Haiti, Latin America: Week in Review
Haiti’s Presidential List Delayed; Wyclef Won’t Make the Cut, One Official Says
August 20, 2010 By Staff
Hip hop star Wyclef Jean.
Today in Latin America
Top Story — Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) delayed a decision of who among the 34 presidential hopefuls will be eligible to run in the Nov. 28 elections.
The CEP said it delayed the decision due to the high number of appeals under review, which were still being heard at 10 p.m. Tuesday.
However, some say the move was political, arguing that the government wanted to avoid an overlap between the release of the candidate list and the visit of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff Cheryl Mills.
One person who will not be on the ballot is hip-hop star Wyclef John, according to one election official.
While the musician’s bid for candidacy was met with major support from Haiti’s poor, he ran into problems when it came to the requirement of his residency. Jean’s primary residency is New Jersey and he holds dual citizenship with the United States.
Article 135 of Haiti’s Constitution requires presidential candidates to reside in the country for five years prior to the election and forbids them from ever taking foreign citizenship
“He is not on the list as I speak,” said the member of the CEP, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Jean, however, said he still believes that he will be on the list after meeting with current Haitian President René Préval Thursday. He came out of hiding after receiving death threats to meet with Préval.
Just Published at the Latin America News Dispatch
- While the Obama administration and Congress inch toward loosening travel restrictions against Cuba, the trade embargo remains a firm fixture of U.S. policy toward the island. But the prospect of oil drilling in Cuba is prompting officials and analysts to rethink that policy. Raisa Camargo has the story.
- A new report by the advocacy group National Council of La Raza says that programs allowing local police to enforce immigration law are ineffective and misuse authority. Alison Bowen has the story at her blog, Beyond Borders.
- Documents declassified by the National Security Archive in Washington indicate that the Nixon administration advocated the use of death threats in order to save Dan Mitrione, a U.S. official who was kidnapped and executed by leftist guerrillas.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- A new documentary, “Presumed Guilty,” portrays Mexico’s Kafkaesque criminal justice system, where police are pressured to slap charges on anyone to secure convictions.
- President Felipe Calderón proposed appointing anonymous judges for drug-trafficking trials, an unexpected proposal that he acknowledged contradicts the country’s efforts to build a more open judicial system.
Caribbean
- Two more Cuban political prisoners have arrived in Spain, the latest to be allowed go into exile under Cuba’s pledge to free dissidents jailed since 2003.
- Recently captured, Puerto Rican alleged drug lord José Figueroa Agosto is now also a popular porn star.
Central America
- A Guatemalan judge has ordered former President Alfonso Portillo held for trial on embezzlement charges. Portillo is accused of stealing $15 million from his country’s defence department.
- The office of The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Nicaragua will reportedly launch a contest on rights of children and adolescents together with the Central American University.
- Costa Rica’s jatropha plantations may be the next frontier in biofuel development.
Andes
- A ban on publishing violent images in Venezuela’s press drew condemnation Thursday by newspapers, media rights groups and UN observers which saw it as a new attack on press freedom by President Hugo Chávez
- Venezuela’s state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA, plans to sell $2 billion in bonds, President Hugo Chavez said Thursday on state-run media
- Peru’s justice minister on Thursday accused American activist Lori Berenson of using her 15-month-old son to try to win sympathy as she was taken back to prison after an appeals court struck down a decision granting parole.
- A state of emergency has been declared in Bolivia as forest fires spread across the country destroying about 1.5m hectares (3.7m acres) of land and more than 60 houses.
Southern Cone
- Paraguayan Defense Minister Luis Bareiro Spaini was impeached by the lower house of Parliament Thursday after he failed to show up for a committee hearing about three combat rifles stolen from army headquarters.
- 33 Chilean miners are still trapped after a drill meant to rescue them missed their location on Thursday.
- Argentina’s lower house voted Thursday to make pensions for retirees worth 82% of the minimum wage for workers.
- Uruguay’s low birthrate is leading the government to look abroad for farm workers.
Image: jdlasica @ Flickr.
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