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Le Trait d'Union Entre Les Haitiens

Analyses & Opinions

Laurent Lamonthe: Money, Guns, Drugs and a Leggy Blonde

Lamothe-and-Petra1

By: Emmanuel Roy  a former political advisor to President Michel Joseph Martelly.

San Francisco, CA - If you are Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Salvador Lamothe, you bribe some members of the Haitian Senate to become Prime Minister. Then, you rob the country of 465 million dollars from fictitious contracts, kickbacks and illegal profit sharing. Next, you find yourself a leggy blonde named Petra Newcova from a country that most Haitians cannot pronounce; you use government funds to finance the leggy blonde’s lavish lifestyle with apartments in Paris, Prague, Santo Domingo and Cousine Island. Finally, you purchase military grade weapons with silencers to assassinate those who dare to oppose you or arm those who make you rich, especially if you are trying to become President of Haiti in less than 24 months to avoid prosecution in the United States for corruption.  You do all of this, while seventy-percent of your countrymen remain illiterate and unemployed. Those who are employed make less than $3.00 a day; and 60 percent of the children between the ages of 1 and 5 have never seen a doctor. How do you live with yourself you ask? Well if you are Laurent Lamothe it is easy. The man is heartless.

A few weeks ago, while the FBI was looking into the illegal weapons purchased by Laurent Salvador Lamothe, congressman Arnel Belizaire announced that he had conducted his own investigation into the illegal gun purchases and recovered copies of manifests and receipts. Congressman Belizaire did not look hard enough.  Salin Sukar, an attorney and Mr. Lamothe’s advisor has many roles, and one of them is that of a gunrunner. He is the person charged with purchasing illegal guns because of his established relationship with gun sellers in Israel, Russia and other places around the world.  Early in 2013, Mr. Sukar travelled to Israel to broker a weapon deal knowing fully well that there is a gun embargo on Haiti since at least 2004, which is why the FBI and the US State Department are looking into the purchase. 

Mr. Sukar placed the first gun order in April of 2013 for a total of 1,600 Galil’s with infrared silencers and 9,000 automatic 9-millimeter handguns. These guns were shipped via Canada in partial shipments to Haiti with no more than 200 guns per shipment.  According to the chief of the Haitian Police, he is neither aware of any orders for guns nor has he asked for guns. The Haitian Senate and the Minister of Finance Wilson Lalleau had not approved any money for guns in the 2013-2014 government budget, which raises many questions: Where did Lamothe get the money to purchase these weapons? Why is Lamothe buying military grade weapons when Haiti has not had an army since 2004?  The FBI and the US State Department are asking the same questions.

However, the Haitian media both in Haiti and overseas has yet to investigate these illegal acts. Our sources in the Haitian Senate have informed us that Senate President Simon Dieuseul Desras is considering an interpellation of Laurent Lamothe to explain these purchases.  But more important than this is the overt silence of the Haitian media.

In most democratic countries, the media is considered the fourth power. In Haiti, everything is for sale including dignity, personality, and blood.  According to our sources Mr. Lamothe has been paying between 4,000 and 12,000 US dollars a month to Haitian media in Haiti. With the exception of Haiti Obervateur and Tout-Haiti, most of the Haitian print media appear to have sold-out ignoring their duty to inform, question and investigate.  This explains why, the Haitian media has been so silent in the face of clear unrepentant theft of government resources. The media should be investigating the followings: the three apartments belonging to Lamothe’s girlfriend Petra Newcova that the Haitian Government is paying for; the purchase of military grade weapons; and the illegal kickbacks from several companies doing business in Haiti; the theft of almost four million dollars given to Haiti from Uruguay. It is a duty. 

Mr. Lamothe says often “at the end of the day it all comes down to money and everyone has a price.” Knowing this fully well, Lamothe has set aside 20 million US dollars to buy the Haitian Presidency and members of the CEP have already had at least three clandestine meetings with Laurent Lamothe to ensure that he is not only on the ballot but that he actually wins the Presidency. The Haitian Diaspora is on notice because Lamothe knows that he cannot control the Diaspora and believes most of the members of the Diaspora are Lavalassiens and not to be trusted to vote the right way which explains why he has not lifted a finger to ensure that the Haitian Diaspora can vote in the presidential election of 2016.

The Sixty-five thousand dollar question is whom will President Martelly endorse as his successor? God helps us if it is Laurent Lamothe.

Follow Manny on Twitter: @EJRManny.

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