Obama picks former lobbyist as political director
By Elana Schor in Washington
Friday November 21 2008
The Guardian
(Read the original article here)
Barack Obama is reported to have chosen Patrick Gaspard, who was registered as a labour union health lobbyist as recently as election day, as the next White House political director.
The Gaspard pick, first reported by the New York Daily News, elevates a skilled Democratic hand to a post made famous by hard-driving Karl Rove, who was political director during George W Bush's first term, and Rahm Emanuel, who held the slot under Bill Clinton.
Gaspard was the political director on Obama's presidential campaign and associate personnel director for the White House transition team, making the 41-year-old Haitian-American a powerful contact for anyone seeking a job in the new administration.
Gaspard's lobbying experience could draw further scrutiny to Obama's vow to prevent the Washington influence industry from infiltrating his administration. Some Democrats have suggested that Obama entirely abolish the political director position – created under Ronald Reagan – as a symbolic healing gesture after the partisan wounds Rove opened.
The most recent issue Gaspard lobbied on for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) healthcare workers arm was the US children's health insurance programme, which Democrats fought to expand before losing out to a Bush veto last year.
Gaspard played a crucial role in SEIU's decision to come out against New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg in his bid to overturn term-limits rules and run for re-election, according to the Daily News report.
In an interview with the New Yorker magazine this week, Gaspard related an instantly famous remark Obama made during his job interview with the president-elect.
After noting that he appreciated opinionated advisers, Obama told Gaspard: "I think that I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna think I'm a better political director than my political director."
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Prejudice Against Haitians Boils Over - Again
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Prejudice Against Haitians Boils Over - Again
By Valeria Vilardo
Inter Press Service
(Read the original article here)
SANTO DOMINGO, Nov 10 (IPS) - "A group of Dominicans armed with pistols, machetes and knives came to take revenge on us. I broke my leg trying to escape from my house, which was on fire. It's not fair that all Haitians should have to pay for the crime of one," Elena Piti, a Haitian mother of seven who lives in the Dominican Republic, told IPS.
"I'm thinking of going back to Haiti, because I'm afraid that something might happen to me. Besides, I have nothing left here. I lost everything: my house, my money and my job," said Franklin Jean, who IPS found hiding out in a precarious shelter in the surrounding fields.
Jean and Piti lived in the "batey" (a shantytown of sugar workers) of El Cerro, near the town of Juan Gómez in the northwestern province of Montecristi, close to the border with Haiti.
They were fleeing a violent reprisal on Oct. 29 by a mob of Dominicans infuriated by the murder of an elderly local farmer, Alcibíades Jiménez, supposedly committed by a young Haitian man who was working for him. Twenty-five homes in El Cerro were set on fire, and eight were completely burnt down. The roughly 200 Haitians living there fled the shantytown.
In an unrelated incident in the town of Neyba in the southwestern province of Bahoruco, a mob of young men killed two Haitian immigrants and injured nine others on Oct. 28. The violence was triggered by the death of a Dominican man, allegedly killed by a Haitian who tried to steal his motorcycle.
Human rights violations against Haitians and their descendants, including lynchings, and mass deportations of migrants are longstanding problems in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola and a 380-km border with Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
The president of Haiti's lower house of parliament, Pierre Eric Jean-Jacques, announced early this month that he would suggest to his Dominican opposite number Julio Cesar Valentín the creation of a bilateral legislative committee to investigate the latest violent incidents.
Poverty affects both Dominicans and Haitians in the two provinces where the violence occurred. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 19 percent of people over 15 in Montecristi are illiterate, four percent of children under the age of four are malnourished, and 51 percent of the population of the province lacks access to clean water.
In Bahoruco, in the south, people stand a 14 percent chance of dying before the age of 40, and adult illiteracy stands at 30 percent -- the highest rate in any Dominican province. Furthermore, nearly 30 percent of people do not have steady water supplies, and 10 percent of children under five suffer from malnutrition, says the UNDP Human Development Report 2007-2008.
"Thugs took advantage of the situation to sack the homes of Haitians and flout their racist, xenophobic attitudes," activist Sonia Pierre, founder and director of the Movement of Dominican-Haitian Women (MUDHA), told IPS. "The authorities should control these groups of ruffians and uphold public safety."
Pierre, who has advocated for the human rights of Haitians for 21 years, has herself experienced discrimination and even death threats for speaking out about abuses.
The activist said the media in the Dominican Republic have the duty to provide balanced, accurate reporting on violence and discrimination against Haitians and to avoid encouraging acts of discrimination against Haitians or people of Haitian descent.
According to unofficial data, there are more than 800,000 Haitians living in this country of nine million people. Haiti, which occupies the smaller western portion of the island, has a population of 8.6 million, 80 percent of whom live in poverty, compared to the Dominican Republic's official poverty rate of 25 percent.
In Haiti, the huge majority of the population is black, while a small lighter-skinned mixed-race minority dominates the economy. In the Dominican Republic, meanwhile, although only a small proportion of the population is white while the rest are of mixed-race origin, most people do not identify themselves as black.
Skin colour prejudice is one of the motives for discrimination, according to a nationwide survey on Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic, "Encuesta sobre Inmigrantes Haitianos en República Dominicana", published in 2004 by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO).
In the survey, 71 percent of Haitians interviewed said they had been verbally abused by Dominicans because of their country of origin and skin colour, in their neighbourhoods as well as at their places of work. "Haitian devil," "Negro" (considered a derogatory term in the Dominican Republic), "sorcerer" and "get out of the country" were the most frequently mentioned insults.
Unlike in the 1980s, when immigration from Haiti was regulated by inter-governmental agreements to meet demand for cheap labour on the sugar plantations, today there is a large steady influx of undocumented Haitian migrants.
According to the IOM, 41 percent of Haitians work in agriculture, 38 percent in the construction industry, eight percent as vendors, and six percent in domestic service in Dominican homes.
The authorities have lost control over the influx of migrants, Bridget Wooding, an associate researcher on migration at FLACSO, told IPS.
She also said that despite the regular waves of deportations of Haitian migrants, there are no reliable figures on the number and location of Haitians living in the country.
The fact that there is no pathway for Haitian immigrants and their descendants to regularise their immigration status is a serious obstacle for access to education and health services. Without documents, it is very difficult for Haitians to have their labour rights respected, Wooding added.
Discrimination and mass expulsion of Haitians were the main concerns expressed by Amnesty International in its 2007 report on human rights in the Dominican Republic.
During the mass expulsions, which the London-based rights watchdog described as illegal, there were frequent complaints of mistreatment by migration officials and border guards, according to the report.
Deportations appear to be intensifying after the violence in Neyba and Juan Gómez.
The Dominican Republic's migration office said that 406 undocumented Haitians were repatriated in the last week of October. According to official figures, between 20,000 and 30,000 Haitians are deported each year.
"The deportation strategy is unjustified," Wooding maintained. "It is essential for the Dominican government to create an atmosphere of public safety, and to ensure that immigrants have the right to remain in the country."
Haitians often work in exploitative conditions in agriculture, the construction industry, and domestic service, according to human rights groups.
On Jan. 11, 2006, the bodies of 24 people were found near the northern border town of Dajabón. They had apparently suffocated in an attempt to smuggle them into the Dominican Republic in a sealed truck. According to the reports, the bodies were thrown out of the back of the vehicle, which was carrying over 60 Haitians.
On Nov. 2, migration authorities announced that fines are to be imposed on plantation owners and construction sites that employ undocumented Haitians, pay exploitative wages or mistreat them.
By Valeria Vilardo
Inter Press Service
(Read the original article here)
SANTO DOMINGO, Nov 10 (IPS) - "A group of Dominicans armed with pistols, machetes and knives came to take revenge on us. I broke my leg trying to escape from my house, which was on fire. It's not fair that all Haitians should have to pay for the crime of one," Elena Piti, a Haitian mother of seven who lives in the Dominican Republic, told IPS.
"I'm thinking of going back to Haiti, because I'm afraid that something might happen to me. Besides, I have nothing left here. I lost everything: my house, my money and my job," said Franklin Jean, who IPS found hiding out in a precarious shelter in the surrounding fields.
Jean and Piti lived in the "batey" (a shantytown of sugar workers) of El Cerro, near the town of Juan Gómez in the northwestern province of Montecristi, close to the border with Haiti.
They were fleeing a violent reprisal on Oct. 29 by a mob of Dominicans infuriated by the murder of an elderly local farmer, Alcibíades Jiménez, supposedly committed by a young Haitian man who was working for him. Twenty-five homes in El Cerro were set on fire, and eight were completely burnt down. The roughly 200 Haitians living there fled the shantytown.
In an unrelated incident in the town of Neyba in the southwestern province of Bahoruco, a mob of young men killed two Haitian immigrants and injured nine others on Oct. 28. The violence was triggered by the death of a Dominican man, allegedly killed by a Haitian who tried to steal his motorcycle.
Human rights violations against Haitians and their descendants, including lynchings, and mass deportations of migrants are longstanding problems in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola and a 380-km border with Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
The president of Haiti's lower house of parliament, Pierre Eric Jean-Jacques, announced early this month that he would suggest to his Dominican opposite number Julio Cesar Valentín the creation of a bilateral legislative committee to investigate the latest violent incidents.
Poverty affects both Dominicans and Haitians in the two provinces where the violence occurred. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 19 percent of people over 15 in Montecristi are illiterate, four percent of children under the age of four are malnourished, and 51 percent of the population of the province lacks access to clean water.
In Bahoruco, in the south, people stand a 14 percent chance of dying before the age of 40, and adult illiteracy stands at 30 percent -- the highest rate in any Dominican province. Furthermore, nearly 30 percent of people do not have steady water supplies, and 10 percent of children under five suffer from malnutrition, says the UNDP Human Development Report 2007-2008.
"Thugs took advantage of the situation to sack the homes of Haitians and flout their racist, xenophobic attitudes," activist Sonia Pierre, founder and director of the Movement of Dominican-Haitian Women (MUDHA), told IPS. "The authorities should control these groups of ruffians and uphold public safety."
Pierre, who has advocated for the human rights of Haitians for 21 years, has herself experienced discrimination and even death threats for speaking out about abuses.
The activist said the media in the Dominican Republic have the duty to provide balanced, accurate reporting on violence and discrimination against Haitians and to avoid encouraging acts of discrimination against Haitians or people of Haitian descent.
According to unofficial data, there are more than 800,000 Haitians living in this country of nine million people. Haiti, which occupies the smaller western portion of the island, has a population of 8.6 million, 80 percent of whom live in poverty, compared to the Dominican Republic's official poverty rate of 25 percent.
In Haiti, the huge majority of the population is black, while a small lighter-skinned mixed-race minority dominates the economy. In the Dominican Republic, meanwhile, although only a small proportion of the population is white while the rest are of mixed-race origin, most people do not identify themselves as black.
Skin colour prejudice is one of the motives for discrimination, according to a nationwide survey on Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic, "Encuesta sobre Inmigrantes Haitianos en República Dominicana", published in 2004 by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO).
In the survey, 71 percent of Haitians interviewed said they had been verbally abused by Dominicans because of their country of origin and skin colour, in their neighbourhoods as well as at their places of work. "Haitian devil," "Negro" (considered a derogatory term in the Dominican Republic), "sorcerer" and "get out of the country" were the most frequently mentioned insults.
Unlike in the 1980s, when immigration from Haiti was regulated by inter-governmental agreements to meet demand for cheap labour on the sugar plantations, today there is a large steady influx of undocumented Haitian migrants.
According to the IOM, 41 percent of Haitians work in agriculture, 38 percent in the construction industry, eight percent as vendors, and six percent in domestic service in Dominican homes.
The authorities have lost control over the influx of migrants, Bridget Wooding, an associate researcher on migration at FLACSO, told IPS.
She also said that despite the regular waves of deportations of Haitian migrants, there are no reliable figures on the number and location of Haitians living in the country.
The fact that there is no pathway for Haitian immigrants and their descendants to regularise their immigration status is a serious obstacle for access to education and health services. Without documents, it is very difficult for Haitians to have their labour rights respected, Wooding added.
Discrimination and mass expulsion of Haitians were the main concerns expressed by Amnesty International in its 2007 report on human rights in the Dominican Republic.
During the mass expulsions, which the London-based rights watchdog described as illegal, there were frequent complaints of mistreatment by migration officials and border guards, according to the report.
Deportations appear to be intensifying after the violence in Neyba and Juan Gómez.
The Dominican Republic's migration office said that 406 undocumented Haitians were repatriated in the last week of October. According to official figures, between 20,000 and 30,000 Haitians are deported each year.
"The deportation strategy is unjustified," Wooding maintained. "It is essential for the Dominican government to create an atmosphere of public safety, and to ensure that immigrants have the right to remain in the country."
Haitians often work in exploitative conditions in agriculture, the construction industry, and domestic service, according to human rights groups.
On Jan. 11, 2006, the bodies of 24 people were found near the northern border town of Dajabón. They had apparently suffocated in an attempt to smuggle them into the Dominican Republic in a sealed truck. According to the reports, the bodies were thrown out of the back of the vehicle, which was carrying over 60 Haitians.
On Nov. 2, migration authorities announced that fines are to be imposed on plantation owners and construction sites that employ undocumented Haitians, pay exploitative wages or mistreat them.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
"Haiti Is Going From Catastrophe to Catastrophe"
"Haiti Is Going From Catastrophe to Catastrophe"
Michael Deibert interviews Chavannes Jean-Baptiste
Inter Press Service
NEW YORK, Sep 23, 2008 (IPS) - Peasant leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste has been at the forefront of the struggles of Haiti's peasants for over 35 years. Born in the village of Papay in Haiti's Plateau Central, Jean-Baptiste helped found the Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP) peasant union as well as the Mouvman Peyizan Nasyonal Kongre Papay (MPNKP), the latter a 200,000-member national congress of peasant farmers and activists.Jean-Baptiste's role is an important one in a nation where, over the past 50 years, 90 percent of the tree cover has been destroyed for charcoal and to make room for farming, with resulting erosion destroying two-thirds of the country's arable farmland.
For his work on behalf of Haiti's peasantry, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste was awarded the 2005 Goldman Environmental Prize, sponsored by the Goldman Environmental Foundation, the world's largest prize for grassroots environmentalists.
In recent weeks, a series of hurricanes have struck Haiti, killing what is thought to be hundreds of people and devastating the country's already-decrepit infrastructure. The United Nations now estimates that 800,000 people are in need of emergency food aid. Haiti is currently the location of a U.N. peacekeeping force numbering over 9,000 uniformed personnel.
IPS correspondent Michael Deibert, who covered Haiti as a journalist from 2000 until 2006, sat down with Chavannes Jean-Baptiste during his recent visit to the United States. The interview was conducted in Haitian Kreyol in Brooklyn, New York, on Sep. 14, 2008.
Read the full interview here.
Michael Deibert interviews Chavannes Jean-Baptiste
Inter Press Service
NEW YORK, Sep 23, 2008 (IPS) - Peasant leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste has been at the forefront of the struggles of Haiti's peasants for over 35 years. Born in the village of Papay in Haiti's Plateau Central, Jean-Baptiste helped found the Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP) peasant union as well as the Mouvman Peyizan Nasyonal Kongre Papay (MPNKP), the latter a 200,000-member national congress of peasant farmers and activists.Jean-Baptiste's role is an important one in a nation where, over the past 50 years, 90 percent of the tree cover has been destroyed for charcoal and to make room for farming, with resulting erosion destroying two-thirds of the country's arable farmland.
For his work on behalf of Haiti's peasantry, Chavannes Jean-Baptiste was awarded the 2005 Goldman Environmental Prize, sponsored by the Goldman Environmental Foundation, the world's largest prize for grassroots environmentalists.
In recent weeks, a series of hurricanes have struck Haiti, killing what is thought to be hundreds of people and devastating the country's already-decrepit infrastructure. The United Nations now estimates that 800,000 people are in need of emergency food aid. Haiti is currently the location of a U.N. peacekeeping force numbering over 9,000 uniformed personnel.
IPS correspondent Michael Deibert, who covered Haiti as a journalist from 2000 until 2006, sat down with Chavannes Jean-Baptiste during his recent visit to the United States. The interview was conducted in Haitian Kreyol in Brooklyn, New York, on Sep. 14, 2008.
Read the full interview here.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Michèle Pierre-Louis visite Gonaïves, plongée dans la douleur et la désolation
Haiti/ Cyclones : Michèle Pierre-Louis visite Gonaïves, plongée dans la douleur et la désolation
Par Gotson Pierre
15 septembre 2008
(Read the original article here)
P-au-P., 15 sept. 08 [AlterPresse] --- La ville des Gonaives (Nord), ravagée par les derniers cyclones qui ont frappé Haiti, est plongée dans la désolation, observe sur place AlterPresse.
La « cité de l’indépendance » d’Haiti est devenue la « cité de la mort », se lamente le maire des Gonaives, Stephen Moise qui ne cache pas sa « honte » de recevoir la première ministre Michèle Pierre-Louis, dans les conditions d’une ville totalement inondée.
C’est le 13 septembre dernier que le chef du gouvernement a dirigé une délégation aux Gonaives où elle a effectué une « visite de solidarité », à bord d’un hélicoptère des Nations Unies, en compagnie de plusieurs de ses ministres, du sénateur Youri Latortue et du député Arsène Dieujuste, deux parlementaires de la région.
Une ville ravagée dans ses entrailles
Inondée à 90%, Gonaives présente l’image d’une ville qui aurait subi les affres d’une guerre, relève le maire, incapable de contenir son émotion.
La ville est ravagée dans ses entrailles, souligne-t-il.
Prisonnière des eaux et des flots de boue qui se sont déversés sur elle entre le premier et le 7 septembre 2008, Gonaives peine à se relever. Le va et vient incessant des habitants de divers quartiers, circulant dans l’eau boueuse qui leur arrive jusqu’aux genoux, donne l’impression d’un grand mouvement d’exode.
Où vont-ils ?, se demande-t-on, lorsqu’on voit femmes et hommes avançant dans cette eau infecte qui dégage, par endroit, une odeur de cadavres en putréfaction.
Transportant leurs effets personnels et parfois des enfants sur les bras, ils déambulent au milieu des carcasses de véhicules et de toutes sortes de débris abandonnés par les eaux en furie.
« Jai honte. J’ai demandé de désinfecter la ville pour pouvoir vous recevoir », laisse tomber le chef de la municipalité, qui salue la présence de la première ministre aux Gonaives, dans le cadre d’une démarche d’évaluation des dégâts en vue « d’apporter des réponses aux souffrances de la population » et de prendre des dispositions pour la « reconstruction » .
Stephen Moise dit croire en la bonne foi du gouvernement et de la communauté internationale, grâce auxquels le manque d’eau potable a été atténué, tandis que la question alimentaire demeure encore un casse-tête.
Ne pas sombrer dans la résignation
« Il ne faut pas sombrer dans la résignation », préconise Michèle Pierre-Louis, en présence d’une assistance composée d’élus locaux, de notables, de journalistes et des membres de la délégation venue de Port-au-Prince.
« Il nous faut prendre notre courage à deux mains pour reconstruire » la ville, ajoute-t-elle.
Elle assure que le gouvernement va faire tout ce qui est en son pouvoir pour apporter des secours aux populations sinistrées et pour qu’un tel « malheur ne se reproduise pas ».
Mais, la première ministre n’entend pas verser dans les promesses.
Elle le dit tout haut lorsque, juchée sur un camion de la Mission des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation d’Haiti (MINUSTAH), elle s’adresse à quelques centaines de personnes réunies en face de la mairie.
« Vous devez vous mobiliser et être solidaires, parce qu’il nous faut reconstruire cette ville », lance Michèle Pierre-Louis, à travers un mégaphone que lui tend un agent de la police nationale.
« Même quand vous êtes en train de souffrir, chacun doit se sentir responsable et doit mettre la main à la pate pour sortir la ville de ce malheur », poursuit-elle.
Selon Michèle Pierre-Louis, le gouvernement va tenter de créer des emplois et prendre des dispositions urgentes pour libérer la ville des eaux assassines dont elle est encore l’otage.
Remettre la rivière La Quinte dans son lit
Plus tôt, prenant la parole à la mairie des Gonaives, le sénateur Youri Latortue, originaire de cette ville, explique comment la rivière La Quinte a abandonné son lit pour s’emparer de la cité. Pour lui, il est urgent que des travaux soient entrepris pour remettre cette rivière dans « son lit normal ».
D’autre part, Latortue constate que l’ensemble de la population est décapitalisée et que l’État doit prendre en main les besoins de cette dernière en matière de nourriture. Il suggère, en ce sens, que l’assistance humanitaire soit plus massive et que les rations alimentaires couvrent une durée de huit jours au lieu d’être quotidiennes.
Parallèlement, selon le sénateur, il faut prévoir les interventions nécessaires pour réaménager les bassins versants et curer les rivières.
En fait, selon l’ingénieur Gary Dupiton, un spécialiste qui a assisté aux échanges, les travaux à entreprendre sont immenses. Il faudrait, dit-il, reprofiler 800 km2 de montagne et entreprendre une opération intense de reboisement.
« Il n’y a pas deux solutions », prévient-il. Sinon, il va falloir évacuer la ville.
Faire face à ses responsabilités
Lourdes responsabilités, s’il en est !
Pourtant les acteurs politiques n’ont pas le choix. Il faudra éviter, à tout prix, qu’une troisième catastrophe de ce genre se répète, approuve le député Arsène Dieujuste, rappelant que le cyclone Jeanne avait fait, en 2004, plus de 3000 morts et disparus aux Gonaives.
« Il est venu le temps de l’action », souligne le député, qui invite le gouvernement à faire bon usage d’une récente loi sur l’État d’urgence votée par les deux chambres.
C’est dans ce cadre que le gouvernement projette de débloquer 600 millions de gourdes dans les prochains jours après les 51 millions, alloués à l’assistance aux communautés en difficulté.
Selon un dernier bilan provisoire, 326 personnes ont été tuées, 50 portées disparues, 186 blessées, tandis que 1 million de personnes sont sinistrées.
Haiti se relèvera difficilement de cette épreuve et les perspectives économiques sont sombres. On s’attend à une flambée des prix des produits de consommation courante, qui aggravera la crise alimentaire éclatée en avril 2008.
De vastes régions de culture vivrière sont rendues momentanément inutilisables, à cause des inondations qui les ont inondées et emporté des récoltes entières, alors que les infrastructures routières ont été fortement endommagées, laissant de nombreuses zones dans l’isolement.
Dans l’Artibonite, ou 10,000 hectares de terres cultivables sont sous les eaux, le constat est impressionnant. Les rivières sont partout dans le désordre le plus complet.
A perte de vue : des traces de plantations ravagées par la violence des vents et des eaux, des arbres géants mis par terre, de grands cocotiers gisant dans des cours d’eau et ce qui reste de quelques villages sèche au soleil après avoir été pris au piège des bourrasques.
Dix jours après les premières inondations, les riverains, qui contemplent encore avec étonnement la destruction de pans importants de la route du Nord (entre Ennery et Gonaives), ne peuvent pas croire qu’en l’espace d’une nuit, la chaussée soit devenue un énorme précipice et le pont jeté à la dérive dans le lit de La Quinte.
Faire renaitre l’espoir
Le premier défi est simplement, parait-il, de faire renaitre l’espoir, quand toute une population se retrouve brusquement sinistrée.
« Même l’archevêque est dans le besoin », déclare le docteur Yolène Suréna qui coordonne les activités de la Protection Civile aux Gonaives.
« Nous avons faim, nous avons soif, nous n’en pouvons plus », crient les riverains que croise ou que dépasse le cortège de Michèle Pierre-Louis.
« On a pu distribuer de la nourriture à 20 000 personnes », informe Joel Boutroue, représentant résident du Programme des Nations Unies pour le Développement (PNUD), qui salue l’effort de la communauté internationale. Mais, les sinistrés ne sont pas moins de 200,000 à 250,000 aux Gonaives, selon le sénateur Latortue.
« Ce qu’il faut, c’est remettre la population debout », admet le fonctionnaire onusien, coordonnateur de l’aide humanitaire en Haiti, dont les besoins immédiats sont estimés à 108 millions de dollars, suivant un appel a l’aide lancé par l’ONU.
Par Gotson Pierre
15 septembre 2008
(Read the original article here)
P-au-P., 15 sept. 08 [AlterPresse] --- La ville des Gonaives (Nord), ravagée par les derniers cyclones qui ont frappé Haiti, est plongée dans la désolation, observe sur place AlterPresse.
La « cité de l’indépendance » d’Haiti est devenue la « cité de la mort », se lamente le maire des Gonaives, Stephen Moise qui ne cache pas sa « honte » de recevoir la première ministre Michèle Pierre-Louis, dans les conditions d’une ville totalement inondée.
C’est le 13 septembre dernier que le chef du gouvernement a dirigé une délégation aux Gonaives où elle a effectué une « visite de solidarité », à bord d’un hélicoptère des Nations Unies, en compagnie de plusieurs de ses ministres, du sénateur Youri Latortue et du député Arsène Dieujuste, deux parlementaires de la région.
Une ville ravagée dans ses entrailles
Inondée à 90%, Gonaives présente l’image d’une ville qui aurait subi les affres d’une guerre, relève le maire, incapable de contenir son émotion.
La ville est ravagée dans ses entrailles, souligne-t-il.
Prisonnière des eaux et des flots de boue qui se sont déversés sur elle entre le premier et le 7 septembre 2008, Gonaives peine à se relever. Le va et vient incessant des habitants de divers quartiers, circulant dans l’eau boueuse qui leur arrive jusqu’aux genoux, donne l’impression d’un grand mouvement d’exode.
Où vont-ils ?, se demande-t-on, lorsqu’on voit femmes et hommes avançant dans cette eau infecte qui dégage, par endroit, une odeur de cadavres en putréfaction.
Transportant leurs effets personnels et parfois des enfants sur les bras, ils déambulent au milieu des carcasses de véhicules et de toutes sortes de débris abandonnés par les eaux en furie.
« Jai honte. J’ai demandé de désinfecter la ville pour pouvoir vous recevoir », laisse tomber le chef de la municipalité, qui salue la présence de la première ministre aux Gonaives, dans le cadre d’une démarche d’évaluation des dégâts en vue « d’apporter des réponses aux souffrances de la population » et de prendre des dispositions pour la « reconstruction » .
Stephen Moise dit croire en la bonne foi du gouvernement et de la communauté internationale, grâce auxquels le manque d’eau potable a été atténué, tandis que la question alimentaire demeure encore un casse-tête.
Ne pas sombrer dans la résignation
« Il ne faut pas sombrer dans la résignation », préconise Michèle Pierre-Louis, en présence d’une assistance composée d’élus locaux, de notables, de journalistes et des membres de la délégation venue de Port-au-Prince.
« Il nous faut prendre notre courage à deux mains pour reconstruire » la ville, ajoute-t-elle.
Elle assure que le gouvernement va faire tout ce qui est en son pouvoir pour apporter des secours aux populations sinistrées et pour qu’un tel « malheur ne se reproduise pas ».
Mais, la première ministre n’entend pas verser dans les promesses.
Elle le dit tout haut lorsque, juchée sur un camion de la Mission des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation d’Haiti (MINUSTAH), elle s’adresse à quelques centaines de personnes réunies en face de la mairie.
« Vous devez vous mobiliser et être solidaires, parce qu’il nous faut reconstruire cette ville », lance Michèle Pierre-Louis, à travers un mégaphone que lui tend un agent de la police nationale.
« Même quand vous êtes en train de souffrir, chacun doit se sentir responsable et doit mettre la main à la pate pour sortir la ville de ce malheur », poursuit-elle.
Selon Michèle Pierre-Louis, le gouvernement va tenter de créer des emplois et prendre des dispositions urgentes pour libérer la ville des eaux assassines dont elle est encore l’otage.
Remettre la rivière La Quinte dans son lit
Plus tôt, prenant la parole à la mairie des Gonaives, le sénateur Youri Latortue, originaire de cette ville, explique comment la rivière La Quinte a abandonné son lit pour s’emparer de la cité. Pour lui, il est urgent que des travaux soient entrepris pour remettre cette rivière dans « son lit normal ».
D’autre part, Latortue constate que l’ensemble de la population est décapitalisée et que l’État doit prendre en main les besoins de cette dernière en matière de nourriture. Il suggère, en ce sens, que l’assistance humanitaire soit plus massive et que les rations alimentaires couvrent une durée de huit jours au lieu d’être quotidiennes.
Parallèlement, selon le sénateur, il faut prévoir les interventions nécessaires pour réaménager les bassins versants et curer les rivières.
En fait, selon l’ingénieur Gary Dupiton, un spécialiste qui a assisté aux échanges, les travaux à entreprendre sont immenses. Il faudrait, dit-il, reprofiler 800 km2 de montagne et entreprendre une opération intense de reboisement.
« Il n’y a pas deux solutions », prévient-il. Sinon, il va falloir évacuer la ville.
Faire face à ses responsabilités
Lourdes responsabilités, s’il en est !
Pourtant les acteurs politiques n’ont pas le choix. Il faudra éviter, à tout prix, qu’une troisième catastrophe de ce genre se répète, approuve le député Arsène Dieujuste, rappelant que le cyclone Jeanne avait fait, en 2004, plus de 3000 morts et disparus aux Gonaives.
« Il est venu le temps de l’action », souligne le député, qui invite le gouvernement à faire bon usage d’une récente loi sur l’État d’urgence votée par les deux chambres.
C’est dans ce cadre que le gouvernement projette de débloquer 600 millions de gourdes dans les prochains jours après les 51 millions, alloués à l’assistance aux communautés en difficulté.
Selon un dernier bilan provisoire, 326 personnes ont été tuées, 50 portées disparues, 186 blessées, tandis que 1 million de personnes sont sinistrées.
Haiti se relèvera difficilement de cette épreuve et les perspectives économiques sont sombres. On s’attend à une flambée des prix des produits de consommation courante, qui aggravera la crise alimentaire éclatée en avril 2008.
De vastes régions de culture vivrière sont rendues momentanément inutilisables, à cause des inondations qui les ont inondées et emporté des récoltes entières, alors que les infrastructures routières ont été fortement endommagées, laissant de nombreuses zones dans l’isolement.
Dans l’Artibonite, ou 10,000 hectares de terres cultivables sont sous les eaux, le constat est impressionnant. Les rivières sont partout dans le désordre le plus complet.
A perte de vue : des traces de plantations ravagées par la violence des vents et des eaux, des arbres géants mis par terre, de grands cocotiers gisant dans des cours d’eau et ce qui reste de quelques villages sèche au soleil après avoir été pris au piège des bourrasques.
Dix jours après les premières inondations, les riverains, qui contemplent encore avec étonnement la destruction de pans importants de la route du Nord (entre Ennery et Gonaives), ne peuvent pas croire qu’en l’espace d’une nuit, la chaussée soit devenue un énorme précipice et le pont jeté à la dérive dans le lit de La Quinte.
Faire renaitre l’espoir
Le premier défi est simplement, parait-il, de faire renaitre l’espoir, quand toute une population se retrouve brusquement sinistrée.
« Même l’archevêque est dans le besoin », déclare le docteur Yolène Suréna qui coordonne les activités de la Protection Civile aux Gonaives.
« Nous avons faim, nous avons soif, nous n’en pouvons plus », crient les riverains que croise ou que dépasse le cortège de Michèle Pierre-Louis.
« On a pu distribuer de la nourriture à 20 000 personnes », informe Joel Boutroue, représentant résident du Programme des Nations Unies pour le Développement (PNUD), qui salue l’effort de la communauté internationale. Mais, les sinistrés ne sont pas moins de 200,000 à 250,000 aux Gonaives, selon le sénateur Latortue.
« Ce qu’il faut, c’est remettre la population debout », admet le fonctionnaire onusien, coordonnateur de l’aide humanitaire en Haiti, dont les besoins immédiats sont estimés à 108 millions de dollars, suivant un appel a l’aide lancé par l’ONU.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Matt Damon, Wyclef Jean visit Haiti city in ruins
Matt Damon, Wyclef Jean visit Haiti city in ruins
GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) — Cries of adulation — and hunger — followed Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean and actor Matt Damon as they toured flood-ravaged Gonaives on Sunday to call attention to widespread suffering in the marooned city.
Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike submerged the Haitian city and cut off roadways. Where waters have receded, streets remain a stinking mud bath and homes are carpeted with muck and encrusted pots, pans and laundry.
"I'm speechless, I can't believe it," said Damon, looking down from a U.N. helicopter at people living on the rooftops of flooded homes.
The four-hour visit passed in a blur of stenches, colors and noise. A man on a bicycle tried to keep up with Damon and Jean's truck, shouting, "I love you, Wyclef." Jean raised his hand, but couldn't smile back.
"It's inhumane. I wish there was a word in the dictionary. No human should be living like this," said Jean, who became famous through his Grammy-winning band, The Fugees, and later emerged as a solo artist.
As they turned onto the flooded Rue Christophe, another pickup packed with women sloshed within arm's reach. Face-to-face with the celebrities, the women cried, "We're hungry!" A young man calf-deep in water raised both arms and shouted, "Fix our roads. Fix our city!"
Damon and Jean encouraged help for the United Nations to raise more than US$100 million for 800,000 Haitians in need after four tropical storms and hurricanes have struck the country since mid-August.
Jean's Yele Haiti charity is helping the World Food Program and the Organization of American States-affiliated Pan American Development Foundation distribute food to 3,000 families. The convoy visited a school shelter Sunday to hand out cooking oil and bags of beans.
Proud and tumultuous Gonaives is where Haiti declared independence from France in 1804 as the world's first black republic. Bloody 1985 protests led to the downfall of the father-son Duvalier dictatorship and in 2004 a deadly march fomented the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Fears that unrest is simmering here has led U.N. officials to distribute food at night under Argentine soldiers' guard. Haitian officials have discussed building new settlements for vulnerable residents above the current city.
Once emergency aid started arriving four days after the storm, the U.N. agencies began ratcheting up food distributions to reach as many as 12,000 people a day. More than 120,000 people are in shelters in the Artibonite region, which includes Gonaives, desperate for water and food, the Haitian government reported.
Damon and Jean waded through knee-deep floodwaters and climbed a stage outside the Gonaives cathedral, where 500 people have taken refuge in the choir gallery.
The pair did not go into the cathedral, but Jean sang for a few minutes to a crowd outside. When he later tried to leave, people swept him into the streets. Admirers, some asking for money, clung to U.N. trucks as they drove away.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Aristide's American Profiteers
THE AMERICAS
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
Aristide's American Profiteers
Wall Street Journal
July 28, 2008; Page A13
(Read the original article here)
This column has long followed the story of Jean Bertrand Aristide's Haiti, two U.S. telephone companies and a few American political insiders. Many questions remain unanswered and now both companies are back in the news.
On July 10 the Federal Communications Commission hit IDT Corp. with a $1.3 million fine for "willfully and repeatedly failing to file with the commission" its contracts with Haiti's telecom monopoly, Teleco Haiti, in 2003 and 2004.
Not only should those contracts have been filed, they should have been made public. Now that they have been made public, we learn that Teleco Haiti granted IDT the right to terminate calls in Haiti at less than half the official settlement rate, and that IDT agreed to deposit all payments not at Teleco Haiti, but in an offshore account in the Turks and Caicos managed by a company called Mont Salem.
Long-distance revenues were one of Haiti's few sources of hard currency. Yet after President Aristide left office in 2004, Teleco Haiti's coffers were found to be empty. Still, IDT may have played only a small role in the alleged looting of Teleco Haiti.
A far more interesting actor is Fusion Telecommunications. It may have been terminating traffic in the country as far back as the mid-1990s, not long after Bill Clinton used the U.S. military to restore the coup-deposed Mr. Aristide to power. But we don't know if this is true because Fusion's contracts, which should also be public under FCC rules, have been shrouded in secrecy.
The FCC decision against IDT is a victory for former IDT employee Michael Jewett. He filed suit in federal court in Newark, N.J., in 2004, alleging that the company fired him because he objected to an illegal deal between it and Teleco Haiti.
Much of what Mr. Jewett described in his complaint turned out to be in the contract. But there's more. He also alleged in court documents that he was told that the Mont Salem account belonged to Mr. Aristide. IDT denies this.
Mr. Aristide's Haitian critics have long alleged that Fusion was getting a preferred connection rate in return for kickbacks to the strongman. This, they say, allowed Fusion to dominate the U.S.-Haiti route, something that would have made company insiders rich. Haitians told me in 2001 that Fusion even had an office inside Haiti Teleco.
The chairman of Fusion's board was and still is Marvin Rosen, who was the finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the 1996 Clinton fund-raising scandals. During the late 1990s, Joseph P. Kennedy II and Thomas "Mack" McLarty, both prominent Democrats, were on the board. Fusion has previously denied any wrongdoing.
In February 2007, the FCC told me that its "Haiti file," containing contracts, had vanished from its records room. To re-create the missing file, it asked IDT, Fusion and other companies for copies. Fusion produced one, from 1999, that it says matched the one it had filed.
In December, I filed an application to see that contract under the Freedom of Information Act. Eight months later the company is still blocking my request. Company lawyers have met with the FCC to argue for confidentiality.
Why Fusion would fight so hard to keep what is supposed to be a public contract out of the public's view is a good question. Here's one possible reason: A civil action filed by the Republic of Haiti in November 2005 in Florida charged that Aristide operatives gave "rate concessions" to various telephone companies, and these "included Fusion Telecommunications." The suit also charged that Teleco "allow[ed] certain carriers to 'settle' allegedly disputed Teleco billings on favorable terms," and that Fusion was one of them. These, the civil action notes, "were not in Teleco's interest" and "violated U.S. law."
The Florida suit -- which was withdrawn after a change of government in 2006 but can be reinstated if the plaintiff desires -- also alleges that "the fraudulent scheme to steal Teleco revenues was carried out in part through defendant Mont Salem," which "serve[d] as a front for the interests of the Aristide Group." It says that "at Aristide's direction," two carriers were instructed to make payments to Mont Salem. One was a Canadian company. The other was IDT. And further: "At Aristide's direction Teleco's then-counsel also caused Teleco to request at least one other carrier, Fusion, to make payments through Mont Salem."
The FCC is set to decide by Sept. 26 on whether the Fusion contract should be public. Its IDT decision sets a precedent, and Americans deserve to know what happened between the Clintonistas and Mr. Aristide. Haitians also deserve accountability. Mr. Aristide, who fled Haiti in 2004 under a cloud of corruption charges, is living in South Africa but trying to make a return to power in Haiti. If he succeeds, Haiti's future will remain as dim as its past. The FCC should give a full accounting on whether some of his past enablers were high-ranking American politicians.
Write to O'Grady@wsj.com
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
Aristide's American Profiteers
Wall Street Journal
July 28, 2008; Page A13
(Read the original article here)
This column has long followed the story of Jean Bertrand Aristide's Haiti, two U.S. telephone companies and a few American political insiders. Many questions remain unanswered and now both companies are back in the news.
On July 10 the Federal Communications Commission hit IDT Corp. with a $1.3 million fine for "willfully and repeatedly failing to file with the commission" its contracts with Haiti's telecom monopoly, Teleco Haiti, in 2003 and 2004.
Not only should those contracts have been filed, they should have been made public. Now that they have been made public, we learn that Teleco Haiti granted IDT the right to terminate calls in Haiti at less than half the official settlement rate, and that IDT agreed to deposit all payments not at Teleco Haiti, but in an offshore account in the Turks and Caicos managed by a company called Mont Salem.
Long-distance revenues were one of Haiti's few sources of hard currency. Yet after President Aristide left office in 2004, Teleco Haiti's coffers were found to be empty. Still, IDT may have played only a small role in the alleged looting of Teleco Haiti.
A far more interesting actor is Fusion Telecommunications. It may have been terminating traffic in the country as far back as the mid-1990s, not long after Bill Clinton used the U.S. military to restore the coup-deposed Mr. Aristide to power. But we don't know if this is true because Fusion's contracts, which should also be public under FCC rules, have been shrouded in secrecy.
The FCC decision against IDT is a victory for former IDT employee Michael Jewett. He filed suit in federal court in Newark, N.J., in 2004, alleging that the company fired him because he objected to an illegal deal between it and Teleco Haiti.
Much of what Mr. Jewett described in his complaint turned out to be in the contract. But there's more. He also alleged in court documents that he was told that the Mont Salem account belonged to Mr. Aristide. IDT denies this.
Mr. Aristide's Haitian critics have long alleged that Fusion was getting a preferred connection rate in return for kickbacks to the strongman. This, they say, allowed Fusion to dominate the U.S.-Haiti route, something that would have made company insiders rich. Haitians told me in 2001 that Fusion even had an office inside Haiti Teleco.
The chairman of Fusion's board was and still is Marvin Rosen, who was the finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the 1996 Clinton fund-raising scandals. During the late 1990s, Joseph P. Kennedy II and Thomas "Mack" McLarty, both prominent Democrats, were on the board. Fusion has previously denied any wrongdoing.
In February 2007, the FCC told me that its "Haiti file," containing contracts, had vanished from its records room. To re-create the missing file, it asked IDT, Fusion and other companies for copies. Fusion produced one, from 1999, that it says matched the one it had filed.
In December, I filed an application to see that contract under the Freedom of Information Act. Eight months later the company is still blocking my request. Company lawyers have met with the FCC to argue for confidentiality.
Why Fusion would fight so hard to keep what is supposed to be a public contract out of the public's view is a good question. Here's one possible reason: A civil action filed by the Republic of Haiti in November 2005 in Florida charged that Aristide operatives gave "rate concessions" to various telephone companies, and these "included Fusion Telecommunications." The suit also charged that Teleco "allow[ed] certain carriers to 'settle' allegedly disputed Teleco billings on favorable terms," and that Fusion was one of them. These, the civil action notes, "were not in Teleco's interest" and "violated U.S. law."
The Florida suit -- which was withdrawn after a change of government in 2006 but can be reinstated if the plaintiff desires -- also alleges that "the fraudulent scheme to steal Teleco revenues was carried out in part through defendant Mont Salem," which "serve[d] as a front for the interests of the Aristide Group." It says that "at Aristide's direction," two carriers were instructed to make payments to Mont Salem. One was a Canadian company. The other was IDT. And further: "At Aristide's direction Teleco's then-counsel also caused Teleco to request at least one other carrier, Fusion, to make payments through Mont Salem."
The FCC is set to decide by Sept. 26 on whether the Fusion contract should be public. Its IDT decision sets a precedent, and Americans deserve to know what happened between the Clintonistas and Mr. Aristide. Haitians also deserve accountability. Mr. Aristide, who fled Haiti in 2004 under a cloud of corruption charges, is living in South Africa but trying to make a return to power in Haiti. If he succeeds, Haiti's future will remain as dim as its past. The FCC should give a full accounting on whether some of his past enablers were high-ranking American politicians.
Write to O'Grady@wsj.com
Thursday, July 17, 2008
McCain 'Trailblazer' Burned
McCain 'Trailblazer' Burned
The FCC hits James Courter's IDT with a $1.3M fine for a cloudy deal in Haiti.
IDT, the New Jersey telecommunications outfit run by one of John McCain's top fundraisers, Jim Courter, was fined $1.3 million by the Federal Communications Commission for failing to file a contract for telephone service to Haiti in 2004.
Its work with Haiti has been put under scrutiny since a former employee, Michael Jewett, then IDT's manager for the Caribbean, sued the company. His suit claims he was fired when he balked at negotiating a scheme that routed a portion of the company's long distance revenue from Haiti calls to a shell company owned by then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Jewett's suit alleges that the deal cut IDT's long-distance payments to Haiti to 8.75 cents a minute, from 23 cents, the legal tariff, which mainline U.S. carriers such as AT&T were paying.
Payments went to an offshore shell company, Mount Salem in the Turks & Caicos, which sent 3 cents to Aristide and the rest to the Haiti telecommunications company.
Courter, a former New Jersey Republican congressman, is one of 20 McCain national finance co-chairs, and joined the campaign in February 2007. He's a "Trailblazer" for McCain, meaning he raised at least $100,000. The IDT PAC has contributed $84,850 in 2008.
The F.C.C. said IDT had violated the law by "willfully and repeatedly" failing to file its Haiti agreements regarding rates and other matters.
The filings were required under the commission's International Settlements Policy, which called for the same best rates for all U.S. carriers. The goal was to ensure "a competitive playing field" and prevent dominant carriers on the foreign end of a U.S.-international route from leveraging their market power to the detriment of U.S. carriers and consumers.
IDT had had its share of run-ins with regulators even before the F.C.C. fine handed down Wednesday. Jewett's allegations are also being investigated by the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the company's filings with the S.E.C. The I.R.S. is also reportedly looking at the company, according to published reports.
An IDT spokesperson declined to comment.
Adrian Corr, a Turks & Caicos lawyer who was legal counsel for Aristide at Miller Simons O'Sullivan and who ran Mount Salem, confirmed that Aristide owned the shell.
Jewett's lawyer, seeking to read the Haiti contracts at the Federal Communications Commission, discovered that the entire file had disappeared. The F.C.C. directed IDT and other carriers to refile their contracts. IDT's showed payments to the Turks & Caicos shell company.
Jewett's suit charges that IDT evaded the rules and kept competitors in the dark. Documents obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests this year also revealed that IDT failed to file contracts with dozens of other telecoms around the world.
The S.E.C. and I.R.S. are looking into IDT's tax returns for 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. Any discount or ill-gotten gain, such as the difference between 8.75 and 23 cents, is taxable.
In a quarterly S.E.C. report filed June 6, IDT's balance sheet shows $365 million "income taxes payable," meaning the sum is put aside for back taxes. The figure was zero last year.
All the executives below Courter involved with the Haiti deal are gone. The June report announced the "involuntary" departure of the chief legal officer.
Top-tier Republicans have also bailed out.
William Weld, former G.O.P. governor of Massachusetts, was head of corporate governance at IDT but resigned after the Jewett complaint was unsealed in July 2005.
IDT announced in October 2006 that its entire board would not seek reelection, including former congressman and vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Jeane Kirkpatrick, former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, former Minnesota Senator Rudy Boschwitz, and former Washington Senator Slade Gorton.
"Why do you put very powerful politicians on your board. Because you like them, you think they’re capable and they buy you protection," said Herbert Denton, president of the New York investment firm Providence Capital, which owned IDT stock. "Why do they leave at the same time? I speculate there’s something rotten in Denmark."
IDT, the New Jersey telecommunications outfit run by one of John McCain's top fundraisers, Jim Courter, was fined $1.3 million by the Federal Communications Commission for failing to file a contract for telephone service to Haiti in 2004.
Its work with Haiti has been put under scrutiny since a former employee, Michael Jewett, then IDT's manager for the Caribbean, sued the company. His suit claims he was fired when he balked at negotiating a scheme that routed a portion of the company's long distance revenue from Haiti calls to a shell company owned by then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Jewett's suit alleges that the deal cut IDT's long-distance payments to Haiti to 8.75 cents a minute, from 23 cents, the legal tariff, which mainline U.S. carriers such as AT&T were paying.
Payments went to an offshore shell company, Mount Salem in the Turks & Caicos, which sent 3 cents to Aristide and the rest to the Haiti telecommunications company.
Courter, a former New Jersey Republican congressman, is one of 20 McCain national finance co-chairs, and joined the campaign in February 2007. He's a "Trailblazer" for McCain, meaning he raised at least $100,000. The IDT PAC has contributed $84,850 in 2008.
The F.C.C. said IDT had violated the law by "willfully and repeatedly" failing to file its Haiti agreements regarding rates and other matters.
The filings were required under the commission's International Settlements Policy, which called for the same best rates for all U.S. carriers. The goal was to ensure "a competitive playing field" and prevent dominant carriers on the foreign end of a U.S.-international route from leveraging their market power to the detriment of U.S. carriers and consumers.
IDT had had its share of run-ins with regulators even before the F.C.C. fine handed down Wednesday. Jewett's allegations are also being investigated by the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the company's filings with the S.E.C. The I.R.S. is also reportedly looking at the company, according to published reports.
An IDT spokesperson declined to comment.
Adrian Corr, a Turks & Caicos lawyer who was legal counsel for Aristide at Miller Simons O'Sullivan and who ran Mount Salem, confirmed that Aristide owned the shell.
Jewett's lawyer, seeking to read the Haiti contracts at the Federal Communications Commission, discovered that the entire file had disappeared. The F.C.C. directed IDT and other carriers to refile their contracts. IDT's showed payments to the Turks & Caicos shell company.
Jewett's suit charges that IDT evaded the rules and kept competitors in the dark. Documents obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests this year also revealed that IDT failed to file contracts with dozens of other telecoms around the world.
The S.E.C. and I.R.S. are looking into IDT's tax returns for 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. Any discount or ill-gotten gain, such as the difference between 8.75 and 23 cents, is taxable.
In a quarterly S.E.C. report filed June 6, IDT's balance sheet shows $365 million "income taxes payable," meaning the sum is put aside for back taxes. The figure was zero last year.
All the executives below Courter involved with the Haiti deal are gone. The June report announced the "involuntary" departure of the chief legal officer.
Top-tier Republicans have also bailed out.
William Weld, former G.O.P. governor of Massachusetts, was head of corporate governance at IDT but resigned after the Jewett complaint was unsealed in July 2005.
IDT announced in October 2006 that its entire board would not seek reelection, including former congressman and vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Jeane Kirkpatrick, former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, former Minnesota Senator Rudy Boschwitz, and former Washington Senator Slade Gorton.
"Why do you put very powerful politicians on your board. Because you like them, you think they’re capable and they buy you protection," said Herbert Denton, president of the New York investment firm Providence Capital, which owned IDT stock. "Why do they leave at the same time? I speculate there’s something rotten in Denmark."
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