Tag Archives: President Martelly

Feb 17 2014

Desras Wants To Boycott The Talks Only To Destabilize Haiti

Senator Desras, the president of the Haitian Senate

Senator Desras, the president of the Haitian Senate

 

Senator Desras has decided not to sign the El Rancho agreement -even after President Martelly has published in the country’s gazette, Le Moniteur, the names of 7 of the 10 judges designated by the Senate to permanently sit in the Superior Court of Auditors.

The ball is now in the senator’s court. If the president does not publish all the names, because he has reasonable doubts and objections on the qualifications of 3 of the 10 judges, does that mean the nation must come to a standstill for that? I do not think so.

The president’s action to publish 7 of the 10 names attest to his political will to be part of the solution, not the problem. All Senator Desras needs to do now -if he wants to show that he is not a destabilizing figure -is to get with his peers in the Senate to choose 3 other members with proper credentials to complete the list. I don’t see what the big deal is.

Senator Desras is dragging his feet because he knows Monsignor Langlois will be traveling to the Vatican on the 22nd of this month to be anointed Cardinal by Pope Francis, meaning he will not have that much time to dedicate to the negotiations anymore.

Desras needs to stop being a caucus leader so he could start being a statesman [a person who exhibits great wisdom and ability in directing the affairs of the state or in dealing with important public issues, according to Webster]. It is time that he makes such a distinction.

As president of the Senate, he is in this position because of his leadership [I presume] to lead the Great Corps. So as a leader, he needs to do what is right, not what his Lavalas caucus tells him to do.

I learnt that his decision not to show up at El Rancho Saturday afternoon for the signature of the agreement -when Monsignor Langlois, President Martelly and the representatives of the political parties were waiting on him -has been largely influenced by the members of his Lavalas caucus in the Senate.

The nation and the international community must take note that Senator Desras has stopped the process with his intransigence. He is the person who must be held responsible for anything that may happen up to now. He is placing partisanship and ideology over the prime interests of the country.

Feb 15 2014

WARNING: President Martelly Is Flirting With Danger

President Martelly and Monsignor Langlois

President Martelly and Monsignor Langlois

 

President Martelly is flirting with danger if he thinks he can refuse to not publish in the nation’s gazette, Le Moniteur, the names of the members of the Superior Court of Auditors, which, from my understanding, he had initially promised to do in the El Rancho negotiations with the opposition.

According to the Constitution, it is in the Senate’s prerogative to choose the members of this said institution, not that of the executive branch. The president’s office can only vet the members and communicate its decision within a time frame to the Senate. In the event that the time to do so has elapsed, the president will have no other choice but to publish the names.

So since the president, for whatever reason, let the limit expire, he MUST publish the names. And if the senators make the publication of those names their sine qua non for their endorsement of the tripartite compromise resulting from the El Rancho negotiations, no one can blame them for that.

President Martelly must not be flirting with danger. He MUST publish those names since he let his vetting prerogative expire. I trust his political judgment, so I don’t think he will make such a reckless mistake of not publishing those names. I am sure he is aware of what is at stake. Should he choose to not publish them, he will make a catastrophic mistake, which will have serious political consequences.

Nov 10 2013

Civic Education: A Must For A Better Haiti

Students at the Istitution Saint-Louis de Gonzague, on June 29, 2010, thousands of displaced earthquake victims are living on the school grounds while students continue to take classes in tents. Here elementary school students studying their vocabulary. Left to right are Elysee Pasquy Anderson, 10; Antoine Marco, 9; and Josiuf Dave, 9. AL DIAZ / THE MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Here elementary school students [at the Institution Saint-Louis de Gonzague] on June 29, 2010 studying their vocabulary. From left to right: Elysee Pasquy Anderson, 10; Antoine Marco, 9; and Josiuf Dave, 9. AL DIAZ / THE MIAMI HERALD STAFF

When I was at Cyr-Guillo [commonly called Ecole des Freres des Gonaives] for my primary, elementary and junior high school education, because the school knew they were preparing young kids to become responsible citizens of tomorrow, the curriculum was shaped to reflect that vision.

After spending 7 years in that institution, upon graduation to move on to high school,  we could proudly look at ourselves and say that we are prepared for life on every front because the foundation upon which the house of life is to be mounted or erected is strongly engineered.

In the curriculum, there was this course called Civic Education -a required core class we had to take for 2 years or so -conceived to teach us students how to love our country unconditionally, respect and love each other as brothers, be good law-abiding citizens by respecting established authority, the law of the land, etc.

I do strongly believe that Ecole des Freres des Gonaives was not the only institution in the country then to have instituted Civic Education in their curriculum; other schools had followed the same Education Department guidelines.

Unfortunately, at my great astonishment, some genius who took over the Education Ministry had removed Civic Education from the curriculum. I know you may be asking the same question everyone with some sense is asking: “why is that?” Well, that’s beyond my pray grade. I am just as dumbfounded as you are.

What a brilliant decision that was! No wonder we have today all this nonsense going on in our society.

Today, these young Haitian kids are growing up with no foundation in civic education. And we are acting so surprised to see the results of our recklessness and irresponsibility -delinquency, child prostitution, the zokiki phenomenon, disrespect for established authority and the law, the list goes on and on and on.

Why acting so surprised? We should have expected these results to emerge some day. That’s what happens when leaders fail their citizens -you have a chaotic and dysfunctional society because the young citizens have grown to become chaotic and dysfunctional citizens.

I heard a while ago that Mr. Varnneur Pierre, the head of our Education Ministry, was bringing back Civic Education in the classroom, I don’t know if he has ever delivered on his promise.  But I pray the Martelly administration could make a difference in the right. The teaching of civic education to our kids is a must. Making the right investment in the education of our kids of today is the only hope we have for a better, secure and sustainable tomorrow.

Aug 14 2012

President Martelly: Great Leaders Are Great Listeners

President Martelly needs to exercise his sense of leadership by taking the high road of wisdom to spare the country an unneeded and unnecessary political crisis of no return.

As someone who has been an avid proponent of the institution of the Permanent Electoral Council, as stipulated in the Amended Constitution, and as a political realist, I don’t see how the political conjuncture [the Senate not being able to hold meetings for lack of quorum; the president of the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ), Anel Alexis Joseph, being accused of not following the right procedure to choose the institution’s 3 representatives to sit in the CEP, creating a tension and situation of revolt inside the institution] is going to allow such institution to be born without generating a crisis that may be too complex to resolve. So stopping it (the crisis) at its gestation stage is highly warranted.

I read Senator Steven Benoit’s letter to President Martelly with great attention (see letter below). For someone whom I barely agree with, this time around, I think he is on the side of logic, realism and wisdom. So I am urging the president to follow the sound advice of the senator. Everything in the letter makes perfect sense. He has said it all.

Where we are right now, what’s important is to organize credible elections, not the type of CEP (provisory or permanent) that is going to organize them. President Martelly should get everybody (the presidents of the Senate, Chamber of Deputies and CSPJ; the leaders of the political parties represented in the parliament; members of the civil society; etc…) together and extract a consensus that could result in the creation of a Provisory Electoral Council to organize the congressional, mayoral and CASEC elections. Once the effective in the Senate is complete, then we can proceed with the formation of the Permanent Electoral Council. If this is something all the vital forces in the country could agree with, the president should go with it. In politics, for the sake of appeasement, when in doubt, avoid taking the controversial or contentious route.
==================================================================================

Senator Steven Irvenson Benoit of the West District

Port-au-Prince, le 9 août 2012.

Son Excellence

Monsieur Michel Joseph MARTELLY

Président de la République

Palais National

 

Excellence,

Une fois de plus, j’ai l’honneur de m’adresser à vous en tant que responsable de la bonne marche des institutions républicaines de ce pays, et du bon déroulement de son processus démocratique. J’espère donc que vous recevrez cette correspondance dans un esprit d’ouverture pouvant faciliter un dialogue pacificateur et stabilisateur qui nous permettra de réussir la traversée de la conjoncture actuelle.

  Quelques antécédents

Permettez que je vous rappelle qu’en avril 1997, lors des élections devant justement permettre le renouvellement du tiers du Sénat, les résultats du 1er tour ont été contestés avec tant de virulence que les deux (2) Sénateurs élus n’ont jamais pu prêter serment. Quant au 2ème tour il n’eut jamais lieu. Résultats décriés, Conseil électoral provisoire décrié tout autant. 

En mai 2000, le pouvoir en place avait tenté de rafler tous les sièges du Parlement avec des résultats affichant 81 Députés en sa faveur, sur les 83 siégeant, et 18 de ses candidats élus Sénateurs sur 18 sièges en ballotage. Une fois de plus ces résultats furent contestés et il s’en suivit trois années de troubles politiques ininterrompus, jusqu’au départ forcé du Président élu.

Aujourd’hui nous voici face au défi de la formation d’un Conseil électoral qui donne lieu à une intense controverse et crée des frictions entre les trois pouvoirs. Si nous ne faisons pas très attention, ce Conseil électoral risque de ne jamais voir le jour et le pays pourrait retomber dans une crise politique.

En effet, au sein du CSPJ règne un conflit d’importance et le comportement du Président de cette institution en qui la nation est censé placer son ultime confiance est peu rassurant; il semble même attiser davantage les dissenssions internes (et externes). Le CEPJ doit se ressaisir et recouvrer sa dignité et la confiance de la nation, même au prix de grands sacrifices.

Au Sénat, il est jusqu’à ce jour Impossible de réunir au complet les 20 membres y siégeant actuellement. Il est encore plus difficile d’obtenir la majorité des deux tiers qui permettrait que soient désignés les trois  représentants de l’Assemblée nationale au Conseil électoral permanent. Rappelons-nous que, comme le Président du CSPJ, le Président du Sénat ne peut voter que pour départager un vote dans l’impasse. Or, douze Sénateurs et trente-six Députés se sont déjà déclarés ouvertement hostiles à la formation d’un Conseil électoral permanent et exigent que ce soit de préférence un Conseil provisoire de consensus qui organise les prochaines élections. 

La voix (ou la voie) de la Sagesse 

Personnellement j’étais en faveur, et je suis encore en faveur de la mise en place d’un Conseil électoral permanent. Étant donné  qu’une majorité de mes collègues avait voté les amendements, considérant que la majorité des Parlementaires avait demandé la publication de la loi mère amendée,  je m’étais plié à la volonté du vote majoritaire comme tout bon démocrate. Par respect pour ce vote et pour les prescrits de la constitution amendée, il n’y avait pour moi d’autre voie que d’aller jusqu’au bout des décisions prises et former un Conseil électoral permanent. 

Cependant, tenant compte de la situation qui prévaut au sein du CSPJ et des réactions qu’elle ne cesse de susciter, considérant la crise qui se profile au Parlement si les diverses positions exprimées ne peuvent être conciliées, je ne peux que souhaiter un dialogue entre l’Exécutif, le Parlement, le CSPJ, les partis politiques et la société civile en vue de trouver un compromis.  

Ceci éviterait des contestations inutiles, néfastes au bon fonctionnement du gouvernement et de l’Etat haïtien en général. De même, Il serait fort sage que vous reveniez sur l’arrêté nommant une Directrice générale au Conseil électoral, avant même que celui-ci soit constitué. Il reviendra aux Conseillers eux-mêmes de se choisir un Directeur général, tout comme cela se fait dans les autres institutions indépendantes que sont la Cour supérieure des comptes et du contentieux administratif, l’Université d’Etat Haiti, l’Office du protecteur du citoyen.

Ce sont là la voix et la voie de la Sagesse …

Gouvernance

Une fois ce Conseil électoral formé, ses membres soumettront dans les plus brefs délais au Parlement, pour ratification, la loi électorale devant régir les joutes qui permettront le choix du tiers du Sénat, l’élection des Maires et des Casec.  Dans l’intervalle il y aura beaucoup à faire.

Le Parlement devra voter : la loi sur les Collectivités territoriales – la loi Organique du CEP permanent  – la loi contre la Corruption – la loi sur les Partis politiques – la loi contre l’Evasion fiscale – la loi contre le Vol de l’électricité. De son côté, l’Exécutif devrait aussi publier les lois votées par le Parlement mais non encore imprimées au Journal officiel tel la loi sur les Frais scolaires (pour bien montrer qu’il appuie l’éducation) – la loi sur l’Habeas corpus – la loi sur la Détention préventive – sur le Kidnapping, et toutes les autres lois votées au Parlement et non encore publiées au Moniteur.

Un tel tableau ne fera que renforcer le bilan du Président Martelly et de son gouvernement. Durant le processus électoral, vous aurez le choix de vous maintenir au dessus de la mêlée ou de travailler en vue de la victoire des candidats de votre parti aux élections. L’expérience de 1997 et celle de 2000 mentionnées plus haut indiquent clairement que l’Exécutif a tout intérêt à laisser parler librement les urnes et à se contenter du nombre de sièges qu’il aura démocratiquement obtenus.

Renforcement institutionnel

Après la publication des résultats des élections le cap devra immédiatement être mis sur la formation du Conseil électoral permanent, du Conseil constitutionnel, et la tenue des élections indirectes qui permettront au pays d’avoir les Assemblées municipales, départementales et le Conseil interdépartemental, dont les membres pourront finalement siéger au Conseil des Ministres  en lieu et place des Parlementaires que nous y observons actuellement, ce qui constitue une grande anomalie. 

Avant de terminer, je tiens à rappeler à votre Excellence et à l’opinion publique nationale que le document qui devrait s’intituler Constitution haïtienne de 1987 amendée n’existe nulle part. La reproduction des amendements pour erreur matérielle a bien eu lieu, mais il reste à publier la Constitution de 1987 avec tous les amendements incorporés! A ce sujet, je voudrais attirer votre attention sur le fait que le retard mis dans la ‘’reproduction pour erreur matérielle’’ est à l’origine de cette grave crise actuellement en gestation. Elle aurait pu avoir eu lieu bien avant la fin du mandat des dix Sénateurs qui avaient si farouchement rallié la cause de l’Exécutif.

Ces conseils vous sont adressés, Excellence, dans un élan patriotique en vue de trouver dans votre conscience d’homme d’Etat, un écho favorable qui ne fera que garantir davantage la réussite de votre mandat, tout en assurant le bien-être de ce peuple qui attend beaucoup de vous, de nous.

Patriotiquement,

Steven Irvenson BENOIT

Sénateur de la République

 

cc :         Le Président du Sénat

              Le Premier Ministre

             La presse

Jul 19 2012

URGENT: Call For A Popular Uprising In Haiti

It has been 70 days since the Senate in Port-au-Prince has managed to hold their last legislative meeting, and that was for the ratification of Prime Minister Lamothe. Some of the senators have been AWOL (Absent Without Leave), infirming the quorum inside the chamber. Meanwhile, the people’s pressing and urgent problems are not breaking -one only has to walk our streets to see them raging.

What are we paying the members of this institution for -for not doing anything? Imagine what would have been these guys’ reaction had Prime Minister Lamothe been nowhere to be found for a week, just for a week. Hell would have broken loose.

It is obvious that the Senate has become right about now the people’s number one problem. There is a solution to any problem, and the solution to the problem the Senate represents is in the hands of the people. They can turn things around for the better in a blink of an eye if they really want to.

We are living a legislative dictatorship in Haiti, and we should fight it with everything we have at our disposal -just like we did in 1986 to force the dictatorship Duvalier regime out of power, after it has lived its political life expectancy.

The intent of the drafters of our Constitution was to put in place a structure that could prevent the erection or emergence of another dictatorship of any kind from either one of the three branches of government -executive, legislative and judiciary.

The current structure or system, as stipulated in the actual Constitution, is not working in the best interest of us all; it is only beneficial to a small circle of crooks and corrupted politicians. It constantly fails the state. And when the state keeps failing to deliver, the people must act swiftly and boldly to take the destiny of the nation into their own hands.

We must not rely on one man or woman to do what needs to be done. The president, whether it be President Martelly or someone else, regardless his or her impeccable political will, will not be able to do anything as he or she will have both his or her hands tied up; the Constitution creates a powerless executive. It takes all the power and places it in the hands of the legislative branch, creating a legislative dictatorship.

Power is not given; it is taken by any necessary means. So let us not expect the legislature to amend the Constitution to return to the executive some of its power to level things out. That will not happen without a fight, which only the people can give.

Needless to say, we need a popular uprising in the country similar to the one that took place in France on July 14 of 1789, known by the historic name of Storming of the Bastille, to rectify the mess that is going on right now in the country.

The people need to take matters into their own hands. They need to take the streets, storm and DESTROY the Senate and demand that a new Constitution be voted on and adopted immediately. We do not need a Senate anyway. What for? We only need a House of Deputies -just like the British have it -to bring to the political forefront the people’s problems. We created a bureaucratic layer we do not really need, slowing the pace of things for the people. It is simply a waste of time and resources, which we do not even have.

One does not need to be a rocket scientist to realize that this Constitution is the stem of ALL of our political setbacks. We need to break ties with the staleness if we must move forward. This Parliamentarian structure as we have it and this Constitution must go so we could start anew. Again, the brave people of Haiti have in their hands the solution to the problem the Senate represents. They just need to activate it, and they do know how.

Jun 22 2012

Is Senator Anick Joseph A Political Comedian?

Senator Francois Anick Joseph

Senator Anick Joseph of the Artibonite District, someone I used to have great esteem and admiration for, is now scooping to the lowest of the lows. Just when you think he could have spent his time pushing to pass legislation to get his district, which used to be the food-generating engine for the country, back on its knees, he wants to spend his congressional time in pettiness trying to find out how much money these President Martelly’s top political advisers (Lambert, Latortue, etc…) are getting paid to advise the president. Seriously, is this the senator’s newest punchline in his career of political comedian or what?

See, this is what you call vile demagoguery politics. In the realness of things, for the sake of checks and balances, what the senator is doing is exactly the right thing to do, and I do not think any objection to that could have stood ground. But it seems as though these folks in the so-called opposition to the Martelly administration want to enforce the law, that is if such recommendation is one of the senator’s constitutional prerogatives, only when it best serves to advance their political agenda.

Where was Senator Anick Joseph then when Moise Jean Charles was working in the National Palace as President Preval’s political adviser? I am sure President Preval had, like President Martelly, a gang of political advisers, too. If so, where was Senator Anick? I guess he was not in the Senate at the time, for I did not hear his voice wanting to institute his concept of checks and balances. Well, let us not be too harsh on the senator. Maybe that law that gives him the authority to find out how much the President Martelly’s top political advisers are getting paid had not made its way in the books yet. Right, Senator Anick?

Now you see why no one really wants to take the motives of this man and his acolytes at face value, right? I think they are in the wrong business. I should have been watching them on television doing stand-up comedy; they are a bunch of political comedians to me.

Jun 2 2012

My Position On The Publication Of The Amended Version Of The 1987 Constitution

Per Lucien Jura, the spokesperson for the Office of the President, President Martelly will publish this month in the Moniteur, the country’s official newspaper, the highly contested and controversial amended version of the 1987 Constitution.

Public opinion is split on whether the president should publish it or not. As it can be noticed, I refrain from positioning myself on that simply because I am clueless in terms of its content. I hope the president is well advised and, if he decides to publish it, knows exactly what he is getting himself into.

The question I and others are asking ourselves is, why is it that a document of such magnitude and importance is not being made available to the public online and other venues for everyone to access it and have a political position on it in terms of its publication? By not doing so, the president and his close and trusted advisers are giving the impression that there are things in there they are hiding and do not want the general public to know about. They need to keep in mind that in politics, impression or perception is reality. So they do need to be very careful in their approach.

Because I refuse to extrapolate or do the Haitian “voye monte,” I choose not to have a political position in terms of whether the amended version of the 1987 Constitution should be published or not as the President is poised to do some time this month. Also, because it has been kept with such a top secrecy, my instinct tells me there are things in there the authorities do not wish to be known by the general public. So for those two reasons, I do not back up the idea of publishing it without it being placed under the microscopic lens of the people. If in spite of all the opposing counsels from high profile and respected constitutional analysts in the caliber of Gerard Gourgue, Georges Michel and others, President Martelly decides to publish the document, whether the consequences of such action are politically positive or negative for his presidency and the country as a whole, he must keep in mind that he will be held accountable.

May 18 2012

National Security: A Haitian Defense Ministry For Strategic Reasons

Rodolphe Joasil, Haitian Minister of Defense

Some people are criticizing the Martelly-Lamothe administration for the creation of the Ministry of Defense. They argue that it is a waste of our scarce resources to have a Defense Ministry as an independent organization of the Haitian government -since we already have an agency called the Direction of Civil Protection, and let alone we do not even have a military institution. I don’t think these folks quite understand the real philosophy behind the creation of the Ministry of Defense, though.

The Ministry of Defense, per Minister Joasil’s strategic approach during his brief presentation of the institution’s mission, purpose, and agenda at the televised Cabinet Meeting on Wednesday, is going to play a very important role, one of an umbrella institution, in coordinating the efforts of many agencies such as the Direction of Civil Protection, the Office of Management of Mount Hospital, the National Intelligence Agency amongst others.

We do not really need to wait for when we have a national military for us to start doing certain things. For example, we can introduce in or add to the national police two well trained and equipped specialized brigades with mission to police our forests (to prevent the rampant deforestation) and man our border with the Dominican Republic (to control the movement of people and goods across the border).  These brigades too, once constituted, along with the aforementioned agencies, will fall right under the commanding authority of the Defense Minister.

I would like to urge these people going ballistic over the creation of the Ministry of Defense, which former Senator Joasil is commissioned to head, to not let the name “Ministry of Defense” throw them off. In my humble opinion, that ministry’s real name should have been Ministry of National Security with mission to coordinate the efforts of all these independent agencies so that they could communicate with each other and act in a concerted manner for effectiveness purposes.

It does make sense to detach the Ministry of Defense from the Interior Ministry. The Ministry of Defense is too vital of an institution to let it stay as a sub-institution inside the Ministry of Interior. From a strategic standpoint, I do understand quite well what President Martelly and Prime Minister Lamothe are trying to do by separating these two entities. If you really want to effectively secure our homeland, you have got to give the Defense Ministry its autonomy and allow it to operate outside the realm of the Interior Ministry. After the tragedy of September 11, here in America, we did the exact same thing with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which Secretary Napolitano is currently the head of. As the new threats and challenges emerge, we have got to keep restructuring government to render it more effective in its mission of delivering “real-time” service to its people.

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 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.