17th Annual Haitian Compas Festival May 16th, 2015

A federal immigration officer shot and wounded a man Thursday afternoon in Marble Hill while the man’s 5-year-old son sat in the back seat, city and federal officials said.⁠ ⁠ The shooting happened around 4 p.m. on Marble Hill Avenue near West 225th Street. The man, identified by the NYPD as 28-year-old Oscar Belgal, was struck below his left ear. Officials said the wound was not life-threatening. He was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital conscious and in stable condition, then moved by ICE to a detention facility outside New York. The child was not hurt and was placed with a relative.⁠ ⁠ NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Belgal was pulling into a parking space in a gray Honda when a plainclothes federal officer approached the driver’s side with a gun drawn, followed by a second officer who was also not in uniform. The car began to move forward and out of camera view. At least one officer then fired seven rounds, Tisch said. An NYPD camera recorded the approach but not the shooting. City police were not part of the operation and responded after hearing the shots.⁠ ⁠ Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the agents wore construction vests and face coverings and that there was no clear way to identify them as ICE. He called the shooting unconscionable and said he spent hours Thursday night on the phone with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin seeking Belgal’s release. Those talks failed. Gov. Kathy Hochul said the presence of a 5-year-old in the car meant the incident could have ended in tragedy, and both she and Mamdani urged the administration to halt ICE enforcement in the city. Protesters gathered at the scene. Four people were later arrested outside the hospital.⁠ ⁠ The Department of Homeland Security said officers were conducting a targeted arrest of a Dominican national it described as being in the country illegally. DHS cited a grand larceny conviction that resulted in five years’ probation in April 2025, plus prior arrests for assault, robbery, drug possession, and weapons possession, and alleged ties to the Trinitarios gang.⁠ ⁠ Source: @goodmorningamerica @nycpublicadvocate⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican #haitian

Estephanie Charles did not walk into Miss Grand International 2026 as a name on a roster. She walked in wearing Haiti.⁠ ⁠ At the national costume show on October 7, Haiti’s representative took the MGI Hall stage in a custom piece built around the choublak, the hibiscus widely embraced as the country’s national flower. More than 200 hours of work went into it: zari thread, stones, and crystals set into an embellished bodice, a sculptural bloom opening behind her, and a trail cut to move. Red and gold. Built for the stage. On presentation, the costume was read as Haiti itself radiant, resilient, and still standing.⁠ ⁠ The woman inside it has been building toward this room for years. Charles, also known as Steph Charles, comes to Bangkok by way of Miss Latina Haïti, Miss Earth Haïti, and Miss Haïti Caraïbes, and she works as a flight attendant. Charles advanced to the Top 40 and was drawn into Group D with delegates from Costa Rica, Venezuela, Spain, India, and Vietnam. The Best National Costume title is still unawarded. Three winners social media, the Miss Grand website, and the judges will be named on coronation night, which leaves Haiti’s choublak in the conversation until the last broadcast.⁠ ⁠ Her platform sits next to the costume, not behind it. On her official profile, Charles calls “Stop the War and Violence” a demand for peace aimed at families, women, and children, drawn from what she has seen coming out of Haiti. The flower does a version of the same work. In Haitian life the choublak keeps opening. On Charles, that idea became something a global audience could see in one walk: beauty, strength, and a country that refuses to fold.⁠ ⁠ Saturday night is the rest of the story. Charles goes in having already cleared a public vote, finished the preliminary rounds, and put Haiti’s flower on an international stage. The crown is still ahead. The statement has already been made.⁠ ⁠ Source: @thedesignman @haitiangoddess31⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican #haitian

@RoadToRestoration has released BELIEVE, a 15-track gospel album that puts faith, family, and Haitian heritage at the center of a sound built for both the church and the culture.⁠ ⁠ Running just under an hour, BELIEVE moves between English and Kreyòl, pairing worship with R&B and soul. The collective, founded by brothers Jean LeBlanc and Francis “Fridayy” LeBlanc, is rooted in Philadelphia and shaped by Haitian roots. It first found its voice in church. Their music is aimed at believers and at anyone who feels far from God, with a simple through-line: grace and restoration are still within reach.⁠ ⁠ In the album’s own framing, belief is where the road back starts. “Sometimes all you have left is belief. And sometimes belief is the very thing God uses to begin your restoration,” the group said ahead of the release. They describe the record as real testimonies and real prayers, a soundtrack for anyone learning to trust God again.⁠ ⁠ The tracklist reflects that mix of voices. It opens with “I Believe” featuring Vincena, then “The Truth” with Fridayy, “Pi Pre” with Leo, “Only You” with Anthny, “Ou Fidel” with Alyx Andre, “Yahweh” with SAINT, and “Peace,” again with Vincena. The second half includes “Tande Kri Mwen” with Harold St. Louis, “Faithfulness” and “Kem Di Hallelujah” with Ryan Ofei, “Hallelujah,” “Beni Non w” with Ashley Louis and Frantz LeBlanc, “Lord I Need Your Presence” with El-Fatih Chase, “LINYP (Reprise),” and “Ala Yon Zanmi” with Herica and Sami Paul.⁠ ⁠ Jean LeBlanc helped bring collaborators onto the project, including production support on “Yahweh.” The group’s catalog also includes Road to Restoration 2.0 (2018), Running To You (2020), and Road to Restoration Live Worship (2023).⁠ ⁠ For a diaspora audience, the bilingual tracklist is the point. Titles like “Pi Pre,” “Ou Fidel,” “Tande Kri Mwen,” “Kem Di Hallelujah,” “Beni Non w,” and “Ala Yon Zanmi” sit next to “I Believe,” “Peace,” and “Lord I Need Your Presence” without treating either language as a side note. It is worship that sounds like the rooms many Haitian families already pray in.⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

Haitian-American actor, writer and director @JeanElie is back with a project he built himself: Living Practical, a new original vertical comedy series about love, cohabitation and the absurdity of having powers that still cannot fix an ordinary relationship.⁠ ⁠ The logline is simple. Moving in together is easy. Living together is something else.⁠ ⁠ Created and directed by Elie, the series follows a young couple navigating work, home and the slow work of growing together, with one complication: they have powers. A disagreement that should stay in the kitchen can turn into something much stranger once superhuman abilities enter the equation. Living Practical uses those powers to heighten the everyday, turning familiar relationship problems into short, unexpected comic adventures.⁠ ⁠ The series stars Elie and CJ Obilom, with Tristen Winger and Keyla McNeely in supporting roles. It is built for the vertical format, with short-form episodes meant to move fast and stay character-driven, while keeping the visual world of a traditional scripted series.⁠ ⁠ For audiences who know Elie from HBO’s Insecure, where he played Issa Rae’s brother Ahmal Dee, the new series is another step in a career he has increasingly steered himself. The Brockton, Massachusetts native, raised in a Haitian-American household, co-created and starred in the AMC/ALLBLK comedy Send Help and has appeared in Rap Sh!t and The Rookie. He also served as a Haitian cultural consultant on Marvel’s Wonder Man. ⁠ ⁠ Living Practical continues that pattern: a story he created, directed and stars in. At its center, the show asks a question that has nothing to do with saving the world. What happens when superpowers do not make life any easier? Living Practical is scheduled to premiere on Patreon and Share, with additional release details to be announced.⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican #haitian ⁠

Republican senators are warning that President Trump has fumbled immigration, an issue that helped GOP candidates in 2024 and is now becoming a political liability as the party defends its Senate majority.⁠ ⁠ Several GOP senators told The Hill that the administration’s mass-deportation campaign has been too aggressive, overshadowing what they describe as a major border-security win: illegal crossings down more than 90 percent since former President Biden left office. They say the enforcement is costing Republicans support among suburban and Hispanic voters weeks before the midterms.⁠ ⁠ “Once you start deporting people who have otherwise been here without incident for 15, 20 years, that’s a gray zone that I think where you find a lot of division of opinion,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said. “I always thought that this idea of mass deportations sent the wrong message.”⁠ ⁠ Cornyn pointed to a campaign ad from Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), who told the president that some enforcement “has gone too far” and that Hispanic voters who helped elect him in 2024 “feel betrayed.” ⁠ ⁠ Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who is running for reelection, said most Americans want Immigration and Customs Enforcement focused on people who have committed crimes beyond unlawful presence.⁠ ⁠ “Most Americans are saying we are a nation of laws, but with as many people here illegally as we’ve got, let’s make darn sure that our focus is on getting those individuals that have violated our laws with regard to other things other than being here illegally,” Rounds said. He urged the administration to ease off people who “are here and that have a court determination that [says] they can be here,” and to “refocus on those individuals that are actually causing harm within society today.”⁠ ⁠ Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) was blunter. “I would rather have 100 illegally present people go free than have that innocent person caught,” he said. Of sweeps that have swept up citizens and green-card holders.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

The Dominican Football Federation has assumed the cost of repairs at Estadio Olímpico Félix Sánchez and acknowledged that access and security were not built for the crowd that showed up for Haiti’s 4-1 win on October 1, a shift that weakens early claims that Haitian supporters alone vandalized the venue.⁠ ⁠ Diario Libre reported Wednesday that two iron doors serving the east stand were forced down before kickoff after fans piled up at the entrances. FIFA and Concacaf protocol called for the gates to open at 5 p.m., and they did. Reports from the night say only one person was scanning tickets at each of the affected doors, and the cordons normally used to slow entry were not in place. The doors lead to blocks D8 through D11 and C8 through C11.⁠ ⁠ Federation president José Deschamps said the body paid to weld the doors on Monday and repaint the damaged sections. Asked whether the security plan has to change, he said yes. “For another event that comes, if it is national teams, of course,” he told Diario Libre. He added that staffing should follow the expected flow of people and that pre-gate cordons should be used next time.⁠ ⁠ The admission lands days after a very different public frame. Sports Minister Kelvin Cruz cited damage at the stadium, along with comments by Haitian striker Wilson Isidor, when he said Haiti would no longer be allowed to use Dominican sports facilities. That ban was later narrowed: Haiti may still play in the Dominican Republic as a visitor, but not stage home matches there.⁠ ⁠ Fundación Zile, in a preliminary report published October 5 and covered by Hoy, put the organizational failure at the center of the night. The federation had expected 10,000 to 12,000 spectators, the report said, but 23,604 tickets were sold and attendance was estimated near 25,000. Zile said it found no evidence of organized vandalism inside the stadium and that the incidents were concentrated at specific entry points. It urged an independent technical review, a public report on event management, and cooperation between the two federations, and warned against collective sanctions built on those incidents or on individual statements.⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

A stretch of territory long held by armed groups in Kenscoff has been retaken by police. The Haitian National Police says it regained control of Belot on Tuesday, October 6, after a coordinated operation against members of the Viv Ansanm criminal coalition. Units of the Police Nationale d’Haïti, backed by the task force, moved into Belot early Tuesday and used tracked armored vehicles to advance through terrain police described as dangerous. The force said the vehicles were deployed to limit exposure to traps and tactics gangs have used to slow security operations. The PNH announced the advance the same day on its official account on X and released photos and videos showing officers positioned in the area. Police also said they retook the site of the Montcel ranch, an iconic hotel in Kenscoff that was set on fire on April 6, 2025, by armed men linked to Viv Ansanm. Interim mayor Massillon Jean confirmed the operation in a phone interview with Lentille Info. He said officers were still exchanging fire with Viv Ansanm gunmen as the push continued, and that the goal is to clear every part of the commune still under gang control. Jean praised units that have been fighting without letup and said he hopes the momentum in Kenscoff will extend to other municipalities still held by armed groups. On Wednesday, Jean went further. In a statement to Le Nouvelliste, he said that after more than two weeks of operations, police now control Viard 1, Viard 2, Terre-Rouge, Godet, Dépensé, Bois-d’Avril, Morne Zombie, Nan Croupi, & Belot. He said those gains also give security forces a better position to watch Boucan & nearby areas. Kenscoff, a farming community in the hills above Port-au-Prince, has paid a heavy price. A joint report by the U.N. Integrated Office in Haiti & the U.N. human rights office documented at least 262 people killed and 66 wounded between January and March 2025, along with roughly 200 homes destroyed or burned and more than 3,000 people displaced. Violence returned in 2026. The National Human Rights Defense Network reported that attacks in July and August killed at least 164 people, wounded 23, and led to 71 kidnappings. #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

Team Haiti officially joined the 2026 FIRST Global Challenge on Wednesday, stepping into the opening ceremony in Incheon as one of more than 190 national teams gathered for the annual robotics competition.⁠ ⁠ The delegation, fielded through EDUCÁRE Haiti, entered carrying the Haitian flag. The competition runs October 7–10 at Songdo Convensia under the theme “Igniting Innovation.” Student teams design, build, and drive robots through a game built around wildfire prevention, mitigation, and recovery, and also take on a project track that asks them to propose real-world ideas for fire risk and preparedness.⁠ ⁠ FIRST Global, the U.S. nonprofit that organizes the event, describes it as an Olympics-style meeting of high-school-age engineers. This year’s host city is staging the competition for the first time in South Korea. Local organizers have put the scale at roughly 186 teams, about 876 student competitors, and several thousand mentors, volunteers, and guests across the four days. ⁠ ⁠ Haiti’s roster in Incheon includes mechanics Marvens Audineau Laine and Naëlda Pierre, communications officer Ciarah Christie Saint-Vil, and drivers Netz Jahyan Romain and Marcus Bradley, with Head Coach Jovany Florvil and coach Jameson Leo.⁠ ⁠ The trip continues a program that FIRST Global’s team profile traces to a single donated robotics kit in 2021. Students entered a competition with almost no preparation, returned the next year and won it, and have kept building from there. EDUCÁRE is a volunteer-led STEM effort in Haiti. Its students have represented the country at the FIRST Global Challenge in Singapore (2023), Athens (2024), and Panama City (2025). In Athens, the team finished in the top 10 of the Innovation Challenge and was invited to present to judges in person. Reporting on the program has also credited the 2024 squad with a bronze Al Khwarizmi Award.⁠ ⁠ At home, the same student community has stacked national results, including the National Knowledge Bee, the national science competition, and the national robotics competition and in May 2026 organized Haiti’s first FTC robotics event.⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella on Tuesday ordered his government to provide legal assistance to former Colombian soldiers accused of taking part in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, and financial support to their families.⁠ ⁠ In a message posted on X, de la Espriella said he had instructed the ministers of defense and justice to assist the men now detained in the United States over their alleged role in the killing.⁠ ⁠ The line drawing the most attention was his description of the detainees. “I am not the kind of president who abandons his heroes when they face difficulties,” he said. “I will not leave them alone: they will have support to mount their defense and so that this whole situation can be cleared up.”⁠ ⁠ De la Espriella, a conservative lawyer and businessman who took office on August 7, has cast himself as a defender of Colombia’s armed forces. ⁠ ⁠ Moïse was shot dead in the early hours of July 7, 2021, when gunmen stormed his private residence in Pétion-Ville, outside Port-au-Prince. First Lady Martine Moïse was wounded and survived. Investigators in the United States have said the plot involved former Colombian soldiers recruited through a Florida-based security firm, along with Haitian participants.⁠ ⁠ About 17 of those former soldiers were transferred from Haiti to the United States around September 20 after more than five years in custody without a trial in Haiti. They appeared in federal court in Miami, where a judge assigned counsel and set further hearings. U.S. authorities have charged roughly 30 people in the case. Some defendants have already pleaded guilty or been sentenced, including Colombian veteran Mario Antonio Palacios, who received life in prison. Three other Colombians were killed in the aftermath of the raid.⁠ ⁠ The men still facing proceedings have long claimed they were misled about the mission. De la Espriella’s statement does not declare them innocent. It commits his government to legal help and family support while the U.S. case continues, and it frames the detainees as veterans the state should not abandon.⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

Haiti is making another change to its election timeline.⁠ ⁠ The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has extended the deadline for candidates to register online and submit their required documents until October 31, 2026. The decision follows consultations with political parties and changes made to Haiti's electoral decree by the Council of Ministers on October 5.⁠ ⁠ The CEP has also postponed the start of the official election campaign. New campaign dates have not been announced yet. The council says it is working on an updated electoral calendar that will reflect the latest changes to the process.⁠ ⁠ Under the previous calendar, campaigning was supposed to begin October 5, with the first round of presidential and legislative elections scheduled for December 13, 2026.⁠ ⁠ Voter registration is also continuing, with the CEP encouraging eligible Haitians to complete the necessary steps to participate in the upcoming elections. ⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican

Haitian striker Duckens Nazon has announced that he donated every cent of his 2026 World Cup qualification bonus to an education project in Haiti called Skola.⁠ ⁠ The Grenadiers forward said the decision was deeply personal. In a message published Monday in French and English, he wrote that he was sharing it with humility, not for congratulations, but to show that it is possible to act in a concrete way.⁠ ⁠ According to Nazon, Skola is no longer an idea or a promise. The project is already underway on the ground. He said he will present it publicly in the coming days and provide more details on how it is being carried out. The exact amount of the bonus has not been disclosed.⁠ ⁠ Nazon also directed a message to Haitians who have the means to help, both in Haiti and abroad, and especially to the diaspora. He urged them not to be afraid to invest in their own country, in its youth, and in its future.⁠ ⁠ “We may not be able to change everything individually,” he wrote. “But if each of us contributes in whatever way we can, together we can build something far greater than ourselves. The change we hope to see in Haiti must also begin with us.”⁠ ⁠ He closed with a simple line: “For Haiti. For our youth. For the generations to come.”⁠ ⁠ The announcement comes after Haiti’s historic return to the World Cup, the country’s first appearance since 1974. Nazon was one of the team’s leading scorers in qualifying and has long said he would do anything for Haiti. With Skola, he is tying that qualification directly to an investment in Haitian children.⁠ ⁠ #lunionsuite #haitianamerican #haitian

Pierre Damas Bel was laid to rest Saturday in the city where he had tried to build a future, five weeks after the 20-year-old Wright State student walked into traffic on Interstate 70. Hundreds filled St. John Missionary Baptist Church on Oct. 3 for a service in English and Haitian Creole. His closed casket, covered in flowers and photographs including one of him in his Springfield High School cap and gown stood at the front of the sanctuary. Burial followed at 1505 Villa Road. Bel’s father, Pierre Ronal Bel, and stepmother, Landy St. Juste, sat in the front row with his younger siblings. In a statement read aloud, his father called him “my everything.” “Whenever someone opens the front door,” he said, “I have the sense that it is him coming home.” His brother Bradley told the congregation, “You always made me feel like I was never alone.” Gov. Mike DeWine and First Lady Fran DeWine spent several minutes with the family. Bel was born in Tiburon, Haiti. ICE said he entered the United States in March 2024 through the CBP One app to reunite with his family, and was later granted Temporary Protected Status. In Springfield he became an honors graduate, a JROTC cadet, and a soccer player for the Wildcats. He dreamed of becoming a neurosurgeon and building a hospital in Haiti. He had been recruited to play at Wittenberg; after TPS for Haitians ended in late July, that path closed, and he enrolled at Wright State to study neuroscience. On the morning of Aug. 31, Bel parked on the shoulder of westbound I-70 near mile marker 66, stepped out, and walked into traffic. A tractor-trailer struck him. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The Ohio State Highway Patrol has treated the death as an apparent suicide. His father said the two had spoken by video at 8:03 a.m., and that his son said he was not feeling okay. Pastor Carl Ruby of Central Christian Church, who officiated with Vilès Dorsainvil of the Haitian Support Center, asked the city to remember the life, not only the ending. “You are a blessing, not a burden,” Ruby told Haitians. “You are not guests in Springfield. You are our neighbors, and we love you.” Source: @iamyola.marj #lunionsuite #haitianamerican