Haiti's president meets with 'Baby Doc,' Aristide - Boston.com Boston.com Latin America/Caribbean Haiti's president meets with 'Baby Doc,' Aristide Haiti's President Michel Martelly embraces former Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide during a meeting in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011. (AP Photo) By Trenton Daniel Associated Press / October 12, 2011 E-mail this article Add a personal message:(80 character limit) Your E-mail: Print | Text size – + PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Haiti's new president met with former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier on Wednesday in an effort to reconcile the Caribbean country with its troubled past. President Michel Martelly, who on Tuesday sat down with 1988 coup leader Prosper Avril, said he aims to bring together former leaders so they can help Haiti pull together and rebuild from last year's devastating earthquake. "We are writing a very special page in the history of Haiti," Martelly told The Associated Press after meeting for an hour with Duvalier.

"It's time for us to unite." Martelly said he hopes to meet with other former Haitian leaders soon, including his predecessor, former President Rene Preval. Martelly said the morning meeting with Aristide at his private residence on the edge of metropolitan Port-au-Prince was spent discussing a range of topics, from education to security to reconciliation. Martelly, a ribald musician before he was elected to the presidency in March, was once openly critical of Aristide, a Roman Catholic priest-turned-two-time president who was ousted in 1991 by a military coup and in 2004 by a ragtag group of former soldiers. But differences were apparently set aside Wednesday. "He received me as one of his own," Martelly said of Aristide. "We are all Haitians on this land -- that's the signal we need to send out." Martelly met in the afternoon with Duvalier for an hour at a private villa in the lush hills above Haiti's capital, where the two posed in an outdoor pavilion for images captured by national television. Longtime supporters, including Duvalier's partner Veronique Roy and attorney Reynold Georges, joined them.

Duvalier made an unexpected return in January after 25 years in exile in France. Shortly after, the former despot was charged with embezzlement, human rights abuses and other crimes but efforts to move forward on the prosecution have stalled. Martelly said he also hopes to meet with Leslie Manigat, a professor who became president in 1988 in a vote widely considered fraudulent only to be toppled two years later. Manigat is apparently ill, Martelly said. Preval is currently out of town. Manigat's wife, Mirlande, was Martelly's rival in the March runoff election that brought the former musician to power. His inauguration in May marked the first time that a Haitian president, Preval, completed two terms. It was also the first time that a leader transferred power to a member of the opposition. Avril was an army colonel who led a 1988 coup that overthrew a transitional government. He resigned two years later amid protests. © Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Singer Michel Martelly Elected Haiti’s President - The New York Times The New York Times Americas |Popular Carnival Singer Is Elected President of Haiti in a Landslide Search Continue reading the main story Photo Supporters of Michel Martelly, known as Sweet Micky, celebrated on Monday in Port-au-Prince after the announcement by the electoral commission. Credit Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — One of Haiti ’s most popular entertainers, a provocative Carnival singer previously best known for disrobing and swearing on stage , was elected president in a landslide, according to results announced Monday, placing him at the helm of a nation still struggling to recover from last year’s earthquake, a cholera epidemic and chronic poverty. The singer, Michel Martelly , 50, known as Sweet Micky or Tet Kale (bald head), won 68 percent of the vote in a runoff election two weeks ago that he nearly did not qualify for. He defeated Mirlande Manigat, 70, a college professor and former first lady, who won 32 percent of the vote. She had cast herself as a mother figure to soothe Haiti’s ills, in contrast to Mr.

Martelly’s image as a rebellious son bent on shaking up the establishment. When the results were announced at the election commission offices on Monday evening, firecrackers went off outside, hundreds of people ran chanting Mr. Martelly’s name through the streets and people danced in an earthquake tent camp across the street. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Election officials did not immediately disclose the election turnout. If the results hold up, Mr. Martelly will take office in May, after President René Préval, who could not seek another term under the Constitution, steps down. The final results, allowing for a period of appeals, are expected April 16. Mr. Martelly, who posted a message on Twitter thanking supporters “for your trust,” planned to speak to reporters on Tuesday. A spokesman for Ms. Manigat did not return a message. Photo Mr. Martelly exiting a polling station in Petionville on March 20. Credit Swoan Parker/Reuters United Nations peacekeepers had increased their patrols on Monday in anticipation of the type of civil disorder that greeted the initial results in December , after a first round of voting on Nov. 28 that was marred by fraud and disarray at the polls. Ms.

Manigat and the governing party’s candidate, Jude Célestin, won the top two spots in the initial count of that election, qualifying them for the runoff. But supporters of Mr. Martelly took to the streets crying fraud, igniting days of violence that culminated in an international investigation of the results. After a report by the Organization of American States and pressure from international donors, Haitian officials removed Mr. Célestin from the ballot and replaced him with Mr. Martelly. Before the runoff, international observers fretted over the arrival of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the popular former president who returned to the country two days before the voting after seven years of exile. They worried that his presence alone could disrupt the election or suppress turnout. Upon landing, Mr. Aristide said he regretted the exclusion of his party, Fanmi Lavalas, which election authorities had disqualified on a technicality. But otherwise, he has kept a low profile. Election observers from the Caribbean Community and Organization of American States said the runoff, while far from error- or confusion-free, had proceeded more smoothly than the initial round, and the counting of ballots endured much more scrutiny for fraud and irregularities.

That delayed the posting of preliminary results, which had been expected last Thursday. Advertisement Continue reading the main story With tens of thousands of people displaced by the quake still living in camps, only a fraction of the rubble cleared and more than 4,600 killed by cholera since the epidemic began in October, it appears Haitians believed only a political outsider like Mr. Martelly could change the country’s direction. Photo United Nations troops from India put on protective gear near posters of Mr. Martelly near the headquarters of the Provision Electoral Council in Petionville on Monday. Credit Lee Celano/Getty Images In the campaign, Mr. Martelly eschewed the skirts, underwear and other outlandish outfits of his musical career in favor of tailored suits and talk of reforming education and agriculture, streamlining delivery of humanitarian aid and restoring law and order by restoring the military, disbanded over a decade ago after a history of abuses. Now he faces the challenge of speeding the rebuilding of a country that, long before the quake, was the poorest in the Western Hemisphere and one of its most unstable politically. Haiti is heavily reliant on foreign humanitarian aid, dispersed through thousands of nongovernmental organizations that operate in effect as a shadow government.

It also relies on United Nations peacekeepers for security. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy Mr. Martelly will have to share power with a prime minister picked by Parliament, where Mr. Préval’s party is strong. “Whoever the new president is, this presents massive challenges and profoundly circumscribes how much room they will have to maneuver and pursue new projects,” said Laurent Dubois, a Duke University professor who helps direct a team of scholars studying the recovery. Mr. Martelly, in particular, faces high hurdles, lacking relations with, and in some cases raising suspicions of, power brokers here. “The outsider status of Martelly has been an important part of his self-presentation as a candidate,” Mr. Dubois said. “The question is whether, and in what ways, this might shape how he governs once in power.” Both the Haitian government and international donors have acknowledged the slow pace of rebuilding, attributed mainly to bureaucratic delays and a lack of follow-through on pledges. Only about a quarter of the $5.3 billion pledged at a donors’ conference more than a year ago has been delivered.

Vladimir Laguerre contributed reporting. A version of this article appears in print on April 5, 2011, on Page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Popular Carnival Singer Is Elected President of Haiti in a Landslide. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Caribbean Elections Biography | Michel Martelly (12 February 1961 - ) Michel Martelly Michel Joseph Martelly (born 12 February 1961) is a Haitian politician, former musician and businessman. From 14 May 2011 to 7 February 2016 he was the President of Haiti, having been one of Haiti's best-known musicians for over a decade by the stage name "Sweet Micky". Early life and education Michel Martelly is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Martelly and was born in Port-au-Prince on 12 February 1961. He attended Collège Roger Anglade, Saint Louis de Gonzague and Centre d’Etudes Secondaires, where he completed his studies and passed his Baccalaureate State exams.

After graduating from high school, Martelly joined the Haitian Military Academy and later moved to the United States where he ended up in working in a grocery store. One year later, he returned to Haiti and embarked on what turned out to be a very successful music career. Career Martelly is considered a pioneer in creating a unique music rhythm known as Compas or Kompa and started to gain popularity with his first single "Ooo La La" released in 1988. His popularity rapidly increased as he cultivated an image as a hedonistic playboy, and touched a sympathetic nerve among those seeking some escapism from everyday hardships. He soon enjoyed a national notoriety thanks to performances marked by his liberal use of betiz - Creole for playful and satirical obscenities - that form part of his repartee with the audience that is delivered in a slang mixture of English, French and Creole. His popularity really took off with the release of the I Don’t Care album in 1994 featuring numerous hits that rocked dance floors from Haiti to New York City.

In an often very conservative country, Martelly's predilection for appearing on stage wearing a skirt, or even performing in full drag, as he did for the 1996 Carnival, is refreshingly daring. 1987 was his lucky year, he rediscovers a longtime friend, Sophia Saint Rémy, from Gonaives. Today, twenty-three years later, they still share a profound bond. From their marriage were born four children: Michel-Olivier, Michel-Alexandre, Michel-Yani, and Malaika-Michel, to whom, despite his hectic schedules, Michel has been a wonderful father. They began to work as a team, she was the agent and Michel the act; they trekked the whole country, every state, every town and village. From the most sumptuous palace to the most humble abode he brought joy and was in complete communion with the Haitian spirit. From this professional experience, he has gained a profound knowledge of the country. Grateful for their luck and thankful for the success, the Martelly’s did not remain insensitive when surrounded by such poverty and misery.

This feeling of civic duty and a sense of social responsibility were channeled into different charitable activities that finally became the Pink and White Foundation, FREB. Using discretion as their ally, they started making a difference in the lives of people who no longer counted in this society. A tremendous amount of work was accomplished, tons of food staples were distributed and thousands of cooked meals were handed out; however, little publicity was allowed, a rather quiet dignity and timid generosity shrouded these activities, “Haitian suffering is not for sale” Michel has been known to say; “Haiti is too rich to be poor!” another famous phrase. He condemned the system obsolete explaining that it has totally lost its’ social consciousness; it is inefficient and cannot even serve the most destitute citizens. We believe that to change will require being painfully unpopular, but change is inevitable. Martelley stepped down from office on 7 February 2016 after serving a full term. Personal life Martelly currently lives in Haiti, but held several homes in Palm Beach, Florida. He lives with his wife and former manager, Sophia Saint–Rémy, and their four children, Olivier, Sandro, Yani, and Malaika.

Sources Haiti Has a President - The New Yorker Haiti Has a President February 17, 2016 Jocelerme Privert has been appointed the interim President of Haiti, but an official successor to outgoing President Michel Martelly has yet to be appointed, and the country’s future is as uncertain as ever.CreditPhotograph by Dieu Nalio Chery / AP What is going on in Haiti? Anyone hoping to follow its political twists and turns from abroad may be forgiven for feeling confused: the politics of the Caribbean republic of more than ten million—the western hemisphere’s poorest nation, and the only one in the Americas patrolled by U.N. peacekeepers—are both fiendishly complex and almost wholly dysfunctional. After an entire week in which Haiti had no President, the country’s lawmakers held a special session that dragged on for twelve hours and ended, early Sunday morning, with sixty-two-year-old Jocelerme Privert , a former Senate leader and opponent of former President Michel Martelly, being chosen to fill the role on an interim basis. Privert will govern until April 24th, when new Presidential elections are to be held. If all goes according to plan—which is not at all certain—the winner will assume office three weeks later.

Haiti’s latest crisis came to a head on February 7th, when President Michel Martelly left office after serving five rocky years at its helm. In his leave-taking ceremony, he said: “I now declare Haiti officially to have a power vacuum.” It was a characteristically blunt quip from a man who, throughout his Presidency, spoke his mind, and invariably caused offense. Before his own turn in politics, Martelly was best known as Sweet Micky , a ribald performer of a lively brand of dance music known as compas. He won office in disputed elections held after the devastating January, 2010, earthquake, which killed over two hundred thousand Haitians and destroyed thousands of buildings in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Coming out of a long history of dictatorships, Haiti’s current constitution prohibits its Presidents from serving more than one consecutive term, and so, although he certainly did not wish to, Martelly was obliged to step down. In the first electoral runoff, last October, his anointed successor, Jovenal Moïse, a banana exporter who campaigned as the Banana Man, came out ahead.

A second round of voting was postponed twice, and finally scheduled for January 24th, but Moïse’s chief rival, a veteran Martelly opponent named Jude Célestin, vociferously denounced the October polls as having been rigged and demanded that new elections be held. Célestin gained the support of several other parties’ candidates, and their followers began holding angry street demonstrations to voice his demands. Thanks to the mounting threats of violence on the streets of Port-au-Prince, Célestin’s gambit to thwart the second round was, in the end, successful. Two days before polls were to open, Haiti’s electoral commission called it off indefinitely. (Somewhat ironically, Célestin lost his place in the second round of the 2011 election to Martelly, after inspectors from the Organization of American States determined that many of Célestin’s first-round votes had been fraudulently obtained.) A few days before the second round was due to take place, Martelly, whom I profiled recently for the magazine , called to talk about his hopes and fears. He was clearly worried about the political confrontation brewing with Célestin.

He denied the accusations of fraud and vote rigging, and said that the opposition politicians were trying to force the cancellation of the second round so that an interim government, one that they could control, would be installed. He said that their plan would “bring chaos to Haiti,” and that was an outcome that had to be avoided at all costs. He saw it as his job, he said, to “reassure everyone and keep the country safe.” Things didn’t go as Martelly wished. On February 7th, there was no new President to succeed him, and he was forced to strike a last-minute deal with Haiti’s parlimentary leaders to form an interim government pending new elections—precisely the scenario he said he feared. Martelly, a clever man who appeared to have learned how to game the Haitian system, seems to have been outfoxed by his opponents. His critics accused him of all manner of nefariousness—from protecting traffickers to enriching himself with bribes and kickbacks—and even his staunchest defenders, which included American officials, conceded privately that some of the charges might be true. In fact, very few Haitians involved in politics are free of allegations of criminal behavior.

Widespread public suspicion of malfeasance on the part of Haiti’s public servants has become the norm. With Martelly’s exit from power, on the thirtieth anniversary of the end of the Duvalier family dictatorship, Haiti remains a deeply corrupt and unequal place. As for Martelly himself, not only was he denied the chance to exit gracefully, with a successor in place (“If there is continuity, I can come back,” he told me before the election), but Haiti’s annual Carnival was postponed because of the crisis, and he was unable to end his Presidency by joining in the festivities, and to “boom it out,” as he said he wished to do. Even before leaving office, however, Martelly signalled his return to his old persona of Sweet Micky by releasing a new song, with salacious lyrics that taunted some of his media critics, including a prominent Haitian radio journalist and human-rights activist, Liliane Pierre-Paul. The song is called “ Give them the Banana .” At Jocelerme Privert’s swearing-in ceremony on Sunday, few of Martelly’s allies were on hand.

Instead, the celebrating crowd was dominated by his rivals in Fanmi Lavalas (“The Flood”), a left-wing party that was founded by Haiti’s two-time former President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Privert’s political mentor. Whatever else he is, Privert is certainly a change in style from Martelly, who so despised Aristide that he once famously offered to “kill [him] and stick a dick up his ass.” At his inauguration, Privert struck a dutifully conciliatory tone: “We should welcome the peaceful and inclusive nature of this new step in resolving the crisis. Our patience has been severely tested this past few days, but our tolerance has been reinforced,” he said. My Presidency should be part of the logic of the need to return to constitutional normality.” If only the Presidential election were the end of Haiti’s problems. Last week, the U.N. World Food Program (W.F.P.) warned that 1.5 million Haitians are at risk from severe malnutrition; the number has doubled since September, due to a combination of prolonged drought, the climate phenomenon known as El Niño—and, of course, the conditions of extreme poverty in which the vast majority of the population lives.

It is Haiti’s worst food crisis in fifteen years. In some parts of the countryside, farmers have experienced crop failures of as much as seventy per cent, and in one of the worst affected areas scores of children have starved to death. The W.F.P. has launched an appeal for eighty-four million dollars to help stave off the crisis. If the past is anything to go on, the U.N. will only manage to raise part of that money. After the catastrophic 2010 earthquake, foreign governments and international donor agencies made pledges of over thirteen billion dollars, of which less than six hundred and fifty million reached the Haitian government . Even before the earthquake and the inadequate aid allocations, however, Haiti was in a state of chaos, and in so many ways that it had become difficult, even for relief experts, to see how to fix it. Whoever becomes the nation’s next President will become, in effect, the caretaker of a large slum. During our several encounters in Port-au-Prince, Martelly was rueful about his own lack of achievements. He had decided, however, that the ultimate solution to Haiti was an ambitious program to educate its people.

Nearly half of all Haitians are illiterate, and that, he said, had to change. “We need to have another Haiti in twenty years. Look at Cuba, it’s got all those qualified people. We’re living the opposite experience.” Jon Lee Anderson, a staff writer, began contributing to The New Yorker in 1998. U.S.-backed president installed in Haiti U.S.-backed president installed in Haiti By G. Dunkel Published May 19, 2011 9:53 PM Michel Martelly, a former singer whose stage name was “Sweet Mickey,” was sworn in as Haiti’s president May 14. His inaugural speech promised major changes to rebuild a Haiti still devastated by the earthquake of Jan. 12, 2010. Preparations for his inauguration cost “only” $4.5 million, and each of the three private banquets celebrating his inauguration charged “only” $500 a seat. (Miami Herald, May 13) The International Monetary Fund estimates that 80 percent of the Haitian people live on less than $2 a day. That Haiti is devastated is undeniable.

More than 700,000 people whose homes were destroyed in the earthquake are still living under tents and tarps in camps located helter-skelter throughout Port-au-Prince and its surroundings. Conditions in these camps are deplorable. Basics like sanitation and water are at best inadequate and at worst nonexistent. Jobs are few. Hunger and physical violence, mainly directed at women, run rampant. Some 300,000 to 500,000 people, according to the U.N.’s International Office on Migration, have moved to rickety housing in damaged shantytowns, set up tents on rubble-strewn family property, or gone to live with relatives in the provinces. While estimates vary, the IOM says that just 31,656 transitional homes — temporary shelters — had been built by the end of 2010. (Greenwire, Jan. 12) As for Martelly’s promise of free education, sources in his campaign indicate it will go into effect at the end of his five-year term and probably only go up to grade four.

(Haïtí-Liberté, April 20) Most Haitians support Fanmi Lavalas, the party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Because it was excluded from the ballot, less than 25 percent of Haitian voters went to the polls in both rounds of the election. Martelly got about 16 percent of the possible votes in a country where voter turnouts have frequently been in the 80 percent to 90 percent range. Martelly’s platform: repression Martelly does not have an electoral mandate, even by the elastic standards the U.S. big-business press uses for right-wing Haitian politicians. Two of Martelly’s platform planks show his real orientation toward smashing the Haitian people’s resistance to the abominable poverty in which they are mired. Martelly has made it clear that he wants to reestablish the Haitian army, which Aristide disbanded in 1995. It was the U.S. that originally set up the army in 1928 to replace the one it had disbanded in 1916 when the U.S. invaded Haiti for the first time.

Its only function is to repress domestic dissent and carry out coups when the U.S. decides a president has gone too far. During his campaign, Martelly also promoted the Base Michel Martelly, modeled after François Duvalier’s Tonton Macoutes. According to journalist Kim Ives, “For $30, ... potential voters could join the Base Michel Joseph Martelly and invest in a pink plastic membership card, with photo, which promises many advantages (such as a job, say) when the Martelly administration comes to power. The move ensures prepaid voter participation and an esprit de corps among the loyal.” (Guardian, March 22) As Ives noted, during the Duvalier period, “Every Macoute received a card that afforded him many privileges, like free merchandise from any store he entered, entitlement to coerced sex, and fear and respect from people in general.” The Macoutes became one of the world’s most notorious death squads. During the years before the first coup against Aristide in 1991, Martelly ran a nightclub that was a hangout for leaders of the death squads that the army unleashed against Aristide’s movement. Martelly, U.S.

pawn The first round of presidential elections in November 2010 was so marked by fraud, incompetence and a nearly total lack of concern for procedures that 12 of the candidates, including Martelly, asked for a do-over. The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) dilly-dallied, admitting that Mirlande Manigat came in first but asserting that Jude Celestin was second and Martelly a close third. The CEP didn’t come to a firm decision until after the Organization of American States did a cursory examination of the voting tallies and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton went to Haiti and told the Electoral Council to put Martelly on the ballot for the second round. Immediately after being declared the winner, Martelly got on a plane to Washington and met with the State Department, the World Bank, the IMF and all the heavy-hitters. He made a point of getting a photo-op with both Hillary and Bill Clinton. The latter is co-chair of the Interim Reconstruction Commission, which controls any aid Haiti gets. Ever since 1990, when the Haitian people decisively defeated Marc Bazin, the candidate favored by U.S.

imperialism, in an election that was really a mass movement, Washington has been scheming to regain total political control of Latin America and the Caribbean and secure its hold over Haiti’s strategic location and all its resources. As long as Martelly suits their needs, they will back him. When he doesn’t, they’ll dump him. Haitian workers held a protest outside the still-ruined presidential palace while the inauguration was taking place. For the Platform of Public Enterprise Employees, who were laid off when state companies like Teleco were privatized in 2010, it was their 99th demonstration to demand 36 months of layoff pay. They also want ex-president René Préval put in jail for not giving them what the law requires. (Miami Herald, May 14) Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved. Workers World, 55 W.

17 St., NY, NY 10011 Haiti president to announce new government after parliament dissolved Haiti president to announce new government after parliament dissolved By Amelie Baron Share By Amelie Baron PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitian President Michel Martelly announced plans on Friday to form a consensus government within the next 48 hours in a bid to rescue the impoverished Caribbean nation from a looming political crisis. Martelly in a major speech urged anti-government demonstrators to maintain order as he seeks to steer the country toward new elections despite the dissolution of parliament earlier this week. Speaking before an audience of political leaders and the foreign diplomatic corps, Martelly said he would swear in a new prime minister later on Friday before using his executive authority to appoint a cabinet and a new electoral authority. "The weakness of our institutions and in particular the failure of the ... legislature, cannot and should not last. It is urgent to correct these deficiencies as soon as possible because the big loser in this crisis remains our Haitian nation," Martelly said. Haiti has not held legislative or municipal elections for three years, leaving parliament without a quorum as terms expired and Martelly ruling by executive authority.

Under normal circumstances, the prime minister and the electoral authority would have to be ratified by parliament. In a phone call with Martelly on Friday U.S. Vice President Joe Biden commended his efforts to reach a negotiated agreement with the parliament, but Biden expressed disappointment with the failure of parliament to pass an electoral law before it lapsed. As he announced last month, Martelly said he would install former Port-au-Prince Mayor Evans Paul as prime minister, with the composition of the new government to be announced over the weekend. For months Martelly battled opposition senators over an electoral law required before any vote can take place. He recognized on Friday that he had failed to hold elections, municipal or legislative since he assumed power in May 2011. "Today, as president of all Haitians, I take the responsibility for this situation," he said. Some of his opponents have taken to the streets to protest poverty, corruption and what they consider his autocratic rule. They accuse Martelly of deliberately bringing about the crisis in order to rid himself of stubborn opposition in parliament.

"Martelly wanted to control everything and now he is controlling everything," said Arnold Elie, who joined a protest of about 1,500 people in downtown Port-au-Prince on Friday morning. "We are protesting to tell Martelly: This country is not just for you. We want him to be arrested and judged for his financial crimes," said Elie. Martelly invited protesters to join a national dialogue he started in recent weeks with political parties. "I recognize the right of all those who have chosen the path of peaceful demonstrations to express their demands and frustrations," he said. Adding a touch of political mystery to his speech, Martelly said he would encourage a major discussion over Haiti's constitution, including "necessary amendments," but did not elaborate. He stressed he had no intention of changing the constitution to seek re-election, which is currently banned. "To avoid any misunderstanding ... I want to emphasize clearly and loudly, that ... in no case will I be a candidate in the next election," he said. Haiti is scheduled to hold presidential elections at the end of the year. Municipal and legislative elections are unlikely to be held before this summer due to complicated logistics and the need to find foreign donors to foot the bill.

(Reporting by Amelie Baron in Port-au-Prince; Writing by David Adams; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) Reblog Haiti's president meets with 'Baby Doc,' Aristide Haiti's president meets with 'Baby Doc,' Aristide TRENTON DANIEL - Associated Press Pin it Share Haiti's President Michel Martelly embraces former Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide during a meeting in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011. (AP Photo) More PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti's new president met with former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier on Wednesday in an effort to reconcile the Caribbean country with its troubled past. President Michel Martelly, who on Tuesday sat down with 1988 coup leader Prosper Avril, said the meetings were part of an organized effort to bring together former leaders so they can help Haiti pull together and rebuild from last year's devastating earthquake. The occasion, unprecedented by former Haitian leaders, prompted Aristide to make his first public speech on national television since he returned from South Africa in March after seven years in exile.

"This visit reinforces all the steps that have been made so that we can put our heads together," Aristide said in a videotape of his talk with the president while sitting with his wife, Mildred, at his side. The National Palace released the video Wednesday night to The Associated Press. Haiti needs "to speak, to dialogue, to unite so that the country can become more beautiful," Aristide said at his home on the edge of Port-au-Prince. Martelly earlier told The Associated Press that the two discussed a range of topics, from education to security to reconciliation. "We are writing a very special page in the history of Haiti," Martelly told AP after meeting with Haiti's other former leader, Duvalier. "It's time for us to unite." Martelly, a ribald musician before he was elected to the presidency in March, was once openly critical of Aristide, a Roman Catholic priest-turned-two-time president who was ousted in 1991 by a military coup and in 2004 by a ragtag group of former soldiers. Differences were apparently set aside Wednesday. "He received me as one of his own," Martelly said of Aristide.

"We are all Haitians on this land — that's the signal we need to send out." Martelly said he hopes to meet with other former Haitian leaders soon, including his predecessor, former President Rene Preval. Martelly met in the afternoon with Duvalier for an hour at a private villa in the lush hills above Haiti's capital, where the two posed in a pavilion for images captured by national television. Longtime supporters, including Duvalier's partner Veronique Roy and attorney Reynold Georges, joined them. Duvalier made an unexpected return in January after 25 years in exile in France. Shortly after, the former despot was charged with embezzlement, human rights abuses and other crimes but efforts to move forward on the prosecution have stalled. Martelly said he also hopes to meet with Leslie Manigat, a professor who became president in 1988 in a vote widely considered fraudulent only to be toppled two years later. Manigat is apparently ill, Martelly said. Preval is currently out of town. Manigat's wife, Mirlande, was Martelly's rival in the March runoff election that brought the former musician to power.

His inauguration in May marked the first time that a Haitian president, Preval, completed two terms. It was also the first time that a leader transferred power to a member of the opposition. Avril was an army colonel who led a 1988 coup that overthrew a transitional government. He resigned two years later amid protests. Reblog Haiti country brief - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Haiti country brief Haiti country brief Overview Australia established diplomatic relations with Haiti in 2000. The Australian High Commissioner in Trinidad and Tobago has non-resident accreditation to Haiti and is responsible for the conduct of the full range of diplomatic relations with Haiti. Currently, there is no Haitian diplomatic mission in Australia. Currently the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti has experienced political instability for most of its history. Haiti shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, comprising around one-third of the island with a 360 kilometre land boundary. The total land area of Haiti is 27,750 square kilometres of mostly rough and mountainous terrain, making it less than half the size of Tasmania.

Haiti has an estimated population of 9,893,934 million (July 2013) making it the second most populous country in the Caribbean (after Cuba). Population estimates explicitly take into account the effects of high mortality due to AIDS, which can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected. The majority of Haitians are of African descent (95%) with a white and mulatto minority, most of whom remain disproportionately wealthy and powerful. Reflecting its origins as a French colony, Haiti has two official languages: French (spoken by around 15% of the population and the lingua franca for education and advancement) and Creole (spoken by the majority). A small proportion of the population – around 5% - speak both languages. Religious practices have been influenced by West African practices imported into Haitian culture, with Voodoo (or Vodou), practised by over half the population. This does not preclude adherence to the official religion, Roman Catholic Christianity, as Voodoo adapted the African veneration of family and ancestral spirits with local conditions under the French.

The Roman Catholic Church is the main official religious denomination, and still claims the loyalty of 65% of the population. Protestant churches are also present. Political overview Background A former French colony, Haiti was the only country to have been formed from a successful slave revolt and only the second country in the Americas (after the United States) to declare its independence in 1804. Although the 1791-1804 revolution brought an end to slavery, leading to both blacks and mulattos being free and theoretically equal, there were racial, social and economic divisions deriving from the colonial regime which exerted strong influences on the shaping of post-independence society. The native Taino – who inhabited the island of Hispaniola when it was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 – were virtually annihilated in the 25 years following Spanish settlement. The French established a presence on Hispaniola in the early 17th century, with Spain ceding the western third of the island to France in 1697, which later became Haiti.

The French colony, with an economy based on forestry and sugar-related industries, became one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean but only through the heavy importation of African slaves and considerable environmental degradation. Following the successful revolt by nearly half-a-million slaves in 1804 Haiti became the first post-colonial black-led nation in the world. The shift from plantation to small family farming was one of a number of factors which proved disastrous in the long run for Haiti's agriculture productivity, exports, and economy. Since independence Haiti has been be characterised by political instability. The Government changed hands 22 times during the 19th century and the US intervened in 1915 following massive civil unrest. The US upgraded public administration and significantly improved physical infrastructure but also expanded opportunities for foreigners to invest and own property in Haiti. Nationalist rebels, called the "Cacos," waged guerrilla warfare against US presence until a Haitian Government elected in 1930 negotiated a full withdrawal of US military personnel in August 1934. Haiti was subsequently governed by a succession of unstable regimes in the 1940s and 1950s.

In 1957 Francois Duvalier became President following an election that is widely believed to have been influenced by the military. In1964, Duvalier declared himself president for life, maintaining control through a secret police force and death squads. Upon Duvalier's death in 1971, his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, succeeded him as President for Life. Over the next 15 years, despite Duvalier's repression, social unrest continued to grow, destabilising the government. In 1986, Jean-Claude Duvalier agreed to exile in France leaving the government in the hands of the military. Political instability continued until a provisional government led by Supreme Court Justice Ertha Pasqualle Trouillot scheduled elections for December 1990, which were won by Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide was deposed in 1991 but returned to the Presidency in 1994 following intervention by a Multi-National Force headed by the US under a UN mandate.

In 1995 Rene Preval was elected President and remained in office until 2000 but was not able to provide the political stability needed to foster economic development. In 2000, Aristide was again elected President but continuing political opposition led to the near economic collapse of the country. By 2004, following unsuccessful coup attempts and civil unrest, Haiti was on the verge of civil war and Aristide departed Haiti for political exile. At the end of 2004, an 8,000 member UN Stabilisation Mission (MINUSTAH) was deployed to Haiti to maintain civil order. In 2006 Rene Preval again became President, succeeded in May 2011 by Michel Martelly, who has presided over the continuing challenge of promoting political stability. MINUSTAH (UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti) The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) established MINUSTAH in June 2004 to restore a secure and stable environment, to promote the political process, to strengthen Haiti's Government institutions and rule-of-law-structures, as well as to promote and to protect human rights.

The UNSC has extended the mandate for MINUSTAH annually, drawing on six monthly reports from the UN Secretary-General. While Australia does not contribute troops or police to MINUSTAH, Australia does contribute significant funds through assessed contributions and as a member of the UNSC 2013-2014 has participated in the Security Council's work on Haiti. In response to continuing improvements in Haiti, the mandate for MINUSTAH agreed by the UNSC on 14 October 2014 provides for continuing reduction in troop numbers from 5,021 to 2,370 by 15 October 2015, while maintaining the current police strength of up to 2,061 officers. Given uncertainty about timing of overdue elections and potential for unrest during elections, the mandate calls for force levels to remain close to the current level in country until the UN Secretary-General's next report to the Council in March 2015, and affirms that adjustments to force configuration should be based on the situation on the ground. Australia's national statements in the Security Council on Haiti Political system Haiti is a Presidential-style Republic, with Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches.

At the executive level, the President of Haiti is the Head of State (President Michel Martelly since 14 May 2011). The President who is elected by popular vote for a five-year term, may not serve consecutive terms. The next election is due in 2015. The Prime Minister (Laurent Lamothe since 16 May 2012) is appointed by the President, ratified by the National Assembly. The Cabinet is chosen by the Prime Minister in consultation with the President. The legislative branch is a bicameral National Assembly comprising the Senate (30 seats; members elected by popular vote for six-year terms; one-third elected every two years) and the Chamber of Deputies (99 seats; members elected by popular vote for four-year terms). The Senate last held elections in 2010-2011, with the last regular election for one-third of seats scheduled for 2012 but delayed and now long overdue. The Chamber of Deputies last held elections in 2010-2011 with the next regular election due in 2014. Haiti has a civil legal system strongly influenced by the Napoleonic Code.

Haiti is a member of the Caribbean Court of Justice and accepts compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction and has signed but has not ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Haiti's latest (23rd) constitution was approved in March 1987. Bilateral relations Australia has diplomatic relations with Haiti and coordinates on issues of shared concern, including in the United Nations. Australia has also supported Haiti through the regional development program. In 2009, Australia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM - which includes Haiti) regarding international cooperation on development assistance. From 2010 to 2014, Australia provided A$60 million in official development assistance to CARICOM including 128 scholarships, 70 fellowships, 25 volunteers and training for 61 diplomats. The regional program has now closed, though some activities that have already been funded will continue until 2018. Haiti earthquake response Australia responded quickly to the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010.

The Australian Government provided $26.2 million for immediate relief and reconstruction following the January 2010 earthquake, while the Australian public generously donated $26 million in response to appeals by Australian non-government organisations. By 2014 virtually all of the Australian Government's assistance had been either delivered on the ground or allocated to international agencies to deliver their programs. $10 million in emergency assistance was provided in the immediate aftermath of the disaster to support relief efforts: $1 million to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies $4.5 million to the United Nations World Food Program which helped provide food to an estimated 3.5 million people $1 million to the United Nations Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) $1 million to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) $2.5 million to six Australian NGOs—Oxfam, CARE, Caritas, Save the Children, Plan and World Vision. This funding also helped deliver clean water, shelter, education and protection—for 4,800 children.

$14 million was provided to support recovery and longer-term reconstruction efforts in Haiti: $2.5 million to the United Nations Development Programme's Cash for Work Programme which created jobs for more than 97,000 Haitians $10 million to the Haiti Reconstruction Fund which is managed by the World Bank Of the remaining $1.5 million, $750,000 was provided to support the Caribbean Community's relief efforts and $750,000 to help construct water tanks for rainwater storage in partnership with Brazil. The Australian Government rapidly responded to UNICEF's cholera appeal providing $1 million in December 2010 and then $455,000 through CARICOM in May 2011. In addition, $765,000 supported Cuba's delivery of health assistance in Haiti. The October 2010 cholera outbreak was mostly centred in central rural regions of Haiti straddling the Artibonite River. As of 20 July 2014, the cholera epidemic had caused the death of 8,570 persons and infected 705,084.

Australia also deployed through the Australian Civilian Corps, a donor liaison officer in the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission in Port-Au-Prince for 12 months ending March 2012. With the support of Australia and other international donors more than 1.5 million people returned to their homes and have been rebuilding their livelihoods. With the humanitarian situation and response now stabilised, the Haitian Government and donor partners are focusing on finding longer term solutions for the large numbers of people displaced, numbering approximately 103,565 (as of 30 June 2014). Efforts will focus on shelter, livelihoods, health, education, the environment and other vital needs. Economic overview Haiti is a free market economy that enjoys the advantages of low labour costs and tariff-free access to the US for many of its exports. Significant impediments to economic growth include: poverty, corruption, vulnerability to natural disasters, weak infrastructure such as access to electricity, telecommunications and poorly maintained roads and airports as well as environmental issues including extensive deforestation, soil erosion and inadequate supplies of potable water. Low levels of education for much of the population and political instability are also challenges.

Economic recovery has been impeded by the 2010 earthquake and 2012 hurricanes which adversely affected agricultural production and slowed public capital spending. Haiti's natural resources include bauxite, copper, calcium carbonate, gold, marble, and hydropower. Main agricultural products are coffee, mangoes, cocoa, sugarcane, rice corn, sorghum, wood, and vetiver. Main industries are textiles, sugar refining, flour milling cement and light assembly based on imported parts. Haiti's labor force by occupation (2010 estimate) is 50.4 per cent services, 38.1 per cent agriculture, and 11.5 per cent industry; the unemployment rate is 40.6 per cent (2010 estimate). Haiti has abundant unskilled labor but a shortage of skilled labor, with widespread unemployment and underemployment. More than two-thirds of the labor force do not have formal jobs. Mangoes and coffee are Haiti's most important exports. Foreign aid makes up 3-4 per cent of the national government budget, with the largest donors being the United States followed by Canada and the EU.

In 2013, bilateral trade between Australia and Haiti totalled $2,265 million. Australian exports to Haiti were valued at $543,000 (mostly raw hides & skins, vehicle parts & accessories, telecom equipment & parts, medical instruments (incl veterinary)) and imports from Haiti were worth $1.722 million (mostly clothing, electric power machinery & parts, prams, toys, games & sporting goods, meters & counters). There is no significant investment or trade in services with Haiti. Economic and trade policy directions Progress towards sustainable development and political stability were severely impacted by the 2010 earthquake and subsequent weather events (including Hurricane Sandy in 2012). The earthquake killed 316,000 people, injured 300,000 people, and left 1,000,000 homeless and destroyed 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings. The situation was further exacerbated by the 2010 cholera outbreak. Haiti has made significant progress in recovery but substantial challenges remain.

Thus Haiti's main trade and development partners, in the United States, France and Canada, together with multilateral agencies such as the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations and the World Bank, will continue to play a key role in Haiti's future for the time being. Haiti will, for example, continue to be heavily reliant on trade with the United States given that 26 per cent of Haiti's goods imports and over 80 per cent of Haiti's goods exports are with the United States. . High Level Visits Michel Martelly Wins Haitian Elections – Repeating Islands April 4, 2011 Michel Martelly Wins Haitian Elections Popular singer Michel Martelly won the presidential election in Haiti with 67.57% of the votes, according to the preliminary results of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), these results giving rise to explosions of joy in Port-au-Prince. At Pétion-Ville, in the heights of the Haitian capital, hundreds of supporters of “Tet Kalé” (“Bald Head,” Mr.

Martelly’s stage name in Creole) gathered in a cheerful and calm atmosphere, after the CEP announced the first results from the March 20 run-off vote for the presidential election. Martelly’s opponent, Mirlande Manigat, received 31.74% of the votes. Final results will be announced on April 16 at the end of a period in which these results can be subjected to legal challenges, which must be dealt with by the electoral council. 50-year-old “Sweet Micky” Martelly, with no previous government experience, had preached a forceful message of change, pledging to break with decades of past corruption and misrule and to bring a better life to Haitians struggling to recover from a devastating 2010 earthquake. If these early results are confirmed, as René Préval’s successor, he will be at the head of one of the poorest countries of the Americas for a term of five years. He will face the huge challenge of trying to rebuild a small Caribbean country that was prostrated in poverty long before the earthquake killed between 250,000 and 300,000 people and bludgeoned its fragile economy last year.

[Many thanks to Anny D. Curtius for bringing this item to our attention.] For full articles (in English), see , and Share this: AP Interview: Haiti leader says Venezuela aid key - Boston.com Boston.com Business AP Interview: Haiti leader says Venezuela aid key Haiti's President Michel Martelly gestures during at bilateral meeting with Chile's President Sebastian Pinera in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday Dec. 3, 2011. Martelly is in Caracas to attend a summit by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) By Ian James Add a personal message:(80 character limit) Your E-mail: Sending your article Your article has been sent. CARACAS, Venezuela—Haitian President Michel Martelly says aid and fuel shipments from Venezuela are having a big impact in the Caribbean country as it attempts to recover from the devastation of its 2010 earthquake. President Hugo Chavez's government is providing nearly all the fuel that Haiti consumes under preferential terms, including long-term loans and direct shipping that cuts costs.

Martelly said power plants installed by Venezuela after the earthquake supply roughly one-fifth of Haiti's electricity and that Venezuela is also providing key financial support for rice farming and other programs. "The cooperation with Venezuela is the most important in Haiti right now in terms of impact, direct impact," Martelly told The Associated Press in an interview Saturday night after a summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders. "We are grateful to President Chavez for helping us from the bottom of his heart," Martelly said. Chavez has made helping Haiti a priority since the magnitude-7 earthquake in January 2010 that reduced much of Port-au-Prince to rubble. His government sent thousands of tons of food aid in the aftermath of the quake, and also set up several camps to temporarily house thousands of displaced Haitians. Well before the quake, Haiti had already been a major beneficiary of Venezuela's Petrocaribe program, which supplies fuel to Caribbean and Central American countries and allows them to pay part of the bill in goods such as rice and beans rather than cash.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said last week that the program now covers 43 percent of the fuel needs of member nations in Petrocaribe, shipping an average of 95,000 barrels of fuel a day at substantial savings to 16 countries. The deal has helped Chavez cement relationships with a growing group of allies across in the Caribbean. In Haiti's case, Petrocaribe also provides money to support social programs, including government projects that are building housing and providing food to poor families, Martelly said during a speech at the summit on Saturday. Martelly told the AP that a 30-megawatt power plant and two other 15-megawatt plants installed by Venezuela now "represent a good 20 percent of our total consumption." "With such rich support, we can -- he can -- bring some very important change to Haiti," Martelly said. Venezuela pledged $1.3 billion in recovery aid following the earthquake, the largest amount among 58 donors, according to the U.N. Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti. It says Venezuela has disbursed $118 million so far. The U.S.

pledged slightly less than Venezuela, $1.2 billion, but has so far spent more -- $172 million. Chavez's government also said last year that it was forgiving $395 million in debt through Petrocaribe. Venezuela provides aid without many of the conditions imposed by the U.S. and other donors, Martelly said. He said he can't complain about Washington's aid, which is also important for Haiti, but that U.S. assistance often takes more time to come through due to required procedures and controls. "Sometimes for a simple project, it might take too long for the project to happen," he said. "If you're asking me which one flows better, which one is easier, I'll tell you Venezuela." The former singer, who took office in May, said the previous Haitian government had neglected and mismanaged portions of the Petrocaribe program, and had apparently decreased the aid flow by failing to form a joint committee with Venezuelan officials to oversee spending. Martelly said he plans to change that.

He said that in addition to rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by the quake, his top priorities also include attracting investment and jobs, and he said that Venezuela is playing a role by helping increase rice farming in Haiti's Artibonite Valley. "In that program there is a deal where you repay the amount owed with the rice, so this is good for us. Because the main thing for us is to create jobs," Martelly said. "This is one aspect of what Petrocaribe brings to Haitians." Martelly said he also received promises of help from other leaders at the two-day summit, where they launched a new 33-nation bloc including every nation in the hemisphere except the U.S. and Canada. Chavez said a "troika" including Chile, Venezuela and Cuba will help coordinate the initial efforts of the new Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. Martelly, who also met with Cuban President Raul Castro, said it remains to be seen what role the new group could play in Haiti's reconstruction efforts. On another issue, Martelly said he is also seeking money needed to rebuild Haiti's army, which was dismantled in 1995 because of its history of abuses. He did not specify where he is looking for those funds.

Martelly said the new army would probably cost about $25 million to $30 million a year, much less than the thousands of U.N. peacekeepers currently in Haiti. The U.S. and Canada have said the country should instead focus on strengthening its police force and that they would not help pay for a new army. "Now, if nobody wants to help, then we have to think about a way of getting that money" to re-establish the army, Martelly said. He said he sees education and health care programs as higher priorities. "But at the same time, why do we need a foreign army to help us? A foreign army that's costing much more money?," he said. "Why not hire young Haitians? Why not regain our sovereignty?" During the meeting, Chavez pledged to strengthen the Petrocaribe program and denied opponents' accusations that it represents a costly giveaway for his government, saying it makes sense for Venezuela to offer low-interest, flexible loans to its Caribbean neighbors. "For us, it's a responsibility," Chavez said. Martelly, who met Chavez for the first time, said he felt a personal connection to the Venezuelan leader and thanked him for his support.

During his speech, he gushed to Chavez: "The people of Haiti love you with all their hearts." ------

Question: Michel Martelly became President of which Caribbean country in May 2011?
Answer: Haiti