Haiti: Stuck in a Trap

Haitians aren't living in tent and bed sheet cities because there was an earthquake on January 12. This is the lifestyle one gets used to when elites and the Delatour/Preval lobby machine run the economy.
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I don't mean to dwell on certain issues but until there's some solid change in Haiti, things are going to remain: Poorest Country in the Western Hemisphere. I was reading this Reuters article and if i didn't know better, I would think that Haiti was so incapable of producing its own food that they had to start importing it. Well, that's not the case. Importing cheap rice and sugar were concepts sold to Haitians by Haitian Economist Leslie Delatour during the mid to late 1980's. It was called Chicago economics: free markets. The concept destroyed rural production and incentives in Haiti and sent an additional 2 million people to go live in Port au Prince not to mention how many boat people were sent by this plan to Miami and the Bahamas or how many cane cutters are now in the Dominican Republic, simply because the demand to produce off the land has declined.

Lobbying is still taken care of by a Delatour, Leslie's younger brother Lionel. Right now the younger Mr. Delatour is looking to attract more people out of the countryside and into the city with his HOPE2 garment bill, which is the crux of Haiti's economic future if Mevs, Soros, Boulos, Ban Ki Moon and Bill Clinton get their way. Mr Delatour is also busy trying to funnel reconstruction monies to brother Patrick Delatour, Minister of Tourism and reconstruction "expert", and sister-in-law Elizabeth Delatour Preval who has helped turn the Haitian government, led by husband President Rene Preval, into a lobby machine for Haiti's elite families.

In Haiti we've always taken a look and addressed the players out front: Cedras, Aristide, The Haitian Army, the Police, the Parliament.. but we've never addressed the behind the scene folks who control the contacts to Washington, finance the local operations and control the monopolies that keep Haiti as the Poorest Nation in the Western Hemisphere. Yes, there are people who profit greatly by living in and taking advantage of the Poorest Country in the Western Hemisphere.

The Haitian people, aside from the loss of life and the shock of such a tragic event, haven't had that much of a change in their lives since the January 12 earthquake (that I still call SAMSON). Yes, schools are closed and many businesses and homes were lost, but the homes of the Haitian masses, like their tents, didn't have running water, they didn't have stoves and refrigerators and they didn't have toilets. People are fundamentally living now, in these tent and bed sheet cities, the way they did before the quake, except that suddenly the foreigners are aghast! Suddenly the foreigners insist that water be distributed and Porta Potties be placed near the new residential districts. There were no portapotties before and Haitian People are used to going to get water somewhere within walking distance in 5 gallon plastic buckets. This is the lifestyle one has to get used to when the Haitian elites are running the economy along with the Delatour/Preval lobby machine. This is Haitian reality. It's not new. Haitians aren't living like this because there was an earthquake on January 12.

Expect more of the same when the Haitian Elites and their lobbyists get their reconstruction plans approved. Bill Clinton isn't bringing hope to Haiti. Bill Clinton isn't bringing change to Haiti. Bill Clinton, along with USAID, the World Bank, the Inter Development Bank and the United Nations are bringing more of the same to Haiti: more for the few and less for the many. Why, you ask? Because no one is lobbying for the Haitian people. The Haitian elites have a lobbyist in Washington, but the Haitian people don't.

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