St. Maarten Private Eye

I wondered that too. Now that Brookson is the legal owner, what does that mean?
what authority would the government have now to keep it undeveloped, if they wanted to?
can someone from the committee maybe answer??

Maybe Jadira from PRIDE (and boardmember of Emilio Wilson Estate Foundation) can elaborate on the latest developments?

People would like to know.....

Thank you.

I know that many people are interested in the Emilio Wilson Estate saga, Many persons in the community called myself, Rueben and Mr. Patrick in the last few days with questions.
The Emilio Wilson Estate foundation keep insisting that the lower part of the estate is of historical value as was stated in the report compiled by Archaeologist Jay Haviser and the upper part is of enormous ecological value as is stated in the ECOVISION report, the AIDE environment report and a 1996 biological inventory.
The Emilio Wilson Estate foundation is urging the government to zone the Estate as a historical, cultural and ecological land park.
Only by zoning this area for this purpose can we be sure that the estate will remain free from rampant human development.
The Emilio Wilson Estate foundation will be releasing a press release very soon as more developments may be taking place.
The Fort Amsterdam was zoned as a historical site a few years ago, our Lt. Governor Frank Richards made this his first priority when he took office.
So it does not matter who owns the estate. We are more than 30 years late with zoning areas on St. Maarten, even though the Federal Government mandated to all island territories to start zoning in the 70's.
The Emilio Wilson Estate is a saga that should be written as it reads a novel.
This local SXM hero held on to his land all his life, his great grand mother was a slave on one of the plantations. The estate boasts the former Golden Rock and Industry plantations. Emilio bought it from his former employer and held on to this land up until his death.
Before his death, Emilio gave a piece of his land in a long lease to the Emilio Wilson Historical and Cultural foundation. This park is used today by many in the community for weddings, funerals, students, mini-golf, summer day camps, and just quiet time.
But now in his grave, there are many that are like hungry wolves-everyone wants to develop this last piece of green area for their own personal gains.
Something that Emilio was against, see his video posted on this site.
In the coming days the Emilio Wilson Estate foundation will be releasing a press release. It really does not matter who owns the estate, we will still be calling for the entire estate to be zoned.
People out there are asking why Brookson so eagerly put himself in the lime lite as the new owner, they are questioning his motive.
They are also speculating that it seems he is eager to sell, some are speculating that if government does not buy it -he might just re-apply for a new planning permit under his name. Time will tell who are the hungry wolves.
I am sure there will be more drama in the coming weeks.

Pride is just like the rest of us, voicing concern (via press release or otherwise) and waiting to see what happens.There is nothing anyone can do here. The man is the legal owner.

JB

I have posted a new blog about EWE with a brief roundup and my opinion about Henri's claim to be the owner. Please post further comments about EWE there so things don't get mixed up in this one about the Consul.

Have you seen the Kadaster and Notary documents JB? If you have then I'd like to hear about it. There are many questions waiting to be asked, and answered about this story and there has been secrecy and bullshit all along the way. I remain a skeptic until someone verifies the sale or transfer. And then, I'm going to want to know where he got hte money.

Please reply on the New EWE Blog Post

LH

This thread is about the Consul of the Dom. Republic. Please next time put your question under the right thread. There is a thread for the Emilio Wilson Estate. Look on your hand side and scroll down.

(LH is startin a new EWE post so we can discuss and we'll try to find out what we can. - Flipper)

Please miss consul tell your goverment to legalize all the haitians they are deporting back to haiti. They want to tell us what to do here and back home they are deporting the haitians back to haiti. They even send soldiers to prevent haitians front crossing the border .

People, you need to send this kinda stuff to te herald where the wider population can read it. We keep talking about our "uneducated people" but we stay in this lil box chatting. Get out there. What are you afraid of?

J. Baptiste

Juno Baptist, Jean Baptist?

Internet stands for International Network
www stands for world wide web. It means accessible world wide
It's a very popular and fast developing technology.

What you read here is also being read all over the world.
Welcome to the future bro!

HAITI-DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Neighbours, But Not Friends
By Elizabeth Eames Roebling

Credit:Uncommon Productions

Anti-Haitian protestors burn tires in Los Llanos, Dominican Republic.

SANTO DOMINGO, Jun 20 (IPS) - On a recent trip from Pedernales, the most southern province on the border with Haiti, Dominican officials boarded the bus 12 separate times.

Two women on the bus, traveling with children and their Dominican identity cards, were subject to repeated intensive scrutiny. One, accused of having a false cedula, engaged in a bantering but friendly interchange with the border guard.

The heightened security follows reports that Haitians were entering the Dominican Republic by paying off border guards, and an outcry among many Dominicans who fear that their nation will be overrun with Haitian immigrants escaping poverty and environmental degradation.

In response, the Dominican Republic government has increased the guards' salaries and launched a new military frontier force which recently held exercises geared to restraining a massive influx of Haitian refugees.

Plainclothes government officials now stop the buses inbound from the Haitian border.

The majority of the passengers on the journey from Pedernales presented Haitian passports, which had cost them 75 dollars, about 15 percent of the average national income, and single and multiple entry visas which cost between 33 and 150 dollars.

Riders on the bus confirmed that until a few months ago, it was possible to enter the country by simply paying off the driver, who would negotiate passage with the border guards.

"We could come with nothing, no papers, only money," said one of the women. "Now we must have papers."

The Haitian men said that they were coming to work, that there were no jobs in Haiti. But none of their visas gave them the legal right to work.

A new law, which would formalise the status of temporary workers, was passed in 2004 but needs a presidential protocol to be implemented. The Dominican Republic is heavily dependent on Haitian workers, who perform an estimated 60 percent of the agricultural labour and much of the construction work. Few of the newer Haitian workers come to look for work in the sugar cane fields, preferring to live in the cities or look for other agricultural work.

The Dominican Republic has been accused of "modern-day slavery" in two films about the living conditions among sugar cane cutters, now showing in France and the United States. There have also been negative reports by Amnesty International and an internal and international campaign on behalf of Dominican-Haitians without documentation.

One result has been an upsurge in nationalistic sentiment. Moderate voices have been overwhelmed as local newspapers publish letter after letter conveying the fears of many Dominicans that their nation, traditionally "white, Spanish, and Christian", will be overtaken by Haitians, from whose rule they gained independence in 1844.

The accusations of abuses against Haitian migrants have been taken by many here as attacks on the entire nation. The sugar industry was privatised in 1999, but sugar and its by-product, rum, were for centuries the backbone of the Dominican economy. Leaders in the tourism industry, now the main economic engine, fear that calls for sanctions and boycotts against the nation will affect revenues.

Following the settlement of a 10-year-long case at the International Human Rights Court in Costa Rica, a non-binding judicial arm of the Organisation of American States, the Dominican Supreme Court reasserted its sovereignty by stating that it would not grant citizenship to the children of illegal workers, as the court had recommended, but would instead establish a "rose book" for the registration of the births of children of foreign nationals. Edwin Paraison, director of Foundation Zile and a former Haitian consul working for the rights of Haitians in the Dominican Republic, supports the "rose book".

He believes that the sugar cane workers do indeed live in conditions of modern slavery, but speaking of the "rose book", Paraison says: "It is a first step. At least all children will have a record of birth and we can work from there, to get them official documents, either from Haiti or here."

"There are as many as 600,000 Haitians living in this country, but only 5-6,000 of them have proper legal status," he emphasised.

All the others are living in conditions of insecurity, subject to deportation at any moment. However, massive deportations of Haitians have slowed down, with only 5,000 registered in the first five months of this year as opposed to an estimated 20,000 last year.

Paraison also urges implementation of the new migration law. "Bosses call the police to have Haitian workers deported so they don't have to pay them," he added.

This abuse was confirmed by Luis Manuel Ramirez, representative of the International Organisation for Migration, based in Geneva.

"Employers often call the police to have Haitian workers deported to avoid paying them, this is true," he told IPS.

Working with the Dominican government from the local office in Santo Domingo to ensure that deportations are done in a humane manner, and that deportees can collect their pay and notify their families, Ramirez says: "Things are a bit better over the last two years. They are transported in buses, not open trucks. They are fed while they are in custody. Fewer children are being taken."

While the IOM takes no position on citizenship, deeming that a Dominican domestic matter, Ramirez believes that "conditions will improve once the new law is implemented."

Contrary to the impression that all Haitians live under appalling conditions in the Dominican Republic, evidence suggests that the majority of them live as well as their poor Dominican neighbours.

A nationwide survey (Encuesta sobre Inmigrantes Haitianos en Republica Dominicana, 2004 by FLACSO, Facultad Latinoamericana de Cience Sociales) of a representative 40,000 households found that over 70 percent of the Haitians lived with electric lights, beds with mattresses, toilets and city supplied water. (END/2007)

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Mass Deportations of Haitians Condemned
By Diógenes Pina

SANTO DOMINGO, Mar 22 (IPS) - The prospects of the Haitian community resident in the Dominican Republic might improve if Dominican authorities were to adopt Amnesty International (AI)'s recommendations and change their "migration policies and practices."

"Concerns over the collective and mass expulsions of Haitian migrant workers and the abuses that accompany them will remain a source of concern until the Dominican government takes decisive action to bring its migration policies and practices into line with its international obligations," AI said.

The AI report "Dominican Republic: A Life in Transit - The Plight of Haitian Migrants and Dominicans of Haitian Descent" was launched on Wednesday, International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in Santo Domingo, where local human rights organisations regularly report abuses against immigrants from neighbouring Haiti. (The two countries share the island of Hispaniola).

AI called on the Dominican authorities to "refrain from any collective and mass expulsions of Haitian migrant workers and ensure that measures are taken to guarantee that the human rights of both documented and undocumented migrant workers are respected in any expulsion process."

Unofficial figures indicate that there are more than 800,000 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic, which has a population of 8.5 million. And since the collapse of the Dominican sugar industry, many Haitians have abandoned rural areas and settled in the cities.

Over time, they have found employment in other sectors of the economy, such as construction, tourism, the free zones, and domestic service.

In the 1980s the Dominican state still owned 12 sugar mills, and hired thousands of Haitian temporary labourers for the sugarcane harvest under bilateral agreements with Haiti, which regulated the workers' wages during their stay in the Dominican Republic and their repatriation to Haiti.

"Haitian workers were contracted in their own country and the Haitian government received (a fee) for each Haitian worker delivered. In 1986, when the last bilateral agreement was in force, the Haitian government received a payment of two million dollars for 19,000 braceros (sugarcane cutters)," the report described.

"The dire economic conditions that prevail in Haiti and the political turmoil that has characterised the country have contributed to continued emigration to the Dominican Republic," AI added.

Indiscriminate deportations are occurring for a number of reasons, Chandrai Estévez of the Jesuit Service for Refugees and Migrants (SJRM) told IPS. "In our history lessons, we were taught that Haitians invaded our country, and that we have always had problems with them," she said.

"Amnesty International's report cannot be taken seriously," said parliamentary Deputy Pelegrín Castillo, who belongs to a small party allied to the government of President Leonel Fernández. "What is really happening is that the Dominican Republic is opening its markets, and the border with Haiti is practically fading," he said.

AI should look at Haitian reality from Haiti, "and see the political instability there, which they want to blame on us, when great powers like France and the United States are really responsible for it," he said.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is caught up in a complex period of violence and instability that erupted shortly before the overthrow of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by armed rebels in February 2004. Aristide himself claimed to have been kidnapped and flown out of the country by U.S. marines. French and U.S. troops immediately took control of the capital.

In mid-2004 a multinational United Nations mission replaced these troops. Although it remains in Haiti, it has not managed to restore peace.

AI recommended that the Dominican government "take measures to ensure that arrests and deportations by immigration officials and military personnel are conducted with due respect for human rights and the rule of law and that all complaints of abuse are promptly, independently and impartially investigated."

AI also urged the Dominican Republic to "stop summary deportations" and ensure that individual cases are examined fairly, and to "ensure that all prosecutions of undocumented migrants are conducted with full respect for international human rights law."

The number of Haitians being repatriated is increasing. In 2003, 14,700 people were deported; in 2004, 15,464; and in 2005, 20,811, according to the report on Haitian Migration and Human Rights by the Support Group for Refugees and Repatriated Persons (GARR). (END/2007)

Send your comments to the editor
Dominican Republic: Deportations Conducted Unfairly
(Santo Domingo, April 4, 2002) The Dominican Republic should revise its deportation policies to ensure due process and to avoid race-based discrimination, Human Rights Watch urged in a new report released today. Human Rights Watch also called on the government to protect Dominicans of Haitian descent from deportation, consistent with the constitution's rule of citizenship by birth.

The Dominican government needs to fully implement its own constitution and laws. It would make real human rights progress if its practice conformed to its rules

José Miguel Vivanco
Executive Director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch

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Related Material

Illegal People': Haitians and Dominico-Haitians in the Dominican Republic
Report, April 4, 2002

Political Unrest in the Dominican Republic
Press Release, January 27, 1999

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Targeted because their skin color is often darker, "Haitian-looking" people are frequently deported to Haiti within hours of their detention, causing families to be separated and children to be left behind. Suspected undocumented Haitians - including Dominicans of Haitian descent - have no fair opportunity to challenge their expulsion.

Acknowledging recent steps toward reform, Human Rights Watch commended the government of President Hipólito Mejía for showing an unprecedented willingness to bring its treatment of Haitians and Dominico-Haitians into compliance with international human rights standards.

"The Dominican government needs to fully implement its own constitution and laws," said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. "It would make real human rights progress if its practice conformed to its rules."

The 34-page report, "'Illegal People': Haitians and Dominico-Haitians in the Dominican Republic," is based on research conducted in 2001 and includes extensive testimony from Haitian and Dominico-Haitian deportees, families denied proof of citizenship, lawyers, government officials, and human rights advocates.
Dominico-Haitians face great difficulties in proving their entitlement to remain in their own country, with the result that generations of ethnic Haitians are denied recognition as citizens, leaving them in what the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has
described as "permanent illegality."

The report describes the terrible impact of this denial of citizenship, particularly on the right of children to an education. Some children of Haitian descent have been barred from the classroom, particularly beyond the primary school level.

While recognizing the Dominican Republic's sovereign right to control immigration, Human Rights Watch called on the Dominican government to remedy its abusive practices. With this in mind, it commended the government's September 2001 decision to grant birth certificates to two Dominico-Haitian children whose citizenship had been in dispute.

"This was a good first step, but thousands of other people face the same problem," said Vivanco.

Human Rights Watch also hailed the government's agreement last week to establish a joint committee to monitor compliance with the rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, a move announced after negotiations in a case involving Haitians and Dominico-Haitians currently pending in the Inter-American human rights system. Human Rights Watch expressed concern, however, about an apparent nationalist backlash against the creation of the body, including anti-Haitian graffiti that has appeared in recent days in the streets of Santo Domingo.

"The government's recent initiatives in the Inter-American human rights system are extremely encouraging," said Vivanco. "Although the question of illegal immigration is a difficult one, I'm hopeful that the government will continue making progress toward handling it in a fair and non-discriminatory way."

Selected cases from the report:

Detained by Dominican immigration officials in February 2001, Lucía François was not allowed to collect her two youngest children, ages four and six, before being deported to Haiti. When Human Rights Watch interviewed her six months later, she had still not seen nor spoken to them. Unable to return to the Dominican Republic, where her children were born, and with no possibility of telephone contact, François was totally cut off from her two girls. "I haven't been able to talk to anyone from home," François told Human Rights Watch. "I don't know if they're dead or alive . . . . Every day, when I wake up, I'm thinking about my kids."

By age twenty-three, Jorge Rene Méndez, a third-generation Dominican of Haitian descent, had been deported from the Dominican Republic to Haiti twice. The first time, in March 1999, Dominican migration agents picked Méndez up on Máximo Gómez Street in Santo Domingo and put him on a bus holding about fifty other detainees, not asking to see his documents or questioning him about his legal status. The second time he was deported, in February 2000, the officials ripped up the photocopy of his identification that he showed them. Both times he ended up in Haiti penniless, having to beg for food and shelter.

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loner

So Baptist, you think the world wide web is a lil box?
Did you learn nothing from the passing of the Honorable Vance James Jr? How many persons around the world read this lil box? And wrote their condolences right here on this lil box?
I say if people want to write to the Herald good idea, but never ever underestimate the power of the www.-- and in particular this lil box.
The news is on the worldwide web, all newspapers are online nowadays, the ones that are not are not in the loop of the modern age.
The people who don't utilise online news are also keeping themselves ignorant.
This is not "chatting" my dear, it is blogging. and the power belong to bloggers in this day and age.

Touchy Touchy...It was a figured of speech man. Gosh you get my point. Next time I'll use " "" .....geeesh

JB

I love the piece leopol wrote about Madame Consul. I think he told her to call him when she arrives on the the Dom. Rep shores. " Start packing." It's funny! In all fairness, I think the lady is looking out for her people, that's her job. What I don't agree with is that you can'tbe illegal and rule at the same time. To many of the people coming from the Dom Rep have no respect for the country which is giving them an opportunity to elevate themselves socially and economically.

Many of us living on SXM have been asked to speak Spanish when you request service. And when you tell them that you speak English, they get upset. Now, tell me- can I go to Santo Domingo or Punta Cana, or San pedro de marcori and ask the man on the street to speak English to me? I don't think so. He will tell me that I am in a SPanish speaking country, learn the language or find my way out.

The domincanos and for my part all other nationalities should integrate into the sxm society. Don't get me wrong, there are some hard working, honest people from this country. I have met a few, but the bad ones who come here as tourist and overstay their welcome, should not be given any special treatment.

The good lady should be a good diplomat, that is her task. Her job should be to consult with her country people, show them the right way and work with the authorities of this country to curb the abuse. Please don't tell us that we should consider another grace period for illegals. We did that, not once but 2x's already. They are illegal- how clearer do you want the word to be.

I've been here 20 years and I have never been forced to speak Spanish to get service, they wouldn't get much business from me if they did because I hardly speak a word.

My take on the story is that the Consul may have overstepped a little in her comments about fixing our problems, but she is totally on the mark. SXM needs to fix it's immigration system, it's permits system and put in place a monitoring program for foriegn workers. Once we have done this then many of our problems will be fixed, until we do then we will always have these issue and the problems they bring.

Like it or not, human rights are for all and although these people are here illegally, they still have those rights, to be treated decently. Far too often they are not and they are abused, not just by their employers but also the authorities.

As for Leopold James and his release today predicting xenophobic violence is on the borderline of inciting it. While I understand fully the concern and fear many SXM'ers have about Dominicanos and Haitians taking over and them becoming a minority, this sort of talk is disturbing to say the least. I've listened to some of the SNBF shows and the xenophobia against these two nationalities in particular is extreme. This is what Wiki says about Xenophobia....

As with all phobias, a xenophobic person is aware of the fear, and therefore has to believe at some level that the target is in fact a foreigner. This arguably separates xenophobia from racism and ordinary prejudice in that someone of a different race does not necessarily have to be of a different nationality. In various contexts, the terms "xenophobia" and "racism" seem to be used interchangeably, though they have wholly different meanings (xenophobia being based on place of birth, racism being based on ancestry). For example: to dislike a black person from France because they are French is xenophobic, but to dislike them because they are black is racist.

The second form of xenophobia is primarily cultural, and the objects of the phobia are cultural elements which are considered alien. All cultures are subject to external influences, but cultural xenophobia is often narrowly directed, for instance at foreign loan words in a national language. It rarely leads to aggression against individual persons, but can result in political campaigns for cultural or linguistic purification. Isolationism, a general aversion of foreign affairs, is not accurately described as xenophobia. Additionally, in the world of science fiction, xenophobia may refer to a fear or hatred of extraterrestrial cultures or beings.

There is also a small section on the Dominican Republic's History of Xenophobia towards Hatians......

Since the formation of the Dominican nation, it has been promoted by the government that Dominicans are racially, culturally and ideologically different than Haitians, and in order for the Dominican Nationality to survive, Haitian influence must be controlled or eliminated.

How ironic!

Apparently the Consul hit "aa very raw nerve", other wise known as the truth, and as we all know, sometimes the truth hurts.

I wish he would stop using the word 'indiginous' too, he has clue what it means and if he really wants to get into who was here first then he should read his history. According to Hartog, the Dutch arriving in the early 1600's discovered 13 FRENCH men living in the Fr. Quarter area. He hurts his own cause again and again when he talks stupidness.

LH

Your comments doesn't make much sense either. Madam Consul overstepped her "rights" to stay here when she decided to run her "disco" into our internal affairs. The main purpose for her being on SXM is to serve her people and perhaps attend a function or two when invited. Her focus should be the overgrowing "unemployed Dominicano" population on the island especially the men, educate her people, consult with them on their behaviour, how they conduct themselves on someone else's isle, tour their living areas and conditions, form a foundation amongst her people to assist where needed. The affairs of SXM are not on the list.

Our economy, social and support system cannot carry the large number of immigrants and that goes for both sides of the island. The last we heard we can't even pay salaries. Hospital bills are not being paid, Dengue on the rise, HIV spread etc...
"Shanty towns" are rampant, Bars, Brothels and Lottery offices are popping up faster than we blink, all over. We are almost immersed in running water, sewage, garbage on our streets and I don't even talk about the traffic situation. WHY? because there was no proper planning or mechanism in place to handle the "now crisis" we are facing. We can no longer turn a blind eyes to our sores.

We, St Maarteners, must now face the tune and dance to the music. Not that we did not encourage the filth by building the shacks and renting them out to the illegals for quick money under the pretext of survival in hard times. More time for you St Maarteners on this topic, Shameful. but we are in no way, shape or form able to do more for anyone so we are forced to say:

Dear all,

We know your reasons for coming to this island. WORK and better wages. Some of you are hard working people who have shown great love and respect for this island and its people, pay taxes, live a good life, behave yourselves and have become part of our lives. We embrace you. We have even forgotten to say Thank you.

But to you, the most foreigners your reasons went beyond that, Lawlessness, Bad habits, Nastiness, Filthiness and Disrespect, these came along with you. The loudness and unfriendliness showed from the get-go just go in stores, shops around the island but as the friendly island we put up with it for so long now, it's now time to say enough.

We have repaid our dues to all you nations by accepting YOU to work here in return and make a life for the times in the 40s, 50s', 60s and 70s' when we then emigrated. We have lived examplary lives in your country: Sto. Domingo, St Kitts, the US and USVI (where ever our fathers went to work, Canefields, Shell, Esso, etc..) Curacao & Aruba where yet our families live but the time has come to ask you the Over-abusers and illegals to leave our island. This message is for all, Guyanese, Haitians, Jamaicans, Dominicans, St Lucians, Kitticians, Antiguans, Indians, Surinamese, Arabs, Africans, Chinese, ALL=TUR. Nan no por. And take Bodo Muth with you. If your country not mentioned here and you have no reason for being here? This message is for you too.

As for the Consul, She just didn't expect the people to react like this partly because like her people they feel St Maarteners have a weakness for the 'Dominicana' and we even force ourselves to speak spanish that we did not learn in school just for the sake of the ladies company. Those same ladies that have husbands, children and sick or dead "mamas" many times over at home so they can pipe us dry of our money. Just pass by Western Union daily.

Something is seriously wrong with us but we are about to wake up, the coffee is brewing.

Oh, A St Maartiner too.

Voila!

C'est mon ile !!

Le grenouille