By
W. T. Whitney Jr.
Beginning on February 7, Haitians have
been in the streets protesting against corruption, high prices, shortages,
inflation, and power outages. Demonstrators are demanding that President
Jovenel Moïse, in power since January 2017, resign. Moïse blames the
disturbances on “armed groups and drug traffickers” and is calling for
negotiation.
Facing police brutality, masses of
Haitians have blocked roads, stoned officials, burned vehicles, and ransacked
stores; nine are dead and over 100 wounded. Food and drinkable water are
scarce. The United States withdrew
non-emergency diplomatic representatives and issued travel warnings. The Trump
administration indicated humanitarian aid may be on the way.
Haitians protested massively in
October 2018 after the highly indebted government raised gasoline prices. It
was complying with instructions from the International Monetary Fund in order
to obtain low-interest loans. The protests forced a reversal of the price hike
and continued.
Currently the Haitian people’s main
complaint is corruption arising out of a 2006 oil deal with Venezuela. Haiti,
led by President René Préval, was one of 17 countries joining Venezuela’s
Petrocaribe project. The agreement called for Haiti to pay for 60 percent of
the oil within 90 days and the remainder after 25 years at 1 percent interest.
Haiti presently owes Venezuela $2 billion.
The government sold the oil to private
entities and accumulated some $4 billion in funds. The idea was to use the
money for sanitation, health care, education, infrastructure, and agricultural
innovations. Needs mounted after the 2010 earthquake.
The funds were “misused,
misappropriated, or embezzled by government officials and their cronies,”
according to reports released by the Haitian Senate in 2017. Money flowed into
the coffers of President Moïse’s business and into the hands of leaders of the
political party formed by Michel Martelly, Moïse’s predecessor as president.
Haiti’s involvement with Petrocaribe
ended in October 2017. U.S. anti-Venezuela sanctions had prevented Haiti from
paying on its oil bill with Venezuela—or “gave them a golden excuse not to,”
according to close Haiti observer Kim Ives. “Life in Haiti,” he writes, “which
was already extremely difficult, now became untenable.” Ives castigates Haiti’s
January 10 vote at the Organization of American States as “cynical betrayal by
Moïse and his cronies.” That day Haiti
supported a U.S. motion declaring President Maduro’s Venezuelan government to
be “illegitimate.” Ives asserts that for deeply unhappy Haitians, “treachery
against the Venezuelans after their exemplary solidarity…was the last straw.”
These troubles play out amid social
disaster. For example, some 80 percent of Haitians live in poverty. Income
inequality in Haiti, as reflected by the Gini index, rates as the world’s
fourth most extreme case. Life expectancy ranks 154th in the world, and 40
percent of Haitians depend on agricultural income, while 80 percent of farms
can’t feed families living on them.
This account now turns to background
information. To begin: Michel Martelly became president courtesy of the U.S.
government. Taking advantage of heightened distress in Haiti after the 2010
earthquake, the Obama administration retaliated against then-president René
Préval. His offense was to have cooperated with the Venezuelan government of
President Chávez in the matter of cheap oil.
Endorsed by military and paramilitary
leaders, Martelly was able to compete in the 2010 presidential elections only
after the Organization of American States and the U.S. government strong-armed
Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew
to Port-au-Prince to urge Préval “to get out of the way.”
In 2015 Martelly protégé Jovenel Moïse
was elected president. As shown by legal observers from abroad, voting was
marked by a 26 percent voter turnout, irregular procedures at the polls, and 50
percent fake ballots. The Electoral Council diagnosed fraud, appointed an
interim president, and set repeat presidential elections for November 2016.
Moïse won. The turnout was 21 percent. In Haiti, consequently, “there’s a huge
apathy when it comes to elections.”
It wasn’t always that way. Progressive
theologian Jean-Bertrand Aristide became president in 1990 with 67 percent of
the vote. A U.S.-engineered military coup removed him eight months later. Paramilitaries
led by CIA associate Emmanuel Constant subjected Aristide’s supporters to a
reign of terror. He was re-elected in 2000 with a 92 percent plurality.
Paramilitaries kidnapped him in 2004, again under U.S. auspices. The U.S.
government transported him to the Central African Republic.
The United States isn’t alone in
abusing Haiti’s national sovereignty. Soldiers of a United Nations
“stabilization mission” arrived shortly after Aristide’s removal and stayed
until 2017. Those troops introduced a cholera epidemic which added to Haiti’s
woes. Haitian people were never allowed to rule their country.(IPA Service)
Courtesy:
People’s World
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