Photos

Here is a picture of Me Jules Cantave, the new Provisional President of Haiti selected to replace Michel Martelly.

On February 10, 2016, as per an agreement to designate a Government of transition to solve a possible vacuum of power in Haiti, the outgoing President Martelly with the bicameral committee composed of senators and deputies representing the three branches of the Haitian government, including the Executive, legislative and judiciary, responsible for electing the interim president have installed Me Jules Cantave, the President of the Court of Cassation and the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ), as the new Provisional President of Haiti. Me Jules Cantave has assumed charges of his office on February 14th for 120 days with a responsibility to organize the presidential election on April 24, 2016. The Provisional government will remain responsible to rule Haiti after Martelly's departure.

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Here is a picture of President Michel Martelly and the Presidents of both Houses of Parliament: Senator Jocelerme Privert (Senate) and Deputy Cholzer Chancy (Lower House) as they are getting ready to sign the agreement.

On Saturday, February 6th, 2016, at the National Palace, President Martelly President Martelly along with the Presidents of both the Houses of Parliament, Senator Jocelerme Privert (Senate) and Deputy Cholzer Chancy (Lower House) signed an agreement for institutional continuity at the end of his Presidential mandate of the Republic in the absence of an elected president and for the continuation of the electoral process that started on August 9, 2015. On February 7th, Martelly made an address to the nation before the National Assembly announcing the end of his tenure and departure from power. However, as per G8 political platform, the agreement seeks to postpone a crisis that must be solved immediately. They are of the opinion that two of the signatories, Privert and Chancy can never be empowered to sign such an accord without being nominated through a majority vote. As per former President Martelly, it was imperative to make such political agreement for creating political stability and maintaining social peace. However, the G8 believes this agreement completely disregards the general consensus and protests of the common people and attempts to validate the 2015 election with the reinstatement of former army.

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Here is a picture of some former military of FADH in the streets of Port-au-Prince in February, 2016.

Haitian army was disbanded by former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1995, because of their notorious record of toppling Haitian governments since the country's independence two centuries earlier. Ironically, Aristide himself was twice ousted in coups; last and the second time, he was toppled by a US-backed military coup back in 2004. In last November, President Martelly and Prime Minister Evans Paul through a decree, the "Conseil Des Ministres", energized the former army men by taking steps to revive the armed forces. A Defence Minister was named, unit of military engineers was recreated, and some recruits were sent to Ecuador for training. Jean Fednel Lafalaise, a former sergeant in his 60s told Reuters, we need a commander-in-chief and a high command at the head of the military so that we can function normally. Earlier, President Martelly has repeatedly pledged that the army would be revived to protect the border, coastlines and the country's few remaining forests. However, following the election debacle, the ex-military people were seen rallying in support of both the outgoing President Michel Martelly and his hand-picked candidate Jovenel Moïse for the next presidential race. While driving through the capital in convoys, some of them were waving weapons and firing into the air.

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Here is a picture of Radio personality Liliane Pierre Paul as she was very emotional during a ceremony organized on her behalf in February, 2016.

This was organized in response to the degrading Carnival song produced by President Michel Martelly about Liliane

As per Dandin's statement the threats of these two friends of the President (Jojo and Roro), are not only against Liliane Pierre-Paul and Monard Metellus-- it challenges everyone. Liliane Pierre-Paul is a star reporter and the President of the Association of Haitian Media and women's organizations. She is a pride of the Haitian society. Joseph (Jojo) Lorquet was arrested earlier for mafia related shady deals related to arms license, and others. Ronald (Roro) Nelson is well known in Haiti for his close association with Martelly and he uses that relation as a protective shield for his rowdy behavior and violent activities mostly on innocent people with beating and threatening with guns. In the early morning of December 1, 2015, the office of Radio Télé Kiskeya was a target of gun attack.
The brawl between Martelly and Liliane Paul actually started almost three years ago on May 16, 2013 when Martelly visited Radio, Television Caraibes for a program and commented if Lilianne Pierre Paul terms 'Michel Martelly' as 'Sweet Micky', there would be nothing wrong for him to call her as "Ti Lili. As per Haitian proverb, if you add "Ti" before someone's name, you infer that, the person is a thief. Liliane said, Sweet Micky is the name that brought fame to Martelly's musical career and his position as the Head of the State, whereas 'Lily' is a name that was affectionately given by her brother. It is quite obvious for Martelly to have a personal grudge against Liliane because, she has always remained vocal against all irregularities and election frauds, especially targeting Martelly's PHTK platform. Recently, the President Martelly has released his carnival meringue for 2016 targeting journalist Liliane Pierre-Paul.

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Here is a picture where an Ex Haitian soldier became victim during an anti-government demonstrators.

Martelly was due to leave his office within February 7th, but the squabbled politicians of the country failed to complete the recent election process with a runoff and elect a successor for the outgoing President Martelly. Some of the weak opposition leaders are demanding the comeback of former President Aristide as an interim leader as a replacement. We might remember that Aristide disbanded the Haitian army in 1995 in an attempt to end the military dominance over the Haitian politicians, because it had records of toppling governments since the Haitian independence two centuries earlier. Aristide was twice ousted in coups; lastly he was toppled by a US-backed military coup back in 2004. The politicians are also discussing several other options like appointing a Supreme Court judge or a new prime minister to run an interim government. Last year, Martelly energized the former army men by taking steps to revive the armed forces and he has repeatedly pledged that it would be revived to protect the border, coastlines and the country's few remaining forests. However, as per the news report, the ex-military people were rallying in support of both the outgoing President Michel Martelly and his hand-picked candidate Jovenel Moïse for the next presidential race. While driving through the capital in convoys, some of them were waving weapons and firing into the air. The victim was carrying a small card bearing the image of ruling-party candidate Jovenel Moise.

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Here is a picture of the newly created civil prison for women in Cabaret.

As per the Institute for Criminal Policy Research and MINUSTAH December 2015 statistics, considering an estimated national population of 10.78 million at the end of 2015, Haiti's prison population rate per 100,000 of the national population is 102. Haiti has an official capacity of 2,431 inmates in its prison system of 17 prisons with an occupancy level of 454.4%. The prison population for the December 2015 shows a number of 11,046 detainees and of that percentage, the share of pre-trial detainees and female prisoners are 70.9% and 4.1% respectively. The new prison will replace an outdated Pétion-ville prison with 50 inmate capacity which currently houses 305 prisoners. Moreover, the new prison will protect the privacy of the women prisoners, which is a definite matter of concern. Over 25% of women are being held without legal cause, and many of them wait anywhere from three to seven years before even going to trial.

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Rene Preval in search of a handshake from Obama

This incident took place on April 17, 2009 during a Summit of the Americas taking place in Trinidad. What was clear from the video footing the Haitian President Rene Preval was among many dignitaries coming from around the world to participate at the summit. The summit was highlighted by the presence of American President Barrack Obama. What we could see from a video footing which we were able to transform into still picture was that while President Barrack Obama was moving in an orderly way, shaking hands with different head of stated present in the room, we suddenly say the apparition of our own president Rene Preval where it appears that he did not have any respect for protocol, decided to grab Obama's hands in a gesture to get him in his corner. Obama who obviously appeared to be surprised of the gesture, disregarded the action by Preval and continued to greet the head of states.

Many people have been asking since, did Obama completey diss Haitian president Rene preval? or was it just an oversight?

However the reactions by various Haitians were very very strong against their leader. Some called humiliating,

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Here is a picture of Former Haitian Dictator Jean Claude Duvalier and wife Michele Bennett Duvalier as they are leaving Haiti on their way to their exile in France

Furor Erupts over Duvalier Funeral Plans

A citizens' activist group is against deceased former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier being honored with a state funeral. They have begun a petition to stop Martelly from following protocol that necessitates a former president be given national honors.

The petitioners find holding a state funeral for Jean-Claude the white washing of ". . . the legacy of Duvalier's regime, and . . . of his father . . . Francois . . . Duvalier before him . . ."

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The government of Michel Martelly has reached a point where the number of people who are not satisfied with his government has increased. At the same time, the government has a large number of followers as well. As the protests against his government has reached a critical point, it comes to the point of: Are you for "Rache Mankoy Bay Ter-a Blanch" or
Are you for "Give Michel martelly a Chance"

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Here is a picture of Hillary Clinton and Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis the former Haitian Prime Minister.

This picture was taken during a visit of Prime Minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis to the white house in Washington

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