19143: Pierre Jean: Re: 19135: Ives: Re: 19104: Pierre Jean: In their own words - Haiti Progres of February 18, 2004 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Pierre Jean <pierrejean2004@yahoo.com>

Kim Ives writes:

> First, Waters doesn't call the achievements
> "incredible." Second, the
> government, during the 3 years you limit your
> assessment to, has been under
> an aid embargo and increasing political/military
> attack despite its myriad
> compromises. Nonetheless, it has tried and made some

Mr. Ives,

Let's not even go there. The myriad compromises you
refer to never happened. Aristide and his government
have broken promise after promise re: the multiple
resolutions that they were supposed to implement.

> advances. Off the top
> of my head (you can go back and check Michelle
> Karshan's updates in Bob's
> archive, I don't have the time), the housing around
> the capital and out by
> Morne Cabrit built with Taiwan's support; the

The ONA-Ville complex is such a rousing success, isn't
it? Is there any particular reason why they built a
complex next to sand mines that constantly dust the
whole area with dangerous layers of sand, especially
for kids? It seems they picked the wrong spot for
these developments. And what was the cost to Taiwan?
And who actually lives there? Have you gone to visit,
or are you relying on Michell Karshan's accounts?

> alphabetization campaign which
> opened 20,000 adult literacy centers where 320,000
> people are following
> classes;

Really? That many centers? I challenge you to name
just 100 centers in the Ouest department. I have
enough contacts in the education world in Haiti to
know that these numbers are wildly exaggerated. I will
just ask a simple question: what is the total budget
allocated for that literacy campaign? How many people
are employed in that campaign? What is the average
salary of the employees? Now let's see whether your
answers to my questions make sense.

> the overhauled airport main terminal sure
> looks nice;

You mean building a new immigration area and a nice
"salon diplomatique" that only the gwo zotobre are
allowed to use counts as serious infrastructure work.
What happened to the funds that were allocated for the
baggage area? How come that wasn't done? How about the
fact that Haiti still doesn't possess a radar system?
Were you aware of that? Did you know that every time
you land in Port-au-Prince the air traffic controllers
track the planes on maps with little stickers, a
system that is at least 20 years old if not more?

> the 800 Cuban
> doctors dispatched throughout Haiti and the 300-odd
> young Haitians being
> trained as doctors in Cuba;

That is a RENE PREVAL achievement, not an Aristide
one. Titid is just piggy-backing on the work that
someone else did, given Preval's much closer ties with
the Cuban administration. Sorry, that doesn't count!

> there are quite a few
> new and repaired roads
> around the capital, as well as new buses;

Last I checked, the last nice road built was built by
CNE under Preval, not Aristide. The work done on
Delmas 33 (from Route de Delmas to the Airport) was a
repair work, not a new road.

As for the new buses, if I am not mistaken, the
Service Diyite and the Service Plus fleet are only 1/3
of their original size. So where are the new buses you
are talking about?

> some very
> nice new parks (I like
> that one near the Nazon/Delmas intersection).

Okay, I will grant you that. Meanwhile, there are
still not enough professors to teach in the new
schools built under Preval. So the message we are
sending the kids is, don't bother to go to school,
just go get some fresh air in the new park. Oh by the
way, these are concrete jungles, so avoid the parks in
the afternoons.

In the meantime, Mr. Ives, nary a word about
agriculture and public health. A progressive agenda
indeed!

> > 3. Does Haiti-Progres believe that its criticism
> of
> > Lavalas from April 2001 is no longer warranted? If
> > yes, why?
>
> No. The criticisms were valid. But we are now
> watching what the PPN calls a
> "macouto-bourgeois" alliance, with the support of
> the U.S. and France,
> attempt a new coup d'etat. Dialectically, this is a
> much bigger problem. The
> Macoutes and businessmen leading that assault which
> you seem to cheer are

Please point to where I have cheered and encouraged
the Macoutes and the businessmen.

> the sectors which comprised the Duvalier power base
> and whose corruption,
> greed, violence, and neglect dwarf anything you can
> point to under Lavalas
> regimes. In fact, THEY are responsible for Haiti's
> miserable state today.

So let's absolve the others of their responsibility.

>
> You know, during the Haitian revolution the fluidity
> of class struggle
> caused alliances which were much more shifting and
> incongruous than anything
> we see in Haiti recently. Let's return to the
> history books.

But what is most interesting, Mr. Ives, in your
dialectical approach to this issue is that nowhere do
you address the more sinister side of this progressive
government you ardently defend: the establishment of a
neo-Macoute institution called the "chimere" who were
armed by Lavalas and gave rise to the Armée Cannibale
that turned against them in Goinaives.

But why bring up this little artifact so typical of
our Haitian history? It would mess up that class
analysis that you are so fond of.

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