26180: Raber: (reply)Re: 26179: Simidor responds to Raber re: Fernandez visit in NYC (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: PM Raber <raber88@zoominternet.net>

I am not asking anyone to wait their turn for justice but just stating the fact 
that it is difficult for the Haitian voice to be taken seriously on the 
international scene when equally or worse abuses have taken place on Haitian 
land for decades and are continuing to take place with no real mobilization by 
the society to make a change. The restavek practice even goes on outside of 
Haiti where supposedly young family members are dumped back into Haiti once the 
youth realize that they have rights. Yes, let's raise voices against the 
Dominicans! However, to be taken seriously, we must make real progress in our 
own backyard. There are restavek rescue groups in Haiti but the problem is that 
this is seen as an accepted behavior by the society. I have always found it 
amazing that an equal crime committed by a non-Haitian (Especially by a 
Dominican)against a Haitian is viewed much worse as when it is committed by 
Haitians. In the 1980's when Duvalier was receiving money for each person 
crossing the border to go cut sugarcane (I remember them walking down Morne 
Laselle with their government issued rubber boots on their backs) the whole 
issue got the Haitian government cashing in on the abuses! Make the march about 
stopping all Haitian slavery in and out of Haiti! Your voices will be heard 
that way. Or have simultaneous marches in New York (where Fernandez will be) 
and Miami (where Latortue is).

I want to state that I know a number of Haitian farmers who could not feed 
their families if it were not for their frequent crossing of the border to 
work. The Morne Laselle area of Ti Boucan has dozens of young men who go back 
and forth as hired hands. When I have questioned them about whether they 
experienced abuses, they said there were none (at least in their eyes) by their 
employers but robbers are a real threat when they walk back to Haiti. There are 
abuses but there are also places where people are able to work for better wages 
than they can find in Haiti and come home to their families, and then go back 
again and again. There are an entire set of other farmers who go through the 
Dominican and eventually end up in Guadeloupe where they experience abuses but 
are putting up with it as they see that there are no other choices to feed 
their families. Every couple of years, they are arrested, abused and deported 
only to go back again. While there, they are not allowed by Guadeloupeans to 
sell their produce directly. Some middle men (many of whom sit around 
unemployed collecting French welfare) make most of the profit through blackmail 
that involves kickback to local authorities. When they don't get their way, out 
goes the Haitians.

Bottom line:

When parents can have jobs to feed their families and when they can send their 
children to school, there will be a huge reduction in the number of restaveks. 
However the society still needs to see it as the cancer that it is.

When Haitians can find jobs on their own soil, they will quit going to the 
Dominican Republic However those committing abuses in the Dominican still to be 
held accountable

Having visited the DR in 1982 and 1983 and then in 1999 and 2000, I could not 
believe my eyes. In 1983 it felt like a slightly richer, woodsier Haiti. In 
1999 it felt like a slightly poorer Miami. What would Haitians do if Florida 
was on the same island as Haiti? Well they are walking to the little Florida 
next door. As Dominicans are trying to reduce poverty in their country, they 
are seeing more Haitian pouring in. It is a real problem and as in all 
countries there are ad people taking advantage of the Haitians. The two 
countries histories are forever linked. Dominicans havea lot at stake in seeing 
Haiti move forward. The DR is afraid of being dragged along down with Haiti. 
This is a smaller version of the US/Mexico border.