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Haiti Liberte 24 Juillet 2019

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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

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