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This Week in <strong>Haiti</strong><br />
As Police Capture Infamous Gang Leader:<br />
President Nominates a New Prime Minister, Fritz-William Michel<br />
by Kim Ives<br />
Besieged <strong>Haiti</strong>an President Jovenel<br />
Moïse nominated his<br />
fourth prime minister on Mon.,<br />
Jul. 22: Fritz-William Michel, 38.<br />
Michel had been tapped to<br />
be the Planning Minister in the<br />
government of Moïse’s previous<br />
PM nominee, Jean Michel Lapin.<br />
But Lapin’s bid to be ratified by<br />
Parliament was foiled four times,<br />
leading him to offer his resignation<br />
on the morning of Michel’s<br />
nomination.<br />
Since Mar. 21, Lapin had<br />
been acting prime minister after<br />
the House of Deputies ousted his<br />
predecessor, Jean Henry Céant, on<br />
Mar. 18.<br />
Michel’s nomination was<br />
overshadowed by news of the<br />
capture of Anèl Joseph, an infamous<br />
gang leader who had eluded<br />
police and sowed terror in <strong>Haiti</strong>’s<br />
Artibonite region and the outskirts<br />
of the capital, Port-au-Prince.<br />
<strong>Haiti</strong>an Police captured Joseph<br />
at the hospital Lumière de<br />
Bonne-Fin, in the town of Cavaillon,<br />
a few miles east of the southern<br />
city of Aux Cayes. He had<br />
gone there to receive care for a<br />
leg wound sustained during gang<br />
warfare around the Artibonite city<br />
of Gonaïves in June. The clash left<br />
eight people dead and several others<br />
wounded.<br />
Joseph had escaped from<br />
several attempts by police to arrest<br />
him near his Artibonite base.<br />
Each time, he retaliated by attacking<br />
police stations.<br />
Videos and pictures of Joseph<br />
lying naked, bruised, and dirty on<br />
his back on the ground under the<br />
boots of policemen flooded social<br />
media immediately after his arrest.<br />
According to the <strong>Haiti</strong>an daily<br />
Le Nouvelliste, which obtained<br />
a copy of Michel’s curriculum vitae,<br />
the new PM nominee was the<br />
chief of staff of the Economy and<br />
Finance Ministry (MEF) until September<br />
2018.<br />
After leaving the College<br />
Catts Pressoir, Fritz-William Michel<br />
studied accounting from<br />
2000 to 2004 at the National<br />
Institute of Administration, Management<br />
and Higher International<br />
Studies (INAGHEI) and administrative<br />
sciences at the Institute of<br />
Higher Commercial and Economic<br />
Studies (IHECE).<br />
He also attended several<br />
seminars including the "National<br />
Course for Programming and<br />
Financial Policies" organized by<br />
the International Monetary Fund<br />
(IMF) and the Bank of the Republic<br />
of <strong>Haiti</strong> (BRH).<br />
He then entered the MEF as<br />
a trainee in August 2004, becoming<br />
a technician in the Directorate<br />
of Studies and Budget Programming<br />
in the General Directorate of<br />
the Budget. He then became Chief<br />
Accountant in the General Directorate<br />
of Finance, then administrative<br />
and financial director at the<br />
Inspectorate General of Finances.<br />
From December 2011 to July<br />
2012, he held the position of Administrative<br />
and Financial Director<br />
at the Ministry of Agriculture,<br />
Natural Resources and Rural Development<br />
(MANDR).<br />
After serving under Finance<br />
Minister Jude Alix Patrick Salomon,<br />
Michel joined the private<br />
sector as CEO of PM Agripro S.A.<br />
(founded in October 2016) and<br />
CEO of Express Transport and<br />
Distribution, and executive director<br />
of Carribean Products and<br />
Services.<br />
Michel is a member of<br />
the federal council of the National<br />
Federation of Youth for Development<br />
(FNJD), where he holds the<br />
position of Budget Director.<br />
He speaks Creole, French,<br />
and English. He is married and<br />
Infamous gang leader Anèl Joseph<br />
shown just after his capture by<br />
<strong>Haiti</strong>an police in the southern town<br />
of Cavaillon at a hospital where he<br />
had gone to treat a leg wound<br />
the father of one child.<br />
<strong>Haiti</strong>’s rumor mill and social<br />
media has been filled with<br />
numerous unsubstantiated allegations<br />
that Michel’s champion<br />
was House of Deputies President<br />
Gary Bodeau, who met with President<br />
Moïse and Senate President<br />
Carl Murat Cantave just prior to<br />
the nomination. The rumors also<br />
allege without proof that Bodeau<br />
and Michel are close to Reynold<br />
Deeb, the COO of the Deka Group<br />
S.A., one of <strong>Haiti</strong>’s largest importers,<br />
which distributes such wellknown<br />
<strong>Haiti</strong>an brands as Bongú,<br />
Actimed, Nutrigu, Bonlè, and<br />
Tempo.<br />
“Nobody understands where<br />
the guy came from,” said Steeve<br />
Khawly, a former presidential<br />
candidate of the Bouclier party<br />
which is close to the ruling <strong>Haiti</strong>an<br />
Bald-Headed Party (PHTK)<br />
of President Moïse. “We’re starting<br />
to see people whom we have<br />
never seen in politics, and we’re<br />
not sure exactly where they’re<br />
coming from, what their past is.<br />
In a difficult situation like this, we<br />
should have a prime minister who<br />
is accepted by all parties, capable<br />
of doing the transition or doing<br />
things differently. But that’s not<br />
what we’re seeing here... We’re<br />
sensing that we’re going to have<br />
JOBS<br />
!!TRAVAY OSPITALITE!!<br />
• NETWAYAJ NAN KAY<br />
• MOUN KI KA LAVE<br />
• ASISTAN KWIZIN<br />
• TRAVAY NAN NWIT E NAN JOUNEN<br />
ASISTANS DEMENAJMAN POU<br />
NEVADA, PENNSYLVANIA,<br />
WISCONSIN, OHIO,<br />
TEXAS, COLORADO<br />
Pou aplike rele (305) 892-0680 ou swa vini nan<br />
1175 NE 125th St, Suite 612, N. Miami, FL 33161<br />
Greater Brooklyn<br />
Gastroenterology Care<br />
Michel Jose Charles MD, FACG, AGAF<br />
Board Certified Gastroenterology<br />
Office Locations<br />
3621 Glenwood Rd, Brooklyn NY 11210<br />
9408 Flatlands Ave, Brooklyn NY 11236<br />
1381-B Linden Blvd, Brooklyn NY 11212<br />
By Appointment Only<br />
more trouble coming soon. ”<br />
Over the past year, President<br />
Moïse has faced a growing<br />
national uprising of protestors<br />
demanding his resignation for his<br />
involvement in corruption related<br />
Former Finance Ministry chief<br />
of staff Fritz-William Michel is<br />
President Jovenel Moïse’s new<br />
Prime Minister nominee<br />
to the embezzlement and squandering<br />
of some $2 billion from the<br />
now-defunct PetroCaribe Fund,<br />
which was filled with revenues<br />
from cheap Venezuelan oil.<br />
Tel: 718-434-0202 / 718-869-1501<br />
E-mail: charlesmjcharles@hotmail.com<br />
“Giving care, one patient at a time.”<br />
Vol 13 # 03 • Du <strong>24</strong> au 30 <strong>Juillet</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
<strong>Haiti</strong> Liberté/<strong>Haiti</strong>an Times<br />
9