Shopkeepers and street merchants in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince hustled to close up shop early Tuesday evening, as electoral officials delayed some three hours in announcing their first round vote totals in the country’s highly contentious national election, held just over one week ago. When the results were finally presented to journalists around 9pm Tuesday, a single CEP official, with eight empty chairs surrounding him, put former first lady Mirlande Manigat (31.37%) and the government-backed Jude Celestin (22.48%) moving on to what the Miami Herald dubs a “theoretical” January 16 presidential runoff. [The CEP made no mention of a second round in their Tuesday press conference, potentially the first since the end of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986.] According to the provisional electoral council, Michel “Sweet Mickey” Martelly followed in a close third, just one percent (or 6800 votes) behind Mr. Celestin. Martelly was expected to speak to supporters late Tuesday but was forced to cancel because of demonstrations. Unconfirmed reports say the CEP claims approx. 1.6 million votes were “counted” from the Nov. 28 vote.
Quite significantly, but little reported, the Miami Herald also says the following about legislative results:
“While polls had predicted that Preval's INITE coalition would win most of the 11 contested Senate seats on the first round, it won just one outright. It is in runoffs in eight other races. Préval's brother-in-law, Stephen Benoit, was elected on the first round for the West department, which includes Port-au-Prince. The coalition also won a handful of deputy seats.”
The announcement immediately triggered street protests around Port-au-Prince and many other parts of the Caribbean nation. According to reports, those loyal to Michel Martelly (and fiercely opposed to Mr. Celestin) set up barricades throughout the neighborhood of Petionville, where the electoral results first went public. Gunshots rang out through the night with journalists reporting fires ablaze on many streets throughout the city. From the AP, whose correspondent was robbed of his mobile device as he drove home from the CEP’s press conference last night:
“If they don't give us Martelly and Manigat (in the second round), Haiti will be on fire, said a protester, Erick Jean. “We're still living under tents and Celestin wastes money on election posters.”
CNN quotes protestors on the streets claiming they will “set the country on fire” today – although eyewitness reports on Twitter last night did note that acts of protest were relatively targeted, directed at symbols of the Haitian government.
The Miami Herald, meanwhile, says a variety of opposition candidates are continuing their calls for the Nov. 28 results to be thrown out. Industrialist Charles Henri Baker, listed as the sixth-place finisher according to CEP results, tells the paper, “These elections need to be annulled. The next step, we meet tomorrow to watch what the reaction is throughout the country.” For its part, the US Embassy in Haiti issued a statement late last night, suggesting for the first time that it suspects potentially significant instances of fraud. While calling for “calm,” the Embassy says the following:
“The United States, together with Haiti’s international community partners, stands ready to support efforts to thoroughly review irregularities in support of electoral results that are consistent with the will of the Haitian people expressed in their votes.
Like others, the Government of the United States is concerned by the Provisional Electoral Council’s announcement of preliminary results from the November 28 national elections that are inconsistent with the published results of the National Election Observation Council (CNO), which had more than 5,500 observers and observed the vote count in 1,600 voting centers nationwide, election-day observations by official U.S. observers accredited by the CEP, and vote counts observed around the country by numerous domestic and international observers.”
As Al-Jazeera reports, the CNO monitoring group, sponsored by the European Union, said its monitoring showed little to no chance of Jude Celestin moving on to a second-round. Indeed, this author can report that anti-Celestin sentiment was palpable on the streets of Port-au-Prince in the days before the election – with fly-overs and leaflet drops by Celestin campaign airplanes met by contemptuous jeers across much of the capital.
And to add insult to Tuesday’s injury, a study conducted by a French scientist has concluded that Haiti’s cholera outbreak “originated in a tributary of Haiti's Artibonite river, next to a U.N. base outside the town of Mirebalais.” According to the French Foreign Ministry, researchers were “sent by the French government to assist Haitian health officials in determining the source of the outbreak.” No word from the UN yet, but the AP says the study “hints strongly at a cover-up.”
To other stories:
· A pair of pieces, one written and one video, on journalists and Mexico’s drug war. Juan Ramon Pena at EFE writes on growing concerns that media outlets are being infiltrated by drug cartels and cops working with drug cartels. According to EFE, it’s become ever more common for reporters to be on the payrolls of drug gangs, who then control what’s published about violence in the country. And from the New York Times, a video report, “The Most Dangerous Beat,” on the dangers of covering violence in Juarez.
· Also on Mexico, independent journalist Kristin Bricker, for the Security Sector Reform Resource Center, writes on human rights groups negative reactions to President Calderon’s proposed reforms of the “military’s jurisdiction” in rights abuse cases. According to Bricker, “Mexican human rights organizations criticized Calderón’s proposed reform as ‘absurd,’ ‘incomplete,’ ‘harmful,’ and ‘a cosmetic gesture.’” Meanwhile, opposition legislators say the reform is “designed to ‘simulate’ compliance with a recent IACtHR ruling that ordered Mexico to investigate and try cases of soldiers’ alleged human rights violations in the civilian judicial system.” Quoted in the piece, Luis Arriaga of the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center:
“The most common crimes have been: physical aggression or torture, arbitrary detention, attack with a firearm, raid without a warrant, homicide, threats, harassment, robbery… When we consider the crimes committed by military personnel, we can see that the majority of them are not contemplated in the presidential initiative.”
· And on some of the latest instances of violence along the border, the BBC reports on the torching of a kindergarten in Juarez, “after its owners refused to pay extortion money.” The building was set ablaze at night and no was inside at the time. Attacks on two Juarez drug rehab centers on Sunday also took the lives of four.
· The Wall Street Journal reports Brazil will delay a “multi-billion dollar” jet fighter purchase until after Dilma Rousseff takes office in January. As the paper reports, “Brazil is looking to buy 36 fighter jets as part of the modernization of its armed forces, a contract which is believed to be worth between $4 billion and $10 billion.” Reports indicate Brazil would prefer contracting with France’s Dassault Aviation SA, although two other companies (Boeing and Saab) remain in the running.
· WOLA’s Adam Isacson speaks to Nicaragua’s El Nuevo Diario about three proposed defense reform measures in Nicaragua, which, Isacson worries, could blur the lines between military and civilian affairs.
· Both Colombia and Venezuela are in recovery mode after devastating floods and mudslides. Reports from El Nuevo Herald and the New York Times.
· More on Alvaro Uribe this morning, as El Nuevo Herald says the Colombian government has formally asked the US to respect the ex-president’s “sovereign immunity” in a US case being brought against the Drummond Mining Co. for its alleged collusion with paramilitaries.
· Both the US and Israel have forcibly rejected Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay’s decisions to recognize a Palestinian state. DOS spokesman PJ Crowley:
“We do not look favorably upon this line of conduct. We believe that any unilateral action is counterproductive.”
· EFE reports on a mass, open-ended national strike by some 400,000 public employees in Chile. The vice president of public employees union, ANEF, estimates 90% participation in the action, in which workers are demanding wage adjustments and a halt to government layoffs, which have apparently led to some 2000 public sector job losses in the last week. Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has offered workers a 4.2% raise, an increase both unions, and, interestingly Concertación legislators, call “inadequate.”
· El País and El Faro on new Wikileak material indicating significant tensions between President Mauricio Funes and the governing FMLN in El Salvador– including accusations that the FMLN may have been “spying” on its own president.
· The Guardian with an interesting report on social movement and peasant group protests outside the UN’s ongoing climate talks in Cancun.
· In Foreign Policy, Venezuela’s ambassador to the US, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera offers his quite strong opinions on the return of the Right in the next US Congress. His particular targets: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Connie Mack (R-FL).
· Michael Shifter, in El Colombiano, argues little knew has been revealed about US policy toward Latin America, to conspiracy theorists disappointment.
· And finally, IPS reports on a quite intriguing new proposal from the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America: guaranteeing a universal basic income in the region to fight inequality. CEPAL’s Social Development Division director, Martin Hopenhayn says the Southern Cone, Brazil, and Costa Rica are already on the cusp of being able to provide an unconditional guarantee (what CEPAL calls “a citizen income”). But Hopenhayn adds that such an entitlement could only be sustained with profound reforms of the region’s tax systems. Might economic democracy still be on the table in Latin America?
No comments:
Post a Comment