2009

NOVEMBER
11 November - Economist Jean-Max Bellerive was sworn in as Haiti's new prime minister on Wednesday, and said he would work to convince donors that the country was ready for private investment to create jobs. Donor nations pledged in April to provide $324 million over two years to help rebuild the struggling Caribbean state, the poorest in the Americas and one of the most unstable, but they have been slow to deliver the money. Bellerive told reporters he hoped to persuade donors "that Haiti has changed, that Haiti is ready to open itself to private investment, that Haiti is ready to give reports on its accountability, on transparency." He replaces Michele Pierre-Louis, who was fired by the Senate on Oct. 30 amid criticism that she failed to improve Haiti's economy and did not do enough to rebuild after a series of devastating hurricanes and storms in 2008.

At the swearing-in ceremony at the National Palace, Bellerive said creating jobs was "an absolute priority." "Haiti will continue to work with all the partners and all the people who believe in stability and who believe the only way we are going to change Haiti is through private investment and through creating jobs in Haiti," he told journalists afterward.

Haiti has a long history of violence and instability but has recently enjoyed a period of relative calm, thanks in part to the continued presence of UN peacekeepers. Bellerive's approach won praise from the newly formed Haitian Economic Development Foundation. "Our business community is pleased to see that Mr. Bellerive's focus will be to continue furthering the pro-business direction encouraged by President Rene Preval," said the group's president, Youri Mevs. "Humanitarian assistance to our country is indeed crucial, but expansion of the business sector in order to create jobs is the long-term solution that will most impact the future of our people," she added.M

Bellerive previously served as Preval's planning and external cooperation minister and has held positions in governments under at least six different prime ministers over the past two decades. (Reuters)

OCTOBER
30 October - Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis' was removed shortly after midnight when 18 of the Haiti's 29 senators voted for censure - a move that also dissolves the cabinet. The vote comes amid efforts by the international community and Haitian leaders, including Pierre-Louis, to attract foreign money to the impoverished Caribbean nation still reeling from the aftermath of several brutal storms. Most of those voting against the prime minister, who is Haiti's head of government and was nominated by President Rene Preval last year, belonged Preval's own party. They took control of the Senate just weeks ago after winning June elections praised by some international observers but marred by low turnout and fraud allegations.

Debate raged for more than nine hours, with senators storming out of the room, accusing each other of carrying weapons and marching up and down the aisle of the narrow chamber as Senate President Kelly Bastien rang a silver bell to call for order. But almost no time was devoted to discussion of the prime minister herself. Instead supporters - including some like opposition Senator Youri Latortue who held up her nomination last year - spent hours denouncing the process as illegal because of alleged procedural errors. Those planning to vote against her rarely spoke, and when they did usually just asked Bastien to call for the vote.

Pierre-Louis refused to attend the Thursday session, saying in a letter that the result was a foregone conclusion. Several senators denounced her for not attending, and a special vote had to be taken to allow the censure to take place in her absence. (AP)

27 October - A small but powerful group of senators is seeking the removal of Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis on charges that she has moved too slowly to solve Haiti's problems. ``The situation is critical,'' said Senator Jean Hector Anacasis, who is among the six senators behind a recent summons for Pierre-Louis to appear before Haiti's Senate on Thursday. Under Haiti's constitution, the Senate can fire a sitting government.

"We are the ones on the ground who hear the people's cry, who hear them criticizing us, the government, saying nothing has been done. We have to replace the woman," Anacasis said. "If they are accusing us of inviting a crisis, then we are inviting a crisis to avert another crisis."

Initially, senators were seeking to dismiss the ministers of finance and justice, both of whom are close to Pierre-Louis. But after three days of meetings at a hotel near the palace, senators decided to issue the summons to Pierre-Louis, Anacasis told The Miami Herald. A majority of the 29 senators have indicated they would vote to fire Pierre-Louis, Anacasis said. Pierre-Louis was in Europe on business, and returned to Haiti Sunday night where she was greeted by a small group of protesters waving signs saying, "We are tired of changing governments." In her defense, a handful of lawmakers and supporters have pleaded with the group of six to cancel Thursday's hearing. (Miami Herald)

13 October - The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti for a year, saying the situation in the impoverished Caribbean nation still constitutes a threat to international peace and security despite recent progress. The resolution adopted by the council will maintain the current mission's force level of about 9,000 troops and police. (AP)

1 October - Declaring Haiti "open for business," Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis welcomed hundreds of potential investors on Thursday to a conference meant to kick-start an economy stunted by decades of political turmoil.The organiser, the Inter-American Development Bank, hopes the star power of former US President Bill Clinton can lure new business to the poorest country in the Americas, where 70 percent of the population lives on less than US$2 a day.

Local officials said the meeting was the largest investment conference ever held in Haiti and had attracted US apparel heavyweights like Gap, American Eagle Outfitters and Levi Strauss, and a host of Latin American textile firms. International banks including Canada's Scotiabank and US giant Citi had representatives on hand to discuss loans.

"Haiti is open for business," Pierre-Louis told a crowded convention hall in French and English. "At the government, we are doing our share. Now we turn to you and ask you to do yours," she said, adding, "Time is of the essence."

The conference was largely focused on agriculture and textiles and began on the day Haiti's new minimum wages kicked in. Approved by the legislature last month, the minimum for textile workers rises from 70 gourdes, about US$1.75, to 125 gourdes, or US$3.10, per day. For most other workers, the minimum rises from 70 to 200 gourdes, or about US$5.00 a day.

Georges Sassine, president of Haiti's Industrial Association, said there was "tremendous" interest in low-cost Haiti from Latin American garment companies. He toured northern areas with a dozen business people this week. "They are looking at setting up textile mills and factories," he said. Haiti's garment manufacturing industry, which employed some 130,000 people in the 1980s but shriveled to only a few thousand in recent years, has been reinvigorated by the passage in Washington last year of the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE II) Act. (Reuters)

SEPTEMBER
17 September - Brazil and the United States ratified their plan on Thursday to establish industrial plants in Haiti. This would enable the duty-free export of products to both countries and thus support Haiti's reconstruction. During a meeting in the Foreign Ministry's Itamaraty Palace, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and US Commerce representative Ronald Kirk agreed to advance the implementation of the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity (HOPE) legislation passed by the government of the United States. Amorim told Xinhua in a press conference that the fundamental motivation of this initiative was humanitarian, "to aid Haiti's economic development through sustainable production activity." This mechanism would allow Brazilian companies in Haiti to export products to the United States without paying customs fees, and vice versa. The agreement would benefit Haiti as well as Brazilian and US companies, Amorim added.

On Thursday morning, President of the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry (CNI) Armando Monteiro Neto said Brazilian textile companies were interested in establishing themselves in Haiti under the framework of the HOPE legislation. The Brazilian industries also requested adjustments to the HOPE programme, such as giving Brazil the status of "beneficiary." (Xinhua)

10 September - A Haitian gang leader wanted by US and French authorities on kidnapping and homicide charges has been arrested in the Dominican Republic after years on the run, Dominican authorities announced Wednesday. Amaral Duclona was captured Tuesday in the eastern Dominican town of La Romana, where he was living under a pseudonym, drug control agency spokesman Roberto Lebron said.

France is seeking the extradition of the 31-year-old suspect in the killing of an honorary French consul in Haiti's northern port city of Cap-Haitien. Paul-Henri Mourral was reportedly pulled from his car and executed by a group of armed men in May 2005 on the outskirts of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. Duclona was considered a powerful gang leader in the sprawling oceanside shantytown of Cite Soleil, whose followers fought with UN peacekeepers in the chaotic years following the 2004 ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He defied attempts to disarm, capture or kill him as authorities brought down other gang leaders. Militant Aristide supporters hailed Duclona as a resistance leader, while United States and France sought him on charges of kidnapping and murder. Duclona has denied criminal ties.

When former Aristide ally Rene Preval won the presidency in 2006, he ordered Duclona to disarm, but the gang leader refused. A year later, he escaped a raid on his home by UN troops that resulted in the arrest of 17 other gang members. More than 200 slum dwellers protested the raid, saying Duclona had provided them with food and security.

Cite Soleil is now patrolled by Brazilian soldiers and U.N. police, and a large base for Haitian police was built with funds from a $20 million Pentagon initiative to strengthen government institutions in the slum. (AP)

9 September - Haiti has kept its promise to build a government but donor nations have failed to deliver the aid they pledged to the poorest country in the western hemisphere, Bill Clinton said on Wednesday. "They've only gotten a pittance of the aid that was pledged to them," Clinton, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy to Haiti, told reporters after addressing a meeting of the Security Council on the Caribbean nation. "A lot of that is part of the appropriations process that plays out in the latter half of every year," the former U.S. president said. "But we can't get to January with only $21 million of over $760 million in commitments disbursed down there (in Haiti)."

"We've got to get the show on the road," Clinton added. Clinton said Haiti has been delivering on promises to stabilize the country. "They did what they were supposed to do," he said. "They've got a functioning political system. The legislature's working with the executive branch. They've got a good government there. ... They need the rest of us to do more." (Reuters)

8 September - A mudslide set off by several hours of heavy rain swept into at least 32 houses and shacks made of tin, concrete and dirt walls early Monday, killing at least one person in the coastal village of Montrouis in central Haiti. Civil protection chief Marie-Alta Jean-Baptiste said two other people were missing, while residents put the number at four.(AP)

AUGUST
21 August - Security has improved dramatically in Haiti, where just a few years ago large areas were controlled by heavily armed gangs that killed, kidnapped and raped with impunity, UN police said on Friday.The crime rate in the impoverished Caribbean nation has dropped thanks to a police force that is bigger, more professional and better coordinated with UN military and police personnel, UN police spokesman Fred Blaise said. "The work was done by the Haitian police, of course with our support. They have done so much with so little," Blaise told Reuters on Friday. "Certainly, there are crimes being committed, but it is a level of criminality encountered in other countries of the world."

In December 2005, 162 kidnappings were reported by UN and Haitian police, but there were only seven last month and just two so far in August. "We have made significant progress and crimes such as kidnappings, murders and other acts of violence have considerably reduced," said police spokesman Frantz Lerebours. He said 50 people were gunned down in Haiti in July 2006, compared with 27 last month and only six so far in August. "We have dismantled the gangs, arrested many of their leaders and we have taken over all the positions they had controlled and now there is not one area in the country which is under gang control," Lerebours said.

Haiti's police force has grown from about 5,000 members in 2005 to more than 9,000 today, and Police Chief Mario Andresol said the number would rise to about 14,000 by 2011. (Reuters)

18 August - Former United States President Bill Clinton appointed the physician and Harvard University professor Paul Farmer as the United Nations Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti to assist in advancing the economic and social development of the impoverished Caribbean nation. “Paul’s selfless commitment to building health systems in the poor Haitian communities over the last 20 years has given millions of people hope for a brighter future for Haiti,” said Mr. Clinton, who is the UN Special Envoy to Haiti.

Dr. Farmer, a founding director of Partners in Health since 1987, has dedicated much of his life to improving health care for the world’s most vulnerable people. As a student in 1983, he worked in villages in Haiti’s Central Plateau bringing modern health care to some of the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere.

Starting with a one-building clinic in the village of Cange, Dr. Farmer’s project now extends to a multi-service health complex that includes a primary school, an infirmary, a surgery wing, a training programme for outreach workers, a 104-bed hospital, a women’s clinic and a paediatric care facility, according to the Office for the Special Envoy to Haiti.

“His credibility both among the people of Haiti and in the international community will be a tremendous asset to our efforts as we work with the Government and people of Haiti to improve health care, strengthen education and create economic opportunity,” said Mr. Clinton. (AP)

5 August - Lawmakers voted to more than double Haiti's minimum wage Tuesday night after long hours of debate and clashes between police and protesters, who complained they can't feed and shelter their families on the current pay of about US$1.75 a day. The plan adopted fell short of the US$5 wage demanded by the demonstrators, although it would more than double the minimum pay to about US$3.75 a day. The raise also would include workers at factories producing clothes for export, an idea that President Rene Preval opposed. After refusing to publish into law a plan passed by Parliament in May to nearly triple the minimum wage, Preval proposed giving the garment factory workers an increase to about US$3. Given the lateness of Parliament's 55-6 vote to adopt the new raise, there was no immediate reaction from the president or from the protesters. (AP)

5 August - Haitian police have clashed with protesters calling for an increase in the minimum wage outside the country's parliament. As politicians prepared to vote on the issue in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, some of the 2,000 protesters threw stones at police officers, who responded by firing tear gas to disperse the crowd. One person was reported to have been injured in the clashes but no arrests were made.

The demonstrators said the minimum wage was insufficient and that they could not provide adequate food and shelter for their families on less than US$2 a day. "Seventy gourdes, that doesn't do anything for me," said Banel Jeune, a clothing factory worker taking part in the protest, referring to his current minimum-wage salary. "I can't feed my kids, and I can't send them to school."

Parliament approved a proposal in May to nearly triple the minimum wage, but Rene Preval, the Haitian president, said he would not sign it into law. Those working in factories producing garments for export should only receive an increase that will put them on about $3 a day, he said. Critics of the minimum wage increases proposed by parliament say that such legislation will derail attempts to get more Haitians into regular employment. Haiti could take advantage of duty-free exports of clothing to the United States to provide "several hundred thousand jobs … over a period of just a few years", according to a United Nations report released in January. However, the factories' overhead costs must be kept low in order for the plan to succeed, the report added.

Only about 250,000 of Haiti's nine million people have jobs that would be covered by the minimum wage legislation, said Steven Benoit, a politician who sponsored the bill. The rest of the working-age population work on farms or sell goods on the street. (Al Jazeera)

JULY
28 July - Officials now say at least 113 people have been saved after a boat carrying Haitian migrants capsized near the Turks and Caicos Islands. About 85 people are believed to be missing. A survivor says the vessel had been at sea for three days and was carrying up to 200 Haitians. (AP)

9 July - The Chamber of Deputies is still struggling to come a decision on the question of the minimum wage, and no one knows when a session will be held to vote on the law in question. The Deputy from Cap-Haitien, Eddy Jean Pierre, has criticised the non-appearance of certain of his colleagues, who apparently find themselves 'between a rock and a hard place' on whether to vote with their political position or in relation to economic realities.

Meanwhile, another meeting between the exective and deputies concerning the minimum wage law has taken place. Members of the National Assembly left the meeting disatisfied, particularly with regard to the absence of representatives of the National Tax Office (DGI) who should have informed them about the sub-contracting industry companies' accounts. (HPN).

8 July - Former US President Bill Clinton said on Wednesday a lack of cooperation between Haitian politicians, aid groups and business leaders was hurting efforts to help the impoverished Caribbean nation. Clinton, on his first visit since being named UN special envoy to Haiti, said he was optimistic about its future but surprised by the continuing divide between the private and public sectors and the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Haiti. "The most surprising thing to me ... is how little the investor community, all the elements of the government, including the legislative branch and the NGO community seem to have taught and absorbed each others' lessons," Clinton told reporters at the end of a two-day fact-finding mission.

The appointment of Clinton by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in May, hundreds of millions of dollars in recent donor pledges and the granting of US$1.2 billion in debt relief by the World Bank, IMF and other creditors this month has raised hopes in Haiti. The Paris Club of sovereign creditors said on Wednesday it had decided to cancel $62.73 million of Haiti's debt and committed to canceling an additional $152 million.

Clinton met on Wednesday with business leaders, heads of the executive and legislative branches of the government and NGOs and civil society groups, after a tour on Tuesday of the mud-stained city of Gonaives, where floods last year killed hundreds of people. He promised to do all he can to collect the money Haiti needs to address some of its crucial infrastructure, education and healthcare problems but urged Haitians to solve their internal differences. "If it is a question of money that's my problem, but if it is not about money, that's something Haitians need to resolve among themselves," he said. "That's a little surprising to me. But everybody is eager to do it." (Reuters),?P>

5 July - Testifying before the Chamber of Deputies' Social Affairs commission which is considering President Preval's request to cut the increase in the minimum daily pay - legislation passed by the National Assembly (Parliament) earlier this year - the garment assembly businessman, Richard Coles, threatened to dismiss his employees if the minimum wage law on 200 gourdes per day comes into effect. Coles said that if the legislation is enacted as it stands, he will close his five factories employing 3,000 workers. Meanwhile students demonstrating in favour of the 200 gourdes a day legislation marched peacefully from the Faculté des Sciences Humaines to the National Assembly building. (HPN)

1 July - Canceling Haiti's debts will free up about $50 million a year for spending over the next 10 to 15 years to reduce poverty in the Caribbean nation, an IMF official said on Wednesday. The country won $1.2. billion in debt relief from the World Bank, IMF and other creditors earlier on Wednesday under a program by rich nations to ease the debt burdens of the world's poorest countries.

"It is a very important milestone for Haiti," Corinne Delechat, IMF mission chief for Haiti, told Reuters. "It is a recognition of the reform efforts the government has made since 2004 and 2005 when there was some return to political stability and democracy," she said. Delechat said the government's program to stabilize the fragile economy has reduced inflation, brought the budget deficit under control, improved management of public finances and increased reserves in Haiti. Finance Minister Daniel Dorsainvil hailed the debt relief as "good news" for the Caribbean nation, where most people live on less than $2 a day. (Reuters)

Debt cancellation - only mixed feelings - Haiti Support Group press release - 2 July 2009

JUNE
29 June - Haitian police say a demonstrator found slain after a clash with UN peacekeepers during a funeral procession was killed by a bullet, and not by a rock as peacekeepers initially reported. But the police inspector who shared details of the autopsy report on Monday said ballistics tests are needed to determine who fired the fatal shot. The inspector who viewed the autopsy report spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the autopsy. He did not offer any additional details. Opponents of the 9,000-member UN force are using the death to inflame passions against international troops stationed in Haiti since 2004.

The demonstrator, who remains unidentified, was killed June 18 as about 2,000 people marched with the casket of the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, an advocate for the poor who died in May after years of health problems. He was closely allied with ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

At least five Brazilian soldiers with the 9,000-member UN peacekeeping mission entered the back of the procession near Port-au-Prince's Notre Dame cathedral on foot to arrest a marcher, who was later released. Other demonstrators threw rocks at the soldiers, who responded by firing at least eight shots into the air before leaving in a jeep.

UN peacekeeping spokeswoman Sophie Boutaud de la Combe said Monday that the Brazilian soldiers had some weapons loaded with rubber bullets and others with 7.62-milimeter caliber live ammunition. In television footage of the clash at least eight shots can be heard. It is not clear if all were fired by the soldiers. No one else is seen holding a firearm. (AP)

22 June - Haitians fed up with chronic poverty and unresponsive leaders stayed away from Senate run-off elections Sunday, ignoring government efforts to improve on the paltry voter turnout that undercut the first round of voting in April. Results are not expected for at least a week in contests for 11 vacant seats in the 30-member Senate. On the line is President Rene Preval's hope of overpowering uncooperative legislators and pushing through internationally backed economic reforms and constitutional amendments that would give his successors more power. Voting was extremely light in the capital of Port-au-Prince, though it was too soon to gauge the turnout in the rest of the country.

Another round of mostly empty ballot boxes could embarrass the government and fuel opponents' claims that it has stumbled in developing Haiti as a democracy. The first round of voting April 19, held after more than a year and half of delays, saw only 11 percent of registered voters participate. Electoral council president Frantz Gerard Verret took to the radio waves Sunday afternoon to plead with voters: "If you don't come out and vote, other people will vote for you." But as polls closed at 4 p.m. (5 p.m. EDT, 2100 GMT) those pleas appeared to have gone unheeded. Voting centers in the capital stood nearly deserted, with transparent ballot boxes holding just the folded paper ballots of poll workers themselves.

Early reports from the countryside were similar, with Haitian radio highlighting stories such as ballots arriving late to centers where no voters waited. Two polling places were reported shut down near the southern town of Jacmel. In at least one of those cases, supporters of a candidate ran in and tried to stuff the ballot box, Haitian police spokesman Frantz Lerebours said. (AP)

18 June - Student demonstrators attacked and burned a UN police vehicle in the Haitian capital on Wednesday, adding to security concerns ahead of this weekend's scheduled Senate elections. The student protests, now in their fourth week, are part of a general uptick in violence leading into Sunday's scheduled second-round elections for 11 vacant Senate seats. At least two people have been killed in clashes between political parties elsewhere in Haiti.

Two UN police officers were driving past the state university medical school when students bombarded it with rocks and forced it to halt, said UN police spokesman Fred Blaise. The officers escaped unharmed and the demonstrators burned the vehicle down to its metal husk. Peacekeepers from India and Jordan arrived and formed a perimeter around the SUV. Students threw rocks at the soldiers from inside the campus and peacekeepers responded with repeated rounds of tear gas. Haitian riot police stood at the ready nearby. When peacekeepers and police left after towing the vehicle amid a driving rainstorm, hundreds of onlookers rushed in from the surrounding neighborhood dancing and chanting, "Burn them! Burn them!" Peacekeepers fired a final canister of tear gas as they sped away on the rock-strewn street.

The student demonstrations began in late May against the elimination of medical school classes but quickly grew into protests against the 9,000-member UN force that has been in Haiti since 2004, and in support of increasing Haiti's minimum wage from $2 to $5 a day. The salary increase has been approved by the legislature but is opposed by business owners, especially owners of factories that produce garments for sale in the United States and elsewhere. An agreement is expected to be announced by President Rene Preval this week. (AP)

6 June - Police injured a 10-year-old boy as they fired warning shots Friday to control a protest entering its second day. A reporter for The Associated Press saw the boy get shot in his right shoulder. A bullet also grazed the cheek of a university student who was taken to the hospital. Another man was shot in the leg when an off-duty policeman fired at a crowd after being pelted with stones, Radio Metropole reported.

Hundreds of university students are demanding that school officials reinstate courses and that the government keep its promise of raising the minimum wage. The boy was shot as supporters tried to loot a supermarket near the national palace. Protesters also burned cars and threw rocks at police. A university student shot Thursday is recovering from a minor head injury. (AP)

4 June - Police fired tear gas and gunshots Thursday to deter protesters in Haiti's capital, and at least one student was wounded. About 300 university students threw rocks at police and national guard officers as they marched down barricaded streets and protested curriculum changes. A car also was set on fire. Authorities responded by shooting into the air and launching tear gas. Three students from a primary school were hospitalized after breathing the fumes. Hundreds of people poured out of a nearby church Thursday afternoon after getting trapped inside by tear gas and protesters. Children were crying and some people poured water on a couple of women who had fainted.

Students have clashed with police in recent months as they criticize university officials for canceling classes they say they need to become well-rounded professionals. A photographer for The Associated Press saw doctors on Thursday treating the injured student for a minor head wound. (AP)

MAY
22 May - At least 10 people have died due to severe floods caused by the heavy rains in Haiti over the past days, according to a report given by the local civil protection organization on Thursday. The heavy rains forced the Haitian authorities to declare a red alert in four departments in Haiti. The report included five deaths in Artibonite, in the north, another three in the Central Plateau region, and two in the south, one of them a boy. The rains have provoked floods in different regions, affecting homes and agriculture, with the effect of the damage not yet having been evaluated. (Prensa Latina)

19 May - Former President Bill Clinton, who has pledged his philanthropic weight to help a storm-ravaged Haiti, has been named a special envoy on behalf of the United Nations. The appointment comes two months after Clinton visited Haiti alongside UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in an effort to raise global attention to the country's halting efforts to rebuild following a string of storms that wreaked havoc on the Haitian economy, its nine million citizens and its already fragile landscape.

''It is an honor to accept the secretary general's invitation to become special envoy to Haiti,'' former President Clinton said in a statement to The Miami Herald. 'Last year's natural disasters took a great toll, but Haiti's government and people have the determination and ability to `build back better,' not just to repair the damage done but to lay the foundations for the long-term sustainable development that has eluded them for so long.''

The UN currently has no special envoy for Haiti, and it is expected that Clinton will travel there at least four times a year as part of the UN's effort to build on the momentum created by his March visit.

''We are very grateful to the secretary general that he chose such a friend of Haiti with a worldwide reputation, who is very committed to Haiti,'' Haiti's Prime Minister Michèle Pierre-Louis told The Miami Herald in a telephone interview from Port-au-Prince.

The hope is that Clinton's attention -- and fundraising power -- will help to further galvanize international support in a country plagued by donor fatigue, lack of international coordination and a history of political instability. ''Haiti's got a chance, the best chance in my lifetime,'' Clinton said in April as Haiti supporters met in Washington at a donor's conference. Encouraging donors to not just donate money but to invest, he told the packed room, ``the people on the ground want their country to matter.'' By day's end, international donors pledged $324 million including $57 million from the United States. A few days later, Clinton's wife Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally traveled to Haiti to emphasize President Barack Obama's strong commitment to the country's rebuilding efforts. ''He's going to be extremely helpful to the country because we are really in dire need of support,'' Pierre-Louis said.

Case in point: Donors' pledges. The latest data from the Inter-American Development Bank, which hosted the conference, shows that donors pledged $353.4 million to Haiti. But a month later, Pierre-Louis said the country is still waiting for the money. ''They all claim we had a plan, a good plan,'' Pierre-Louis said. ``However, it's very difficult to obtain from them where they want to put the money. . . . A special envoy could help in making the follow-up with the donors on the conference first and help us go to new donors.'' (Miami Herald)

13 May -Ten people were killed when a boat carrying migrants from Haiti capsized off the coast of Florida, the US Coast Guard has said. The Coast Guard was able to pluck 27 people from the water on Wednesday, 17 of whom were healthy and 10 "confirmed dead," said spokeswoman Marilyn Fajardo. "They are immigrants from Haiti," said Fajardo who added that it appeared they were trying to illegally enter the United States from the Bahamas.(AFP)

8 May - Angry demonstrators hurled stones and tore down a sign at the Dominican Republic's consulate in Port-au-Prince on Friday to protest the decapitation slaying of a Haitian in Santo Domingo. Some 150 protesters massed outside the walled consulate, but Haitian police prevented them from entering the compound. Contingents of UN peacekeepers with riot gear waited nearby but did not enter the fray. The protesters chanted "justice for Carlos," in reference to Carlos Nerilus, a migrant whose decapitated body was found Saturday in what Dominican authorities described as an "incident between individuals." Haitian officials have called the migrant's killing barbarous and questioned whether Dominican police could have prevented it. (AP)

6 May - Some of Haiti's most powerful lawmakers are calling for last month's parliamentary elections to be thrown out because of allegations of voter fraud and political manipulation. Senator Youri Latortue, the powerful head of the chamber's justice and security committee, and at least three other senators said this week that they would try to block victors of next month's run-offs from taking office to protest the results. It is not clear what effect the lawmakers' protests will have, but fraud allegations could prove troubling in this impoverished Caribbean country where disputed elections have been the precursor to violence and upheaval in recent years.

The long-delayed election to fill 12 vacant spots in the 30-seat Senate was hailed as an important step in Haiti's development as a democracy. But the April 19 first-round voting was marred by low turnout, officially 11 percent, and isolated violence that forced one race to be canceled. Election officials were also widely criticized for barring all candidates from the major opposition party of exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Fanmi Lavalas, from running on technical grounds. (AP)

5 May - After months of delays the Haitian Senate voted unanimously on May 5 to approve a measure raising the minimum wage to 200 gourdes a day (about $4.96) from its current rate of 70 gourdes. The Chamber of Deputies approved the measure earlier in the year. To become law, the raise still needs to be approved by President Préval and published in the official gazette, Le Moniteur. Business owners strongly opposed the new minimum wage, and it is not clear what measures are planned to enforce it. (AlterPresse)

5 May - Dominican police are investigating the decapitation of a migrant from neighbouring Haiti. Police Maj. Jose Llubres says the victim's body was found Saturday in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of the capital, Santo Domingo. He says residents allege the victim killed a local merchant and police are investigating whether he was slain in revenge. (AP)

1 May - Haitian police used tear gas to break up a protest near the national palace where demonstrators were calling for a higher minimum wage. Riot police also used their batons and shields Friday to block the group of about 150 protesters from reaching the palace. The protesters say they are an "alternative May 1" collective and called for raising the minimum wage from about US$1.80 a day to US$10 a day. Eighty percent of the Caribbean nation's people live on less than US$2 a day and unemployment is rampant. The group also called for the departure of a 9,000-member UN peacekeeping force they denounced as occupiers. (AP)

"It's not normal for us to be unable to demonstrate peacefully and freely on May 1," said a member of the organising committee of the collective, which is made up of the Popular Democratic Movement (MODEP), Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen ("Small Haitian Peasants Unity"), Batay Ouvriye ("Workers Struggle") and other groups. (AlterPresse)

APRIL
28 April - None of the candidates for the Senate received the majority vote needed to win outright in balloting this month, leaving 11 vacant seats up for grabs in the runoff election.The 30-seat Senate has been short-handed for 1 1/2 years as elections were delayed by hunger riots, devastating storms and political infighting. Results released late Monday by Haiti's provisional electoral council also showed 11 percent of eligible voters turned out for the April 19 election. The vote was boycotted by supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whose Fanmi Lavalas party's candidates were disqualified because they failed to produce documents signed by the exiled party leader.

Nine of the 20 candidates advancing to the run-off are from President Rene Preval's Lespwa party, and the party could win seats in each of Haiti's administrative regions. Two other parties had multiple candidates advance. Lespwa currently controls six of 18 seats in the Caribbean nation's Senate. A Lespwa majority would help Preval win support for constitutional reforms to increase executive powers and build support for his economic programs.

Voting for one of 12 vacant seats in the rural Central Department was canceled on election day after protesters raided polling places and a poll supervisor was shot. He survived. That vote has not been rescheduled. Some voters also had difficulty reaching the polls because authorities halted public transportation in Port-au-Prince to preserve order. Only about 44,000 ballots were cast in a capital region home to nearly 3 million people. At least four senators have said the election should be invalidated because of the poor turnout and are threatening to vote against seating the winners, Radio Kiskeya reported. (AP)

22 April - Despite the fact that journalists and peacekeepers seemed to outnumber voters last week, several people were wounded and voting was disrupted by violence on Sunday during a Senate election. After polls closed, observers estimated that fewer than 10 percent of potential voters went to the polls. One man, according to an unconfirmed report, was attacked with machetes and then burned alive by residents of the village of Liancourt in Haiti's northern Artibonite region. Several other people were wounded during clashes between supporters of rival candidates. Haitian police and UN forces exchanged fire with civilian gunmen in the northern town of Marchand Dessalines. One member of the security forces was wounded, according to local election officials, who did not provide further details. Other violent confrontations, as well as massive frauds, in the Central Plateau area prompted election authorities to cancel the ballot in the whole region. Elections will likely not be known for more than a week despite the low turnout, an election official said Monday.

Voting for 11 vacant seats in the 30-member Senate took place across the country Sunday after a year and a half of delays caused by political infighting, riots and damaging storms. It will take at least eight days to count ballots trucked in from the countryside and determine winners, said Jean-Marc Baudot, a Canadian consultant serving as logistics coordinator for the provisional electoral council's computation center. Baudot said that officials have not been able to gauge the turnout yet, but it appeared to be low, based on the observations of balloting observers and reporters covering the elections. Ballots are being counted at polling places and tabulated at a warehouse computer center guarded by armed UN peacekeepers in an industrial park in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Turnout appeared to be extremely low in the capital, where voter apathy and fear of election-day violence were more common than political interest. President Rene Preval declined to comment on the turnout Sunday until official results are calculated. US Ambassador Janet Sanderson, who toured the tabulation center Monday, remarked that "Historically, off-year elections in the United States as well as in other countries tend not to be as well-attended as presidential elections. We'll have to see."

Supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide — whose still-popular Fanmi Lavalas party was prohibited from running by electoral officials — had also encouraged citizens to stay away from the polls. The party took credit for the apparently low turnout Sunday.

Voting for a 12th seat from the rural Central Department was halted by Haiti's provisional electoral council after demonstrators ransacked polling places and a poll supervisor was shot in the plateau town of Mirebalais. That race will be rescheduled. (Haitian Times)

16 April - The US economic crisis touched down recently in the dusty town where Marie Rosita Simon ekes out a living selling sandals. Her brother, a New Jersey cabdriver, slashed his monthly $400 transfer to her by half because his business was off. For Simon, that amounted to a 40 percent plunge in income for her family of five. Coming after a horrendous year in which food prices soared and hurricanes washed away her plantain and bean crops, the 43-year-old street vendor decided something had to go: dinner. And sometimes she can't provide breakfast for her children. They're hungry," she confessed.

Shrinking remittances are one of the main ways the crisis could harm Latin America and the Caribbean. The cash sent home from immigrant nannies, hotel workers and gardeners from Los Angeles to Bethesda has ballooned to a US$69 billion-a-year lifeline in the region in the past decade. It is particularly important for small countries such as Haiti, which received about $1.65 billion last year -- more than a quarter of the country's annual income. These transfers have dropped 13 percent in the region in the first few months of the year, according to Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank.

In Haiti, the reduction in remittances can have dramatic long-term consequences. Most schools are private, and students are often kept home when parents can't pay the tuition, returning months or years later.

Jimmy Pierre-Sant, a 25-year-old in Cabaret, a plantain-growing town about 30 miles north of Port-au-Prince, is one of the indirect victims of the U.S. recession. Several months ago, his aunt in Winter Haven, Fla., was laid off from her factory job. Short of cash, she and other relatives have cut their bimonthly payments to Pierre-Sant's family from about $200 to $50. That meant he had to quit school yet again. "I felt very bad about it. I'm the only one in my family who got to 11th grade. I was ahead of everybody. I loved school," Pierre-Sant, in a Bugle Boy T-shirt and plaid shorts, said as he sat on the concrete patio of his grandmother's shack, where he sells soft drinks from a cooler.

Simon, the sandal seller, who also lives in Cabaret, has managed to keep her two children and the niece she is raising in school. But at times there is only enough money for one meal a day. "Sometimes I let them suffer in order to pay the school tuition. I never had to do that in the past," she said. (Washington Post)

MARCH
21 March - The former CEO of Haiti's national pension fund has been arrested and jailed on money laundering charges. Radio Kiskeya says Sandro Joseph was arrested at home Thursday and taken in handcuffs to Port-au-Prince's National Penitentiary. Prosecutors confirmed the report Friday but declined to comment. Joseph's lawyer, Me Annibal Coffy, told Le Nouvelliste newspaper he would challenge the warrant. Joseph resigned last year from his government-appointed post at the National Old-Age Insurance Office following corruption allegations. Officials have not said how much money he is suspected of laundering or named others allegedly involved. A trial date has not been set. (AP)

12 March - A UN Security Council delegation arrived in Haiti Wednesday for a four-day visit to promote stability and economic progress. Delegation leader and Costa Rican ambassador Jorge Urbina said the 15-member group will meet with President Rene Preval, lawmakers, election officials, and the private sector. Protesters stoned and burned a UN vehicle in front of a Port-au-Prince university shortly before the mission arrived. (AP)

10 March - Bill Clinton and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Haiti yesterday, hoping to lure more aid to keep the impoverished country from sliding back into chaos. The former US president and the UN chief toured the rundown capital and met with Haitian officials who are struggling with high food prices and the aftermath of devastating storms during a period of relative political calm. The delegation, that includes Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean, stopped at a school to view a recently opened food programme for children. Ban spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said the visit was intended to call attention to the need to provide further international help for Haiti. (AP)

3 March - University students in Port-au-Prince barricaded themselves inside an administration building Tuesday, and clashed with police and UN peacekeepers during protests to demand an improved curriculum. Police responded by firing at least two rounds of tear gas at the State University of Haiti building in the hills above Port-au-Prince. At least one student was arrested, Radio Vision 2000 reported. No injuries were reported. Several car windows were smashed near the building and a thrown rock smashed through the windshield of a UN vehicle that was passing by. (AP)

3 March - Deepening poverty and ineffective governance have left Haiti at risk for renewed violence and political instability, a conflict watchdog warned on Tuesday. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group urged international donors scheduled to meet next month in Washington to provide the struggling Caribbean country with $3 billion over the next several years. "Between now and the summer Haiti faces a series of challenges, and if the population doesn't see progress it could well result in significant instability," ICG senior vice president Mark Schneider told The Associated Press by phone.

A 16-page report by the conflict watchdog comes ahead of a March 9 visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former US President Bill Clinton to promote international aid and economic security in the impoverished country. The UN Security Council will visit immediately afterward.

Haiti is enjoying a period of relative stability, but the report says economic and social conditions are even worse than last April, when political riots over high food prices overthrew the prime minister. Months later the country was socked by four storms that left nearly 800 people dead, caused $1 billion in damage and halted economic growth. Tuesday's report says poor cooperation between President Rene Preval, new Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis and parliament is also deadlocking legislation and preventing passage of a proposed $256.4 million, mostly donor-financed budget. That in turn could leave the door open for "spoilers" — drug traffickers, corrupt politicians, gangs and business owners who prefer a weak government — to create new problems. Illegal flights carrying South American cocaine through Haiti and on to the United States and Europe increased over the past year, the US State Department said in its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report released this week.

Reminders of how quickly any tension can boil over into violence in Haiti were on display Tuesday in Port-au-Prince when university students threw rocks at UN peacekeepers and Haitian police, who responded by firing tear gas. The students were protesting a curriculum change.

Observers worry far more violent demonstrations could erupt ahead of a long-delayed April 19 election to fill 12 vacant Senate seats, with concern centering on electoral officials' decision to block all candidates from former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's divided Famni Lavalas party. (AP)