The fact that Voice of America chose to prominently report on the money laundering and drug related charges against Haiti President-elect Jovenel Moise speaks volumes, or maybe not. In an election plagued by low turnout, suspicions about vote buying and vote stealing, Moise is on very shaky ground with the courts, the electorate, and the Haiti Diaspora. Haiti's Central Unit of Financial Intelligence (UCREF) concluded in a report there were indications Moise had laundered money through a personal account.
Moise denies the allegation.
In a twist that demonstrates how the proverbial apple does not fall from the tree, Moise's close associate and Senator-elect Guy Philippe was arrested in Haiti and extradited to Miami where he faces charges of cocaine smuggling and money laundering. Philippe was captured January 5 in Haiti and handed over to U.S. drug enforcement agents under a 2005 warrant. This raised some complaints in Haiti about a Senator-elect being removed by a foreign power and one has to wonder if the arrest of Philippe was a trial balloon to test reaction to possible U.S. intervention against Moise.
Nothing is ever as it seems with US/Haiti relations. More intervention by a foreign power, however good intentioned, would probably be viewed badly. Haiti is damned either way it seems.
The clock is ticking and unless there is intervention on the form of the Divine, the Haitian courts, or some kind of statement of opposition from the U.S. State Department, and/or President Trump, Moise will be sworn in on February 7. If he does take office, it will be an extension of the rule of the Bald Head Party of Haiti's fraudulently elected President Michel Martelly. For those not up to speed on the 2010/11 Haiti Election, the Hillary Clinton State Department altered the vote count. You can read the Clinton emails or read this report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
The end result was that Martelly ruled by decree, and the new elections were supervised by the same person, former Ambassador Ken Merten, who was Ambassador when Martelly was "elected." The official voter turnout on November 20, 2016 was 21.7 percent; hardly a mandate. Even more troubling, and an indication that the Clinton's refuse to let go of their grip on Haiti, former Obama ambassador to Haiti and Obama Haiti Special Coordinator Merten, wrote an oped in the Miami Herald after Trump's inauguration on Jan 26, 2017, saying the U.S. welcomes Jovenel Moise as president.
Merten certainly did not have that authority.
This is all shorthand, and Haitian scholars will squawk about lack of depth, but it is a timeline that helps to explain the angst among Haitian Americans as the countdown moves to a February 7 inauguration of a criminal President in Haiti. There will be no celebrations as the hammer is dropped once again on the tiny island nation.
Today, Moise Jean Charles and Jude Celestin (candidates in the run-off) issued a joint press release rejecting the Jovenel Moise installation, which they term an "Electoral Coup."
Their message can be summarized as follows:
•We launch a clear appeal for a total rejection of the electoral coup that occurred on November 20th, 2016;•We denounce the Provisional Electoral Council as a direct accomplice of this masquerade;•We totally reject the result of the presidential elections as well as the so-called winner;•We will never recognize the president who has emerged from this electoral farce;•We condemn the use of drug monies and other illicit means to win electoral votes;•We deplore the process of making Haiti a narco-state
President Trump might well want to consider the ramifications for Florida and the eastern seaboard with the amount of drugs already flowing into the U.S. from Haiti via the Bahamas. In June 2016 more than 2,000 pounds of cocaine were found on a ship docked in Miami. The "Lisanne" was boarded and DEA agents found cocaine powder on drill bits used to penetrate what were supposed to be empty cargo containers.
Haiti's narco-state is invading south Florida and President Trump's anti-drug stance will hopefully come into play here.
Hoping for that result, there will be a noon rally and march in Brooklyn, NY on Saturday February 4 at the Grand Army Plaza.