Top Five Reasons Why Caracol Industrial Park is Disastrous for Haiti

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The Caracol Bay area was slated to be a World Heritage Site and Marine Park because of its breathtaking barrier reef, mangroves, and migratory birds. The area is also the site of archaeological finds including Guacanagaric, one of the largest and most complete Taino Indian villages. The area has been converted into the massive Caracol Industrial Park (or Free-Trade zone, FTZ) that is expected to pollute the Trou du Nord River and the bay and get served by a deep-water port.

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Crucial ACTA Vote Kept Open and Honest, ACTA Soon to Depart

Press Release, La Quadrature du Net. The “International Trade” (INTA) committee of the EU Parliament will adopt its draft report on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), on Thursday June 21. Under pressure from the EU Commission and industry lobbyists, members of the committee could decide, potentially in a secret vote, to call for the adoption of ACTA or postponement of the final vote for years. Citizens participation is crucial to ensure the Parliament follows the general interest and votes a clear rejection of ACTA.

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Fair Trade Business Is Growing, Part 2 – Surprisingly Robust Spanish Market | Recesión española respeta economía solidaria | Recessão espanhola respeita economia solidária

By Inés Benítez, Tierramerica, IPS, Global Issues. The economic and financial crisis afflicting the European Union (EU) countries has scarcely affected the sales of fair-trade products in Spain, especially foods from Central and South America. (English | Spanish | Portuguese)

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The Rush to Haiti’s North | La ruée vers le Nord

By Roberson Alphonse, Le Nouvelliste | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. According to Dieuseul Anglade, director of Haiti’s Office of Mines and Energy in Haiti, during the negotiations for mineral exploitation, the Haitian State will keep a close watch to ensure that Haitian citizens benefit from the country’s wealth. Meanwhile, the mayors have been dismissed, and land prices have skyrocketed. (English | French)

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Nurses Lead Protest Against NATO, For Financial Transactions Tax

By David Moberg, In These Times | Haiti Chery. At a Friday, May 18, 2012 rally in Chicago to kick off no-NATO protests, nurses wore Robin Hood attire to demand a financial transaction tax, also called the Robin Hood tax.

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Poor Little Rich Haiti to Be Fleeced of Copper-Silver-Gold Via Caracol Deep-Water Port

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Plans are under way for Canadian and US corporations to mine Haiti’s northeast area near Caracol, which has been discovered to contain a wealth of silver and gold, in addition to copper. As in the Dominican Republic’s Pueblo Viejo project, construction of the mines will involve dynamiting of mountains, and the ore will be extracted by an opencast (or open-pit) mining process that contaminates large volumes of water with cyanide. UPDATES: Attempts to issue mining permits to the US’ VCS Mining LLC and Canada’s SOMINE SA, without any environmental impact assessment (EIA) were thwarted by Haiti’s Senate in January 2013. Plans to dredge a deep-sea port in the pristine Bay of Fort Liberte were scrapped in April 2014.

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ACTA Needs No Court Decision Before European Parliament Vote

By Jennifer Baker, IDG News. In a major victory for the campaign against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the European Parliament’s trade committee rejected by a vote of 21 to 5 a plan to send the proposed accord to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). This means that the European Parliament vote on ACTA will not be delayed 1 1/2 years and could happen as early as June 2012.

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Caracol Free-Trade Zone Jeopardizes Natural and Cultural Heritage | La zone franche de Caracol met en péril le patrimoine naturel et culturel du Nord-Est

By Rachelle Charlier Doucet, AlterPresse | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. A massive industrial park is scheduled to open in the Caracol Bay area of Haiti, although no plan is in place to mitigate the park’s impact on a region that has been proposed as a World Heritage Site for its ecological, historical, and archaeological importance. (English | French)

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Hypocrisy in Hollywood – from Pirate Against Edison to Lobbyist for ACTA-SOPA-PIPA

Provided by Paralegal.net | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. This enlightening info-graphic describes the little known history of Hollywood’s birth as a pirate and attaches some startling numbers to the movie industry’s greed. A brief discussion is included about copyright laws and how they have changed since the mid-1970’s.

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Western Biologists Study Tuna Collapse as Their Countries’ Fleets Pillage World Coasts | Pesca de atún requiere sacrificios a corto plazo

Julio Godoy, IPS, Tierramérica | Enrique Gili, IPS | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The world’s tuna populations, and particularly bluefin tuna, are being overfished to extinction. Despite numerous violations for overfishing, vessels fly flags of convenience, change their names, swap crews and continue to operate. (English | Spanish)

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Poland Government: We Were Wrong, We Will Not Ratify ACTA

By Alice Trudelle, Warsaw Business Journal | By Staff, The Slovenia Times | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. “I was wrong,” said Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, who announced that he wrote to his party not to back ACTA in the EU Parliament in its current form. A protest by Anonymous is underway.

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EU Projects Environmentally, Socially Unsound | Ajustar y vigilar mejor los proyectos de la UE

By Bari Bates, IPS. Dozens of European Union-funded projects across several European countries are ‘environmentally or socially unsound’, according to an interactive map created by a joint effort between CEE Bankwatch Network and Friends of the Earth Europe. Evidently, the EU has now turned on European protected habitats. In Haiti, for example, the EU has funded the Caracol Industrial Park.

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Act Up Against ACTA Saturday Feb 11th

By Staff, Access Now | YouTube | Haiti Chery. Protests against ACTA will take place worldwide on Saturday February 11, 2012. Over 1.75 million people have signed a petition against ACTA that is expected to get the endorsement of more than 2 million.

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ACTA Not Yet International Law | French MEP Quits in Protest

By Olivia Solon, Wired | Kader Arif, European MP Socialists & Democrats of the EU, Translated from the French by Dady Chery for Haiti Chery. It is not over. ACTA will not become law if the European Parliament is prevented from making it so in June 2012. Translation of full statement from Kader Arif included. (English | French)

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