30721: Hermantin(News) Smugglers, poverty fuel Haiti exodus (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Posted on Sun, Jul. 08, 2007
Smugglers, poverty fuel Haiti exodus
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
For decades, Haitians have boarded rickety boats and fled the country -- some 
coming ashore in South Florida -- to escape political turmoil.
After a lull following the election last year of President René Préval, 
Haitians have resumed risking their lives at sea -- but this time, politicians 
and others say, the country's moribund economy and more-aggressive smugglers 
are behind the surge.
In recent months, after scores of migrants drowned near the Turks and Caicos 
Islands, Haitian officials have scrambled to curtail the flight. Police have 
become more vigilant in patrolling the coast and cracking down on smugglers. 
And some lawmakers have held town hall meetings and produced radio ads in the 
north, from where most boats leave, in the hope of deterring others by 
describing the dangers of the voyage.
Marc Antoine Franc¸ois, a member of parliament from Ile de la Tortue, who is 
behind the campaign, acknowledged in a recent interview that he faces a 
daunting task in a country where few people have jobs.
''When you have a problem, you have to attack it at its root,'' says Franc¸ois, 
who last month launched his anti-migration campaign on Ile de la Tortue, an 
island off Haiti's northwest coast known as a boat-building hub.
Préval, in turn, doesn't deny that work needs to be done. But he added on 
Friday: ''When they say things are not good, they don't have a frame of 
reference because they did not live the past when things were really bad,'' 
referring to the period after the 1957 seizure of power by Franc¸ois ''Papa 
Doc'' Duvalier.
During the next four months, there are plans to run radio ads in certain 
communities urging people not to board the boats and to report clandestine 
voyages to authorities. Also planned is travel to South Florida to urge 
Haitians abroad to stop financing the trips on behalf of family members -- but 
instead to invest in the country to create jobs.
While Préval's government receives high marks from the international community 
for creating political stability, improving security and reducing inflation, a 
complicated portrait of misery is emerging, and it is fueling the migration 
surge.

`ONE AVENUE'
''The majority of the young are of the age where they should be in school, but 
they cannot go to school,'' Franc¸ois says of life throughout this impoverished 
nation of eight million people. ``They have no means of getting an education or 
learning a trade. They only see one avenue: Take a boat and go to Nassau or the 
United States. We have to change that.''
So far this year, U.S. Coast Guard cutters have intercepted 1,221 Haitian 
migrants, more than the 1,198 for all of last year. And that worries some 
international and Haitian officials, who fear that the desperate voyages could 
easily cause political unrest.
''There is something that is happening that we don't quite understand,'' says 
Maureen Achieng, chief of mission in Port-au-Prince for the International 
Organization for Migration, which has teamed up with Franc¸ois and other 
lawmakers to tackle the problem. ``We don't know what's really pushing things 
in the last couple of months because the situation isn't any worse 
necessarily.''
Achieng and others say they know that poverty and misery are major reasons that 
people attempt to leave. But what they want to know is if something else is at 
play. They hope that a comprehensive study of the factors compelling people to 
leave will provide answers. They then hope to create programs to address the 
issue.

HUMAN SMUGGLING
Meanwhile, Haitians told The Miami Herald that smugglers are increasingly 
profiting from their misery. As Préval increases the pressure on drug 
traffickers, unscrupulous boat owners turn to human smuggling.
Aggressive smugglers capitalize on desperation and recruit passengers on the 
false belief that if they are caught at sea, they would be sent to Australia, 
rather than returned to Haiti, according to residents and lawmakers.
''They are exploiting the masses,'' says Georgemain Prophète, a local official.
Their message is reinforced by return visits from emigrants who look better fed 
and better dressed.
Prophète and others say the Haitian coast guard has stepped up efforts to 
arrest smugglers, but it's hard to shut down a business where there is a 
waiting list. It's also a business with no set fees: Some people barter food in 
payment for their voyage. Others say they pay hundreds of dollars; a Miami 
Herald reporter was told that in at least one instance, $5,000 was paid.
''People want to change their situation, and they are not concerned if they 
don't have legal papers,'' Prophète says. ``We talk about hope in 
[Cap-Haitien], but we haven't seen any benefits yet.''
U.S. Coast Guard officials say that while the numbers of individuals leaving 
Haiti by boat are up, there is no indication that the final goal is South 
Florida. Many migrant-crammed vessels leaving Haiti are island-hopping with an 
eye toward the financially stable Turks and Caicos, a British dependent chain 
150 miles north of Haiti.
''It has been an increasing problem for us,'' Jean Harrod, a spokeswoman for 
the governor's office in Turks and Caicos, says, noting that last year they 
repatriated almost 3,000 Haitians back to Haiti. ``We don't have a big 
population. We estimate we have 33,000 people. That would represent nearly 10 
percent of our population.''
Despite the Haitian government's success at controlling inflation -- it's down 
from 40 percent in 2003 to 8 percent today -- and keeping the local currency 
stable, the economic outlook remains grim.
The government needs to create jobs, entrepreneurs and regional economic 
development, says Haitian economist Kesner Pharel. ''That is the main challenge 
of the government,'' he says.
Life has not become more expensive, Pharel says -- it just feels that way.
''Because I am not working, I don't have any money and I am saying my condition 
isn't any better,'' he says. ``This time last year, inflation was more than 10 
percent, and now it's less.''
Economists also cite another factor for the pinch many feel: Nearly three 
million people receive remittances totaling $1.6 billion annually, most from 
the United States. The increasing strength of the Haitian currency has resulted 
in a loss of purchasing power, and local market prices have risen.
Michel St. Croix, the mayor of Cap-Haitien, says that less than 10 percent of 
the city's 800,000 residents have jobs. The city is Haiti's second-largest and, 
like others, has lost countless jobs in the wake of political turmoil.
When he entered office a few months ago, St. Croix says, there was only $81,081 
in the city's coffers. He was able to collect $135,135 more through taxes, but 
it's still not enough to satisfy the city's myriad needs, he says.
Recently, his office launched a street-cleaning program, one of several small 
projects it hopes to introduce with international community help. So far, about 
400 Haitians have been put to work cleaning the streets, earning a little less 
than $3 a day. That's almost $1 more than the pay for most Haitians, 76 percent 
of whom live on less than $2 a day.
St. Croix is demanding more money from Port-au-Prince -- and more attention.
''I am mounting pressure on the government to give the people a way to make a 
living,'' he says.
After a boat washed ashore in Hallandale Beach earlier this year, Prime 
Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis told The Miami Herald that stimulating Haiti's 
economy was one of his biggest challenges.
He had hoped that international donors would fund a project aimed at creating 
jobs in several cities.
When donors declined, the government decided to fund the projects itself. But 
the jobs, like the foreign investments, have been slow in coming.
Residents may not be willing to wait much longer.
''If this government was an illegal one, the country would have been in flames 
already,'' says Fritzner Vital, an unemployed construction worker, after 
another unsuccessful day of looking for work. ``There would have been protests 
because things are that bad. If things don't change, the same people who 
supported Préval will be left with no other choice but to take to the 
streets.''


© 2007 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights 
Reserved.http://www.miamiherald.com
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