Who profits from Haiti’s crisis

By: Jacques Dady Jean

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti has no intention to promote peace and democracy in Haiti; the mock election that the UN is maneuvering, is like a firefighter spraying petrol to combat a raging flame.  Although it is unrealistic to believe that an election can spontaneously change the long time autocratic tradition of Haiti, there are indications that a fair and democratic election can alleviate the wave of political turmoil and decrease violence on the troubled island. However, the UN is leading Haiti toward a bogus election that would definitely aggravate the political condition. No matter what happens, the party must go on.  The Western leaders and the Haitian sweatshop owners need a more obedient puppet in the National Palace.

Although both groups seem to agree on establishing a repressive regime in Haiti, they have a different agenda. Foreign diplomats are searching to maximize their profits by extending the crisis and the Haitian business community wants to hand pick a president and build up a new Haitian army to secure their traditional advantage.

Fence sitters who are surveying the condition of Haiti with naked eyes may ask themselves how anyone with a right mind would support the upcoming, costly, mock election that can only engender a dull leader with little or no popular support necessary to solve the problems that are affecting the nation, in addition a scheme election  will inevitably swell the existing violent quarrel among Haitians. Wary observers know that the unpleasant situation of Haiti benefits many; Haiti has become a very important source of revenue and fame for dim-witted foreign diplomats and lobbyists. If it weren’t for Haiti Roger Noriega, with his low academic achievement, would be forgotten in a basement of the State Department, like his peers. Today Noriega, who managed to earn only a bachelor’s degree in art, is now placed on the international stage thanks to his involvement in planning the removal of President Aristide from power.

The crisis of Haiti helps out France to repair its scramble relationship with the US. Finally France found an easy ground to carry out a regime change in collaboration with the US after its failure to join a more serious fight in Iraq. Most of the small nations engaged in the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Haiti are facing internal economic troubles and others are on the edge of economic disaster. The salary of a UN troop in Haiti is far better than what that same troop would earn back home and this fact is also true for civilian employees attached to the mission.

The food, bullets and other living accessories that are being used by the troops are not produced in Haiti, the purchase of these goods also injects money to the economy of the country where they are being manufactured. So as long as the socio-economic condition of Haiti is declining, there will be more violence and Haiti will become more dependable of foreign aid just for security purposes.

Amid the scandal over government corruption that forced one of President Lula’s prominent advisors to resign, IMF (International Monetary Fund) officials maintained that Brazil’s economy, the leading actor in Haiti’s mess, remains hale and hearty, a statement that is questioned by many economists.

In fact for the first time during the past two years, Brazil’s economy declined by .02% last week, which yields concerns among the investors. Despite the socialist rhetoric of President Lula, the socio-economic condition of Brazil has not changed a bit, African Brazilians represent the majority, but have continued to receive the lowest education; they are poor, unemployed, malnourished and neglected by local and federal government.

 Is it for any reason that Brazil was favored over Canada, France or United States of America to lead the Peacekeeping Mission in the wake of Aristide’s departure that put an end to democratic rules in Haiti?

Life in Brazil’s shantytowns is not any different from the life in Haiti’s ghettoes. The Brazilian media propagates the images of African Brazilians as criminals and thugs, the same way the Haitian mulattoes are managing to portray the poor in Haiti through their own controlled media.  Police presence is heavily felt in Brazil’s black populated areas, sometimes with heavy assault riffles aimed at inspiring fear and keeping dark skinned Brazilians quiet in poverty. Gang related violence has become a crisis in Rio and Sao Pauloa, illegal weapons come to Brazil from America, and so have the AK47 and other US made weapons that have inundated the ghettoes of Haiti.

With the social declining and the increase in unemployment among black Brazilians, training more officers for Peacekeeping missions in Haiti and hiring a few civilians to provide supporting logistics, is a great opportunity for President Lula, adding to the economic and business advantages generated by the mission.

The foreign diplomats and lobbyists involved in Haiti’s crisis have made millions and benefited from a worldwide stage to boost their name recognition. Why should they make faithful efforts to solve the problem? Considering the current brutal state of the nation of Haiti and the history of elections in the nation, no one needs to be seasoned political science professor or a CIA analyst to predict a general uprising after the upcoming mock election.

Radical politicians, greedy business owners and the UN are determined to follow the path dictated by their materialistic interests, instead of listening to the voice of reason. The Haitian people have seen glimpses of justice, freedom and liberty under the Lavalas regimes, they will never accept to live anymore in the darkness of fear.

Contrary to other places in the world, elections in Haiti are always a turning point that leads to political quarrel and violence.  Haitians are not educated to accept defeat, we are poisoned with the mentality that each person has to make it to the top and refuse to accept to be conquered. As children, we were trained to blame others for our own failure if we could not achieve our dream.

Even in the finest circumstances, we would not expect that any Haitian candidate would graciously make a concession speech and assist the winner to achieve the developmental growth of the country, with the exception of Marc L. Bazin, a proven leader with extended experience in the US democratic system or perhaps Professor Lesly Manigat. However, in case of a fair election with a massive voter turnout, the sore losers will not have a strong argument to contest the results. Such was the case in 1990 when 90% of the electors turned their vote in.  Today most Haitians already contest the current electoral counsel.

Due to the massive displacement of Haitians who are fleeing their towns or the country to escape from violence, the persecution of members of the Lavalas party, the fear of retribution and others, a low turn out is to be expected in the forthcoming election.

Another imperative is the lack of faith in Haiti’s electoral process and lack of trust in government, how can you convince a Haitian elector that his vote will be counted when even the elected president can be pressured to resign under horrible threat. This is the disadvantage of the US backed coup d’etat.

Under the Lavalas regime of President Rene Preval and President Jean Bertrand Aristide, the ruling party initiated a grass root economic project aimed at regaining the faith and confidence of the unfortunate in hard work, self-reliance and hope in the future. The most deprived citizens were able to obtain government-sponsored loans to start their own business.

Aristide multiplied schools in the countryside to give a chance to every child to earn at least the basic education, in neighborhoods where a school was not yet available the government made subsidized transportation available to all students. Aristide boosted the academic values of Haiti’s educational system by inviting specialists from Cuba and other countries to participate in the training of new engineers and medical doctors through a new modern University built near his residence in Tabar.

Noting that over the past 200 years, the current governing class who are managing to keep the power has allowed only 15% of the population to have access to elementary school. In Haiti, the market place was occupied by Middle Eastern and European descent until 1957, only in 1958 under Francois Duvalier’s regime was a dark skinned Haitian allowed to freely attend military, medical and engineering school in Haiti. Aristide launched a literacy program that gives the opportunity for adults to go to school at night to learn how to write and read. Peasants, farmers and youth organizations were allowed to actively participate in the decision-making process related to development projects in their neighborhoods.

In Haiti, the Mulatto clan that owned 90% of the country’s wealth offers gifts and sexual favors to government officials to obtain waivers for their taxes.  This is one of the reasons that Haiti has not had enough to invest in healthcare, agriculture and education. The only funds available were foreign aid. Aristide’s government redefined fiscal responsibilities in Haiti, for the first time, as they do in the US, homeowners and businesses were obligated to pay taxes. These democratic achievements shall not fade away into history because of the greed of a small group of citizens.

Aristide’s appeal to education and fiscal discipline was considered as a challenge to the traditional autocratic dominant class that cannot bear social change.

In order to bring peace and democracy in Haiti, the UN must agree that we Haitians are too far in history to accept to be ruled by fear and violence and engage the country in a faithful negotiation aimed a repairing the mistake made France, Canada and the US when they lent a hand to a well renowned group of bandits to overthrow a democratically elected president.

Honest citizens of Haiti shall not participate in these coming elections and those who participate in these elections are the enemy of the people and should be treated like enemy.

Jacques Dady Jean is a US trained engineer and the CEO of Town computer

I can be reached at Jacques@towncomputer.com