Haiti Against the Odds

...As Ambassador Swing and U S Agency for International Development (aid) officials would hasten to tell her, the Amencans have no intention of repamng (or creating) Haiti's infrastructure They came to restore power to its first democratically elected president, and to offer security from militaiy oppression to its beleaguered population That's all The $100 million in aid money that Washington has contributed has had no discernible impact Eighty-two million dollars went to help pay off Haiti's foreign debt, as did $ 17 million from Mexico, Canada and Japan The only lesult was the transferal of funds from one bank to another Donor nations and international agencies have approved over $600 million in additional assistance, but diplomats warn that it may be slow to come Meanwhile, the government-ran electric company has been financially unable to purchase parts for urgently needed repairs Conditions improved briefly after the first GIs arnved, because they produced electricity both foi their own use and for the populace When U S Embassy spokesman Stanley Schrager appeared on national television to bemoan the native losses during the American takeover of Cap-Haitien, he added that the people should nevertheless be happy the United States had given them electricity Many listeners found his equating human life with electric power insensitive, to say the least In any case, within the week an explosion occurred, wiping out a new generator Haitians suspect it was sabotaged Americans say the Haitians simply did not know how to operate the equipment A similar situation developed in the little southern town of Jacmel After having had no electricity for several years, it was blessed with cunent every evening from 6 to 11 p m under the U S occupation But the day the power station was returned to the locals the generator conked out for good Thus once again in Jacmel—and throughout the nation?candles, flashlights and gas lamps are selling briskly Refrigeration is a serious problem Yet the worst aspect of the electrical shortage is the lack of running water, for most middle- and upper-class homes are serviced by electnc pumps Like the electric utility, the public phone company, Teleco, has no money This is due partly to the embargo, when no foreign transactions were possible and Teleco was unable to collect from international long-distance earners Most circuits have become extremely overcrowded In Petionville, home of the elite, a circuit originally designed for 15,000 lines now serves more than twice that number One must often wait 10 minutes for a dial tone Only multinational corporations, it is felt, have the resources necessary to repair and expand the electric and telephone services Deals to sell them are being discussed, still, it is unlikely that anything will be finalized before next autumn PRIVATIZATION ion is indeed one of the key elements of Haiti's new economic plan, drawn up pnmanly by the head of the National Bank, Leslie Delatour In his air-conditioned office, situated at the heart of the muddy quagmire that is downtown Port-au-Pnnce, he shaied with me his conviction in a global free market without tariffs, without government interference, "without exception " Described as a "neohberal economist" by the Haitian press, he sounded more like an old-fashioned laissez-faire capitalist The government, in his view, should not set production goals, export quotas or workplace standards, it should simply let the market rule In this spirit, Delatour personally opposes the minimum wage, even as President Anstide conducts negotiations with business and labor leaders to raise the present rate of 25 cents an hour "We must balance the needs of the small group that is employed," Delatour toldme, "by the needs of the unemployed majonty A minimum wage will limit the number of jobs created Today even the government does not abide by the legal wage Day laborers who repair roads and pick up garbage make less How can private employers believe anyone is serious about enforcing a minimum wage the government itself ignores...

...AFTER THE LIBERATION Haiti Against the Odds BY CAROLE CLEAVER WILLIAM L SWING PORT-AU-PRINCE HAITI IS A CHANGED PLACE Since the American troops arrived During the worst days of the embargo, when gasoline was scarce and people feared police brutality, this capital was a virtual ghost town, its thoroughfares empty and many of its shops shuttered Today the city teems with life Every one of its well over 1 million residents and 60,000 automobiles appears to be in the street simultaneously, jockeying for position Though the stoplights still don't work, cars manage to nose through busy intersections without mishap If there is a real tie-up, it is because someone has attempted to direct traffic—probably a member of the Interim Police, mostly former refugees given a week's training at Guanta-namo, or possibly one of the International Police Monitors who come from such diverse places as Bolivia, Canada, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Australia "No foreigner can direct traffic here," a Trinidadian resident declared "The British drive on the left, the Americans on the right, but the Haitians drive down the middle " That's true Moreover, the sides of streets are filled with double-and tnple-parked cars, tap-tap minibuses loading and unloading passengers, and hordes of pedestrians who dart into the oncoming stream without warning There are little boys who ask to guard your car, big boys who want to wash it, blind and crippled beggars, and vendors hawking avocados, live chickens, woolen socks, and transistor radios There are thousands of uniformed school children, all in the road because few sidewalks exist Police are seldom visible, yet the people go about their busmess politely, without violence, bestowing infinite hospitality on foreigners Haiti's Army is no longer in control, so peace depends for the moment almost entirely on public good will A new police force composed of Haitians with proven clean records is rapidly being trained at the converted military headquarters in Frere, under the supervision of ex-New York City Police Chief Raymond Kelly The three-month course includes schooling m human rights as well as in self-defense, the use of weapons, tear gas, and motor vehicles The first group of trainees will graduate in April, by the end of the year 3,000 men are expected to complete the program But until they do, a 6,000-man UN peacekeeping unit, slated to take over from the Americans on March 31, will help maintain order Half the troops—and their commander...

...Tourism would be one way to expand job opportunities and bring in critical foreign currency, Delatour says, but Haiti lacks the budget to promote it He hopes to "ride piggyback" on the Dominican Republic's success by developing a package that would cover both nations Minister of Tourism Maryse Penette is confident Haiti will at the minimum attract the small share of the vacation market that consists of sophisticated travelers who would appreciate its art, handicrafts and culture Cruise ships have already returned to the Labadie resort on the north coast, however, and Club Med is expected to reopen shortly At present the hotels are filled almost to capacity with foreign police monitors, journalists, missionaries, and bureaucrats The international organizations these visitors represent have had their fingers in Haiti's economy for decades In the early 1980s the United States made its support contingent on a restructuring of Haiti's subsistence agriculture to emphasize export crops An aid report set the export target at 30 per cent Coffee and cocoa were to be grown in the mountains, and fruits and vegetables in the flat-lands Officials anticipated that 1 million displaced peasant farmers would move to Port-au-Prince to work in assembly plants operated mainly by foreign corporations As it happened, many more rural people began flooding the capital, leading to massive slums like La Saline and Cite Soleil I asked Delatour if the government planned to improve internal transportation or build more airports This would seem to be vital for encouraging industry to locate outside overburdened Port-au-Prince "The movement of people from the country to the city is a worldwide trend," he replied "No one can stop it It is more important that we concentrate on urban planning Traffic congestion could be alleviated if some streets were closed to cars and set aside for vendors and pedestrians Major arteries should be fiee of them so that vehicles can move Sidewalks should be constructed, especially in areas where there are many schoolchildren' In other matters, he believes, the government should play a limited role He would leave schools, for example, in private hands The state would pay tuition for the impoverished and set educational standards, imposing limits on class size and measuring the effectiveness of each school by students' performance on an annual exam Health care, too, would be administered privately, with the state funding infant immunizations and providing potable water Distributing birthcontrol information would be a wasted effort, he said, until Haitian women are better educated IF THE INCOME, property and sales taxes already on the books were collected, Delatour contends, the lack of customs duties would not be troublesome Citizens now have little fear of any punishment for tax evasion, and no confidence that revenues will go into government services rather than private pockets Credibility must be established, he stressed, in the courts as much as in tax collection Corruption is so widespread, it is almost total Tariffs were removed by Delatour in 1987, when he was finance minister under General Henri Namphy's junta Immediately Dominican sugai and cheap Miami rice came pouring into the Haitian market The private Haitian sugar company, haasco, was forced to close its doors, and the rice farmers along the Artibonite were impoverished Economists admit that the emergence of a global marketplace will cause further disruptions They call it short-term pain for long-term gain Eventually, each nation is supposed to specialize m the goods it can produce most efficiently, to thebenefitof consumers worldwide The scheme envisions low-paying assembly jobs flying to underdeveloped countries like Haiti, while industrialized nations concentrate increasingly on technology and services In other words, a modern form of mercantilism will develop In the context of this grand design, the US aid pi ogi am achieves two strategic goals," wiote Amy Wilentz in The Rainy Season one, a restructured and dependent agriculture that exports to the U S maikets and is open to exploitation, and the other, a displaced rural population that not only can be employed in offshore industries and in the town, but is more susceptible to Army control" Dunng his 1990 presidential campaign, Father Anstide urged working toward self-sufficiency and complete independence These days Haiti Pwgi es, a Leftist Brooklyn-based newspaper, is accusing him of selling out to the international community "Yes, he's living in the palace now," a past supporter here sighs, "but it doesn't mean much He can do nothing The years in Washington have changed him from an idealist to a pragmatist He knows he can't fight the UN, the OAS, the United States, and the global economists Since the fall of the Soviet Union, capitalism is the only game around " A more hopeful perspective is offered by the head of Jacmel's Ecole Suisse, Geoffroi Krauchi, who was jailed many times for teaching the tenets of democracy "It will take a long time to rebuild Haiti," Krauchi says "The embargo and tropical storm Gordon combined to destroy a lot of the little infrastructure we had, but now we have a real opportunity to make progress Let's begin...

...General Joseph Kmzer—will come from the United States, the others from as far away as Bangladesh, Dj lbouti and Tunisia Since their own Army was downsized last fall, Haitians have lived with the specter of several thousand unemployed, gun-bearing men A crime wave seemed inevitable Then the United States stepped Carole Cleaver a freequent contribu-tor to these pages, is co-authoi o/~Spints of the Night The Vaudou Gods of Haiti in v. ith a severance package six months' pay andj ob training in computers, auto mechanics or one of the construction trades Two hundied letired sohlats are current-ly enrolled In contiast, some 38,000 refugees at Guantanamo who did not wish to leturn were not so fortunate, having been forcibly repatriated without funds Only those who went willingly pnor to January 5 were given $80 U S and two months' work at manual labor, such as road repair and garbage collection Even greater than the concern about violence from the legions of unemployed is the fear of guerrilla warfare from the disorganized but not disarmed Fiont for the Advancement and Progiess of Haiti, whose acronym, fraph, sounds like jiappe—French for a knock or blow The massive funding and training the paramilitary group received has prompted speculation that it was conceived by the CIA This is vehemently denied by US Ambassador William L Swing Although Agency officials have admitted that fraph's founder, Emmanuel Toto' Constant, was once on their payroll, they claim he served merely as an informant Haiti Observateia a Paght-wing newspaper based in Brooklyn, reports that Constant was recently seen m Washington The Ambassadoi says, "That's impossible He was stripped of his visa' But the five-year visitor's visa issued to him in 1991 was automatically reinstated when sanctions were lifted following the return of President Jean-Bertrand Anstide to Haiti last October Many here believe Constant was given a safe haven They note that American troops in the countryside are working with fraph members, albeit for reasons of efficiency UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghah has voiced his displeasure about the failure to confiscate their weapons A widespread worry is that they are merely lying low temporarily, and will emerge to make trouble once the UN takes over THE U S OCCUPATION, while cheered by the masses, rankles those of the elite who feel the country's sovereignty is being violated 'What are the Americans doing here...

...cried an irate American woman, a longtime lesident who is the wife of a wealthy Haitian "In three months they have accomplished nothing The electucity doesn't work The phone lines are more clogged than evei The streets are full of potholes Garbage is piled high Traffic is tied up by their Humvees The an buzzes with their helicopters Why did they come...