Tag: haiti

Father of 11-Year-Old Boy Killed by Haitian Migrant Says He Wished His Son Had Been “Killed by a 60-Year-Old White Man Instead”

The father of an 11-year-old boy who was tragically killed by a Haitian illegal migrant said wished his son had been “killed by a 60-year-old white man instead” in order to prevent advocates of border control and the Trump campaign using the death for political purposes.

Aiden Clark was killed by 35-year-old Hermanio Joseph last year near Springfield, Ohio, after the Haitian drove on the wrong side of the road, causing a school bus full of children to crash, killing Clark and injuring 20 others.

Joseph was driving without a license.

During a speech at a City Commission meeting, Aiden Clark’s father, Nathan Clark, slammed the Trump campaign and its supporters for using his son’s death for political purposes.

Keep reading

Haitian Migrants Invade Small Ohio Town, Reportedly Eat Neighbors’ Cats

The story begins as many 21st-century Midwestern Rust Belt ones do, with a hollowed-out city abandoned by the manufacturing sector for greener offshore pastures where multinational “American” corporations can pay Indonesian orphans 12 cents/hour with no OHSA regulations and definitely no 401(k) programs.

Then a wave of manufacturing re-investment returned, only that — golly gee — there weren’t enough workers.

So the rational neoliberal solution was to import them from somewhere called Haiti.

Accordingly, over the past four years, 20,000 Haitian “migrants” swarmed Springfield, Ohio (2020 population: 58,000).

Much cultural enrichment and infrastructure collapse ensued.

Via Daily Mail (emphasis added):

“Japanese vehicle parts maker Topre was one of the first to arrive in 2017, followed by a microchip manufacturer, a logistics company, and many more.

About 8,000 new jobs were created by 2020, and they have only increased since then. But there were not enough workers to fill them.

Then Haitian immigrants elsewhere in the US, who were in the country legally, heard Springfield needed workers.

Willing to do the blue-collar jobs locals were unenthusiastic about and keen to pay lower rent than in big cities, they arrived in droves.

About 20,000 came in just a few years, swelling the town’s population – which was just 58,000 in the 2020 census.”

According to residents, as shocking as it might be, it seems the process of cultural assimilation has hit a few snags.

As you might imagine, a 20,000 jump in population over a few years in a population of under 60,000 strained the housing supply.

Via ABC 33 40 (emphasis added):

“Large numbers of people entering or living in America illegally are exacerbating the housing crisis, including in areas like Ohio far from the border.

City Manager Bryan Heck of Springfield sent an urgent letter requesting federal aid to U.S. Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Despite the city’s ongoing advancements in housing projects, the sheer number of migrants arriving and residing in the area has strained resources to their limits.”

Via the letter (emphasis added):

“The City of Springfield, Ohio is facing a significant housing crisis in our community. Many factors have played in to where we are today, but without significant support at the Federal level, I believe, that the situation and the need for housing in our community will become much worse. 

The City of Springfield and its partners have been proactively working towards solutions for this crisis since a Housing Consortium made up of both public and private sector leaders formed in 2018. This led to two macro-level studies focused on addressing the housing situation prepared by the Greater Ohio Policy Center on behalf of Springfield. This identified the challenges that Springfield’s Housing Market faced, while also identifying key initiatives, policies, and programs that our community could implement to address the situation. 

Many of the recommendations have been adopted and put into practice, and we have seen positive results. But most recently, Springfield has seen a surge in population through immigration that has significantly impacted our ability as a community to produce enough housing opportunities for all. Springfield’s Haitian population has increased to 15,000 – 20,000 over the last four years in a community of just under 60,000 previous residents, putting a significant strain on our resources and ability to provide ample housing for all of our residents. Despite 2000 additional housing units set to come online over the next three to five years, this is still not enough.”

Of course, the unbearable burden on the housing supply is bad enough. But just to add an extra level of Mad Max-style dystopia into the equation…

Keep reading

The US Is Being Accused of Three Coups

The U.S. has a long legacy of coups. During the Cold War, the U.S. participated in no less than sixty-four covert coups. They did not end when the Cold War ended. Since then, the U.S. has carried out or facilitated several coups, including in Haiti, Venezuela, Brazil, Honduras, Paraguay, Bolivia, Egypt and Ukraine.

Recently, the U.S. has been accused of participation in three more coups. The degree of evidence and clarity varies, and, unlike in the above cases, these cases are not yet closed.

Haiti has a horrible history of American interference and coups. The latest confusing chapter reads like a convoluted novel. The United States, who at first seemed to be backing the enormously unpopular and increasingly authoritarian President of Haiti, Jovenal Moïse, has now been accused of involvement in his assassination.

Moïse was assassinated in 2021 in a confusing plot by men armed with high-caliber weapons who claimed to be with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, a claim the U.S. State Department says is “absolutely false.”

But two of the plotters of the assassination now seem to have been revealed as DEA informants and a third as an informant for the FBI.

Keep reading

Accused financier of Moise assassination apparently advised by US intelligence

Two plotters of the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse were exposed as DEA informants. Another was unmasked as an FBI informant. Now, newly-released court documents provide the most startling evidence yet linking the conspirators with the US government.

A South Florida businessman accused of funding the plot to assassinate former Haitian President Jovenel Moise received legal advice endorsing a mission to capture the head of state from a confidential informant of a US intelligence agency, court documents unveiled in July 2024 allege. According to the accused’s legal team, “the discovery received from The Government redacts the U.S. intelligence agency with which [the informant] is affiliated,” but “it is clear that he is a [confidential informant] for a U.S. Intelligence Agency.”

The businessman, Walter Veintemilla, and his company, Worldwide Capital Lending Group, stand accused of providing a $175,000 line of credit to Florida defense contractor CTU Security LLC, which reportedly carried out the assassination. 

Keep reading

US gives Haiti millions more tax dollars after armed gangs take over, billions in aid disappears

Armed gangs have overrun most of the capital of Port-au-Prince and political instability has plateaued, but the American taxpayer dollars keep flowing with no oversight though billions in assistance have vanished since an earthquake struck Haiti nearly a decade and a half ago.

This week Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the U.S. is sending another $33 million in humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean nation to provide in-kind food assistance, nutrition support, essential health services, improved access to clean water, and prevention and response to gender-based violence, among other critical humanitarian activities.

“Since February 29, organized criminal groups have escalated violence, exacerbating the humanitarian situation for Haitians,” says the government press release announcing the recent allocation. “Displaced people are struggling to access food, health care, water, hygiene facilities, and psychological support, further compounding their already dire needs.”

The document reveals that the U.S. remains the single largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Haiti, providing tens of millions of dollars in assistance in the last year alone. “The United States will continue to stand with Haitians during this challenging time, working to save lives and alleviate suffering caused by the humanitarian crisis,” the government writes.

Since the 2010 earthquake Uncle Sam alone has provided Haiti with over $5.6 billion to help the nation bounce back but 14 years later the situation is more dire for the island’s 12 million residents and no one really knows what happened to the money.

Keep reading

Joe Biden’s Deputies Quietly Block Haitian Exodus

President Joe Biden’s U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted a boatful of Haitian migrants and returned them to their society without triggering an avalanche of asylum claims, NBC News reported on March 15.

“The U.S. Coast Guard stopped 65 Haitians who were trying to flee Haiti by boat and sent them back to Haiti,” said NBC, citing an agency statement.

This policy suggests that Biden’s pro-migration deputies want to quietly avoid triggering a massive exodus of asylum-seeking migrants when many polls show escalating public opposition to his policy of importing poor workers and renters.

The sea interception prevents the migrants from reaching U.S. soil where they can apply for asylum. If they were allowed to reach U.S. soil to apply for asylum, their success would guarantee many more migrants — forcing Biden’s campaign deputies to either detain a large population of black Haitians or release them into U.S. communities during an election year.

Keep reading

US mulls using Guantanamo to host Haiti migrants – CNN

The US could use the notorious Guantanamo Bay military facility in Cuba to process migrants fleeing the violence in Haiti, CNN has reported, citing an unnamed American official.  

Washington is bracing for mass migration from the island nation, according to the news broadcaster. Haiti, which is just over 300km from the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, has seen mounting violence in recent months.

Its capital, Port-au-Prince, has been overrun by armed criminal gangs, leading to the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry on Tuesday.

The Guantanamo Bay facility is home to a US military prison for terror suspects that was opened by the Bush administration after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. There have been numerous reports and testimonies of the abuse of prisoners, while Amnesty International has described the camp as “a symbol of torture, rendition and indefinite detention without charge or trial”. 

The naval base also has a Migrant Operations Center that houses migrants picked up by the Coast Guard in the Caribbean. The facility is not part of the prison.

The administration of President Joe Biden is weighing up plans to extend the capacity of the migrant center in view of a possible migrant wave from Haiti, CNN has reported.

Keep reading

NBC’s Main Concern About Cannibal Gangs in Haiti is Conservatives Saying There Are Cannibal Gangs in Haiti

NBC News published a report about cannibal gangs in Haiti by condemning conservatives on X who said there were cannibal gangs in Haiti, and that some members could be making their way to the U.S.

Yes, really.

Following their takeover of the country last week, reports emerged of some gang members eating the flesh of their dead victims as an intimidation tactic.

Both the Pentagon and U.S. Border Patrol is now warning of a fresh wave of Haitian migrants attempting to enter the United States, meaning some of those gang members will inevitably end up in America.

However, merely pointing that fact out is racist, according to NBC News, which wrote an entire article demonizing Elon Musk and others for pointing it out.

Just like they denounced anyone who previously said Haiti was a shithole (it is), the media is now trying to imply that the existence of cannibal gangs is a racist hoax.

This despite the fact that they admit in their own report that one of the armed gangs is literally called the “Cannibal Army”.

The country is also now being led by a warlord called Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, who is infamous for incinerating his victims.

The NBC report accepts Cherizier’s claim that his nickname was given to him by his mother because she was a street vendor who sold fried chicken.

Because who wouldn’t trust the word of a man who has been implicated in literally massacring entire villages? Seems totally trustworthy to me.

Keep reading

US mulls deploying Marine security team to Haiti amid gang crisis

The United States is considering deploying an elite Marine security team to Haiti because of a deteriorating security situation there, according to a defense official.

The Marines would be deployed at the request of the State Department, according to the defense official. Marine Corps Times asked the State Department for further details Thursday and didn’t receive a response.

“Deploying a FAST platoon is one option at the DoD’s disposal should the DoS request assistance with security at the U.S. Embassy in Port Au Prince,” Maj. Mason Englehart, a spokesman for Marine Corps Forces South, wrote in an email to Marine Corps Times on Friday.

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry is struggling to stay in power as he tries to return home, where gang attacks have shuttered his country’s main international airport and freed more than 4,000 inmates in recent days.

Henry remained in Puerto Rico as of midday Wednesday. He landed in the U.S. territory on Tuesday after he was barred from landing in the neighboring Dominican Republic, where officials closed the airspace to flights to and from Haiti.

Keep reading

Secret cable: CIA orchestrated Haiti’s 2004 coup

A classified diplomatic cable obtained by The Grayzone reveals the role of a veteran CIA officer in violently overthrowing Haiti’s popular President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. 

A spectacular jailbreak in Gonaïves, Haiti in August 2002 saw a bulldozer smash through the local prison walls, allowing armed supporters of Amiot “Cubain” Métayer, a gang leader jailed weeks earlier for harassing Haitian political figures, to overrun the facility. Métayer escaped, as did 158 other prisoners. Among them were perpetrators of the April 1994 Raboteau massacre, which left dozens of Haitians dead and displaced. The victims were supporters of popular anti-imperial President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Documents released to The Grayzone under FOIA – no doubt unintentionally – reveal that the jailbreak was part of a complex US intelligence operation, aimed at undermining Aristide’s presidency. At the heart of this operation was Janice L. Elmore, a CIA operative working under cover as a Department of State “Political Officer” in the Port-au-Prince US Embassy at the time.

The breakout set in motion a violent regime change campaign, which ultimately ousted Aristide from office on February 29 2004. After being deposed and flown to South Africa, Aristide claimed to have been “kidnapped” by US forces and directly accused Washington of orchestrating the plot. His nation quickly transformed into a despotic failed state, as ruthless paramilitaries ran roughshod over the population. US Marines and later UN troops were deployed to “keep the peace,” which, in practice, meant violently cracking down on not only armed anti-coup militants but also outraged demonstrators and civilians.

In 2022, the former French ambassador to Haiti admitted that France and the US did, in fact, orchestrate the “coup,” which he acknowledged was “probably” due to Aristide’s repeated demands that Haitians be returned the $21 billion in reparations they’d forcibly paid their former slave masters in Paris since 1825. The former ambassador told the New York Times that with Aristide in exile, “it made our job easier” to undermine Haitians’ demands for a refund.

US officials have repeatedly denied any involvement in Aristide’s overthrow, claiming they only intervened afterwards to restore order. But the secret diplomatic cable obtained by The Grayzone tells a very different story.

Dispatched from the US embassy in Port-au-Prince in September 2002 by then-US Ambassador Brian Dean Curran, the file places Elmore, apparently a veteran CIA operative, in a meeting with disloyal local police officers and coup plotters in Gonaïves the night prior to the jailbreak.

The file reads as confirmation of high-level US government involvement in the 2004 coup in Haiti, and raises profound questions about American involvement in other recent regime change campaigns throughout the hemisphere.

Keep reading