News Archives » Central America & the Caribbean
Paris Club creditors cancel 100% of Haïti’s debt July 10th, 2009
Representatives of the Paris Club creditor countries and of the Republic of Haiti agreed July 8th on debt cancellation. This flowed from Haiti’s finally having reached its Completion Point under the IMF and World Bank’s jointly sponsored Enhanced Initiative for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (enhanced HIPC Initiative) on 30 June 2009.
Bill Clinton Visits Haiti as Special UN Envoy July 10th, 2009
Former United States President Bill Clinton is finishing a three-day visit to Haiti today, his first since being appointed United Nations Special Envoy for the impoverished Caribbean nation.
During a visit to the country in March, Mr. Clinton and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon assessed the situation in the wake of four back-to-back tropical storms that battered the country in 2008, killing nearly 800 people and affecting an estimated 1 million people.
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Report on Oblate International Congress on Ministry with Migrants Now Available July 6th, 2009
L to R: Maurizio Giorgianni (Italian OMI in Korea), Gen Oliveira (Brazilian OMI in Japan), Andrzej Jastrzebski (Polish OMI in the Oblate General Administration in Rome) and Daniel LeBlanc, Oblate representative at the United Nations.
The symposium, titled “Together on a Journey of Hope” was held in Mississauga, Ontario, from June 8-12, 2009. Oblates from North five continents gathered to learn, strategize and sensitize themselves on the challenges of migrants and immigrants in areas where Oblates are working. This was the first Oblate international symposium on migration.
Faith-based and Nongovernmental Groups Condemn Coup in Honduras; Express Concern for Human Rights Situation July 1st, 2009
Faith-based, human rights, and activist groups in the United States joined in condemning the coup carried out June 28th against José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, the elected President of Honduras.
President Zelaya was forcibly removed from his home by the military and put on a plane to Costa Rica. The coup took place on the very day that a controversial non-binding referendum about the Honduran constitution had been scheduled.
Read full text of the June 30 letter (Download PDF)
Learn more: Read “Behind the Honduran Coup”
$1.2 Billion in Haitian Debt Cancellation: A Welcome Victory July 1st, 2009
Extended Campaign to Win Relief for Haiti Finally Pays Off
The Oblate JPIC Office joins other members of the Jubilee USA Network in welcoming the news that, at last, Haiti has reached “completion point” in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries program.
This step means the cancellation of $1.2 billion in external debt owed by the impoverished island nation to bilateral and multilateral lenders including the IMF, World Bank, and US government. The Boards of the World Bank and IMF met on June 30 to formally approve Haiti’s debt stock cancellation under HIPC and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.
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