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Censoring Speech in Haiti’s Most Celebrated Agora (part two of three) – Haiti | Foreign Policy Blogs

Censoring Speech in Haiti’s Most Celebrated Agora (part one) – Haiti | Foreign Policy Blogs

 

During a live interview aired on Radio Scoop FM  (107.7) 48 hours before Haiti’s carnival festivities, President Michel Martelly dispelled all rumors surrounding band selections for Cap-Haitien’s 2013 Carnival possession. “It was I, who personally decided to exclude bands from the carnival parade,” declared the president. “The decision to exclude bands, such as Brothers Posse from the carnival parade was taken by myself alone,” he added, declarations that rattled the Caribbean nation, as opinion and opposition leaders, columnists and editorialists denounced a deliberate assault on free speech and a leap toward authoritarianism.

Following the president’s remarks, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe’s office released a note reminding the population of unavoidable disappointments the band selection process presented many groups each year. Martelly appointed an 18-member carnival committee that selected 15 bands to entertain an expected 1.5 million revelers, hoping to lure tourists to Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second largest city. His government reportedly spent close to $5 million to organize the annual event this year, nearly doubling last year’s budget.

Nevertheless, Lamothe’s note did little to dissuade skeptics or reverse damages the interview caused, setting the opposition ablaze, amplifying its anti-Martelly rhetoric. “The population must boycott the carnival,” pleaded some; “Censorship today, dictatorship tomorrow,” cried others. On Scoop FM, the Head of State compared excluded bands, particularly Brothers Posse, whose undisputed hit meringues the past two seasons:  2012’s “Stayle” and this year’s “Aloral” portrayed his administration as an “all talk, no action” government, to someone going over his house to curse him out. “You just don’t let him in,” he said.

Quoted in the Miami Herald, “It’s not a party that’s being organized; it’s not a protest” emphasized Martelly. “The carnival is not like it was a long time ago. Before it was do as you like, take to the streets.” In his defense, the president said automatic selection of particular artists did not exist and that Brothers Posse’s “Aloral,” which is at the heart of the controversy, was inconsistent with this year’s environmental theme: “One Haitian, one tree, let’s make it Happen.”  It was not the kind of ambiance his government sought for the tourist-tailored event, he explained. However, critics quickly rejected Martelly’s arguments, pointing out the automatic preselection two of the president’s sons: Olivier and Sandro Martelly, whose meringues were neither as popular as Brothers Posse’s nor consistent with the carnival theme.

The essence of Haitian Carnival…

Meanwhile, Rodolphe Joazile, who heads Haiti’s Defense Ministry, evoked a rather distinct imagery of the annual celebration. “Haitian Carnival is the expression forum for the Haitian soul: its values, culture, creativity, passion, dreams, desires, needs and fantasies,” wrote Joazile in his message to the nation about the essence of carnival. “The Haitian stretches and pours his imagination, exuberance, fancies, extravagances and illusions,” stressed Joazile’s letter, “This is the magical moment where political and social hierarchies disappear, which flattens the social projectile.”

Observers and participants alike agreed with Joazile eloquent depiction of the Mega celebration and Jacmelitude, Jacmel’s traditional carnival, attested to its originality. The vibrating colors, radiating smiles, tantalizing meringues and intoxicating beauties did not disappoint. Haitians, young or old, light or dark, male or female, set all of their differences aside and rallied around national unity, patriotism, freedom of speech and even activism. Together, they danced on a cultural rainbow, sang their collective frustrations, aspirations, having some fun in the process. Some called it the greatest display of Haitian culture and/or collective, peaceful demonstration. Jacmelitude was however the calm before the storm. Carnaval Les Cayes, Petit-Goave’s Douce Marcos and Cap-Haitien delivered more euphoria to revelers, each celebration more grandiose than the year before.

The power of the metaphor…

The importance of Haitian Carnival to all sectors of national life is no exaggeration; investors do not underestimate its economic, political, social and international dimensions. The private sector’s strategic investments, anticipating a large influx of tourists to descend upon the grand cultural event, justifed carnival fever inhibiting the business sector, particularly entrepreneurs, during that period. Carnival presents unique opportunities to not only improve Haiti’s image, but also to attract new investment opportunities. It is also a big pay day for selected bands that collect an estimated $30,000 to deliver three entertainment-filled days to revelers, at the end of which, the carnival committee crowns a winner.

Beyond cultural and economical factors, “Carnival is FUN, it’s time to relax, to party hard,” wrote State University professor and blogger Nadeve Menard. “But carnival in Haiti is also serious business and both the population and authorities recognize it as such,” she added in “The Power of the Metaphor,” posted last season on her blog Tande. For many people, the annual celebration is a finger on the nation’s pulse and the meringues with the most accurate depiction of Haitian actualities wrapped in metaphors and humor resonate with the population.

Whether advocating for government accountability, wishing peacekeepers off the national territory, or demanding justice for cholera or rape victims, parodies and satires find their intended targets through carnival rituals, meringues and ethic dances. This year’s edition varied no less; it was–to a large extent–a referendum on the Martelly administration and its inability to crystalize campaign promises. Capturing that reality, Menard wrote, “Meringues have helped topple governments or at least signaled their impending demise, it’s the power of the metaphor,” something President Martelly, whose popularity exploded on carnival floats prior to taking office, is very familiar with. He even acknowledged it during the interview. “Songs have the power to overthrow government,” he said, unveiling the fears of his increasingly unpopular administration that faced 128 public protests throughout the country between August and October 2012, according to “Governing Haiti: Time for National Consensus,” an International Crisis Group report released in early February.

Part two coming soon….

Port-au-Prince Caves under International Pressure to Hold Overdue Elections | Foreign Policy Blogs

Reacting to a United Nations Security Council’s Jan. 28, 2013 press release that cilled on the Haitian government to hold free, fair, inclusive and credible senatorial and municipal elections that are 14-months overdue, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe reiterated his administration’s determination to organize elections this year, an exercise the note stressed “Is important to maintain political stability and create a climate conductive to economic and social development and the MINUSTAH stands ready to provide support in the areas of logistics and security for the elections.”

Talking to the national press, the Head of Government that faced growing popular anger and political opposition, said the electoral machine had, in fact, been turned on and the Martelly administration should publish the electoral calendar immediately after finding a consensus on creating the Transitional College for the Permanent Electoral Council (CTCEP French acronym). Lamothe, who reshuffled his cabinet twice in five months, pointed to ongoing meetings his government held with representatives of the international community about electoral issues, in his attempt to reassure his critics. He further indicated the United States, European Union, and Brazil promised to finance the elections, while Mariano Fernandez, former head of the MINUSTAH, promised logistical support to Haitian authorities.

According to many observers however, the reality on the ground varied vastly from the optimistic scenarios Lamothe painted to reporters. In fact, critics decried a lack of interest from Haitian leaders around creating the electoral entity that would organize elections; in spite of an important Christmas Eve agreement President Michel Martelly reached with members of parliament on the CTCEP to pave electoral roads that would help refill one-third of the 30-member Haitian senate and local magistrates.

Although he called that agreement an important first step, Fernandez, who concluded his 19-month tenure as MINUSTAH’s point man in Haiti last week, slammed the Martelly/Lamothe administration during an interview, citing its inability to deliver reconstruction projects. “There is something that, as a foreigner, I cannot comprehend,” confided the Chilean diplomat to Le Nouvelliste, a Haitian daily newspaper. “The political élite is cultivated,” continued Fernandez, “It has very smart people who speak several languages ​​with a great facility, people who travel a lot; yet, in the end, we arrive at the paradoxical conclusion that, perhaps, a lot of intelligence in politics is not necessary, ” he said, renewing his call for a political agreement that favored Haiti’s interest, rather than individuals’.

On a parallel plane, Michael Posner, U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights and labor, echoed similar concerns, following his three-day visit of the Haitian capital in early January, where he met government as well as civil society leaders. “This is really a moment where Haitians themselves have to own their future and find ways to engage with each other,” wrote Miami Herald’s Jacqueline Charles of Posner’s post-visit phone interview. While urging protagonists to find common ground on their divergent views, Posner perceived strengthening democratic institutions and the rule of law, as good starting points. He did however acknowledge the daunting tasks faced the current administration simply because they are in control, not to forget its obligation to the people, often the object of harsh criticism. Quoting Posner’s concerns Charles wrote:

“There is a lack of faith in the system, the sense that the rule of law is not respected, that institutions like the judiciary and the police and the prisons and the prosecutors are not doing the job adequately, and that the government isn’t living up to expectations” he said. “These are long-standing problems. There is a sense that government needs to be more accountable, more open, there needs to be strong institutions. The country needs to operate in a more regular way. Those are huge challenges.”

As if those obstacles weren’t big enough for Haitian authorities, the elections suffered another major setback, when Religion for Peace, the mediation organization that helped brokered the Christmas Eve agreement, walked away from the negotiating table, amid what the entity, which comprises every religion in Haiti, called a deliberate barrage of indifference that prevented the CTCEP to take shape and facilitate new elections.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Lamothe maintained his government remained undeterred in its goal to hold elections at the most appropriate time this year, although he conceded his government would propose new electoral laws to a legislative body it has yet to reach any agreement with since assuming office. Recently, lawmakers, namely members of the minority, prevented the Head of government from presenting his State of the Nation address in the National assembly. Unable to speak over horns, trumpets, vuvuzelas and other instruments deputies started blowing once he started his address, Lamothe simply walked out. The Prime Minister did not explain how his government planned to overcome parliamentary hurdles with the Head of State threatening to shorten the term of one-third of the senate by one year, threats lawmakers vehemently rejected as an unconstitutional attempt at a power grab by the executive.

Kita Nago to Urge Unity among Haitians, Moving Haiti Forward | Foreign Policy Blogs

“Ki bwa li ye, bwa sa; ki bwa li ye, bwa sa,” sang euphoric young men and women, floating in a sea of people embarked on a lengthy pilgrimage to unity. At the end of the unprecedented grassroots movement in Northern city Ouanaminthe — Kita Nago – a half-ton tree trunk that symbolizes Haiti, would have, on the back of Haitian men and women, traveled 700 kilometers (some 435 miles) from the country’s Southern peninsula to its Northeastern coast, sweeping through every city on its path.

Mobilizing Haitians behind a common goal, Kita Nago entered Haitian capital Port-au-Prince 14 days after its modest Les Irois launch on Jan 1, 2013, collecting thousands upon thousands of jubilant believers along the way, generating waves of media coverage that reached all corners of the country and even spilled beyond its borders. The buzz surrounding Kita Nago even provoked an official visit from President Michel Martelly and his wife, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, Haiti’s specialized units and an invitation to the Haitian Senate, where originator Harry Nicolas who many referred to as Met Fey Vet revealed his lifelong aspirations, launching the movement that rapidly grew into a social tsunami that swept one city after another.

“Since I was 20 years old,” admitted Nicolas to senators during his short visit to the upper house, “I wanted to take something from one extreme of the country to another extreme of the country without spending a penny,” a project he said skeptics thought was too grandiose or ambitious. As Nicolas explained to his impressed audience, the stigmas and gross mischaracterizations that hovered over Haitianism haunted him for years. “So I asked my self, what could I do, what could I do,” he said, seeking ideas that would help dispel the negative connotations associated to Haitianism.

His answer, discovered the self-described nationalist and environmentalist, resided in the irony of Kita Nago, a term Haitians commonly used to express an inability or unwillingness to move. “When referring to the state of the country,” reiterated Nicolas, “People often say we will not make ‘you pa Kita, you pa Nago’,” meaning Haiti would never budge or make any progress. A firm believer in Haiti’s capabilities, Nicolas said the country can make “you pa Kita and you pa Nago.” Taking that negative proverb Haitians use to said that Haiti would never move forward, the visionary wanted to prove that, like their ancestors and Founding Fathers, his brethren could again control their destiny. “We wanted to challenge ourselves,” said the new national hero. “Hence, we made

‘you pa Kita’ in Les Irois on January first and we will make ‘you pa Nago’ in Ouanaminthe.” One senator even admitted breaking down in tears when he witnessed the multitudes following Kita Nago. “Haitians still believed, in spite of it all,” he said.

Once Kita Nago conclude its 435-mile journey, every Haitian must plant a tree, according to Nicolas, plans that coincided with Cap-Haitien’s 2013 Carnival theme: “One Haitian, one tree, let’s make it happen.”

Nevertheless, while the grand initiative should help derail Haiti’s run away deforestation train, it will not be Kita Nago’s lasting impression, argued Nicolas who, in his own words, spelled it out for journalists attending his press conference:

“If we can voluntarily, that is to say –without being told to or paid—carry and transport this tree trunk, weighing about half a ton from Les Irois to Port-au-Prince, then to Ouanaminthe, there will no longer be a shadow of a doubt that if we get together in the spirit of our national motto ‘There is Strength in Unity,’ we can actually change Haiti.”

Super Storm Sandy Exposed Haiti’s Failed Reconstruction | Foreign Policy Blogs

Transforming Haiti into a consumer nation, ultimately meant that a short-supplied world would force its population into mass starvation, a recurring nightmare Haitians are currently experiencing amid the recent global food crisis, which caused a wave of sporadic protests to erupt throughout the country last month.

Rampant inflation sent food prices hovering well beyond the nation’s reach, amplifying voices of discontent with the Martelly/Lamothe administration, seemingly unable to implement any sustainable solutions to Haiti’s deteriorating political and social climates. Appealing to the international community for immediate assistance, the Haitian government declared a month-long state of emergency one week after Sandy drenched the country, killing at least 64 people with dozens more still missing and damaged about 18,000 homes, including hospitals, schools and public buildings.

“According to preliminary estimates by Haitian Officials,” wrote Gabrielle Duchaine who reported on Sandy’s aftermath for La Presse, a Montreal daily. “70 percent of the crop that was ready for harvest in the South of the Country was destroyed, including bananas, beans, rice, avocado and corn.” She further indicated cattle were lost, as the estimated damaged surpassed $450 million. Some farmers reported losing 90 percent of their crops, which according to the United Nations shoved Haitians closer to a catastrophic food crisis. In fact, U.N. officials said 5 million people, 50 percent of the population, risked suffering food shortages with at least 2 million facing malnutrition.

Urging preventive measures from the international community, Bijay Kumar who is Head of Emergencies for ActionAid, a nongovernmental organization assisting farmers in Southern Haiti, drew a parallel between the Caribbean nation’s looming catastrophe and the widespread famine that recently slammed the Horn of Africa. “We have seen what happens when we do not act early enough,” cautioned Kumar. “The food crisis in the Horn of Africa in 2011 could have been averted if we had responded before it reached crisis point,” he recalled, adding, “We must not make the same mistake again in Haiti.” The early warning signs are there, reasoned Kumar, and the international community must pay attention to them, he insisted. However, the precarious food insecurity is no new phenomenon to Haitians.

Those early warning signs Kumar alluded to, precursors to Haiti’s infamous food riots, were present in 2008, yet failed to prevent the country’s free fall into the pits of chaos and instability that resulted into considerable loss of life, instilled a climate of fear and caused extensive property damage.  Nationwide mobilizations to protest skyrocketing food prices ignited around the country, as protesters clashed with the police and U.N. troops, looted stores, burned tires and blocked national highways. The international media’s subsequent characterization reduced Haiti to a dangerous, violent and hopeless place where people eat salty mud cookies.

More than four years after the Haiti Food Riots, 2013 promised to be yet another disastrous year for Haitians, as the U.N. predicts widespread famine, in spite the international community’s commitment to provide massive aid to rebuild the country, following the monstrous 2010 earthquake that killed an estimated 310,000 people and displaced more than 1.5 million others.

Even more alarming, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) published a new report earlier this month that cited persisting food insecurity among many factors threatening human security in Haiti. Commenting on the report, Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH’s president, said, “In the short term, public policy cannot guarantee the people’s access to fundamental rights, particularly their rights to housing, food, healthcare and education,” an extremely precarious situation Hurricane Sandy exacerbated last month.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Office of the Special Envoy in Haiti declared, on September 26, 2012:

“An analysis of pledges made at a donors’ conference shortly after Haiti’s 2010 earthquake revealed that $2.79 billion, or 52.3 percent of the approximate $5.33 billion pledged by 55 donors for recovery activities between 2010 and 2012, has been disbursed.”

Those exceptional humanitarian efforts, taken place over a two-year period, have not deterred Haiti’s looming humanitarian disaster that could cause 1.5 million Haitians to starve next year, unable to properly access food or any basic human needs. It is a human rights issue that not only exposed the country’s incompetent leadership, but also raised serious concerns about reconstruction endeavors.

Drawing a parallel between Haiti and the Iraq War helps provide some context into the U.N.’s failure in Haiti. The U.S. invaded Iraq, a country with a far more complex society plagued by sectarian violence, defeated Saddam Hussein and the subsequent relentless insurgency, rebuilt its fragmented army, returned sovereignty to Iraqis and exited the country in less than eight years. On the other hand, U.N.’s decade-long presence in the impoverished Caribbean nation has yet to produce a national security force capable of protecting its population or porous borders, any proactive strategies to help Haitians cope with the next major rainstorm, or a comprehensive exit strategy that would return sovereignty to Haiti’s natives. Instead targeted assassinations, high-level kidnappings, senseless violent crimes, a lethal cholera epidemic and a litany of sexual abuse cases on minors highlighted U.N.’s decade there. Meanwhile, natural disasters, such as hurricane Sandy that only hit Haiti with its outer bands, continue to kill hundreds, further destroying the country’s poor infrastructure.

Following Sandy’s devastation, the United Nations Food Relief Agency and the Haitian Government sought to raise $74 million in 12 months, funds they said would help the ravaged agricultural sector recover, as begging on behalf of Haitians became big business. While the U.N. said little about the nearly $3 billion donors already disbursed on behalf of Haitians, a robust response of the international community with more aid dollars was necessary, judged Adam Yoa, U.N.’s Senior Emergency Coordinator in Haiti.  Similarly, The World Food Program (WFP) estimated it needed more than $20 million to provide food assistance to some 425,000 victims, according to Spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs. However, their urgent calls for assistance fell on death ears, as the U.S. had its own hands full with Sandy that claimed 125 lives within its borders and victimized hundreds of thousands.

Sandy’s destruction is another strong indication that, rather than relying on the heroism or empathy of the international community, Haiti must emerge as a self-sustained, autonomous state, on the heels of the reconstruction efforts. It is also call to duty for Haitians leaders that prioritized politicizing over ensuring a safe and prosperous future for younger generations. Should U.N. persists on its current course, the next rescue mission from a preoccupied international community might prove too late for Haitians.

Uptown Charlotte Dresses up for the DNC - CNN iReport

Haiti: The Notion of Inherently Violent Haitians is a Myth, says New Study | Foreign Policy Blogs

“Violence in Haiti is systemic, that is to say, it’s related to the abandonment of the state, the abandonment of society by public institutions that fail to provide basic services.”

“I reject the ontological definition of an inherently violent Haitian,” declared Anthropologist Rachelle Charlier Doucet at Port-au-Prince’s Hotel le Plaza on Friday, June 29, 2012. “I refute the notion that the fate of the Haitian nation is sinking in perpetual chaos,” reiterated the researcher to her target audience of reporters, NGO and UN representatives, politicians and bureaucrats, attending the three-hour Seminar with Presentation of Research Findings.

The Center for Studies and Research on the Development of Cultures and Societies (CERDECS) organized the seminar in partnership with the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) to present the results from “Conflict Prevention and Conflict Management in Haiti: Insight from Marginalized Communities,” a study focused on Haitian perceptions of conflict and conflict resolution. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs financed the project researchers hoped would help identify contextual and cultural models of conflict prevention.

Under senior researcher Wenche Iren Hauge’s leadership, Anthropologist Doucet and Sociologist Alain Gilles divided the project into three phases, which covered different geographical areas of Haiti, concentrating on local capacities for prevention of violence. Phase I covered the Artibonite Department and Port-au-Prince, phase II took place in the South, Southeast, Grand-Anse and Nippes, followed by the Northeast and Northwest during phase III, according to PRIO. Gilles, who holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Columbia, conducted a survey for the project, while Doucet, a Ph.D. in Anthropology recipient of New York University conducted a qualitative study, including fieldwork and interviews.

Haitian intellectuals that attended the event welcomed Doucet’s announcement that confirmed their belief; “Violence in Haiti is systemic, that is to say, it’s related to the abandonment of the state, the abandonment of society by public institutions that fail to provide basic services,” she said. Her team specifically focused on social ties and trust concepts in the Haitian population, stigmatized by gross generalizations and mischaracterizations: fairly or unfairly. While presenting her 40-page report to her audience, Doucet said mistrust was the norm that governed social relations, as she unveiled the linear relationship systemic violence shared with the absence of institutionalized relations between Haitian citizens and their state. Nevertheless, her findings might do little to dispel stereotypical attributes pinned on Haitians, as traces of that proverbial perception roamed prominent circles.

“Even with a UN stabilization mission present in Haiti since 2004,” lamented Stephen Ralph Henry who reported the event for online news agency AlterPresse. “One finds, embedded in speeches of the international community, a perception that Haiti’s natives could potentially be prone to violence, which would put the Haitian society on a slippery slope to chaos,” he added. Meanwhile, foreigners are not fleeing violent-prone Haitians, rather the opposite. The number of foreign nationals living, working and/or volunteering in Haiti grew exponentially, following the 2010 earthquake that left the country in ruins: hence the Republic of NGO. Moreover, In spite of a slew of prominent scientific theories, pinpointing government failures as primary agents of collective violence, that fallacy–prevalent even in academia–have plagued Haitians for two centuries. “Haitians still lived with the legacy of the slave trade and of the revolt that finally removed the French,” wrote American Anthropologist and Physician Paul Farmer in his 2004 essay, “Who Removed Aristide.” Such general statements, complained Haitianists, often failed to identify the roots of the violence or provide any antidote, which they said validated the new study’s findings.

Doucet’s revelations at Le Plaza were particularly for Haitianists not only because they defied conventional wisdom, but they also reinforced Ted Gurr’s views on the influential factors in civil violence, notably his theory of Relative Deprivation introduced in his 1970 publication, “Why men Rebel”(pg. 25). Gurr, an authority figure in political conflicts and instability, theorized that perceived discrepancies between people’s actual state and their aspirational state created tension that increased the potential for collective violence. He coined it as “perceived discrepancy between value expectations and value capabilities,” where the former comprised values, such as welfare, security and self-actualization that people feel they should be able to achieve, exceed the latter; the means they feel are available to them, empowering their self-actualization. Consequently, argued Gurr, people’s conscious experience of deprivation provoked both behavioral and attitudinal changes in them, which was the underlying theme in Doucet’s presentation.

As the study revealed, the confidence level of more than 70 percent of surveyed participants, which comprised people from rural villages, residential neighborhoods and suburbs, in people around them or in stated institutions barely reached 40 percent. Hence, rather than relying on Haiti’s expensive an impotent judicial system, citizens opted for a consensus approach to conflict management, exhibiting a certain mistrust in the status quo. To solve their problems, deduced the experts, people divided them into two broad categories: small and big; the former solvable through mutual exchanges, while the latter necessitated mediation.

However, systemic violence in Haiti is not impenetrable, deduced Doucet who recommended creating a contextual and inclusive justice system to effectively deter the phenomenon. In her characterization, a “mixed justice system” through the people’s perceptions of justice and the Western approach would be a viable solution, since “Communities have resources, mechanisms established through more than 200 years of history, on which one could profitably capitalize,” she inferred.

Haiti: A Fascistic Quarter-Century that Sabotaged Haiti’s Democracy | Foreign Policy Blogs

“Haiti walks a fine line between a failed state and fascistic state.” 

 

More than two months before its forthcoming August 2012 released, Jeb Sprague’s book, “Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti,” stormed academia, political and diplomatic communities, delivering what some reviewers perceived as a brilliant diagnosis of the history of political violence in Haiti. Following years of primary research, including more than fifty interviews and the acquisitions of 11,000 secret U.S. documents using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Sprague exposed the antidemocratic, malefic forces that, for the last two decades, barricaded the Haitian people’s democratic aspirations.

Sprague, a PhD candidate in Sociology at Santa Barbara’s University of California, chronicled the post-Duvalier era, at times risking his own safety, to decipher the processes of Haiti’s political destabilization and popular disempowerment. His investigative work unveiled power struggles within the National Police of Haiti (PNH French acronym), the central role of the Dominican Republic in 2004, overthrowing Haiti’s democratically elected government, as well as the subversive campaign leading to the internationally-sanctioned dethronement of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

“The result of this campaign,” argued Author Peter Hallward, a philosophy professor at Kingston University in London, “More or less destroyed Haiti’s precarious democracy and crippled the country’s capacity to invest in its people or to respond to disaster.” Hallward, who published “Damning the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment,” characterized Sprague’s 375-page book as the most substantial and detailed account yet written of the paramilitary insurgency that led to the 2004 coup. “Its consequences,” added the professor, “should remain central to any discussion of Haiti’s reconstruction today.”

Beyond a chronological marshaling of facts and events, the groundbreaking book helped provide a panoramic view into Haiti’s current political landscape. “It make a substantial contribution to our understanding of Haiti today,” said Monthly Review Press (MRP). “And is a vivid reminder of how democratic struggles in poor countries are often met with extreme violence organized at the behest of capital,” added the review. Moreover, Sprague also revealed a country unable to flush major political actors: local or transnational players, deliberately deterring its democratic evolution. In fact, many members of that ultra-conservative world still dominated Haitian politics, reemerging strategically as allies of “Build Haiti Back Better.”

As “Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti,” painted the post-dictatorship era in a fascistic light dominated by paramilitary machinations that sabotaged Haiti’s democracy, it became clear that the populist rhetoric so prevalent on the lips of current leaders was only a facade cleverly contrived as the practical cure to the country’s chronic poverty. Meanwhile, Haiti plunged further into dependency and even deeper into the global capitalist order, a point sociology Professor William I. Robinson argued eloquently. As a leading theorist in transnational capitalism and Latin America, Robinson authored “Latin America and Global Capitalism: a Critical Globalization Perspective,” in which he explored transnational labour in Ecuador, Columbia, Chile and Argentina.

What came across most clearly, the Haitian people genuinely believed –maybe naively– in spite of numerous regressive, repressive paramilitary coups, rendering its prized democratic aspirations elusive, that each new government swept into office on inflated promises would constitute a rupture with its regrettable past. Even more sobering, Sprague’s book might be a chilling reminder of the difficulties awaiting Haiti’s battered democracy, as the resourceful, unscrupulous right wing community remobilized.

Haiti: Drowning at Sea on a Quest for a Better Life | Foreign Policy Blogs

“Haitians Continue to drown at sea, fleeing, against all odds, the land their forebears fought for so heroically and valiantly on a quest for a better life.”

Hardly a new phenomenon, Haitian migration took center stage as the United Nations in mid-July after a woman drowned when a boat carrying more than 100 Haitian migrants, the second one in a month, went aground near the Bahamas. In a similar incident taken place in U.S. And in Bahamian waters on June 12, 2012, more than 12 Haitians drowned while  attempting to reach Florida shores, according to Melissa Fleming, spokesperson for UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In her characterization, “Continuing difficulties in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake are leading thousands of Haitians to leave their homeland each year, often in unseaworthy vessels,” said Fleming, who estimated hundreds of Haitians perished at sea annually, though she admitted empirical data to substantiate her claim lacked. “These events,” added Fleming, “are a reminder of the extremes that people in difficult situations sometimes resort to.”

The Spokesperson also attributed the continuous stream of Haitian migration to other environmental stressors, such as the nearly half million tent inhabitants still scattered throughout the country, Haiti’s tense political climate, and increased levels of criminality and insecurity. Far from being a Haitian idiosyncrasy however, mass migration plagued the region.

According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), US Coast Guard rescued or intercepted more than 900 people since December, including 652 Haitians, 146 Cubans and 111 people from the Dominican Republic. Due to Haiti’s Humanitarian crisis, UNHCR and OHCHR implored countries to not return Haitian to their homeland without adequate individual protection screening. However, those pleas fell on death ears.

Facing those odds, Haitians continue to drown at sea, fleeing the land their forebears fought for so heroically and valiantly in a quest for a better life. Yet Build Haiti Back Better is in full swing, promising a new, modern Haiti will soon rise from the debris.

For Fleming, the situation necessitates a collective international approach aimed a prevention rather than interception and rescue. “UNHCR continues to advocate for the inclusion of adequate protection safeguards for individuals apprehended at sea, and hopes that such tragedies can be avoided in the future through enhanced international cooperation in the region,” she said.

Strict Integration Undermines Smaller Caribbean Economies says British Economist | Foreign Policy Blogs

Landmark Ruling in DR sets Precedent for Trafficking in Persons | Foreign Policy Blogs

Human rights activists acclaimed a Dominican Republic (DR) court’s historic conviction and 15-year prison sentencing of two Haitian child traffickers charged with smuggling, trafficking, and exploiting Haitian children’s labor. “It is the first time Haitian traffickers have been jailed in the Dominican Republic for trafficking children,” declared the International Organization for Migration (IOM) through a released statement that welcomed the landmark ruling. “IOM is pleased to see justice served on these traffickers,” it stressed.

Dominican authorities arrested Willi Yan and Coldonie Pie in February 2011 following several house-raids conducted in Los Alcarrizos, a poor residential neighborhood of capital city Santo Domingo, which coughed up 44 children. “They found children crammed in rooms, some sitting on the floor, others under beds,” reported IOM. As Zoe Stopak-Behr, spokesperson of the leading international organization for migration, explained to journalists, “Parents were convinced their children were being taken for a better life in Santo Domingo and even to Miami.” Yet, authorities identified 22 of the 44 children rescued as child trafficking victims.

A Second Collegiate Court found Yan and Pie guilty of trafficking children, ages 8 to 14, from Haiti, beating and exploiting them for forced labor. During the trial, the prosecution identified at least 12 children the two men smuggled from Haiti, turned into street beggars, subjected them to verbal, physical and psychological abuse. The two men even denied the victims food should their menial tasks fail to produce any money. Further, state prosecutors’ closing argument also revealed that two good Samaritans whose daily encounter with four children in the same street corner raised suspicions, intervened and turned them over to the National Children Council (NCC). Once in foster care, the minors detailed their daily routines, which led authorities to a hell hole where the 44 others lived in subhuman conditions.

“The conviction is extremely important for prevention,” declared Stopak-Behr to award-winning AlterNet, a Thompson Reuters Foundation humanitarian news site. “It shows that there is a penalty for trafficking and that the Dominican authorities are working,” he added. However, trafficking in persons between Hispaniola’s sister-nations extends far beyond Yan and Pie’s monstrosity; it is a well-orchestrated, lucrative business that both governments admittedly overlook.

From their historic colonial origin to American occupations, autocratic rules, and democratic acquisitions, Haiti and DR shared more than just the island of Hispaniola; their historical and cultural heritages revealed striking similarities. Nevertheless, the two nations’ developmental processes over the last half-century evolved astonishingly distinct from one another. According to the World Bank (WB), DR’s GDP per capital grew five times larger than that of Haiti, though virtually the same in 1960. A World Bank press released explained the phenomenon: “Haiti has been held back by greater political and micro-economic instability, along with lower investment in infrastructure and human capital, and environmental deterioration,” it read. Foreign policy think tanks attributed current immigration nightmares faced the sister-nations to DR’s superior economic performance, a strategic tool for child traffickers.

In 2009, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported, “At least 2,000 children were trafficked across the poorly controlled border between Haiti and the DR),” according to this Reuters article. While officials increased U.N. Police Division’s (UNPOL) patrol frequency along the 227-mile border to deter child trafficking, post-quake stats proved even more egregious. A Miami Herald article reported traffickers smuggled more than 1,411 boys and girls out of the country just one month following the earthquake, a number that increased to 7,300 through October 2010, eight months later.

Nevertheless, Stopak-Behr remained optimistic about the DR’s first child traffickers’ conviction. “We hope it will have a preventive effect and help stop the constant flow of children into the Dominican Republic,” said the spokesperson to reporters, emphasizing, “The Dominicans had been criticized for some time now for not bringing many trafficking cases to trial.”

Partnering with the Haitian Embassy in Santo Domingo among other child protection entities, IOM helped transition the children to normal life. “Following successful pre-return risk assessments, the children were subsequently moved, by IOM, from the Dominican Republic to Haiti,” read a note posted on its website.

Haiti: Catherine Flon’s Needle, Flag and Undeniable Legacy | Foreign Policy Blogs