Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 1 december 2016

President-elect Moise says he’s ready for tests facing Haiti

because there’s no way a not true and I’m the exam-
president can work without ple. In the countryside you
deputies, without sena- have good people also
tors,” he said. — with knowledge, with vi-
Robert Fatton, a Haitian- sion, with capacity,” Moise
born politics professor at said.
the University of Virginia, The slender 48-year-old fa-
said that Moise will find ther of three said Martelly
governing difficult “if he is would be an adviser when
unwilling or unable to draw he becomes president,
some key adversaries into and he wants to study his
his regime.” predecessor’s successes
“The next few weeks and and mistakes. Other pre-
months will be bumpy and vious presidents also will
will test Jovenel Moise’s serve as advisers, he said.
statecraft and capacity to During his campaign,
move the country in a new Moise touted his business
and hopeful trajectory,” he background in agriculture.
said. In 2014, he launched the
The still-preliminary Novem- Agritrans banana export-
ber victory came more ing joint venture with the
than a year after Moise government on about
topped an initial presiden- 2,470 acres (1,000 hect-
Jovenel Moise is helped by a team member before an interview in his office in Petion-Ville, Haiti, tial vote that was eventu- ares) in northeast Haiti with
Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016. Moise, a political newcomer backed by Haiti’s previous elected leader, ally thrown out for alleged a $6 million loan approved
easily won the presidential election redo, according to preliminary results that were quickly ques-
tioned Tuesday by several losing factions. fraud, leading to a lengthy by Martelly’s administra-
(AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) period of political limbo. tion. He proudly refers to
A businessman from north- himself by his campaign
DAVID McFADDEN goals. He described the ru- votes in a field of 27 candi- ern Haiti, Moise had never moniker, “Neg Bannan
Associated Press ral poor as the backbone dates. run for office until he was Nan” — “Banana Man” in
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) of his homeland’s fragile The result is supposed to hand-picked to be the Tet Haitian Creole.
— The political newcomer economy. be certified on Dec. 29 af- Kale party candidate by His first business venture
chosen to lead deeply di- “It’s really important to ter an electoral tribunal re- outgoing President Michel was an auto parts com-
vided Haiti for the next five change the lifestyle of solves the challenges. Martelly. pany in Port-de-Paix, and
years says he’s eager to these people,” Moise told In the interview at a Petion- Some critics continue to he also distributed drinking
improve the lives of desper- The Associated Press in his ville campaign office, Moi- view Moise’s ascent with water and created a proj-
ately poor families in the first interview with an in- se said his priorities focus suspicion, suggesting Mar- ect to bring renewable en-
long-neglected country- ternational news agency on agriculture, education, telly is using the candidate ergy to several towns.
side and bring steady eco- since officials issued pre- energy reform and foreign as a proxy. Moise laughed Haiti’s revamped Provision-
nomic advances to one of liminary results showing he investment. off the criticism, saying it al Electoral Council has
the least developed na- won the Nov. 20 election in He said he’s looking for- is mostly about the snob- been trying to show that
tions in the world. a landslide. ward to the challenge of bery of political elites in the the Nov. 20 election, orga-
Jovenel Moise, an upbeat If the preliminary results building consensus and capital. nized with mostly Haitian
entrepreneur, said reviving withstand challenges by helping fix a political cul- “In Haiti, when you come resources, was clean in a
the economically blighted three of his closest rivals in ture perpetually at war with from the countryside, the country where accusations
countryside where almost coming weeks, Moise will itself. people here in Port-au- of vote-rigging and elec-
80 percent of households have earned the presiden- “I am working hard to be Prince, they think they tion fraud have long been
farm is one of his major cy with 55 percent of the close with the Parliament know everything. But it’s common and are some-
times accurate.
Puerto Rico reports 500 new Zika cases amid epidemic But three of the council’s
nine members declined
to sign the preliminary tally
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) mosquito-borne virus have on the island, and health Five people infected with sheet, one of them telling
— Puerto Rico’s health now been registered, in- officials have warned that Zika have died in recent local radio that he was
secretary says nearly 500 cluding nearly 2,700 that a growing number of ba- months in Puerto Rico, “uncomfortable” with the
new cases of Zika have involve pregnant women. bies will be born with se- including two who de- results.
been reported in the U.S. Nearly 290 people have vere birth defects known veloped complications A monitoring team from
territory in the past week. been hospitalized. as microcephaly, char- from a paralysis condition the Organization of Ameri-
Ana Rius said this week Authorities earlier this year acterized by abnormally known as Guillain-Barre. q can States said that its ob-
that 34,562 cases of the declared a Zika epidemic small heads in newborns. servations were in line with
Haiti’s preliminary tally.q