Dessalines Is Rising!!
Ayisyen: You Are Not Alone!

Letter from the South African
President & a Note from Ezili Dantò
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Haiti's Freedom on May 18, 2007 by Marguerite Laurent,
Haitian Perspectives
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Hope and Humiliation: HLLN’s analysis of May 18, 2006 and the Inaugural of President Rene Preval by Marguerite Laurent, Haitian Perspectives, May 18, 2006

Haiti's under-17 national soccer team was in New York during an airport stopover on their way to South Korea for the FIFA World Cup. - AP

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Postscript to Haiti's "Under 17" Foot Ball Team's Lay Over in New York | Harry Fouche, Haitian Perspectives, June 19, 2007

With very few things in Haiti that we can be proud of, the prowess of the 'Under 17" Football Team becoming champion of the Americas was like that of a magic pill that would once more make us proud of who we are. Others even ventured to dare to dream that these young peoples' accomplishments would cure us of the ills of our society, albeit for a day or two.

Problems such as:

1) Political instability brought on by mercenaries paid to foment trouble or others who made an industry out of blocking the smooth operation of state equating
that with being "in opposition";

2) Insecurity, created and encouraged by those who prosper from chaos in the country. Not long ago, some thugs arrested by the police for kidnapping, murders, and grand larceny confessed that they were paid at the rate of $ 5,000 per week to carry out their dirty deeds;

3)Non-performing state apparatus;

4)Inadequate health-care system;

5)Lack of basic infrastructure;

6)Lack of educational access and opportunities - Yet, two years ago the student who scored the highest in Haiti's Baccalaureate State Exam came from Cite Soleil despite Cite Soleil having been declared an outlawed zone by the Latortue regime.

Yet against these odds, Haiti's young football players became the Cinderella team of today. The fact of the matter is some kids (yes, they are kids), 14 to 17 years old, part of a sport team en route to South Korea, were manipulated by some deviated folks; be they parents, friends, or any other unsavory characters engaged in human trafficking. Luckily all is well that ends well. The team, minus a couple of members, found in Boston and rightly returned to Haiti, made it to South Korea.

Unfortunately the stress of this New York lay over has certainly affected performance of the team, to wit they lost 3-0 to Ghana. This, for a team with a near perfect record as champion of the Americas.

The lesson in all of this is that:
a) We Haitians must develop a sense of belonging, a sense of collectivity.

b) We currently have very few institutions in the country that we cherish and respect.

c) The legal system is in shambles because our laws are selectively enforced.

d) The social fabric of the country is in shambles because collective welfare seems an alien concept in Haiti.

e) The constitution, which is the country’s compass, is applied only when it fits us.

f) We are in a perpetual state of opposition. If you asked one of those perennial opponents: "what are you opposed to?" Chances are, all you will get as answer is "Uh, Uh, Uh."

g) We are surrounded by charlatans preaching and wanting to instill "democracy" in the country. For the most part, these people would not recognize "democracy" if they saw it.

In closing, let us not look for fault among the kids or try to justify what happened, for this scheme of ill advised adults have adversely impacted a group of
children and quashed the hopes (or escape) of a country.

Let us instead endeavor to encourage Institutions Building and Capacity Building to: encourage, respect, nurture, protect, and treasure our institutions.

More on that in another post.

Harry Fouche

Haiti's under-17 national soccer team was in New York during an airport stopover on their way to South Korea for the FIFA World Cup. - AP

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Most of a Haitian national youth soccer team apparently deserted the squad during an airport stopover hours before a planned Wednesday trip to South Korea to prepare for the upcoming FIFA Under-17 World Cup.

By Wednesday afternoon, five or six of the 13 missing players had returned to the airport and turned themselves in to team officials, said Felix Augustin, the Haitian consul in New York. It was unclear where the youngsters had been and why they had left the team, he said.

Authorities were still looking for the others late Wednesday night, Augustin said by telephone.



Most of the team's 18 players, all under age 17, had gone missing from John F. Kennedy International Airport between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, Augustin said.

Earlier, Augustin had said that officials were making calls to members of the Haitian community to try to get the children back.

The players arrived from Haiti on Tuesday and were scheduled to leave early Wednesday for Seoul, South Korea, to play in an exhibition tournament ahead of the World Cup, which takes place in South Korea from Aug. 18 to Sept. 9.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, said it was aware of the situation and had assigned police officers to investigate. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, Shaila B. Manyam, said embassy officials were looking into the matter.

Augustin said authorities believed adults not traveling with the team may be involved in the players' desertion and warned they could face criminal charges unless they turn over the minors.

"It seems that some adults may have been involved. If so, they are going to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," said Augustin, who declined to give further details.

Speaking to a Haitian Creole-language radio station in New York, the president of the Haitian Football Federation, Yves Jean-Bart, warned the youngsters that they were hurting their futures and threatened to involve U.S. authorities "unless these players reinstate themselves as soon as possible."

Jean-Bart gave no indication why the players would abandon the team. But Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and thousands of Haitians leave the country each year to escape miserable living conditions, violence and political instability.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Lucille Cirillo, said the agency would help investigators in any way possible. But, she said, immigration officials would not typically become involved in such cases until the players had overstayed the time for which they were admitted, which could be up to six months.

The apparent desertions dealt a major blow to Haitian soccer, which has been experiencing a resurgence of late after years of dismal performances. The U17s qualified for the biennial World Cup for the first time in the Caribbean nation's history earlier this year, while the men's team won the Caribbean Cup for the first time in January.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Postscript to Haiti's Under 17 Football Team Layover in New York by Harry Fouche, Haitian Perspectives, June 19, 2007

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"...In the annals of human history, no country, no settlers in the Americas, killed more people, shed more BLOOD than the English, French, Spanish - than the European tribes and their white settlers. Period, no comma.

So, how does Haiti get to be the one "doomed?" Why?

Because the blood shed and people eradicated out of Haiti where said whites, who had annihilated the Amerindians all over the Americas and then kidnapped and enslaved Africans to come work the land of the Tainos so that the European's coffee at home would be sweet? Right? The kidnapping of Blacks, spreading of lies about black inferiority and savagery continue as we see with this article and the abduction out of Haiti of President Aristide. If only I had the time, on behalf of the African ancestors and those courageous Haitians dying right now fighting off, yet again, another U.S.-sponsored Coup D'etat in Haiti, to fully and individually address the racist propaganda of the Adam Hochschild's of this world? (From Hochschild's Neocolonial Journalism: Response to Adam Hochschild article in SF Chronicle by Marguerite Laurent, May 30, 2004 )
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"When you make a choice, you mobilize vast human energies and resources which otherwise go untapped...........If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want and all that is left is a compromise." Robert Fritz