Editorial
The Tragedy of
Haiti
On January 12, an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale struck Haiti, with an epicentre close to the capital city of Port-au-Prince. That city and the nearby city of Jacomel were essentially levelled. Over 200,000 people were killed, 500,000 injured and more than one million people left homeless. Over three million people have been severely affected by the earthquake, left with little food or water. The scope of the devastation rivals that of the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, while being concentrated in one small, impoverished country as opposed to that disaster which was spread out over 14 countries.
The earthquake that hit Haiti, while powerful, is actually a scale of magnitude or two smaller than the most powerful earthquakes that have occurred over the past few decades. The massive destruction and loss of lives is not primarily a result of the magnitude of the earthquake, but rather of the crushing poverty of the country – the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere – and of the colonial and neo-colonial legacy of the nation.
Haiti has the honour of being the first independent nation in Latin America and the first independent post-colonial black nation in the world, having declared its independence from France in 1804. However, that honour came with a huge price tag, as the world’s big powers of the day – France, Britain and the United States – imposed a crippling embargo on the island nation. The embargo was only lifted in 1825 when Haiti agreed to pay 150 million francs in reparations to France for its losses of property and slaves. That debt weighed heavily on the Haitian economy for over a century, continuing until 1947.
The United States took control of Haiti’s national bank in 1911 and invaded the country in 1915 to protect American financial interests. The occupation continued until 1934 during which time the U.S. not only stole at least 40 percent of the country’s wealth, but also took measures which resulted in the concentration of the population in the slums of Port-au-Prince. The destruction of Haitian agriculture through the flooding of the country with cheap, subsidized American products during the 1970s and 1980s drove even more of the peasants into Port-au-Prince desperately seeking a livelihood. This concentration of the population in the capital city, coupled with substandard housing, are the main factors contributing to the extremely high death rate in the recent earthquake.
If the death and destruction resulting from the earthquake were not enough of a tragedy, the people of Haiti are now facing a second disaster in the form of imperialist “aid”. Within hours of the disaster, the U.S. began to pour over 20,000 marines into the country, occupying the Toussaint Louverture international airport and forcing emergency medical aid and food to be routed through the Dominican Republic, delaying its arrival by three crucial days. Aid stockpiled in U.S.-controlled areas sat undistributed for days and weeks under the hoax of the need to establish “security”. Despite numerous reports from aid workers that the situation remained calm and orderly, the Western media spread false rumours of widespread looting and rioting in order to justify the military occupation of the country.
Cuba, itself the victim of a brutal U.S. economic embargo, was the first country to provide medical assistance and material aid. It followed a policy of immediately handing over its relief supplies to the Haitian people who organized themselves to distribute the supplies to the most needy. Over 400 Cuban doctors were already working in the poorest district of Haiti and another 30 doctors were dispatched there within hours of the disaster. They immediately went to the areas that were the hardest hit and helped the Haitian people set up field hospitals.
On the other hand, the U.S. responded by preventing supplies from reaching the quake victims for several days and insisted that all distribution of aid should be carried out by American NGOs. Many Haitians complained that the international aid controlled by the U.S. was ending up in the hands of wealthy Haitians who were reselling it on the black market. It took almost a week to even deliver water to most of the victims and more than a month after the quake only 270,000, or about a quarter of the homeless, have received basic shelter. Many of the NGOs controlling the distribution of relief supplies are the same NGOs that helped finance and organize the U.S.-led coup against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. Since then they have also played a dirty role in stripping the Haitian state and the Haitian people of any control over the basic infrastructure of the society, paving the way for the privatization of the few remaining public services in Haiti. The January 25 international conference of “donor” states which was held in Montreal, adopted a “plan of action” to rebuild Haiti that placed the main emphasis on the “private sector”. With security in the hands of U.S. marines, its economy in the hands of the “private sector” and its social services in the hands of foreign corporations disguised as aid organizations, Haiti will become the new poster child for neo-liberalism and neo-colonialism.
For years, many people have been asking why the Americans and other imperialist powers would bother themselves with a tiny, impoverished country such as Haiti. The answer to that question is now becoming clear. Haiti is rapidly becoming the newest U.S. military base in the Caribbean. Situated very close to Cuba, it could be used to launch an invasion of that country, as well as against other U.S. targets in the region, such as Venezuela. The complete neo-liberalization of the Haitian economy also serves as a blueprint for imperialist designs on the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America. In addition, Haiti is still being punished for its audacity of achieving independence and the abolition of slavery two centuries ago. As is the case with Cuba, the imperialists will never reconcile themselves to those Haitians who aspire for independence, sovereignty and the right to choose their own course in life.
The imperialists are very quick to capitalize on every disaster – natural or man-made – to advance their hegemonic aims. It took the U.S. imperialists mere hours after the earthquake struck to begin their current military invasion and occupation of Haiti, while it took the same military several days to respond to the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.It is quite possible that the decision to occupy the country was taken months ago, with the U.S. administration merely waiting for an appropriate pretext to carry it out. The tragedy of Haiti is a legacy of colonialism and imperialism. There is little doubt that the death and destruction caused by a natural disaster is only the beginning of the current tragedy afflicting the long-suffering Haitian people.