoon at Cap-Haitien. Surrounded by her staff of campaign, of the popular rappers of group Barikad Crew and international football players, Mirlande Manigat deliver her message and the outline of her program in front of thousands of supporters and sympathizers reinforced by those of the Senate candidate of the ruling platform INITE [former Lavalas Deputy Nahoun] and fans of Barikad Crew.

Mirlande Manigat expressed with optimism, her determination to win the second round of the presidential elections. Individuals who brandished pictures of the Martelly candidate in the assembly, were attacked and beaten by men dressed of black described as members of the security of the candidate. The supporters of Martelly retreated to the cemetery of the Cap Haitien, clashing with the opponent by throwing stones and bottles, espite the presence of the Haiti National Police (PNH) and UN peacekeepers (Minsutah) it is reported several people injured in this incident. Ten days before the second round, the tension rose a notch, and safe climate deteriorate...

In a turbulent atmosphere, Mirlande Manigat who sees herself already winning the second round, has called her supporters to be mobilize the day after the election, to prevent that her opponent releases "his troops in the street" to claim "the victory"...

Subsequently, the candidate Manigat visited the Archdiocese of the Cap-Haitien to meet with Archbishop Louis Kébreau.

Graduates from Saint Louis de Gonzague , the members of the Group Brigandie choose to endorse Michel Martelly .

Breaking News

Sunny Bay ColaWHILE THE EX PRESIDENT LESLIE MANIGAT WAS ABUSIVE TO HIS FIRST WIFE “MARIE LUCIE CHANCY” BEATING HER AND PUSHING HER OUT FROM A SECOND FLOOR HOUSE SHE BECAME HANDICAPPED ON THIS INCIDENT
AT THE SAME TIME MADAME MIRLANDE MANIGAT WAS HAVING AN... AFFAIR WITH EX PRESIDENT LESLIE MANIGAT WHILE SHE WAS A STUDENT OF PROFESSOR LESLIE MANIGAT MARRIED WITH 5 KIDS
IS THAT BEING " IMMORAL " OR " OPPORTUNIST "
                From sunny bay cola
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MARIE LUCIE CHANCY
PROFESSEUR MARIE LUCIE CHANCY  A 70 YEARS  IN WHITE  LESLIE MANIGAT 'S FIRST WIF...E.

PROFESSEUR MARIE LUCIE CHANCY A 70 ANS EN BLANC LESLIE  MANIGAT PREMIERE FEMME.See More

Miley Cyrus hepls the death in Haiti

Teen superstar Miley Cyrus was humbled during a recent charity trip to Haiti after visiting children suffering from hearing disabilities.

The singer/actress travelled to the city of Port-Au-Prince in late February (11) with her mother, Tish, to see the relief efforts made by workers at her Get Ur Good On organisation, which she set up to encourage young people to get involved in philanthropy.

Volunteers have teamed up with aid workers at the Starkey Hearing Foundation to deliver hearing aids to survivors of the devastating earthquake which hit the region in January 2010, and Cyrus admits it was a real eye-opening experience to witness the progress first hand.

She tells People magazine, "It was an amazing experience to watch kids hear for the first time in their lives."

                                                                                  

 

                                                                            Right to contactmusic.com

Mr Michel Martelly actually made a good point watch this youtube video

Vickie Duval an Haitian hope

 (CNN) -- Vickie Duval has been tipped to be the next Venus Williams, but tennis was the last thing on the teenager's mind when the devastating earthquake struck her native Haiti in 2010.

Duval's father, Jean-Maurice, had stayed home to run a medical practice while his daughter chased her dream of grand slam glory by living and training in the United States.

In the trail of devastation left by earthquake on January 12 last year, Jean-Maurice was trapped under the rubble of his home and business and feared that without urgent medical attention he would die.

"One morning we got a call from him and he was (trapped) under the house," his 15-year-old daughter recalled in an interview with CNN's Open Court.

"He was sort of giving us his last words and said to my mum, 'Tell the kids I love them.' Mum just collapsed on the floor, but she said, 'No, no, no, you are going to make it.' "

Within 10 years hopefully I will win a couple of grand slams -- 10 or so would be nice!
--Vickie Duval

RELATED TOPICS

• Tennis
• WTA Tour Inc.
• Nick Bollettieri
• Haiti
• Atlanta

Duval's father managed to escape from the ruins of his property, but was left with a shattered left arm, fractured vertebrae, five broken ribs and a punctured lung.

In the post-earthquake chaos, the medical attention he needed so urgently was just not available, and he knew his chances of survival were slim.

But some Good Samaritans came to the rescue.

Vickie had moved from the famous Nick Bollettieri academy in Florida to train in Atlanta for a spell.

Practicing in Georgia's capital, she had made friends with Ashley and Natalie Kitchen, whose family rallied around to mount a miracle rescue along with the help of their Norcross tennis club's officials.

Harry Kitchen, a real estate developer, paid $18,000 to charter a private plane to fly to Haiti and bring back Jean-Maurice.

While he has made a good recovery from his horrific injuries, he will be unable to work as a doctor again.

But acknowledging the family's financial plight, friends and colleagues of tennis guru Bollettieri have stepped forward to provide the funding necessary for Vickie to continue training at his academy.

Bollettieri, who helped greats such as Andre Agassi reach the top, has every confidence Duval can fulfil her vast potential.

"It looks like she will grow to between 6ft and 6ft 1in, built the same as Venus Williams. We are teaching her the total game," he told CNN.

Duval has always been one of the leading players in her respective age groups in the United States, but recently took her first tentative steps into senior ranks.

Playing at a WTA Challenger event in Michigan, she beat former top-50 player Mashona Washington in straight sets in the first round.

It earned her a few ranking points, but Duval is aiming much bigger and higher than that.

"Nick tells me a lot that I play like Venus, but I really idolize Kim Clijsters," she said of the three-time U.S. Open champion. "Within 10 years hopefully I will win a couple of grand slams -- 10 or so would be nice!"

No player from Haiti has ever reached that level, but former men's top-20 star Ronald Agenor put the poor Caribbean country on the tennis map with his exploits until he retired from the ATP Tour in 2002.

Bollettieri believes Duval has the inner steel required to compete against the best, despite her gentle personality.

"She's unusual because she's very humble out there, but underneath she's getting meaner," he said.

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