3,000 HAITIANS FLEE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC UNDER THREAT
(FOX) - EFE
About 3,000 Haitians, whose country is still reeling from a devastating earthquake and cholera epidemic, have fled neighboring Dominican Republic under threat.
SANTIAGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Close to 3,000 undocumented Haitians living in this northern Dominican city fled the country after locals threatened to expel them for alleged criminal activities, community leaders said.
Some 2,800 undocumented Haitians have been living in the San Jose and La Mina districts and, according to reports, 2,700 had left those communities by late Thursday, even though residents of the two neighborhoods decided not to carry out their threats.
Dominican residents in those neighborhood had threated to expel on Jan. 3 all the undocumented Haitians, blaming them for most area crime.
Local residents also said that the Haitians posed a danger of spreading cholera, since they lived in overcrowded quarters with no bathrooms, leading them to defecate in plastic bags that they left on the premises of schools, homes, stores and elsewhere.
Haiti is currently in the grip of a cholera epidemic that has claimed nearly 1,800 lives since mid-October.
"Today nearly all of them are gone. Only about 100 are still here, the ones who study and work and have been living in our communities from five to 13 years," Jose Francisco Consuegra, president of the Neighborhood Association of San Jose and La Mina, told Efe.
The chief of Haitian affairs in the Santiago Migration Office, Ramon Ureña, told the press that he met with community leaders of those neighborhoods and representatives of the Haitian groups and they came to an amicable agreement, in which the community promised to include in its activities those immigrants who chose to remain in the area.
He also said that the Migration Office will provide temporary residency permits to Haitians living illegally in San Jose and La Mina so they can continue with their activities without further problems.
At the same time Consuegra described as "appropriate" and "civil" the Haitians' decision to leave voluntarily.
Dominican officials estimate that around 1 million Haitians live in the country, most of them illegal immigrants who work in agriculture and construction.
The Dominican Republic and Haiti share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, with Haiti in the western portion. Though both countries are poor, Haiti is destitute, and Haitians cross the border to do work that many Dominicans will not do, such as harvesting sugar cane.
Haitians have been the target of mob violence numerous times in recent years, and the Dominican government has been widely criticized for its treatment of the migrants.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
ARTICLE - A PEOPLE IN LIMBO
DOMINICAN CITIZENSHIPS PUT INTO DOUBT
(USA TODAY) - By Stephanie Hanes
Haitians have long provided cheap labor in the Dominican Republic. They have fueled the country's sugar industry.
USA TODAY, The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and PBS News Hour are exploring life in Haiti a year after a devastating earthquake. This series will be on usatoday.com, pulitzercenter.org and newshour.pbs.org. For more coverage, watch PBS' NewsHour.
BATEY ESPERANZA, Dominican Republic — Altagracia Jean Joseph walks through the dirt streets of the neighborhood called Hope, pointing out the people of Haitian descent who may no longer be citizens of a country where they've spent their entire lives.
There is 20-year-old Yuly Paredes, who lost his contract to play with a baseball camp frequented by scouts from the United States because he could not get official copies of his identity documents. Down the way is Louis Michel 76, who came from Haiti in 1976 to cut sugar cane. Nearly 35 years later his four grandchildren cannot obtain birth certificates.
Across a rusting fence is a school where many children could be denied access to the free health care offered to citizens of the Dominican Republic, or enrollment in state universities.
"We have so many cases here of people losing their citizenship," said Joseph, 21, who graduated second in her high school class cannot get into a university because the government now says she is Haitian even though she has never lived in Haiti.
The people of Hope are among hundreds of thousands of people of Haitian descent affected by a change to the Dominican Republic's Constitution.
Many are people who were born to parents who arrived here — some legally, some illegally — while others are three generations removed from their Haitian forebears.
Forcing them to Haiti would threaten to tear families apart and worsen an already terrible situation in Haiti, where a Jan. 12 quake left as many as 1 million Haitians living in camps waiting for their homes to be rebuilt.
"In Haiti, life would be so difficult," says Viola Remi, who has lived in the Dominican Republic for 21 years and her four children were born here.
Philip Jean, who was born here of Haitian parents, says he and others like him would not be welcome in Haiti.
"We are like a horse tied between two poles," he said.
'Limited resources'
The constitutional change came two weeks after the earthquake in Haiti, which makes up the western portion of the island of Hispaniola. The Dominican Republic is on the eastern portion. The change denies citizenship to children born to undocumented residents.
The National Assembly said the change would ensure that a rush of impoverished Haitians fleeing the quake would not claim permanent residence in the Dominican Republic. It was also a response to a ruling by the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights, a regional body that acts on human rights issues for nations that belong to the Organization of American States, which concluded that the Dominican Constitution granted citizenship to Haitians born here.
The ruling was seen by many here as an affront to national sovereignty and an attempt by foreigners to force the Dominican Republic to shoulder responsibility for a poverty-stricken country made worse by inept government and years of failed international oversight.
"We are a country of limited resources," says Prim Pujals Nolasco, chairman of the Senate foreign affairs and international cooperation committee.
The residents of Batey Esperanza — adults and children, professionals and laborers, most with Haitian heritage — say the ruling has made them "stateless." There are around 1 million Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent in this country of 9 million, says the Dominican Republic, which has long been a more stable and prosperous nation than Haiti.
Sonia Pierre, a Dominican human rights activist, says hundreds of thousands of people, most of whom are descendents of Haitian sugar cane workers and other laborers, will be forced into the margins of society, where they can be denied health care, schooling and jobs.
"The Dominican of Haitian descent has been put in a situation of total exclusion," Pierre says.
Along with the law, the government here recently tightened the rules on who is eligible to receive the identity papers that are necessary for all facets of life, from voting to getting married.
Those trying to get official identification must now show not only evidence of their own citizenship but also proof that their parents and grandparents were in the country legally.
The new rules are an effort to combat what the government says is overwhelming illegal migration. Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants cross the porous border from Haiti each year, a number that has jumped even higher after the quake.
"We have come to their aid," said Pujals, alluding to assistance to Haiti after the quake. "But based on our calculations, after the earthquake another 57,000 Haitians have come, and so what are we going to do?"
Human rights groups, such as Refugees International, say the changes are not targeting illegal immigrants. They say the laws are mostly hurting people such as Joseph and her neighbors, descendents of Haitian workers who came here often at the request or approval of the Dominican government to work in the sugar industry. Now they are being told they belong to a country most have never been to, and whose people speak a language — Creole — different from their native Spanish.
Joseph discovered that she was affected by the new policies when she went to the civil registry after high school to get a copy of her birth certificate needed to enter a university. Joseph was born in the Dominican Republic— the daughter of migrant Haitian cane cutters — and decided she was going to be either a psychiatrist or a lawyer.
But when she went to collect her paperwork she was told that she was not a citizen. "They said, 'We cannot give you documents because your last name is weird,' " she recalls. "It was hard at first. ... I cried a lot."
Dozens of residents told similar stories. Although the law says that they simply need to prove parents' legality, it is often impossible to find 40- or 50-year-old documents that would give this evidence, they said.
Need naturalization
"To be a stateless person, it's like you're standing still and the world moves on around you," says Maureen Lynch of Refugees International.
The Dominican government rejects the characterization. It says Haitian law grants citizenship to children of Haitians no matter where they are born and the Dominican has a right to decide who its citizens are.
"This term 'stateless' does not apply in the Dominican Republic," Pujals says. "These people ... can register their names in the foreign registry, in their consulates."
But that is difficult, say people caught in the situation.
The Open Society Institute, a foundation that promotes social change, says that according to the Haitian Constitution the only way many Dominicans of Haitian descent can get Haitian nationality would be to live in Haiti for five years and then go through a naturalization process.
Joseph and a group of friends from high school, for instance, went to the Haitian Consulate and were told that they were Dominican, not Haitian. Joseph agreed.
"I am Dominican," she says. "This is my country."
Contributing: Steve Sapienza. Hanes and Sapienza report for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, an independent, non-profit group in Washington. USA TODAY editors worked with them in preparing this story.
(USA TODAY) - By Stephanie Hanes
Haitians have long provided cheap labor in the Dominican Republic. They have fueled the country's sugar industry.
USA TODAY, The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and PBS News Hour are exploring life in Haiti a year after a devastating earthquake. This series will be on usatoday.com, pulitzercenter.org and newshour.pbs.org. For more coverage, watch PBS' NewsHour.
BATEY ESPERANZA, Dominican Republic — Altagracia Jean Joseph walks through the dirt streets of the neighborhood called Hope, pointing out the people of Haitian descent who may no longer be citizens of a country where they've spent their entire lives.
There is 20-year-old Yuly Paredes, who lost his contract to play with a baseball camp frequented by scouts from the United States because he could not get official copies of his identity documents. Down the way is Louis Michel 76, who came from Haiti in 1976 to cut sugar cane. Nearly 35 years later his four grandchildren cannot obtain birth certificates.
Across a rusting fence is a school where many children could be denied access to the free health care offered to citizens of the Dominican Republic, or enrollment in state universities.
"We have so many cases here of people losing their citizenship," said Joseph, 21, who graduated second in her high school class cannot get into a university because the government now says she is Haitian even though she has never lived in Haiti.
The people of Hope are among hundreds of thousands of people of Haitian descent affected by a change to the Dominican Republic's Constitution.
Many are people who were born to parents who arrived here — some legally, some illegally — while others are three generations removed from their Haitian forebears.
Forcing them to Haiti would threaten to tear families apart and worsen an already terrible situation in Haiti, where a Jan. 12 quake left as many as 1 million Haitians living in camps waiting for their homes to be rebuilt.
"In Haiti, life would be so difficult," says Viola Remi, who has lived in the Dominican Republic for 21 years and her four children were born here.
Philip Jean, who was born here of Haitian parents, says he and others like him would not be welcome in Haiti.
"We are like a horse tied between two poles," he said.
'Limited resources'
The constitutional change came two weeks after the earthquake in Haiti, which makes up the western portion of the island of Hispaniola. The Dominican Republic is on the eastern portion. The change denies citizenship to children born to undocumented residents.
The National Assembly said the change would ensure that a rush of impoverished Haitians fleeing the quake would not claim permanent residence in the Dominican Republic. It was also a response to a ruling by the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights, a regional body that acts on human rights issues for nations that belong to the Organization of American States, which concluded that the Dominican Constitution granted citizenship to Haitians born here.
The ruling was seen by many here as an affront to national sovereignty and an attempt by foreigners to force the Dominican Republic to shoulder responsibility for a poverty-stricken country made worse by inept government and years of failed international oversight.
"We are a country of limited resources," says Prim Pujals Nolasco, chairman of the Senate foreign affairs and international cooperation committee.
The residents of Batey Esperanza — adults and children, professionals and laborers, most with Haitian heritage — say the ruling has made them "stateless." There are around 1 million Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent in this country of 9 million, says the Dominican Republic, which has long been a more stable and prosperous nation than Haiti.
Sonia Pierre, a Dominican human rights activist, says hundreds of thousands of people, most of whom are descendents of Haitian sugar cane workers and other laborers, will be forced into the margins of society, where they can be denied health care, schooling and jobs.
"The Dominican of Haitian descent has been put in a situation of total exclusion," Pierre says.
Along with the law, the government here recently tightened the rules on who is eligible to receive the identity papers that are necessary for all facets of life, from voting to getting married.
Those trying to get official identification must now show not only evidence of their own citizenship but also proof that their parents and grandparents were in the country legally.
The new rules are an effort to combat what the government says is overwhelming illegal migration. Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants cross the porous border from Haiti each year, a number that has jumped even higher after the quake.
"We have come to their aid," said Pujals, alluding to assistance to Haiti after the quake. "But based on our calculations, after the earthquake another 57,000 Haitians have come, and so what are we going to do?"
Human rights groups, such as Refugees International, say the changes are not targeting illegal immigrants. They say the laws are mostly hurting people such as Joseph and her neighbors, descendents of Haitian workers who came here often at the request or approval of the Dominican government to work in the sugar industry. Now they are being told they belong to a country most have never been to, and whose people speak a language — Creole — different from their native Spanish.
Joseph discovered that she was affected by the new policies when she went to the civil registry after high school to get a copy of her birth certificate needed to enter a university. Joseph was born in the Dominican Republic— the daughter of migrant Haitian cane cutters — and decided she was going to be either a psychiatrist or a lawyer.
But when she went to collect her paperwork she was told that she was not a citizen. "They said, 'We cannot give you documents because your last name is weird,' " she recalls. "It was hard at first. ... I cried a lot."
Dozens of residents told similar stories. Although the law says that they simply need to prove parents' legality, it is often impossible to find 40- or 50-year-old documents that would give this evidence, they said.
Need naturalization
"To be a stateless person, it's like you're standing still and the world moves on around you," says Maureen Lynch of Refugees International.
The Dominican government rejects the characterization. It says Haitian law grants citizenship to children of Haitians no matter where they are born and the Dominican has a right to decide who its citizens are.
"This term 'stateless' does not apply in the Dominican Republic," Pujals says. "These people ... can register their names in the foreign registry, in their consulates."
But that is difficult, say people caught in the situation.
The Open Society Institute, a foundation that promotes social change, says that according to the Haitian Constitution the only way many Dominicans of Haitian descent can get Haitian nationality would be to live in Haiti for five years and then go through a naturalization process.
Joseph and a group of friends from high school, for instance, went to the Haitian Consulate and were told that they were Dominican, not Haitian. Joseph agreed.
"I am Dominican," she says. "This is my country."
Contributing: Steve Sapienza. Hanes and Sapienza report for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, an independent, non-profit group in Washington. USA TODAY editors worked with them in preparing this story.
ARTICLE - BVI REPATRIATES HAITIAN REFUGEES
BVI REPATRIATES HAITIAN REFUGEES
(Virgin Islands Daily News) - By Daniel Shea - Staff
Fourteen of the 25 surviving illegal migrants who crashed in a small boat off Tortola on Dec. 6 were repatriated to Haiti, according to the British Virgin Islands Immigration Department.
The group was taken back to Haiti on a flight more than a week ago, said BVI Chief Immigration Officer Dennis Jennings.
The migrants were among a group of more than 30 passengers aboard a 25-foot fiberglass boat that crashed into the reef off Brandywine Bay on Tortola's south coast in the early morning Dec. 6, gashing a 3-foot hole in the bow of the boat named "Jesus." When the boat struck the reef, it sent the passengers flying out and into the dark seas.
Twenty-five people survived, while eight perished, the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force said.
Four of the eight people who died were minors, and the other victims were two men and two women, according to BVI police.
The vessel was fleeing the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Reef Shark, after a Dutch Dash-8 aircraft crew alerted the Coast Guard about the boat headed from St. Maarten toward the Virgin Islands.
In the hours following the crash, the Coast Guard and British Virgin Islands rescue crews worked to pull survivors from the water.
Jennings said the 11 remaining migrants still are on Tortola for a number of reasons, including potential prosecution.
Police had interest in five Haitians and one man from the Dominican Republic, who are suspected of human smuggling, Jennings said.
Three others are relatives of those who perished, Jennings said.
"In view of this, arrangements have been made for them to remain in the territory a while longer for recovery purposes," he said.
Two others awaiting return to their home countries are a man from the Dominican Republic and a Zimbabwean - far from his homeland in southern Africa.
The man suspected of captaining the boat, 60-year-old Roro Edourne, was charged with smuggling migrants and having an unsafe conveyance after the accident, police said.
Edourne also has been charged with eight counts of manslaughter and remains in custody, said BVI Police spokeswoman Diane Drayton.
(Virgin Islands Daily News) - By Daniel Shea - Staff
Fourteen of the 25 surviving illegal migrants who crashed in a small boat off Tortola on Dec. 6 were repatriated to Haiti, according to the British Virgin Islands Immigration Department.
The group was taken back to Haiti on a flight more than a week ago, said BVI Chief Immigration Officer Dennis Jennings.
The migrants were among a group of more than 30 passengers aboard a 25-foot fiberglass boat that crashed into the reef off Brandywine Bay on Tortola's south coast in the early morning Dec. 6, gashing a 3-foot hole in the bow of the boat named "Jesus." When the boat struck the reef, it sent the passengers flying out and into the dark seas.
Twenty-five people survived, while eight perished, the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force said.
Four of the eight people who died were minors, and the other victims were two men and two women, according to BVI police.
The vessel was fleeing the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Reef Shark, after a Dutch Dash-8 aircraft crew alerted the Coast Guard about the boat headed from St. Maarten toward the Virgin Islands.
In the hours following the crash, the Coast Guard and British Virgin Islands rescue crews worked to pull survivors from the water.
Jennings said the 11 remaining migrants still are on Tortola for a number of reasons, including potential prosecution.
Police had interest in five Haitians and one man from the Dominican Republic, who are suspected of human smuggling, Jennings said.
Three others are relatives of those who perished, Jennings said.
"In view of this, arrangements have been made for them to remain in the territory a while longer for recovery purposes," he said.
Two others awaiting return to their home countries are a man from the Dominican Republic and a Zimbabwean - far from his homeland in southern Africa.
The man suspected of captaining the boat, 60-year-old Roro Edourne, was charged with smuggling migrants and having an unsafe conveyance after the accident, police said.
Edourne also has been charged with eight counts of manslaughter and remains in custody, said BVI Police spokeswoman Diane Drayton.
ARTICLE - 80 BOAT PEOPLE REPATRIATED
80 BOAT PEOPLE REPATRIATED YESTERDAY IN CAP-HAITIEN
(HaitiLibre)
An overloaded sailing vessel, carrying 80 Haitian migrants was spotted Sunday by a Coast Guard helicopter at about 4 miles south of Matthewtown, Bahamas. After a request for assistance under a bilateral agreement with the Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, the ship Escanaba of the coast guard went to the scene to intercept the boat.
After providing life jackets to the passengers, the Coast Guard transferred the Haitians aboard the Escanaba where they received food, water and basic medical care.
The destroyer of the HMBS Nortec RBDF (Royal Bahamas Defense Force), joined the Coast Guard ship and destroyed the migrant boat, considered dangerous for navigation.
The Escanaba repatriated 80 migrants yesterday at Cap Haitien in Haiti. Repatriation which is added to an already long list of our compatriots who have fled poverty and insecurity, risking their lives in flimsy boats, and exploited by unscrupulous traffickers.
(HaitiLibre)
An overloaded sailing vessel, carrying 80 Haitian migrants was spotted Sunday by a Coast Guard helicopter at about 4 miles south of Matthewtown, Bahamas. After a request for assistance under a bilateral agreement with the Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, the ship Escanaba of the coast guard went to the scene to intercept the boat.
After providing life jackets to the passengers, the Coast Guard transferred the Haitians aboard the Escanaba where they received food, water and basic medical care.
The destroyer of the HMBS Nortec RBDF (Royal Bahamas Defense Force), joined the Coast Guard ship and destroyed the migrant boat, considered dangerous for navigation.
The Escanaba repatriated 80 migrants yesterday at Cap Haitien in Haiti. Repatriation which is added to an already long list of our compatriots who have fled poverty and insecurity, risking their lives in flimsy boats, and exploited by unscrupulous traffickers.
ARTICLE - HUMAN SMUGGLING ENDS IN DEATH
HUMAN SMUGGLING ENDS IN 8 DEATHS
(The BVI Beacon) - Written by Webmaster
A high-speed motorboat carrying at least 33 migrants slammed into a reef outside the hurricane hole in Paraquita Bay and capsised shortly after midnight on Monday. Eight bodies, including three children, have been retrieved from the area of the wreckage, where Marine Police and Virgin Islands Search and Rescue volunteers continue to comb the waters for bodies and personal belongings.
Chief Immigration Officer Dennis Jennings said survivors include 24 Haitians and one Dominica national. Currently, 21 are being held at the Immigration Detention Centre at Balsam Ghut, and four are hospitalised, according to Police Information Officer Diane Drayton. Preliminary testing found no cholera among the detainees, according to a police press release.
The bodies have not been identified.
St. Maarten police have arrested and charged three Haitian men with human smuggling charges in connection with the incident.
Prosecutor Reink Mud issued a statement verifying that the three suspects are Haitian men who legally live in St. Maarten. Three house searches were conducted, followed by two “searches in offices,” Mr. Mud said.
Police have not released the identity of the three men.
A Dutch Dash-8 aircraft initially spotted the 25-foot speedboat carrying more than 30 people at a “very high speed” Sunday night on course from St. Maarten to the Virgin Islands, said Ricardo Castrodad, spokesperson for the San Juan sector of the United States Coast Guard.
Currently, authorities are investigating to determine the starting point and intended destination of the vessel, he said.
The USCG dispatched an 87-foot coastal patrol boat, Coast Guard Cutter Reef Shark, and two aircrafts to assist the Dutch authorities in their pursuit of the speedboat, which travelled north through VI waters, he said. BVI Marine Police were also dispatched.
The USCG boat was unable to come within a mile of the vessel before it slammed into a reef, and “everyone” onboard was thrown into the water, Mr. Castrodad said.
“It’s a very dangerous operation to intercept a vessel when you don’t have the amount of water necessary to adequately approach the vessel and stop it in a safe manner without everyone getting hurt,” the USCG spokesperson said, adding that at the rate the boat was travelling, the captain was “definitely not concerned about the people on board.”
“When smugglers don’t want to be stopped, and they want to continue fleeing, more than likely something tragic will happen,” he said.
(The BVI Beacon) - Written by Webmaster
A high-speed motorboat carrying at least 33 migrants slammed into a reef outside the hurricane hole in Paraquita Bay and capsised shortly after midnight on Monday. Eight bodies, including three children, have been retrieved from the area of the wreckage, where Marine Police and Virgin Islands Search and Rescue volunteers continue to comb the waters for bodies and personal belongings.
Chief Immigration Officer Dennis Jennings said survivors include 24 Haitians and one Dominica national. Currently, 21 are being held at the Immigration Detention Centre at Balsam Ghut, and four are hospitalised, according to Police Information Officer Diane Drayton. Preliminary testing found no cholera among the detainees, according to a police press release.
The bodies have not been identified.
St. Maarten police have arrested and charged three Haitian men with human smuggling charges in connection with the incident.
Prosecutor Reink Mud issued a statement verifying that the three suspects are Haitian men who legally live in St. Maarten. Three house searches were conducted, followed by two “searches in offices,” Mr. Mud said.
Police have not released the identity of the three men.
A Dutch Dash-8 aircraft initially spotted the 25-foot speedboat carrying more than 30 people at a “very high speed” Sunday night on course from St. Maarten to the Virgin Islands, said Ricardo Castrodad, spokesperson for the San Juan sector of the United States Coast Guard.
Currently, authorities are investigating to determine the starting point and intended destination of the vessel, he said.
The USCG dispatched an 87-foot coastal patrol boat, Coast Guard Cutter Reef Shark, and two aircrafts to assist the Dutch authorities in their pursuit of the speedboat, which travelled north through VI waters, he said. BVI Marine Police were also dispatched.
The USCG boat was unable to come within a mile of the vessel before it slammed into a reef, and “everyone” onboard was thrown into the water, Mr. Castrodad said.
“It’s a very dangerous operation to intercept a vessel when you don’t have the amount of water necessary to adequately approach the vessel and stop it in a safe manner without everyone getting hurt,” the USCG spokesperson said, adding that at the rate the boat was travelling, the captain was “definitely not concerned about the people on board.”
“When smugglers don’t want to be stopped, and they want to continue fleeing, more than likely something tragic will happen,” he said.
ARTICLE - VOODOO DOC
VOODOO DOC GIVES NURSE NIGHTMARES
(Journal Gazette) - By Frank Gray
Elinor Shank, who graduated from South Side High School in 1998, is now a nurse and has been to Haiti twice as a volunteer since an earthquake devastated the country last January.
Shank is scheduled to go back again soon and work for free, caring for the sick in Haiti. Now, though, she’s having second thoughts.
It’s all the result of what she’s seen happen to another volunteer whom she worked with, Paul Waggoner, who has been held in Haiti’s horrific National Penitentiary for nearly three weeks, accused of turning a toddler into a zombie and kidnapping him.
Waggoner, who is from Massachusetts, quit his job and went to Haiti just days after the earthquake struck. He teamed up with another American, Paul Sebring, to found Materials Management Relief Corps, which distributes medical supplies to hospitals and clinics and transports patients to hospitals and clinics.
The story surrounding Waggoner, verified by affidavits introduced in the courts in Haiti, goes back to February, when a man brought a sick child, about 18 months old, to Haiti Community Hospital in Petionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. The child was malnourished and dehydrated, had a high fever and was suffering from some type of infection.
Shortly after arriving at the hospital, the child died and was pronounced dead by an American physician, and a death certificate was prepared. The child’s father was given the body and escorted by a nurse to a private grieving area, where the father held the body for some time – hours, according to one source.
The body was then placed in a file box that served as a makeshift coffin with the child’s name and dates of birth and death and sealed, and the father left.
The next day, the child’s father returned, wanting to see the body. Waggoner, who was volunteering at the hospital, found a doctor to accompany the father to see the body. The doctor unsealed the box. The father took pictures of the dead child and noted that his eyes were open and he looked alive. The doctor again verified that the child was dead. The doctor also took photos of the father holding the body.
The father then left, refusing to take the body because he had no land or money to bury the child and asking that the hospital dispose of the body. The body was later cremated.
The controversy arose when, according to a spokeswoman for Waggoner’s group, Materials Management Relief Corps, the man showed photos of his dead child to a Voodoo doctor, who declared that – because the baby’s eyes weren’t closed – he was still alive. That is when the allegation arose that the child was made into a zombie and kidnapped to be either adopted or sold, according to the Materials Management Relief Corps.
Fearing the child’s father, Waggoner left Haiti but returned in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, the American doctor and a Haitian doctor had kidnapping accusations against them thrown out, but on Dec. 12, Waggoner was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping.
Shank, who has maintained contact with Materials Management Relief Corps officials, said a court hearing was scheduled for last Friday but canceled because of a power outage, and a Monday hearing was canceled because there was no transportation to take Waggoner from the prison to court. A hearing did take place Tuesday, but it was suspended after a power outage, and Waggoner was returned to prison.
Then, Wednesday morning, the judge issued a ruling that there was not enough evidence to substantiate the kidnapping claim and ordered Waggoner released. The prosecutor, who had three days to sign the release, did so Wednesday evening.
We attempted to speak to someone at the Haitian Embassy in Washington to ask whether anyone knew about the case or had been contacted regarding it, but there was no answer at the office we were given.
Meanwhile, Shank wonders about the safety of returning to Haiti.
“What could happen to me?” she asks. “I handle all kinds of patients. He (Waggoner) doesn’t even handle patients.
“It definitely makes me think twice” about returning to Haiti. “It makes me scared. When I was down there, I always felt safe,” but seeing what is happening to Waggoner makes her hesitate.
The news of Waggoner’s situation hasn’t attracted much attention. A group at IPFW that has made mission trips to Haiti hadn’t heard of it, and Paul Phillips, who is coordinating trips of volunteers for The Chapel hadn’t heard of it, either. He said their major concern has been the cholera epidemic and possible rioting after elections in January.
Waggoner will return to the U.S. for medical attention and recovery. Materials Management Relief Corps will review its future in Haiti. The organization will continue, but it has yet to be determined whether Haiti is a safe place to operate, Nanci Murdock, spokeswoman said.
(Journal Gazette) - By Frank Gray
Elinor Shank, who graduated from South Side High School in 1998, is now a nurse and has been to Haiti twice as a volunteer since an earthquake devastated the country last January.
Shank is scheduled to go back again soon and work for free, caring for the sick in Haiti. Now, though, she’s having second thoughts.
It’s all the result of what she’s seen happen to another volunteer whom she worked with, Paul Waggoner, who has been held in Haiti’s horrific National Penitentiary for nearly three weeks, accused of turning a toddler into a zombie and kidnapping him.
Waggoner, who is from Massachusetts, quit his job and went to Haiti just days after the earthquake struck. He teamed up with another American, Paul Sebring, to found Materials Management Relief Corps, which distributes medical supplies to hospitals and clinics and transports patients to hospitals and clinics.
The story surrounding Waggoner, verified by affidavits introduced in the courts in Haiti, goes back to February, when a man brought a sick child, about 18 months old, to Haiti Community Hospital in Petionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. The child was malnourished and dehydrated, had a high fever and was suffering from some type of infection.
Shortly after arriving at the hospital, the child died and was pronounced dead by an American physician, and a death certificate was prepared. The child’s father was given the body and escorted by a nurse to a private grieving area, where the father held the body for some time – hours, according to one source.
The body was then placed in a file box that served as a makeshift coffin with the child’s name and dates of birth and death and sealed, and the father left.
The next day, the child’s father returned, wanting to see the body. Waggoner, who was volunteering at the hospital, found a doctor to accompany the father to see the body. The doctor unsealed the box. The father took pictures of the dead child and noted that his eyes were open and he looked alive. The doctor again verified that the child was dead. The doctor also took photos of the father holding the body.
The father then left, refusing to take the body because he had no land or money to bury the child and asking that the hospital dispose of the body. The body was later cremated.
The controversy arose when, according to a spokeswoman for Waggoner’s group, Materials Management Relief Corps, the man showed photos of his dead child to a Voodoo doctor, who declared that – because the baby’s eyes weren’t closed – he was still alive. That is when the allegation arose that the child was made into a zombie and kidnapped to be either adopted or sold, according to the Materials Management Relief Corps.
Fearing the child’s father, Waggoner left Haiti but returned in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, the American doctor and a Haitian doctor had kidnapping accusations against them thrown out, but on Dec. 12, Waggoner was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping.
Shank, who has maintained contact with Materials Management Relief Corps officials, said a court hearing was scheduled for last Friday but canceled because of a power outage, and a Monday hearing was canceled because there was no transportation to take Waggoner from the prison to court. A hearing did take place Tuesday, but it was suspended after a power outage, and Waggoner was returned to prison.
Then, Wednesday morning, the judge issued a ruling that there was not enough evidence to substantiate the kidnapping claim and ordered Waggoner released. The prosecutor, who had three days to sign the release, did so Wednesday evening.
We attempted to speak to someone at the Haitian Embassy in Washington to ask whether anyone knew about the case or had been contacted regarding it, but there was no answer at the office we were given.
Meanwhile, Shank wonders about the safety of returning to Haiti.
“What could happen to me?” she asks. “I handle all kinds of patients. He (Waggoner) doesn’t even handle patients.
“It definitely makes me think twice” about returning to Haiti. “It makes me scared. When I was down there, I always felt safe,” but seeing what is happening to Waggoner makes her hesitate.
The news of Waggoner’s situation hasn’t attracted much attention. A group at IPFW that has made mission trips to Haiti hadn’t heard of it, and Paul Phillips, who is coordinating trips of volunteers for The Chapel hadn’t heard of it, either. He said their major concern has been the cholera epidemic and possible rioting after elections in January.
Waggoner will return to the U.S. for medical attention and recovery. Materials Management Relief Corps will review its future in Haiti. The organization will continue, but it has yet to be determined whether Haiti is a safe place to operate, Nanci Murdock, spokeswoman said.
ARTICLE - INDEPENDENCE DAY PROTESTS
HAITI'S INDEPENDENCE DAY MARKED BY PROTESTS
(Miami Herald) - AP
PORT-AU-PRINCE -- More than 100 protesters angered by a dysfunctional election commemorated Haiti's Independence Day on Saturday by burning tires and demanding that President Rene Preval be arrested.
The demonstrators blocked roads and filled streets with garbage in the capital, Port-au-Prince, before police dispersed them.
"We earned our independence, so today we are free to protest and demand democratic elections," said Simeyon Wisly, who called for a new election under the supervision of a revamped national electoral council. "We are not celebrating today. We are protesting this corruption of power."
In the northern coastal city of Gonaives, Preval urged national unity and patience in a speech interrupted by protesters who demanded he step down.
The Organization of American States has asked Preval to delay announcing election results until an international panel of experts can review the vote in an election marred by violence, fraud and low turnout.
Riots ensued after the Nov. 28 first round showed ruling-party candidate Jude Celestin eliminated carnival singer Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly by less than 1 percent. Former first lady Mirlande Manigat came in first.
Outside of downtown Port-au-Prince, Haitians commemorated the holiday by preparing traditional pumpkin soup and taking the day off from work.
Haiti obtained its independence from France on Jan. 1, 1804, becoming the world's first black republic and the only country to stage a successful slave rebellion.
(Miami Herald) - AP
PORT-AU-PRINCE -- More than 100 protesters angered by a dysfunctional election commemorated Haiti's Independence Day on Saturday by burning tires and demanding that President Rene Preval be arrested.
The demonstrators blocked roads and filled streets with garbage in the capital, Port-au-Prince, before police dispersed them.
"We earned our independence, so today we are free to protest and demand democratic elections," said Simeyon Wisly, who called for a new election under the supervision of a revamped national electoral council. "We are not celebrating today. We are protesting this corruption of power."
In the northern coastal city of Gonaives, Preval urged national unity and patience in a speech interrupted by protesters who demanded he step down.
The Organization of American States has asked Preval to delay announcing election results until an international panel of experts can review the vote in an election marred by violence, fraud and low turnout.
Riots ensued after the Nov. 28 first round showed ruling-party candidate Jude Celestin eliminated carnival singer Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly by less than 1 percent. Former first lady Mirlande Manigat came in first.
Outside of downtown Port-au-Prince, Haitians commemorated the holiday by preparing traditional pumpkin soup and taking the day off from work.
Haiti obtained its independence from France on Jan. 1, 1804, becoming the world's first black republic and the only country to stage a successful slave rebellion.
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