NewsWhore
01-11-2012, 04:50 PM
President Leonel Fernandez travels to Haiti tomorrow to inaugurate the new Universite d'Etat d'Haiti Roi Christophe Campus in Limonade, in the province of Cap-Haitien. During the visit, he will also inaugurate the new Dominican Embassy premises in Port-au-Prince, as reported in Hoy. President Fernandez's last visit to Haiti was for President Michel Martelly's inaugural event in May 2011.
Fernandez will travel to Haiti accompanied by First Lady Margarita Cedeno, who is the vice presidential candidate for the ruling PLD party in the 20 May presidential election. Minister of Foreign Relations Carlos Morales Troncoso and Minister of Economy Temistocles Montas will also be traveling.
The inaugurations coincide with the second anniversary of the devastating 7.0 earthquake on 12 January 2010 that is estimated to have killed around 300,000 people, leaving 1.3 million homeless and causing material damage worth US$8 billion with the collapse of thousands of buildings in the capital city.
The university was built by the Dominican Presidency's Public Works Supervisory Engineers Office (OISOE), an estimated US$30 million donation to Haiti. Haiti's leading university in Port au Prince suffered significant damages in the quake.
The university has four three-story buildings on a 300,000m2 campus. With 72 classrooms, the university has capacity for 10,000 students. These buildings will house the classrooms and laboratories, library, auditorium, administration, and sports fields for playing soccer and baseball.
There has been some debate in Haiti on whether the university should be autonomous or part of the Haiti government state system.
In the Dominican Republic, the name of the university is controversial as King Henri Christophe is known as a "butcher" for having ordered the massacres of an estimated 10,000 Dominicans and beheadings of children in Santiago and Moca (beheading of 40 children at a Moca church) during the bloody Haitian invasion of 1805.
www.diariolibre.com/opinion/2012/01/11/i320051_index.html (http://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/2012/01/11/i320051_index.html)
See http://dimita.obolog.com/holacusto-dessalines-moca-santiago-524124
Diario Libre also points out that the site chosen for the university, La Limonade is reminiscent of the place where the battle won by Dominican troops was fought that gave the beginning to the devotion to Our Lady of High Grace (La Virgen de la Altagracia), protector of the Dominican people on 21 January 1691. In Haitian history, nevertheless, while labeled a dictator, King Christophe is described as a man who saw the importance of development and began an ambitious education project, at least for the children of the elite. He is also known for having spent vast resources and energy on monuments and buildings, including the Palace of Sans Souci and La Citadelle military fortress, now one of Haiti's leading tourism attractions.
The new university was built on state property that Christophe designated for the construction of the Academie Royale university in 1815.
www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?storyid=%7B11699f8f-bf5a-41b4-9403-413007f5a22f%7D&type=new (http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?storyid=%7B11699f8f-bf5a-41b4-9403-413007f5a22f%7D&type=new)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)
Fernandez will travel to Haiti accompanied by First Lady Margarita Cedeno, who is the vice presidential candidate for the ruling PLD party in the 20 May presidential election. Minister of Foreign Relations Carlos Morales Troncoso and Minister of Economy Temistocles Montas will also be traveling.
The inaugurations coincide with the second anniversary of the devastating 7.0 earthquake on 12 January 2010 that is estimated to have killed around 300,000 people, leaving 1.3 million homeless and causing material damage worth US$8 billion with the collapse of thousands of buildings in the capital city.
The university was built by the Dominican Presidency's Public Works Supervisory Engineers Office (OISOE), an estimated US$30 million donation to Haiti. Haiti's leading university in Port au Prince suffered significant damages in the quake.
The university has four three-story buildings on a 300,000m2 campus. With 72 classrooms, the university has capacity for 10,000 students. These buildings will house the classrooms and laboratories, library, auditorium, administration, and sports fields for playing soccer and baseball.
There has been some debate in Haiti on whether the university should be autonomous or part of the Haiti government state system.
In the Dominican Republic, the name of the university is controversial as King Henri Christophe is known as a "butcher" for having ordered the massacres of an estimated 10,000 Dominicans and beheadings of children in Santiago and Moca (beheading of 40 children at a Moca church) during the bloody Haitian invasion of 1805.
www.diariolibre.com/opinion/2012/01/11/i320051_index.html (http://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/2012/01/11/i320051_index.html)
See http://dimita.obolog.com/holacusto-dessalines-moca-santiago-524124
Diario Libre also points out that the site chosen for the university, La Limonade is reminiscent of the place where the battle won by Dominican troops was fought that gave the beginning to the devotion to Our Lady of High Grace (La Virgen de la Altagracia), protector of the Dominican people on 21 January 1691. In Haitian history, nevertheless, while labeled a dictator, King Christophe is described as a man who saw the importance of development and began an ambitious education project, at least for the children of the elite. He is also known for having spent vast resources and energy on monuments and buildings, including the Palace of Sans Souci and La Citadelle military fortress, now one of Haiti's leading tourism attractions.
The new university was built on state property that Christophe designated for the construction of the Academie Royale university in 1815.
www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?storyid=%7B11699f8f-bf5a-41b4-9403-413007f5a22f%7D&type=new (http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?storyid=%7B11699f8f-bf5a-41b4-9403-413007f5a22f%7D&type=new)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)