By Center for Economic and Policy Research, Apr 19th 2012
PetroCaribe funds represent some of the largest infrastructure related investments in Haiti since the earthquake. Overall, $380 million has been awarded to firms for infrastructure-related work and the most recent data shows that over 73 percent has already been spent. For comparison, the Government Accountability Office found in November that of $412 million in infrastructure projects approved by USAID, only 0.8 percent had been disbursed.
In Haiti, Haïti Liberté and Le Nouvelliste newspapers as well as Radio Tête à Tête are reporting on new agreements for social and economic development that have been reached between the governments of Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela.
Temir Porras, Venezuelan Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, sustained a meeting with Haitian officials this Friday in the country’s capital Port-au-Prince in order to "strengthen support and cooperation between the two peoples” of Haiti and Venezuela.
Member countries of Latin America’s alternative integration bloc, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), met in the Venezuelan capital this weekend in order to discuss the advancement of the organisation at its 11th official summit.
When WikiLeaks announced its plan to release tens of thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables to the public, the U.S. government feared a massive international backlash and threat to national security. In this analysis, COHA's Katie Soltis details how the U.S. tried to undermine Haiti’s oil deal with Venezuela in order to protect the vested interests of U.S. oil corporations, among other policies that prioritized U.S. interests over the Haitian people's.
By Lionel Lafortune, Ambassador Canino -Haiti Progrès, Jul 24th 2011
This interview was conducted on the 200th anniversary of Venezuelan independence and details Venezuela-Haiti cooperation efforts. In recent years Venezuela has consistently provided Haiti with invaluable support and obviously has not forgotten the support that Haiti gave to the country during the struggle for independence against Spanish colonialism.
How did Haiti’s “indispensable man” René Préval become so dispensable? A review of PetroCaribe’s genesis and the U.S. Embassy’s response to it provides a window into understanding why the U.S. has been so forceful in backing the U.S.-centric Martelly team over Préval’s two-timing sector.
Hector Rodriguez, Vice-president of the “Social Area Council of Venezuela”, confirmed the Venezuelan government’s commitment to maintaining its reconstruction efforts in Haiti and sent a message of solidarity to the Haitian people on behalf of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
On Tuesday, the Venezuelan government sent a team from its Ministry of Health along with 10,000 doses of medication, 4,500 intravenous drips and rehydration tablets to Haiti to help battle against the disease’s spread and relieve the symptoms of those at risk.
The Venezuela-led trade bloc, ALBA, pledged $2.42 billion in reconstruction aid to earthquake-torn Haiti between the years 2010-2016 during a United Nations conference on Wednesday. Also, Venezuela called for Haiti’s foreign debt to be forgiven and advocated direct aid and services, not loans, for the Caribbean country.
