The Caribbean

Killings continue to escalate in Haiti

New UN data shows that more than 1,200 people were killed and 522 wounded in Haiti between July and September. This represents a 27% increase in casualties compared to the second quarter. Figures could get even worse, as a new wave of coordinated gang attacks isterrorizing areas that had previously been spared. About 10,000 people were forced to flee parts of Port-au-Prince, while nearly 22,000 more were displaced in Arcahaie, north of the capital. Gangs also fired at a UN helicopter used by the World Food Program to deliver aid, while a Catholic charity’s hospital clinic was vandalized and set on fire. A new UN report projects that 5.4 million Haitians—nearly half the population—will face crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity by February 2025. Despite the ever-rising violence, the US government continues its deportation flights. (Photo: El Soberano)

The Caribbean

Guadeloupe: curfew following strike at power plant

The government of the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe imposed a territory-wide curfew after a strike by workers at the central power plant shut down the island’s electricity supply. Amid ongoing complaints over salaries, workers at the Pointe Jarry facility entered the control room of the thermal plant and caused an emergency shutdown of the engines. After police secured the plant, the government requisitioned the employees needed to operate the power station through a prefectural decree. This ordered employees deemed essential to the operation of the station to return to work based on an “observed or foreseeable damage to good order, public health, tranquility and safety.” (Photo: Region Guadeloupe)

The Caribbean

Power outages persist in storm-wracked Cuba

The collapse of the electrical grid plunged the entire island of Cuba into darkness last week—a situation worsened by the arrival of Hurricane Oscar. The national blackout, which caused many families to lose most of the little food they had, sparked rare protests amid a broader economic crisis marked by soaring inflation and widespread shortages of medicine, food, and water. Power has now been restored in the capital, Havana, but many rural areas remain in the dark, while schools and workplaces across the country remain closed due to ongoing energy-saving measures. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

North America

Criminal suit over Trump-Vance libel of Haitian immigrants

The Haitian Bridge Alliance, a non-profit organization advocating for Haitian immigrants, filed criminal charges against Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance, his running mate in the current presidential race. The charges, brought before the municipal court in Ohio’s Clark County, stem from false claims made by Trump and Vance alleging that Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield were abducting and eating local pets. The allegations have sparked outrage and fear within Springfield’s Haitian community. In the court filing, HBA claims that the comments by Trump and Vance have incited anti-immigrant sentiment, resulting in threats and harassment of local Haitian immigrants and those who support them. The complaint calls on the court to issue arrest warrants for Trump and Vance on charges including aggravated menacing and telecommunications harassment. (Image via Twitter)

The Caribbean

France deploys anti-riot police to Martinique

The French government deployed the special anti-riot police, the Republican Security Companies (CRS), to Martinique in response to ongoing protests over the rising cost of living on the French-ruled Caribbean island. The deployment marks the first time CRS units have been sent to Martinique since they were banned from the territory in December 1959, following violent protests in departmental capital Fort-de-France that drew widespread criticism over heavy-handed police intervention. (Map: PCL)

The Caribbean

Haiti gangs profit from mission delay

The continually delayed deployment of a Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission has raised concerns over how prepared the UN-approved and US-bankrolled force will be to face the security crisis in Haiti. The violent gangs that now control most of Port-au-Prince have posted direct threats to the MSS force and paraded their heavy weaponry on social media. Amid reports of a large inventory of Colombian weapons being trafficked to Haitian gangs, some experts worry that the firepower of the gangs has been underestimated. One analysis warns that the gangs are exploiting the delays to “fortify what could be a fierce response.” (Photo: Haiti Liberte)

Planet Watch

Small Island States conference rebukes developed nations

The president of the Fourth International Conference of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Gaston Alphonso Browne, accused wealthy nations of empty climate pledges, referring to a lack of financial help to developing countries, along with the inadequacy of carbon emission reduction efforts. The summit was hosted by Antigua & Barbuda, where Browne serves as prime minister. Browne blasted developed nations for failing to meet their “obligation to compensation” to the SIDS nations. This refers to the annual $100 billion that was agreed to under the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2009 and reiterated in the 2015 Paris Agreement. (Photo of Vanuatu: David Cobbin via NUPI)

Planet Watch

IACHR hearings on state obligations in climate crisis

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) began its first day of public hearings in Manaus, Brazil, to address the obligations of states in light of the climate crisis, based on the principles of the American Convention on Human Rights. The hearings, marked by discussion on mitigating the impacts of social imbalances and the need to protect the most vulnerable, follow a January request by Chile and Colombia for an Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency and Human Rights. The first hearings took place in Barbados at the end of April. In their request, Chile and Colombia emphasized the devastating consequences of the climate emergency in their countries, citing examples such as droughts, floods, landslides and fires. (Photo: pixundfertig/Pixabay via Jurist)

Africa

Kenya court approves suit opposing Haiti deployment

The Kenya High Court ordered that a lawsuit seeking to prevent the deployment of police troops to Haiti be served on top government officials. Leaders of the civil organization Thirdway Alliance Kenya filed the complaint to block the deployment, which is part of a UN-backed mission to assist Haiti’s battle against gang violence. The plaintiffs argued that the government’s agreement with Haiti to deploy the troops is in contempt of a January court order that deemed the deployment unconstitutional. The plaintiffs emphasized the urgency of the matter, noting that the deployment is scheduled to begin this month. (Photo: Amnesty Kenya via PolicingInsight)

North America

US deports Haitians amid surging gang violence

The Biden administration reportedly sent over 70 Haitians back to their homeland amid the Caribbean nation’s ongoing struggle with gang violence. The deportations were met with condemnation from human rights organizations, including the Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), which characterized the move as “intentional violence.” The HBA and nearly 500 other rights groups sent a letter to the Biden administration last month requesting an extension on the moratorium on deportations of Haitians. The letter also called for the White House to re-designate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a program for migrants from countries beset with armed conflict, allowing them to live and work in the US without fear of deportation. The letter reminded the administration of its “promise to build a fairer and more inclusive immigration and asylum system.” (Photo: msjennm/Pixabay via Jurist)

The Caribbean

Suriname: prison for ex-president in ‘December Murders’

The High Court of Justice of Suriname upheld a 20-year prison sentence for former President Dési Bouterse in connection with the murder of political opponents during his regime in the 1980s. Bouterse, who served as president from 2010 to 2020, initially rose to power as Suriname’s de facto leader from 1980 to 1987 after launching a coup and establishing military rule. It was during this period that the murder of 15 prominent opposition figures took place. The “December Murders,” carried out that month in 1982, included victims who were lawyers, journalists and military officials. They were tortured and executed without trial for their criticism of Bouterse’s dictatorship, or for their involvement in an attempted counter-coup of March 1982. At the time, Bouterse claimed in a national broadcast that the victims—whom he called “detainees”—had been fatally shot while attempting to flee. (Photo of Fort Zeelandia, where the murders took place, via Wikimedia Commons)

The Caribbean

Podcast: geopolitics of the Essequibo dispute

In Episode 205 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg looks at the recent re-escalation and (hopefully) denouement of the dispute over Esequibo—an oil-rich territory controlled by Guyana and claimed by Venezuela. Ironically, this claim was first asserted by the conservative, anti-communist Venezuela of the 1960s to help destabilize the anti-imperialist Guyana of Cheddi Jagan. Today, the left-populist but increasingly nationalistic regime of Nicolás Maduro even entertains hubristic claims to sovereignty over Venezuela’s other much larger neighbor, Colombia. But this revanchism appears to mask the fact that “revolutionary” Venezuela largely remains a petro-state with a rentier economy, vulnerable to drops in the global oil price, even if Chinese corporate exploiters have been replacing gringo ones. With the recent easing of sanctions, US giants like Chevron have even returned to Venezuela—while the extractivist model results in indigenous resistance. Contrary to the dogmas of left and right alike, the real root of the Venezuelan crisis is that the country is insufficiently socialist. Listen on SoundCloudor via Patreon. (Map: SurinameCentral via Wikimedia Commons)