Haiti Report for May 17, 2006
IN THIS REPORT:
- Senators and Deputies of 48th Legislature Sworn In
- Student Groups Call for Investigation into Interim Regime
- President Rene Preval Inaugurated
- Inauguration Day Protesters Call for Arrest of Latortue and
Others in Interim Regime
- World Bank Calls for Donors to Work Quickly to Help Haiti; ICF
Will Meet:
- US Participating in Meetings to Aid Haiti
- UN Security Council Congratulates New Haitian Government
- First Shipment of Oil from Venezuela for Petrocaribe
- Jubilee USA Network Calls for Debt Cancellation for New Haitian Government
- First Census in 24 Years Underlines Pressing Problems in Haiti
- Grassroots Leader Rene Civil Arrested at Border
- Governor-General of Canada Delivers Message of Hope
- Haiti excerpt from new report: "The climate of poverty"
Senators and Deputies of 48th Legislature Sworn In:
Haiti's first parliament in two years was formally installed
Tuesday as President-elect Rene Preval prepared to take office and
steer this impoverished nation toward stability. Amid boisterous
cheers from supporters, legislators in the Senate took the oath of
office, following deputies in the lower house by a day. Stephen
Benoit, a deputy from Preval's Lespwa party, said the body's biggest
challenge will be finishing its four-year term - something that's
never occurred in Haiti's chaotic 202-year history. "That's the
first challenge, to last the four years without a coup d'etat,
without the president saying you're not going to finish your
term," Benoit said after deputies held their first
legislativesession. "The population is counting on us. We need
to deliver and we
need to deliver quickly."
But getting work done won't be easy. Preval has had to reach out
to rival parties for legislative support since Lespwa, which means
"hope" in Creole, lacks a majority in parliament. Preval
told reporters Tuesday that he would work to form "cohesion"
among Haiti's fractured society, including the former ruling Lavalas
party of Aristide. Rudy Heriveaux, a Lavalas senator, said the party
was ready to work for "national reconciliation" but will
call on Preval to release dozens of Aristide allies jailed without
charge under the U.S.-backed interim government. He added that
Lavalas would also seek Aristide's return from exile in South Africa.
Preval has said that Haitian law allows Aristide to return, but
hasn't said if he would welcome him back. (AP, 5/9)
The senators of the 48th legislature were sworn in this Tuesday at
the legislative palace before a provisional office presided by the
oldest senator, Laurent
Féquière Mathurin of the Hope Platform party and
assisted by senators Fritz Carlos Lebon, first secretary and Nenel
Cassy, second secretary. Three committees were created to validate
the powers of the 27 elected senators. A second vote will be held to
decide the remaining three senate seats in the North-East department.
The ceremony took place under extremely difficult conditions. It was
very hot due to the several week-old black-out in the capital and due
to the small size of the room which could not hold journalists and
delegates. Nevertheless, several parliamentarians declared themselves
satisfied with the swearing-in ceremony.
The third Hope party senator for the North department, Antoine
René Samson, promised to work to improve the quality of life
for those living in the country's poorest neighbourhoods. He warned
all those who intend to misuse government funds, funds that should
instead, he stated, be invested in development projects aimed at
alleviating the misery of the population. The parliamentary invited
all Haitians to reconcile and cooperate in order to help rebuild
Haiti. For his part, the second senator for the West, Rudy
Hérivaux (Lavalas), stated that he was proud to return to
parliament. He also stated that he was conscious of the magnitude of
the responsibilities and challenges that await the new parliament.
"We will have to work in a spirit of sacrifice and
reconciliation to make laws that will help put an end to exile, to
political persecutions" stated Hérivaux.
The deputies for their part were sworn in Monday evening by candle
light due to the black-out. These parliamentarians also attended
Tuesday a symbolic swearing-in ceremony only to be able to take
several photos as souvenirs. The deputy for the Abricot district in
the South-West of the county, Jean Rigaud Bélizaire, denounced
the miserable conditions within which the swearing-in ceremony of the
lower chamber members took place. "I was astonished, as a newly
elected member, to see parliamentarians being sworn in a room lighted
by candlelights" deplored the deputy asking himself how
parliament will be able to carry out its work under these conditions.
Jean Rigaud Bélizaire criticized members of the commission who
were responsible for preparing the legislative palace to accommodate
the 48th legislature. An interim office was also created in the
chamber of deputies. It is presided by South Saint-Louis deputy
Mervélus Félix Jean. Joël Louis Joseph and Jean
David Génesté are respectively the first and second
secretaries. (AHP, 5/9)
Student Groups Call for Investigation into Interim Regime:
The Group for University Reflection and Research for Integrated
Development (GREUDI) and the Combined Union of Haitian University
Students (UNICEH), filed a complaint this Friday demanding an
investigation into the management of dignitaries of the interim
regime. The general coordinator of GREIDI, Jean Gedeon and the
secretary general of UNICEH, Apollon Renelsond, said that interim
authorities need to give a full accounting of their management during
the last two weeks. According to these students, the parliamentarians
should lead an investigation to identify and arrest all those who
have been involved in mismanaging public funds and other resources of
the country. The interim regime is being accused of corruption, of
not respecting the law, of grave human rights violations, of having
freed individuals found guilty and others accused of involvement in
documented crimes and having imprisoned political adversaries. The
two student spokespersons accused the interim regime of having gone
over its prerogative by having signed contracts for sea floor mining
with foreign companies. Jean Gedeon and Apollon Renelsond also
demanded explanations about the unconstitutional agreement signed by
Prime Minister Gerard Latortue with MINUSTAH which established their
training of the Haitian National Police. (AHP, 5/12)
President Rene Preval Inaugurated:
Excerpts from his speech:
Haitian people, Haitian people, respect to you...
President Boniface Alexandre, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue,
cabinet members [applause], you have done everything you could so
Haiti could get to this point. It was not easy, but we got there.
[Applause] Members of the Provisional Electoral Council, your job was
not easy, either. Since 1987, elections in Haiti have been trouble.
The first one ended in blood. Most of the others ended in challenges.
These elections also had their problems, but everybody acknowledges
that there was no violence. The people participated en masse, and
everybody acknowledges the results. [Applause] But the work is not
over yet. The [elections for] the territorial collectivities, which
are the foundation of the country's economic, social, and political
organization, still need to be held. The peasants, in particular, are
waiting for these elections like dry land waits for rain so
decentralization can start putting an end to exclusion.
Juan Gabriel Valdes, your mission is over. [Applause] Your job was
not easy, either, but you can be happy. The results are before us
today. Valdes, your mission is over. [Applause] The UN
secretary-general will have to replace you quickly, because the
mission of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti [Minustah] is not
yet over. Minustah will continue to accompany the Haitian people, but
this time we will ask it to help us with more tractors, bulldozers
[applause], loaders [applause], trucks [applause] to build roads, to
make canals to water our lands. [Applause] These are the materials
that are necessary today to stabilize the country. There is no longer
any need for tanks. [Applause] Minustah will also have to help with
the professionalization of our police. Haitian people: We are talking
while looking each other in the eye. [Applause] I am looking you in
the eye. Look me in the eye. [Applause] We have taken a great step
with the elections. The president just took the oath. The parliament
has been installed, and another government is going to be appointed.
What is going on? What are we going to do? I say: What are we
[emphasizes "we"] going to do? We, Haitians, political
parties, people's organizations, employers' organizations, union
organizations, women's organizations, the youth, the religious
organizations, the socioprofessional organizations, peasants,
students, academics, peasants [repeats as heard], and so forth. What
are we going to do? What has to be done? The answer is simple. The
answer is clear to me: We have to make peace. [Applause] We have to
make peace through a permanent dialogue. We must talk to one another
so we can decide together where we want to go together, at what
speed, and with what means. With the means of people, with the means
of money.
If we do not talk to one another, we will fight one another, and
there will be no peace. We will fight not because we do not love one
another, but just because we do not know what the others want. The
dialogue has already begun. Peace has already begun. We must
strengthen dialogue so peace can be strengthened. Peace is the key to
open all other doors [applause]: investment doors to create jobs,
jobs that will fight unemployment; doors for more tourists to enter
the country; doors for more roads, more schools, more hospitals, and
more national production. It is peace that can allow sellers to go up
and down.
Haitian people: The dialogue has already begun. Peace has already
begun to be established. Let us widen the dialogue. Let us strengthen
it. Let us talk with patience, intelligence, and humility, while
nobody acts arrogantly.
Haitian people: In four days, it will be 18 May [Flag Day]. We
will go to Arcahaie [where the flag was created on 18 May 1803, after
a congress during which Gen Jean-Jacques Dessalines, leader of the
blacks, and Gen Alexandre Petion, leader of the mulattoes, decided to
set aside their differences and join forces against the French and
fight for Haiti's independence] to honour our ancestors Petion and
Dessalines, who gave us the example of dialogue in order to establish
peace between them. That peace resulted in the creation of Haiti.
Today, let us follow their example. Let us use dialogue to establish
peace among ourselves, which will result in a Haiti without foreign
troops. [Applause]
Haitian people: The solution of the country's problem is in our
hands, as Haitians. [Applause] The solution begins with dialogue so
we can make peace. Nobody can do it for us. We do not need anybody's
help to do it, either. Minustah, the IMF, the IDB, the European
Union, and bilateral cooperation cannot do it for us. While we thank
them in advance for the support they will keep giving us [applause],
I am certain, Haitian people, that if we continue to engage in
dialogue, if we continue to make peace, we will be able to agree on
what we need to do, so that when I leave office on 7 February 2011,
we can together admire another Haiti [applause], a Haiti with more
roads, more jobs, more food, more schools and more hospitals, a more
beautiful Haiti. Please, help me, help the country, and help
yourselves. Thank you very much. [Applause] (Signal FM Radio, 5/14)
President Rene Preval took office and appealed for peace in his
troubled Caribbean nation on Sunday as Haiti inaugurated him. Scores
of people chanted for Aristide's return from exile in South Africa as
Preval took the oath of office. Shortly before the ceremony, police
and foreign troops fired tear gas at the nearby National Penitentiary
to quell a riot. Preval, a 63-year-old agronomist who was president
of Haiti from 1996 to 2001, takes the place of a U.S.-backed interim
administration appointed in February 2004. He appealed for peace in
the poorest country in the Americas, which is struggling to establish
a stable democracy after decades of dictatorship and military rule
and recent political violence that took hundreds of lives. Tens of
thousands of Haitians viewed the ceremony under the watchful eyes of
blue-helmeted U.N. peacekeepers perched on rooftops. No foreign
leaders attended the inauguration, but guests included Canada's
Haitian-born governor-general, Michaelle Jean, and Florida Gov. Jeb
Bush, the brother of the U.S. president. In the front row, seated
next to the president of the Supreme Court, was Prosper Avril, a
former dictator who escaped two years ago from a penitentiary where
he was held as a threat to national security under Aristide.
"The ceremony today marks the return to constitutional
order," said Joseph Lambert, speaker of the National Assembly,
as he turned the presidential sash over to Preval, the only leader in
Haiti's 202-year history to win a democratic election, serve a full
term and peacefully hand power to a successor. Preval took office
more than two months after he was declared the winner of Haiti's
chaotic February 7 presidential election, a vote he claimed was
tainted by fraud. Haiti's capital was under tight security with about
4,500 Haitian police and U.N. peacekeepers perched on armored
personnel carriers and patrolling the streets.
Shortly before Preval took the oath, police and troops fired tear
gas to halt a riot at the overcrowded penitentiary. Prisoners said as
many as 12 people were killed in the uprising, but officials said
several inmates were only wounded. "The prisoners said 'long
live Preval.' They said they are political
prisoners and they should be released," said Marc Wilkens
Jean, Haiti's national prisons director. Rights groups say the U.S.-backed
interim government appointed after Aristide's departure locked up
hundreds of Aristide supporters without charges. "Whether they
want it or not, Aristide should come back," demonstrators
chanted outside Parliament. Their voices were heard inside the
Chamber of Deputies where newly elected legislators gathered for the
inaugural. The United States, a major behind-the-scenes player in
Haiti, has welcomed Preval's election, but American officials have
warned him not to bring Aristide back from exile. (Reuters, 5/14)
Inauguration Day Protesters Call for Arrest of Latortue and Others
in Interim Regime:
Dozens of people rallied at the edges of the legislature, calling
for the arrest and prosecution of former interim Prime Minister
Gerard Latortue and numerous other dignitaries within the transition
government whom they accuse of being responsible for crimes against
the people of Haiti throughout the last two years. The protestors, in
a spontaneous demonstration, accused the "technocrats" of
catastrophically mismanaging the country and for leading a witch-hunt
against Aristide supporters since his exile February 29, 2004. The
demonstrators reiterated declarations made by Mr. Latortue on
September 30, 2004, during a protest by thousands of
Lavalas-supporters calling for a return to constitutional order.
Gérard Latortue said at that time, "They attacked us so
we fired on them, many of them fell." Many protestors died that
day, with many others wounded. The spokesperson for the national
police, Gessie Cameau Coicou, then attempted to justify the killings
by suggesting that bandits also shot. Supporters of the interim
government accused those living in the poor areas of Bel-Air and
Cité Soleil of launching, what they called "Operation Baghdad".
The demonstrators on Sunday claim that Latortue must be arrested
and charged according to the law, as well as those who financed the
massacres and summary executions against those living in the slums.
Two parliamentarians of the 48th legislature, Deputy Smith Ronald and
Senator Evalière Beauplan, say that this reaction is to be
expected given that, as they say, it is clear that the last 2 years
in transition were marred by grave crimes, administrative nightmares
and fraud. The parliamentarians gave as examples the blocked funds
for improvements made to the building that is home to the Parliament.
They also cited illegal contracts and agreements, signed by the
interim government. The two officials also reminded the public that
justice cannot follow the same path it has these last two years.
Judicial authorities will no longer be able to act on orders from
political authorities to imprison innocent people because of their
political opinions or set free individuals found guilty of crimes and
massacres. According to Ronale and Beauplan, it is the
government¹s responsibility to open inquiries in order to ensure
that those who broke the laws pay for their misdeeds. (AHP, 5/15)
World Bank Calls for Donors to Work Quickly to Help Haiti; ICF
Will Meet:
International donors must work quickly to help Haiti's new
government stabilize the country and start tackling the desperate
poverty and violence, a senior World Bank official said on Monday.
Heaping praise on President Rene Preval, who took office on Sunday,
Caroline Anstey, World Bank Director for the Caribbean, called his
election "a great beacon of hope" for Haiti. Sounding a
similar note to Preval himself, Anstey said there were no short-term
fixes for the poorest nation in the Americas. But a democratic
election marked a new beginning for a country often seen as a poster
child for failed states. "Haiti will need long-term support and
long-term resources to really be able to enter onto a path of
sustainable development and break what has been a cycle of conflict,
instability and poverty," Anstey told Reuters.
An aid umbrella group for Haiti -- a 26-member body known as the
International Cooperation Framework -- will meet on May 26 in
Brasilia to discuss calls by Preval for new funds. Anstey suggested
Preval had given the meeting a sense of urgency with recent warnings
that Haiti's latest experiment with democracy, and the chance to
build a better future, could be eroded by a lack of international
support. "I think there is a very strong feeling that the window
of opportunity is there but it's not going to be there forever,"
said Anstey. "Both the new Haitian authorities and the donors
need to move fast," she added. Haiti needs far more aid than the
estimated $700 million that the ICF has paid out since $1.08 billion
was pledged in July 2004 and Anstey
noted other unstable nations were competing for the same pool of
international funds as Haiti. "There is a lot of attention right
now, rightly so, on Sudan, on Liberia, and there's continued
attention on Afghanistan," said Anstey. Anstey said donors have
often lost interest in Haiti, where the average inhabitant lives on
less than $2 a day and over half are malnourished. "Donors have
had a history in Haiti of coming in with big money and, within two
years, pulling out. We need to see that spigot of aid turned on and
remain on," Anstey said. (Reuters, 5/15)
US Participating in Meetings to Aid Haiti:
The United States is participating in two upcoming international
meetings to help Haiti meet many of its daunting economic and social
challenges, officials at the U.S. State Department have confirmed. A
May 23 ministerial meeting is set for Brazil's capital of Brasilia,
with the U.S. delegation at that event led by Thomas Shannon,
assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, and
Adolfo Franco, assistant administrator for Latin America and the
Caribbean at the U.S. Agency for International Development. The World
Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations, the
Organization of American States and other multilateral groups are
among those expected at the meeting. A State Department official said
in an interview that the May 23 meeting in Brasilia will provide an
opportunity to review the status of international financial
assistance provided to Haiti over the last several years and to
prepare for a donors' conference for Haiti in July. The exact date in
July and site for that conference have yet to be finalized, the
official said.
International financial aid to Haiti is being guided under what is
called the Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF). In operation since
July 2004, the ICF outlines Haiti's many needs, from restoring
electricity services to feeding disadvantaged children and getting
them to enroll in school. Between July 2004 and the end of 2005,
international donors had disbursed to Haiti some $780 million, with
the United States contributing $277 million of that total. The United
States is by far the world's leading donor to Haiti. The Bush
administration made a budget request on February 7 to the U.S.
Congress for $193 million in fiscal year 2007 for Haiti, for
humanitarian aid and economic assistance. That request is pending in
several committees in the Congress, another State Department official
said. (US Dept of State Washington File, 5/16)
UN Security Council Congratulates New Haitian Government:
The United Nations Security Council today congratulated Haiti's
newly inaugurated President, his Government and the new
parliamentarians and called on them to build a better future for the
Caribbean country and to finish the cycle of municipal, local and
remaining parliamentary elections.
In a statement on President René García
Préval's inauguration yesterday, the Council president for the
month of May, Ambassador Basile Ikouébé of the Republic
of Congo, underscored the importance of the mandate given to newly
elected parliamentarians by the Haitian people "to work
constructively to build a better future for their country."
Towards that end, the Council urged the executive and legislative
powers "to establish a fruitful and collaborative
relationship," Mr. Ikouébé said.
The Council stressed that holding municipal, local and the
remaining parliamentary elections in a timely fashion was fundamental
to democratic governance. Reviewing the list of challenges which the
country faces and which Mr. Préval has pledged to tackle, the
Council highlighted "the need to ensure a secure and stable
environment in Haiti, strengthen its democratic institutions, foster
national reconciliation, inclusiveness and political dialogue,
promote and protect human rights and the rule of law, and build
governmental capacity."
It also emphasized the need to reform and strengthen Haiti's law
enforcement systems. In that regard, the Council looked forward to
the results of the discussions between the UN Stabilization Mission
in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and the new authorities on security-related
issues. The Council repeated that the country needed the quick
implementation of highly visible and labour intensive projects that
help to create jobs and deliver basic social services and it looked
forward to the upcoming donors' ministerial meeting to be held in
Brasilia, Brazil, on 23 May. The intention of the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) to reintegrate Haiti fully into its activities was welcome,
the Council said, also expressing its appreciation for the
contribution of the Organization of the American States (OAS) to the
electoral process. "In this regard, the Council supports the
commitment of the new Haitian authorities to enhance cooperation with
regional partners in order to address issues related to regional
stability," the President said. The Council also thanked
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative, Juan Gabriel
Valdés, for his dedication to the success of the UN presence
in Haiti. (UN News Centre, 5/15)
First Shipment of Oil from Venezuela for Petrocaribe:
The first shipment of Venezuelan oil under the Petrocaribe energy
supply program for the Caribbean Basin arrived in Haiti. The oil
tanker Neptuno brought 40,000 barrels of gas and 60,000 of diesel, a
part of which will be donated to operate the local hospitals'
boilers. Venezuela will also donate asphalt for 12 months with which
a Brazilian contingent will pave the streets. Venezuelan Vice
President Jose Vicente Rangel signed the official
agreement Sunday with President Rene Preval under which Venezuela
will make daily supplies of 11,000 oil barrels. Rangel said
Petrocaribe will channel 7,000 barrels and the other 4,000 will reach
under the 1980 San Jose Agreement that secures oil supplies and
promote development of its six signatories. (Prensa Latina, 5/15)
Jubilee USA Network Calls for Debt Cancellation for New Haitian Government:
Jubilee USA Network, the US arm of the global movement for debt
cancellation in impoverished countries, released the following
statement today: "Haiti's massive debt burden of $1.4 billion is
both unpayable and unjust, and Jubilee USA Network calls on this
odious debt to be cancelled immediately. The newly elected president
Rene Preval, who is set to take office this Sunday, May 14,
campaigned on a platform of alleviating the misery of the country's
impoverished majority. This majority will not see any benefit from
new economic programs without first obtaining 100% cancellation of
its external debt. Much of Haiti's debt was contracted under 30 years
of Duvalier regimes, notorious for their human rights abuses and
opulent lifestyle financed by Haiti's poor and by foreign assistance.
"Haitians cannot afford to continue to service their debt
burden. In 2005, the Haitian government spent more than $70 million
on debt payments, a significant portion of its budget. Yet less than
half of the population has access to basic rights such as healthcare,
education, and potable water. The World Bank estimates that
three-quarters of Haiti's 8 million people live in poverty; half the
population lives on less than US$1 per day. This past Tuesday,
Haiti's newly elected Parliament was sworn in by candlelight, because
of persistent blackouts in Port-au-Prince.
"Though the country was added in April to the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank's debt relief program, under the
program's onerous economic policy conditions, Haiti will not see
irrevocable debt cancellation for three or more years. Even the World
Bank's optimistic estimates assert that Haiti will qualify for
cancellation only in 2009. Policies other countries have been
mandated to implement to qualify for initial debt relief and then
full cancellation include privatization of water and electricity.
Haiti already 'opened up' its economy in the 1990's - its tariffs are
lower than the US's - with disastrous results. Haiti cannot wait
years or suffer through more such policies to see its debt cancelled;
delays to debt cancellation cost lives.
"The illegitimate origins of Haiti's debt provide another
compelling argument for cancellation. More than half the country's
debt was contracted by the Duvalier family dictatorship (1957-1986).
Harvard economist Michael Kremer reports that Jean-Claude Duvalier
stole $900 million from the Haitian people. According to a 2006 UN
sponsored census, half of Haiti's population was born after the
Duvalier era and forced to carry this debt burden from birth. The
Haitian people were not consulted about these loans, and received
little benefit from them. But now they are forced to repay them. Such
"odious" debt must be cancelled.
"Given the harsh realities faced by the Haitian people today,
the people of Haiti need a clean slate to have any hope of meeting
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or achieve sustainable
development. We join with Haitian civil society groups in calling on
creditors, especially at the IMF, World Bank, and Inter-American
Development Bank, to cancel Haiti's debt, immediately and without
harmful economic conditions attached." (Jubilee USA Network, 5/12)
First Census in 24 Years Underlines Pressing Problems in Haiti:
As Haiti prepares to inaugurate a new president May 14, the
country's first census in 24 years underlines some of the pressing
problems facing the nation, reports the United Nations. In a May 10
statement, the U.N. Population Fund, which helped finance the census,
said unemployment in Haiti is a "staggering" 33 percent,
and less than half of the country's school-age children attend
primary school. The fund also said that between 4 and 5 percent of
the Haitian population has HIV/AIDS, the highest rate of infection in
the Western Hemisphere. The census found that half of Haiti's
population is younger than age 20, which also strains the country's
resources and highlights the need for more resources for education
and reproductive health services. In 2005, Haiti placed 153rd of the
177 countries studied for the U.N. Development Programme's 2005
report on maternal mortality. Haiti's Ministry of Finance helped
conduct the $8 million census, the fourth in the country's history.
Others funding the census included the Inter-American Development
Bank, the European Union, and the government of Japan. (US Dept of
State Washington File, 5/11)
Grassroots Leader Rene Civil Arrested at Border:
Rene Civil, leader of the JPP grassroots organization, was stopped
in the night Friday at the Haitian-Dominican border, Radio Kiskeya
has learned from the Haitian National Police (PNH). According to the
central director of the Criminal Investigation Department (DCP),
Michael Luicius, Civil was apprehended in Jimani/Malpasse, a
principal border crossing. He did not specify what charges were being
carried against Civil. (Radio Kiskeya, 5/13)
Governor-General of Canada Delivers Message of Hope:
Governor-General Michaëlle Jean invoked the tenacity of her
own grandmother, who sewed clothes and sold them on the street to put
her children through school, as a source of inspiration for ordinary
Haitians yesterday. In a day that took her through the teeming
streets of the Haitian capital to meet business leaders, students,
women's groups and street vendors, Ms. Jean returned again and again
to her message of hope over adversity. She invoked the family
matriarch, Dianira Oriol, who paid for her five children's education
by selling homemade clothes on the sidewalks and marketplace of Jacmel.
She recalled her political exile to Quebec with her mother and
sister, landing in a semi-basement apartment where "the only
horizon is a sidewalk."
Ms. Jean looks like she belongs on a fashion runway and speaks a
polished French that wouldn't be out of place in the
Élysée Palace. But she repeatedly insisted on using
creole, the language of the Haitian masses that's shunned by the
country's elite, to reach out to her audiences. In her speeches, Ms.
Jean's family story of struggle against adversity became a metaphor
for all of Haiti, which hopes the inauguration of its new President,
René Préval, will begin to lift it out of years of
misery and instability. "For Haitians, hope has always been the
golden rule of life," Ms. Jean said when addressing local
business leaders. "Even when it was only held together by a
thread." She urged her audience to set aside their political
differences to work for "a common good." "We all share
the same responsibility -- the responsibility that will put an end,
once and for all, to despair in Haiti."
Her own Cinderella story, which took her from the basement
apartment to Rideau Hall, has clearly touched people in her homeland.
As he introduced her to the business audience, a local official,
Rosny Desroches, said Ms. Jean's trajectory proves that no situation
in life is too desperate. He invoked her parents' anguish when they
decided to flee the Duvalier dictatorship in 1968, and "the
sorrow of a little girl from the tropics who confronted the rigours
of the Canadian winter. "You showed resilience. You overcame
adversity. Today, it's with honour and pride that the entire Haitian
nation welcomes you." Ms. Jean seems intent on proving she is
taking the largely ceremonial position of Governor-General beyond
ribbon-cutting. After the pomp-filled swearing-in of President
Préval, she decided to remain in Haiti.
"If I was only coming here for ceremony, I would be gone by
now," she told reporters. "I'm not on holiday here."
Her deep roots and attachment to her homeland surfaced over and over.
She even brought up her daughter, Marie-Éden, adopted in
Haiti, when speaking about orphaned children in the country.
"When I'm here, I see them, I see them in the streets. And I see
my daughter." Ms. Jean hopes her trip will draw Canada's
attention to the many woes of Haiti, where half the nation is
illiterate, the average Haitian earns $390 (U.S.) a year, and life
expectancy is 53. "We know that misery can be a powder keg,"
she said. Canada has contributed $190-million in aid to Haiti in the
past two years. (Globe and Mail, 5/16)
Haiti excerpt from new report: "The climate of poverty":
The new Christian Aid report, "The climate of poverty: facts,
fears and hope" is available as a PDF on the Christian Aid
website at this address:
http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/605caweek/index.htm
Here is an excerpt about Haiti, from pages 6-7:
Climate change is making storms in the Caribbean more intense. And
when bad weather strikes, it hits poor people hardest. Haiti is not
only the poorest country in the western hemisphere, it comes below
many African countries on the human development index. While
conflict-ridden Sudan is rated 142 out of 177, Haiti is 153rd. The
Dominican Republic is at 95 on the same league table even though it
shares the same land mass as Haiti, occupying the eastern half of
Hispaniola. This extreme poverty makes the Haitian population more
vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Hurricanes and tropical
storms are common throughout the Caribbean, but in Haiti their toll
is often much more severe.
When tropical storm Jeanne hit Haiti in September 2004, nearly
3,000 people lost their lives, even though the winds weren't fierce
enough to be deemed hurricane force. The same storm hit Jamaica, but
caused very few casualties. When rains come in this part of the
world, they come hard and fast. The town of Fonds Verrettes has been
washed away three times in the last ten years. People continue to
rebuild in the riverbed because they have nowhere else to go. Elamene
Valcin tends a small plot on the steep slopes of a hillside
overlooking a dry riverbed in the Terre Froide region on
south-eastern Haiti. Before the floods, the Valcin family had a horse
to transport their potatoes, corn, beans and poultry to market. But
when the storm came, the horse was killed. Now Elamene is forced to
sell most of her produce in front of her house for less money, and
she has lost the income she used to make from renting her horse.
Her case exemplifies one aspect of the vicious circle that
bedevils the Haitian economy and degrades the country's environment.
When livestock and crops are lost, one of the few reliable sources of
income is cutting down trees, manufacturing charcoal and selling it.
Like most of their neighbours, Elamene and her family are forced to
chop trees between harvests. This has accelerated the process of
deforestation that has been going on in Haiti since colonial times.
The situation is so extreme that only two per cent of the country's
entire forest cover is left.
The cycle of poverty-related environmental degradation is very
difficult to break. The Haitian economy is already heavily dependent
on charcoal as a source of energy, and as the poor get poorer, there
is little chance of investing in alternatives. Nearly all industrial
production, from bakeries to distilleries, relies on wood-based
products for fuel. Altering that dependence would require significant
assistance to help households and factories use alternative energy sources.
With the landscape deprived of trees and their roots, the
recurring hurricanes wash away the country's rich topsoil into the
rivers and oceans - making farming even more difficult. It also makes
the terrain more dangerous. The lack of trees means the hillsides can
easily become deadly mudslides. Not only does poverty greatly magnify
the effects of hurricanes, but there is growing conviction that the
frequency and severity of storms hitting the region is increasing as
a result of climate change. "It is clear that hurricanes have
been hitting the island more often and with much more force over the
past decade," says Moise Jean Paul, the coordinator of the
Haitian environment ministry's climate-change programme.
Another significant problem is the country's changing rainfall
patterns. In Terre Froide, the barren, dusty landscape has seen
hardly any rain in several months. The topography looks more like
sub-Saharan Africa that the western Caribbean. But at other times,
the same landscape sees people's homes being washed away by floods.
In some areas of the country, annual rain levels have risen and in
others they have fallen. In a place where 70 per cent of the
population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture, such
precipitation changes can be devastating. Irrigation systems are
almost non-existent, so nearly all agriculture is rain fed. Farmers
are at the mercy of the elements. If they plant a little too early or
too late, they can lose their whole crop. (Christian Aid, May 2006)