7276: Re: 7265: Guess who (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Please post anonymously. Thank you.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1. The sender of Post 7265 should be commended for
showing us a "kinder and gentler" side of Gladys
Lauture. After all, her vilification on this list
(including my own in Post 7199) started to resemble a
one-sided and incredibly unfair smear campaign.

Unfortunately, this vigourous defense of Lauture's
Christian (or more narrowly, Catholic) values raises
more questions than it answers:

a. Is the Laboratoire she owns on the Champ de Mars
the source of her fortune? Is this what allowed her to
buy shares in Banque Intercontinentale (formerly Bank
of Boston), for example, with Dr. Boulos? I seriously
doubt it.

b. But if the answer is yes, can the funds generated
by this business venture explain of all the alleged
charities and social works she supports or funds?

c. What does an "old family with strong Christian and
charitable traditions" mean? Don't we all have a long
family line?  Do Christians have a monopoly on charity
and good moral values? Or could this be an oblique
reference to the alleged "liste des 200 familles",
those "elite" families that have "controlled" Haiti
since its independence and managed to screw 95% of the
population for almost 200 years?

d. What are the "other" lucrative businesses (apart
from the Laboratoire) that have given her the means to
be so charitable? I may not be an insider, but I
thought that if such businesses existed, some
relatively well-connected people on this list would
have cited these ventures by now.

e. Why hasn't the writer of Post 7265 unequivocally
repudiated of all the previous information that
detailed Lauture's misdeeds? In other words, can
anyone on this list state with a good conscience that
Lauture did not perform any of the alleged irregular
transactions that have been attributed to her in this
forum?

f. Citing her as very close to the Haitian Catholic
Church is no reference. This is the same church that
used to forbid my classmates and me from speaking
Creole at school decades ago (I guess I am betraying
my age bracket with this tidbit), that tried to
destroy all elements of Vodoun in the 1940's and
became the moral authors of unspeakable acts in the
process, that steadfastly allied itself with the upper
classes and completely ignored the masses until the
beginning of the "Ti Legliz" movement, just to mention
a few charitable acts of said church. This is the same
CATHOLIC church that tried last year to shove a $72
million electricity deal down the government's throat
through its affiliate investment company, with a
built-in 25% profit margin. And the Preval
administration almost went for it! Could Lauture have
been connected to this deal? I am not sure.

g. How much has she actually donated to all the causes
listed in the post? How does that compare to the
wealth she has amassed? And how much of her wealth was
acquired while she was Michelle B. Duvalier's best
friend? How does she explain her extremely close
friendship with this rapacious woman?

2. To be fair to Lauture, it is necessary that the
public (and not so public) unethical acts of many male
powerbrokers, especially some in the past 5 years, be
brought forth. Otherwise, the negative posts on
Lauture - which I am assuming were predominantly
penned by men - would smack of nothing more than
misogyny. At this point, I am too disgusted with all
that happened to start listing some of the great deals
that others have engineered. But let me at least cite
the names of some offenders:
+ Fred Joseph - former Minister of Finance and
Economie
+ Harry Cean - Directeur General of CONATEL
+ Julio Cadet - former Directeur General of TELECO (a
Lauture protege)

On second thought, Cean deserves special mention for
having done the following:
+ provided to Haitel a number of licenses for which
they never paid much in exchange for a small number of
shares in the company ... meanwhile blocking all
competitors from obtaining similar licenses. Conflict
of interest!
+ managed to hire close to 10 of his relatives at
Conatel, including the director of accounting  and key
advisors (a sister and half-brothers with different
surnames, so no red flags were raised.)
+ paid cash for a gas station that cost about $600,000
on the Route du Nord and that is managed by a brother.
Now what is a Directeur General's salary again?
+ of course, is a partner in the "activity du jour"
also known as the Retiremnent Fund for Haitian
Politicians: long-distance call bypass, which allows
him to undermine Teleco's long-distance monopoly while
building a comfortable nest egg.

Enough for today. Let someone else finish the task of
exposing so-called technocrats like Joseph and Cean
who have basically turned their backs on the people
and made Duvalier-era shenanigans look like child's
play. Is this what I bargained for when I voted
Lavalas in 1990, cheered for the return in 1994, and
voted for Preval (yes I was one of the few)? No, but I
remain hopeful that President Aristide will correct
all the misdeeds that were performed by opportunists
disguised as Lavalas in the future.