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30715: Hermantin(News)Haiti trip gives altered image (fwd)
From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>
Posted on Sat, Jul. 07, 2007
Haiti trip gives altered image
By JACQUELINE CHARLES
Miami City Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones still remembers the cautions she
received when she told relatives and friends that she was headed to Haiti.
Don't go, they said. The place is steeped in problems.
But after two days here, Spence-Jones and 12 other elected officials
representing the Florida Legislature, Miami-Dade County and five of its
municipalities -- Miami, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Miami Gardens and El
Portal -- are finding something far different.
''It's nothing like what people say it is,'' Spence-Jones said, between
meetings with Haitian President René Préval and U.S. Ambassador Janet
Sanderson. ``I am glad I came. I can see for myself. We have to begin to change
the image.''
After months of facing violence from armed gangs and an unprecedented spree of
for-ransom kidnappings, Haitian government officials have returned a measure of
security to the capital. But much remains to be done.
''We cannot accomplish everything at the same time,'' Préval said. ``Today, I
am happy to hear people are discussing other problems besides crime and
kidnapping. They are discussing the problem of the [exchange rate]. They are
discussing privatization. They are discussing energy.
OTHER PROBLEMS
``They are discussing all of the problems that truly remain as problems. But it
is a good sign they can discuss all of the matters besides kidnapping and
insecurity.''
Indeed, as the South Florida delegation traveled through the jammed streets
here, its members saw for themselves the progress -- and the work that remains.
''We want to show the people not only in Miami but in the United States that
what they think about Haiti, what they read in the paper, what they see on the
TV is not the truth,'' said Philippe Derose, one of four North Miami Beach
council members, three of whom are Haitian American, on the four-day
fact-finding trip.
As local government officials who represent communities with large Haitian
populations, Derose and North Miami Councilman Jacques Despinosse, who
organized the visit, said they want to build a bridge between Haiti and their
cities.
Prime Minister JacquesEdouard Alexis welcomed the gesture but also offered one
cautionary note: What Haiti really needs, he said, is investment and technical
assistance.
NO JUNK
Don't send us junk, he said referring to used cars and other equipment that
cities often send here but that often don't work.
''It's better you send less but send equipment that is new,'' Alexis said.
``Haiti is a country with a lot of opportunities. The question before us now is
investments, and how do we attract investments?''
Also in the South Florida delegation were North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns,
Miami-Dade Commissioner Audrey Edmonson and state Rep. Ronald Brise, D-North
Miami.
© 2007 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights
Reserved.http://www.miamiherald.com
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