Promises of money poured in from around the world to resurrect Haiti from the earthquake and radically redesign the Caribbean nation's economic, social and physical structures, including decentralization to ease pressure on the teeming capital of Port-au-Prince.
Even for often-cynical UN observers, like this reporter, the conference bristled with ideas and scripted government speeches were less cliche-ridden than usual. Haitians abroad, industry leaders and advocacy groups spoke and the preparations of technical details presented by Haitian leaders for the reconstruction were well-prepared.
That doesn't mean 100 flowers will blossom but one left the all-day conference at UN headquarters in New York with some hope that eventually something positive would happen in a country with a history of misery even before the January 12 earthquake.
At the meeting, more than 100 delegations, many of them headed by foreign ministers, pledged a total of $5.3 billion over the next 18 months and another $4.6 billion for the years that follow for a total of $9.9 billion, said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, co-chairman of the conference with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Haiti had only requested he $3.9 billion Haiti for the next 18 months.
Secretary Clinton (who shared a podium with her husband) emphasized the need for Haitians to control the process and put a newly-created international commission out of business.
"Our goal must be the empowerment of the Haitian people, she said, calling for home-grown expertise in administration, medicine, education and the economy. "It needs the people of Haiti to be given the tools to be able to deliver on the promise of their own future."
For the next 18 months, the United States pledged $1.15 billion. The European Union came through with $1.6 billion. Venezuela pledged $1.29 billion over the next 18 months and promised to nearly double that in the future while the Inter-American Development Bank pledged $400 million by 2011 and a total of $2.2 billion over the next decade.
In addition France pledged $194 million, the World Bank $479 million, Canada $375 million, Brazil $163.31, Spain $265 million and the International Federation of the Red Cross, $320 million as dozens of nations, rich and poor, took the microphone.
The 7.3 magnitude earthquake killed at least 250,000 people in a country of 9 million, injured many more , left 1.3 million homeless and destroyed 28 of the 29 government ministries. Countless schools, hospitals and health centers were turned into rubble. And hundreds of thousands still live in camps without enough food, shelter and sanitation.
Promises, promises, promises...
Whether or not the donors will deliver and whether the Haitian government can function efficiently are big "ifs." Said UN Secretary-General Ban:
"Now it comes down to implementation, delivery on our promises, transparency and accountability. We must make sure Haiti gets the money it needs when it needs it. And we must guarantee that it is well-coordinated and well-spent."
Before the earthquake, when Haiti was recovering from two hurricanes in 2008, former President Bill Clinton, a UN envoy for Haiti, held a pledging conference in Washington and only 30 percent of the funds committed were realized.
Coordinating the many coordinators is never easy with such a large cast of characters. Bill Clinton is to head a commission that includes Haitian leaders and major donors and help with a web site tracing monies spent. Helen Clark, the head of the UN Development Program is to oversee much of the development aid and the World Bank is to administer the funds.
Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive did the heavy lifting, outlining an $11.5 billion road map action plan towards recovery. Initial funds, he said, would be used for emergency relief, then economic growth and job creation. After that it might take 10 to 20 years for the country to become self-sufficient.
"To implement this we need massive job creation. The next few months will focus on high labor intensive industries, agricultural infrastructure, building, clean up of devastated areas. We'll have to find ways to get these jobs out to people to train them, vocational training, relevant training to transform this tragedy into a sustainable economic enterprise."
Agriculture will be difficult as Haiti imports US subsidized rice, a diet staple. The International Monetary Fund had insisted Haiti lower rice tariffs in its 1986 aid package.
And Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim called on nations to allow duty free and quota free imports of Haitian textiles and other goods, saying, "You don't have real economic development if you don't have markets."
Bellerive also wants $350 million to pay government salaries and begin to rebuild the administration. (Taxes are in short supply as the elite avoids them and swallows up government resources.) The United States is reluctant to let Haiti write checks but some pledges were made by France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Brazil, Venezuela and others, though far less than Haiti wants.
Both Bill Clinton and Robert Zoellick , the World Bank president, warned the nations and thousands of international charity groups not to freelance. `Please avoid feel-good flag-waving projects,'' Zoellick said, ``because building islands of developments in a sea of deprivation won't get us where we need to go.''
The session heard from Michele Montas, a former UN spokeswoman whose husband, Jean Dominique, an organizer of peasants, was assassinated at a radio station they ran in Port-au-Prince. She reported on a " Voice of Voiceless" UN survey that conducted interviews among 1,750 citizens in 156 discussion groups from farmer associations, camp dwellers and students to traditional healers.
"There is a strong demand for an end to exclusion. The exercise was an opportunity for people to express their views often for the first time on issues of concern to their communities and to themselves as individual citizens. Reconstruction packages should benefit all Haitians regardless of their status and location," Montas said.
Even before the quake the Caribbean nation had the highest rates of TB, HIV and of infant, child and maternal mortality in the Western hemisphere. Now, aid has not reached many people scattered in hundreds of makeshift camps, some in danger of drowning when floods and hurricanes come.
So despite new sweeping plans, the first order of business must be to keep people alive.
.
Take advantage of the earthquake
to finalize the complete removal of the majority of the Haitian people's right to self determination by placing Haiti under the trusteeship of international financial institutions such as the world bank and the countries that control them.
to take over the country's natural resources
to coerce the vast majority of the Haitian people to adhere to the reconstruction plan by withholding water, food, shelter, basic sanitation, and education
Hold "elections" to give the vast majority of the Haitian people a false sense that they have a say on the fate of their country.
Do it while proclaiming that the Haitian people will not be forsaken, the "international community" will not abandon them, and apologizing for killing their agriculture without providing a meaningful way to redress it( import tariff on agricultural products remain at 3% and no plan to put it back to where it was).
According to Montreal Black Entertainement TV, Prime Minister Bellerive made the following statement
http://www.mbetv.com/shocking-declarations-made-by-prime-minister-bellerive-about-the-presence-of-gold-oil-iridium-in-haiti :
" 1 – There is oil in Haiti.
2 – Contracts regarding the exploitation of oil in Haiti and oil refineries are currently underway.
3 – Bellerive declared he had knowledge of documentation about the presence of Iridium in Haiti.
4 – Contracts have already been signed and work is in progress for the exploitation of Gold in Haiti. 10 millions dollars have been invested by CFI (the World Bank private sector) in relationship with the IMF for a project worth billions of dollars. "
As stated in many of my previous comments, Haiti has oil and some gold reserves. Here is a link to the oil and gas reserves:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=aUqFB_GbhRYM
However, as was reported in Haiti Progres http://www.haiti-progres.com/suite_francais3.php, the reconstruction plan was put together by a team of 200 international "experts" and Preval/Bellerive did not deny it.
In reality, the Haitians will be executing the plan put together by the "international" community under the supervision of the "international community" . There are 7 Haitians with voting rights against 13 foreigners with voting rights on the board of the HRIC. World bank will decide which projects is worthy of fundings and 3 other foreigners will supervise the Haitian "government" in the implementation of these projects.
It appeared that Haiti's vibrant civil society will be coerced to go with the plan by withholding basic necessities such as food, water, shelter, sanitation, and education in violation of their human rights and the Haitian Constitution http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-schuller/haitis-resurrection-promo_b_525104.html
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/1/kim_roger_donors_pledge:
QUOTE: The World Bank is going to be deciding who gets the money. It will be given to a commission which has thirteen foreign members, and seven Haitians there as tokens. And then the actual implementation by the Haitian government will be overseen again by foreigners. So it’s a takeover of Haiti.
We have to remember, we’re not in the age of Bush anymore, with all the chest pounding and, you know, America first and capitalism first. This is Slick Willie, and they come with the message. They know the sensitivity of the Haitian community—I can say of the progressive American community, too—to all these maneuvers. And so they know the language. We hear the word “solidarity.” We hear the word “sovereignty.” We hear the word—we hear all the right words. But once again, to me, it’s total smoke. UNQUOTE
52
" The HICR is co-chaired by the Prime Minister and an eminent foreign figure involved in the recon-
struction effort. They will be assisted by an Executive Director tasked with day-to-day operations
management and supervising a secretariat.
The members of the HICR with voting rights are as follows:
i. Two chairpersons (2),
ii. Three representatives of the Haiti Government, namely two people appointed respectively
by the executive power, the judiciary, and the local authorities (6),
iii. A separate representative from the Chamber of Deputies. The choice will be based on a list
submitted by the political parties represented in the Chamber (1),
iv. A separate representative from the Senate. The choice will be based on a list submitted by
the political parties represented in the Senate (1),
v. One representative appointed by the unions and one representative appointed by the busi-
ness community (2),
vi. One representative of each of the main donors having chosen to sit on the Board and
having made a contribution to Haiti’s reconstruction of donations of at least....
this list of donors comprises: Canada, Brazil, the European Union, France, the United
States, Venezuela, IDB, the United Na-tions, and the World Bank) (9),
vii. One representative of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) (1)...."
According to Miami Herald: Bill Clinton is the co-czar of Haiti's post-earthquake reconstruction.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/30/1554320/donors-willing-is-haiti-able.html#ixzz0kXhQCAqQ
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/13/our-role-in-haitis-plight :
QUOTE: The international community has been effectively ruling Haiti since the 2004 coup. UNQUOTE
According to Haiti Progres, the plan was put together by a team of 200 people most of them international "experts", a fact that the Bellerive/Preval administration does not deny.
http://www.haiti-progres.com/suite_francais3.php
Futhermore, according to Haitian Newspaper, Haiti Liberte, http://www.haiti-liberte.com/default.asp :
"The World Bank distributes the reconstruction funds to projects it deems worthy. An Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti (HRIC), composed of 13 foreigners and 7 Haitians, approves the disbursements. Then another group of foreigners supervises the Haitian government’s implementation of the project."
It appears that the official line from the "international community" is to proclaim that the Haitian government is in charge of Haiti when in fact this is not true.