Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly Elected President of Haiti

Today will go down as an historic day for the entire country of Haiti, as they have finally completed a long and controversial presidential election process. Though it has been stated that the official results would not be released until April 16th, the preliminary election results show that Michel Martelly won the election by a long shot, gaining over 67% of the vote.

The runner-up is former first lady Mirlande Manigat, who received about 31.5% of the vote. Michel Martelly, also known by his former entertainer name “Sweet Micky,” is a favorite among the Haitian youth and is expected to bring change and transparency to the government, long-suspected as corrupt by many. Before entering politics, Martelly was a popular singer with a bit of a bad-boy persona, which he claims he invented solely for the stage.

Martelly used his image as a government outsider to gain his popularity with the countries youth, eager for a change. Martelly placed third behind Manigat and current President Rene Preval-backed Jude Celestin in the original vote on November 28, 2010, the election committee decided to hold a second, “runoff” election between just Manigat and Martelly after widespread allegations of election fraud by the increasingly large group of Martelly supporters. Because of his affiliation with the extremely unpopular current President Preval and many allegations of wrongdoing, Celestin was forced to back out of the race by his own party and the election committee.

Michel Martelly is very hopeful about his upcoming presidency, as are the people of Haiti. Many Haitian’s took to the street to celebrate, chanting “Tet Kale,” or “bald head” in Creole in support for their new leader. Martelly is confident that he has what it takes to lead his people through this extremely difficult time in Haiti’s history, stating “I've been on the ground with them for 22 years. The people know me. I represent the light at the end of the tunnel.”

All of us at StanaCard wish Haiti the best and hope that the country can navigate through these difficulties with the help of this new, optimistic leader. Now’s a great time to call friends and family in Haiti and discuss the results! With StanaCard all you have to do is dial a local number to reach abroad, and when you tell your friends and family about our service, you can get $10 for each person who joins!

ABC News and Consumer Reports Reveal Dirty Calling Card Secrets

Last night, the local New York ABC 7 News ran a short segment on calling cards that would certainly be of interest to our readers and anyone else making international calls on a regular basis. The segment outlined some of the difficulties in using calling cards, and the hidden fees that some people don’t even realize they are being charged. The basis of the story came from a Consumer Reports article about the downsides of calling cards when making international calls.

As the reporters explain, calling cards can tend to appear to be inexpensive, but most of the time you end up paying a lot more than you think due to connection fees, hang-up fees, daily or monthly charges, and/or ridiculous rounding fees, meaning cards that will round your call up by three minutes or more, often doubling your total call time.

The newscasters and Consumer Reports recommend making sure to closely read the terms and conditions of the calling cards, but as they also point out, this can be difficult to do when the cards are sold behind the counter like they are at many convenience stores. Also, the terms and conditions of calling cards have been found to use tricky and deceptive language to try to disguise their fees and make it difficult for people to understand.

Luckily for all you international callers out there, there is a service out there where you can avoid all of this AND get better rates and clearer calls. This service, of course, is StanaCard. While Consumer Reports mentioned that Skype is a great way to make international calls, they failed to mention that Skype is generally close to 50% more expensive per minute than StanaCard. Pingo, which is also mentioned, is also more expensive on average and they do not use the local SmartDial technology that StanaCard does, meaning you have to dial the long international number every time you want to make a call!

So if you or any of your friends or family needs to make calls abroad, make the right decision and go with StanaCard. Not only do we have extremely low rates and great connection, but we also give $10 to any customer who refers someone, and we also give $10 to the person who they refer! To check out the video, see below.

Happy Greek Independence Day!

Today marks the 190^th year of Greece declaring their independence from the Ottoman Empire after the 11 year Greek Revolution.  Greece won the war and was able to officially declare independence on March 25, 1821.

Today is celebrated by Greeks living all over the world, including many celebrations throughout America.  Hillary Clinton announced earlier today that March 25^th would now be known in America as “National Day of Greek and American Democracy,” to honor Greece for their efforts to sustain peace around the world and its effectiveness in running a democracy.

There are many celebrations in cities all over the US, including Detroit, Miami, and Washington D.C., but the largest and most widely attended of these events will take place in New York, just a few blocks from the offices of StanaCard.  The Greek Independence Day Parade in New York started in 1939 and has been an annual event ever since.  The parade takes place on Sunday, March 27 on Fifth Avenue and is expected to attract over 100,000 spectators to see the floats, bands, and marchers. 

What better time to call your friends and family back in Greece than on Independence Day?  Luckily, with StanaCard, you can reach Greece by just making a local call.  Also, since we do have local numbers in Greece, your friends and family can also use StanaCard and make local calls in Greece that will connect to you in the US!  So go ahead and tell them about our great service, and when they sign up you will each get a free $10 bonus!