Call for new pact as Haiti president takes office

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Monday May 16, 2011 – With Haiti’s new president now sworn in, the United Nations has urged him, his Government, politicians, civil society groups and the wider citizenry to enter a social, economic and political pact to "rebuild together a new Haiti."

That new Haiti, the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) said, would be a country that "fully respects democratic values and human rights [and] which is proud of its entire human and cultural richness."

Haitian president-elect going to America

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) — President–-elect Michel Martelly is scheduled to leave here today for a visit to the United States.

A statement from his office said that Martelly, who will assume office on May 14, will meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The statement said that the talks will focus on "job creation, education, security, reconstruction and health".

NGO says Guyana President leaves tattered legacy

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) says President Bharrat Jagdeo did "terribly" in his two terms in office and leaves stagnation, violence, corruption and unfettered crime in his wake.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, – “Stagnation, violence, corruption, arch-sectarianism, and unfettered crime – this is the heritage that President Bharrat Jagdeo will bequeath to his country.”

That was the harsh assessment by the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) Research Associates Robert Cavooris and Elcin Chang, in a statement which gave Jagdeo poor marks for his performance during his two terms in office.

“Now that Jagdeo has announced that he will not seek a third term in the upcoming August election he may well ask, as a New York mayor once did, “How did I do?” The answer, in this instance, must be “terribly”,” the statement said.

“Jagdeo could only receive the lowest of marks from any independent evaluation. Through his tolerance of crime, racism, and dismal social progress, President Jagdeo has turned in a fifth-rate performance as president of one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere. As the Guyanese use every strategy, legal and illegal, to flee the dysfunctional country, Jagdeo will go down in history as a man who did almost nothing for his nation while in office.”