Tag: bill clinton

In the News: New Book Exposes Violent Role Of Paramilitaries In Haiti

by Judith Scherr. Originally published by Countercurrents.org

Haiti’s brutal army was disbanded in 1995, yet armed and uniformed paramilitaries, with no government affiliation, occupy former army bases today.

President Michel Martelly, who has promised to restore the army, has not called on police or U.N. troops to dislodge these ad-hoc soldiers.

Given the army’s history of violent opposition to democracy, Martelly’s plan to renew the army “can only lead to more suffering”, says Jeb Sprague in his forthcoming book Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti, to be released mid August by Monthly Review Press.

The role of Haiti’s military and paramilitary forces has received too little academic and media attention, says Sprague, a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He hopes his book will help to fill that gap.

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In the News: Bill Clinton announces more than $400,000 for medical training

Originally posted at Haiti Libre

The former President Bill Clinton visited Wednesday, August 1, the Hospital Bernard Mevs in Port-au-Prince, and announced a grant from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to improve the quality of healthcare at the Haitian hospital. The $442,100 grant to Project Medishare will help the U.S. nonprofit, together with Bernard Mevs, implement a medical training and education program for medical professionals.

Project Medishare’s 16-month program will train 47 radiologists, lab technicians, and pathologists from Bernard Mevs and other local hospitals in the use of state-of-the-art medical equipment. Much of the equipment, including a 16-slice CT (Computed Tomography) scanner, was donated to the hospital in May 2011, but few Haitian staff are trained to use it.

During his visit to Bernard Mevs, President Clinton met with patients, staff, and medical directors at the hospital. He spoke with them about the value of Project Medishare’s training program for Haiti’s future. By focusing on capacity building in this sector, the Fund is promoting a Haiti with the strength to stand on its own.

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In the News: UN ‘should take blame for Haiti cholera’ – US House members

by Mark Doyle
originally posted at the BBC

More than 100 Democrats from the US House of Representatives have called on the UN to take responsibility for introducing cholera to Haiti.

It is the latest twist in the allegation that UN peacekeepers unwittingly introduced the disease.

The United Nations’ envoy to Haiti, Bill Clinton, has accepted UN soldiers may have brought cholera.

But with more than 7,000 deaths so far, the UN said tackling the disease is more important than attributing blame.
Outbreak source

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