President Martelly Visit to Miami and New York for Diaspora Week Celebration

The President Michel Martelly, just finished a weekend of work in favor to the National Fund for Education and of the effective involvement of the Haitian diaspora in the development of the country. This trip, which is part of the "Diaspora Weekend Appreciation" which is part of the Action Plan of the Presidency for the first 100 days, led him to Miami and NY on June 25 and 26, 2011.

Article by: Haitilibre

In Miami, the President of the Republic met with businessmen, community leaders and local elected officials including the Mayor of Miami, Thomas Regalado, who gave him the keys to the city.

The President has took advantage of these meetings to continue to promote the movement of change and renewal of the country and serve to his interlocutors that a new era is emerging for Haiti. He invited the Haitian compatriots to become, now, the first tourists and ambassadors of the new Haiti. He has, among other things, reiterated his support to the approach of the diaspora that require the dual citizenship to get more involved in national affairs.

The country is now "open to investment" is one of the most resounding messages delivered by the Head of State who invites the Haitians of everywhere, to divorce of the practice which consists to say anything bad about its own country to having a clear conscience. He invites them to offer to the world all that Haiti has of marvellous, all its tourist and economic potentialities.

The President urged the compatriots from abroad to continue to support the financing of the National Fund for Education, allowing him to open doors to schools to more than 500,000 children in the first time, and ensure access to over two million who need it by the end of his term. The head of State promised to ensure the proper use of each cent belonging to this Fund.

In New York, the President was received by members of the Federation of the Diaspora for a business lunch and of fundraising. Then, he visited Sam Dalembert Foundation for a dinner, also of fundraising in honor of Haiti and for the education project of the President of the Republic.

In both cases, and in many other events that marked his stay in the United States, the involvement of these compatriots in the Renewal of Haiti and their support to the National Fund for Education of the President Martelly have been at the centre of discussions.

PRESIDENT MARTELLY SPEECH IN NY - JUNE 26, 2011

IN MIAMI, RESPONDS TO QUESTION ON PM REJECTION

PRESIDENT RECEIVES KEYS TO THE CITY OF MIAMI

PRESIDENT MESSAGE IN MIAMI

PRESIDENT MEET PUBLIC AT KREYOL FEST IN NY

Sophia Martelly chairs the Haitian delegation to the UN

From: HaitiLibre


A large delegation of the Caribbean, composed of two Prime Ministers, ten Ministers of Health, one Minister of Foreign Affairs and six First Ladies of the Caribbean, whose Sophia Martelly, attend at this time in New York, to a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly of high level on the HIV/AIDS.

Sophia Martelly, the First Lady of the Republic of Haiti, who heads the Haitian delegation, has left Port-au-Prince to New York yesterday Tuesday, June 7, 2011.

This morning, at UN headquarters, the First Lady of Haiti, has attended the opening of this special session which runs until June 10. On the sidelines of the ceremony, she will have the privilege to speak during a unique event involving the spouses of Heads of State or of Government from the whole world around a common commitment for the elimination of the transmission of HIV from mother to child by 2015.

Dr. Ernest Massiah, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team, advised, that although five countries in the region have experienced dramatic decreases in new infections by the HIV, approximately 18,000 people are still infected each year in the Caribbean, 50 people per day.

The First Lady, by participating to this event,wishes to emphasize the high contribution of Haiti to the advancement of the global response to AIDS both at the level of the research of care and treatment than in psychosocial support and reiterated her commitment to this struggle.
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Intervention of the First Lady of the Republic of Haiti, Mrs. Sophia Martelly, to the high-level meeting on the HIV/AIDS, to the United Nations, New York, June 8, 2011.

Her Excellency, Mrs. Azeb Mesfin
First Lady of Ethiopia,

Mrs. Ban Soon Taek,
Spouse of UN Secretary General

Mr. Michel Sidibe,
Executive Director of UNAIDS


Ladies and Gentlemen,

If Haiti was one of the countries early affected by HIV, we can also assert that from the beginning of the epidemic, my country has contributed greatly to the advancement of the global response to AIDS. And this, both in the field of research, care and treatment, than in providing psychosocial support to people infected and affected by HIV.

Haiti, is now a global model of success, because in the past ten years, from 2001 to 2011, the prevalence increased from 7.5 to 2.2%.

Despite these significant improvements, I nevertheless want to express my concern over the fact that the epidemic affects in our country an increasingly large proportion of women and girls, this because of their situation of vulnerability socio-cultural and economic.

We can, we must (!), reverse this trend by encouraging and supporting the program of Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT).

Two weeks ago, on the occasion of Mother's Day, by visiting a maternity hospital, I discussed with pregnant women with HIV who have, -what was unthinkable a few years ago - a real hope of giving birth to children without HIV. We want to make of that hope a reality for all, so that now, in Haiti or in the world, all children have the chance to be born without HIV.

Where are we today in terms of program of Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission ?

My country, since the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010, has experienced, in addition to a difficult hurricane season, a cholera epidemic. But, thanks to the commitment of all our partners, we were able to respond efficiently and our institutions were able to continue provide care for people living with HIV.

One hundred and forty thousand (140,000) pregnant women were tested in 2010, one hundred twenty five (125) PMTCT sites are functional today against three (3) sites in 2001.

Despite everything, the challenges remain huge because if we want to achieve universal access to PMTCT, we are forced to decentralize the operations by activating them as close as possible of the communities. It will be necessary, on the other hand, to strengthen our health system to insert the needs of women in general and more specifically those of pregnant women with HIV.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Alongside the President of the Republic, I reiterate my personal commitment today to support all actions in favor of women and children infected and affected by HIV.

I will spare no effort to promote the expansion, in areas with high concentration of human, of health services maternal, neonatal and child integrated, including PMTCT.

I conclude by affirming my conviction, that if all of us who share these concerns, we put our efforts in synergy, together, we shall overcome AIDS,

I thank you!

Mrs. Sophia Martelly
First Lady of the Republic of Haiti

Haiti Parliament REJECTS Daniel Rouzier As Haiti Prime Minister

Martelly's pick Rejected

(AFP) – 3 hours ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE — The Haitian parliament rejected the nomination of Daniel-Gerard Rouzier to serve as prime minister, in a blow to new President Michel Martelly.

More than a month after Martelly took up the reins of power in the quake-hit Caribbean nation, Haiti still lacks a legitimate government, after prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive and his cabinet resigned.

Forty-two deputies voted against Rouzier's nomination, most of them members of former president Rene Preval's Unity Party, while 19 deputies voted for him and three abstained.

"We will write to the president to let him know the Chamber of Deputies has rejected Daniel-Gerard Rouzier's nomination as prime minister, and ask him to nominate a new prime minister," said speaker Saurel Jacinthe.

In debates before the vote, several deputies expressed concern that Rouzier was a businessman, pointing to a possible conflict of interest if he became prime minister.

Rouzier, who is close to Martelly, studied in the United States and has a masters degree in accounting, founded E-Power, a company that supplies many Haitians with electricity and holds government contracts.

Critics had also hammered him for being the honorary counsel general of Jamaica, a post that had functions, some lawmakers argued, that were incompatible with him becoming prime minister.

Rouzier, a married father of three who has written two books, "The Power of Ideas" (2002) and "To Believe, Love and Hope" (2006), is described in his biography as an avid book and art collector, especially on Haitian subjects.

As he was sworn in as president in May, Martelly vowed to "change Haiti," promising to restore order and confidence in a country struggling to emerge from one of the most destructive earthquakes of modern times.

Much of the capital was leveled in a magnitude 7.0 quake in January 2010 that killed more than 225,000 people and left one in seven Haitians homeless, a devastating disaster for a country that was already the poorest in the Americas.

Seventeen months on, the pace of reconstruction is painfully slow for hundreds of thousands of traumatized survivors who lost everything and are forced to subsist in squalid tent cities around the still-ruined capital.

Observers had predicted that Martelly would face an uphill struggle to form a government and navigate the often treacherous currents of Haitian politics.

He has just three members of his own fledgling Repons Peyizan party to work with in parliament as he looks to forge deals with Unity, Preval's ruling party that firmed its grip on power in the legislative elections.

First-round presidential election results led to deadly riots in December after Martelly was said to have finished third and out of the race. An outcry led by the United States ushered in a team of international monitors who found massive fraud in favor of the ruling party candidate.

Preval's handpicked protege Jude Celestin was eliminated from the race in February and Martelly was reinstated to compete in a long-delayed run-off against former first lady Mirlande Manigat.

"His papers weren't correct," said Patrick Joseph, a deputy with Unity, the political party of former President Rene Preval. "We need to stop wasting time, and they need to submit an appropriate choice to be ratified."

Kenston Jean-Baptiste, a deputy from a little-known political party, accused the opposition of wanting to hang on to power.

"Those who voted against (Rouzier) don't want to share the cake," Jean-Baptiste said. "The people who are used to blocking the country will continue blocking the country."

Kenneth Michel, an adviser to Rouzier, declined to comment on the rejection, only saying that "parliament is parliament and parliament has its rights."

Haiti's next prime minister will play a key role in efforts to get moving with stalled reconstruction after the devastating damage of last year's earthquake.

Night of Passion Gala was a Great Success - By NJ Chapter of AMHE

The Night of Passion was a Success Sunday, June 12, 2011  by the NJ Chapter of AMHE

The older guests, aged between 76 and 106, gave up immediately after dinner, at around 11:00 p.m.  One hour of cocktail party, with Caribbean Splash, followed by two hours of a dinner-show were rich and intense enough; they turned breathless.    The middle-aged guests, 25 to 75, lasted until 2:00 a.m.; they navigated between two dance floors, and danced their hearts out.     The less-than-24 are still partying, at the time of this writing, at the Plaza. They count to continue partying non-stop until next year, until next year's CulturaGanza.   It was Saturday night, at the majestic Crowne Plaza Meadowlands Hotel, in Secaucus, New Jersey.  It was CulturaGanza 2011, an unrestrained display of class, performance, elegance and joie de vivre.  This annual rendez-vous, for all beautiful people, of all races and creeds, between the ages of 16 and 106, set by the NJ Chapter of the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad (AMHE-NJ) has become the end-of-spring hallmark, the great event, for all souls in search of a good night out, a five-course dinner, a program and an ambiance found nowhere else. It is date night; it is family night.   The event of a capacity of 420 seats, sold its 402nd, the night before the party. The menacing rain did not discourage a single guest. Long lines at the Crystal Room's cocktail party and on the red carpet picture-taking station were proof thereof.   Caribbean Splash was clearly one cut above. They animated the early evening hour with a compendium of reggae, calypso, and soca. Lady Gaga, the impersonator, joined the party. It was a riot. A short one though, since at 9:00 p.m., the crowd had to move to the Imperial Ballroom. It was a relative swift move, on the red carpet. The guests were welcome by the singers and drum players of the Arc-en-Ciel Dance Company.   By 9:17, Dr. Reynald Altema had eloquently made sense of the event and given directions to the guests. He emphasized one of the pet projects of the AMHE-NJ Chapter, a new school geared toward preparing the leaders of tomorrow's Haiti. Shirley Crabbe, introduced by the master of ceremony, Dr. Pierre Ronald Leger, saluted the audience with an Aria song. Moving. Excellent. Dr. Margaret Olibrice Saint Fleur, in her well delivered State of the Chapter's Address, underlined the achievements of her first two years at the helm of the Chapter, and set her goals and novel hopes for her second term.   During dinner, the audience appreciated Lady Gaga (in Born this Way, etc,) Gia al Qamar, the belly dancer, and mostly the Arc-en-Ciel Dance Company, in a multi-part Afro-Caribbean folkloric performance.   Concomitantly, three awards were presented. Dr. Eddy Simon received the Physician of the Year Award. Ms. Yve-Car Monperousse was bestowed upon the Community Award. Dr. Judith Banks, who has done great work in Haiti, deserved the 2011 Solidarity Award.   In the lobby, all night, several vendors displayed their merchandises, along side the Passion photo-booth. At 1:00 a.m, the raffle for a trip for two, anywhere in the Caribbean or Central America, offered by Continental Airlines, took place, and made one happy winner among the Jamaican guests.   At 11:10, DJ Rudy invited the attendance to conquer the dance floor in a one-hour round of international dance party. At 12:10, the international dance party moved to the AMHE Metro Club outfitted in the Crystal Room, while Ti Kabzy, the smash compas band from Montreal, entertained the avid revelers, in the Imperial Ballroom, until 2:00 am. They close the night with the Auld Lang Syne (Ce N'est Qu'un Au Revoir).   Many guest were still in the lobby at 3:00 a.m., taking pictures, reconnecting with old friends.    By selling out the gala, and filling out all the pages of the Souvenir Ad Journal, the New Jersey Chapter of the AMHE has reached its fund-raising goals. The members of the Executive Committee melt in thanks to all of you who so wholeheartedly support their humanitarian causes, year in and year out. They thank you for your contribution, your presence, or both.   The next CulturaGanza is on June 9, 2012, at the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands in Secaucus. It will start at 8:00 p.m. sharp. Just be there!   AMHE- NJ Chapter Public Relations Visit Web Site: www.amhenj.org

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