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WORLD NEWS Thursday 4 February 2021
Haiti opens debate on proposed constitutional changes

By EVENS SANON and tion of a vice president to
DÁNICA COTO replace that of prime min-
Associated Press ister and establishing a uni-
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) cameral legislature to be
— Haiti has unveiled mul- elected every five years to
tiple proposed changes replace the current Senate
to overhaul the country’s and Chamber of Depu-
Constitution that officials ties, which was largely dis-
plan to present to voters solved more than a year
starting this week for an up- ago when President Jove-
coming referendum that nel Moïse began to rule by
looms amid growing unrest. decree following a lack of
The public meetings are legislative elections.
scheduled to be held Another change also
across Haiti for the next calls for legislators to be
three weeks, ahead of the elected every five years
April 25 constitutional ref- to match the presidential
erendum, which would be term since some senators
the first one held in more are currently elected ev-
than 30 years. ery two to six years. Critics
One of the biggest chang- of the proposed changes
es is an omission in the draft say they see it as a power
issued by an independent In this Oct. 8, 2019 file photo, entrepreneur and youth leader Pascéus Juvensky St. Fleur, 26, grab by Moïse, who says
commission tasked with holds up his copy of the Haitian constitution during an interview in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. he will step down in Febru-
creating the constitutional Associated Press ary 2022 when his five-year
changes that have gen- O’Neill told The Associated Jean-Claude Duvalier. of general elections. All it term ends. The opposition,
erated heated debates. Press that his interpretation “The drafters were very says is that one “must have however, argues that his
Haiti’s current Constitution is that the omission would wary of allowing anyone habitual residence in Haiti,” term began when that of
bars presidents from serving allow a president to serve having too much unbroken a change that could al- former President Michel
two consecutive terms, but two terms consecutively. time in the Presidency,” he low the diaspora to run for Martelly ended in February
the draft only states that He noted that those who said. the highest offices in Haiti, 2016, even though Moïse
a president cannot serve drafted the 1987 Constitu- The new draft also drops which is currently banned. wasn’t sworn in until Febru-
for more than two terms; it tion currently in use were the requirement that to The proposed change also ary 2017 following a cha-
says nothing about wheth- emerging from a 29-year be president of Haiti, one would apply to the position otic election process that
er they can be served con- dictatorship under two needs to have lived in the of vice president. led to the appointment of
secutively. so-called “presidents for country for five consecu- Other proposed changes a provisional president for
Human rights attorney Bill life”: François Duvalier and tive years prior to the date include creating the posi- one year.q

Common pots prepared by neighbors

feeding thousands in Peru

By FRANKLIN BRICEÑO their neighborhood.The lockdown, Satalaya’s pot
Associated Press survival strategy that first is feeding 120 people, in-
LIMA, Peru (AP) — At appeared in Peru’s capi- cluding seniors, children
dawn, Genoveva Satala- tal during the country’s and pregnant women.
ya and her neighbors walk civil conflict four decades Satalaya and her neigh-
through Lima’s food mar- ago has been vital since bors prepare lunch Mon-
kets hoping to find a kind the coronavirus pandem- day through Friday.
merchant who will donate ic arrived in this South There’s not enough food
food to help fill the “com- American nation. With the for weekday breakfasts or
mon pot” that is feeding country again under a dinners or weekend meals.
“We don’t have meat, not
even a tuna,” Satalaya,
a 45-year-old mother of
two, said Tuesday while
she and her neighbors
cooked rice and potatoes
for lunch. The common
pots, also seen in other
Latin American countries,
have emerged as a sym-
bol of the struggles of the
region. Thousands of them
are in use throughout Peru
A banner announces the Los Alamos soup kitchen asking at levels not seen since the
for donations in the Villa Maria neighborhood in Lima, Peru,
Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, amid a second complete lockdown 1980s and 1990s during the
in less than a year as Peru battles a resurgence in COVID-19 armed conflict between
cases. the state and the Shining
Associated Press Path terrorist group.q