It’s the
second anniversary of the earthquake that shook the island of
Haiti. The 7.0-magnitude quake created yet another setback for a
people who seem to be perpetual victims of disasters.
Some Haitians
believe the island is cursed because of its history of slavery and
repression. Others lift up the battle for independence from French
domination led by Toussaint L’Ouverture and believe they can be
free again. The model of corruption perfected by the brutal regimes
of Jean Claude Duvaliers (Papa Doc and Baby Doc) who were propped
up by the U.S. government continues to be fine-tuned by government
and business officials.
Current
photos of Haiti don’t show much progress since the earthquake that
rocked Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital. Piles of rubble,
teetering buildings and sprawling tent cities remind us of the
challenges the small island continues to face. The quake affected
an estimated 3 million people and displaced about 1.5 million
Haitians.
The death
toll, like the billions in aid, is impossible to track or confirm.
The death estimates range from 50,000 to a half million. Financial
aid swings from $3 billion to $12 billion. Haiti has no system f
accounting for births or deaths. And there’s definitely been no
accounting of the millions that poured in so quickly in the days
after the earthquake for recovery and rebuilding.
Still, only a
fraction of the pledged monies by governments has been received.
The international shell game played in the face of such a disaster
is outrageous. Robert Fatton, professor of government and foreign
affairs at the University of Virginia, says that Haitians received
a puny 1 percent of the U.S. dollars that were pledged.
“If you read
the UN Report,” Fatton says, 99 percent of the U.S. dollars went to
the “U.S. military, the State Department, NGOs and contractors. It
ended up returning to the same place it came from.”
Not everyone
is exploiting the situation. OXFAM is questioning why rice is being
imported from the U.S. by the shiploads instead of helping Haitian
farmers to grow their own. At one time, Haiti was producing its own
rice. Now, it imports 60 percent of its rice from this country.
Who was
mostly responsible for this particular undermining of Haitian
agriculture? None other than President Bill Clinton whose home
state is our country’s largest rice-producing state. The irony of
this is Clinton was assigned to Haiti as the UN Special Envoy to
oversee the country’s reconstruction efforts. Not surprising, he
has been unresponsive to repeated requests for accountability by
watchdog groups. MINUSTAH (UN Stabilization Mission) also needs to
be held accountable.
When people
of the world look at Haiti’s dismal situation, the tendency is to
blame the victim. But a closer look reveals many bloodsuckers that
keep the country from standing on its own two feet and taking care
of its people.
Haiti is
bowed but not broken. Haitians continue to find dignity in their
lives, and hope in their futures.
Note: To
address the cholera outbreak since the earthquake, monies are being
collected for aqua purification tablets. Send donations to the St.
Louis Project for Haiti at PO Box 170094, St. Louis, MO 63117. This
is a group of St. Louis-based Haitians and friends who are
committed to Haiti’s people.
