Haiti’s agony

By Alfredo Peppard
Once again the people of Haiti suffer untold death and misery. The source this time was a force 7 earthquake which devastated the capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as Cite Soleil. A thumbnail sketch of Haitian history is in order before going further.
Haiti won its freedom from slavery and French rule after a prolonged and bloody struggle from 1791 to 1804, when it became the second independent republic in the Western Hemisphere. They maintained their independence until 1915, in which year President Woodrow Wilson ordered the invasion of Haiti on the pretext that the German navy was going to build a coaling station there.
Since that time, U.S. dominance of the island has made a once prosperous country into the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. The poverty and deforestation for which we bear the major responsibility deepened the disastrous impact of the earthquake. Concrete buildings that collapsed due to the absence of reinforcing steel and shanty towns on naked slopes that slid, burying untold numbers, both caused tens of thousands of avoidable deaths. The lack of a functioning government owing to recent U.S.-supported coups and invasions under Clinton and Bush II have meant no emergency services.
In keeping with this tragic history, the present U.S. aid to earthquake victims amounts to an armed invasion that has tied up both the airport and the seaport of Port-au-Prince for its own use, which is bringing in more troops and evacuating Americans. Amy Goodman, reporting from Port-au-Prince, sees the U.S. and U.N. military presence as preventing aid from getting to the people. As this is written, they are keeping food and medicine at the airport, even though there is no violence. Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico are doing far more for the victims.
Haiti needs heavy equipment, food and medicine, not airborne infantry and marines. Right wing organizations such as the American Heritage Foundation are calling this a golden opportunity to rebuild Haiti along the lines of neo-liberalism. This is Disaster Capitalism at its worst.
There is far more to be said about this situation than space allows. To hear Haitian voices speak out, go to the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (“HLLN”) on the internet. You will get a radically different view from that of our government and media.

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