14290: Durban on Airport Road, Economic Embargo, USAID (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com>

Anyone who has traveled the new Airport Road would have to
concede that it provides an impressive first impression on
arrival in Haiti... even more so when one recalls the pot-holed
disaster which preceded it.  President Aristide's December 26th
speech formally inaugurating it exudes an appropriate level of
pride in a significant development project.  (Thanks, Michelle
Karshan, for your helpful English translation of the speech in
Corbett #14245).  So why does this writer think President
Aristide needs a better speechwriter?  In short, because of a
disturbing tendency to inadvertently upset the very people he
should least want to upset.

        Let's Eliminate the Term "Economic Embargo"

"Economic embargo" may be a catchy phrase, but to my mind it
ought to be banished from the Lavalas vocabulary.  As used, it
comes across as "Se pa faut moin" (it's not my fault) as regards
the disasterous state of the Haitian economy.  This dodging of
responsibility is standard political response and no doubt
accounts for its inclusion in the speech.  It may even be a
perfectly accurate statement, but coming from the Head of State
it is simply Not Wise.  It grates on important ears, and makes
further efforts at reconciliation with his chief protagonist
(the U.S.) all the more difficult.

Why?  Because the United States has the idea that it is giving
some 75 million dollars a year in foreign aid to Haiti.  U.S.
Ambassador Brian Dean Curran said as much in a Peace Corps event
last year in which he expressly denied the existence of an
"economic embargo" against Haiti.    Aristide's use of the term
only draws attention to this semantic difference of opinion,
something he should be avoiding at all costs.

        Both Sides Laboring Under False Assumptions.

The Haitian administration has come to believe that the blocked
loan package is the main stumbling block for the Haitian
economy.  Not so!  Haiti's problems are home grown and its
solutions must also be.  A $500 million dollar injection from
outside would provide a temporary band-aid, but would do little
for Haiti's long term development.  How many poor countries have
escaped poverty through World Bank largesse?  None, that I can
think of.

The U.S. cites its $75 million dollar per year aid program in
Haiti as evidence that it is already providing substantial
assistance to Haiti.  Hmmm.  Ask the average Haitian what U.S.
foreign aid has done for Haiti in recent years, and I'll bet few
will have any idea at all.  That's because the USAID program in
Haiti is almost totally invisible.  Many would argue that the
principal beneficiaries are American farmers, USAID employees,
and a collection of consultants known colloquially in Washington
as the Beltway Bandits.  Cutting off existing aid programs would
harm these American beneficiaries more than anyone in Haiti,
which is why the strongest supporters of U.S. aid to Haiti come
from right around Washington DC!

                Remedying Misconceptions

Given that the United States is Haiti's largest trading partner,
President Aristide should make warming relations with Washington
a new priority in 2003.  Seriously.  Get together with
Ambassador Curran outside of the National Palace.  Travel to
Washington to make some friends outside of the Black
Congressional Caucus.  Make good on that list of promises made
in the waning days of the Clinton Presidency... not for the
purpose of gaining access to international loans, but because
those action points to which President Aristide committed were
sound recommendations, good for Haiti.

For its part, USAID should try for a higher profile presence in
Haiti.  More bricks and mortar.  Less wishy-washy
institution-building endeavors that are impossible to evaluate.
How is it that Taiwan is seen to be furnishing more aid to Haiti
than Washington?  No kidding, even  Haitian police cars are
frequently marked, "Gift of Taiwan".  Aristide's December 26th
speech claimed the Airport Road project cost $32 million (at
today's exchange rate) and although plastered with Mesi Prezidan
Aristid banners, most Haitians assume that all of the funds came
from Taiwan.  The U.S. claims to spend more than twice that each
year, yet where are the results?  It's time for the U.S. to work
on this visibility problem.

Lance Durban
January 2, 2003



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