20286: Leiderman: Portsmouth [NH] Herald: Pained for the people of Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Stuart M Leiderman <leidermn@cisunix.unh.edu>

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/03072004/news/3975.htm

   Pained for the people of Haiti

   By Jesse J. DeConto
   jdeconto@seacoastonline.com

   Every year, Samson Duclair, an HVAC contractor from Raymond, sends
   $6,000 to his fathers hometown of Jacmel, Haiti, to fund the entire
   operation of a school serving 300 students and employing 20 faculty
   and staff members.

   For Seacoast residents with ties to Haiti, this astonishing fact shows
   not only how valuable the U.S. dollar is there, but also how much
   power Haitis wealthy neighbors have to improve conditions for the
   island nations 8 million citizens, 80 percent of whom live in poverty,
   making it the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

   Duclair wishes Washington had sent forces to Haiti before its
   democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was forced
   to resign under threat of violence. But Duclair said the U.S. recent
   intervention in the Haitian rebellion was better late than never. The
   real test of U.S. commitment, he said, will come after tensions die
   down and a new government is forced to choose between the traditional
   path of corruption and a new set of policies that could lift the
   population out of its mire.

   Haitians had hoped the 1990 election of the populist priest Aristide
   to the presidency would end the cycle of self-serving dictators rising
   to power then falling to military coups, but Duclair said Aristide
   fell into the same pattern of hoarding the nations little wealth, much
   of it from international aid, in the hands of a few ruling elites.

   "The funds that were sent down there ended up in the pockets of the
   dictators. It never got to the people," said the Rev. David Kerr, a
   retired Methodist minister from York, Maine, whose second annual
   humanitarian trip to Haiti may be postponed this April because of the
   instability. "Desperate people will do desperate things. ... It was
   just something waiting to explode."

   "There was hope that this ex-priest would bring some sort of moral
   leadership, and I think that hes failed miserably," said Dr. Lawrence
   Kane, a Durham radiologist who serves on the board of the Haitian
   Health Foundation. "He seems to have fallen into the same mold that
   every other single leader of Haiti has fallen into."

   Duclair said Haitians receive little to no assistance.

   "The government just distributes the wealth to whoever they want,"
   Duclair said. "If we can control the flow of money ... I think that we
   probably can end the cycle."

   Duclair said the Clinton administration was right to restore Aristide
   to power in 1994 after military leaders ousted him in 1991. The
   mistake was failure to monitor Aristide, who was president until 1996
   then re-elected in 2000, and Rene Pruval, who held office in the
   interim.

   "I hope this time, thats what they do," Duclair said.

   Dr. Kane endorses an international committee to oversee the use of
   foreign aid in Haiti.

   "Im sure that would be difficult, but its worth a shot," he said.
   "They just havent been blessed with individuals who really put their
   country first."

   Aristide won 67 percent of the vote in 1990 to succeed Gen. Henri
   Namphy, who was himself deposed in a military coup in 1988 after
   leading his own revolt against dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, known as
   "Baby Doc," in 1986. Baby Doc had taken the reins at age 19 after his
   father died in 1971. Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier became Haitis leader
   in 1957, declared himself president for life in 1964, and ruled
   through terror perpetrated by his notorious street gangs known as the
   "Tontons Macoutes," according to an MSNBC report.

   This months rebellion marks the 34th coup détat in Haitis 200-year
   history as a nation. in a military coup in 1988 after leading his own
   revolt against dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, known as "Baby Doc," in
   1986. Baby Doc had taken the reins at age 19 after his father died in
   1971. Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier became Haitis leader in 1957,
   declared himself president for life in 1964, and ruled through terror
   perpetrated by his notorious street gangs known as the "Tontons
   Macoutes," according to an MSNBC report.

   "Its, in effect, a military coup by the same people who overthrew
   Aristide previously," said Nina Glick Schiller, a University of New
   Hampshire professor of anthropology who specializes in Haitian
   studies. "The U.S. should not support these death squads and
   assassins."

   Duclair said Aristide was not "a good guy," but he should have been
   allowed to complete his term.

   "It took us 200 years almost to have a free election," Duclair said.
   "They did vote somebody in; theyre not going to trust the democratic
   process again."

   "I dont think theres much love lost in him leaving," said the Rev.
   Kerr. "They are concerned about what kind of leadership is going to
   take over."

   "I just pray that whatever group takes over that theyre trustworthy so
   that the world community will support them," said Sal Giudice, a
   Stratham retiree who serves with Dr. Kane on the Haitian Health
   Foundation board.

   Glick Schiller favors prosecuting the militant rebels, whom she says
   are U.S.-trained and U.S.-armed, and welcoming Haitian refugees into
   the United States.

   "When death squads are in charge of your country, you should have a
   right to leave," she said. "There are millions of people who are
   denied a right to a future."

   Kerr, who led the First United Methodist Church in Portsmouth for a
   decade, said the current spotlight on Haiti is the silver lining of
   the latest cloud of violence.

   "My hope is that this will wake people up to whats happening in our
   hemisphere," he said. "They dont have oil and they dont have natural
   resources, so they dont draw much of our attention."

   Glick Schiller said Haiti has been the victim of U.S. and European
   corporations that have seized the islands natural resources and turned
   a profit without returning benefits to the Haitian people.

   "Its not just poor in its own right," she said. "Haiti has not ever
   really had a chance to develop its own economy."

   "It has been raped for so many decades ... that theres nothing left
   there," Kerr added.

   Strathams Giudice said the poverty is systemic because the resources
   have been depleted.

   "The countrys been so molested and so poor, that they cant pull
   themselves up by their bootstraps, as so many people are prone to
   say."

   For more information on the Haitian Health Foundation, call (860)
   886-4357 or visit www.haitianhealthfoundation.

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Stuart Leiderman
leidermn@christa.unh.edu