People

Here is a picture of Haitian artist Black Alex.

Radio Caraibes announced on Friday November 13th the death of rapper Black Alex, known as the bad boy of Rap. Accolades poured in from the Haitian music industry as word spread of his death.

King Posse brought him fame during the 1990s and fans watched the arc of his career.

Black Alex died from complications of HIV/AIDS. Before he passed away, he converted to Protestantism, which was televised on TV.

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Here is a picture of Mr. Sauveur Pierre Etienne.

Sauveur Pierre Étienne (born September 5, 1959) is a politician, political scientist and a teacher of Haiti. He is the coordinator of the Struggling People's Organization (or Organisation Politique Lavalas) political party created in 1991. He obtained his Master Degree of Science Development in the Faculty of Ethnology from the University of Haiti and Masters in Social science from at the Latin American Faculty in Mexico and finally a PhD in political science at the University of Montreal. During his election campaign, he had promised his government will have economic and social policy to bring investment towards the domestic growth sectors, adopt suitable land management legal framework. He was one of the 54 Presidential candidates in the October 25 election. Under his OPL banner, he has obtained 30,227 or 1.94% of total votes and came seventh in the list. He is one of the eight candidates to sign the memorandum demanding the CEP an Independent Commission to investigate the alleged frauds affecting the integrity of the October 25, 2015 election.

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Here is a picture of Joseph François André aka "Joe Trouillot".

Joseph François André aka "Joe Trouillot" (born March 22, 1922, Haiti), the famous singer of the Haitian band "Issa El Saieh" passed away in Montréal, QC, Canada on October 29, 2015 at the age of 93. The Ministry of Culture has learned with dismay the sad news of his death and has extended its deepest condolences for the loss of this good natured Haitian music icon to his family and friends and in general to the Haitian cultural and artistic world. He was a man in a hat with a golden voice, has over fifty discs and 300 songs to his credit. During his heydays, the Quebec newspaper 'Le Devoir' termed him as the patriarch of Haitian song.

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Who is the candidate in Haiti presidential election Jovenel Moise?

Jovenel Moise (born June 26, 1968), the government backed candidate from the PHTK party was handpicked by the outgoing President Martelly as his successor. He was born in a modest family in Trou du Nord (North-East Department). Jovenel inherited own sense of discipline, civic and moral responsibility and love for the country from his parents. As a shrewd entrepreneur, he is the main promoter of the Agritrans banana export project in Haiti. Moise knows very well how to transform problems into opportunities. Mathias Pierre, a presidential candidate from the Konsyans Patriyotik party, when one week before the election, realized that he could not do well in the run, decided to support Jovenel Moise. However, Jovenel's success in the first round election, with 32.81% votes against 25.27% of Jude Célestin, was little unexpected because Celestine had a pre-election approval rating of 33.4% while Moise was much behind in the second place with 17.5% approval.

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Here is the picture of Alvin P. Adams Jr. who passed away this week.

Alvin P. Adams Jr. (73), a key Figure during Jean-Bertrand Aristide rule and an Ambassador who helped Haiti pursue democracy, died of a heart attack on October 10, 2015, at his home in Portland, Ore. Alvin P. Adams Jr., was an American envoy to Haiti (1989 to 1992) and champion of human rights, but he would be more remembered for his contributory role during the government of Jean Bertrand Aristide and his negotiation in the 1990s with Lt. General Prosper Avril. Gen. Avril was a Haitian military ruler and a protégé of the ousted dictators Francois Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier; Avril had to leave Haiti ultimately on a United States Air Force jet like his predecessor. His departure paved the way for a provisional civilian replacement and, later that year, the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first freely elected president and a Roman Catholic priest. When a military coup overthrew Aristide from power within the same year, Alvin Adams again played a key role in negotiating his exile to Venezuela. Jean Bertrand came back to power in 1994.

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Here is a picture of Police Officer wilbert Etienne who was killed.

On Wednesday, October 14, 2015, in the Delmas 24 neighborhood, Wilbert Etienne (29) a member of the 24th Promotion of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), while returning from a bank in civilian clothes after collecting a loan of 180,000 gourdes, was robbed and killed by two men on motorcycle. Gary Desrosiers from the Haitian police had identified the slain police officer as Wilbert Etienne. The two motor cyclists cornered him on a road in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Delmas 24 and shot the off-duty policeman several times before he died. Etienne was also traveling on a motorcycle. It is quite obvious that killing was planned by someone who knew his loan plans.

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Here is the picture of the famous Haitian Violinist Romel Joseph who passed away at the age of 56. Romel Joseph was trapped for over 18 hours after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Romel Joseph, the famous Haitian violinist has passed away on October 6th, following a heart attack. In a note, issued by the Jean Marc Arthur Orante, the Haitian Minister of Culture of the Youth (GJH) has confirmed the sad demise of this famous blind violinist occurred at the Hospital Bernard Mevs and has extended government's sincere condolences to his family, relatives, friends, all Haitian artists and all those afflicted by this disappearance. The violinist survived the January 2010 earthquake after spending 18 hours pinned under concrete rubbles. When he was asked later how he was feeling under the concrete rubbles with a fractured hand and two crushed legs, he had said, I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad. The day before his death, on October 5th, his daughter Victoria posted a message on Facebook asking well wishers to pray for her father who had suffered a stroke while in Haiti. Hours later, the social media site turned into a memorial, filled with messages of condolence.

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Here is Colonel Himmler reacting on the resignation of Nehemie Joseph.

Lt. Col. Himmler Rebu, a Minister of Youth, Sports and Civic Action (MJSAC), and former commander of the Leopards Battalion believes that the resignation of electoral councilor Néhémie Joseph confirms the fact what everybody knows-- if the elections are allowed to continue, the country would lead to a catastrophe. In a letter, former Councilor Joseph had informed about several lapses which were allowed to be continued without any corrective measure. A multi-partisan group, Patriotic Resistance, a conglomeration of two dozen political parties has called for a new electoral council and has asked the transitional government to organize fair, inclusive and credible elections in Haiti. Mr. Nehemiah Joseph left the permanent electoral council because he could not comply with the selection of three electoral advisers, Patrick Metellus, Salnave Exantus and Yves Benoit Jean-Marie at the instigation of the President of CSPJ, Me Anel Alexis Joseph.

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Chelsea Clinton in an email to her mother and father explained some of the problems see has been able to observe regarding the Haitian relief efforts.

Recently, on September 1, the U.S State Department has released an email from Chelsea Clinton, addressed to her "Dad" and "Mom". In the email sent, sometime in 2010 after Chelsea's four days visit to Haiti, she did warn her parents that the United Nation's handling of international relief efforts in Haiti excepting UNICEF was a disaster; an immediate change in the organization, management, accountability and delivery paradigm on the ground is needed. Otherwise, we have to confront with the deaths of thousands of children of diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid and other water-related diseases in the near future. Her criticisms were mainly focused on the efforts of the UN and international NGOs. She had described the UN people as "frequently out of touch," "anachronistic at best and arrogant and incompetent at worst," The story does not end here....

During the period when Hillary Clinton was with the State Department as Secretary of State between January 21, 2009 to February 1, 2013, the USAID had disbursed $3.6 billion for Haitian "earthquake relief". At the same time, her husband, former US president Bill Clinton, was collecting money on behalf of Haiti to his own private foundation from foreign governments. When Hillary Clinton resigned from the State Department, her brother Tony Rodham, out of the blue, luckily got an appointment as a director of a company which had managed to acquire a lucrative gold mining contract in Haiti. Haitian lawyer and human rights activist, Ezili Dantò has accused Bill Clinton responsible for $6 billion collected on account of Haitian relief fund. Dantò has claimed that only 1% of this amount was made available to the Haitian government.

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Here is a picture of the Haitian Security Guard Camelia Joseph who brought lawsuit against Walt Disney World for discrimination.

As per news report dated September 4, 2015, a Jury in Orange County has found that Camelia Joseph, a security guard with Haitian background working at Walt Disney World for the last twenty years, has become a victim of workplace discrimination by the employer as she was deprived of a promotion which she deserved. In a lawsuit, she had mentioned that she had applied for a job of an emergency coordinator in 2010, but she was discriminated for her colored Haitian background-- the position ultimately went to a white man with less experience and qualification. The jury has found that Camelia's claim of discrimination was correct; she was discriminated because of her national origin. However, since her application was not properly processed, the jury is unsure whether she could really qualify to get the position and consequently they could not offer any compensation or award to Camelia. However, Walt Disney World has maintained about their claim for a longstanding policy against workplace discrimination.

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