Haitian nationals already present in the US when the devastating earthquake hit on Jan. 12 have been granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and will be allowed to continue living and working in the US for the next 18 months regardless of their immigration status, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Jan. 15. Napolitano said that "[p]roviding a temporary refuge for Haitian nationals who are currently in the United States and whose personal safety would be endangered by returning to Haiti is part of this Administration's continuing efforts to support Haiti's recovery."

David L. Wilson of Weekly News Update on the Americas reports from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 13:

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Several hundred people had gathered to sing, clap, and pray in an intersection here by 9:00 last night, a little more than four hours after the earthquake had devastated much of the Haitian capital. Another group was singing a block away, on the other side of the Hotel Oloffson, where I was camping out.

As US President Barack Obama sent thousands of troops to help with the rescue efforts in earthquake-stricken Haiti, Gen. Douglas Frazier, head of the Pentagon's Southern Command, indicated that the Naval medical facilities at Guantánamo Bay may be used to help with the relief efforts. Many of the refugees may be temporarily housed at Camp Justice, an area of the base where visitors such as reporters have generally stayed. The US State Department reported Jan. 13 that some injured Americans have already been transported to Guantanamo. (Jurist, Jan. 14)

Bassin Zim Education & Development Fund, a non-profit organization that provides aid to disaster victims in Haiti as well as supporting long-term agricultural and environmental improvement, has established a special fund for earthquake relief. Their projects work with the Peasant Movement of Papaye (MPP) and other grassroots rural groups towards establishing food self-sufficiency to prevent famine. This work is especially critical following the unprecedented disaster.

David L. Wilson of Weekly News Update on the Americas reports from Port-au-Prince, Jan. 12:

I'm writing from the southern part of Port-au-Prince; I have been in Haiti since last Thursday on a delegation in support of Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP), the Papay Peasant Movement. The earthquake hit less than 12 hours ago, and damage here is extensive. The Olaffson Hotel, where I was waiting to be picked up by Paul from Batay Ouvriye, hasn't had serious damage, but one of the walls in front fell. Street vendors were working there; at least one was injured and taken away. Another was killed. Her body is still lying under the blocks—there's no time to deal with the dead.

On Dec. 16 the body of an unidentified man was found in a motel in the southern Puerto Rican city of Ponce; he had been stabbed 20 times and partly decapitated. Julio Serrano, spokesperson for the National Association for the Defense of Homosexuals, said the police should investigate the possibility that this was a hate crime against gays. Serrano added that no one has ever been charged with an anti-gay hate crime in Puerto Rico and that "not doing anything creates a climate of homophobia, hate and persecution." (Univision, Dec. 17)

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has summoned the Venezuelan ambassador to provide an explanation of statements made by President Hugo Chávez at the Copenhagen summit, where he accused the Netherlands of colluding with the United States against his nation by allowing military access to the Dutch Antilles. Verhagen denied that there is any aggression plot against Venezuela. (Radio Netherlands, Dec. 18)

On Dec. 7 the US Justice Department unsealed an indictment charging two former Haitian officials, two former executives of an unnamed Florida telecommunications company and the president of Florida-based Telecom Consulting Services Corp with foreign bribery, wire fraud and money laundering. According to the indictment, the telecommunications company paid more than $800,000 to shell companies to be used for bribes to officials of Haiti's state-owned telecommunications company, Télécommunications d'Haiti (Haiti Téléco). Two other Florida executives pleaded guilty to related charges last spring. The right-wing Haitian daily Le Matin reported that the unnamed Florida company was Terra Telecommunications Corporation.