6 months on...the drama continues

6 months on, the hope and aspirations of a little nation crushed by the terrible earthquake of January 12 that affected 3 million people, left more than a quarter of a million dead and 1.5 million homeless seem to have vanished. With the coming hurricane season, the already precarious situation is likely to get worse despite the heroic efforts of international organizations such as Doctors Without Borders (DWB) and the Red Cross. The billions pledged by the international community for a project of reconstruction of Haiti’s infrastructure have yet to materialize, the result of phony accounting, misplaced priorities of those professing to help (the donor countries) and the Préval government.
Without a doubt, many promises were not altruistic but in line with the spirit of international cooperation that rests on jockeying for political and economic advantages. Moreover, part of the reconstruction money is actually debt forgiveness and food donations rather than direct financial assistance, while the rest is subject to stringent requirements from individual donor countries. For example, a donor country financing the rebuilding of government offices would want the contract awarded to its national firms or insist that specific legislations be enacted to protect its larger economic interests. It was in that context the truncated Parliament was forced to relinquish its constitutional authority by ceding administrative control to the foreign-dominated Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) which will decide where and how to spend the reconstruction money.
And, once you add the dysfunctional state of the Haitian government (a caretaker president and an illegal Parliament), the alibi for not doing anything becomes clearer. Most importantly, the notion that general elections amid the piles of rubbles and despair should be the first step toward stability is absurd and misguided, seeing that the electoral commission is thoroughly corrupt and general participation remains in doubt. These elections being pushed down the throat of the Haitian people could only exacerbate the volatile situation as they are geared toward cementing René Préval’s pitiful legacy, therefore detrimental to the country’s future. Lately, Préval has gotten so overconfident (he flatly rejected the revamping of the electoral commission and had attempted to prolong its mandate past the constitutional date) that he is bound to say or do something that alienates the powers-that-be, then the chicken will come home to roost. Poor Préval, he is as expendable as Jean Bertrand Aristide but remains oblivious to that simple fact. His machinations to cement his legacy (alienating old friends and creating a new political party) may come back to haunt him because the interests of the big donors are greater than those of a lame duck president of Haiti.
Does it make sense trying to rebuild a destroyed nation with the same politic of exclusion and impunity that is at the roots of its problems, notwithstanding the wanton physical destruction wrought by the January 12 earthquake? It appears that the consensus within the international community and the Préval regime revolves around this idea given that the edict against the participation of the country’s largest political party in the fall elections and the blanket immunity provided to those who committed mass murders during the reign of terror under Gérard Latortue (2004-06).
The de-Lavalastization campaign during which notorious mass murderers were let loose and thousands of Haitians disappeared remains one of the darkest periods in Haitian history. Any Haitian who protested was conveniently branded a criminal or terrorist and subjected to arbitrary imprisonment. Yvon Neptune, Haiti’s last prime minister before the February 29, 2004 invasion of the country by French and U.S forces, was immediately imprisoned, so were other eminent members of the Lavalas Party. One (Sò Ann) was even accused of having participated in the ritual killing of a child with Jean Bertrand Aristide the exiled former president and jailed without ever appearing before a judge. Postscript: (Having spent two years in jail, Sò Ann was eventually released; the fathom parents of the supposedly murdered child have yet to come forward).
Incredibly, all of this was done in the name of instilling decency in Haitian politic, promoting democracy and restoring stability. If this perplexing formula succeeds in overcoming the challenges facing Haiti (building a stable state and achieving social peace and economic prosperity), it should be recognized as one the United Nations’ greatest achievements and, by extension, western civilization. With the powers behind the coup of February 29, 2004 and their local allies assuming complete control over Haiti’s destiny, the situation is starting to resemble that of the 1915-46 period when the tiny mulatto elite controlled every aspect of the country’s social, political and economic life while the black majority is relegated to the status of a supporting cast. Simply put, the modest gains achieved by the black majority since 1946 are gradually being erased with the approval of Haiti’s political class.
To sum it all up, Haiti’s future is being help up by international politicking and a rotten political system that is reinventing itself and getting stronger under the Security Council mandated occupation (2004-?), particularly in the aftermath of the January 12 tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are living in tent cities and surviving on food handouts, while the project of rebuilding the country’s destroyed infrastructure remains in its embryonic stage. Maybe Paul, the octopus that correctly predicted many of the last world cup matches, can tell the world what is in store for Haiti.