Author Archives: Emann Joasil

May 6 2012

Kretyen Yo Tou Sipoze Vote

Gen anpil nan mesye pastè yo k ap preche yon levanjil Wòyòm Selès, kote y ap di fidèl yo ke politik pa yo a se nan syèl pou yo fè l. Sa se yon gwo pwoblèm.

Menmjan Kretyen an gen yon vi relijyez li pa ta renmen wè ki pa kodyòm ak Pawòl Bondye a, se konsa tou li gen vi sosyal ak sivik li tou ki pa sipoze neglije. Li sipoze patisipe nan pwosès demokratik la tou kòmsadwa. Kidonk, li sipoze vote.

Li iresponsab pou yon pastè ap di fidèl li pingga yo vote pou lemond; se pou Jezikris pou yo vote. Nou tande jan de pawòl degrenngòch sa yo touttan nan yon seri de legliz.

Fidèl yo ap viv nan sosyete a tou. Kidonk, desizyon k ap soti nan pouvwa anplas la, yo afekte vi fidèl yo tou. Se pa vi payen yo sèlman non ki afekte. Se sa k fè Kretyen yo tou sipoze patisipe nan pwosès demokratik la.

Si w pa vote pou w di men ki moun ou vle ki pou jere zafè pèp la, ou pa ka ap kritike, ap soteponpe lè bagay yo ap mal fèt. Se pou Jezikris ou te di ou t ap vote, se pou w fèmen bouch ou lè zafè w ap mal jere.

Vote, pou Kretyen an, se yon dwa ke li ye -menmjan li se yon dwa pou l jwenn bonjan ledikasyon, lasante, elatriye. Wi, l ap batay pou l ale nan syel, men pandan li sou latè a, se yon devwa li ye pou l vote, pou l patisipe nan desizyon k ap pran pou detèmine ki moun ki pou dirije zafè peyi a. Si l pa patisipe nan pwosès la epi zafè peyi a ap mal jere, li fè pati de moun sa yo ki responsab bagay yo ap mal pase a. Kidonk, li sipoze vote.

May 1 2012

If Lucien Jura Cannot Do His Job, He Needs To Be Fired

Lucien Jura -President Martelly's spokesperson

Don’t we have a press team in the National Palace in Haiti assigned to record and report on President Martelly’s daily activities? If so, what is so difficult for these guys to videotape President Martelly’s major activities -the ceremony that took place at Toussaint Louverture International Airport yesterday morning during the President’s arrival from his hospital stay in Florida, for instance -and post them on his Facebook page, Twitter and Youtube Channel (if the National Palace has one, that is) for everyone interested to check out?

What are these guys doing in the Palace, seriously? I did not get the chance to watch the ceremony at the airport because I had some other obligation to honor. If somebody did not care enough to post on Youtube some bootleg clip of the ceremony, I would have not gotten the chance to see what went down minute by minute. Shouldn’t that be the job of the President’s press team?

Since we are talking about the President’s press team not doing its job, why does it seem so difficult for Lucien Jura, the gentleman said to be President Martelly’s spokesperson, to give a “press briefing” every morning to the National Palace Press Corps to inform the world on the President’s politics on certain key domestic and international issues?

Why do you think Jay Carney, President Obama’s Press Secretary, makes it a duty to stand before the White House Press Corps every morning to brief the world on what needs to be known about the politics of President Obama and his decisions on the major key domestic and foreign issues of the time? He does it because such is within the realm of his responsibility as a spokesperson. If he does not do it, who else is going to? You expect Rush Limbaugh, a vicious opponent of President Obama, to use his platform to do it for him? I don’t think any Obama sympathizer would want Limbaugh to be President Obama’s spokesperson.  I would not.

Lucien Jura is supposed to be the mouthpiece of President Martelly. If he cannot do his job, he has no business to be kept in his function. I am sure he was hired for the job because President Martelly believed he could do it EFFECTIVELY. That choice, I presume, was not made based on favoritism. So if his performance has proven ineffective, he needs to be fired. Plain and simple!

The reason why President Martelly is constantly being hammered left and right by his political opponents is because his mouthpiece, Lucien Jura supposedly, who is to be articulating his political positions, is not being effective in his function of spokesperson.

It seems as though Lucien Jura is there to diffuse political bombs thrown at the President, not to be preemptively on the offensive. And the best way to be and stay preemptively on the offensive is to inform the general public about the FACTS -especially when your opponents are using misleading information to torpedo you. When/if you fail to do so, you leave it up to your opponents to pollute the minds of the people with propaganda politics, which will negatively impact your political tenure.

In conclusion, President Martelly’s press team needs to be more proactive and aggressive in its function. Politics is a contact sport. If you cannot play tough, do not get inside the ring, for you will be slammed and stepped on. Sadly, Lucien Jura’s ineffectiveness as a spokesperson makes President Martelly look like a punk, someone who is being bullied, trashed, slammed or/and hit and not doing anything to retaliate. This is unacceptable. I am sick and tired seeing the President being portrayed as such. Again, if Lucien Jura cannot do his job EFFECTIVELY, he needs to be let go.

Apr 24 2012

Mario Andresol Needs To Act With Boldness

Mario Andresol, the Haitian Police Chief

This nonsense about a component of the Haitian National Police going on strike because some of their peers got shot dead, for the most part in the line of duty, needs to be stopped rigorously.

This is not the way to proceed. As part of their training at the Police Academy, I am certain they were made aware of the guidelines that underscore how complaints and grievances must be properly channeled through up to their commanding officers.

This cancer needs to be radiated at its gestation to prevent it from becoming a gangrenous precedent for the good functioning of the institution.

What these police officers are doing is like déjà vu all over again to me. That is the same nonsense we had to deal with back then –on the last days in the life of the Haitian military –with the foolishness about the “ti sòldas” protesting against their commanding officers. This is plain ridiculousness at its best.

Like the military, the institution of the police is apolitical, meaning it stays away from the political chatters taking place in its surroundings.

In 2006, I could not fathom to witness an installation of the United States Army going on strike demanding the resignation of G. W. Bush, their Commander in chief, for having “wrongly” committed troops in Iraq, having caused the lives of thousands of their comrades. That would have not happened. The day you see such foolishness happens in this country, you must make it your hint that America is definitely going down.

This is not the way the military/police force operates. These folks very well know that, why are they doing what they are doing? Why does it have to be in Haiti for such foolishness to take place?

I am urging the Police Chief, Mario Andresol, to open an investigation immediately to find out who these police officers are; they must be dealt with according to the prescriptions in the institution’s internal code of conduct. This is unacceptable. As far as I am concerned, they need to be kicked out of the force; they need to be made an example out of, so that such misbehavior never has to reproduce itself.

Apr 17 2012

President Martelly Was Flirting With Death

Yesterday afternoon, aboard a commercial airplane, President Martelly was rushed to the Miami hospital he was operated on probably as a result of preliminary signs such as dyspnea (difficulty breathing), tachypnea (shortness of breast), coughing and chest pain on inspiration. After meticulously examining the case, the medical staff came up with pulmonary embolism as the diagnosis.

Briefly, pulmonary embolism is a situation that occurs as a result of a circulating thrombus (blood clot) blocking the circulation of the blood at the level of the lungs. That is the basic definition.

Sequential compression devices (SCDs)

Prolonged bed rest resulting from a major invasive procedure places the patient at risk for post-operative thromboembolism. So to avoid such complication, they usually attach to the patient’s lower extremities sequential compression devices (SCDs) -stockings that wrap around the legs and periodically inflate and deflate with air -to accelerate the venous blood return. Ambulating the patient immediately after surgery also reduces the risk of thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.

From a pathophysiological standpoint, since the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) for oxygen (O2) taking place in the lungs is compromised (as a result of the blockage), the patient’s supply in O2 decreases -which eventually, if not rushed to the ER to be treated urgently, will cause cyanosis (a bluish or purplish coloration of the skin as a result of a low circulating oxygen saturation), low blood pressure, tachycardia, tachypnea, collapse and sudden death. So needless to say that pulmonary embolism is a serious condition.

Now, in the case of President Martelly, what could be the cause of such condition? Well, since he just had a right shoulder arthroscopy to treat a damage joint, this will be the main focus in the investigation of the case. But other underlining conditions -hypertension, diabetes, etc… -could cause that as well. So it is imperative to have a clear understanding of the president’s medical history to pinpoint what exactly is the root cause of the condition.

Pulmonary embolism is a treatable condition. Normally, they will proceed with anticoagulant to undo or dissolve the clot. So while the patient is in the hospital, they will probably heparinize him or her with heparin to be tapered down as the patient is being put on warfarin (coumadin) before being sent home still on warfarin (coumadin) therapy.

While on warfarin, the president will have to have his blood studied every month to determine the effects of the therapy and if he must be taken off the drug.

President Martelly was literally flirting with death. So it was a good thing that he was rushed to the hospital to receive the appropriate and most needed medical care. Otherwise, the unexpected, which is death, could have resulted. Per the press release issued by his office, his health is in stable condition. I wish him a speedy recovery.

Apr 15 2012

Clostridium Difficile: A Serious Bacterium

Clostridium difficile

There is an array of antibiotics –Erythromycin, Azythromycin, Ampicillin, Penicillin, Amoxicillin, Methicillin, Doxycycline, Tetracycline, etc… -out there to treat bacterial infections. However, extended or prolonged use of them is very dangerous in that the patient could become infected with this bacterium called Clostridium difficile or C difficile or C diff.

In the intestine, as we all know, we do have our “normal flora” –good bacteria necessary for life sustainment. What the extended or prolonged use of antibiotics does, it destroys these bacteria, making the patient very prone or susceptible to being infected with Clostidrium difficle.

The shell of this bacterium is just as hard as the shell of a crab, making it very hard to kill because antibiotics will have difficulty to penetrate it.

A ruptured inflamed colon

As a result of this bacterium, the patient will develop diarrhea, which, if not stopped urgently, could cause inflammation of the colon or enterocolitis or colitis, which could cause the colon to burst open, rupture or break open. So it is imperative that we stop the diarrhea to prevent further complications. To achieve that, we use right away the combination of two very strong antibiotics –Vancomycin and Flagyl (Metronidazole).

When caring for these patients infected with Clostidrium difficile, it is highly recommended that all necessary measures are used to prevent direct contact with them. In the medical profession, these types of measures are called “contact isolation,” implying the use of a protective gown and gloves because of the contagious nature of the bacterium. Some, those who cannot stand the foul smell of the diarrhea, would even use a regular surgical mask.

Like everything in life, you can use things, but not abuse them. Antibiotics are not candies, so you should not be taking them for fun. While they are good to treat bacterial infections, abusing them could have negative drawbacks on your health. When you are prescribed them, follow thoroughly the instructions given to you.

These drugs are so potent that they must not be sold to people without a prescription issued by a licensed medical professional. By the same token, they must not be sold by people without a state-issued licence authorizing them to sell them. That explains the reason as to why I am so against the anarchic way these street vendors in Haiti are allowed to sell these drugs to anybody having money to buy. This is unacceptable, and it becomes a public health hazard, which the authorities MUST stop by any necessary means. I do understand everybody is trying to make a living, but you cannot be doing your hustling at the expense of other people’s lives.  So needless to say that the health of the population is in great danger.

Apr 6 2012

Martelly in Miami: A Surgery Of Controversy

President Martelly of Haiti

According to an official statement issued by the Office of the President in Port-au-Prince, President Martelly left Haiti Wednesday to Miami, Fl where he will undergo a surgical intervention in his right shoulder. No mention of the nature and scope of the surgery is made. He will return a week later, precisely on Thursday, April 12, 2012 to resume his activities.

Apparently, the fact that he is traveling abroad for medical reasons does not please many. Some are arguing that he should not be traveling to the US to be operated on; he should stay home and be treated by Haitian doctors and nurses only for the sake of inspiring confidence in the Haitian health care system. Are these people serious, really?

Of course, that is what every president would hope to see. But such is not the case for Haiti. And who said he will not be operated on by a Haitian orthopedist in Miami -one of our own who had studied in Haiti and left the country for political reasons or because he or she was not valued enough in his or her own country?

This argument, which I consider as a blame on the president’s account, would have made sense had Martelly been president for the past 26 years and nothing been done to structure our health care system and the delivery of care in the country.

Remember, Martelly has been in power for only 11 months; it took years to bring our health care system and the practice of the science of medicine to such a situation of chaos.

His predecessors are done messing up everything, now they want to hold him accountable for the state of affairs in the country. At some point in time, the practice of medicine in Haiti used to be one of the best in the region; it is not so anymore for years.

Aristide and Preval, these two Lavalas guys, for the twenty years they were in power, did not do anything of substance to make sure that their successors would not have to travel abroad should they need care as basic as emergency. They messed it up for all of us. So if blames need to be cast, they need to direct them at these two guys, not Martelly. In fact, did Rene Preval not have to travel abroad, to Cuba precisely, to have his prostate cancer taken care of? I did not hear all these chatters when that happened. Why now I am reading about all these jabbers? I guess Cuba is not foreign to Haiti, America is. Seriously, these healthcare nationalists need to find better ways to show their nationalism.

Mar 30 2012

Calling On Former High-Ranking Haitian Military Officers

Members of the demobilized Haitian military

I understand that these demobilized military guys want the return of the Haitian military. I do not think anyone with the Haitian blood flowing through their veins could ever reject or oppose to that. The return of a professional Haitian military is paramount to the country’s national security and prestige.

The argument is not whether the return of the Haitian military is feasible or not as it is recognized in the Constitution of the land; it is, rather, how should we proceed and what should be its mission and purpose.

I have heard many making the argument that we do not need to return with the Haitian military. I must ask these people this simple question: If you say we do not need our own military, what do we still need MINUSTAH troops in the country for? They are not there working for free; they get paid for what they do. Would it not make sense to replace these foreign troops occupying our land with our own folks -who know our culture, speak our language and are from us? I doubt anyone would disagree with that.

So until someone can show me how it is not going to be in the country’s best interest to reactivate or reinstate the Haitian military, I am standing strong and resolute for the return of the Haitian military as stipulated in the 1987 Constitution.

The way these so-called former members of the armed forces are proceeding to make their voices heard, however, is not going to help their cause. Rather, it will turn off people with the pen power to satisfy their concerns.

In terms of public relations, they are doing their movement a disservice. They are not being properly represented and portrayed in the press nationally and internationally. When I and most people look at them, to be honest with you, it is disheartening, appalling and disgusting. We look at them as a group of armed thugs in the heart of some jungle receiving military training for the sole purpose of terrorizing their own population of civilians -raping, killing, kidnapping, destroying, stealing, etc… Not a good image to project and promote when you want people to listen to you.

So I am calling on former military officers in the caliber of General Herard Abraham to come to the rescue of these so-called prior service military personnel. They will constitute a sort of a leadership council to represent these guys and push to the forefront their revendications. In other words, this body will play the role of a lobbying team to talk on behalf of these guys -whom no one in the international arena will ever sit down to talk to.

It is imperative that certain well respected former high-ranking military officers come forward to form this lobbying body to represent these guys. We all know that nature abhors a vacuum. So if nothing is being done urgently to structure and galvanize this movement and give it an allure of serious, I guarantee you someone from their ranks will emerge and proclaim himself or herself the leader of this movement. And when that happens, it will be very hard to ask this self-proclaimed leader to step aside and allow someone with the leadership skills, education and knowledge to lead the movement. Meanwhile, they have weapons in their hands; no one can foresee what may happen. It is very dangerous to allow someone with demands that cannot be met to have a weapon in his hand and become bitterly frustrated. You can expect the unexpected to occur. So we do not need to let things get to this point of no return, especially when we could do something to prevent that.

Mar 25 2012

The Trayvon Martin Case: Newt Gingrich Did It Again

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich

NEWT GINGRICH, the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, is on the wrong side of the debate that surrounds the killing of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old Black high school student from Sanford, Florida. In a statement made over the weekend, he literally went after President Obama for saying “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”

“What the President said, in a sense, is disgraceful. It’s not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background should be safe. Period,” Gingrich said. “We should all be horrified no matter what the ethnic background. Is the President suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot that would be okay because it wouldn’t look like him? That’s just nonsense.”

Basically, what the former Speaker is implying is that Obama is trying to interject race in this issue. If this is not about race, what is it about, really? His argument is that it does not matter the color of the skin, killing any human being -White, Black, Yellow -is wrong; we all should be safe regardless our ethnicity. I do agree with him in that no one should be killed like Trayvon regadless the color of the skin. However, that’s ideal, not what the reality entails.

Trayvon was unarmed and did not constitute a threat to Zimmerman -who still felt threatened, followed the boy (in spite of a direct order from the dispatcher at the police station to stop following him), and shot him dead on grounds of self-defense. Self-defense? Are you serious?

If this case goes to court, I do not think the “stand your ground” law will sustain as a convincing defense as Trayvon was unarmed and did not do anything that could be considered a threat to Zimmerman, per the police report. The only thing that seemed to be a threat to Zimmerman, I would say, was Trayvon’s skin complexion, nothing more and nothing less. In fact, Trayvon was not following Zimmerman with a weapon; it was the other way around. So how could it be acting on self-defense? Defending the self against whom and from what -from the bag of skittles and the iced tea that Trayvon had in his hands?

The president is right on target in his statement, though guys like Speaker Gingrich are trying to blame him for saying it. Yes, indeed, Obama is the president of the United States. But let his daughters walk outside right now, they would be Black girls, and that alone would be grounds for them to be shot dead, raped or lynched.

What we ought to be asking ourselves in this whole saga is this: What if it was the other way around, what would have happened? What if it was Trayvon who shot and killed Zimmerman -given the circumstances we all know -would he be allowed to walk away free with his weapon in his hand as if nothing happened? I strongly doubt it. There would be an arrest, and he would be fighting tooth and nail to use the “stand your ground” law in his defense in court.

Newt Gingrich -a Southern White male -will never understand the daily dire reality of living Black in America. I understand he is so desperate right now trying to make a comeback in the GOP presidential primary as things do not look good for him at all, but that does not mean he has to lose his dignity and say these irresponsible and reckless things. He is known for making these types of remarks. He is someone who wants to fire school janitors and hire their kids to replace them. So you can have an idea who this man really is. President Obama pretty much knows what he is talking about because he is a Black man; he can relate to Trayvon. There is no playing politics in this. And Newt Gingrich must be ashamed of himself.

Mar 22 2012

Deactivated Military: Martelly Must Be Careful

The Martelly administration needs to be very careful in the way it plans to deal with the armed deactivated military personnel illegally occupying the installations of the old Haitian military disbanded by former President Jean Bertrand Aristide in 1995.

This issue is like a ticking bomb, which, if not addressed properly, meaning if not addressed with tact and finesse, will go off and cause serious and irredeemable political drawbacks.

These guys are acting like a bunch of armed thugs with no sense of military discipline and respect for their Commander-in-chief. If they are really what they claim to be -disbanded military personnel -the fact that they could disobey the orders of the president to put down their weapons and evacuate the military bases, they technically enter in rebellion. For that, they should be dealt with by any means necessary, regardless if that means utilization of the use of force. That would be ideal, but for the sake of politics, it would not be the best course of action.

The orders issued by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security calling on the national police and MINUSTAH to go after these guys to disarm and force them to empty the sites they occupy will be like the spike needed to explode the bomb.

Using force in this situation is not warranted as it is not going to politically play in President Martelly’s best interest. It will quickly escalate into a political quagmire to be exploited by the president’s political opponents. In other words, bringing MINUSTAH in this affair will be politically disastrous for President Martelly as his political opponents will quickly jump on the bandwagon and start beating their drums of nationalism politics.

My advice to President Martelly is to create a multidimensional/multisectorial commission to sit down with these guys to come up with an agreement on a timetable to satisfy their claims, have them put down their weapons and evacuate the premises.

That is the most politically sensed approach to defuse this bomb and avoid a bloodbath in the country, which could politically weaken the president. I hope I do make sense and somebody with the power to influence the decision-making apparatus in Port-au-Prince could listen.

Mar 4 2012

Citizenship: Martelly and Obama -Two Distinct Cases

Let me take a minute to address these people trying to make the silly and ridiculous comparison between the citizenship case of President Obama and that of President Martelly.

Some argue that like Obama did show his birth certificate when Donald Trump and others were raising doubts about his American citizenship, Martelly should give his passport to the Senate commission charged to investigate on the allegation of Senator Moise Jean Charles holding charges that Martelly is not Haitian so the country could move on.

Let me make it clear to these folks that those are two different cases in reality and political conjuncture. They are different in that, unlike the Martelly case, the allegation held against Obama did not come from a member of one of the country’s institutions; it came from a citizenship. That’s why even certain members of Congress in Trump’s party, the Republican Party, were calling him out on this.

In the Martelly case, however, you have a state senator making the allegation that Martelly is not Haitian. Now a Senate commission, from one of the country’s institutions I must add, is investigating the case. What makes this case appalling is not the fact that the citizenship of President Martelly is being questioned, but rather who is questioning it. This is not a simple citizen like Donald Trump questioning the president’s citizenship; it is a state senator.

In any country around the globe, a senator holds certain power and authority a normal and ordinary citizen does not. He or she can access any information in any institution at any given time to come to the bottom of anything he or she has doubts on.

So in light of that, before Moise Jean Charles, a senator I must add, came out to make such a serious allegation against President Martelly, he should have taken his time to collect all the pertinent information to build his case and corroborate his stance. He only submitted two bogus passport numbers, one of which, the American passport number, per Ambassador Merten, has absolutely nothing to do with the president. That alone should have been grounds for rejection of the case for insufficiency of evidence. No, they still want to play politics with this baseless and unfounded issue while millions are unemployed and living in abject poverty.

Now that they realize they are making a fool of themselves because the pieces of evidence they so-called had to substantiate the case against President Martelly have been refuted, they are pressing the president to come out with his passport to rescue them from the embarrassment. Why should he? I say let them destroy themselves. As Napoleon Bonaparte eloquently stated, “Never interfere with an enemy while he’s in the process of destroying himself.” So he must NOT submit his passport; it will stay in his pocket as he stated.

In the President Obama case, he did release his birth certificate because he was facing reelection pressures. That was the only way for him to put the nonsense behind him. Had he not done so, the issue would have not been put to rest, which could have caused him his reelection. So for the sake of politics, he was obliged to relinquish this very personal information. He did it for politics, not because he wanted to be a good-hearted and patriotic citizen.

It is imperative that we do not get these two cases mixed up. They are diametrically different, though they may have some points of similitude. Donald Trump is a simple citizen; Moise Jean Charles is a senator. The Tea Party backing Trump on his charge is a political entity within the Republican Party; the commission charged to investigate on President Martelly’s foreign nationality is an entity from within the country’s Senate, an institution of the state.

The fact that these guys in the Senate, after about three months of futile investigation, have yet to come forth with a conclusion of their investigation has proven their incapacity and the weakness of our institutions. If this case was investigated in the United States, I do not think they would have relied on President Obama’s goodwill to submit his travel papers to conclude whether or not he is a US citizen. No wonder the world is laughing at us as though we are a bunch of cave people living in this 21st century.