Blogging the democratic revolution
Congress has just wrapped up a huge free trade package! They actually are allowing it to go to the floor for a vote around 4 p.m. Eastern! They darn well better pass it! Not only will Peru, Colombia and Vietnam get some kind of trade relief for the next year (it’s temporary for the first two, but this is better than nothing), pretty much everyone else who wants free trade – The Caribbean, the African states, Ecuador & Bolivia, and Haiti – will get it too! This is fine! Better everyone in than nobody in. If that is what it…
Rene Preval has been declared the new president of Haiti following mass demonstrations and accusations of fraud. Well, not just accusations, but a garbage dump full of ballot boxes. So in order to prevent large legal complications that would further decrease the legitimacy of the rule of law, the interim government and electoral council decided to allow Preval’s victory by removing blank ballots from the count. Haiti’s interim government and the electoral council have declared Ren???? Pr????val the winner of the presidential election, ending frantic negotiations to stop violent street demonstrations in the impoverished Caribbean nation. Mr. Rene Preval “Ren????…
More photos here. The failed state of Haiti, which has only been able to maintain minimum order because of UN occupation and a transitional government, held its first presidential election on Feb. 7 following the exile of former President Aristide. The frontrunner Rene Preval, favored by the country’s impoverished masses, was winning handily with well over 50% of the vote while his nearest contender barely broke ten. His lead quickly diminished mysteriously and accusations of fraud began to fly. The shit hit the fan as violent protests in support of Preval began to break out. No election is perfect, not…
The burning-tire news photos from Haiti’s presidential election look horrific. After seven delays, elections finally went through in UN-occupied Haiti, and the result is a disaster. The election was held on Feb 7, and the vote counting went through the weekend. The organizers said there would be a delay in the expected results, but people celebrated who they thought had won anyway. The expected winner had been an agronomist named Rene Preval, who was a close associate of exiled President Aristide. Preval’s Hope party had been leading in the exit polls, but now the organizers say he got less than…
Former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune has been staging a hunger strike in jail for the last 15 days. He has refused medical treatment in the Dominican Republic until the interim government drops accusations that he organized a massacre: “Mr. Neptune said he would accept to be evacuated only if all the charges brought against him were lifted,” Mike Joseph, a spokesman for interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, said in a statement late Sunday. “Such demands are absolutely unacceptable.” Doctors from the United Nations’ peacekeeping contingent in Haiti said on Saturday that Neptune’s vital functions were seriously threatened and he…
UN diplomats, on a fun-packed junket to Haiti, say that the Caribbean nation is not getting the job done: April 20 (Bloomberg) — Haiti’s political leaders aren’t taking steps toward reconciliation needed for successful elections this year and the interim government hasn’t begun reconstruction projects to stabilize the Caribbean nation, U.S. and Brazilian diplomats said. Anne Patterson, the acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who joined Security Council envoys on a mission to Haiti last week, said the government needs to resolve the case of former prime minister Yvon Neptune, an opposition member detained without charges since June 2004.…