105 voyageurs haïtiens clandestins détenus par les autorités des Bahamas

25/08/2014

Une opération conjointe menée samedi soir (23/08/2014), par la Force Royale de défense bahamienne, le Département d’Immigration et la Police de l’ile Ragged a permis la capture en haute mer d’un voilier transportant cent-cinq citoyens haïtiens vers les Bahamas.
La nouvelle de cette nouvelle capture de boatpeople Haïtiens par les services concernés des Bahamas a été rapportée par le journal The Bahamas Weekly.
Selon la rédaction, la HBMS de Nassau lors d’une patrouille dans la partie sud de l’archipel, aurait été informé par des habitants de Ragged Island de la présence d’un voilier rempli d’haïtiens clandestins à quelques kilomètres de la pointe sud de la ville de Duncan.
Grâce à l’aide précieuse fournie par un pêcheur une opération conjointe de recherche menée par la police locale et les autorités des services d’immigration qui a permis de capturer une embarcation fragile et non sécurisée 105 sans papiers haïtiens, 76 hommes et 29 femmes qui seront pris en charge comme détenus par les gardes Cotes bahamiens et transférés vers un lieu sur pour être ensuite jugés.
Les autorités du commandement de défense ont remercié les acteurs de ce travail d’équipe qui a conduit à l’arrestation des haïtiens.
Depuis quelques temps déjà, beaucoup d’haïtiens continuent à risquer leurs vies à bord de frêles embarcations pour quitter Haïti dans l’espoir de trouver mieux ailleurs. Nous avons récemment publié l’histoire de la condamnation en prison ferme de deux compatriotes qui avaient tenté de rentrer à Bélize par le Salvador avec des faux visas.
Lors d’un récent voyage au Bahamas nous avions pu constater le nombre important de citoyens haïtiens qui vendent des facilités aux touristes des plages (parasols, transat, boissons etc…). Ils ne semblent pas rouler sur l’or.
Il suffirait d’un effort et d’une vision plus large de tous les acteurs dans la gestion du pays pour offrir ce que nos compatriotes pensent trouver en République Dominicaine, au Brésil, aux Bahamas etc…
La balle est bien dans notre camp !

Haitian sloop apprehended in Ragged Island, Bahamas

By RBDF
Aug 24, 2014 - 1:11:58 PM
Coral Harbour Base, 24 August, 2014 (RBDF): The Royal Bahamas Defence Force was a part of a joint operation with the Department of Immigration and Police at Ragged Island, which involved the apprehension of over one hundred Haitian migrants on Saturday night.
While on routine patrol in the Southern Bahamas, HMBS Nassau received information that Ragged Island locals had spotted a Haitian sloop in waters several miles off the southern end of Duncan Town. With further assista nce of a local fisherman, Ragged Island Police and Immigration authorities conducted an immediate search of the area, which resulted in the apprehension of one hundred and five (105) undocumented Haitian nationals on Saturday 23 August, 2014.
The Migrants—seventy six (76) males and twenty-nine (29) females—were subsequently disembarked from their unsanitary vessel and taken into custody aboard HMBS Nassau commanded by Lieutenant Commander Raymond King and will be transported to an undisclosed location for further processing.
The Commander Defence Force, Commodore Roderick Bowe, expresses his thanks and appreciation for the assistance received from the Ragged Island Community, the local fishermen, the Ragged Island Police and Bahamas Immigration, and notes that the apprehension was a culmination of rapid response through a team effort among security forces and local communities.
http://www.thebahamasweekly.com/publish/local/Haitian_sloop_apprehended_in_Ragged_Island_Bahamas36587.shtml

Somerville celebrates first Haitian-Brazilian cultural festival

By Jennifer Smith
“Haiti and Brazil Hit The ’Ville” was centered on music, art, and food.
SOMERVILLE — Haitian and Brazilian communities congregated on Sunday in Somerville’s Union Square Plaza for a colorful afternoon festival, the city’s first joint celebration of the two cultures.
“Haiti and Brazil Hit The ’Ville” was centered on music, art, and food. It was hosted by the Somerville Arts Council’s ArtsUnion Project in partnership with the City of Somerville and SomerVIVA, the city’s language liaisons program.
Bringing together two of the largest immigrant populations served by the SomerVIVA program, the event was a “celebration of Somerville’s diverse population,” according to the Somerville Arts Council.
Jhenny Saint-Surin, the Haitian Creole language liaison with SomerVIVA and co-creator of Sunday’s festival, appreciates the connectedness of the city’s immigrant communities. Brazilians and Haitians, in particular “love soccer, love Carnival, and we eat a lot of rice and beans,” Saint-Surin said.
Somerville’s Haitian and Brazilian communities have bonded over the past two decades.
According to SomerVIVA, Haitians’ love of Brazilian soccer was sparked by “a 1978 visit by legendary player Pelé to Haiti, and the Brazilian-penned song “Haiti é Aqui” captures the significance of Haiti’s history to Brazilians.”
After the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, Brazil was the first country to donate to the Haiti Reconstruction Fund.
With the celebrations lasting from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., the festival grounds were free to enter and offered an array of entertainment and food choices, such as Haitian fritay and Brazilian churrasco.
Roommates Phung Nyugen, 30, and Alice Huang, 23, live a short walk away from Union Square. They gripped beef and chicken skewers, smiling broadly.
“It feels a bit like a farmers’ market,” Huang said. “It’s so colorful, though.”
Somerville’s immigrant community has always felt inclusive to Nyugen, who was born and raised in Vietnam and moved to Massachusetts in the last few years.
Many in attendance were recent immigrants who viewed the festival as an opportunity to bond with their community in Somerville and experience other cultures. Adriana Gama, 39, moved from Sao Paolo, Brazil, two months ago with her 4-year-old son.
“It’s been so difficult, especially since I have a son, to find food from our culture,” Gama said.
Smells rising from the food vendors’ tents accompanied performances by multicultural artists.
City of Cambridge poet populist Jean-Dany Joachim followed the festival’s welcoming statements with a series of poems in English and Haitian Creole. Joachim, who was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, performed poems on the joyfulness of children and the tragedy of wartime.
On a banner-draped stage, a Haitian konpa band and Brazilian band Samba de Tres played over a bustle of visitors examining homemade crafts and South American art.
Jewelry and clothing vendor Marie-France Merisier moved to Massachusetts from Haiti about 16 years ago. She offered a combination of hand-crafted goods and jewelry she imports from Haiti.
“We are all different, but at the same time we have cultures that are unified by art, music, and colors that are universal,” Merisier said.
The celebration was to conclude with a parade of revelers with flags, dancing to the drums, said Robson Lemos. Somerville resident Lemos, 35, helped decorate the square and was one of the presenters.
About a month in the making, the festival was “not just about entertaining people,” said Adriana Fernande, SomerVIVA’s Portuguese liaison. “It’s important for the immigrant communities to know that they are welcome and safe.”
Jennifer Smith can be reached at jennifer.smith@globe.com.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/08/24/somerville-celebrates-first-haitian-brazilian-cultural-festival/aoDJxRgxCOUt7DbKBaJ6DM/story.html

Cristobal douses Bahamas after at least 3 people caught up in swollen rivers on Hispaniola

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Tropical Storm Cristobal doused the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands with heavy rainfall as it moved slowly on a northern track in the Caribbean. One man died over the weekend and two other people were reported missing when they were caught up by swollen rivers on the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Cristobal may strengthen into a hurricane later in the week over the open Atlantic. The storm's center was expected to curve away from the U.S. East Coast.
The man who died was drowned when he tried to drive his pickup truck across a rushing river in the Dominican Republic's Hato Mayor, a province northeast of the capital of Santo Domingo, Juan Manuel Mendez, the country's emergency operations director, said Sunday.
The two missing people were swept away late Saturday by a river that burst its banks in the western Haiti port town of Saint Marc. "We're still looking for the bodies," said Luckecy Mathieu, a civil protection coordinator.
Many residents in the sparsely populated southeastern Bahamas and the tiny British Caribbean dependency of the Turks and Caicos Islands hunkered down as Cristobal's rains pelted windowpanes.
Capt. Stephen Russell, head of the Bahamas' emergency management agency, said there had been no reports of damage. Air traffic to the southeastern Bahamian islands had not been suspended, but sea vessels were advised to remain in port, he said.
Turks and Caicos Premier Rufus Ewing advised residents to remain indoors as much as possible because the island chain south of the Bahamas was still experiencing heavy rains and "extensive flooding in low-lying areas," especially on Middle Caicos and North Caicos islands.
"The inclement weather is expected to linger for another 48 hours and the flooding is expected to worsen as a result," Ewing said in a Sunday statement.
Cristobal, which formed as a tropical depression over the Turks and Caicos Islands on Saturday, is the fourth depression of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Late Sunday evening, the storm had sustained winds near 45 mph (75 kph) and was located about 105 miles (165 kilometers) east-northeast of San Salvador, Bahamas. The rain-heavy storm was tracking north at about 5 mph (7 kph). U.S. forecasters said there should be a decrease in forward speed over the next couple of days, meaning Cristobal's center is expected to move near to or east of the central Bahamas through Monday.
U.S. forecasters say Cristobal could bring up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain to the Turks & Caicos Islands and southeastern and central Bahamas through Tuesday.
Before strengthening into a storm, it had downed several trees and power lines on Puerto Rico, leaving more than 23,500 people without power and 8,720 without water. There were a handful of reported landslides.
Police said in a statement that a small bridge collapsed Saturday in the central Puerto Rican town of Barranquitas, isolating some 25 families in the area. No one was injured.
___ AP writer David McFadden reported from Kingston, Jamaica, and Evens Sanon contributed from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/08/25/cristobal-douses-bahamas-after-at-least-3-people-caught-up-in-swollen-rivers-on/