SO CALLOUS A NATION
McAlmon, George
Haitians are so far down on their luck that if a world prize existed for the most hapless people, they would be edged out on a technicality by perhaps the Chads or Bangladeshis. Haiti, for...
...Efforts to infiltrate back to Haiti are stopped by the Naval blockade...
...No sizable business operates in Haiti without participation by the ruling group...
...The only recent difference in policy is President Reagan's Caribbean Basin Initiative announced in February 1982 and covering 28 countries, including Haiti...
...Neither workers nor anybody else can organize for any purpose, and there are no labor unions or worker bargaining units...
...On the present course a revolution would resemble those of Nicaragua, Cuba, Iran, and Ethiopia...
...U.S...
...The Dominican Republic has closed the overland exodus route except to temporary contract laborers, and since 1981 the U.S...
...FOR THE u.s., Haiti is not just another desperately poor, small country...
...U.S...
...One Haitian intellectual told us, "The country's economy would benefit more than it has from all foreign grants if the gang would just invest its cache at home, but it never will...
...We should resist any Soviet intervention into Haiti or any Soviet-controlled Haitian revolutionary unit...
...Fruits and vegetables appear in the markets, but there are few protein items—little meat, poultry, fish, or even beans...
...Navy and from within by constant military-police surveillance...
...or they simply die...
...rate is 14 per 1000, and in nearby Cuba it is 25 per 1000...
...Haiti is not a happy place for foreign companies...
...Many die in childhood...
...Nor have we leveled any sanctions for the constant, ongoing violations of human rights as we did against Poland, Cuba, and Nicaragua...
...policy for Haiti is strictly "business as usual...
...policy has been directed at an unproductive and phony contest over economic systems, and so diverted from the meaningful contest for the freedom of peoples...
...Illiteracy is about 80 percent...
...supply to Haiti of military-related equipment or personnel must immediately be stopped...
...The tourist board has begun to advertise holidays in Wigan and the town is contributing to a statue of the writer...
...attitude will contribute to eventual violent upheaval in nations like Haiti...
...The U.S...
...State Department Haitian office describes the relationship between the two governments as "friendly...
...It can be expected that the restructuring re quired to wrench Haiti from its abysmal economic pit will inevitably include some socialistic practices, such as the nationalization of the Duvalier properties and businesses, the use of a national plan, and national financing...
...With its strategic location principally in mind, the U.S...
...Its modern homes and mansions are on view in Petionville, located on high, cooler ground above the steam-bath climate of the capital...
...Human rights, as defined by the Helsinki Accords of 1975 and the International Bill of Human Rights passed by the United Nations, are nonexistent except for freedom of religion...
...20, 1983 (Reuters) — The bleak industrial town of Wigan plans to erect a memorial to George Orwell during 1984 and refurbish the drab pier that the writer made worldfamous...
...The Duvalier government could be approached with specific proposals for the construction of paved roads, and the development of schools and clinics...
...Such a policy is no plan to go easy on the Soviet Union, but quite the opposite—it could be the most effective countermove...
...An urgent problem is how to withdraw our support from a dozen or so abjectly oppressive governments (as that in Haiti) while gaining the good will of the citizenry who have reason enough to resent our present policies...
...Modern streets, lighting, public schools and clinics are almost nonexistent...
...naval blockade has closed the sea escape route...
...The mountain slopes, deforested for charcoal, are now eroded and mostly unplanted...
...A first step must be to permit freedom of speech, including the rights to meet, organize, publish, distribute, and broadcast without harassment...
...It seems that Duvalier does not really care about new foreign industry: it might in some ways spoil his private preserve...
...The country is covered border-to-border with people (about 6 million), with a high annual growth rate of 2.5 percent in an area the size of Maryland...
...Haiti, for most of its population, is a prison farm guarded against sea escape by the U.S...
...Last June I traveled with some friends about 600 miles up and down Haiti, almost to the Dominican mountain border...
...I have found no Haitian within or without the country who believes that Haiti can be put on a track toward respect for human rights and an improved economy by working through Duvalier...
...From the meager national product the ruling coterie systematically skims and steals a considerable part of the profits, and then exports its loot for investment abroad...
...The Duvalier government is aligned with the U.S., does not threaten "free enterprise," readily accedes to all our requests, and costs us little...
...While watching people in the street markets and along the roadways, we first sensed something absent until we finally realized that older people were missing— there are no older people...
...support, and diplomatic relations should then be severed...
...but the operation of the plants will be extractive and not a progressive or permanent influence...
...The economic system of a country should not be our concern, so long as the citizens of that country are on the road to or have achieved liberty...
...Haitian per-capita income is less than a dollar per day...
...SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, MEDICAL SERVICES, autos, and trips abroad are enjoyed by the moneyed class, an extremely small portion of the nation—certainly less than 1 percent...
...Indeed, because of our predominant trade position, a Wigan Pier in 1984...
...would then be in a position to guide Haitians along the path to freedom...
...WIGAN, England, Dec...
...It may be vastly cheaper and easier to assist the Haitians now than to suffer the trauma and huge expense of a Nicaraguan or Salvadoran type of situation later...
...There are, for the general public, almost no medical services or schools...
...Marines occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934 (incidentally without any noticeable progressive influence...
...who attempt to organize opposition to the Duvalier regime...
...An expatriates' radio station beamed from the U.S...
...Expatriates must be permitted to return home without risk...
...The chances are good that given 60 days of freedom in Haiti, Duvalier and his crowd would voluntarily depart from the island...
...Haiti has about 980 miles of seashore, but no commercial fishing industry...
...Haiti has no social services, no minimum wage, no social security, no assistance for on-the-job injuries or pensions of any kind...
...Half of the 233 national product and 80 percent of the work force are based on agriculture, yet the country does not grow enough food to support itself...
...Our best hope for survival as a free nation may be to support and build upon an alliance of economically successful democracies...
...Everywhere we went on the island there were people in sight, walking and carrying...
...U.S...
...The State Department Human Rights office acknowledges violations of human rights in Haiti but has no plan for any change of relationship between the governments...
...Haiti has so many basic needs that it's a tough choice where to start...
...The rear of the palace is not visible where it merges into the National Army Headquarters compound...
...No private criticism, political meeting, media announcement, or public protest is permitted under threat of arrest, torture, and death...
...say the municipal elections are meaningless since no candidate can express an unfavorable comment about the government...
...Part of our present policy is to restrain refugee Haitians in the U.S...
...234 All are of the opinion that no constructive change can occur until Duvalier and his gang are removed...
...The U.S...
...should aid these movements even though they often will be socialist...
...New York Times, December 21, 1983 q 235 United States embargo applied to Haiti could cause a change of government...
...before the pressure cooker explodes in Haiti to assist its people to reach some higher economic level combined with some human liberty...
...Life expectancy is 45 years...
...As we refrain from participating in the internal struggle of a nation, we should also oppose participation by any other state...
...Everywhere in Haiti are signs of disfiguring disease and malnutrition, especially in the children...
...Consequently our relations are "friendly" and Duvalier is left free to commit any kind of atrocity...
...The gross thievery and mismanagement of the Jean Claude Duvalier regime—his family and intimates— may just be the world's worst...
...We can, however, exercise extraordinary power in the relationship, as evidenced by our 1981 agreement with Duvalier permitting us to commit the humiliating act of stopping and boarding Haitian-flagged ships on the high seas to search for escapees and drugs...
...That political prisoners have been reduced to about a score is no sign of improvement, but evidence that the domestic opposition again has been terrorized into silence...
...The Initiative program awarded Haiti $10 million in aid, which has now been paid, with a portion presumably in a Swiss account...
...The U.S...
...The only decent policy would be to let the citizens of each nation, by trial, error, internal struggle, revolution, and competition eventually adopt a government and economic system of popular choice...
...By now we should know that nations such as Haiti, with a precarious imbalance between a few extremely rich and the many poor held in place by military dictatorships, are hazardous footing for alliances...
...We surely will reap a harvest of ill will from the seeds of our support for totalitarian governments, an inevitable consequence...
...Our present policy of obsessive hostility toward socialist economics needs to be relaxed...
...State Department...
...Stinking dried animal entrails sometimes are spread out for sale...
...While official corruption impedes business, the Haitian labor market should be a manufacturer's paradise...
...There are only about 400 miles of paved roads...
...Mail delivery can take months...
...Before leaving the United States, we had interviewed Haitian exiles in New York, Washington and Miami, and also the Haitian Desk officer and a deputy in the Human Rights section of the U.S...
...In this alternative situation Haiti would be left to boil with the hope that democratic-reform movements would arise to challenge Duvalier, and the U.S...
...Infant mortality is 130 per 1000 during the first year...
...The comforting security of White House backing allows Duvalier to operate his nationwide slave-plantation system without hope for improvement for the Haitians...
...We were told that the Duvalier group requires upfront cash before a foreign enterprise can even start to do business...
...An estimated 80,000 Haitians entered the U.S...
...The Haitian labor market is so pitifully defenseless that world-roving American assembly plants will give some temporary employment until transferred to other more cost-favorable nations...
...If Duvalier refuses to permit change, then all offers should be withdrawn and his government left without U.S...
...The proposals would be backed by U.S.-guaranteed loans but conditional on prompt and actual liberalization of human rights in all areas...
...Duvalier's foreign deposits are estimated at $400 million...
...Our aid and demands are both low...
...Large unfarmed stretches in the valley of the Artibonite River are said to belong to the Duvalier group, which has for unknown reasons failed to cultivate the area for several years...
...to Haiti was closed long ago...
...Nature or the voodoo hougan-mambo cures sick Haitians...
...We should not take sides among the reform groups, but continue to urge full protection of human rights...
...Another part of the Initiative (if passed by Congress) will grant favorable import-export and tax breaks to American companies opening assembly plants in Haiti...
...A mini-Marshall Plan could finance new home-owned industries, such as commercial fishing and improved medical services, education, and road construction...
...The crass palace of "President for Life" Duvalier occupies six square immaculate, patrolled blocks in otherwise teeming Port au Prince...
...policy makes no call upon the Haitian government for a free national election, such as we made in El Salvador...
...Once I promptly cleared a hotel dining room of all present, including waiters, by foolishly asking a Haitian friend at an adjoining table if anybody knew the whereabouts of Sylvio Claude...
...Haitians at home and in the U.S...
...Far from feeling offended by the depressing portrait of the Lancashire town painted by Orwell in The Road to Wigan Pier, his 1936 picture of workingclass life, modern Wigan plans to exploit its Orwell connection for tourism...
...An assembly job with an American company pays about $16 for a 48-hour week...
...With Cuba controlling the west side, Haiti controls the east side of the 70mile-wide Windward Passage, through which most ships sail to and from Atlantic seaports and the Panama Canal...
...Haiti could be an excellent starting point for making that idea a reality...
...A Haitian teacher asked us, "How can Americans be so decent as individuals and so callous as a nation...
...There is now a patriotic, capable revolutionary leadership among the 800,000 Haitian expatriates, most of whom live in the U.S...
...Garbage and open sewage are everywhere...
...The Haitian labor pool is helpless, captive, and not much different (just larger) than it was 200 years ago under French masters...
...With government help it plans to spend $3 million to renovate the pier, an industrial coal chute jutting into the Leeds-to-Liverpool canal, to attract both tourists and business clients...
...WOULD IT NOT BE WISE for the U.S...
...Besides its corruption, the Duvalier dictatorship is guilty of obvious mismanagement...
...Wigan Pier had long been a music-hall joke when Orwell chose it to symbolize the contrast between the dreary life of industrial workers and the fun of elegant seaside piers...
...How would Haiti fare under a proposed change of policy...
...Both offices express pride that Duvalier has permitted municipal elections in Port au Prince and Cap-Haitien...
...The U.S...
...This is not a task that free enterprise alone has successfully handled in other poor countries...
...illegally in 1980, enough to hold the population at close to a zero-growth level...
...Exiles report that there are about 5,000 Haitians in Cuba training for a return...
...We might even realize some repayment of the money loaned...
...On our 180-mile trip to Cap-Haitien, our van was stopped five times and passengers were thoroughly checked by soldiers, police, or the blue-shirted Macoutes...
...they are too afraid...
...The State Department Haitian office could not tell me what the Initiative money was spent on...
Vol. 31 • April 1984 • No. 2
