Chelsea Clinton in Haiti to visit family foundation projects

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Chelsea Clinton on Tuesday encouraged women to educate themselves and learn how to be more independent during a trip to Haiti to oversee projects financed by the Clinton Foundation.

Clinton met with local entrepreneurs as she traveled to businesses in the capital of Port-au-Prince with a group of investors and philanthropists as part of the two-day trip. She also hosted a meeting with foundation President Donna Shalala to talk about women’s roles in the Haitian workforce and their access to markets.

“We need programs … to help close the gap so that girls and young women who haven’t had the chance to get educated don’t live with the burden of illiteracy their whole lives,” said Clinton, who is the foundation’s vice chair.

The Clinton Foundation says it has helped raise more than $30 million for Haiti since a devastating 2010 earthquake.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton founded the global charity after leaving the White House. The foundation’s finances have received intense scrutiny as Hillary Rodham Clinton seeks the White House.

Chelsea Clinton’s visit coincided with a peaceful march in front of the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, more than 100 people protested the U.S. invasion and occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934. The period was marked in part by abuses including forced labor and racial segregation implemented by a U.S.-controlled Haitian military.

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Associated Press writer Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

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