27669: Hermantin(News)WYCLEF JEAN HOPES PREVAL WILL STABILISE HAITI (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

WYCLEF JEAN HOPES PREVAL WILL STABILISE HAITI




World Entertainment News Network

February 10, 2006



Fugees rapper Wyclef Jean hopes presidential candidate Rene Preval will be 
elected into power in his native Haiti this week (begs06FEB06), bringing 
stability to the troubled Caribbean island.

After Tuesday's (07FEB06) election, the rapper and his fellow Haitians are 
waiting to hear who will lead the country.

Jean says, "Cite Soleil, Bel Air, that's where you have the majority of the 
problems of violence, Preval is probably the man who can deal with those 
problems better than anyone else."

Haiti's instability and violence, which rose in the 1980s, have turned the 
beautiful island from a tourist spot into one of the poorest nations in the 
Americas.

Jean is a regular visitor to Haiti and hopes his presence raises international 
awareness of the country's woes.

He explains, "I was the first to go inside of Bel Air (slum area). I preached 
and said violence was not the answer. (The gangs said), 'We stopped the 
violence, but now what do we do? We have no jobs.'

"I want to see the violence in Haiti stopped. Innocent people, innocent 
children are getting hurt and killed every day."

Despite Jean living in New York City since the age of nine, he proudly holds a 
Haitian passport and voted this week.

He says, "I have a Haitian passport and I voted. I think it was really 
important to vote. We have to put a government in there to have stability. We 
need someone in there to provide stability."

Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel