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Defend Haiti is a Haitian-American news agency. It is a primarily English language publication based in Orlando, Florida. With writers, contributors and sources throughout the globe, DH covers news about Haiti, its people, Diaspora all over the world, and the way they are portrayed, conclusively documenting a living culture as it happens. The brand, Defend Haiti was founded in the Fall of 2004 by Samuel Maxime, an undergraduate mechanical engineering student at the Florida State University. The news agency's website, Defend.ht is one of the most visited Haitian websites in North America and its Facebook page Defend ︻╦╤─ Haiti currently has 38,000 Likes. On January 13, 2012, the Club of Madrid echoed a 4-point outline of recommendations for political progress and stability in Haiti, originally written as an editorial on Defend.ht in December of 2011. The Haitian government would eventually begin to enact the recommendations of the Club of Madrid and DH, but not before, on January 13, 2012, having lawyers in Miami, Florida representing Haitian President Michel Martelly deliver letters demanding a retraction and clarification of two news articles published on Defend.ht. There was no retraction or clarification of the stories and no further legal steps by the Haitian government followed. DH Editor-in-Chief, Samuel Maxime, characterized the lawyers' efforts as an act of intimidation by the Martelly government.

History
In the Fall of 2004, Defend Haiti began as a t-shirt campaign on the campuses Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Florida to bring awareness to Haitian-Americans about the circumstances and fallout of the coup d'etat that ousted former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. DH did not become a news reporting agency until July 7, 2007 when it launched The Zoelando Magazine. The lifestyle magazine never made it to print but released a few dozen pages of stories based on entertainment, sports and fashion in the Haitian-American community. On October 30, 2009, the Facebook page, Defend ︻╦╤─ Haiti, was created to begin sharing news about Haiti catered to a Haitian-American audience. For two and a half months the content shared remained lifestyles and entertainment news. DH matured into a political and social advocacy news organization following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

In August of 2010 DH launched its website Zoelando.com. Two months later, in October, the site's domain changed to Defend.ht and on January 28, 2011 was relaunched the website that is viewable today at www.defend.ht.

Motto
"This is the emergence of a Haitian-worldwide alternative subculture" did not initially contain the word "worldwide". In the beginning the motto said "This is the emergence of a Haitian-American alternative subculture" as it was specifically catered to the growing and more influential population of 1st generation Haitian-Americans and young Haitian immigrants born in the 80's and 90's. This generation is the evolution of a South Florida gang called Zoe Pound into more constructive Haitian-American members of society called Zoes.