International Relation

Here is a set of pictures of President Michel Martelly at the the 2015 CELAC summit in Costa Rica.

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The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agency (DEA) launched an unsuccessful military operation to capture the Haitian rebel Guy Philippe.

Guy Philippe, a one-time candidate for Haitian president and former rebel leader, has reportedly gone into hiding following a DEA military-style operation to arrest him at his home in Les Cayes, Haiti. It is said that two airplanes, five helicopters and as little as twelve DEA agents stormed the home, searching for Philippe, who fled his razor-wire-fenced and concrete-gated property. Members of his party have confirmed he is on the run, stating that they have contacted lawyers on his behalf and wish to take the matter up with the justice ministry.

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According to several news sources, Haitian President Michel Martelly had a meeting with Cuban leader Raúl Castro on behalf of the United States for the release of Alan Gross. According to the sources, he was asked by Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson facilitate the relationship between Cuba and the United States since he has a good relationship with both. It is noted that this meeting took place in early 2013 when President Michel Martelly took a secrete trip to Cuba with his son Olivier Martelly

Following the meeting with the Cuban leader, President Martelly was personally contacted over the phone by Vice President Joe Biden to thank him for his efforts.

After the news of the cessation of the embargo between the United States of America and Cuba, Haitian President, Michel Martelly, issued a statement that expressed his felicitations for the news, as Haiti, closely entwined with both countries, has literally been stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Martelly used Haiti's position to facilitate the negotiations for the release of US citizen, Alan Gross.The tempering of relations between Cuba and the U.S. is expected to be a gradual thing, as both countries need to embark on a process of recovery.

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Here is a picture of American Marines defending the entrance gate in Cap-Haitian in 1915

As a result, in 1915, the pro-US Haitian President Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam seized power and ordered a massacre of 167 political prisoners, but he was lynched by an angry mob into the French Embassy. In July 28, 1915, the U.S President Wilson ordered an invasion. The 330 marines stormed the shores of Port-au-Prince and soon set up an interim government. Although with the U.S occupation, peace and order was restored in Haiti, the Haitians were never happy with the Americans. The poor were unhappy with their assigned road building works, patriotic middle class resented the foreigners and the elite upper class was denied of the access to the government spending that had previously made them rich.

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Here is a picture of US Marines boarding the U.S.C Connecticut july 1915 as they are heading to Haiti

In the beginning, following the assassination of Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, a Pro-U.S Haitian President, the U.S President Woodrow Wilson sent a first team of U.S Marines into Haiti on July 28, 1915. They were sent to restore order and maintain political and economic stability in the country. However, in the wake of the First World War, the President Wilson at the same time also wanted to establish U.S dominance in the region by keeping the German settlers away from Haiti. Because, the peasant guerrillas (cocos) from the northern Haiti were heavily burdened with German loans and they wanted the Germans to invade and restore order in the country.

Thus the 19- year U.S. occupation in Haiti began with the landing of 3,000 Marines at Port-au-Prince under the leadership of Admiral William B. Caperton and that continued until 1935. However, prior to that in December 1914, in the fear of foreign intervention, Wilson administration sent U.S. Marines to Haiti who removed $500,000 from the Haitian National Bank for safe keeping in New York.

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Presidential palace of President Villbrum Guilluiame Sam who was assassinated

At the beginning of the 20th century, United States became increasingly concerned with the level of German activity and influence in Haiti. German businesses in Haiti dominated commerce in the entire area.

German nationals controlled over 80 percent of Haiti international commerce. They owned utilities in Cap Haitien and Port-au-Prince, wharf, railroad serving the Plain of the Cul-de-Sac. To get around Haitian law that forbid foreigners from owning land in Haiti, German men were increasingly marrying Haitian women and open businesses.

Although the sphere of U.S influence in the Caribbean started in 1898, in 1915, during the First World War, the U.S President Woodrow Wilson feared that Germany could invade Haiti and establish a military base near the Panama Canal that was built with huge U.S investment. The U.S President had right reasons to worry because then there were many Germans settlers living in Haiti who had financed the rampaging cacos with loans which were almost impossible to be repaid and they were at the mercy of the Germans to invade and restore order.

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Here is a picture of several American Marines guarding Haitian Cacos captured outside Port-au-Prince.

Since the time Haiti got its independence from France in 1804, it had gone through a succession of dictators. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the population of the island was poor, uneducated and hungry. Between 1908 and 1915, the country was totally broken down. More than seven men seized the presidency, regional warlords and peasant guerrillas from the north (cocos) fought in the streets; more than 2,000 Haitian lives were lost.

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Following the successful manipulation of German nationals to go around Haiti law to own land

As Germany was rising in power in the late nineteenth century, the Germans had their eyes on Haiti. They began an aggressive campaign dominate commerce in Haiti. One of the major German firms was The Hamburg-Amerika Ligne. In addition, the Germans were interested in the area of banking and agriculture

The German community proved more willing to integrate into Haitian society than any other group of white foreigners, including the more numerous French. Some Germans married into the nation's most prominent mulatto families, thus bypassing the constitutional prohibition against foreign land-ownership. They retained strong ties back to their homeland and often to German military and intelligence networks in Haiti, and also served as the principal financiers of the nation's innumerable revolutions, floating loans at high interest rates to competing political factions.[4] Because of this, they posed an economic threat to American monetary interests and made American political and military leadership fear they were acting as a stalking horse for the imperial government in Berlin

Following the successful manipulation of the 1915 elections, the Wilson administration attempted to strong-arm the Haitian legislature into adopting a new constitution in 1917. This constitution allowed foreign land ownership, which had been outlawed since the Haitian Revolution as a way to prevent foreign control of the country. Extremely reluctant to change the long-standing law, the legislature rejected the new constitution. Law-makers began drafting a new anti-American constitution, but the United States forced President Dartiguenave dissolve the legislature, which did not meet again until 1929.

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Here is a picture of Thomas A. Shannon, the Counselor to U.S. Secretary of State Kerry who is in Haiti in preparation of John Kerry's Visit. He is in a meeting with President Michel Martelly and Ambassador Pamela A. White.

As the country prepares for the official visit of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who will hold talks with the government to help Haiti see its way through its election crisis, Counselor of the Department Thomas A. Shannon, Jr. will travel ahead of Secretary Kerry to make preparations. Shannon, who is slated to arrive on December 24, has an illustrious past that includes an education at Oxford, an ability to speak English, Portuguese and Spanish, and a past working closely with Secretary Kerry, along with his own tenure as U.S. Ambassador for almost four years.

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Frantz St. Fleur a resident in Toronto Canada, wants to teach his real estate broker and the police they will never forget. He is currently suing them for racial profiling

Toronto man Frantz St. Fleur alleges he was a victim of racial profiling in the case of his April arrest for fraud after trying to cash a check at his long-time bank. St. Fleur went into the Scotiabank branch he'd used for ten years to cash what he says was a refund check of $9,000 for a condo deposit, as the development project had fallen through. He was questioned in a private office before being left there for the police to arrive and arrest him. St. Fleur now sues the police, his real estate broker, and the bank for $250,000.

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