After yesterday's magnitude 5.9 earthquake, which is the first of many possible aftershocks, the European Union is now estimating that 200,000 are dead, along with an injured 250,000 and a newly homeless population of 1.5 million. By Sunday, the Pentagon says, there should be 16,000 US military troops in Haiti. The White House is now considering increasing that number to 20,000 in the weeks to come. But with this immense aid and daunting donation drives, we have to ask the question: why is Haiti too poor to survive on its own?
The history of US-Haitian relations is vast, but I'm going to begin reviewing Haiti's economy with the introduction of the FRAPH. The Front for the Advancement and Progress in Haiti was the paramilitary organization behind a coup started in 1993 and is responsible for the murder of nearly 5,000 Haitian civilians. Arguably its most infamous member, Emmanuel Constant, reaped a regular salary from the CIA and was appointed to power by the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
In an article from Z-magazine, during the violent upheaval of the Haitian government in the mid 90's, "refugees fleeing to the U.S. from the terror of the US-backed dictatorship were forcefully returned, in gross violation of international humanitarian law." Although one important refugee was given political asylum within the US and, to this day, lives in Queens. That refugee is Emmanuel Constant, the Haitian terrorist discussed in the previous paragraph. Haiti decided to convict Constant in absentia and regularly called for his extradition, but to no avail. Luckily in 2008, he was convicted of several mortgage fraud felonies in New York and was sentenced to 37 years in prison. Wow, what a nice guy.
But none of this directly addresses the question; why is the Haitian economy unable to provide a significant amount of self-reconstruction?
Well after the success of Emmanuel Constant's overthrow, the World Bank announced, "The renovated state must focus on an open economic strategy ... both national and foreign." Aww, that actually sounds legitimate. Well, it wasn't; almost immediately after the World Bank announcement, the Organization of American States declared an oil embargo on the entire nation. Furthermore, the newly democratized Haitian rice farmers had to compete against the subsidized US agriculturalists. Their inability to do so yielded a devastating financial depression of the working class majority. If this seems unbelievable, do a Google search of "NAFTA."
With all this being said, giving financial aid to Haiti is even more important than ever. What isn't important is placing 10,000 US troops in the disaster area and then subsequently waiting a week until clean drinking water was given to the victims. Michael Weisbrot writes:
On Monday, six days after the earthquake in Haiti, the US Southern Command finally began to drop bottled water and food from an air force C-17. US defence secretary Robert Gates had previously rejected such a method because of "security concerns".
In Gates' defense, he's quoted on CNN.com saying:
It seems to me that, without having any structure on the ground in terms of distribution, that an airdrop is simply going to lead to riots as people try and go after that stuff. So without any structure for distribution or to provide security when things become available, then it seems to me that's a formula for contributing to chaos rather than -- rather than preventing it
Seems like a valid point. But is refusal to distribute drinking water really the best solution? Let me offer an alternative solution to stop potential civil disputes over insufficient supplies of water;
DROP MORE WATER
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I applaud you for writing this piece. And I’m sure you can guess that Roberts Gates has never quite been my favorite person. Nonetheless, in the efforts to relieve Haiti there are so many facets that must be considered when taking action. The most obvious facet is to save lives; the second most obvious is to keep the saved lives, alive. This means instituting adequate security as well as adequate food, water, and shelter. Finding the balance between the two is evidently a major issue. But to address your question, “Why is the Haitian economy unable to provide a significant amount of self-reconstruction?”…
ReplyDeleteMost corporations including CARE and the Red Cross were only asking for monetary donations. This is because Haiti is POOR, the poorest country of this side of the globe. To describe the history of US-Haitian relations as vast is quite an understatement. Initially, the U.S. boycotted Haiti after they received their independence from France. Though I may be referring to a time over two centuries ago, deep wounds don’t heal quickly while some wounds just may never heal. Haiti has failed to succeed in any form of self-reconstruction because they have lacked and often been denied of the resources and outlets to do so. Since the early 1900s the United States has been, arguably, “aiding” Haiti with their faulty government and economic position, it is not the type of aid Haiti needs.
Since the 1980s the USAID had been capitalizing on Haiti’s cheap labor in order to produce revenue in hopes to service Haiti's debt… which realistically can never be payed off. And Haiti has made numerous attempts at a democratic government often overturned with various military coups, only in recent years gaining some sort of stability. As you stated, Haiti surviving of agriculture export alone is simply unrealistic. And surviving of US aid alone is unrealistic as well. In order for Haiti to have any chance at self-reconstruction – First they need their debt completely forgiven; secondly, a great deal of global financial aid that doesn’t have to be repaid; and thirdly, a miracle. The earthquake has done so much tangible damage to the people and land of Haiti and even more unimaginable damage to the economy which cannot yet be seen.
In the words of Eric Holt Gimenez from the Huffington Post, “Aid can nourish the roots of disaster or the roots of liberty. The future of Haiti's brave but beleaguered people depends on making sure it does the latter.”
...My passion for the topic comes from my Aunt, Dr. Helene Gayle, who is CEO CARE. Just a little FYI.