by Bill Quigley and Amber Ramanauskas

Haitians protesting for jobs and housing in Port au Prince on the eve of the second anniversary of the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake, are barred from Parliament. – Photo: Carl Juste, Miami Herald

The U.N. estimated international donors gave Haiti over $1.6 billion in relief aid since the earthquake – about $155 per Haitian – and over $2 billion in recovery aid – about $173 per Haitian – over the last two years.

Yet Haiti looks like the earthquake happened two months ago, not two years. Over half a million people remain homeless in hundreds of informal camps, most of the tons of debris from destroyed buildings still lies where it fell, and cholera, a preventable disease, was introduced into the country and is now an epidemic killing thousands and sickening hundreds of thousands more.

It turns out that almost none of the money that the general public thought was going to Haiti actually went directly to Haiti. The international community chose to bypass the Haitian people, Haitian non-governmental organizations and the government of Haiti. Funds were instead diverted to other governments, international NGOs and private companies.

Almost none of the money that the general public thought was going to Haiti actually went directly to Haiti.

Despite this near total lack of control of the money by Haitians, if history is an indication, it is quite likely that the failures will ultimately be blamed on the Haitians themselves in a “blame the victim” reaction.

Haitians ask the same question as many around the world: “Where did the money go?”

Here are seven places where the earthquake money did and did not go.

One: The largest single recipient of U.S. earthquake money was the U.S. government. The same holds true for donations by other countries.

Right after the earthquake, the U.S. allocated $379 million in aid and sent in 5,000 troops. The Associated Press discovered that of the $379 million in initial U.S. money promised for Haiti, most was not really money going directly, or in some cases even indirectly, to Haiti. They documented in January 2010 that 33 cents of each of these U.S. dollars for Haiti was actually given directly back to the U.S. to reimburse ourselves for sending in our military. Forty-two cents of each dollar went to private and public non-governmental organizations like Save the Children, the U.N. World Food Program and the Pan American Health Organization. Hardly any went directly to Haitians or their government.

They documented in January 2010 that 33 cents of each of these U.S. dollars for Haiti was actually given directly back to the U.S. to reimburse ourselves for sending in our military.

The overall $1.6 billion allocated for relief by the U.S. was spent much the same way, according to an August 2010 report by the U.S. Congressional Research Office: $655 million was reimbursed to the Department of Defense; $220 million to the Department of Health and Human Services to provide grants to individual U.S. states to cover services for Haitian evacuees; $350 million to USAID disaster assistance; $150 million to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for emergency food assistance; $15 million to the Department of Homeland Security for immigration fees and so on.

International assistance followed the same pattern. The U.N. Special Envoy for Haiti reported that of the $2.4 billion in humanitarian funding, 34 percent was provided back to the donors’ own civil and military entities for disaster response, 28 percent was given to U.N. agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for specific U.N. projects, 26 percent was given to private contractors and other NGOs, 6 percent was provided as in-kind services to recipients, 5 percent to the international and national Red Cross societies, 1 percent was provided to the government of Haiti, four tenths of 1 percent of the funds went to Haitian NGOs.

Two. Only 1 percent of the money went to the Haitian government.

Less than a penny of each dollar of U.S. aid went to the government of Haiti, according to the Associated Press. The same is true with other international donors. The Haitian government was completely bypassed in the relief effort by the U.S. and the international community.

Three. Extremely little went to Haitian companies or Haitian non-governmental organizations.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research, the absolute best source for accurate information on this issue, analyzed all the 1,490 contracts awarded by the U.S. government after the January 2010 earthquake until April 2011 and found only 23 contracts went to Haitian companies. Overall the U.S. had awarded $194 million to contractors, $4.8 million to the 23 Haitian companies, about 2.5 percent of the total. On the other hand, contractors from the Washington, D.C., area received $76 million or 39.4 percent of the total. As noted above, the U.N. documented that only four tenths of 1 percent of international aid went to Haitian NGOs.

Overall the U.S. had awarded $194 million to contractors, $4.8 million to the 23 Haitian companies, about 2.5 percent of the total. The U.N. documented that only four tenths of 1 percent of international aid went to Haitian NGOs.

In fact, Haitians had a hard time even getting into international aid meetings. Refugees International reported that locals were having a hard time even getting access to the international aid operational meetings inside the U.N. compound. “Haitian groups are either unaware of the meetings, do not have proper photo-ID passes for entry, or do not have the staff capacity to spend long hours at the compound.” Others reported that most of these international aid coordination meetings were not even being translated into Creole, the language of the majority of the people of Haiti!

Four. A large percentage of the money went to international aid agencies and big well-connected non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The American Red Cross received over $486 million in donations for Haiti. It says two-thirds of the money has been contracted to relief and recovery efforts, though specific details are difficult to come by. The CEO of American Red Cross has a salary of over $500,000 per year.

A woman prays on the steps of the Notre Dame National Cathedral on the second anniversary of the earthquake, which killed 316,000. Many Haitians visited the still heavily damaged cathedral to pray and honor the lives of loved ones lost two years ago. – Photo: Carl Juste, Miami Herald

Rolling Stone, in an excellent article by Janet Reitman, reported on another earthquake contract, a $1.5 million contract to the New York-based consulting firm Dalberg Global Development Advisors. The article found Dalberg’s team “had never lived overseas, didn’t have any disaster experience or background in urban planning … never carried out any program activities on the ground …” and only one of them spoke French. USAID reviewed their work and found that “it became clear that these people may not have even gotten out of their SUVs.”

Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton announced a fundraising venture for Haiti on Jan. 16, 2010. As of October 2011, the fund had received $54 million in donations. It has partnered with several Haitian and international organizations. Though most of its work appears to be admirable, it has donated $2 million to the construction of a Haitian $29 million for-profit luxury hotel.

“The NGOs still have something to respond to about their accountability, because there is a lot of cash out there,” according to Nigel Fisher, the U.N.’s chief humanitarian officer in Haiti. “What about the $1.5 to $2 billion that the Red Cross and NGOs got from ordinary people and matched by governments? What’s happened to that? And that’s where it’s very difficult to trace those funds.”

Five. Some money went to for-profit companies whose business is disasters.

Less than a month after the quake hit, U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten sent a cable titled “THE GOLD RUSH IS ON” as part of his situation report to Washington. In this Feb. 1, 2010, document, made public by The Nation, Haiti Liberte and Wikileaks, Ambassador Merten reported the president of Haiti met with former Gen. Wesley Clark for a sales presentation for a Miami-based company that builds foam core houses.

Less than a month after the quake hit, U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten sent a cable titled “THE GOLD RUSH IS ON” as part of his situation report to Washington.

Capitalizing on the disaster, Lewis Lucke, a high ranking USAID relief coordinator, met twice in his USAID capacity with the Haitian prime minister immediately after the quake. He then quit the agency and was hired for $30,000 a month by a Florida corporation, Ashbritt – known already for its big no-bid Katrina grants – and a prosperous Haitian partner to lobby for disaster contracts. Locke said, “It became clear to us that if it was handled correctly, the earthquake represented as much an opportunity as it did a calamity.” Ashbritt and its Haitian partner were soon granted a $10 million no-bid contract. Lucke said he was instrumental in securing another $10 million contract from the World Bank and another smaller one from CHF International before their relationship ended.

Six. A fair amount of the pledged money has never been actually put up.

The international community decided it was not going to allow the Haiti government to direct the relief and recovery funds and insisted that two institutions be set up to approve plans and spending for the reconstruction funds going to Haiti. The first was the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) and the second is the Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF).

In March 2010, U.N. countries pledged $5.3 billion over two years and a total of $9.9 billion over three years in a conference March 2010. The money was to be deposited with the World Bank and distributed by the IHRC. The IHRC was co-chaired by Bill Clinton and the Haitian prime minister. By July 2010, Bill Clinton reported only 10 percent of the pledges had been given to the IHRC.

Seven. A lot of the money which was put up has not yet been spent.

Nearly two years after the quake, less than 1 percent of the $412 million in U.S. funds specifically allocated for infrastructure reconstruction activities in Haiti had been spent by USAID and the U.S. State Department and only 12 percent has even been obligated, according to a November 2011 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Nearly two years after the quake, less than 1 percent of the $412 million in U.S. funds specifically allocated for infrastructure reconstruction activities in Haiti had been spent.

The performance of the two international commissions, the IHRC and the HRF, has also been poor. The Miami Herald noted that as of July 2011, of the $3.2 billion in projects approved by the IHRC, only five had been completed for a total of $84 million. The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), which was severely criticized by Haitians and others from its beginning, has been effectively suspended since its mandate ended at the end of October 2011. The Haiti Reconstruction Fund was set up to work in tandem with the IHRC, so while its partner is suspended, it is not clear how it can move forward.

What to do

The effort so far has not been based on a respectful partnership between Haitians and the international community. The actions of the donor countries and the NGOs and international agencies have not been transparent so that Haitians or others can track the money and see how it has been spent. Without transparency and a respectful partnership, the Haitian people cannot hold anyone accountable for what has happened in their country. That has to change.

The U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti suggests the generous instincts of people around the world must be channeled by international actors and institutions in a way that assists in the creation of a “robust public sector and a healthy private sector.” Instead of giving the money to intermediaries, funds should be directed as much as possible to Haitian public and private institutions. A “Haiti First” policy could strengthen public systems, promote accountability, and create jobs and build skills among the Haitian people.

A “Haiti First” policy could strengthen public systems, promote accountability, and create jobs and build skills among the Haitian people.

Respect, transparency and accountability are the building blocks for human rights. Haitians deserve to know where the money has gone, what the plans are for the money still left, and to be partners in the decision-making for what is to come.

After all, these are the people who will be solving the problems when the post-earthquake relief money is gone.

Bill Quigley teaches at Loyola University New Orleans, is the associate legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights and volunteers with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Amber Ramanauskas is a lawyer and human rights researcher. A more detailed version of this article with full sources is available. Bill can be reached at quigley77@gmail.com. Amber can be reached at gintarerama@gmail.com.

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We lived sustainably, with color and panache

by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery

“Haiti Rising from the Ashes” will premiere Thursday, Jan. 12, on the second anniversary of the cataclysmic earthquake, featuring the work in solidarity with grassroots Haitians of a medical-media team led by three young pan-Africans, Chris Zamani, M.D., Minister of Information JR and filmmaker Siraj Fowler. The screening starts at 7 p.m. at Twin Space Continuum, 2111 Mission St., third floor, San Francisco. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Haiti was not always aided. Between 1963 and 1972, for example, the country enjoyed an economic renaissance as it buzzed with the activities of small entrepreneurs. The Kennedy administration had cut off all aid to Haiti in 1963 so as to bring Francois Duvalier to heel. The short doctor with heavy-rimmed glasses turned out to be a rather complicated dictator: keenly intolerant of dissent but fiercely nationalistic. He had come to prominence in Haiti as a leader of the 1940s negritude (Black pride) movement that succeeded the U.S. occupation. He was nobody’s boy and afraid of no one.

“Marché bruyant” (“Vibrant market”) by S.V. Germain

Things dear to the Haitian soul were valued – things that could not be bought.

Things dear to the Haitian soul were valued – things that could not be bought. Anacaona’s descendants lived there, and their life’s purpose was self-realization and the creation of art. This was the Haiti in which I grew up.

Some lyrics from a traditional song

Haiti Cherie (Darling Haiti)

Gen bon soley (There’s bright sunlight)

Nan rivyè gen bon brévaj (And the rivers bring sweet drink)

Enba pyé bwa (Beneath the trees)

Nap toujou gen bon lombraj (Cool shade’s always to be found)

Gen bon ti ven (There’s a sweet breeze)

Pou ba nou bon ti freshè (That carries us such freshness)

Ala bon payi (What a fine country)

Oh bondyé ce Ayiti! (Oh good lord this Haiti!)

A country of small entrepreneurs

In the Haiti of the ‘60s and ‘70s, everything a poor Haitian ate, touched or wore was Haitian made. I was poor, but I lacked for nothing. My family of 10 was supported mostly by one woman who, for the most part, traded her skills as a beautician for the skills of other small entrepreneurs. For the rest, she used the local currency: the Haitian gourde.

Local, organic, fresh and in season

Every day my family breakfasted and dined on freshly baked bread and drinks of fruit juice, cocoa or coffee. We lunched on large helpings of rice or corn, pulses and vegetables, plus a little bit of meat. The meat was usually a cut of goat or pig. Fish, shellfish or crustaceans were eaten when in season. Some Sundays, we cooked a chicken. Our meat consumption was so modest that one bird sufficed for a family of ten.

“Paysage” (“Countryside”) by Berny Mathais

As poor folk, my family could not afford an imported frigidaire (refrigerator). We had no use for one because our food was brought to us daily by the marchandes: women vendors who strolled through Port-au-Prince’s streets with baskets of provisions on their heads. Their walk was living grace, their dresses and scarves a riot of color.

Every day, Auntie would call on the same women as they swayed past our two-room apartment in a gingerbread house. Auntie would bargain with these marchandes for their live chickens, milk, rice, flour, corn, plantain, fruits and other edible goods.

“Ti chérie (little darling), tell me how much you want for three cups of this rice,” she would ask, for example. The marchande would propose a price. Auntie would describe her week and financial situation before offering a lower price. The marchande would in turn describe her own week to justify a higher price. After some discussion, in which every sentence on each side would begin with “ti chérie,” the two women would agree on a final price and wish each other well, having learned a great deal more about each other’s lives than necessary for their transaction.

Back then, the Haitian population was 80 percent agricultural, and Haiti produced 100 percent of its food. The first supermarket opened in Port-au-Prince a few months before I turned 6. The fluorescent lights and reflective linoleum floors were dizzying, the fruits improbable. For that birthday, I dearly wished for one of the shiny red apples, and my mother saved up and bought one. I never let on that the taste of wax had failed to live up to the promise of the gleaming red fruit.

Custom-made clothes and shoes

Like every female in my family, I owned one everyday dress and one special-occasion dress. Those of us who went to school also owned two sets of uniforms so that one could be washed while the other was worn. All were sewn by my mother’s former schoolmate Paula. Mom would walk with me to Paula’s house, where we would pick a style from a fashion catalog, and Paula would measure and remeasure my shoulders, torso, arms, waist, hips and legs. Mom and I would then walk to town to buy the fabric and deliver it to Paula. When Paula was finished with the dress, I would be summoned to her place for a fitting. Again, she would measure and remeasure … nip here, tuck there. A day or two later, I would collect a superbly tailored dress.

“Marchande de volailles” (“Poultry vendor”) by Wilson Bigaud

Clean water

Potable water that could be drunk without boiling was piped through the city of Port-au-Prince. As a rule, plumbing was excluded from the main buildings. Water faucets were found outside or in small shower buildings built of cement. Our use of water was necessarily economical, since the water had to be collected from a faucet and carried to our quarters for our cooking and washing.

Latrines

Water was not wasted in indoor toilets. We used latrines, which were placed well away from the main house above a hole many feet deep. When the hole became more than half full, a new one was dug, and the dirt from the excavation was tossed into the old latrine. The latrines were kept clean. Cholera was unknown in Haiti.

Schools

Although a fair number of lycées (high schools) and professional schools were state run and free, few poor Haitians were literate, largely because all the elementary schools were private. A minority of parents managed to save up for their children’s schooling by fattening a creole pig or some other means. I was among them.

“Marchand de fresco” (“Shaved-ice vendor”) by Ernst Louizor

I studied under a mango tree during the day and by the light of a kerosene lamp at evening. The lamp was Haitian made. The straw-seat chair that I leaned against the tree was Haitian made. All my textbooks were printed in town. The rest of our furniture was homemade. I had watched an uncle shape, shave and sand all of it. Some of this furniture was made of mahogany.

The marchandes, shoemakers, teachers and Paula were poor, like us. To our great bemusement, Haiti was called “the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere” even back then, because the economic activities of this informal sector were not computed in the GDP.

In fact, Haiti was the richest country in the Western Hemisphere because it had the lightest footprint. Those who want to know about sustainable living would do well to learn about Haiti.

Haitian hunger is a natural result of aid policy

A Haitian proverb, “Kaka poul pa zé,” translates to “Chickenshit ain’t eggs” or, put more politely, “What issues from a chicken is not always an egg.”

“Ecole en Haiti” (“School in Haiti”) by Gerard Fortune

The aid required that Haiti’s economy be changed from a sustainable domestically-oriented economy into an export-led economy – to benefit the U.S. The motivations for foreign aid to Haiti remain the same today.

The following two items were noted as the “comparative advantages” of Haiti to be exploited as it was brought into a capitalistic world economy:¹

1. Fertile lands and climate appropriate to year-round cultivation.

2. Low-cost, hard-working labor force.

The aid agencies provided funds to wealthy Haitian landowners on condition that they switch large tracts of Haitian land from production of foods for the domestic market to the production of fruits and vegetables for the U.S. market. Because the U.S. market was nearby, the foods could be sold fresh there while in season; alternatively, they would be processed for export. Based on growth of GDP, the aid policies would look like a roaring success.

The expected consequences for Haitians are elaborated in numerous USAID and World Bank reports. Briefly, famine would ensue for Haitian peasant farmers and they would be displaced in huge numbers from the rural areas to the urban centers.

Haitian black pig

Another blow came with flooding of the Haitian market with cheap Arkansas rice during the Clinton years.

Yet a more recent blow came with the U.N.-introduced cholera epidemic that caused a large migration from the most fertile region of the country – the Artibonite river valley. Currently, less than 40 percent of the food for Haitian consumption is produced locally; as recently as 1986, this was 80 percent.²

Currently, less than 40 percent of the food for Haitian consumption is produced locally; as recently as 1986, this was 80 percent.

Since the late 1980s, Haiti has known real hunger. Garment-factory wages have hardly budged from 14 cents per hour. Corporations and their owners have paid no taxes.

Government-steered ‘non-governmental organizations’

The advent of NGOs in Haiti began with a large influx of funds to subvert the democratic process between the expulsion of Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986 and the election of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1990. During this period, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funneled over $2.3 million into Haiti. According to USAID’s own estimates, by 1988 U.S. funds reached at least one third of the 1,200 or so NGOs in the country. The current number of NGOs has grown to 16,000 – one NGO per 560 Haitians.

“Paysans” (“Farmers”), crafted from recycled steel oil drums, by Serge Jolimeau

If Haiti has become poor, let us be clear on the fact that it was not always so.

Yes, the earthquake has hurt Haiti, but capitalism has hurt it more.

The earthquake has hurt Haiti, but capitalism has hurt it more.

Long ago USAID predicted that, if successful, its aid policies would cause famished farmers to migrate from the Haitian countryside into urban areas, and this would in turn cause the population of Port-au-Prince to double to 1.6 million by the 21st century.³

The population swelled as predicted. Then the earth beneath Port-au-Prince shook.

In memory of those who died and celebration of those who live.

References

1. “The Haiti Files: Decoding the Crisis,” James Ridgeway, editor. Essential Books, Washington D.C., 1994.

2. “Sak Vid Pa Kanpe: The Impact of U.S. Food Aid on Human Rights in Haiti,” New York School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Partners in Health, RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights, Zanmi Lasante, 2010. By 2010, Haiti’s domestic food production had plummeted to a mere 40 percent, and Port-au-Prince’s population had tripled to over 2 million from its 1981 number of about 800,000.

3. “Facts about Port-au-Prince, Haiti,” Amanda Briney. About.com (2010). The earthquake of Jan. 12 killed about 316,000 people, injured 300,000, and created over 1 million homeless.

Calculation by Dady Chery: considering that more than two thirds of Port-au-Prince’s population came there as a result of foreign-aid policy, this implies that USAID, the World Bank, and IAD are responsible for over:

• 211,000 Haitian earthquake deaths

• 200,000 injuries

• 670,000 cases of homelessness.

There has been no word about reparation, only talk of more foreign aid.

Related reading

“Haiti: A Six-Month Report Without Cute Baby Pictures or Demands for Aid Money”

“Industrial Park Threatens Precious Caracol Bay Ecosystem”

“Haiti’s State Phone Company Privatized”

“Dutch Brewer Heineken Swallows Up Haiti’s National Brewery”

Dady Chery grew up at the heart of an extended working-class family in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She emigrated to New York when she was 14 and since then has traveled throughout the world, living in Europe and several North American cities. She writes in English, French and her native Créole and holds a doctorate. She can be reached at dc@dadychery.org. This story first appeared on her blog, Haiti Chery. It has been updated from an earlier version published in 2011 in Axis of Logic.

1. “The Haiti Files: Decoding the Crisis,” James Ridgeway, editor. Essential Books, Washington D.C., 1994.
2. “Sak Vid Pa Kanpe: The Impact of U.S. Food Aid on Human Rights in Haiti,” New York School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Partners in Health, RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights, Zanmi Lasante, 2010. By 2010, Haiti’s domestic food production had plummeted to a mere 40 percent, and Port-au-Prince’s population had tripled to over 2 million from its 1981 number of about 800,000.
3. “Facts about Port-au-Prince, Haiti,” Amanda Briney. About.com (2010). The earthquake of Jan. 12 killed about 316,000 people, injured 300,000, and created over 1 million homeless.

   Calculation by Dady Chery: considering that more than two thirds of Port-au-Prince’s population came there as a result of foreign-aid policy, this implies that USAID, the World Bank, and IAD are responsible for over:

   • 211,000 Haitian earthquake deaths

   • 200,000 injuries

   • 670,000 cases of homelessness.

   There has been no word about reparation, only talk of more foreign aid.

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• ‘Harvest of Hope’: Kevin Pina documentary on Haitian army, with review by Dady Chery
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• Why it took 11 months instead of three weeks to show that Haiti’s cholera is Nepalese
• Bye-bye, MINUSTAH!

by Bill Quigley

A woman in Port au Prince tries to set her tent back up after a rainstorm. – Photo: AP

What I did not see this week were bulldozers scooping up the mountains of concrete remaining from last January’s earthquake. No cranes lifting metal beams up to create new buildings. No public works projects. No housing developments. No public food or public water distribution centers.

Everywhere I went, the people of Haiti asked, “Where is the money the world promised Haitians?”

The world has moved on. Witness the rows of padlocked public port-o-lets standing on the sidewalk outside Camp St. Anne. The displacement camp covers a public park hard by the still hollow skeleton of the still devastated St. Anne church. The place is crowded with babies, small children, women, men and the elderly. It smells of charcoal smoke, dust and humans. Six hundred fifty families live there without electricity, running water or security.

I talked with several young women inside the camp of shelters, most about 8 feet by 8 feet made from old gray tarps, branches, leftover wood, and pieces of rusty tin. When it rains, they stand up inside their leaky shelters and wait for it to stop. In a path in front of one home, crisscrossed with clotheslines full of tiny children’s clothes, a group of women from the grassroots women’s group KOFAVIV told us Oxfam used to help administer the camp but quit in May.

When Oxfam left, the company that had been emptying the port-o-lets stopped getting paid and abandoned the toilets. Some people padlocked them and now charge a couple of cents to use the toilets, money most residents don’t have. There is no work to earn the money to pay for toilets. The Red Cross had just visited the camp that morning telling them they would be evicted in 10 days. Where will they go, we ask? We have no idea, they told us. Jesus will provide, they told us.

Where has the money raised for Haiti gone? What about the Red Cross? What about the U.S. government? What about the money raised in France, Canada and across the world? What about the pledges to the U.N.? Where is the money?

The people of Haiti continue to be plagued by the earthquake of more than 20 months ago. They are our sisters and brothers. They deserve answers. They deserve help.

Bill Quigley is a law professor and human rights lawyer at Loyola University New Orleans and with the Center for Constitutional Rights. He volunteers with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and the Bureaux des Advocats in Port au Prince. You can reach him at quigley77@gmail.com.

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by Dady Chery

Preparation for two sporting events, the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, is the excuse for forcing the eviction of Brazilians who live in the favelas that cling to the mountains above Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo. As many as 1.5 million families live within the “urban renewal” construction zones. The Brazilian troops driving out their own people learned the techniques for brutally occupying poor neighborhoods in Haiti, where Brazil’s “peacekeepers” lead the U.N. mission, MINUSTAH. Here, the Brazilian Navy’s armored vehicles patrol the streets during the occupation of the Rocinha favela on Nov. 13, 2011. – Photo: Marcelo Sayao, EPA

For an excellent background account of the events that led to the occupation of Brazil’s favelas, see “Human Rights Abuses in Brazil’s Favelas Ahead of World Cup and Olympics.”

If your country has contributed soldiery to U.N. (de)stabilization missions, sit up and take notice. Blue helmets are coming home to roost. Here, for example, is the roster of the troop contributors to Haiti’s MINUSTAH (United Nations (de)Stabilization Mission in Haiti): Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Japan, Jordan, Nepal, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, the U.S. and Uruguay.

The “peacekeepers” are the fastest-growing branch of the U.N., with a budget of U.S. $8 billion and over 110,000 troops serving 15 operations. Ten percent of this budget is spent on Haiti – a small country that is not at war – to train foreign troops for future warfare against their own civilians.

Ten percent of the budget for U.N. peacekeepers is spent on Haiti – a small country that is not at war – to train foreign troops for future warfare against their own civilians.

Another instance of violence first practiced on Haiti – in Gonaives after hurricanes Ike and Jeanne – exported to the U.S. – New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina – and returned to Haiti – Port-au-Prince after the earthquake – was the rampant corruption that thwarted reconstruction efforts despite huge sums of charitable donations.

Yet another attack on Haiti was the removal of its democratically elected leaders and their replacement by a succession of IMF, World Bank and now U.N. sycophants.

Brazilian MINUSTAH troops, returned home from Haiti, practice what they learned there – terrorizing poor neighborhoods. Their armored vehicle is running over rubble from homes that have already been razed, the residents displaced. – Photo: Marcelo Sayao, EPA

And now … (gasp!)

Western prime ministers are summarily removed and exchanged for financiers. Former European Central Bank Vice-President Lucas Papademos has replaced Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, and Mario Monti, an international adviser to Goldman Sachs, has just replaced ousted Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

And yeah, the tainted waters and vaccines will come your way too … unless you help us to stem their flow in Haiti.

It is not charity that Haiti needs, but solidarity against the imperial machine and a prudent sense of self preservation.

Dady Chery grew up at the heart of an extended working-class family in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She emigrated to New York when she was 14 and since then has traveled throughout the world, living in Europe and several North American cities. She writes in English, French and her native Créole and holds a doctorate. She can be reached at dc@dadychery.org. This story first appeared on her blog, Haiti Chery.

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by Dady Chery

A child stricken with cholera is being treated at a cholera treatment center in Carrefour.

Cholera is eminently curable, and the cure is clean water.

If Haitians are still getting cholera at the rate of over 10,000 a month, this is because they are continuing to drink surface water from sources previously considered safe but that have become contaminated. So why are the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Paul Farmer and Partners in Health (PIH) so eager to administer vaccines to Haitians and so slow to promote waste treatment and water purification?

By contrast to MSF and PIH, 900 Cuban health experts, working out of their mobile medical units in 40 Haitian communities, are promoting disease prevention. So far, Cuban medical aid to Haiti has been vastly more successful than aid from NGOs.

As an example, consider the massive post-earthquake aid contributed by Cuba’s relatively small staff.

The relatively small Cuban-led medical brigade has also treated 30 to 40 percent of Haiti’s cholera patients.

Since the cholera vaccination campaign is quite futile, it is not surprising to find that this campaign is not a part of Cuba’s medical aid.

Unlike the diseases against which people are traditionally vaccinated, cholera is not communicable. In other words, with a minimum of good hygiene, cholera cannot be caught from casual contact with someone. According to Dr. Renaud Piarroux:

“[Cholera] can be provoked by close contact with somebody suffering from cholera, but it’s easy to protect oneself from this kind of transmission by good hygiene. This is why medical staff rarely get ill despite the fact that they have numerous contacts with people suffering from cholera.”

Tourists also don’t get cholera. Vaccines are not recommended to those entering areas where cholera is endemic because clean water and good hygiene are best, and cholera vaccines are demonstrably unreliable.

Vaccines are not recommended to those entering areas where cholera is endemic because clean water and good hygiene are best, and cholera vaccines are demonstrably unreliable.

Cholera vaccines:

• Protect only a fraction of the people who are vaccinated – usually about 60 percent.

• Typically confer protection only for a few months, since the cholera bacteria rapidly change their DNA.

• Do not protect at all against strains of cholera other than those targeted by the vaccination.

Nevertheless PAHO began to promote a cholera vaccine for Haiti almost from the day the cholera epidemic hit the country in fall 2010. PAHO was supported in this by Harvard scientists with financial interests in the sale of cholera vaccines.

The same scientists also helped the U.N. to cover up the source of Haiti’s cholera for many months. Paul Farmer still enjoys considerable trust from Haitians because he founded PIH, but, like Garry Conille, he is now a U.N. employee and Clinton aide. He also hails from Harvard. He needs to explain why he is promoting these useless vaccines so much more enthusiastically than waste and water treatment.

The aim of the much-touted new vaccination campaign is to inoculate 100,000 Haitians — mostly children — with 200,000 doses of a vaccine called Shanchol, at $1.85 per dose. Development of Shanchol was financed by the Gates Foundation, and its manufacture is by an Indian company called Shantha Biotechnics.

Less than a month ago, Shantha Biotechnics still lacked the WHO approval required for U.N. agencies to buy the vaccine, because the WHO had continued to argue that cholera vaccines are unnecessary. Miraculously, Shanchol was quickly “pre-qualified” by the WHO on Sept. 29.

Less than a month ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) continued to argue that cholera vaccines are unnecessary.

Despite the claims that the vaccine will alleviate the cholera in Haiti, hardly anything is known about the effects of vaccines on endemic cholera. So this vaccination campaign is actually an experiment designed to test just this, and Haitian children will be the guinea pigs.

Unsurprisingly, the campaign will start with some of Haiti’s poorest children: those from Cite Soleil.

Hardly anything is known about the effects of vaccines on endemic cholera. So this vaccination campaign is actually an experiment designed to test just this, and Haitian children will be the guinea pigs.

Parents who agree to submit their children to this campaign will be taking a big chance. Many problems, including deaths, often result from vaccination campaigns, because vaccines are notorious for shortcomings such as contaminations of lots.

And if you think the campaign will ever end, think again. Cholera bacteria change. PAHO is already predicting 250,000 new cases of cholera in Haiti next year. Once the vaccinations begin, they will become a yearly event: another carnival.

Dady Chery grew up at the heart of an extended working-class family in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She emigrated to New York when she was 14 and since then has traveled throughout the world, living in Europe and several North American cities. She writes in English, French and her native Créole and holds a doctorate. She can be reached at dc@dadychery.org. This story first appeared at Haiti Chery.

On Oct. 17 and 19, separate demonstrations in areas of Leogane and Port-au-Prince were held by Haitian groups against the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti known as MINUSTAH, blamed for inadvertently starting a cholera outbreak that has killed over 6,500 people in the past year. Of course, because neither protest resulted in any tear gas or violence, they were almost entirely ignored by the international press. – Video: Yvon Vilius and Ansel Herz, Media Hacker

Related Posts

• Why it took 11 months instead of three weeks to show that Haiti’s cholera is Nepalese
• Aid as a Trojan horse: On the anniversary of the Haitian earthquake
• ‘Harvest of Hope’: Kevin Pina documentary on Haitian army, with review by Dady Chery
• What happens in Haiti doesn’t stay in Haiti
• Bye-bye, MINUSTAH!

A tale of noble and ignoble scientists, Harvard and the U.N.

Mis à jour avec traduction française

by Dady Chery

A Haitian resident holds his relative who is suffering from cholera at St-Catherine hospital in the slum of Cite-Soleil in Port-au-Prince Nov. 12, 2010. (Un résident d’Haïti tient son parent qui souffre de choléra à l’hôpital Sainte-Catherine dans le bidonville de Cité-Soleil, à Port-au-Prince Novembre 12, 2010.) - Photo: St-Felix Evens, Reuters

The DNA in cholera changes rapidly when these bacteria infect humans. This makes the cholera a moving target and very difficult to vaccinate against. On the other hand, when two cholera turn out to be identical, one can say with confidence that they originated from the same place or infected person(s).

By comparing the complete DNA sequences (also called “genomes”) from the cholera in Haiti to the complete DNA sequences from cholera in Nepal, the international group of scientists found that Haiti’s cholera exactly matches one of four Nepalese cholera. The resemblance between the Haitian and Nepalese cholera was so strong that, in a sequence of about 4,000,000 DNA bases, all agreed except for one or two. This is as good as comparing one complete volume of Shakespeare’s works to a new tome from a different publisher, discovering that there are no more than one or two single-letter differences between them, and concluding that both are indeed the complete Shakespeare. The techniques for this type of study are enormously expensive but very quick and not especially demanding.

DNA double helix sequence (Séquence de l’ADN en double hélice)

If expense was an issue for the CDC, it certainly was not for the groups that favor the current technology. According to the latter, two cholera-sized “books” can be scanned at “single-letter” resolution over 30 times in less than 24 hours.

So why did it take 11 months to nail the source of Haiti’s cholera? The only reason it took so long to discover that Haiti’s cholera came from Nepal is because scientists had until now not bothered to compare the cholera from Haiti to cholera from Nepal.

The only reason it took so long to discover that Haiti’s cholera came from Nepal is because scientists had until now not bothered to compare the cholera from Haiti to cholera from Nepal.

Back when a precise knowledge of the source of the epidemic would have saved lives and probably aborted the renewal of the U.N. (MINUSTAH) mandate in Haiti, John Mekalanos’ group at Harvard promised to carry out the study that was finally done by Aarestrup, Keim and Shakya. Mekalanos argued that the conclusive proof of the origin of any cholera could only come from studies using the most modern methods. Other scientists deferred to Harvard, first because, well, it was Harvard, and second, because they could not afford the new technology. Instead of doing a proper study, however, Mekalanos’ group compared the DNA of the cholera from Haiti to the DNA of three types of cholera from different epidemics. Not a single one was from Nepal.

In the end the Harvard group published an article in which the word “Nepal” did not appear even once. The cholera they used were from an epidemic in Peru and two different epidemics in Bangladesh. They merely concluded that the cholera in Haiti is Asian: a fact that was already known from the CDC studies.

Dr. Mekalanos had this to say during an interview with Science Watch in February 2011:

“My colleagues and I have been very clear in saying that the genomic evidence says that this strain in Haiti has its origin in South Asia. True, Nepal is part of South Asia so it clearly needs more investigation and a commission has been established by the U.N. to look into the possibility.”

The Vibrio Cholerae O1 Ogawa Biotype El Tor bacteria has been identified as the single source of cholera in Haiti. (Le Vibrio cholerae O1 Ogawa biotype El Tor bactérie identifié comme la source unique du choléra en Haïti.) – Photo: Dartmouth College

Unlike the Harvard group, the Denmark and Arizona scientists collaborated with Katmandhu researchers who gave them access to cholera samples collected from 24 patients in five Nepalese districts between July 30 and Nov. 1, 2010. Given that the Nepalese government has violently protested all mentions of any association with the epidemic, the Nepalese scientists who participated in this project did so at considerable personal risk. It made sense to look in Nepal for a possible source for Haiti’s cholera, because U.N. troops arrived fresh from the cholera epidemics in Nepal days before the first Haitian case of the disease was diagnosed.

The fact that the Harvard group discovered nothing much about Haiti’s cholera did not prevent them from admonishing Haitians to be immediately vaccinated. They did so although cholera vaccines are not recommended by the Word Health Organization (WHO) even to tourists entering areas with endemic cholera. Such vaccines are considered worse than useless because they give the illusion of protection and encourage reckless behavior. Since the cholera change rapidly, vaccination lasts for only about six months even against the cholera strains for which the vaccines are made. Moreover, the vaccines give zero protection against other cholera strains.

But here is what Mekalanos’ colleague Dr. Matthew Waldor said:

“It’s time to seriously consider vaccinating people who live in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, not only to save lives there, but to prevent the spread of this new strain to other countries in the region.”

Science, universities, corporations and profits

I was so impressed by this enthusiasm for vaccines that I decided to look into the list of disclosures that the Harvard scientists had to file for their publication. I discovered the following:

Several of the Harvard scientists own stock in Pacific Biosciences, a company that makes the machines and all the supplies for the expensive new method of DNA sequencing that they had been promoting. One person on the project was employed by Pacific Biosciences. One could say, in a way, that the Haiti cholera study was an advertisement for PB’s products.

Dr. John Mekalanos and his corporate interests

Dr. Mekalanos is involved in cholera-vaccine development. He and Harvard University receive royalties from Vaccines Technologies Inc., a company that entered an exclusive license and development agreement with Celldex Therapeutics Inc.(formerly AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc.) in January 2009. The agreement allows VTI to develop and commercialize Celldex’s CholeraGarde(R) vaccine program.

He is co-founder of three biotechnology firms, Virus Research Institute, PharmAthene and, most recently, Matrivax. Virus Research Institute later merged with another company and became Avant Immunotherapeutics, a firm that receives grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Harvard’s Haiti cholera study can be seen as an advertisement for Pacific Biosciences, where some of the researchers owned stock. The photo shows off Pacific Sciences’ $700 million DNA sequencing machine. According to Shareholder.com, their 2011 second quarter revenues totaled $10.6 million and gross profit, $7.9 million. Working on the machine is the company’s founder, Stephen Turner, in laser-resistant glasses. (L’étude du choléra d’Haïti à Harvard peut être considérée comme une publicité pour Pacific Biosciences, où certains des chercheurs tiennent du stock. Cette photo montre une machine de séquençage d’ADN de Pacific Biosciences qui coute 700 millions de dollars. Leurs affaires du 2ème trimestre 2011 s’élèvent à 10.6 millions de dollars et le bénéfice brut, 7.9 millions de dollars.) – Photo: Gregg Segal, Bloomberg Businessweek

Mekalanos’ third company, Matrivax Research & Development Corp. in Boston, is a small private corporation with only eight employees that received an annual revenue of $710,000 last year, shared by Mekalanos, his two partners and employees. He is director of Matrivax, which is privately funded, including grants from the Bill Gates Foundation.

Mekalanos is also the founder of Virus Research and Versicor. Versicor is at least a multi-million dollar corporation, gaining $22 million in investments in 1997 alone. That same year, they targeted “the substantial worldwide medical need for antibiotics as evidenced by the current market size, which currently exceeds $23 billion.” The company “gained access to proprietary technology for the identification of novel drug targets in bacteria from the laboratory of Professor John Mekalanos, chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.”

According to his executive profile in Bloomsberg Businessweek, information on Mekalanos’ annual income, stock options and total compensation is not available.

Mekalanos has not let any conflict of interest stop him from flogging his vaccine:

“When I heard in January 2010 that an earthquake had hit Haiti, the first thing that crossed my mind was ‘how long?’ I knew cholera would happen sooner or later; the only question was when.

“Why wasn’t it stockpiled? You’ll never stockpile this vaccine without a few global health organizations saying it makes sense to do so. And the obvious organization, the one which stands right in the cross hairs, is the WHO. It takes courage to make that statement and stand by it.

“By way of full disclosure, I have been involved in developing cholera vaccines, so you might say I’m conflicted. However, others have made cholera vaccines too. The problem has not been as much making a safe and effective vaccine. It is getting agencies to say they are willing to use it as part of public policy. After that, I’m sure we can figure out how to get that global stockpile made.”

The idea that earthquakes cause cholera is patently absurd. Earthquakes cannot create cholera. Cholera may be released from sewage into drinking water during earthquakes, but this can only happen in places where the cholera already exists in the sewage.

There is no evidence that cholera has ever existed in Haiti before October 2010. The cholera first appeared explosively in the Artibonite region: a rural area that had suffered no damage from the earthquake. By contrast, in Port-au-Prince, where the earthquake damage was massive, the incidence of cholera was five times lower than in the Artibonite.

Interestingly, the most enthusiastic support for Harvard’s efforts to vaccinate Haitians has come from none other than U.N. Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) director Dr. John Andrus.

“I see a real opportunity to vaccinate vulnerable groups in countries that have yet to see the outbreak but we know would be very vulnerable if cholera was imported …. I worry about some of the poorer countries of the Caribbean. I worry about Central America.”

Andrus’ first action during the epidemic was to give a press conference. There he announced that one should expect many thousands of Haitians to die of cholera, and he pleaded for donations of $164 million to the U.N. and a group of 42 NGOs that he had quickly gathered under PAHO’s umbrella.

Several times former President Preval’s government came under strong pressure from the U.N. to vaccinate the Haitian population, and every time the Haitian Ministry of Public Health refused. If the ministry had acquiesced to the vaccination campaigns, the U.N., via PAHO, would have purchased massive doses of the Mekalanos vaccine. Harvard and corporate affiliates would have made tidy profits.

It is worthwhile to note that the source of Haiti’s cholera was identified, not by U.S. or European researchers many months after the epidemic but by Haitians at home and in the diaspora within days of the first cases of cholera. In an article in Axis of Logic, I argued that the epidemic had been introduced into Haiti by the U.N. Soon thereafter, Mirebalais’ mayor and other citizens brought to the press’ attention their observation that the epidemic had started downstream of the U.N. base of Nepalese soldiers in the nearby village of Meille in the Artibonite region.

A more formal epidemiological study led by Dr. Renaud Piarroux confirmed and strengthened this summer the initial observations. Two Haitians contributed to the study as authors, Dr. Robert Barrais, who is an epidemiologist in Haiti’s National Laboratory of Public Health, and Dr. Roc Magloire, who is the director of this institution. Other Haitian epidemiologists and medical authorities declined to be co-authors of the paper because of concerns about retaliation.

Importantly, Piarroux’s team in France and Haiti concluded that there must have been active cases of cholera among the Nepalese MINUSTAH troops last October for the dose of cholera in the Artibonite river water to have been lethal.

“To our knowledge, only infectious doses over 10,000 bacteria were shown to produce mild patent infection in healthy volunteers, and higher doses are required to provoke severe infections. Reaching such doses in the Meille River is hardly compatible with the amount of bacteria excreted by asymptomatic carriers, whereas if one or several arriving soldiers were incubating the disease, they would have subsequently excreted diarrheal stools containing 10 billion to 10 trillion bacteria per liter. We therefore believe that symptomatic cases occurred inside the MINUSTAH camp.”

This implies a coverup by the U.N., which continues to claim that none of its troops was ever ill with cholera.

At least six scientific studies have resulted from the Haitian cholera epidemic, though only two have yielded results of any consequence. Every one of these studies has dismissed the discoveries by Haitians as mere “rumor,” although it was these findings, together with Haitian and Cuban record keeping, that made possible the epidemiological study by the French. If Haitians had not identified the source of the cholera, it might never have been discovered; instead, the epidemic would have been blamed on the supposed bad hygiene of the poor, and the U.N. and NGOs would have exploited the epidemic as yet another occasion to enrich themselves from the misfortune of Haitians.

The U.N. continues to claim that none of its troops was ever ill with cholera. If Haitians had not identified the source of the cholera, it might never have been discovered; instead, the epidemic would have been blamed on the supposed bad hygiene of the poor, and the U.N. and NGOs would have exploited the epidemic as yet another occasion to enrich themselves from the misfortune of Haitians.

Surprisingly the French study provided no explanation for the fact that the cholera managed to reach the off-shore island of La Gonâve, and it accepted as fact the government explanation that the prisoners who died of cholera had been given river water to drink. Actually the cholera initially spread much too rapidly throughout the country to be explained by anything but a widespread distribution of the bacteria in infected bottled water.

After I pointed this out early in the epidemic, the Haitian government discontinued the “dlo nan sachèt” (water in plastic bags) that were being distributed as “purified water” throughout the country. Discontinuing this distribution of infected water probably saved lives.

Piarroux stopped short of suggesting that some means of distribution of highly infected water was involved in the epidemic. He did say, however, that he could not explain the mechanism by which people were lethally infected well downstream of the Meille tributary of the Artibonite, when the river water, moving at more than 100 cubic meters per second, should have rapidly diluted the cholera to non-lethal doses.

Certainly one of the most important lessons from the earthquake and cholera epidemic is that Haitians can be each other’s salvation. During the first days of the epidemic, when scientific investigations of its origin mattered most, there were no plans for a thorough epidemiological study nor a comparison of the DNA of the cholera in Haiti to those from Nepal. It took the international scientific community nearly a year to do its job, and at every step it had to be shamed into it by Haitians determined to help each other.

It took the international scientific community nearly a year to do its job, and at every step it had to be shamed into it by Haitians determined to help each other.

The proof that the U.N. brought the cholera epidemic into Haiti has come much too late, but perhaps some use can be derived from it apart from publications and accolades for Western researchers. When the U.N. Security Council next considers MINUSTAH’s mandate in mid-October of this year, Drs. Renaud Piarroux, Frank Aarestrup and Paul Keim should stand up and explain why MINUSTAH troops must be immediately removed from Haiti so as to prevent new epidemics. The scientists should additionally propose that MINUSTAH countries make reparations for polluting Haiti’s rivers and aquifers.

The scientists should additionally propose that MINUSTAH countries make reparations for polluting Haiti’s rivers and aquifers.

Instead of promoting useless vaccines to Haitians, the U.N. should compensate the families of cholera victims and finance the construction of sewage- and water-treatment plants throughout the country using Haitian labor for this enterprise at every level.

Dady Chery grew up at the heart of an extended working-class family in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She emigrated to New York when she was 14 and since then has traveled throughout the world, living in Europe and several North American cities. She writes in English, French and her native Créole and holds a doctorate. She can be reached at dc@dadychery.org. This story first appeared in Axis of Logic, where Chery is a columnist.

Onze Mois Au Lieu de Trois Semaines Pour Montrer Que le Choléra en Haïti Provient Du Népal

par Dady Chery

Traduit de l’anglais à français par Dady Chery

Il a fallu presqu’un an depuis le début de l’épidémie de choléra en Haïti pour que les scientifiques obtiennent une preuve concluante que la bactérie du choléra en Haïti est identique à une bactérie au Népal. Drs Frank Aarestrup du Danemark, Paul Keim de l’Arizona, et Geeta Shakya de Katmandou ont recemment mené une étude qui a fourni cette preuve.

Lorsque le choléra infecte l’homme, l’ADN de cette bacterie change rapidement. Cela rend le choléra une cible mouvante et très difficile pour combattre avec des vaccins. D’autre part, lorsque deux sources de choléra se révèlent être identiques, on peut dire avec confiance qu’elles proviennent du même endroit our personne infectée.

En comparant les séquences complètes de l’ADN (également appelées «génomes») provenant du choléra en Haïti aux séquences complètes de l’ADN provenant du choléra au Népal, le groupe international de scientifiques a constaté que le choléra en Haïti correspond exactement à l’un des quatre choléra Népalaises. La ressemblance entre les choléra haïtiens et népalaises a été si forte que, dans une séquence d’environ 4.000.000 de bases de l’ADN, tous furent d’accord sauf un ou deux. La resemblance est aussi bonne que de comparer un volume complet des œuvres de Shakespeare à un autre, découvrir seulement une ou deux lettres de différence, et conclure que les deux volumes sont en effet les mêmes oeuvres de Shakespeare. Les techniques pour ce type d’étude sont extrêmement chères, mais très rapides et pas particulièrement difficiles.

On pourrait raisonnablement se demander s’il est nécessaire de comparer chaque lettre entre deux volumes de Shakespeare pour décider qu’ils sont les mêmes. Pourquoi ne pas verifier, par exemple, les titres de section pour les mêmes séquences d’actes de théâtre et la même succession de poêmes? En effet, il existe des techniques plus anciennes et moins coûteux pour examiner l’ADN qui se fassent come cela. C’est ainsi que le Center for Disease Control (CDC) a constaté que la souche de choléra en Haïti est Vibrio cholerae O1 Ogawa biotype El Tor. C’est également comment le CDC a découvert que tous les haïtiens qui ont été atteints par le choléra portaient des bactéries identiques, ce qui a été interprétée comme signifiant que l’épidémie haïtienne avait une source unique.

Si le cout a été un problème pour le CDC, ce n’était certainement pas pour les groupes qui favorisaient la technologie la plus moderne. Selon ces derniers, deux “livres” du choléra peuvent être examinés à une résolution “d’une seule lettre” plus de 30 fois en moins de 24 heures.

Alors pourquoi at-il fallu 11 mois pour connaitre la source du choléra en Haïti? La seule raison pour laquelle il a fallu si longtemps pour découvrir que le choléra en Haïti provenait le Népal est parce que les scientifiques n’avaient jusqu’à présent pas pris la peine de comparer le choléra en Haïti aux choléra du Népal.

La seule raison pour laquelle il a fallu si longtemps pour découvrir que le choléra en Haïti provenait le Népal est parce que les scientifiques n’avaient jusqu’à présent pas pris la peine de comparer le choléra en Haïti aux choléra du Népal.

À l’époque où une connaissance précise de la source de l’épidémie aurait sauvé la vie a tant de personnes, et probablement causé la chute du rénouvellement de l’ONU (MINUSTAH) en Haïti, le groupe scientifique de John Mekalanos à Harvard a promis qu’il réaliserait l’étude qui a été finalement réalisé par Aarestrup, Keim et Shakya. Mekalanos a dit que la preuve concluante de l’origine du choléra ne pourrait provenir que des études utilisant les méthodes les plus modernes. D’autres scientifiques se sont excusés du project, parce que premièrement c’était Harvard, et deuxièmement, ils ne pouvaient pas acheter cette nouvelle technologie. Au lieu de faire une étude appropriée, cependant, le groupe Mekalanos a comparé l’ADN du choléra d’ Haïti à l’ADN de trois types de choléra provenant d’autres épidémies. Pas un seul d’elles a été du Népal.

En fin de compte le groupe de Harvard a publié un article dans lequel le mot “Népal” n’aparassait pas même pas une seule fois. Ils ont été utilisés les cholera d’une épidémie au Pérou et deux épidémies différentes au Bangladesh. Ils ont simplement conclu que le choléra en Haïti est asiatique: un fait qui était déjà connu des études du CDC.

Dr Mekalanos avait ceci à dire au cours d’un entretien avec Science Watch en Février 2011:

“Mes collègues et moi avons été très clair en disant que les preuves génomiques disent que cette souche en Haïti a son origine en Asie du Sud. Certes, le Népal fait partie de l’Asie du Sud. On a besoin de plus d’enquêtes pour savoir mieux, et une commission a été établie par l’ONU pour examiner la possibilité.”

Sans exagérer, on peut dire, par exemple, que l’étude du choléra par Harvard était comme ceci: obtenir des instruments les plus sensibles et les scientifiques les mieux formés pour tester pour le radiations de Fukushima, chercher partout dans le monde entier sauf au Japon, annoncer que les catastrophes nucléaires ont probablement eu lieu quelque part en Asie, et puis proposer que des sociétés de l’énergie nucléaire finissent l’enquête.

Contrairement au groupe de Harvard, les scientifiques du Danemark et de l’Arizona ont collaboré avec des chercheurs du Katmandhu qui leurs ont donné des échantillons du choléra recueillis dans 5 districts du Nepal et 24 népalaises entre 30 Juillet 1er Novembre 2010. Étant donné que le gouvernement népalais a violemment protesté toutes mentions d’une association avec l’épidémie, les scientifiques népalaises qui ont participé à ce projet l’ont fait à des risques personnels considérables. Il était logique de chercher au Népal pour une source possible du choléra en Haïti, parce que les soldats de l’ONU sont arrivés des épidémies de choléra au Népal juste avant le premier cas de la maladie en Haïti.

Le fait que les chercheurs de Harvard n’aient rien trouvé de nouveau sur le choléra d’Haïti ne les a pas empêché de recommander aux Haïtiens de se vacciner immédiatement. Ils l’ont dit malgré que les vaccins contre le choléra ne sont pas recommandés par l’Organisation de la Santé (OMS, aussi WHO) même pour les touristes entrant dans les zones ou le choléra est endémique. Ces vaccins sont considérés comme pire qu’inutile, car ils donnent l’illusion de protection et encouragent un comportement imprudent. Le cholera change rapidement, et alors la vaccination ne dure qu’à peu pres six mois, même contre les souches de choléra pour lesquelles les vaccins sont preparées. Par ailleurs, les vaccins donnent nulle protection
contre les autres souches de choléra.

Mais voici ce que le collègue de Mekalanos , le vaccins donnent nulle protection a déclaré:

“Il est temps d’envisager sérieusement la vaccination des personnes qui vivent en Haïti et la République dominicaine, non seulement pour sauver des vies, mais pour éviter la propagation de cette nouvelle souche dans d’autres pays de la région.”

Sciences, Universités, Compagnies, et Profits

J’ai été tellement impressionné par cet enthousiasme pour les vaccins que j’ai décidé de vérifier la liste de divulgation que les scientifiques de Harvard ont dû remplir pour leur publication. J’ai trouvé ce qui suit:

Plusieurs des scientifiques de Harvard tiennent le stock de Pacific Biosciences, une compagnie qui fabrique les machines et toutes les fournitures pour la méthode plus coûteuse de séquençage de l’ADN pour laquelle ils fasaient la promotion. Une personne sur le projet était un employé de Pacific Biosciences. On pourrait dire, en un sens, que l’étude du choléra en Haïti a été une publicité pour des produits de Pacific Biosciences.

Le Docteur John Mekalanos et ses Intérêts

Dr Mekalanos a participé dans la formulation d’un vaccin du choléra. Lui et l’Université de Harvard reçoivent des redevances de Vaccine Technologies Inc, une compagnie qui est entré en licence exclusive et accord de développement avec Celldex Therapeutics Inc (anciennement AVANT Immunotherapeutics Inc.) en Janvier 2009. L’accord permet à VTI de développer et commercialiser une programme de vaccination pour CholeraGarde Celldex (R).

Il est co-fondateur de trois entreprises de biotechnologie: Virus Research Institute, PharmAthene et plus récemment, Matrivax. Virus Research Institute s’est ensuite fusionné avec une autre compagnie et est devenu Avant Immunotherapeutics Inc., une entreprise qui reçoit aussi des bourses du NIH.

La PharmAthene de Mekalanos est une compagnie de biodéfense pour le développement et la commercialisation de contre-mesures médicales contre les armes biologiques et chimiques. Leurs clients inclusent le Département de la Défense des Etats-Unis, l’Institut National des Allergies et des Maladies Infectieuses, Biomedical Advanced Research Authority and Development, et les Instituts nationaux américains de la santé. Pour le 2e trimestre de 2011, PharmAthene a vu des revenus de 6.4 millions de dollars comparativement à 4.8 millions de dollars à la même epoque pour l’année 2010: une augmentation de 1.6 millions de dollars. Son programme d’entreprise SparVax, a totalisé 5.3 millions de dollars pour les trois mois se terminant en Juin 30, 2011, comparativement à 2.1 millions de dollars pour la même période en 2010.

La troisième compagnie de Mekalanos, Matrivax Research & Development Corporation à Boston est une petite compagnie privée, avec seulement 8 employés qui a reçu un revenu de 710.000 dollars l’an dernier, partagé par Mekalanos et ses deux partenaires et employés. Il est directeur du Matrivax qui reçoit des fonds privés, y compris les bourses de la Fondation Bill Gates.

Mekalanos est également le fondateur de Versicor qui fait des recherches sur les virus. Versicor est au moins une compagnie de plusieurs millions de dollars, gagnant 22 millions de dollars en investissements dans l’année 1997. Cette même année, ils ont ciblé “le besoin important médical dans tout le monde pour les antibiotiques [qui] se témoigne a la taille actuelle du marché, qui dépasse actuellement $ 23 milliards de dollars.” La société “a eu accès à une technologie exclusive pour l’identification de nouvelles cibles thérapeutiques dans les bactéries provenant du laboratoire du Professeur John Mekalanos, qui est le Chef du Département de Microbiologie et de Génétique Moléculaire.”

Selon son profil exécutif en Bloomsberg / Businessweek, des informations sur le revenu annuel de Mekalanos, ses stocks, et sa rémunération totale ne sont pas disponibles.

Mekalanos n’a laissé aucun conflit d’intérêt l’empêcher de promouvoir son vaccin:

“Quand j’ai entendu en Janvier 2010 qu’il y avait un tremblement de terre en Haïti, la première chose qui m’a traversé l’esprit était ‘combien de temps?’ Je savais que le choléra passerait là, tôt ou tard, la seule question était quand.

“Pourquoi le pays ne s’etait pas stocké avec le vaccin? Vous n’aurez jamais les stocks de ce vaccin si quelques organisations de la santé mondiale ne disent pas qu’il est logique de le faire. Et l’organisation évidente est l’OMS (WHO). Il faut du courage pour faire cette déclaration et de s’y tenir.

“En guise de divulgation complète, j’ai été impliqué dans le développement de vaccins contre le choléra, sorte que vous pourriez dire que je suis en conflit. Toutefois, d’autres ont aussi fait des vaccins contre le choléra. Le problème n’a pas été celle de bien faire un vaccin sûr et efficace. C’est aux agences de dire qu’ils sont prêts à l’utiliser dans le cadre de la politique publique. Après cela je suis sûr que nous pourrons savoir comment obtenir des stocks mondiaux”

L’idée que les tremblements de terre causent le choléra est absurde. Les tremblements de terre ne peuvent pas créer le choléra. Le choléra peut être libéré par la contamination de l’eau potable par des eaux usées lors des tremblements de terre, mais ceci ne peut pas arriver dans des endroits où le choléra n’existe pas déjà dans les eaux usées. Il n’existe aucune preuve que le choléra ait jamais existé en Haïti avant l’Octobre 2010. La première apparition du choléra fut explosive et dans la région de l’Artibonite: une zone rurale qui n’avait pas subi de dommages par le séisme. A Port-au-Prince, où les dégâts du tremblement de terre ont été massive, l’incidence du choléra a été cinq fois moins que celle de l’Artibonite.

Fait intéressant: le soutien le plus enthousiaste pour les efforts de Harvard pour vacciner les Haïtiens est venu de nul autre que l’ONU, du Directeur de l’Organisation panaméricaine de la santé (OPS, aussi PAHO), le Dr John Andrus.

“Je vois une réelle opportunité de vacciner les groupes vulnérables dans les pays qui n’ont pas encore vu l’épidémie, mais que nous savons seraient très vulnérable si le choléra est importé …. Je m’inquiète au sujet de certains des pays les plus pauvres des Caraïbes. Je m’inquiète de l’Amérique centrale. “

La première action d’Andrus pendant l’épidémie était de donner une conférence de presse. Là, il a annoncé que l’on doit s’attendre à plusieurs milliers de morts Haïtiens du choléra, et il a plaidé pour des dons de 164 millions de dollars à l’ONU et un groupe de 42 ONG qu’il avait rapidement réuni sous l’égide de l’OPS.

Plusieurs fois, l’ancien gouvernement du président Préval est venu sous une forte pression de l’ONU pour vacciner la population haïtienne, et chaque fois le ministère haïtien de la Santé Publique a refusé. Si le ministère avait acquiescé aux campagnes de vaccination, l’ONU, par l’intermédiaire de l’OPS, aurait acheté des doses massives du vaccin de Mekalanos. Harvard et ses affiliées d’affaires aurait réalisé de grandes bénéfices.

Il est intéressant de noter que la source de choléra en Haïti a été identifié, non pas par des chercheurs américains ou européens plusieurs mois après l’épidémie, mais par les Haïtiens chez eux et au diaspora dans les premiers jours du choléra. Dans un article paru dans Axis of Logic, j’ai ecrit que l’épidémie avait été introduite en Haïti par les Nations Unies. Peu après le Maire et citoyens de Mirebalais ont portés à l’attention de la presse leur observation que l’épidémie avait commencé en aval de la base de l’ONU des soldats népalais près du village de Meille dans la région de l’Artibonite.

“Une étude épidémiologique plus formelle dirigée par le Docteur Renaud Piarroux a confirmé et renforcé cet été les observations initiales. Deux haïtiens ont contribué à l’étude comme auteurs: le Dr. Robert Barrais, un épidémiologiste au Laboratoire National de la Santé Publique en Haïti, et le Dr. Roc Magloire qui est le directeur de cette institution. D’autres épidémiologistes et authorités medicales Haïtiens se sont ont excusés d’être co-auteurs du document, en raison de préoccupations au sujet de représailles.

Surtout, l’équipe Piarroux en France et en Haïti a conclu qu’il doit y avoir eu des cas actifs de choléra parmi les troupes de la MINUSTAH népalais en Octobre dernier pour que la dose de choléra dans l’eau du fleuve Artibonite ait été mortelle:”

“A notre connaissance, seules des doses infectieuses plus de 10.000 bactéries peuvent produire une infection bénigne sur des volontaires sains et des doses plus élevées sont nécessaires pour provoquer des infections graves. A atteindre de telles doses dans la rivière Meille n’est pas compatible avec la quantité de bactéries excrétées par des porteurs asymptomatiques, alors que si un ou plusieurs soldats ont été incubation de la maladie en arrivant, ils auraient ensuite excrétés des selles diarrhéiques contenant 10000 à 10000000 millions de bactéries par litre. Nous pensons donc que les cas symptomatiques ont survenus à l’intérieur du camp de la MINUSTAH.”

Cela implique un cover-up par l’ONU, qui continue à prétendre qu’aucun de ses troupes n’a jamais été malade et atteint du choléra.

Au moins six études scientifiques ont résulté de l’épidémie de choléra haïtienne, mais seulement deux ont abouti à des résultats de conséquence. Chacun de ces études a rejeté les découvertes par les Haïtiens comme une simple “rumeur”, bien qu’il ait été ces résultats, avec la tenue des dossiers par des haïtiens et cubains, qui ont rendu possible l’étude épidémiologique par les Français. Si les haïtiens n’avaient pas identifié la source du choléra, il ne pourrait jamais avoir été découvert, mais plutôt l’épidémie aurait été blâmé sur la supposée mauvaise hygiène des pauvres, et l’ONU et les ONG auraient exploité l’épidémie comme une autre occasion de s’enrichir du malheur des Haïtiens.

Étonnamment l’étude française n’a fourni aucune explication pour le fait que le choléra a réussi à atteindre l’île de la Gonâve, et a accepté l’explication du gouvernement que les prisonniers qui sont morts du choléra avaient reçu l’eau de la rivière pour boire. En fait, au debut le choléra s’est répandu beaucoup trop rapidement à travers le pays pour être expliqué par autre chose qu’une grande distribution de la bactérie dans l’eau infectée en bouteille. Après j’ai signalé cela au début de l’épidémie, le gouvernement haïtien a interrompu les distributions des “dlo nan sachèt” (l’eau dans des sacs en plastique) qui se distribuaint comme “l’eau purifiée” dans tout le pays. L’arrêt de cette distribution de l’eau infectée a probablement sauvé des vies.

Piarroux s’arrêta de suggérer que certains moyens de distribution d’eaux hautement infectées ont été impliqué dans l’épidémie. Il a dit, toutefois, qu’il ne pouvait pas expliquer le mécanisme par lequel les gens ont été mortellement infectés bien en aval de l’affluent Meille de l’Artibonite, où l’eau du fleuve, se déplaçant à plus de 100 mètres cubes par seconde, aurait rapidement dilué le choléra à des doses non létales.

Certainement l’un des enseignements les plus importants du tremblement de terre et de l’épidémie de choléra est que les Haïtiens peuvent se sauver les uns les autres. Pendant les premiers jours de l’épidémie, lorsque les enquêtes scientifiques de l’origine du choléra etaient plus d’importantes, il n’y avait pas de plan pour une étude épidémiologique approfondie ni pour une comparaison de l’ADN du choléra en Haïti à ceux du Népal. Il a fallu la communauté scientifique internationale près d’un an pour faire son travail, et à chaque étape, il furent obligés a le faire a cause de la honte de voir les Haïtiens s’aider les uns les autres.

La preuve que l’ONU a apporté l’épidémie de choléra en Haïti est venu beaucoup trop tard, mais peut-être quelque chose proviendrait de cela, a part des publications et distinctions pour les chercheurs occidentaux. Lorsque le Conseil de Sécurité des Nations Unis considèra la prochaine mandat de la MINUSTAH, en Octobre de cette année, les Docteurs Renaud Piarroux, Frank Aarestrup, et Paul Keim devront se lever et expliquer pourquoi les soldats de la MINUSTAH doivent être immédiatement retirés d’Haïti afin de prévenir des épidémies nouvelles. Les scientifiques devront en outre proposer que les pays de la MINUSTAH fassent des réparations pour leur pollution des rivières et aquifères d’Haïti.

Au lieu de promouvoir les vaccins inutiles aux Haïtiens, l’ONU devrait indemniser les familles des victimes du choléra et financer la construction d’égouts et stations d’épuration à travers le pays en utilisant des haïtiens pour cette entreprise à tous les niveaux.

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• Haiti: the next round

by Wanda Sabir

Marthe Enice Cassandre St. Vil lives in the vast tarp and tent camp in Champ de Mars, which used to be the grand central park alongside Haiti’s National Palace in Port au Prince. Twenty months after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake that killed over 300,000 Haitians, some 630,000 are still displaced and homeless in camps under constant pressure of eviction. As tensions rise, conflict grows, and many residents accuse police and MINUSTAH (U.N.) soldiers of acting in league with “bandits.” – Photo: Wanda Sabir

When I returned to Oakland on of all days, the Hon. Mosiah Marcus Garvey’s birthday, Aug. 17, 2010, I spoke to a friend of mine, Kamau Amen Ra about Cassandre, and he volunteered to support her in her dream to become an accountant. He has been paying her tuition for a year now. I took myself out of the picture and the two of them have grown close.

For several months Kamau has been telling me he wants to get housing for Cassandre and her mom and grandmother. I got in touch with a friend of mine, Jean Yvon Kernizan, whose home was turned into a clinic days after the quake. He also started a school at his home to help the children recover from the trauma of the earthquake. I visited his school – or after-school program – when I was there last year as well. It is in the mountains. He funds everything out of pocket. No American dollars have touched his work and programs.

CIMO (SWAT) U.N. police drenched residents, including small children, with teargas in the huge Champ de Mars camp on Sept. 14 to put down an anti-MINUSTAH protest sparked by the video-recorded rape of a Haitian teenage boy by Uruguayan soldiers. – Photo: Swoan Parker, Reuters

There is so much suffering in Haiti. One can assist organizations, but the need is so great, people like Cassandre and her blind grandmother and sickly mother are often left out of the loop.

It costs between $1,600 and $2,000 to pay for an apartment for a year in Port-au-Prince. I have raised $120 of the total cost. If 200 people hear my call and give $20, I can send Cassandre money to move her family this weekend. It is hurricane season, which means in the camps, there is lots of water and chaos – wind and debris – which makes an unstable situation even more precarious.

Anti-MINUSTAH protest UN police teargas Champ de Mars Port au Prince 091411 by Frank Thorp

• to Kamau via PayPal: kamenra@lycos.com or

• to me: Wanda Sabir, P.O. Box 30756, Oakland, CA 94621.

I will keep everyone posted on the monies raised. My goal is to send her the $1,600 to $2,000 by Friday, Sept. 29, 2011, no later than Oct. 2, 2011 – 14 days exactly.

Here are recent notes from Cassandre:

Sept. 15 (four days ago)

Hello! How are you Wanda? The situation is really bad at Champ de Mars, yesterday it happened something terible in this camp, there is a group of bandits and a group of Minustha who come into the camp, they use fire arms to shoot, my family was at Champs de Mars, my mother could not bear, she had a heart attack, we had to transport her to the general hospital, it was very hard, my grandmother is blind, it was very hard for her to support that. We don’t know when these criminals go back to hurt people in the camp, we have no other place to go, we are forced to stay in the camp.

Cassandre’s ailing mother hangs out the wash in the Champ de Mars tent camp. Following the anti-MINUSTAH protest put down by police with teargas Sept. 14, she had a heart attack but is recovering. – Photo: Wanda Sabir

Sept. 17 (one day ago)

Hi Wanda, my Mom is not too bad thanks to God, she was in hospital but now she is at home, a Champs de Mars camp, we are obliged to return to the camp which is full of problems because we have nowhere else to go. You are our only hope.

Watch my video interview with Cassandre from last August:

Bay View Arts Editor Wanda Sabir can be reached at wsab1@aol.com. Visit her website at www.wandaspicks.com throughout the month for updates to Wanda’s Picks, her blog, photos and Wanda’s Picks Radio. Her shows are streamed live Wednesdays at 6-7 a.m. and Fridays at 8-10 a.m., can be heard by phone at (347) 237-4610 and are archived on the Afrikan Sistahs’ Media Network.

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by Wadner Pierre

This poster, saying “Victory to the People,” was plastered all over Haiti by Michelly after he won the election, from which Haiti’s largest party by far, Lavalas, was banned, by a record small number of eligible voters. – Photo: Wadner Pierre

Rouzier was rejected by the lower chamber over technicalities. Gousse was rejected by a group of 16 legislators in the Senate because of his appalling human rights record. Under Gousse, the jails were filled with political prisoners – mostly people from poor neighborhoods where there was strong support for ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The country is now suffering because there is no prime minister to form a new government to apply the program of the new president. When he campaigned, Martelly promised to send all Haitian children to school for free. The Haitian people are waiting for him to deliver on his promise in September when schools reopen their doors.

Martelly needs to have a prime minister approved, a huge challenge without a majority in parliament, if he has any intention of fulfilling this promise. According to the Haitian Constitution, when the president does not have the majority in the parliament, he has to choose the prime minister by consulting the presidents of both chambers. Martelly has already missed two occasions to do so. Some people blame his chief of staff, Thierry Mayard Paul, for his failure, while others say Martelly’s advisers are at fault.

Lawmakers have often reminded the increasingly frustrated president that he was elected last March with only 700,000 votes out of the 4.5 million people who were eligible to vote.

Three weeks ago, a group close to Martelly headed by Georges Sassine and Jackson Desir threatened to launch an operation named “Operasyon Granmoun Pa Jwe” – “Operation Adult Don’t Play” – to force the parliament’s hand. They claim that they want a prime minister that can put the nation together. “But we need a prime minister who can reconcile the nation,” said Sassine. “We will not stop until the ratification of a new prime minister.”

This move resembles the one launched against Aristide’s second government – 2000-2004 – which the Haitian elite named “Caravane Espoir,” or “Hope Caravan.” This led to the 2004 coup. Some of Martelly’s supporters have asked him to dissolve parliament. The question is what is the real intention of “Operasyon Granmoun Pa Jwe”?

Among Martelly’s advisers is 29-year-old Nicolas Duvalier, the son of former dictator Jean Claude Duvalier, who returned to the country recently and faces criminal charges.

Legal threats have also been made against Aristide. They are rumored to be financed by a sum of 8 million euros that the French government has made available to Haiti’s Ministry of Justice. Gousse would have enthusiastically taken on that project. Martelly’s administration had taken away the government car given to President Aristide, but returned it to him after an outcry by Aristide supporters.

Sen. Moïse Jean Charles, one of the most outspoken pro-Aristide members of the group of 16 in the Senate, criticized the behavior of the president in attempting to impose his preferred prime minister. In 2004, Charles was the elected mayor of Commune Milot and was among those in Northern Haiti who opposed the coup.

People are asking where Martelly wants to take the country. They are increasingly wondering whether Martelly is a puppet of his chief of staff. “Thierry (Mayard Paul) is Martelly’s right hand and he influences the president’s decision-making a lot, but he could not be the country’s next prime minister. He will not make it through, I think,” said a man who does some work for some of Paul’s friends and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the division amongst Martelly’s team has made things more difficult for him. On Saturday, Aug. 6, Nancy Rock said on her radio show, with Gousse as a guest, that someone in Martelly’s team has undermined the president’s choice. “This person worked against Rouzier and Gousse as well,” she added. Gousse and Rock admitted that there is division amongst Martelly’s peers, but they argued that this division is all about economic interests, not a problem of color or poor and rich as many people might have believed.

Rock advised Martelly to take the necessary steps to get rid of this person. “President Martelly needs to get rid of this guy,” she said. “I am not going to cite any names, but people know who this person is,” she added. But Martelly seems unable to get his staff together to choose the next prime minister.

According to the senator of the Southeast, Edwin Zenny, “People are trumpeting the names of two presidential advisers, Daniel Supplice and Wilson Laleau.” Agence Haitienne de Presse, or AHP, reported on Aug. 17 that the name of Martelly’s chief of staff was on the table.

The group of 16 supposedly met last Friday to plan a new strategy in the event that Martelly unilaterally designates another controversial figure for the job.

Popular Haitian photojournalist Wadner Pierre is senior staff photographer for the Maroon and Wolf magazines at Loyola University New Orleans, where he is currently studying, and publishes with Inter Press Service, where this story first appeared. Visit his website, haitianalysis.com, and his blogs, wadnerpierre.blogspot.com and dominionpaper.ca/weblogs/wadner_pierre. On The Journey of a Haitian Photojournalist, you are sure to find photos by Wadner that will print themselves indelibly on your heart and can be purchased and displayed for others to enjoy. Wadner can be reached at nwanpi@gmail.com.

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by Bill Quigley

Demanding “Justice for people living under tents!” homeless earthquake survivors living in Camp Django at Delmas 17, mainly women, lay down across Delmas to block the road on Aug. 1, protesting their forced eviction. During the peaceful protest, internally displaced people (IDPs) from five other camps came out to show solidarity. The protestors demanded that President Martelly keep his promises and respect their basic human rights. – Photo: Gaetantguevara

The earthquake made Mathias homeless when it crushed his apartment and killed his cousin and younger brother. He and his wife first stayed in a park next to St. Anne’s Catholic Church. Then the family moved to what they thought was a safer place, Sylvio Cator stadium. They put up a tent on the lawn inside the stadium and stayed there for several months. The authorities then moved them just outside of the stadium so the soccer team could practice.

They lived in a tent outside the stadium with 514 other families for over a year, until they were ordered to leave in July 2011. Each family was told they had to leave and were given 10,000 Goudes (about $250 in U.S. dollars) to assist in their relocation. Where did the 514 families go? No one knows for sure. About 150 families stayed together and live under tarps beside Mathias. Some used the money to build new tarp shelters elsewhere and some used it for food. The rest? No one knows. No one is keeping track.

When I asked what Mathias would like to say to the human rights community, he said: “The life of the people living in the tents is not a human life. Our human rights are not respected. No institutions are taking care of us; we are the forgotten. We want people to remember us and help us to have the human life we should have. It’s not our choice to live this way. The situation of life brought us here. We hope to have a normal life. But the hope is very far from us.”

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported Aug. 19, 2011, that there are about 594,800 people living in about 1,000 displacement camps in Haiti. Most want to leave but have nowhere to go. Nearly 8,000 people have been evicted in the last three months. Their report concludes by saying, “With nearly 600,000 internally displaced persons still in camps, the scale of Haiti’s homeless problem remains daunting.”

Complicating the problem is the increasing wave of forced evictions happening in Haiti. These are evictions without any legal process, often by police, frequently accompanied by violence.

Landowners use armed police and private security to carry out evictions and scare people away. They rarely go to court because they usually cannot prove they own the land. So they resort to brute force to overwhelm the families. Police and private security use guns, machetes, batons and bulldozers to push people out.

The administration of President Michel Martelly has apparently given a green light to widespread violent demolition of camps without any legal process. Though the administration announced plans to relocate families from six camps, nothing has happened.

The Haitian human rights law firm, Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), reports that before June, they were receiving several threats of forced evictions per month. Since June, the threats increased to several per week. Now they are receiving several reports of forced evictions every day.

Landowners use armed police and private security to carry out evictions and scare people away. They rarely go to court because they usually cannot prove they own the land. So they resort to brute force. Police and private security use guns, machetes, batons and bulldozers to push people out.

Dozens of human rights activists called on the United Nations to condemn these illegal evictions and to make Haiti impose a moratorium on illegal evictions until there are realistic plans to house the families being uprooted.

Heavily armed police and MINUSTAH soldiers arrived on the scene, but unlike many other eviction confrontations, the Aug. 1 protest ended peacefully, perhaps because residents of many camps came together in solidarity. – Photo: Gaetantguevara

Residents recently surveyed by BAI and the University of San Francisco said money given to them upon eviction was insufficient to relocate or pay rent anywhere. Small grants worth about $250 are not enough to build even the most basic 12-by-10-foot shack, with plywood walls, a corrugated metal roof and concrete floor – leaving many of those evicted without any shelter except to go put up a tarp in another displacement camp. No wonder 35 percent of them reported being the victims of physical harm or threats of physical harm.

The following are recent examples of illegal forced evictions – all have occurred since Martelly became president.

On May 27, 2011, at 6 a.m., Haitian National Police wielding machetes and knives stormed a camp in the Delmas 3 neighborhood destroying about 200 makeshift tents and forcing people to flee, according to Jacqueline Charles of the Miami Herald. There was no court order of eviction.

In early June, Haitian National Police showed up and began destroying tarps and tents of hundreds of families camped at the intersection of Delmas and Airport Roads. The police fired shots and swung batons as people protested in front of their camp. This was done without legal authority.

Later in June, at another camp in Delmas 3, truckloads of agents armed with machetes descended on another camp and dismantled it. After the tents were destroyed, a bulldozer showed up and leveled what was left. This too was without any legal process.

In a midnight raid on July 3, 2011, police and private security forces completely destroyed tents of about 30 families in Camp Eric Jean-Baptiste in the Port au Prince suburb of Carrefour.

On July 18, 2011, Haitian National Police entered the displacement camp in the parking lot of Sylvio Cator sports stadium and destroyed the tents and belongings of 514 families. There was no lawful process. People were given about $250 to pay for new shelters. Many told human rights monitors that they did not want the money; they wanted to stay but accepted the money, as they had no other options. These illegal evictions were condemned by the U.N. Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights.

On July 27, 2011, members of the Haitian National Police arrested, assaulted and ransacked tents of internally displaced people protesting against the illegal eviction of dozens of families at Camp Django. Camp residents were given about $125 for their destroyed shelters.

So, what should be happening?

The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, co-chaired by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, just pledged $78 million to fund a housing plan for 16 districts in Haiti. But, as Haiti Grassroots Watch reports, even if all the planned repairs and construction of 68,025 units takes place, that is only 22 percent of what is needed since there are over 300,000 families and 600,000 people living in camps.

It is time for the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, the U.N., the U.S. and the international community to stand up for the human rights of the hundreds of thousands of people like Mathias. Housing is a human right. Using force to evict homeless survivors of Haiti’s earthquake from one spot to make them homeless in another place is illegal, senseless and violent. Mathias and his family deserve much more.

Bill Quigley is a law professor and human rights advocate at Loyola University, New Orleans. He is a long time Haiti advocate in his work with the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Vladimir Laguerre helped with this article. You can reach Bill at quigley77@gmail.com.

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• Haiti: The emperor has no votes

by Wadner Pierre

Bishop Louis Kebreau walking in a religious march Dec. 8, 2011. – Photo: Wadner Pierre

In an article published on Aug. 11 by the Haitian daily newspaper, Le Nouvelliste, Bishop Kébreau, a close friend of President Martelly, urged him to put his “Sweet Micky pants on” so as to govern the country. Martelly’s administration has essentially not even begun to function since Parliament refused to accept two of his selections for prime minister.

The upper echelons of the Catholic Church in Haiti and the Vatican have a deplorable history of backing repression. The Vatican, virtually alone in the world, recognized the Cedras military dictatorship of 1991-1994. Recent WikiLeaks have exposed the Vatican’s behind the scenes encouragement of U.S. efforts to undermine democracy in Haiti prior to the 2004 coup. After the coup, the Vatican openly applauded it by saying there was “nothing to regret” about Aristide’s ouster.

To defend his remarks, Bishop Kébreau said on Radio Magik 9 that he was misinterpreted and that there was “no question of repression, no question of dictatorship.” But he added, “If we continue to undress the president we will go nowhere.”

It is extremely unlikely that Bishop Kébreau will be punished by his superiors for his openly partisan intervention in Haitian politics. However, it was Bishop Kébreau himself who supported a letter to suspend the late Father Gerard Jean-Juste in his sacerdotal function in 2006 while imprisoned by the Latortue dictatorship, no less.

The Haitian people, who had fought fiercely for his freedom, welcome their beloved Father Jean-Juste on his release in 2004 from his first stint in prison (above) and again on Nov. 26, 2007, when the charges against him were finally dropped (below). Cruelly punished by both the Haitian government and the church, he was imprisoned again in 2005 when President Latortue feared he would run for president in the 2006 election and he was stripped of his role as pastor of St. Claire’s, where he had fed hundreds of children daily. In prison, he fell gravely ill with leukemia and was eventually released to seek medical treatment in Miami. But the church cut off his health insurance and he died in 2009. – Photo below: Wadner Pierre

None of this is surprising for anyone who has followed the involvement of the church in Haiti’s political affairs even before the country’s independence in 1804.

As a former altar boy, I am very disturbed by the declaration of someone of high profile in the church like Bishop Kébreau; but I am not surprised, because powerful clerics like him have always fought against a democratic government in Haiti. They have always been on the side of the elite – about 5 percent of the population.

In December of 2007, while celebrating the 65^th anniversary of the consecration of Haiti to Our Lady of Perpetual of Help, Bishop Kébreau made a vague statement urging Rene Preval – then president – to deal with “social injustice.” Of course, Bishop Kébreau did not identify the cause of this “injustice.”

May the leaders of the Catholic Church become, one day, promoters of social justice, not social injustice and despotism. Amen.

Popular Haitian photojournalist Wadner Pierre is senior staff photographer for the Maroon and Wolf magazines at Loyola University, New Orleans, where he is currently studying and publishes with Inter Press Service. Visit his website, haitianalysis.com, and his blogs, wadnerpierre.blogspot.com and dominionpaper.ca/weblogs/wadner_pierre. On The Journey of a Haitian Photojournalist, you are sure to find photos by Wadner that will print themselves indelibly on your heart and can be purchased and displayed for others to enjoy. Wadner can be reached at nwanpi@gmail.com.

This is the trailer for “Harvest of Hope,” a documentary by Kevin Pina that is essential for understanding the roots of the current crisis in Haiti. The film dramatically captures seminal moments in the history of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the Lavalas movement that swept him from the priesthood into the presidency.

This is the Bay View’s caption for this little video posted May 30, 2009, three days after the tragic death of Father Jean-Juste: “Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, known lovingly as Father Gerry, the great Haitian freedom fighter, the priest who practiced liberation theology, who fed hundreds of children daily, who regularly challenged presidents and popes and who would have been president of Haiti had he not been jailed, thanks the San Francisco Bay View newspaper for beating the drum to help set him free. He joined the ancestors May 27, 2009, and all who loved him must fight more fearlessly and love more boundlessly to fill the void.”

Related Posts

• WikiLeaks: Haiti’s elite tried to turn the police into a private army
• Martelly still unable to appoint new prime minister
• A musical tribute to Fr. Jean-Juste by Rosemond Jolissaint
• Revolutionary Haitian priest Gerard Jean-Juste, presente!
• Bye-bye, MINUSTAH!

Editors’ note: Axis of Logic first published this article in English on Aug. 15, and the Bay View followed on Aug. 17. Due to requests from Haitian readers and others, Dady Chery has translated her essay into French. Her translation into French follows the English version. – Les Blough, Axis of Logic editor, and Mary Ratcliff, SF Bay View editor

Note aux lecteurs de français : Beaucoup d’entre vous ont demandé de lire cet essai en français. La traduction française suit au dessous de la version anglaise. – Axis of Logic

A Spanish translation by Fernando Moyano published by Desacato follows the French translation. – SF Bay View

by Dady Chery

A month after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake that killed nearly over 300,000 people, survivors, huddling together in camps with sheets for shelter, little food or water and drenched by heavy rain, were getting no help from the thousands of MINUSTAH occupation troops and call for their ouster. – Photo: Haiti Information Project

Mr. Amorim was sworn in on Thursday, Aug. 4, and only took office the following Monday, but as early as Saturday he held a meeting at the Presidential Palace with Brazil’s Army commanders and joint chiefs of staff to discuss a possible draw down of the troops. According to one participant in this meeting, there was a “convergence of opinion” about the Brazilian troops.

It is appropriate that the Brazilians should be first to leave Haiti. After all, the insertion of U.N. troops into the country began as a Brazilian project in the early days of Lula’s presidency. It was part of the campaign by Brazil to prove its worthiness in matters of world security so as to earn a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. Mr. Amorim, then minister of foreign affairs, was one of the main architects of Brazil’s participation.

The troops started arriving in June 2004, shortly after Aristide’s kidnapping, to buttress the illegal administration that followed the coup. The first MINUSTAH commander, a Brazilian, complained of the pressure to use violence and resigned his position by fall 2005. The second commander, another Brazilian, committed suicide by January 2006.

The force has continued to grow, with the Brazilian contingent now numbering 2,160 men, although in Brazil this military adventure has been controversial from the start. Mr. Amorim attributes his sudden change of heart to Haiti’s “growing economy and gradual return to democratic normalcy.”

There are many reasons why MINUSTAH should go, but Mr. Amorim’s justifications do not qualify for my top 10 list below.

1. MINUSTAH continually harasses and humiliates Haitians. MINUSTAH’s favorite activities include pepper spraying Haitians and capriciously confiscating drivers’ licenses and computers.
2. Common criminals in MINUSTAH enjoy immunity from prosecution. Though over 100 troops have been expelled from Haiti for child prostitution and related charges, MINUSTAH soldiers have enjoyed immunity for most of their crimes, including numerous rapes and the suffocation in August 2010 of a Haitian teenager working on a Nepalese MINUSTAH base.
3. MINUSTAH subverts democracy. Together with the U.S., Canada and France, MINUSTAH fixed elections that excluded 80 percent of the Haitian electorate and brought a Duvalierist, Michel Martelly, into power in May 2011.
4. MINUSTAH interferes in Haiti’s political affairs. Former MINUSTAH head Edmond Mulet recommended that criminal charges be brought against Haiti’s legitimate president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, so as to keep him illegally out of Haiti.
5. MINUSTAH serves as an occupation force. MINUSTAH troops, together with Haitian paramilitaries, ambushed and gunned down over 4,000 members of Fanmi Lavalas – Aristide’s party – soon after Aristide was deposed in 2004 in a coup plotted by the U.S., Canada, France and Haiti’s elite.
6. MINUSTAH has operated as a large anti-Aristide gang. MINUSTAH conducted numerous raids on slums such as Cité Soleil so as to kill civilians who supported Aristide. In some of these raids MINUSTAH soldiers fired tens of thousands of rounds at dwellings and schools. (See the video below.)
7. MINUSTAH troops showed spectacular cowardice after the earthquake of January 2010. During the first 36 hours after the earthquake, the troops hardly assisted Haitians and instead searched for each other.
8. MINUSTAH harbors vandals and vectors of disease. In October 2010, MINUSTAH introduced a cholera epidemic into Haiti. So far, the epidemic has killed over 5,900 Haitians. MINUSTAH covered up the fact that several Nepalese soldiers arrived in Haiti sick with cholera and still lies about its role in the epidemic. As recently as Aug. 6, 2011, MINUSTAH was continuing to dump its fecal matter in Haiti’s rivers.
9. The presence of U.N. troops on Haitian soil is illegal. Haiti’s MINUSTAH is the only U.N. force in a country that is not at war.
10. The Haitian people despise MINUSTAH. Haitians at home and abroad, young and old, rich and poor, have made it known that they want MINUSTAH out of Haiti. Common epithets for the troops are “Volè kabrit!” (Goat thief!), “Kakachwet!” (Shitter!), “Koléra!” and “Pédofil!”

The U.N. is regularly updated about MINUSTAH’s crimes, which are well known to the great majority of Mr. Amorim’s compatriots. All know that Haiti was better off in 2004 when the troops first entered the country than in the months preceding the earthquake and they have loudly objected to their country’s participation in a foreign occupation.

Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim

“The U.N. system currently in place to prevent disputes is inappropriate for Haiti. Haiti is not an international threat. We are not in the midst of a civil war. Haiti is not Iraq or Afghanistan … But it looks to me as if, on the international scene, Haiti is paying mainly for its proximity to the U.S.

“Haiti has long been an object of negative attention from the international system. It took the U.N. to coalesce this power and transform Haitians into prisoners of their own island.”

But the Brazilian calls to withdraw from Haiti have fallen on deaf ears. The real reasons for the coming withdrawal are to be found in the current Brazilian politico-economic situation and a recent ruling by a Dutch court.

Since 2004, Brazil’s taxpayers have spent over R$1 billion [R$ is the symbol for the Brazilian real; currently, $1 equals R$1.59] on MINUSTAH. Last year alone, maintenance of the Brazilian troops in Haiti cost R$ 426 million: R$ 140 million for annual costs and other expenditures plus R$ 286 million for humanitarian aid sent after an earthquake.

In principle, the U.N. should reimburse these expenses, but in recent years the reimbursements have amounted to only 16 percent of the payments made by the Brazilian government. In addition, the salaries of Brazil’s MINUSTAH troops have exceeded R$ 41 million per year – but these costs are excluded from Brazil’s expenses on the mission because these individuals would be entitled to their pay if they were in Brazil.

The Brazilian government has long known about this bloodletting, of course, but it has grit its teeth and maintained the arrangement as a political bribe to the U.S. in return for a seat on the Security Council. In more than seven years, this seat has not materialized.

As high as the current costs of MINUSTAH might appear, there will likely be more to pay. In a landmark decision last month, a Dutch court ruled the Netherlands government liable for the failure of its U.N. soldiers to protect three Bosnian Muslim men from being killed by Serbs during the 1995 Sebrenica massacre. Until now, U.N. soldiers accused of crimes had been merely discharged. This decision allows the possibility of suing the countries participating in U.N. forces for the crimes of their soldiers.

The people of Cap Haitien, Haiti’s second largest city, protest the U.N. for bringing the scourge of cholera to Haiti. Just this month, on Aug. 6 and 7, MINUSTAH was seen once again dumping feces into a river that supplies drinking water – this time the Guayamouc River near Hinche. – Photo: Ansel Herz

The notorious 2006 Cité Soleil massacre involving these troops was captured on the video provided below. People killed by high powered rifles and M50s fired from helicopter gunships included children, pregnant women and unarmed men at 4 a.m. as they slept in their beds. Twenty-four-year-old Lelene Mertina was shot inside her home and survived but lost her 6-month-old baby.

A young schoolteacher was shot and killed inside his home but, while dying, said he was shot from a helicopter gunship. The U.N. was fully aware of who they were killing but denied it despite photographic evidence (see the video provided below). The MINUSTAH attacks were retribution for mounting massive demonstrations by the people who were demanding the return of Aristide to Haiti.

Some Brazilian hardliners, such as a member of the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Campinas –Unicamp – Geraldo Cavagnari, continue to say that “the troops should stay put because there is no risk and there are many things in play.”

Everybody understands this to mean that the Security Council seat might yet come and, besides, Haitians are harmless, so why not continue to parasitize them? Retired Brazilian Gen. and former MINUSTAH Cmdr. August Heleno has been more pointed in his warning to Amorim against giving the armed forces a “left-wing ideological imprint.”

The week before the U.N. attack there were several huge demonstrations in Cité Soleil demanding the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Residents believe that the U.N. justification for the attack, to arrest a base of kidnappers, was really a cover for collective punishment against the community for continuing demonstrations like these. Photo above: Haiti Proges, Photo below: Haiti Action (La semaine avant l'attaque de l'ONU il ya eu plusieurs grandes manifestations à Cité Soleil demandant le retour du président Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Les résidents croient que la justification de l'ONU pour l'attaque, l'arrestation d'une base de ravisseurs, était vraiment une couverture pour une punition collective contre la communauté pour des démonstrations comme celles-ci. - Action Haïti)

Countless protests have taken place at home and abroad, and the protest calls are gradually changing to demands for reparation. One proposal is that MINUSTAH’s current budget of $2.5 million per day should go toward compensating the cholera victims and providing potable water to Haitians. As we say in Haiti, “Ayibobo!” (Amen).

Dutch courts aside, in Brazil the political winds are now blowing in an entirely different direction. Reactionary voices like those of Heleno and Cavagnari are quieting down as the relatives of murdered leftists increasingly pressure their country to create a Truth Commission to investigate and punish the crimes of Brazil’s 21-year dictatorship. Already, three military commanders have been forced to resign. Indeed, Mr. Amorim owes his position partly to the ditherings of former Defense Minister Nelson Jobim about the Truth Commission.

Gone are the days when the wealthy owners of Brazil’s apparel companies such as ABIT and AFRABAS held their country’s coffers and politicians with such a firm grip that they could commandeer thousands of their citizens to guard their sweatshops abroad.

Only months before the earthquake, delegations of Brazil’s rich strutted along Port-au-Prince’s waterfront, together with Haitian sweatshop magnate Fritz Mevs and former U.S. President Clinton, dreaming of possible sites for their future West Indies Free Zone. But things fell apart since the earthquake, not only in Haiti but all around. The Brazilian Defense Ministry is being forced to trim its budget because the country’s growth has slowed.

Those of us who want to see Haiti regain its independence would do well to support the Brazilian efforts toward a Truth Commission and all projects everywhere to bring U.N. soldiers to account for their crimes. The search for truth has so far succeeded where much else has failed.

In Haiti, where “growth” typically means everything from sweatshop labor to slavery and “democracy” means everything from fixed elections to outright occupation, we could do with a little less growth and democracy and a little more truth right now.

Since Mr. Amorim seems to be at a loss for an exit strategy, I would like to suggest one: How about packing the bags of MINUSTAH’s troops, trucking them to Toussaint Louverture Airport and putting them on the next TAM flights to Rio?

The departure of the Brazilian troops should spell the beginning of the end for MINUSTAH. The Brazilians are its largest contingent, with more than a quarter of the total number of troops.

When Aristide returned to Haiti on March 18, 2011, huge crowds flooded into the grounds around his home, scaling the walls and covering the roof. Having spent weeks cleaning and restoring the house, they neither damaged nor took anything, simply wanting to show their love. – Photo: Jean Ristil Jean Baptiste (Lorsqu’Aristide est revenu en Haiti, des foules immenses se sont presentées tout autour de chez lui et ont escaladé les murs et couvert le toit de sa maison.)

Since many of the crimes by these troops are well known and can be readily documented for lawsuits, these countries too will soon discover that their “peacekeeping” costs have become burdensome.

One is tempted to ask why South American states with presumably leftist and nationalistic governments, like Bolivia and Ecuador, support the occupation of Haiti. After all, Cuba and Venezuela have amply demonstrated how much more can be achieved by contributing medical doctors and public health workers, instead of soldiers, to Haiti.

But not everything needs to be said during this leave taking. It is better to show the remaining MINUSTAH members the door and advise they not slam it on their way out.

Dady Chery grew up at the heart of an extended working-class family in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She emigrated to New York when she was 14 and since then has traveled throughout the world, living in Europe and several North American cities. She writes in English, French and her native Créole and holds a doctorate. She can be reached at dc@dadychery.org. This story first appeared in Axis of Logic, where Chery is a columnist.

FRENCH TRANSLATION

Bye-bye, MINUSTAH!

par Dady Chery

Comme l’un de ses premières mesures, Celso Amorim, le Ministre de la Défense en Brésil envisage de conclure la participation du Brésil à la Mission des Nations Unies pour Stabilisation en Haïti (MINUSTAH). Des secteurs différents du gouvernement brésilien, y compris le ministère brésilien des Affaires étrangères sont d’accord avec M. Amorim, qui dit que l’important est maintenant de formuler une stratégie de sortie.

M. Amorim a prêté serment le jeudi 4 août et n’a pris ses fonctions que le lundi suivant, mais dès le samedi, il a tenu une réunion au palais présidentiel avec les commandants de l’Armée du Brésil et ces Joint Chiefs of Staff pour discuter un prélèvement de troupes. Selon un participant à cette réunion, il y avait une “convergence de vues” sur les soldats brésiliens.

Il est normal que les Brésiliens soivent les premiers à quitter Haïti. Après tout, l’insertion des troupes de l’ONU dans le pays a commencé comme un projet brésilien dans les premiers jours de la présidence de Lula. Cela faisait partie d’une campagne par le Brésil pour prouver sa compétence en matière de sécurité mondiale afin de gagner un siège permanent au Conseil de Sécurité de l’ONU. M. Amorim, alors ministre des Affaires étrangères, a été l’un des architectes principaux de la participation du Brésil.

Les troupes ont commencé à arriver en Juin 2004, à peine un mois après l’enlèvement d’Aristide, pour étayer l’administration illégale qui a suivi le coup d’Etat. Le premier commandant de la MINUSTAH, un Brésilien, s’était plaint de la pression à utiliser la violence et a démissionné de son poste en automne 2005. Le deuxième commandant, un autre Brésilien, s’est suicidé en Janvier 2006. La force a continué de croître, avec un contingent brésilien aujourd’hui de 2160 hommes, malgré qu’au Brésil cette aventure militaire a été controversée dès le début. M. Amorim attribue son changement soudain à la “croissance économique d’Haiti et son retour à une normalité démocratique.”

Il y a plusieurs raisons pour lesquelles la MINUSTAH devrait partir, mais les justifications de M. Amorim ne seraint pas admis à mon liste des dix premieres ci-dessous.

1. La MINUSTAH harcèle continuellement et humilie les Haïtiens. Activités favorites de la MINUSTAH comprennent attaquer les Haïtiens avec le spray au piment et confisquer capricieusement leurs permis de conduire et leurs ordinateurs.
2. Les criminels ordinaires de la MINUSTAH bénéficient de l’immunité. Bien plus que de 100 soldats ont été expulsés d’Haïti pour la prostitution des enfants et d’autres crimes liés à cela. Les soldats de la MINUSTAH ont bénéficié d’une immunité pour la plupart de leurs crimes, y compris de nombreux viols et l’étouffement d’un adolescent haïtien qui travaillait sur un camp népalais en août 2010.
3. La MINUSTAH subvertit la démocratie. Des élections organisées par les Etats Unis, le Canada, la France, et la MINUSTAH ont exclu 80% de l’électorat haïtien et ont rapporté un duvaliériste, M. Michel Martelly, au pouvoir en mai 2011.
4. La MINUSTAH interfère dans les affaires politiques d’Haïti. L’ancien chef de la MINUSTAH, Edmond Mulet a recommandé des accusations criminelles contre le président légitime d’Haïti, M. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, afin de le garder illégalement hors d’Haïti.
5. La MINUSTAH constitue une force d’occupation. Des soldats de la MINUSTAH, en collaboration avec des paramilitaires haïtiens, ont abattu dans une embuscade plus de 4.000 membres de la Fanmi Lavalas (le parti d’Aristide), peu après qu’Aristide ait été renversé en 2004 par un coup organisé par les États-Unis, le Canada, la France, et l’élite haïtienne.
6. La MINUSTAH a fonctionné comme une grande bande anti-Aristide. La MINUSTAH a mené de nombreuses attaques sur des bidonvilles comme Cité Soleil, afin de tuer des gens qui soutenaient Aristide. Dans certains de ces attaques, les soldats de la MINUSTAH ont tiré des dizaines de milliers de tours sur des logements et des écoles. (Voir la vidéo ci-dessous.)
7. Les soldats de la MINUSTAH a montré une lâcheté spectaculaire après le séisme du Janvier 2010. Au lier d’aider des Haïtiens pendant les premières 36 heures après le séisme, ces soldats se sont recherchés les uns les autres.
8. La MINUSTAH porte des vandales et des vecteurs de maladies. En Octobre 2010, la MINUSTAH a introduit une épidémie de choléra en Haïti. Jusqu’à présent, l’épidémie qui a tué plus de 5900 Haïtiens continue. La MINUSTAH a dissimulé le fait que plusieurs soldats népalais sont arrivés malades en Haïti avec le choléra et continue encore à nier son rôle dans l’épidémie. Même le 6 août 2011, la MINUSTAH continuait à déverser ses matières fécales dans les rivières d’Haïti.
9. La présence de soldats de l’ONU sur le sol haïtien est illégale. La MINUSTAH en Haïti est la seule force de l’ONU dans un pays qui n’est pas en guerre.
10. Le peuple haïtien dédaigne la MINUSTAH. Haïtiens à l’étranger ou chez eux, jeunes et vieux, riches et pauvres, ont fait bien savoir qu’ils veulent que la MINUSTAH se retire d’Haïti. Épithètes communs pour les soldats sont “Volè Kabrit!” (Voleur de chèvre!), “Kakachwet!” (cacateur!), “Koléra!” et “Pédofil!”

L’ONU est régulièrement mis à jour sur les crimes de la MINUSTAH, qui sont bien connus pour la grande majorité des compatriotes de M. Amorim. Tous savent qu’Haïti était meilleure en 2004 quand les premièrs soldats entraient dans le pays que dans les mois précédant le tremblement de terre, et les brésiliens se sont bruyamment opposés à la participation de leur pays dans une occupation étrangère. Un exemple particulièrement éloquent est celui de M. Ricardo Seitenfus, qui a perdu son poste comme Représentant du Brésil auprès de l’OEA en Haïti peu après avoir elevé sa voix dans une interview en Décembre. M. Seitenfus avait ceci à dire:

“Le système des Nations Unies actuellement en place pour éviter les conflits est inapproprié pour Haïti. Haïti n’est pas une menace internationale. Nous ne sommes pas en guerre civile. Haïti n’est pas l’Irak ou l’Afghanistan …. Mais il me semble que, sur la scène internationale, Haïti souffre principalement de sa proximité aux Etats-Unis Haïti et a été pour longtemps un objet de l’attention négative du système international. Il a fallu l’ONU pour transformer les Haïtiens en prisonniers de leur île.”

Mais les appels des brésiliens à retirer leur soldats d’Haïti ne se sont pas entendus. Les vraies raisons pour le retrait à venir se trouvent dans la situation politico-économique brésilienne et une décision récente d’un tribunal néerlandais.

Les contribuables des Brésiliens depuis 2004 pour la MINUSTAH ont dépassé R $ 1 milliard de reals. L’an dernier seulement l’entretien des soldats brésiliens en Haïti a coûté R $ 426 millions: R $ 140 millions pour les coûts annuels et d’autres dépenses, plus R $ 286 millions pour l’aide humanitaire envoyée après le séisme. En principe, l’ONU devrait rembourser ces dépenses, mais ces dernières années les remboursements ont atteint seulement 16% des versements effectués par le gouvernement brésilien. En outre, le salaire des soldats brésiliens de la MINUSTAH ont dépassé R $ 41 millions par an, mais ces coûts sont exclus des dépenses du Brésil sur la mission parce que ces gens auraient droit à leurs salaires s’ils étaient au Brésil. Le gouvernement brésilien a bien sûr compris depuis longtemps cette saignement, mais il a serré ses dents et maintenu l’arrangement comme un pot de vin politique aux États-Unis en échange pour un siège au Conseil de Sécurité de l’ONU. En plus de sept ans, ce siège ne s’est pas matérialisé.

Si le coût actuel de la MINUSTAH parait élevé, il y aura probablement plus à payer. Dans une décision historique le mois dernier, un tribunal néerlandais a conclu que le gouvernement néerlandais est responsable de l’échec de ses soldats de l’ONU à protéger trois hommes musulmans de Bosnie qui furent tués par les Serbes pendant le massacre Sebrenica en 1995. Jusqu’à présent, les soldats de l’ONU qui sont accusés de crimes sont simplement rejetés et renvoyés chez eux. Cette décision permet de poursuivre les pays participant à des forces de l’ONU pour les crimes de leurs soldats. Compte tenu du rôle du Brésil dans la formation de la MINUSTAH, le gouvernement brésilien pourrait être responsable de tous les crimes de la MINUSTAH. En tout cas, les soldats brésiliens en Haïti sont accusés de meurtres de partisans d’Aristide et de nombreuses agressions sexuelles.

La ville de Cap Haïtien, la deuxième ville d’Haïti. La protestation est dirigée contre les Nations Unies pour mettre fin au fléau du choléra en Haïti. Plus tôt ce mois-ci, le 6 et 7 août, la MINUSTAH a encore une autre fois versé des excréments dans une rivière qui donnait de l’eau potable – cette fois-ci la rivière Hinche Guayamouc.

Le tristement célèbre massacre du Cité Soleil en 2006 impliquant ces troupes a été capturé sur la vidéo ci-dessous. Des gens tués par des fusils de haute tension et M50 tirés des hélicoptères de combat incluaient des enfants, des femmes enceintes, et des hommes non armés à 4 heures du matin alors qu’ils dormaient dans leurs lits. Mertina Lélène une femme enceinte et agée de 24 ans a été abattue à l’intérieur de sa maison et a survécu, mais elle a perdu son bébé de 6 mois. Un jeune instructeur a été tué chez lui, mais en mourant il a dit qu’il a été fusillé d’un hélicoptère de combat. L’ONU était pleinement conscient de ce qui ce passait, mais il a nié tuer, en dépit des preuves photographiques. (Voir la vidéo ci-dessous.) Ces attaques ont été une rétribution de la MINUSTAH pour des grandes manifestations par les gens qui demandaient le retour d’Aristide en Haïti.

Certains extrémistes brésiliens, comme M. Geraldo Cavagnari, un membre du Centre des Etudes Strategiques à l’Université de Campinas (Unicamp), continuent de dire que “les soldats doivent rester sur place car il n’y a pas de risque, et il y a beaucoup de choses en jeu.”

Tout le monde comprend que cela signifie que le siège du Conseil de Sécurité puisse encore venir, et d’ailleurs, les Haïtiens sont inoffensifs, alors pourquoi ne pas continuer à les parasiter? M. Augusto Heleno, un général retraité brésilien et ancien commandant de la MINUSTAH, a été plus pointu dans son avertissement à M. Amorim de ne pas donner aux forces armées une “empreinte idéologique de gauche.” On soupçonne que Cavagnari et Heleno ne sont pas au courant de la décision du tribunal néerlandais, ou le fait que Les Haïtiens ne sont pas si inoffensif ces jours ci. L’introduction du choléra dans le pays immédiatement après le meurtre de Gérard Jean-Gilles, un garçon de 16 ans, a enflammé des batailles si féroces entre les Haïtiens et les soldats de l’ONU que l’ONU a dû appeler un couvre-feu pour ses soldats. D’innombrables manifestations ont eu lieu en Haïti et à l’étranger, et les appels de protestation changent progressivement à des demandes de réparation. Une proposition est que le budget actuel de la MINUSTAH de 2,5 millions de dollars par jour devrait aller vers l’indemnisation des victimes du choléra et pour fournir de l’eau potable aux Haïtiens. < > Comme on dit en Haïti, “Ayibobo!” (Amen!)

Tribunaux néerlandais à part, au Brésil, le vent politique souffle maintenant dans une direction totalement différente. Les voix réactionnaires comme ceux de Heleno et Cavagnari s’apaisent de plus and plus que les familles des gauchistes assassinés portent du pression sur leur pays pour créer une Commission de la Vérité pour enquêter et punir les crimes qui ont eu lieu au Brésil pendant ces 21 ans de dictature. Déjà trois commandants militaires ont été forcés de démissionner. En effet, M. Amorim doit sa position aux hésitations de l’ancien ministre de la Défense Nelson Jobim sur la Commission de la Vérité.

Finie l’époque où les propriétaires riches d’entreprises textiles du Brésil, comme ABIT et AFRABAS tenaient les coffres de leur pays et les politiciens avec une telle prise qu’ils pouvaient réquisitionner des milliers de leurs citoyens à garder leurs ateliers de misère à l’étranger. Juste quelques mois avant le séisme, des délégations des riches du Brésil pavanait au long du secteur riverain de Port-au-Prince, avec M. Fritz Mevs, un propriétaires d’ateliers de misère en Haïti, et l’ancien président américain Bill Clinton, rêvant de sites pour leur zone de libre échange aux antilles. Mais tout s’est écroulé depuis le tremblement de terre, non seulement en Haïti, mais partout. Le ministère de la Défense brésilien est contraint à réduire son budget, car la croissance du pays a ralenti.

Ceux d’entre nous qui veulent voir Haïti regagner son indépendance feraient bien de soutenir les efforts du Brésil vers une Commission de la Vérité et tous les projets du monde entier pour punir les soldats de l’ONU pour leurs crimes. La vérité a jusqu’ici réussi là où le reste a échoué. En Haïti, où la “croissance” signifie l’esclavage, et la “démocratie” des élections prévues pour une occupation etrangère, il serait mieux d’avoir un peu moins de croissance et démocratie, et un peu plus de vérité.

M. Amorim parait ne pas savoir comment sortir ses soldats d’Haiti. Je voudrais suggérer cette stratégie de sortie: l’emballage des sacs de vos soldats de la MINUSTAH, leur camionnage à l’aéroport Toussaint Louverture, et leur renvoyage à Rio par les permiers vols du TAM?

Le départ des soldats brésiliens devrait signifier la fin de la MINUSTAH. Les Brésiliens sont les plus nombreux d’entre eux, avec plus d’un quart du total des soldats.

Le reste provient de l’Argentine, la Bolivie, le Canada, le Chili, l’Equateur, la France, le Guatemala, le Japon, la Jordanie, le Népal, le Paraguay, le Pérou, les Philippines, la Corée du Sud, le Sri Lanka, les États-Unis, et l’Uruguay.

Les crimes de ces soldats sont bien connus et peuvent être facilement documentés pour les poursuivre, and leurs pays vont bientôt découvrir l’augmentation des coûts pour leurs soldats.

On est tenté de se demander pourquoi des pays sud-américains avec des gouvernements de gauche et nationalistes, comme la Bolivie et l’Equateur soutiennent l’occupation d’Haïti. Après tout, le Cuba et la Venezuela ont amplement démontré ce qu’on peut réalisé en Haïti avec des médecins et travailleurs de la santé publique, au lieu des soldats. Mais il n’est pas necessaire de tout dire pendant cette separation. Il est préférable simplement de montrer la porte aux membres de la MINUSTAH et leur conseiller de ne pas le claquer en partant.

Lire biographie, essais, poêmes et autres traductions par l’auteur haïtien, Dady Chery à l’Axis of Logic. Contactez l’auteur.

© Droit d’auteur 2011 par AxisofLogic.com. Ce matériel est disponible pour la réédition tant que réimpressions si une copie verbatim de l’article dans son intégralité est inclue, en respectant son intégrité. Les réimpressions doivent citer l’auteur et Axis of Logic comme la source originale, y compris un “lien direct” à l’article. Merci!

SPANISH TRANSLATION

Bye-bye, MINUSTAH!

Por Dady Chery

Traducido por Fernando Moyano

Posta Porteña

Como una de sus primeras medidas de gobierno, el ministro de Defensa brasileño Celso Amorim tiene previsto concluir la participación de Brasil en la notoria Misión de Estabilización de Naciones Unidas en Haití (MINUSTAH). Diversos sectores del gobierno brasileño, incluyendo el Ministerio brasileño de Relaciones Exteriores están de acuerdo con Amorim, quien dice que lo importante ahora es la formulación de una estrategia de salida.

Amorim tomó juramento el jueves, 4 de agosto y recién asumió el cargo el lunes siguiente, pero ya el sábado tuvo una reunión en el Palacio Presidencial con los comandantes y jefes de Estado Mayor del Ejército de Brasil para discutir un posible descenso del nivel de las tropas. De acuerdo con uno de los participantes en esta reunión, hubo una “convergencia de opiniones” acerca de las tropas brasileñas.

Lo más conveniente es que brasileños sean los primeros en salir de Haití. Después de todo la inserción de tropas de la ONU en el país comenzó como un proyecto de Brasil en los primeros días de la presidencia de Lula. Fue parte de la campaña de Brasil para demostrar su solvencia en materia de seguridad en el mundo con el fin de obtener un asiento permanente en el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU. Amorim, entonces ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, fue uno de los principales arquitectos de la participación de Brasil.

Las tropas comenzaron a llegar en junio de 2004, poco después del secuestro de Aristide, para reforzar la administración ilegal que siguió al golpe. El primer comandante de la MINUSTAH, un brasileño, se quejó de la presión que se les hacía de recurrir a la violencia y renunció a su cargo en el otoño de 2005. El segundo comandante, también de Brasil, se suicidó en enero de 2006.

La fuerza ha continuado creciendo, con el contingente brasileño que ahora suman 2.160 hombres, aunque en Brasil esta aventura militar ha sido polémico desde el principio. Amorim atribuye su repentino cambio de humor sobre Haití al “crecimiento de la economía y el retorno gradual a la normalidad democrática”.

Hay muchas razones para qué la MINUSTAH deba irse, pero las justificaciones de Amorim no están en la lista de las 10 primeras, para mí, a saber:

1. La MINUSTAH continuamente acosa y humilla a los haitianos. Sus actividades favoritas incluyen rociar con gas pimienta a los haitianos y confiscar caprichosamente licencias de conducir y computadoras.
2. En la MINUSTAH los delincuentes comunes disfrutan de impunidad. A pesar de más de que 00 soldados han sido expulsados de Haití por prostitución infantil y cargos relacionados, los soldados de la MINUSTAH tienen impunidad para la mayoría de sus delitos, incluidas violaciones numerosas y la asfixia en agosto de 2010 de un adolescente haitiano que trabaja en una base de Nepal de la MINUSTAH.
3. La MINUSTAH subvierte la democracia. Junto con los EE.UU., Canadá y Francia, las elecciones la MINUSTAH decidió la exclusión del 80 por ciento del electorado haitiano, y puso a un duvalierista, Michel Martelly, en el poder en mayo de 2011.
4. La MINUSTAH interfiere en los asuntos políticos de Haití. El ex jefe de la MINUSTAH, Edmond Mulet, recomienda que se mantengan los cargos penales en contra del presidente legítimo de Haití, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a fin de mantenerlo ilegalmente fuera de Haití.
5. La MINUSTAH actúa como una fuerza de ocupación. Tropas de la MINUSTAH, junto con los paramilitares haitianos, han emboscado y asesinado a más de 4.000 miembros de Fanmi Lavalas – el partido de Aristide – poco después de que Aristide fue depuesto en 2004 en un golpe de Estado urdido por los EE.UU., Canadá, Francia y la elite de Haití.
6. La MINUSTAH ha operado como un destacamento más de las pandillas anti-Aristide. La MINUSTAH llevó a cabo numerosas redadas en barrios pobres como Cité Soleil para matar a los civiles que apoyaban a Aristide. En algunos de estos incursiones los soldados de la MINUSTAH dispararon a decenas de miles de personas en las viviendas y escuelas. (Vea el vídeo en:
7. Tropas de la MINUSTAH mostraron una espectacular cobardía después del terremoto de enero de 2010. Durante las primeras 36 horas después del terremoto, las tropas no prestaron asistencia a haitianos, en vez de ello se ocuparon en perseguirlos uno a uno.
8. La MINUSTAH introduce vándalos y vectores de enfermedad. En octubre de 2010, la MINUSTAH ocasionó una epidemia de cólera en Haití. Hasta el momento, la epidemia ha matado a más de 5.900 haitianos. La MINUSTAH encubrió el hecho de que varios soldados nepaleses llegaron a Haití enfermos con cólera y todavía sigue mintiendo sobre su papel en la epidemia. Incluso ahora, el 06 de agosto 2011, la MINUSTAH sigue volcado su materia fecal en los ríos de Haití.
9. La presencia de tropas de la ONU en suelo haitiano es ilegal. La MINUSTAH en Haití es la única fuerza de la ONU en un país que no está en guerra.
10. El pueblo haitiano desprecia a la MINUSTAH. Los Haitianos en el país y en el extranjero, jóvenes y viejos, ricos y pobres, han hecho saber que no quieren a la MINUSTAH en Haití. Epítetos comunes para las tropas son “Vole kabrit” (ladrón de cabras!), “Kakachwet” (Cagador!), “Kolera” y “Pédofil!”

La ONU está al tanto de los crímenes de la MINUSTAH, que son bien conocidos por la gran mayoría de los compatriotas del Sr. Amorim. Todos ellos saben que Haití estaba en mejor situación en 2004 cuando las tropas entraron por primera vez el país, que en los meses anteriores al terremoto, y tienen una fuerte oposición a la participación de su país en una ocupación extranjera.

Un ejemplo especialmente elocuente fue Ricardo Seitenfus, quien perdió su puesto como representante de Brasil ante la OEA en Haití poco después de hablar en una entrevista el pasado mes de diciembre. Seitenfus dijo lo siguiente:

“El actual sistema de Naciones Unidas para evitar conflictos no es apropiado para Haití. Haití no es una amenaza internacional. No estamos en medio de una guerra civil. Haití no es Irak o Afganistán … Pero a mí me parece como si en la escena internacional, Haití estuviese pagando por su proximidad a los EE.UU. Haití ha sido objeto de una atención negativa por parte del sistema internacional. Se usó a las Naciones Unidas para formar una coalición de poderes y transformar los haitianos en prisioneros en su propia isla. “

Sin embargo, los llamados para que Brasil se retirase de Haití han caído en oídos sordos. Las verdaderas razones de la próxima retirada se encuentran en la situación político-económica brasileña actual y en un reciente fallo de un tribunal holandés.

Desde 2004, los contribuyentes de Brasil han tenido que pagar más de mil millones de Reales [600 millones de dólares] para gastarlos en la MINUSTAH. Sólo el año pasado, el mantenimiento de las tropas brasileñas en Haití costó R $ 426 millones, 140 millones los costos anuales y otros gastos, más 286 millones para la ayuda humanitaria enviada después del terremoto.

En principio, la ONU debería reembolsar estos gastos, pero en los últimos años los reembolsos ascendieron a sólo el 16 por ciento de los pagos efectuados por el gobierno brasileño. Además, los sueldos de las tropas de la MINUSTAH de Brasil han superado los R $ 41 millones por año – pero estos costos no se cuentan en los gastos de la misión brasileña porque estas personas igual tendrían derecho a su salario si estuviesen en Brasil.

El gobierno brasileño ha sabido todo sobre este derramamiento de sangre, por supuesto, pero tiene una venda en los ojos y mantiene el acuerdo, un soborno político de los EE.UU. a cambio de un asiento en el Consejo de Seguridad. En más de siete años, esta plaza no se ha materializado.

Aun siendo tan alto como el costo actual de la MINUSTAH, es probable que haya que pagar más. En una decisión histórica el mes pasado, un tribunal holandés dictaminó que el gobierno de los Países Bajos fue responsable del incumplimiento de sus soldados de la ONU en proteger a tres hombres musulmanes bosnios de ser asesinados por los serbios durante la masacre de Sebrenica 1995. Hasta ahora, las acusaciones contra soldados de la ONU por sus delitos han sido pasados por alto.

Esta decisión abre la posibilidad de demandar a los países que participan en las fuerzas de la ONU por los crímenes de sus soldados.

El pueblo de Cap Haitien, la segunda ciudad más grande de Haití, la protesta es contra las Naciones Unidas para acabar con el flagelo del cólera en Haití. Este mismo mes, el 6 y 7 de agosto, la MINUSTAH se vio una vez más vertiendo las heces en un río que abastece de agua potable – esta vez el río Guayamouc cerca de Hinche.

Teniendo en cuenta el papel de Brasil en la integración de la MINUSTAH, el gobierno brasileño podría ser responsable de todos los crímenes de la MINUSTAH. En cualquier caso, las tropas brasileñas en Haití están acusados de los asesinatos de los partidarios de Aristide y numerosas agresiones sexuales.

La tristemente célebre masacre de 2006 Cité Soleil con participación de estas tropas fue captada en video (ver: ). Personas asesinadas por fusiles de alta potencia y M50S disparados desde helicópteros de combate, incluidos niños, mujeres embarazadas y hombres desarmados a las 4 am mientras dormían en sus camas. Mertina Lelene de veinticuatro años recibió un disparo en su casa y sobrevivió, pero perdió su bebé de seis meses de edad.

La semana antes del ataque de Naciones Unidas había varios grandes manifestaciones en Cité Soleil exigiendo el retorno del derrocado presidente Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Los residentes creen que la justificación de “arrestar a una base de secuestradores” era una excusa para un castigo colectivo contra la comunidad por manifestaciones como éstas.

La introducción del cólera en el país ocurrió justo después del asesinato Gilles Gerard Jean de 16 años de edad, que desencadenó feroces batallas entre haitianos y tropas de la ONU. Innumerables protestas han tenido lugar en el país y el extranjero, y se están transformando en demandas de reparación. Una propuesta es que el presupuesto actual de la MINUSTAH de $ 2,5 millones por día se destine a la indemnización de las víctimas del cólera y el suministro de agua potable a los haitianos. Como decimos en Haití: “Ayibobo” (Amén).

En Brasil los vientos políticos están soplando en dirección completamente diferente a las voces reaccionarias, junto con la presión de los familiares de los asesinados en los 21 años de la dictadura, que presionan para crear una Comisión de la Verdad para investigar y castigar los crímenes. Ya hay tres mandos militares se han visto obligados a renunciar. De hecho, Amorim debe su posición en parte a la resistencia del ex ministro de Defensa, Nelson Jobim, a la Comisión de la Verdad.

Aquellos de nosotros que queremos ver a Haití recuperar su independencia debemos apoyar los esfuerzos de Brasil hacia una Comisión de la Verdad y todos los proyectos en todas partes para que soldados de la ONU den cuenta de sus crímenes.

En Haití, donde “crecimiento” significa trabajo esclavo y “democracia” elecciones fijadas por la ocupación directa, queremos hoy un poco menos de “crecimiento” y un poco más de democracia y verdad.

Si Amorim está buscando una estrategia de salida, me gustaría sugerirle: ¿Qué hay neter las tropas de la MINUSTAH en bolsas de embalaje de, transportarlas por carretera al aeropuerto Toussaint Louverture y mandarlas a Río en los vuelos de TAM?

La salida de las tropas brasileñas debe significar el principio del fin de la MINUSTAH. Los brasileños son su mayor contingente, con más de una cuarta parte del número total de tropas.

El resto proviene de Argentina, Bolivia, Canadá, Chile, Ecuador, Francia, Guatemala, Japón, Jordania, Nepal, Paraguay, Perú, Filipinas, Corea del Sur, Sri Lanka, los EE.UU. y Uruguay. Como muchos de los crímenes cometidos por estas tropas son bien conocidas y pueden ser fácilmente documentados en juicios, estos países también descubrirán pronto que su “mantenimiento de la paz” se ha convertido en una carga.

Uno se puede preguntar por qué los países sudamericanos con gobiernos supuestamente de izquierda y nacionalistas, como Bolivia y Ecuador, apoyan la ocupación de Haití. Después de todo, Cuba y Venezuela han demostrado ampliamente cuánto más se puede lograr mediante la contribución de médicos y trabajadores de salud pública, en vez de soldados, a Haití.

Pero no todo tiene que ser dicho en esta despedida. Es mejor mostrarles la puerta a los miembros restantes de la MINUSTAH y a pedirles que no den un portazo a su salida.

Dady Chery se crió en el seno de una numerosa familia de trabajadores en Port-au-Prince, Haití. Emigró a Nueva York cuando tenía 14 años y desde entonces ha viajado por todo el mundo, vivido en Europa y varias ciudades de Norteamérica. Escribe en inglés, francés y su créole nativo, tiene un doctorado. Se la puede contatactar adc@dadychery.org. Este artículo fie publicado en Axis of Logic, donde Chery es columnista.

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Photos and article by Wadner Pierre

Doctor at the free medical clinic in Port-au-Prince - Photo: Wadner Pierre

As thousands of locals from the capital’s poorest slums as well as activists from the Lavalas movement congregated inside the Aristide Foundation, hundreds took part in medical exams. Medicines and food were also provided.

Work such as this has been going on for years. The foundation’s Soulaje Lesprit Moun project has worked in seven camps to organize discussion and mutual aid groups. When the resources are available, the foundation has held mobile medical clinics in a number of camps.

The foundation’s university, UniFA, is re-launching its medical school in fall. The medical school, Haiti’s first low-cost medical university geared toward the poor majority, aiming to keep its graduates inside the country, was shut down with the coup of 2004.

As Harvard professor and physician Paul Farmer explains in his recently published “Haiti after the Earthquake,” UniFA’s medical school “was one among many worthy efforts shuttered by the 2004 coup.” He explains how Cuban and Haitian volunteers have been at the forefront of building a sovereign low-cost sustainable medical project for the country. The program was set up in a manner very different than most NGO or high cost educations abroad leading to brain drain, where educated people leave the country never to return.

Free medical clinic, July 15, Port-au-Prince - Photo: Wadner Pierre

On July 15, supporters and organizers of Lavalas spoke about the many projects they had worked on in the past and the goals they had for the future. Most of the medical doctors present had begun their education at UniFA and passionately advocated for its ongoing renewal.

Standing in a line, one local resident explained, “Hundreds of us have seen doctors and we were able to get medications for free and dry food too.” Speaking to a video camera, one happy lady said: “Happy birthday to you, President Titid [‘little priest’ is Aristide’s nickname among the masses]. We are happy that you are here in your country with us. We have not demonstrated in the streets today; instead we are together here receiving care.”

A Haitian patient in line for free treatment stopped to address the camera - Photo: Wadner Pierre

Hilaire explained that “President Aristide is conscious of the situation of the population after the Jan. 12 earthquake and he asked us to organize activities that have social and educative aspects, like a mobile clinic, to mark his birthday.” Aristide and other leaders of the popular movement have been holding many small gatherings, meeting with people from the earthquake camps and across the country, hearing about the difficult times over the last year.

Marclange Jean, a native of Northeastern Haiti, was one of the doctors who dedicated his time to serving the poor throughout the day. With a broad smile on his face, Marclange explained: “Today, I want first to thank Dr. President Aristide and wish him Happy birthday. Today, if we can be here to serve our population, it is thanks to President Aristide.”

One group of Fanmi Lavalas members explained how the mobile medical clinic was a clear example of the continuity of the Lavalas Livre Blanc – the White Book – titled “Inverstir dans l’Humain” – invest in the human. “What you see today is the continuity of the Livre Blanc of Fanmi Lavalas which promotes a broad investment in humanity,” observed former Lavalas Legislator Nahoume Marcellus, a native of Cap-Haitian.

Marclange Jean - Photo: Wadner Pierre

While it has faced many difficulties, it is one of many institutions started by Lavalas to promote a sustainable and locally run model of development. Residents also point to the Village de la Renaissance and other construction projects in the slums that were built up by social investment programs under the Lavalas governments, surviving the January 2010 earthquake.

Casseus and many others at the foundation complained about the new President Michel J. Martelly. Most were particularly upset with his choice of Bernard Gousse as his potential prime minister. Casseus stated: “As chief of state, President Martelly should not choose Bernard Gousse as the country’s next prime minister. Mr. Gousse is a criminal. He killed a lot of Lavalas militants and pro-democracy organizers when he was minister of justice after the Feb. 29 coup.”

While celebrating the 58^th birthday of former President Aristide, his supporters believe his presence in the country is being felt. They say that Haiti needs all of her children and all of her good friends to come together to rebuild. But they need to rebuild in a way that will empower the poor in a way that will create long-term institutional structures promoting the health and happiness of Haiti’s majority.

Watch this video on the Aristide Foundation

Popular Haitian photojournalist Wadner Pierre is senior staff photographer for the Maroon and Wolf magazines at Loyola University New Orleans, where he is currently studying, and publishes with Inter Press Service. Visit indiegogo.com/twadhaiti to help him reach his fundraising goal for his trip to Haiti to investigate and write about social justice work in the aftermath of the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake. Also visit his website, haitianalysis.com, and his blogs, wadnerpierre.blogspot.com and dominionpaper.ca/weblogs/wadner_pierre. On The Journey of a Haitian Photojournalist, you are sure to find photos by Wadner that will print themselves indelibly on your heart and can be purchased and displayed for others to enjoy. Wadner can be reached at nwanpi@gmail.com.

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The indomitable spirit of Haiti burns in the eyes of three little boys memorialized by the camera of one of Haiti’s greatest photojournalists, Wadner Pierre. The boys must wonder, though, whether the greed of U.S. corporations and NGOs and their eagerness to steal Haitians’ labor and resources will dash their hopes. – Photo: Wadner Pierre

In a speech at Toussaint Louverture airport in Port-au-Prince, Aristide commented on the undemocratic elections then taking place in Haiti. He stressed the need for including all Haitians in the political process of the country, including his party, Fanmi Lavalas, the most popular in the country.

“The problem is exclusion. The solution is inclusion. Exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas is the exclusion of the majority. And the exclusion of the majority is like cutting off the very branch we are all sitting on – every Haitian without exception – because every person is a human being, so the vote of every person counts.”

Thousands of Haiti’s poor followed his car as it moved from the airport through the streets of Port-au-Prince and towards his house. Then a roar erupted and thousands of people climbed over walls, rushed past security and engulfed the courtyard. They were exuberant, singing and chanting for hours: “Welcome back, Titid. Welcome back, schools. Welcome back, hope.” “Lavalas: We bend but do not break.”

It was a beautiful moment, made possible by years of sacrifice and effort by Haiti’s grassroots movement, aided by a determined international solidarity campaign. For those who had doubted that Aristide’s return was possible – and there were many, both within and outside of Haiti – it showed, once again, the power of the people.

Aristide’s return demonstrates Haiti’s independent will and self-determination. He brings back a deep, abiding respect for the poor of Haiti and a belief in their intelligence, their wisdom and the justice of their demands. His return challenges the racist notion that the poor of Haiti can only look to the U.S., the U.N. and the NGOs for relief and development. This is why he is loved and this is why he is feared.

For those who had doubted that Aristide’s return was possible – and there were many, both within and outside of Haiti – it showed, once again, the power of the people.

Aristide has made clear that his focus will be education. Haiti’s education system has always enforced the system of social apartheid – completely eliminating the poor while building up a small elite. During the Lavalas administrations, more schools were built in Haiti than in its entire history. Adult literacy programs – often led by women – reduced the illiteracy rate.

When the Aristide Foundation’s University (UniFA) opened a medical school in 2001, it recruited students from the poorest communities throughout Haiti, each of whom committed to return to their communities upon graduation. These were revolutionary initiatives in a country whose elite despise the poor and have worked for generations to keep them away from any form of literacy or higher education. It was no accident that U.S. and U.N. forces drove students out of the campus after the 2004 coup and turned the building into a military barracks.

Even with limited resources, Aristide’s return will generate the impetus to reopen the medical school. The Aristide Foundation’s continuing work among youth – a Youth League has begun, with over 1,000 young people meeting at the foundation a few months ago – reflects a growing mobilizing of a new generation of activists, whose dynamism will be needed in this next phase of Haiti’s development. And, given a little time, the thousands of dedicated grassroots organizers, whose work has never ceased in all these years of repression and occupation, will surely regroup and make their demands heard.

The task is daunting. Aristide returns to a colonized country. Bill Clinton has set up an Interim Recovery Commission that is now sitting on over $10 billion. USAID is pouring money into U.S.-based NGOs that pay more for staff than they do for projects.

Construction companies are lining up to bid for earthquake rubble removal contracts. Cholera – brought to Haiti by U.N. forces from Nepal – has spread throughout the country, with recent reports citing 800,000 cases. A seemingly permanent foreign MINUSTAH occupation patrols the streets, with their blue helmets and pointed guns.

As if to rub salt into the wounds, there is the new president, Michel Martelly. A kompa singer and long-time proponent of Jean-Claude Duvalier, Martelly worked with the dreaded FRAPH death squads that killed over 5,000 people in Haiti after the first coup against Aristide in 1991.

He has made the reestablishment of Haiti’s hated military a priority of his administration. In the past, he has called for a ban on “all strikes and demonstrations.” In a revolting video released right before the election, Martelly called Lavalas members “faggots” and threatened sexual violence against Aristide. Some of his chief aides had warned that “the country would burn” if he were not selected.

In the end, Martelly was selected by only 17 percent of eligible Haitian voters. With Fanmi Lavalas excluded and two right-wing candidates running, the vast majority of Haitians stayed away, refusing to lend credibility to the charade. The percentage of voters who turned out was the smallest in 60 years for any presidential election in the Americas.

Right after his election, Martelly obediently traveled to Washington, where he met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who declared that the United States was with him “all the way.” He then made the rounds with officials of the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the chair of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was later arrested for attempted rape in New York. After the discussion with Strauss-Kahn, Martelly beamed and announced that “the meeting had gone well.” Of course it did. The vultures are hovering over Haiti.

Consider the recent deal brokered by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with South Korean garment giant, Sae-A Trading Co., which will soon become Haiti’s largest private employer. Sae-A is building a 617-acre “free trade zone” near the northern city of Cap-Haitien. It plans to employ 20,000 workers and pay them only two thirds of Haiti’s minimum wage. USAID is contributing $124 million, the Inter-American Development Bank $100 million, and Sae-A will put in $78 million.

South Korean garment giant, Sae-A Trading Co., plans to employ 20,000 workers and pay them only two thirds of Haiti’s minimum wage.

The planned industrial park will supply Wal-Mart, Target, Kohl’s and other major U.S.-based retailers. When confronted with questions over the deal – including whether the new factories will be sweatshops – Hillary Clinton dismissed all concerns, declaring, “Haiti is now open for business.”

The Sae-A project is just one part of the structural adjustment plan now being consolidated in Haiti. Known as the “death plan” in Haiti, it involves privatization, new contracts for elite import-export barons and continued limits on social investment – all combined with targeted repression of grassroots organizations.

In one particularly frank analysis, U.N. economic advisor Paul Collier highlighted the new possibilities for investment in Haiti: “Due to its poverty and relatively unregulated labor market, Haiti has labor costs that are fully competitive with China, which is the global benchmark.”

Taking note, Coca-Cola has expanded its Haiti operations, through its “Hope for Haiti” mango drink. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, which didn’t even have the decency to postpone its post-earthquake Haiti tours, has received funding from USAID to multiply its tourist operations in northern Haiti, training Haitians to be “hospitality workers.” And energy companies are lining up to grab contracts to dig up the country in order to exploit Haiti’s vast mineral wealth.

Yet, despite decades of repression, the popular movement in Haiti remains active and alive. Women’s organizers are right now supporting market women through low-interest micro-credit programs. Human rights workers continue to demand the release of political prisoners and expose the horrific conditions within Haiti’s prisons.

Progressive radio stations have taken great risk to denounce Martelly and the sham elections. The popular church (ti legliz) continues its work among peasants throughout the countryside. Young people have flocked to the Aristide Foundation by the thousands for education and training. And the reopening of the medical school is on the horizon.

All of this demands international solidarity. As we take a breath and celebrate Aristide’s hard-fought-for return, we know that the work continues. Hopefully, we are all ready for this next round.

Robert Roth is a co-founder of Haiti Action Committee and a board member of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. He was in Haiti for President Aristide’s return. A version of this article originally appeared in the Summer 2011 Newsletter of the Ecumenical Peace Institute.

Related Posts

• Haiti’s election farce backfires
• Bye-bye, MINUSTAH!
• Haiti: The emperor has no votes
• Pierre Labossiere on welcoming Aristide home to Haiti
• Haitian elections neither free nor fair

by Wadner Pierre

Haiti’s former Minister of (In)Justice Bernard Gousse, the choice of Haiti’s President Michel Joseph Martelly to be the country’s next prime minister, is well known amongst the masses in Haiti for his criminal record. The July 6 Miami Herald cites his “’God awful’ reputation as Haiti’s top law enforcement official.” – Photo: Wadner Pierre, 2009

Here are seven reasons why Gousse shouldn’t be Haiti’s next prime minister:

1) Gousse became the minister of justice after the 2004 coup against Haiti’s democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Gousse was considered one of the most powerful men in the U.S-backed regime that ruled from 2004 to 2006.

2) Among the people illegally jailed by Gousse were Fanmi Lavalas officials under Aristide such as former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, former Minister of Interior Joselene Joceleme Privet and former legislator Amanus Maette. The allegations against all of them were shown to be completely baseless. In the case of Neptune, the illegality was so egregious that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ordered the Haitian government to pay Yvon Neptune reparations.

3) With Gousse’s enthusiastic support, the Haitian National Police, backed by U.N. troops, launched murderous raids on communities where support for Aristide was very strong, such as Cite Soleil.

The Miami-based Haitian grassroots organization Veye-Yo calls for the arrest of Bernard Gousse for the killing of Haitian people at a 2009 protest outside the Trump Plaza Hotel in North Miami Beach, where Gousse was attending the Haitian Diaspora Annual Congress. This protester’s shirt features a photo of the beloved priest and political leader Father Gerard Jean-Juste, founder of Veye-Yo, who died not long after his release from imprisonment in Haiti at the hands of Gousse. – Photo: Wadner Pierre

5) Gousse’s crimes occasionally attracted some notice in the corporate press. Below are some examples:

“Once again, one man has become the center of a political storm that threatens to foil this country’s uphill struggle for stability,” wrote Ginger Thompson in the June 16, 2005, New York Times article, “How Haiti’s Future May Depend on a Starving Prisoner.”

“Gousse also has been accused of ignoring alleged atrocities by police against pro-Aristide slum dwellers,” wrote Stevenson Jacobs in the June 16, 2005, Associated Press article, “Interim Justice Minister Resigns.”

However, his crimes are best documented in “Haiti Human Rights Investigation: November 11-21, 2004,” a very detailed report by Thomas Griffin of the University of Miami School of Law.

A year after his July 2004 arrest, Yvon Neptune, Haitian prime minister under President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, had still not been charged and had undertaken a series of hunger strikes in protest. New York Times writer Ginger Thompson reported: “When a visitor went to the two-story house where Mr. Neptune is being held, the former prime minister could not lift his bony body off a foam mattress on the floor of his cell. … ‘I feel weak,’ he said barely above a whisper.” The Times story noted, “On Tuesday, Justice Minister Bernard Gousse resigned, a move that may clear a final obstacle to Mr. Neptune's release.” – Photo: Thony Belizaire, AFP

7) There can be no true reconciliation without justice. The choice of Bernard Gousse is a clear signal that the rights of the Haitian people will continue to violated under the Martelly administration.

If Haiti’s current President Michel Martelly is not a U.S. puppet, he should arrest Gousse rather than appoint him as the head of his government. Anyone who has followed the situation in Haiti can see that Haitian people – in fact, anyone – deserves better than Bernard Gousse.

Wadner Pierre

Related Posts

• Haiti: Medics and Lavalas supporters in Port-au-Prince celebrate birthday of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
• Martelly still unable to appoint new prime minister
• A musical tribute to Fr. Jean-Juste by Rosemond Jolissaint
• Haiti: the next round
• Pierre Labossiere on welcoming Aristide home to Haiti

The Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba will stop in Berkeley on Tuesday, July 5, 6-9 p.m., at the Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita

by the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) Pastors for Peace

The Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba is on the road! We invite you to join with us in building our 22nd Friendshipment Caravan – and to join us on our blockade-busting journey!

A great outpouring of love from around the world followed the death a few months ago of Rev. Lucius Walker. He was described in one tribute as “our beloved, heroic, prophetic leader.”

Join us in taking forward his struggle to completely end the immoral U.S. blockade against Cuba.

You have probably heard that President Obama recently eased some restrictions on travel to Cuba. The new regulations make it easier for U.S. colleges to get licenses to send students to Cuba and for religious entities to get licenses to visit sister congregations.

This is undoubtedly a small step forward in U.S.-Cuba relations; and it highlights the president’s considerable powers to improve those relations without having to get the approval of Congress. But we know that this is nowhere near enough!

Years ago, President Clinton took similar steps to permit more licensed travel. In 2004, George W. Bush undid all of that; and Obama’s recent measures only take us back to where we were pre-Bush.

We keep hearing Lucius’ voice reminding us that our goal is not just to make it easier for a few more groups to get licenses to travel to Cuba.

We want to see a complete end to the travel ban that prevents U.S. citizens from freely traveling to Cuba, as we can to any other country in the world.

Our even larger goal is to work for a complete end to the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba – a blockade that punishes the Cuban people every day and that is being implemented just as harshly under President Obama as it was under President Bush.

Our caravan will travel in school buses, trucks and cars along 12 different routes, visiting 130 U.S. and Canadian cities. At every stop we will educate people about the blockade while collecting construction supplies and tools, medical supplies and equipment, and educational and cultural supplies to be donated to our sisters and brothers in Cuba.

Some of the caravanistas in the 19th Friendshipment Caravan in 2008 pose with their Peace Bus.

From Texas we will travel to Cuba via Mexico, without asking for or accepting a U.S. government license, as a disciplined act of civil disobedience against the blockade and travel ban and as ambassadors for a people-to-people foreign policy based in mutual respect. When we return to the U.S., we will proudly declare our travel to Cuba and our opposition to the immoral blockade.

So in July of this year we will once again be visiting Cuba with our hearts full of solidarity and our schoolbuses full of humanitarian aid for Cuba – WITHOUT REQUESTING A U.S. GOVERNMENT LICENSE – as a means of directly challenging and bringing public attention to the travel ban and blockade.

We ask you to join us in this challenge by joining the 22nd Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba or by becoming one of the thousands of people who work with us to:

• organize local public outreach events for the caravan across the U.S. and Canada,
• collect the humanitarian aid that we will deliver in July and
• raise funds to help support the project.

In Cuba, the caravanistas will have an exciting educational and cultural program, which will focus on the achievements of young people in Cuba. We will celebrate Cuban youth and learn about their daily lives and experiences as we visit organic gardens, neighborhood projects, health centers and schools.

To obtain a caravan application form or to volunteer to help with caravan work, write to us at cucaravan@igc.org or telephone our national office (212) 926-5757.

More information about the caravan, including this year’s brochure in English and Spanish, is available at www.pastorsforpeace.org. You can make a donation to support the organizing of the caravan by clicking on the Donate Now button on our website. You can also read more and see short video clips at www.facebook.com/pastorsforpeace and www.youtube.com/pastorsforpeace.

Caravan dates

July 2-16 Caravan routes through U.S. and Canadian cities

July 17-19 Orientation program in McAllen, Texas

July 20-21 Border Crossing into Mexico and travel to Tampico

July 22 Travel to Cuba

July 22-30 Cuba program

July 31 Fly to Tampico and travel back to border

Aug. 1 Reverse challenge: crossing into Texas

Join us on a voyage of friendship and discovery!

Cuba is well known for its rich culture and focus on human development – all which comes from investment in human beings. We will meet the young scientists, doctors, teachers, social workers, artists, musicians and community activists who are increasingly at the forefront of developing their own society and participating in internationalist missions to assist the peoples of other countries.

Ways you can get involved

Join the caravan as a caravanista – contact us for an application form. Email cucaravan@igc.org.

Rev. Walker and Fidel Castro in a recent photo. Cubans recognize Rev. Walker as a great friend of Cuba.

Get involved locally – help host a caravan event in your community. Email us to get a local contact; if there isn’t one, you or your organization can take the initiative to host the caravan!

Collect material aid – we can send you the aid information packet.

Make a financial donation. Donations are tax-deductible. Checks or money orders should be made out to IFCO (write “Caravan” only in the memo line) and mailed to our New York office: IFCO, 418 W 145th St., New York, NY 10031. For credit card donations, simply click on the Donate Now button on our website, www.pastorsforpeace.org, and follow the instructions, or call our office at (212) 926-5757.

The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) Pastors for Peace is an ecumenical agency whose mission is to help forward the struggles of oppressed peoples for justice and self-determination. In addition to the Friendshipment Caravans and many other projects, IFCO administers and coordinates scholarships to the Latin American School of Medicine (LASM), in Havana, Cuba, for a six-year, world-class medical education available for free to U.S. students from poor communities of color who cannot afford to attend medical school in the U.S. and who pledge to return to serve their communities. Learn more at http://www.ifconews.org/node/351. For a map and schedule of all the stops on the current Friendshipment Caravan route, click here.

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• Cuban-trained U.S. doctors on their way to Haiti

by Dan Coughlin and Kim Ives

The people of Cité Soleil march on Jan. 26, 2008, to stop a series of U.N. massacres. – Photo: Jean Ristil, HaitiAnalysis.com

Then U.S. Ambassador to Haiti James Foley warned in the cable “against private delivery of arms to the HNP” (Haitian National Police) after learning from a prominent Haitian businessman that “some business owners have already begun to purchase weapons and ammunition from the street and distribute them to local police officials in exchange for regular patrols.”

Fritz Mevs, a member of “one of Haiti’s richest families and a well-connected member of the private sector elite” with major business interests in Port-au-Prince’s downtown and port, was the principal source for Foley’s May 27, 2005, report.

Haiti’s “private sector elite” has been a key U.S. ally in promoting Washington’s agenda in the country, from free trade and privatization of state enterprises to twice ousting Jean-Bertrand Aristide followed by U.S. and U.N. military occupations.

Mevs told the embassy that the president of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce, Reginald Boulos, had “distributed arms to the police and had called on others to do so in order to provide cover to his own actions.” Boulos currently sits on the board of Bill Clinton’s Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) which controls the spending of $10 billion being donated to rebuild Haiti after the Jan. 12, 2010, quake.

The cable describes the period after the Feb. 29, 2004, coup d’état that ousted Aristide, repressed his Lavalas Family party, set up a U.S.-backed de facto government, and ushered in a 9,000-strong U.N. military occupation known as MINUSTAH (U.N. Mission to Stabilize Haiti).

De facto Prime Minister Gérard Latortue’s interim government of Haiti (IGOH) and his paramilitary allies had difficulty stabilizing their unpopular regime, despite killing, jailing and purging from government jobs thousands of Lavalas militants and sympathizers.

The Latortue regime had particular trouble suppressing pro-Aristide strongholds like the slums of Bel Air and Cité Soleil, which mounted a fierce armed resistance to the coup and occupation. The coup government, U.S. Embassy and Haitian elite called the resistance fighters “bandits” or “gangs,” the terminology used in the cable.

Entitled “Haitian Private Sector Panicked by Increasing Violence,” the cable relays Mevs’ report to the Embassy’s political officer that Haitian “business leaders are exasperated by the lack of security in the vital port and industrial zone areas of Port-au-Prince and are allegedly arming local police with long-guns and ammunition in an effort to ensure security for their businesses and employees.”

Dread Wilme

Mevs “defended the idea of the private sector arming the police in general, but he lamented the haphazard manner in which many of his colleagues seemed to be handing out weapons with little control,” the cable says. Mevs also worried “that funneling the arms secretly would only serve to reinforce rumors that the elite were creating private armies,” which was in fact happening.

Mevs was asking the embassy if “the U.S. would oversee [a] program” under which the elite could legally buy the HNP’s guns because “he did not trust either MINUSTAH or the HNP to properly control the issuance of weapons.”

The private army “rumor” was corroborated by “[c]ontacts of the Econ Counselor [who] report from time to time of discussions among private sector leaders to fund and arm their own private sector armies.”

Foley added that the “[American Chamber of Commerce] Board of Directors at one point discussed informally giving non-lethal assistance to police stations, such as furniture and microwave ovens for police stations, but decided against doing so for fear that anything given to the police would quickly be stolen.”

Security around the capital’s industrial, warehouse and port districts degenerated after the Mar. 30, 2005, death of Thomas Robenson, alias Labanière, a one-time Lavalas leader in Cité Soleil’s Boston neighborhood, who defected to defense of the 2004 coup and providing armed protection to the bourgeoisie’s nearby commercial zones. Labanière was killed by one of his bodyguards, Evens Jeune, “allegedly in a plot directed by rival pro-Lavalas gang leader Dread Wilme,” Foley wrote.

After that, the U.N. force had tried to secure the commercial areas but “was proving to be a poor substitute for Labanière,” a political advisor to Cité Soleil’s mayor told the Embassy, largely because “MINUSTAH troops (who, he said, rarely set foot outside of their vehicles) were unable to identify the bandits from amongst the general populace as Labanière had done.”

The residents of Cité Soleil did not view Emmanuel Wilmer (aka Drèd or Dread Wilme) as a “bandit.” They saw him as a hero defending them from pro-coup paramilitaries, who in 1994 burned many houses in the rebellious shantytown, and U.N. occupation troops. Today, one of the main boulevards through Cité Soleil is named after him, and murals of his face adorn many walls.

Wilme told the Lakou New York program on Brooklyn’s Radio Pa Nou station in April 2005 that “MINUSTAH has been shooting tear gas on the people. There are children who have died from the gas and some people inside churches have been shot … The Red Cross is the only one helping us. The MINUSTAH soldiers remain hidden in their tanks and just aim their guns and shoot the people. They shoot people selling in the streets. They shoot people just walking in the streets. They shoot people sitting and selling in the marketplace.”

But for Foley and the Haitian elite, the U.N. military was not doing enough repression. “According to Mevs, although MINUSTAH has on occasion parked armored vehicles near the Terminal with some success, he said criminals regularly force the tanks to move (by burning tires or fecal matter nearby), and as soon as the vehicles depart, the rampage continues.”

Foley asked the “Core Group” of international donors and the U.N. military for a “swift, aggressive” response to the business sector’s call for action against the “criminal elements” from slums like Cité Soleil.

The MINUSTAH soldiers remain hidden in their tanks and just aim their guns and shoot the people. They shoot people selling in the streets. They shoot people just walking in the streets. They shoot people sitting and selling in the marketplace.

“Ambassador Foley warned the Core Group that MINUSTAH’s stand-down in Cite Soleil put the elections at risk, and that the insecurity around the industrial zone risked undermining what is left of the Haitian economy,” said the cable.

In response, U.N. mission chief Juan Gabriel Valdes “promised a more robust response from MINUSTAH,” which sat down with police leaders to develop a plan in “coordination with the private sector,” the cable explains.

“In response to embassy and private sector prodding, MINUSTAH is now formulating a plan to protect the area,” concluded the cable.

Weeks later, on July 6, 2005, at 3:00 in the morning, 1,440 Brazilian and Jordanian soldiers sealed off Cité Soleil with 41 armored personnel carriers and attacked. Helicopters dropped grenades and U.N. troops fired more than 22,000 bullets, leaving untold dozens of civilian casualties, including women and children. Cité Soleil residents told an October 2005 fact-finding delegation for the International Tribunal on Haiti that U.N. tanks whisked away many bodies, which were never returned. Human rights groups called the carnage a “massacre.”

Little Stanley Romelus was murdered while he slept by U.N. soldiers, who made war on the Cité Soleil neighborhood in the early morning hours of July 6, 2005, when 1,440 troops fired more than 22,000 bullets as helicopters dropped grenades on homes.

Meanwhile journalist Jean Baptiste Jean Ristil, a Cité Soleil resident, interviewed “a weeping Fredi Romélus, [who] recounted how U.N. troops had lobbed a red smoke grenade into his house and then opened fire, killing his wife and two children,” reported the Haiti Information Project. Jean Ristil also filmed inside the house where the body of Fredi’s 22-year-old wife, Sonia Romélus, lay, “killed by the same bullet that passed through the body of her 1-year-old infant son, Nelson,” the Haiti Information Project reported. “She was apparently holding the child as the U.N. opened fire. Next to them was her 4-year-old son, Stanley, who was killed by a single shot to the head.”

A U.S. Labor and Human Rights Delegation, which was in Haiti at the time and visited Cité Soleil the next day, reported that “this full-blown military attack on a densely-populated neighborhood, … multiple sources confirm, killed at least 23 people” and possibly as many as 50.

As the evidence of a massacre grew, the U.N. and U.S. began to admit that more Cité Soleil residents may have died. “Given the flimsy construction of homes in Cite Soleil and the large quantity of ammunition expended, it is likely that rounds penetrated many buildings, striking unintended targets,” Foley’s FOIA-released cable reported.

By Aug. 1, Foley was praising the Brazilians in another cable, obtained by Yearman’s FOIA requests, entitled “Brazil Shows Backbone in Bel-Air.” According to Foley, “the security situation in the capital has clearly improved thanks to aggressive incursions in Bel Air and the July 6 raid against Dread Wilme in Cité Soleil … Post has congratulated MINUSTAH and the Brazilian Battalion for the remarkable success achieved in recent weeks.”

The WikiLeaked May 2005 cable also offers a glimpse of Haiti’s inter-ruling class rivalries. Mevs felt that “private sector protests against the IGOH for the lack of security were misguided,” Foley reports, because “Haiti’s real enemy and the true source of insecurity [was] a small nexus of drug-dealers and political insiders that control a network of dirty cops and gangs that not only were responsible for committing the kidnappings and murders, but were also frustrating the efforts of well-meaning government officials and the international community to confront them.”

At the center of this “cabal,” according to Mevs, was prominent attorney Gary Lissade, who has a long history as a right-wing operative. In 1993, he was the lead counsel for the military government of coup leader Gen. Raoul Cédras during negotiations at New York’s Governors Island with Aristide’s exiled constitutional government. In 2001, Aristide, in a futile attempt to mollify the Bush administration and putschist bourgeoisie, made Lissade justice minister until popular outcry forced his removal along with Prime Minister Jean-Marie Chérestal’s whole government. Today, Lissade sits, alongside Reginald Boulos, on the board of the Clinton co-chaired IHRC.

To the million or so people of Cité Soleil, Dread Wilme was a hero and benefactor. After the U.N. killed him, the people erected a monument to him on Dec. 9, 2005, and named their main street for him.

The embassy took Mevs’ warnings about Lissade’s “cabal” with a grain of salt. Foley wrote that Mevs “is no doubt biased against those individuals he names” because “Mevs himself is a core member of what might easily be described as a rival network of influence competing for control of Haiti against the cast of characters he has described.” Presciently, Foley says that while his embassy “cannot confirm whether the alleged cabal of political insiders allied with South American narco-traffickers is controlling the gangs, we have seen indications of alliances between drug dealers, criminal gangs and political forces that could threaten to make just such a scenario possible via the election of narco-funded politicians,” which some political observers fear may be the situation in Haiti today.

Meanwhile, Dread Wilme’s legend lives on. “His funeral was a hero’s farewell,” wrote Haitian attorney and writer Ezili Dantò. “His remains decked in a Vodun boat were pushed out onto the open seas next to Site Soley’s water shores and set to flames for his spirit to soar towards the countless African Ancestors who, like Dread Wilme, had made the ultimate sacrifice for our people’s freedom and dignity.”

Haiti Liberté releasing secret U.S. Embassy cables provided by WikiLeaks

The weekly newspaper Haïti Liberté is publishing a series of exclusive articles which will draw from 1,918 secret diplomatic cables about Haiti from U.S. embassies around the world. The cables were obtained by the transparency-advocacy group WikiLeaks and made available to Haïti Liberté.

The cables cover an almost seven-year period from April 17, 2003, 10 months before the Feb. 29, 2004, coup d’état which ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to Feb. 28, 2010, just after the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated the capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding cities.

“Haïti Liberté is publishing these cables because they offer unparalleled insight into how the United States government has tried to manipulate Haitian affairs in its own interests, not in the interests of the Haitian people,” said Berthony Dupont, Haïti Liberté’s director. “We hope that the release of the cables will help bring about some transparency and accountability for the Haitian people.”

The cables range from “Secret” and “Confidential” classification to “Unclassified.” Cables of the latter classification are not public, and many remain marked “For Official Use Only” or “Sensitive.”

The cables cover official U.S. strategies and maneuvering in Haiti during the coup years, 2004-2006, and the period after President René Préval’s election, 2006-2010. We see Washington’s obsession with keeping Aristide out of Haiti and the hemisphere, the microscope it trained on the democratic Lavalas movement, the relentless focus on rebellious shanty towns like Cité Soleil and Bel Air, and Washington’s tight supervision of Haiti’s police leadership and of the United Nation’s 9,000-man military occupation known as the U.N. Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH).

In November 2010, WikiLeaks began publishing the 251,287 leaked U.S. embassy cables it obtained last year by providing them to large newspapers like the New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel.

Now WikiLeaks is selecting media in many other countries to provide them with the U.S. Embassy cables relative to their specific country. “Haiti Liberté is honored that WikiLeaks has entrusted it with releasing the cables relative to Haiti,” Dupont said. “Haiti Liberté is also pleased to partner with The Nation, the oldest continuously published magazine in the U.S., in publishing and distributing English-language articles based on those WikiLeaks cables.”

The cables offer many clues as to how Washington brought Haiti from the paramilitary and Special Forces coup of 2004 to the electoral coup that installed the neo-Duvalierist Michel Martelly in 2011.

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by Jean Damu

Derek Jeter (left) and Alex Rodriguez (right). They are very similar in appearance but Rodriguez is considered Latino while Jeter is African American - Photo: www.bronxbanterblog.com

The importance of discussing this apparent cultural collision is that within the U.S. immigration movement, leaders often do not clearly understand racism as it impacts upon immigration legislation on local and national levels, nor do they seem to clearly understand why, generally speaking, African Americans tend to be their most reliable allies.

Also, moves by President Obama to re-ignite the discussion to reform U.S. immigration policies and Dr. Henry Louis Gates’ PBS documentary series, “Black in Latin America,” have brought the issue into current public focus.

Another reason for developing this discussion is that within the U.S., there appears to be a growing movement to encourage people of mixed race ancestry – as many Black Latinos are – to define themselves as non-Black, which will ultimately serve to help render Blacks as increasingly invisible, further marginalizing them.

As a popular illustration of this racial dichotomy, consider the left side of the New York Yankees infield – third baseman Alex Rodriguez and shortstop Derek Jeter. They could be twins, but one is considered Latino while the other, Jeter, is an African American.

So perhaps the question is, how is it in the U.S. that race is the all important factor while in the “Latino” states, and for purposes of this discussion we are referring to the Spanish and Portuguese speaking states, race seems to take a back seat to class?

Within the U.S., there appears to be a growing movement to encourage people of mixed race ancestry – as many Black Latinos are – to define themselves as non-Black, which will ultimately serve to help render Blacks as increasingly invisible, further marginalizing them.

In order to understand this apparent cultural confusion, it is necessary to trailblaze our way backwards in time to the beginnings of European colonization and the creation of slavery in the West.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, when Portugal and later Spain became involved in colonizing the Western Hemisphere, the common people in those states were still legally and physically tied to the land. In other words, common people were required to work the land for subsistence and pay the surplus product they produced – whether agricultural produce or money – to the landowner class, whether that class was the church or individual men of wealth.

Those conditions meant that the masses of common people were tillers of the soil and, by and large, had not developed small business and craft skills.

When the Portuguese and Spanish Crowns sent forward colonizing expeditions to the “New World,” these expeditions were mostly comprised of soldiers and clerics, not the most suitable professions for building new societies.

Furthermore, Spain was quite lucky. The Spaniards found gold and silver soon after they debarked on American soil, further retarding colonial development because in the early stages soldiers were amply used to round up the Indians to force them to provide gold and silver.

Very few women ventured forth from Spain and Portugal to the colonies in the West. When efforts were put into motion to establish colonies, the Spanish and Portuguese colonists cohabited with the enslaved Indian and African women and it was from these pairings that resulted the mixed race populations that exist in the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies today.

There are other factors that influenced this process, such as Spain and Portugal’s proximity to Africa and the Moors’ occupation of Spain, but I argue that the economics of women’s social relationships were dominant.

We will return to this dynamic shortly.

The Spanish and Portuguese colonists cohabited with the enslaved Indian and African women and it was from these pairings that resulted the mixed race populations that exist in the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies today.

In England, however, economic and social conditions at the beginning of the colonizing era couldn’t have been more different.

The common people had been pushed off the land to make way for the cattle herding, dairy and sheep herding industries, then forced into villages and cities where craft and business skills were developed out of the necessity to survive. Women were as much involved in this process as men. In fact, evidence of this still exists in the English language.

For instance, before the word spinster evolved to signify a woman of indeterminate age, a spinster was a woman who was employed in the spinning industry – spinning cotton or wool into thread or yarn – while men who were employed in that industry were spinners.

Similarly, while webbers were men employed as weavers, websters were women so employed. Brewers, of course, were men who brewed alcoholic beverages from grains and cereals, while brewsters were women employed in the brewing industry.

From Charles and Mary Beard’s early 20th century classic study, “The Rise of American Civilization,” we are informed that early English censuses indicate that women in various English localities were employed as butchers and bakers – although no mention is made of candlestick makers. Furthermore, the Beards say, two women – Katherine West and Millicent Ramsdent – were original investors in the London Company, created to develop Virginia.

This is not to suggest women enjoyed civil rights, but these brief examples of women’s participation in England’s economy, as it began what was likely its transition from feudalism to capitalism, are provided to demonstrate why women were intimately involved in the British North American colonizing process. Because of their skills and knowledge, men who brought a woman with them to North America were given additional land. When entire families migrated to the West, additional land was provided for each additional family member. Therefore an economic incentive existed to involve women in the colonizing process.

These conditions, however, raise an interesting question that bears directly on our discussion.

We have already seen how difficult it was for the so-called Latin colonies to attract skilled and unskilled workers. The dearth of European workers was one reason why the colonials felt it necessary to enslave Indians and then Africans to perform first extractive labor followed later by commodity agricultural labor.

In fact, Brazil and several of her neighbors were still attempting to recruit European immigrants well into the 20th century, which is one reason why so many Nazi fugitives wound up there following the destruction of the Third Reich.

But we are well within our rights to ask why – if England primarily, and later other European countries, was contributing masses of skilled and unskilled workers and craftsmen and women – was it necessary to develop slavery in North American British colonies?

Keeping in mind that this is merely an essay and not a book, we can say the answer is basically just two words: free land.

We already know that slavery in what became the U.S. did not just appear as a full blown import from the Caribbean or South America and that the first Africans brought to British North American colonies were purchased as indentured servants, the same condition by which many Europeans came.

However, what was discovered in the case of the indentured servants, Europeans and Africans, was that once their contracts were fulfilled and once the aboriginal inhabitants had either been removed or “neutralized,” they could simply venture westward and claim from speculators a cheap purchase price for their own land.

This process worked adequately in the Northern colonies where commodity crops such as onions, corn and other grains could be grown profitably in units that could be managed by a single family or with just a few wage laborers.

In the Southern colonies this was not the case at all. There, the primary commodity crops of tobacco, rice, sugar and later cotton were all labor-intensive crops that required large numbers of workers to constantly care for the product. The wages that plantation owners would have had to pay in order to keep formerly indentured servants on the land – to dissuade them from obtaining their own land – were prohibitive. For this reason, laws were gradually instituted to chain Africans to the plantation system, which ultimately meant that, in broad terms, Africans as a people were enslaved in the British North American colonies.

The economic motivations that led to the development of slavery in North America are not different from the economic motivations that encourage employers in the U.S. to hire undocumented immigrants today. The logic of this can easily be understood by anyone who has on occasion needed some extra work done around the house and, rather than call the laborers union to hire a union member, or even a relative, has simply driven to the nearest local interchange and “hired a Mexican” for, at the very most, half the cost of a documented worker or union member.

Despite the development of slavery in North America, the presence of an almost equal number of European women as European men meant that there was no economic or social motivation, as there was in the Latin colonies, for European men to cohabitate with Indian or African women. In fact, from the earliest of times in the colonies, legal barriers were constructed to prevent the intermingling of races, primarily as a means of preventing labor unrest that would threaten the security of the incipient land owning classes.

Over a relatively brief period of time, racial divisions became very pronounced. Because the British colonial communities were whole communities and because they contained almost equal numbers of men and women, which resulted in miscegenation being declared illegal, a very strict and narrow definition of whiteness to describe landowners was created. A definition so strict in its narrowness that when Irish and Italian immigrants began to arrive, neither was originally considered to be white.

There was no economic or social motivation, as there was in the Latin colonies, for European men to cohabitate with Indian or African women.

Thus came to be formulated the American variant of the “One Drop” theory that hyperbolically reasoned anyone with one drop of African blood was deemed to be Black.

Meanwhile – most notably in Brazil, but in the other Latin colonies as well – the exact opposite came into being.

We have already noted how Spain and Portugal were unable or unwilling, with possession of little economic incentive, to send large numbers of women to their colonies and how this led to widespread coupling of the European colonists with the Indigenous and African people.

In 1817 – a British traveler to Brazil, Henry Koster – recorded these observations:

“Marriages between white men and women of color are by no means rare [though often commented upon – ed.]. Indeed, the remark is only made if the person is a planter of any importance and the woman is decidedly of dark color, for even a considerable tinge will pass for white. If the white man belongs to the lower orders, the woman is not accounted as being unequal to him in rank, unless she is nearly black.”

In these cases, where a European property owner wanted to actually marry an Indian or African, they usually applied to the Spanish authorities in Spain to have a Certificate of Whiteness issued declaring their partner officially to be white.

This is as clear a description as one is likely to find of the Latin One Drop theory – namely that anyone with one drop of European blood is deemed white – the polar opposite of the American One Drop theory. But both variants, American and Latin, worked to keep Blacks at the bottom of the social and economic spectrums.

It should be noted that each Latin state, due to its own historical and geographical differences, has its own variant of the Latin One Drop rule. None is exactly the same as another, but in almost all cases there was (is) a general recognition that racism was (is) a negligible factor. In fact in Brazil, throughout much of the 20th century, an entire philosophical system known as lusotropicalism (colorblindness) was created to convince Brazilians and the world that Brazil was free of racism.

How have these polar opposite takes on race in the U.S., and other former British colonies in the Western Hemisphere, and the Latin states impacted the thinking and racial consciousness of the various populations?

Both One Drop variants, American and Latin, worked to keep Blacks at the bottom of the social and economic spectrums.

To address this question we must ask another.

Why, even though racial discrimination is universal throughout the Western Hemisphere, is there a high degree of racial consciousness in the U.S. when there is what the former University of California researcher and lecturer Ted Vincent refers to as “racial amnesia” in the Latin states?

In order to make sense of this, we must now turn our attention to the other determinate factor in this discussion, other than the role of women, namely: culture.

We have already seen why it was necessary to develop slavery in the U.S., but if there had not been slavery and only an insignificant number of Africans had arrived here, then it would not have been necessary for Europeans to become white. Europeans, and others, would likely have continued to discriminate on the same basis they discriminated in Europe, and the Irish and Italians to this day would occupy the lower classes.

But slavery was necessary, and in order to promote and protect slavery and land-owning privileges, European solidarity took the form of becoming white.

However, in order to become white, it was necessary for the various European nationalities – especially after Europeans other than the English began to immigrate to the British colonies – to abandon significant aspects of the European cultures and adopt significant aspects of African culture, or at least the culture they came into contact with in the enslaved Africans.

There is a mountain of evidence to support this thesis which lies largely unexcavated. But just for the purposes of this brief essay, simply consider that our national opera, symphony and ballet companies exist largely for the pleasure of society’s elites while the nation’s working people largely embrace, particularly in the field of music, culture that is historically influenced by African Americans.

For the enslaved Africans in the early history of the British colonies, the situation was reversed from that of the Europeans. In order to survive as a people and in the interest of racial solidarity, Africans were forced, often by the use of violence, to abandon their African cultures and create new cultures based of course on their African memories.

For this reason, only in relatively small pockets of the U.S., such as the Gullah-GeeChee Nation of South Carolina and Georgia and other portions of the “Deep South,” do remnants of African culture as it existed when Africans first arrived still survive.

The experiences of Fisk University’s Jubilee Singers are illustrative of Blacks creating their new culture. When the Fisk students sang white oriented hymns, the mostly white audiences went to sleep. But when they sang hymns in the Black style, the group’s popularity soared.

Africans were forced, often by the use of violence, to abandon their African cultures and create new cultures based of course on their African memories.

Seen in this light, the strange and curious phenomena of white folks painting themselves Black and performing songs and dances originally inspired by enslaved Africans, but which soon became gross caricatures, that became wildly popular in the 19th century and remained socially acceptable at least until the middle of the 20th century, is a profound demonstration of how White America reinforced its sense of whiteness by imitating Black America.

Even those Whites too sophisticated to paint themselves Black copied Black styles and raked in fortunes. Benny Goodman, Bing Crosby, Janice Joplin and Michael Bolden are typical examples. This practice continues to this day, which is why many white popular singers attempt to sound Black, but almost no popular Black singers attempt to sound white. Just one episode of American Idol will provide evidence in support of this observation.

Turn the mirror over to examine the Latin states and once again the conditions are just the opposite.

The expanded definition of whiteness and the very narrow definition of Blackness, which we discussed earlier, implies that neither Europeans, Africans nor the Indigenous would need to abandon their cultures in order to conform to the new racial definitions. This seems like a conundrum, but really is not.

The very broad definition of whiteness precluded the need for European settlers to abandon their European cultures to become White. And by extension there was no need for the Blacks to abandon their African cultures to become Black, unless they were those African descendants who were able, because of their color, to move upward into relative whiteness.

Professor Vincent buttresses this theory when he argues that of all the Latin states, only Mexico has developed a national culture. All other Latin states have folk cultures, typified by numerous folkloric organizations, where European, African and Indigenous cultural forms exist side by side.

Of course, to a degree, this is true in every country and certainly in the U.S. But what you don’t see in the Latin countries that you see in the U.S. is the degree to which Black cultural forms, especially music and language, have been adopted by masses of the population.

On the other hand, what you don’t see in the U.S. that you see in most Latin countries are forms of African culture that are nearly as pure in form as when they arrived from Africa.

We should of course qualify here that in places like Brazil and Cuba, where African culture is so visible, it is believed that enslaved Africans were being introduced well into the late 19th century and possibly as late as the early 20th century.

It is well known for instance that in Cuba, hundreds of songs and poems are still recited in an orthodox form of Yoruba that hasn’t been spoken in Nigeria in more than a hundred and fifty years. In fact, researchers from Africa often travel to Cuba and Brazil to study early forms of their own cultures.

What you don’t see in the U.S. that you see in most Latin countries are forms of African culture that are nearly as pure in form as when they arrived from Africa.

However, despite all of that, a high degree of racial consciousness, such as exists in the U.S. and the other former British colonies, never developed in Latin America. Even today in the U.S., where Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month is annually observed, rarely if ever is there an acknowledgement of Africa and African contributions to Latino culture.

But slowly conditions are changing and gradual understanding is emerging.

Jean Damu is the former western regional representative for N’COBRA, National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, and a former member of the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, who taught Black Studies at the University of New Mexico, has traveled and written extensively in Cuba and Africa and currently serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. Email him at jdamu2@yahoo.com.

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by Tamara Pearson

Venezuela anti-sanctions rally Caracas. Anti-war crusader Cindy Sheehan, who traveled to Venezuela for the huge anti-sanctions rally in Caracas May 29 – on the birthday of her son, Casey, who was killed in Iraq – says, “The thing that I love the most about Venezuela: the absence of a hostile and violent foreign policy.” The U.S. imposed sanctions because Venezuela sent two shipments of oil product to Iran, even though, as Cindy explains, “PDVSA (Venezuela’s oil company) and its US subsidiary, CITGO have helped over 250,000 U.S. citizens by giving, or greatly reducing prices, on heating oil to our own desperately poor. No other oil company, including U.S. oil companies, has done the same.”

Yesterday President Hugo Chavez announced on national television that he was authorizing Fogade, the national Deposit Guarantee Fund, to transfer 78 plots of land with a total size of 129,053 square meters to the state. The land, located in Tocuyito, Carabobo state, was being administered by Fogade.

Also in Tocuyito, he authorized the expropriation of a further 232 plots with a total size of 82,000 square meters. Currently abandoned, the land was owned by Banco Nacional de Descuento, which no longer exists. Its liquidation began in the late 1970s as a result of an industrial bank crisis.

The government wants to do the same thing with other abandoned land assets of other collapsed banks, most from the 1994 financial crisis.

In 1994 to August of 1995, 17 of 59 of Venezuela’s commercial banks collapsed. The crisis is generally blamed on financial liberalization in the early 1990s, lax banking supervision, and a collapse in oil prices which led to reduced government spending and a weakened economy. At the time, Fogade guaranteed deposits of up to $24,000 per person.

“It’s not justifiable that Fogade still has land that is in a process of liquidation, that they don’t finish the process, I’ve asked the fund’s board for the balance of all the land and buildings that it has as a result of past bank crises and liquidation processes that it hasn’t finished off,” Chavez said.

Housing construction in Venezuela

“I insist on the importance of speeding up the rescuing of land in urban and periphery areas of the cities,” Chavez said.

“There are spaces for agriculture, hectares for industrial use, land for housing … we should be constructing micro-cities,” he added, suggesting the idea as a partial solution for decreasing the population density of Greater Caracas.

The government launched the “Great Housing Mission” last month as its seven-year plan for tackling the serious housing shortage in the country. One facet of the mission is finding and acquiring land for housing and another is creating a nationwide register of all those who need housing, which began this month.

The government will be providing subsidized housing to families, with the size of the subsidy based on the family’s income. Those with insufficient income will receive a 100 percent subsidy, until their situation changes, those whose family only earns one minimum wage in total, will receive an 80 percent subsidy, and so on, down to those who earn four minimum wages, will receive a 20 percent subsidy.

According to the minister for housing, Ricardo Molina, most families earn around 2 minimum wages, with 80 percent of families earning at least more than 1 minimum wage. As of yesterday, according to the government, 496,908 families, which translates to 1,656,848 people, have registered in the mission. This month, hundreds of tents have been set up in five states to receive registrations, and the registrations will continue in other states next month and in July.

This story first appeared on Venezuelanalysis.com, at http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6192.

Law against racial discrimination approved in Venezuela

by the Venezuelan Embassy to the USA

During a first round of discussion on May 10, the Venezuelan National Assembly unanimously approved the Organic Law Against Racial Discrimination. The draft law was passed during a session that was attended by the Network of Afro-Descendants in Venezuela.

Aiyana Jones, her sister and brother were all in the house a year ago when police went to the wrong home, threw a grenade through the window and shot 7-year-old Aiyana in the head while a film crew recorded their exploits.

The legislature also approved the agreement in support of peoples of African descent in Venezuela and the commemoration of 216 years of the liberal cause of José Leonardo Chirinos, a Venezuelan who led a revolt of Blacks and mulattos against the colonial authorities in 1795. The commemoration of that event has been celebrated as “Afro-Venezuelan Day” since 2005.

In Venezuela, May is designated as the Month of the Afro-Descendants. During this month, Venezuela has sponsored a series of activities in different parts of the country to continue with the policies propelled by President Chávez to promote inclusion and recognition of the Afro-Venezuelan population.

Read the Venezuelan Embassy’s Fact Sheet about Afro-Venezuelans and the fight against racism in Venezuela, and learn more news on activities in Venezuela and the Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. to celebrate the month of Afro-descendents. This story first appeared at http://venezuela-us.org/2011/05/11/law-against-racial-discrimination-approved/.

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The imposition of Martelly, the reconstitution of the army, and the restoration of Duvalier

by Charlie Hinton, Haiti Action Committee

A little boy carries a bag through the rubble of the camp he called home, salvaging whatever of his family’s belongings he can find. “This is the work of animals,” camp resident Guerin Pierre said. “This is the worst kind of humiliation someone can experience. They chose to do this at the start of the hurricane season. This is abuse.” A quarter of the estimated 668,000 Haitians still living in camps under ragged tents and tarps 16 months after the earthquake destroyed their homes now face imminent eviction. – Photo: Etant Dupain

Early in the process, Haiti’s electoral council had refused to allow Haiti’s largest party, Fanmi Lavalas, led by widely popular former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to run candidates, somewhat akin to not allowing Democrats or Republicans to run in this country, only more so, since Fanmi Lavalas wins every honest election with overwhelming majorities. Most Fanmi Lavalas members boycotted these “elections.”

First round voting took place on Nov. 28, 2010. Voter rolls contained the names of many of the 310,000 people who had died in the earthquake, and people had no idea where to vote. The number of polling places was reduced from around 12,000 in the last genuinely democratic election in 2000 to fewer than a thousand this time, helping to create the appearance of a large turnout while keeping turnout low. Official results claim that 23 percent of the electorate voted, but on-the-ground observers claim turnout was much lower.

By noon, 12 of the candidates, including Michel Martelly and Mirlande Manigat, had joined together to denounce the massive fraud and demand the “elections” be cancelled. That evening, however, Edmond Mulet, head of the U.N. occupation force in Haiti, called them both to say they were in the “run-off,” and they withdrew their opposition. Then the results were announced: Manigat first, Jude Celestin, the favorite of then-current President Preval, second, with Martelly a close third.

Protests broke out all over Haiti. The media credited the outrage to Martelly supporters, but people from many political tendencies protested the phony elections, the exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas, the U.N. occupation and the introduction of cholera into Haiti by U.N. troops.

The “international community” sent an electoral commission from the Organization of American States to “recount the votes.” A report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research states: “The amount of votes not counted or counted wrong in this election is huge … Based on the numbers of irregularities, it is impossible to determine who should advance to a second round.” Nevertheless, the OAS decided the “run-off” should be between Manigat and Martelly, in spite of several violations of Haitian law, and Hillary Clinton personally went to Haiti to enforce the message.

Significantly, on Jan. 16, former dictator Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier returned to Haiti from France, made only more relevant by links of both candidates to Haiti’s Duvalierist past connections, which have been unreported in the international press.

Fraudulently elected President Michel Martelly, shown here with former President Rene Preval, is accused by many of sanctioning the evictions of hundreds of homeless camp dwellers even though they were ordered by Delmas Mayor Wilson Jeudy. Jeudy explained: “We cannot give people a public square as a gift, to set up tents favorable to gang activity ... This evacuation takes place in two stages: The first step is to eliminate all the empty tents, suspected to serve as hideouts for gangs. The second step will be to begin discussions from today with people living in other tents, to see how the town hall can displace them.”

Martelly quickly became a bitter Lavalas opponent, attacking the popular movement in his songs played widely on Haitian radio. Martelly “was closely identified with sympathizers of the 1991 military coup that ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide,” the Miami Herald observed in 1996, and ran with members of the vicious FRAPH death squad from that period, infamous for gang rapes and killing with impunity. On the day of Aristide’s return to Haiti, two days before the “run-off,” Martelly was caught in a video on YouTube insulting Aristide and Lavalas: “The Lavalas are so ugly. They smell like s**t. F**k you, Lavalas. F**k you, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.”

Martelly’s candidacy had significant backing from an anonymous Florida supporter who hired the Spanish public relations firm Ostos & Sola to manage his campaign. This same company secured Felipe Calderón the presidency in Mexico and worked on John McCain’s campaign, so there are powerful forces behind Michel Martelly.

In his first visit to the United States, Martelly met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, officials from the IMF, the World Bank and the InterAmerican Development Bank, indications of where his allegiances lie. Clinton stated the U.S. is behind him “all the way.” Since his return, Haitian police have violently obliterated three camps of internally displaced persons living on public land in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, destroying belongings and violently beating people with batons.

In his visit to Washington, Martelly announced his intention to reconstitute the Haitian army, disbanded by President Aristide when he left office in 1995, one of Aristide’s most popular decisions. The Haitian army grew out of the Garde d’Haiti, created by the United States Marines after an almost two decade-long U.S. occupation that ended in 1934. It was developed from the model of the Nicaraguan National Guard, which was established the year before to secure the dictatorship of Somoza after the Marine occupation of that country.

The Garde d’Haiti operated with impunity, was widely hated by most Haitians, and became an important mechanism through which the U.S. controlled events in Haiti. Since Haiti has no external enemies, the purpose of this new army, like the old one, will be to repress the popular grassroots movement led by President Aristide, who was finally able to return to his homeland on March 18 to a massive outpouring of love from his supporters after seven years of exile in South Africa. (See “School of the Americas: The Haitian Case” by Adrianne Aron.)

Haiti now finds itself at a crossroads. On one side is the Lavalas movement, which has won every honest election in which it has participated. Aristide put the needs of poor Haitians ahead of the demands of international and national elites, though by doing so he created powerful enemies. (See Haiti Action Committee’s “We Will Not Forget.”) The Haitian majority has tasted real freedom and democracy and will not willingly return to the bad old days of Duvalier, which makes the army restoration all the more ominous.

On the other side is Haiti’s tiny elite, supported by the “international community” and a 12,318 member U.N. occupation force. They rigged these “elections” in a desperate effort to present an illusion of democracy to the world and to insure that transnational corporations will not find their power and privileges in any way limited in Haiti. They have selected Martelly as the new face of this repression, paid for by an anonymous millionaire in Florida. Baby Doc lurks in the background while he dines in fine homes, unable to leave the country, as a court decides whether or not to charge him with corruption and embezzlement, while ignoring his far more significant crimes against humanity.

The choice could not the more clear: The twice elected Aristide vs. the never elected dictator Duvalier. The impoverished majority vs. an entrenched elite backed by international bankers. A nation born of rebellion against African enslavement vs. the countries of the former slave masters. An economy for all vs. an economy for a few. One person, one vote vs. might makes right. Unarmed demonstrators vs. tanks and death squads.

Haiti needs to be part of the larger global conversation about democracy and repression, so present in world consciousness with the Arab Spring. As in Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Honduras, Uganda and other countries, Haitians have been shot dead in the streets protesting, ever since a military occupation overthrew the overwhelmingly popular, twice democratically elected President Aristide in 2004.

The obstacles remain challenging, with the imposition of Martelly and the restoration of the army and Duvalier only the latest ones, but to quote Dr. King, “The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Charlie Hinton, a member of the Haiti Action Committee, may be reached at ch_lifewish@yahoo.com.

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by Congressman Donald M. Payne of New Jersey and Congresswomen Yvette D. Clarke of New York, Frederica Wilson of Florida and Maxine Waters of California

Imagine how these children feel, having survived the violent earthquake a year and a half ago, now violently evicted from their tent camp “home” with no place to go and no way to keep their bedding dry during the rainy season. – Photo: Etant Dupain

It is even more disturbing that this incident occurred during the day while many Haitian women and men were out in search of employment. Those who stayed behind witnessed the destruction of their belongings while some were violently beaten with batons by police.

During the same time, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) Camp Coordination and Camp Management Cluster sent correspondence about the cancellation of this week’s cluster meeting, as well as the agenda for the next meeting which includes a discussion on the Martelly administration’s “Return and Relocation” pilot program.

However, there was no acknowledgement of the violent obliteration of camps in Port-au-Prince. This is of great concern, and as United States members of Congress, we will thoroughly look into this matter.

The police and mayor of Delmas arrived without warning and destroyed the tents of hundreds of homeless earthquake survivors living in Kafou Ayopo camp at the airport intersection. – Photo: Etant Dupain

During President Martelly’s visit to the United States, we were all encouraged by his assertion that Haiti will face a new day — a new beginning. We extended and continue to extend our arms to assist and support the people of Haiti and its government as it transitions upward. We will not, however, idly stand by and hear such reports of evictions without seeking an explanation or taking action.

We understand that the land issues are extremely complex in Haiti and that there is an urgent need to create the appearance of progress. However, this cannot be done by evicting people off of public land with no place to go.

There must be an accelerated effort to remove the rubble and repair livable buildings and build permanent shelter. As representatives who have historically supported the advancement and prosperity of Haiti and its Diaspora, it is our hope that President Martelly, the United States and the international community are aware of these forced evictions and are taking adequate steps to address this issue.

To reach these Black Congressional Caucus members, email Communications Director Stephanie L. Young at Stephanie.Young@mail.house.gov.

Homeless Haitian earthquake victims violently evicted from tent camps in midst of rainy season

Just one week into his mandate, is this the change new President Michel Martelly promised?

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Washington, D.C. – Let Haiti Live and TransAfrica Forum are gravely concerned about the wellbeing of homeless earthquake survivors in the Delmas neighborhood of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince. On May 23, the Haitian National Police and agents from the mayor’s office in Delmas arrived without warning and violently destroyed the makeshift shelters of internally displaced people (IDPs).

Police, under orders from the mayor, not only destroyed the camp but shredded the tents that were the only shelter hundreds of families had. – Photo: Etant Dupain

These forced evictions are taking place in the midst of the rainy season. Homeless families are now without even the most rudimentary shelter and have nowhere else to go.

The mayor of Delmas, Wilson Jeudy, announced he would continue to evict IDPs in the Delmas area. People were injured as the police swung batons. Later as people protested in front of their devastated camp, the police fired shots to disburse the crowd and continued to beat those who came within arm’s reach.

Life is becoming more untenable for victims of Haiti’s earthquake. After 17 months living under torn tarps and tents, families are now being forcibly evicted from the public and private property where they have been living for more than a year.

A little boy whose only home was this camp, known as Kafou Ayopo, searches for his family’s clothing, bedding, cooking utensils – anything that survived the violent eviction. Many residents who tried to salvage their belongings were beaten by police. – Photo: Etant Dupain

President Martelly promised to resolve the problem of IDPs on both public and private land, but after his campaign for change, many did not believe he would continue with illegal forced evictions. Neither President Martelly nor his representatives were at the scene of the violent destruction in Delmas today.

Also missing from the scene were representatives of the United Nations’ Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) cluster. And despite being responsible for management of the camps, the CCCM’s leadership from the Organization for International Migration (OIM) canceled this week’s cluster meeting. OCHA recently reported that at least 50 percent of IDP camps were under threat of forced eviction, yet evictions and relocation did not even appear as main issues for the CCCM this week.

For more information and to help spread the word, contact Nicole C. Lee, Esq., president of TransAfrica Forum (U.S. – English), (202) 270-0774; Etant Dupain, director of Bri Kouri Nouvel Gaye (Haiti – Creole, Spanish, French), +509-3768-0221; Melinda Miles, director of Let Haiti Live (U.S. – English, Creole), (413) 923-8345. For more photos of the destroyed camp, see Etant Dupain Photos.

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