Haitian legislators yesterday approved President Michel Martelly’s nominee for Prime Minister, Laurent Lamothe, ending a confirmation standoff that has brought Haiti’s federal government to a virtual standstill for nearly two months. Lamothe, a former special adviser to President Martelly before being appointed foreign minister in September 2011, was confirmed by a vote of 62–3 after a six-hour long debate centered on whether he met residency requirements for public officials stipulated in the country’s constitution.

In an interview after the vote with the Associated Press, Lamothe vowed to immediately begin working to get Haiti’s post-earthquake recovery back on track saying, “We have a lot of work to do now… I feel that the country finally has the opportunity to work on the people’s problems. We have a lot of different issues to deal with and finally we have the team in place to start solving the people’s problems.”

The confirmation will also ease concerns in the international community—particularly among donors and aid organizations—which had grown weary of dealing with a government partner hobbled by political infighting. In remarks delivered before the vote, UN Special Envoy to Haiti Bill Clinton weighed in saying officials needed to set aside self-interest for the good of the country and “restore confidence in Haitian institutions so that donor funds can flow again and attract new investment.”

Observers note that even with the confirmation, it could still take weeks before the legislature finally approves Lamothe’s government plan and his choices for Cabinet positions.

The citizens of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, gathered today to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the cataclysmic earthquake that struck the Haitian capital last year, killing an estimated 300,000 people, leaving thousands homeless and causing $8 billion to $14 billion in damage.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who is now the United Nations special envoy to Haiti and co-chair of an Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, responded from Port-au-Prince to widespread criticism that the international community’s efforts to help rebuild Haiti have achieved little in the past 12 months. Mr. Clinton says he was encouraged by the quickened pace of reconstruction in the final months of 2010.

One symbol of the speedier recovery, says Clinton, is the recent signing of an investment agreement between the Haitian government and South Korean garment manufacturer Sae-A, which plans to  build a $78 million plant in Haiti that will create 20,000 and make it the largest private sector employer in the country. Outgoing Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive also commented on the deal, saying the ineptitude of the international relief efforts highlight the need for private-sector investment: "This will help Haiti overcome dependence on aid ... we need jobs," Bellerive told reporters.

In the 1992 presidential election, then candidate Bill Clinton had a slogan that his campaign posted on the wall of his electoral headquarters: “it’s the economy, stupid!” Clinton went on to win the election with his “economy first” message beating then President George H. W. Bush who had an over 80 percent approval rating just the year before.

As Americans prepare to go to the polls this November, operatives and pundits from both parties agree that the economy will again be the major issue this fall. Call it anti-incumbency fever or just plain anger; it is all too obvious that Americans are primarily concerned about economic prospects.

About 18 months ago, the U.S. economy teetered on the brink of the worst economic recession since the Great Depression of 1929. By now the narrative is familiar: a federal bailout program of the financial sector (TARP), the collapse of General Motors and Chrysler forcing another bailout effort, and a $787 billion stimulus—the biggest spending program in U.S. history. All this government aid was needed, the experts told us, or we would suffer another Great Depression. Today, economic growth has returned, but with a more modest job picture.

After nearly ten hours of debate on Thursday, Haiti’s Senate voted by a simple majority to remove Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis from office. She did not attend the special session where 18 of 29 Senators voted against her.

Appointed by President René Préval in September 2008, the Prime Minister has been criticized for her lack of political leadership and alleged involvement in corruption. Expectations for Haiti’s future had been further raised with the appointment of former President Bill Clinton as United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti in May.

But the vote was not without controversy. Senators supporting Pierre-Louis called the session unconstitutional and cited Article 107 of the Haitian Constitution. “If a special session is held in the Senate, Senators are under the strict obligation of respecting the agenda established by the government,” according to Senator Rudy Hérivaux.

During her tenure, Pierre-Louis had mainly focused on consolidating international support after the series of tropical storms that killed nearly 800 people last year. President Préval is said to be replacing her by Minister of Planning and External Cooperation Jean-Max Bellerive, who will have to be ratified by the National Assembly.

Cité Soleil is a flat, dense slum built out of cardboard and tin on Port-au-Prince's western shore. Children play in the sewage; working-age men and women sit in the shade, escaping the searing midday sun, waiting for something to happen; young boys catch seagulls and pigeons with nets, and bring them home for dinner.

Since the mid-1990s, armed gangs terrorized the local population and even drove the local police out, making the slum an absolute no-go zone for officials and development aid workers. Taming Cité Soleil was vital to stability in the capital. That made it a priority for the country's largest international aid donors—the U.S., Canada, and France—who focused on security to lay the groundwork for development.

Shortly after Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in 2004 (under pressure from the U.S. and Canada due to a sharp rise in organized violence) the United Nations created its Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) under Security Council resolution 1542, with a mandate to restore Haitian civil society and to rebuild government institutions like the Haitian National Police, among other goals. So far its most notable success has been reducing kidnappings in Port-au-Prince and disbanding many of the gangs operating out of Cité Soleil.

“The problem of public security was dealt with solely as a security problem, not as a political problem. We believe in imposing control over criminals, even by force” said Carlos Alberto Dos Santos, who was MINUSTAH's Force Commander until this spring.  His troops targeted the gangs from poor slums like Cité Soleil, which had been used and bought off by political rivals over the last decade. 

From the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online's news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup.

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Peru's PM to Resign, Push for End of Decrees that Sparked Amazon Conflict

Peruvian Prime Minister of Peru Yehude Simon announced that the government will ask congress to eliminate decrees 1090 and 1064, which are among the laws at the core of the violent clashes between protesters and police on June 5. Those clashes claimed dozens of lives. Simon also said that he would resign from office as soon after the stand-off with indigenous people in Peru’s Amazon was resolved. The government also granted permission for indigenous leader Alberto Pizango to leave the country after he was granted political asylum by the Nicaraguan government.

An Americas Quarterly web exclusive goes into detail about the set of controversial decrees and how they fueled popular discontent that led to the clashes. Furthermore, AQ offers ongoing coverage of the conflict in a dedicated “Issues In-Depth” section.

From the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online's news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup.

Sign up to receive the Weekly Roundup via email.

Colombian Defense Minister Resigns; Uribe Reelection Referendum Approved

Juan Manuel Santos will step down May 23 from his defense minister post to run for president in the 2010 elections. But Santos would declare his candidacy only if President Álvaro Uribe decides against running for his second reelection. If Uribe decides to go for it, Santos said that he’d be a loyal supporter of his campaign.

The Colombian senate brought Uribe a step closer to reelection Tuesday when it approved a path for voters to decide whether the constitution can be changed to allow the popular president to run again.

The Washington Post reports that “should Santos run and win, the Obama administration would have as a partner a U.S.-educated politician well versed in Washington ways.” The article also notes that Santos remains a firm supporter of Uribe’s democratic security policies and would likely continue them.