22108: Esser: Let Them Eat Gruel (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

ZNet
http://www.zmag.org

    Znet Haiti coverage:
    http://www.zmag.org/lam/haitiwatch.cfm

May 27, 2004

Let Them Eat Gruel
by Justin Felux

The track record thus far of Gerard Latortue's puppet regime in Haiti
indicates that Randall Robinson was being too generous when he
referred to the U.S.-supported Prime Minster as a "buffoon." He has
praised the murderous coup leaders as "freedom fighters" and accused
his opponents of being preoccupied with "black power" (something he
obviously doesn't have much use for). Energy and sanitation
conditions are on a downward spiral while the cost of living is
skyrocketing. The cost of rice has doubled. Latortue's callous and
arrogant solution is for Haitians to "change their dietary habits by
henceforth consuming more corn gruel, cassava root and other foods
seen to be less expensive and of lesser quality," according to AHP.

Judging from his fat, pot-bellied figure, it is obvious that Mr.
Latortue has not struggled with hunger in recent times. For this
overfed, overpriveleged aristocrat to be lecturing a starving
population about their eating habits is both callous and
condescending. Even if taken seriously, his flippant suggestion is
not by any means a feasible solution to the current crisis,
especially in the long-term. His comments are just more evidence of
his deep disconnect with the people and his general cluelessness.
Many are now calling his government the "Boca Raton regime" due to
the fact that many of the new officials, including Latortue, are from
Boca Raton, Florida. For those unfamiliar with Boca Raton, here is
how it is described on the city's website:

"Boca Raton has been described as a cosmopolitan metropolis offering
a tropical paradise lifestyle ... Beautiful Atlantic beaches, world
class shopping, dining for every taste and budget. There are over 40
parks maintained by the city, nature preserves, and over 30 golf
courses (public & private)."

Latortue's Florida mansion is worth $200,000 and is equipped with a
$3,978 spa. In Haiti, merely having a swimming pool (much less a
luxurious spa) is a symbol of status and privilege. Per capita income
in Haiti is less than $400 a year, meaning a typical Haitian would
have to live well over 500 years before being able to buy a house
like Latortue's. It's unlikely that Mr. Latortue understands or even
cares about the plight of ordinary Haitians. His sympathies will be
with the wealthy Haitian elite and the rich countries that are
propping up his rule in utter disregard for the Haitian Constitution.
Article 157 of the constitution states that the Prime Minister must
have resided in Haiti for the last five years, which Latortue hasn't
done. This is in addition to the obvious fact that President Aristide
was forced out in a violent coup, making any subsequent government
illegitimate in the first place.

Nearly all of the accomplishments of the Aristide government are
being undone. A medical school founded by Aristide to help with
Haiti's desperate need for doctors is being occupied by U.S. troops,
despite repeated demands by its 247 students that they be allowed to
return to class. Furthermore, the contract Haiti had with Cuba in
which over 500 Cuban doctors worked to treat Haiti's poor and educate
Haitian students in medicine is reportedly "under review." The
minimum wage, which Aristide doubled, is back to its original rate
(not that businesses respected the raise in the first place). The
ministry of literacy has been abolished. Its previous work in
establishing thousands of literacy centers helped lower Haiti's
illiteracy rate from 80% to below 50%.

The government has abandoned Aristide's call for France to repay its
debt to Haiti, calling the claim "ridiculous." The finance minister
has announced that "full relations" between Haiti and the IMF will be
established as soon as possible. State-owned companies will likely be
privatized, which will in turn starve the government of revenue.
Aristide restructured the tax system to take the burden off the poor
and increased tax collection among Haiti's elite. These reforms will
be difficult to maintain due to the new government's cozy
relationship to the elite and the fact that the so-called rebels
ransacked and burned customs and tax offices as they rampaged across
the country, undoubtedly destroying many important documents and tax
records. This is all bad news for Haiti's poor, who are in desperate
need of public assistence in terms of infastructure and public works.

Rural Haiti has been especially devastated. Recent flooding and
mudslides have resulted in the deaths of almost 2,000 people in Haiti
and the Dominican Republic (more on this in a moment). These deaths
are in addition to the massive numbers killed by the rebels. Those
who haven't been killed are struggling with the rising price of
goods. Some families are forced to remain hungry while spending all
of their money on food for their pigs. Over 80% of rural households
own pigs, which are large investments. Typically a pig is used as a
rainy day fund. In fact, the same word is used for "pig" and "bank."
They are sold to help pay for a special occasion or an emergency.
They also play an important role in keeping the soil fertile. Their
economic importance has put families in a situation where they are
forced to feed their pigs before they can even think about feeding
their children.

Things might be different had it not been for the fact that
international agencies ordered the mass extermination of indigenous
Creole pigs in 1982. The U.S. feared that an alleged outbreak of
African Swine Fever among Haitian pigs would spread to other
countries. Two years after the Creole pigs were nearly eliminated,
they were replaced by new pigs from Iowa. The new pigs required food,
shelter, and clean water (unavailable to most people in Haiti). The
peasants dubbed them "four-footed princes." The Creole pigs were
adapted to Haiti's climate and conditions and could eat almost
anything. The failure of the repopulation program has resulted in as
much as $600 million in losses and a massive decapitalization of the
peasant economy, as well as further deterioration of soil quality.

The politics of "free trade" have also devastated the Haitian
economy. Since Latortue will undoubtedly develop Haiti's economy
along neoliberal lines, it is worth looking back at what "free trade"
has done to Haiti in the past few decades:

- In the 1980s Haiti was compelled to lower tariffs on rice, the
country's main staple food. At the same time, the United States
increased rice subsidies to the point that they accounted for 40% of
the profits. Haiti's markets were flooded with cheap rice. Imports
increased from 7000 tons in 1986 to 200,000 tons in 2003. With no
money to subsidize its own producers, rice farming in Haiti was
essentially destroyed.

- Increasing U.S. demand for chicken left American producers with a
surplus of dark meat and chicken parts. Unwilling to let it go to
waste, the chicken scraps were dumped in to poor countries. Haiti's
low tariffs made it a prime target for dumping. The cheap frozen
chicken from the U.S. undermined what was once a growing industry in
Haiti. In 1991 Haiti had almost 300 broiler farms producing about
300,000 broilers a month. All of the farms are closed today,
resulting in a loss of about 10,000 jobs in poultry and related
industries such as poultry-feed production. Canada, Mexico, and even
Haiti's neighbor, the Dominican Republic, have put tariffs on U.S.
chicken parts to protect their own poultry industries. Haiti was not
allowed any such luxury.

- Despite a dramatic decrease in production, sugar was still Haiti's
second leading cash crop in the mid 1980s. In 1987 the Haitian
government was compelled to privatize its sugar processing
facilities. The new owners, realizing there was more money to be made
from importing sugar, immediately closed the plant and laid off all
the workers. The imported sugar was sold at a higher price than local
sugar, resulting in higher prices for all sugar-based commodities.
For example, citrus farmers found it difficult to sell citrus juice
drops due to the increased price of sweetener. U.S. sugar producers
are heavily subsidized by the government, which also places a hefty
tariff on sugar imports.

The result of these reforms as well as various local factors has been
a dramatic increase in rural poverty. Agricultural production fell
from 50 percent of GDP to 25 percent between the 1970s and 1990s,
despite the fact that almost 70% of the population still depends on
the agricultural sector. Many young people are moving to the cities
and creating overcrowded slums. As a last resort for money, many
Haitians are forced to cut down trees to use or sell as charcoal.
Seventy percent of the population relies on charcoal to cook food.

Selling charcoal gives short-term economic benefit to peasants, but
in the long run it results in massive deforestation. Many of Haiti's
numerous mountains that were once covered with lush vegetation and
trees are now almost completely barren. This causes heavy erosion
when it rains, washing away the topsoil and making the land even more
infertile. A good deal of silt flows in to the sea, killing most of
the fish and depriving Haitians of yet another increasingly rare
resource. The heavy rains also cause mudslides like the ones that we
are witnessing now that have killed hundreds of Haitians.

Follow the neoliberal bouncing ball: unfair trade increases rural
poverty, desperate peasants are forced to cut down trees for
charcoal, the subsequent deforestation results in massive mudslides
during heavy rains which end up killing people.

No wonder they call it the "death plan."


• Justin Felux is a writer and activist based in San Antonio, Texas. He
can be contacted at justins@alacrityisp.net
.