Product Placement

Antonio Sola puts the finishing touches on his new product.

Meet Michel Martelly, Haiti's first gay president:

Source: The Guardian & welcome2haiti

Alternate Video

In the years following Aristide's restoration to power in 1994, Martelly became obsessed with hatred for the man. In a video from not too long ago, which can be seen on YouTube, the candidate threatens a patron in a bar where he has performed. "All those shits were Aristide's faggots," he says. "I would kill Aristide to stick a dick up your ass."

How did the belly-button flasher who'd like to "stick a dick up your ass" become president?

Source: McClatchy

Though Martelly attended Haiti's prestigious Saint-Louis de Gonzague, he proved to be a lackluster student. He enrolled at Red Rocks Community College in Colorado in 1984, and later at what was then known as Miami-Dade Community College, but dropped out.

Through late-night shows, Martelly became associated with a Haitian elite class openly indifferent to the suffering of the poor majority. That show of defiance was on display in the early 1990s. After military leaders toppled the democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991, Martelly stayed, running a club with his wife.

The new Michel Martelly, always neatly dressed in a dark suit, engages in the kind of keen strategy that gets him photographed alongside former President Clinton. Martelly hired a Spanish consulting firm with right-of-center ties to help put a polishing touch on the biggest performance of his life so far: winning the Haitian presidency.

That "right-of-center" Spanish consulting firm is 'Ostos Sola', lead by Antonio Sola:

Source: Inter Press Service

In Mexico, Antonio Sola from Spain, who has ties to Spain's rightwing opposition Popular Party, and Dick Morris of the U.S., ex-consultant to former President Bill Clinton (1993-2001), advised current president Felipe Calderon during the tense electoral campaign in 2006 that led to his victory.

Sola and Morris -- who in 1996 resigned from the Clinton reelection campaign after his own affair with a prostitute, who revealed private White House information, came to light -- have been identified as the people behind Calderon's smear campaign against his opponent Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who was the candidate of the leftwing Democratic Revolution Party (PRD).

Perhaps you'll recall his recycling of fascist era imagery in Spain & Mexico:

Source: Inter Press Service

The theme of the girl -- 'la nina' -- has triggered controversy. The Cuatro TV station reported that its origins can be traced back to Franco's granddaughter, Carmencita, whose grandparents voiced a similar phrase half a century ago. The station also pointed to similar words used by Mexico's current conservative President Felipe Calderon in a speech in a stadium in 2006, when he was a candidate.

According to the station, the 'coincidence' can be attributed to the fact that adviser Antonio Sola had worked for both Calderon and Guatemala's rightwing Patriotic Party & the Spanish PP candidate.

Maybe you saw one of his many spots in El Salvador, where Hugo Chavez apparently ran for president:

Source: Reforma

Sola llevó a las pantallas salvadoreñas las frases "Funes: un peligro para El Salvador" y, en referencia al candidato de Arena, Rodrigo Ávila, "el presidente del empleo". Las mismas que utilizó en el 2006 para denostar a Andrés Manuel López Obrador y promover a Felipe Calderón.

Los spots que advertían que el amigo favorito del candidato del FMLN era el presidente de Venezuela se convirtieron en los más numerosos. Según el coordinador de campaña de Funes, Roberto Lorenzana, al final de la campaña Chávez apareció más en la propaganda electoral que el candidato de Arena: de 6 mil 296 spots entre el 1o. de febrero y el 1o. de marzo pasado, 2 mil 852 fueron dedicados a Chávez y 2 mil 128 a Ávila.

Why is any of this important? Because Michel Martelly had his ideological opponents erased from the ballots - leaving only dusty musty Mirlande Manigat as his competition. Faced with virtually no challenge, his people kept the kids gloves on...taking the presidency with only 15% popular support.

They're saving all that dirty ammunition for the real campaign - which is just beginning.

I guess the earthquake destroyed math

I asked these dumbasses to calculate the popular vote. They gave me performance art.

Haiti just completed its two-round presidential election process.

These were the final results from the first round election in 2010:

Source: CIA FactBook & Provisional Electoral Council

Haiti
Total population: 9,719,932
Total eligible voters: 4,712,693
Total votes cast: 1,074,056

Michel Martelly
Total votes cast: 234,617
Popular support among eligible voters: 5%
Popular support among the population: 2.5%

Mirlande Manigat
Total votes cast: 336,878
Popular support among eligible voters: 7%
Popular support among the population: 3.5%

Popular support among eligible voters

These were the preliminary results from the second round election in 2011:

Source: CIA FactBook & Haiti Libre

Haiti
Total population: 9,719,932
Total eligible voters : 4,694,961
Tota votes cast: 1,053,733

Michel Martelly
Total votes cast: 716,986
Popular support among eligible voters: 15%
Popular support among the population: 7%

Mirlande Manigat
Total votes cast: 336,747
Popular support among eligible voters: 7%
Popular support among the population: 3.5%

Popular support among eligible voters

And this was the batshit crazy analysis coming out of North America:

Source: The New York Times

One of Haiti's most popular entertainers was elected president in a landslide, according to results announced Monday.

It appears that Haitians believed that only a political outsider like Mr. Martelly could change the country's direction.

Source: Reuters

"Martelly's victory implies a rejection of the political class that has both governed and been in the opposition," said Robert Fatton Jr., a Haiti expert and professor in the University of Virginia's Department of Politics.

"Martelly captured the mood of the voters by cleverly using his 'bad boy' image to enhance his status as the ultimate 'outsider' who symbolized change," he told Reuters.

Source: Associated Press

“Micky is a political animal, and the political establishment failed to realize how much of a phenomenon he is,” said Garry Pierre-Pierre, editor and publisher of The Haitian Times, a New York-based newspaper. “This is a man who literally can get a million people to move to his groove.”

Hope these motherfuckers get buried under the landslide they're manufacturing.

I predicted this shit, it's 2pacalypse!

After being shot 5 times, Tupac offers a statement to the media.

In a previous post, I said:

Source: Bon Retou Prezidan Titide

...Aristide coming back to Haiti is like Tupac getting out of jail. There are scores to settle, records to set straight, & millions to uplift. The two presidential candidates, Martelly & Manigat - quiet like those church mice B.I.G. & Puff.

Many of you thought this was some kind of cheap rhetorical flourish...a sad attempt to appeal to young white males across the suburbs of America.

Well, you woke up today & realized you thought wrong:

Source: The Toronto Sun

Rapper Wyclef Jean has been shot in the hand in his native Haiti.

The former Fugees star, who lives in the U.S., travelled to the country earlier this week to lend his support to presidential candidate Michel Martelly as he prepares for the final round of elections against former First Lady Mirlande Manigat on Sunday.

Reports emerged shortly after midnight on Sunday suggesting Jean's car had come under attack and was peppered with bullets as he was being driven through the city of Port-au-Prince with hip-hop pal Busta Rhymes and record executive Jimmy Rosemond.

Yes, that's right. Wyclef, who Tupac kindly asked to fuck off, was shot. While he was in the company of Jimmy Rosemond (aka Jimmy Henchman), who allegedly ordered the New York shooting of Tupac.

Ben Bernanke showed up in my comments & said: "you're a funny cunt! Not to mention informative as well.". Like a typical chairman of the federal reserve, he ignores the fact that I'm also prophetic.

Bon Retou Prezidan Titide

Murtaugh! Murtaugh! Murtaugh!

No, thousands of motherfuckers aren't climbing roofs and shit to find out when the next Lethal Weapon hits production.

Source: Democracy Now

...we drove in this caravan—the first car with the Aristides, the second car with the delegation who had accompanied him, including Danny Glover.

Thousands of people were crushing in on the house. The windows — people were trying to get in — but, also it was a controlled pandemonium.

Thousands of people came to celebrate Jean Bertrand Aristide...

For those of you who don't get the gravity of this situation...Aristide coming back to Haiti is like Tupac getting out of jail. There are scores to settle, records to set straight, & millions to uplift. The two presidential candidates, Martelly & Manigat - quiet like those church mice B.I.G. & Puff.

If you're not caught up, you're in luck. Skip Wikipedia & those shitty wire writeups. There's one article that sums up all this drama & it was written by Dr. Paul Farmer. Just so you understand how fucking credible this guy is, here's a quick bio:

Source: Better World Heroes

While conducting anthropology research in Haiti, Dr. Farmer was shocked by the lack of medical care that the poor received. In 1987, he and some friends started a charity hospital in central Haiti, providing free health care to the poor. Partners in Health has grown into an international organization with projects in Peru, Russia and Rwanda. In addition to overseeing these projects, Dr. Farmer is also a professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard and an attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

His article in the London Review of Books takes you from Haiti's past to the present. It explains Aristide's rise & removal. I'll share some excerpts here, but do head over to the source...because it's like I said, this is THE article you need to get caught up:

Source: The London Review Of Books

I learned about Haiti’s history while working on medical projects on the country’s central plateau. When I first travelled there in 1983, the Duvalier family dictatorship had been in place for a quarter of a century. There was no dissent. The Duvaliers and their military dealt ruthlessly with any opposition, while the judiciary and the rest of the world looked the other way. Haiti was already known as the poorest country in the Western world, and those who ran it argued that force was required to police deep poverty.

Haitians are still living with the legacy of the slave trade and of the revolt that finally removed the French. The revolt began in 1791, and more than a decade of war followed; France’s largest expeditionary force, led by General Leclerc, Napoleon’s brother-in-law, was sent to put down the rebellion. As the French operation flagged, the slave general, Toussaint l’Ouverture, was invited to a parley. He was kidnapped and taken away to a prison in the Jura.

By the late 19th century, the United States had eclipsed France as a force in Haitian affairs. A US military occupation (1915-34) brought back corvée labour and introduced bombing from the air, while officials in Washington created the institutions that Haitians would have to live with: the army, above all, which now claims to have the country ‘in its hands’, was created by an act of the US Congress. Demobilised by Aristide in 1995, it never knew a non-Haitian enemy.

Aristide’s elevation from slum priest to presidential candidate took place against a background of right-wing death squads and threatened military coups. He rose quickly in the eyes of Haitians, but his stock plummeted in the United States. The New York Times, which relies heavily on informants who can speak English or French, had few kind words for him. ‘He’s a cross between the Ayatollah and Fidel,’ one Haitian businessman was quoted as saying. ‘If it comes to a choice between the ultra-left and the ultra-right, I’m ready to form an alliance with the ultra-right.’

Did the US and France have a hand in Aristide’s removal? Were he and his wife being held against their will? Most of Aristide’s claims, initially disputed by US officials from Noriega to Donald Rumsfeld, are now acknowledged to be true.

The salvage operation came to an end last month as ‘rebels’ continued to ‘take cities’. I work in these ‘cities’ and I saw the rebels’ modus operandi. They came in, shot the police – who usually numbered no more than two or three – and left. Only a similarly equipped counterforce could have stopped them. The beleaguered government appealed for help in the Security Council, but this was delayed by the Bush administration – delayed long enough for the government to fall, or be pushed out.

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