PORT-AU-PRINCE — The Organization of American States (OAS) on Aug. 20 unveiled a $2.6 billion roadmap to pull Haiti back from collapse, more than doubling its previous security budget to $1.3 billion in a bid to confront gangs that control most of Port-au-Prince.

The plan, presented by OAS Secretary General Albert Ramdin to the Permanent Council, sets out a three-year framework that ties emergency security measures to longer-term political and economic reforms. Officials said the goal is not just to restore order, but to rebuild Haitian institutions capable of sustaining peace.

“The goal is not simply to provide aid, but to lay the foundation for something lasting and sustainable over time,”  Ramdin said.

The roadmap, titled “Towards a Haitian Roadmap for Stability and Peace with Regional and International Support,” is Haitian-led but designed to coordinate international backing through the OAS, CARICOM and the United Nations. It will run from 2025 to 2028, beginning with a 30-day startup phase before an initial review.

The new draft dramatically increases funding compared to the first version, raising the total from $1.37 billion to $2.6 billion.  The budget is divided across five main pillars, with one additional line set aside for managing the process itself:

Zakasòl, founded in 2021 by Emmanuella Marc and agronomist Jesumène Ninger, supports farmers in La Vallée-de-Jacmel with fertilizers, training and technical guidance. Recognized by the Haitian government, the initiative strengthens local agriculture, stabilizes input prices and empowers farmers and youth.

PORT-AU-PRINCE — It all began with a desperate phone call. At the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Emmanuella Marc had just learned that the Creole term Agrosòl, which she planned to register for her new business, was already taken. She called her friend Magdala Louis, insisting she wouldn’t leave the office without another name. Minutes later, Louis called back and said: “Name the business Zakasòl.”

“Without hesitation, we wasted no time registering it,” Marc told The Haitian Times.

“Zakasòl is a combination of two words: Zaka, a symbol of hard work and peasant knowledge in Vodou culture, and sòl, which means soil — the foundation of all life.”

The company is rooted in La Vallée-de-Jacmel, a commune in Haiti’s southeast, about 58 miles from Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.

Zakasòl — an agricultural and training enterprise — was born from an idea of agronomist Jesumène Ninger, Marc’s cousin. For years, Ninger dreamed of creating a structure in La Vallée where farmers could access fertilizers, seeds and adequate training

Since 2021, Zakasòl has supplied fertilizers, tools and seeds to dozens of farmers, along with processed goods such as peanuts, akasan, chanmchanm, corn and banana flour, cassava flour, ginger powder and animal feed. The company also produces natural fertilizer through composting.

CAP-HAÏTIEN— Haiti’s second-largest city and cultural jewel is at a breaking point. A worsening sanitation crisis has piled trash onto its streets and clogged canals—despite having just celebrated its 355th anniversary—threatening public health and its historic image, keeping away tourism.

The crisis reached a peak last week when the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) dismissed Mayor Yvrose Pierre after years of criticism over mismanagement. On Aug. 20, the CPT appointed a three-member mayoral team led by Angie Bell, a young entrepreneur, marketer, cultural consultant and founder of Pou Bèl Ayiti or “For Beautiful Haiti” — an artistic environmental organization aimed at keeping the streets of Haiti clean. Bell has been very involved in cleaning efforts in Cap-Haïtien recently.

As a career highlight, Bell had worked as co-chair of the fundraising and public relations committee at the Haitian American Professionals Coalition (HAPC) and as marketing director of the Haitian American Historical Society (HAHS). Bell co-owns Atizan International, a marketing firm that promotes Haitian and Caribbean culture through event production and project management. She co-hosts the Ayiti Parle show on the Miami-based Island TV, where she continues to showcase pride in her heritage. She currently serves as vice rector and dean of business at Université des Atlantes in Cap-Haïtien— a position she has held since 2022.

NEW YORK—A civil court judge ruled last Tuesday that EminiFX and CEO Eddy Alexandre are liable for $228 million in restitution to defrauded investors and that Alexandre must turn over $15 million in profits he may have reaped. In a related effort to recover more funds amassed in the $260 million Ponzi scheme Alexandre’s wife and a prominent church couple are also facing accusations of fraud and demands to return funds from the company’s receivership.

Attorneys for the government-appointed receiver now seek to recover at least $538,000 from Clarelle Dieuveuil, Alexandre’s wife, and $5 million from Pastor John Edvard Maisonneuve and his wife, Sophia Desrosiers Maisonneuve, that never made it into any EminiFX financial accounts. The couple is prominent in the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Haitian worshippers networks, and the pastor currently leads New Eden SDA in Neptune, N.J.

All three defendants face civil allegations of unjust enrichment and aiding and abetting fraud in a complaint, filed in May. Dieuveuil is also accused of breach of fiduciary duty for her alleged role as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Dieuveuil’s attorney denied most of the allegations in court documents, admitting only that she was interim CFO while a permanent one was being sought and that she received a $200,000 payment from the company.

“Ms. Dieuveuil unequivocally denies the allegations in the complaint and steadfastly maintains that she was not involved in any fraudulent conduct,” her attorney told The Haitian Times via email Saturday.

The Maisonneuves did not have a legal answer on file nor return an email message seeking comment.

“It looks like they won’t get away with it,” said Will Petion, an Allentown, Penn. investor who claimed the Maisonneuves pressured congregants like him to invest. “He needs to face prison [time] to give up the money.”

Affinity fraud via SDA Haitian church network

The developments are the latest in a 3-year-old judicial journey that began in May 2022, when the FBI arrested Alexandre at the Valley Stream, N.Y., home he shared with Dieuveuil and their three sons.

Investigators found that Alexandre—then a deacon at Maranatha French Speaking Seventh Day Adventist Church in Jamaica, Queens—operated the cryptocurrency and foreign exchange investment company as a Ponzi that bilked mostly Haitians of $260 million. He relied on recruiters in the church network, they said, such as the Maisonneuves, and promises of weekly returns of 5% to 9.99% and millionaire status within three years. He also showed fictitious returns on investment and used members’ funds to pay others and reward top performers.