WikiLeaks Cables Show Haiti as Pawn in U.S. Foreign Policy

Horhey · Aug 25, 2011

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svNrTAGOwGY"]U.S. Destroys Haitian Democracy[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbpZUdGEskg"]WikiLeaks Haiti: U.S. Suppression[/ame]

The US excerpts the most influence in Haiti which has become the symbol of hopelessness and dispair - a real tribute to the West. At one time, Haiti was one of the more wealthy colonies in the hemisphere. They were the #1 rice producer in the world untill the Clinton administration destroyed what was left of the economy by imposing a series of so called free trade agreements and IMF structural adjustments as a pre-condition for allowing their first democratically elected President to return to office after he had been ousted in a US-backed coup in 1991 because he was responsive to the popular demands of the masses. The US ousted him again in 2004 after he refused to fully cooperate with the demands of the International Monetary Fund.

Washington has been Haiti's tormenter since the Woodrow Wilson years. It's too much history to get into here but in short, it consists of invasion, forcing regime change, mass murder by US forces, mass murder, torture, and rape by CIA-backed death squads, robbery, control, starvation, extreme poverty, easily treatable and preventable diseases, and environmental degradation, all caused by the Master of Mankind and company.

Business Insider: U.S. Fought To Lower Minimum Wage In Haiti So Hanes And Levis Would Stay Cheap

CBS News: Haiti: U.S. pushed to lower minimum wage

The Miami Herald: WikiLeaks cables show US calling shots in Haiti

The Nation: WikiLeaks Haiti: Cable Depicts Fraudulent Haiti Election

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs: WikiLeaks Cables Show Haiti as Pawn in U.S. Foreign Policy

1. The U.S. tried to undermine Haiti’s oil deal with Venezuela in order to protect the vested interests of U.S. oil corporations.

2. Under the Obama administration, the U.S. embassy worked with major textile companies to cap the minimum wage in Haiti at 31 cents per hour.

3. Election monitors from the U.S. and the international community knowingly supported elections that did not remotely follow accepted democratic standards of procedure.
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waltky · Nov 2, 2011

Haitians still recovering from quake...

Haiti Quake Survivors Cope with Physical, Emotional Scars
November 01, 2011 - Thousands of Haitians sought refuge in the United States after the devastating earthquake in Haiti last year. Many suffered unimaginable trauma and bear both physical and emotional scars.

Thousands of Haitians sought refuge in the United States after the devastating earthquake in Haiti last year. Many suffered unimaginable trauma and bear both physical and emotional scars. For the Jean family, life together is a blessing. “Because we were in [the] face of death. That’s the work of God, because we are alive,” Stevenson Jean says. Stevenson lived through Haiti's earthquake with his mother and six siblings. His father, Jean Claude, was in Miami, working to support them. “I call my family, the phone, the phone is dead,” he recalls.

All are safe now, but life still is not easy. “We had many difficulties after the earthquake. I had two children hurt in the quake and myself," explains Marie-Rolle, Jean Claude's wife. And with another child on the way, the Jeans also struggle financially. “$400 per week. Not enough for my family,” Jean Claude says. To help cope, they rely on faith. Emmanuel Zizi is the pastor at Worshipers' House of Prayer in Miami. “All of us have the same problems, so this is really, we help each other carry our burdens,” the pastor notes. Another group helping quake victims is Haitian Women of Miami, a social services agency for immigrants known as FANM. Marleine Bastien founded the group. “These victims, they go through a lot. A lot of them need housing, they need to move, they need access to school,” she explains.

Nerline Cajuste came to FANM for help applying for health care aid. She had hip replacement surgery after suffering injuries in the quake. "After the surgery, I have a blood clot. Now I feel pain, I feel pain in my leg. I cannot walk good now," Nerline says. The pain is not just physical. "It makes me sad," Nerline adds. "250,000 people died. These people, they are traumatized," notes Marlene Bastien. When Brutus Michel relives the earthquake, he remembers his wife. "Her heart was beating so fast, that she died 12 days later," he explains. Michel says moving in with family in the U.S. has helped him cope.

It's a daily battle all too familiar to Claude Cyntia Riou. She shares her story with the help of a translator. "This picture is the last picture that I took of him," she says, holding a photo of her son. Riou had just picked up eight-year-old Tonton from school when the earthquake hit. "When I saw his feet out of the car, I said 'Oh my God, Tonton died.'" Riou says she relives that moment every day. "I’m laughing, I talk, but it’s not me. I’m here, but not really," she says. But with the help of her other children and her faith...Riou, like other survivors, carries on. "For me, Tonton is not dead," Riou says.

Source
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See also:

Haiti Struggles to Begin Free Public Education
November 01, 2011 - One out of every two Haitians is illiterate. Haiti's President, Michel Martelly, has made free public education one of his top priorities. VOA's Carolyn Presutti explores why some Haitian public schools are still charging students.

On the first day of school in Haiti, adding to the normal chaos - the president was handing out free backpacks. “I’m now the superstar of the school,” a boy who received one of the coveted backpacks said proudly. President Michel Martelly says his recent taxes on international calls and wire transfers have changed the public schools of Haiti. “That money has enabled us to provide free schools for the people,” explained the president.

But at a public school in Tabarre, a poor neighborhood outside of Port au Prince, the moms told a different story. They said it’s far from free. The mothers said they paid to send their children to school. "I gave $220, $130, $130." [US dollars: $27, $16, $16] the mothers said. To back up their claims, they showed receipts. "Somedays I am not even able to sell the bread that I have and I have to let my kids go hungry so I can have enough money to send them to school," one mother, who said she sell bread on the street lamented.

When VOA returns one week later - it's bedlam. Children are kept outside the school because their parents have not paid a new fee to purchase emblems for uniforms. "We asked for children to have an emblem on their clothing to differentiate them from students of other schools," explained Jean Francois Lucien, the director of the school. "So the parents are being stubborn and they are refusing to put the emblem on their children’s clothing." The fee is less than $1.50 U.S. But it's still a hardship for the average Haitian who makes $2 a day.

"A lot of times, you can't sell anything," another mother complained. "You walk and you walk before you can finally make 100 gourdes [US $2.48]." And, what about the hundreds of dollars paid to enroll children here? “The minister asked us to stop charging parents to register their children, so we stopped and we didn’t collect any money after that," school director Lucien responded. But one woman reported that she had been told that her children had to leave because she didn't have an extra $6 for enrollment.

MORE
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Horhey · Mar 6, 2012

waltky said: ↑

Haitians still recovering from quake...

Haiti Quake Survivors Cope with Physical, Emotional Scars
November 01, 2011 - Thousands of Haitians sought refuge in the United States after the devastating earthquake in Haiti last year. Many suffered unimaginable trauma and bear both physical and emotional scars.

See also:

Haiti Struggles to Begin Free Public Education
November 01, 2011 - One out of every two Haitians is illiterate. Haiti's President, Michel Martelly, has made free public education one of his top priorities. VOA's Carolyn Presutti explores why some Haitian public schools are still charging students.
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I really apreciate your contributions my friend. You're like the "crawl" at the bottom of the screen in forums.

Margot · Mar 6, 2012

http://www1.american.edu/TED/haitirice.htm

Haitian rice which is most likely of West African origin has been cultivated in Haiti for over 200 years. Rice is the staple food of Haiti and up until the 1980s Haiti was self-sufficient in its production. In the mid-1980s Haiti's domestic rice production decreased rapidly. By the1990s rice imports outpaced domestic rice production.

This displaced many Haitian farmers, traders, and millers whose employment opportunities are extremely limited. Two factors are identified as being the most significant causes for the decline in Haitian rice production: the adoption of trade liberalization policies and environmental degradation.

The trade liberalization policies at their center have involved the lowering Haiti's lowest tariffs on rice imports. Currently the rice import tariff is 3%, which is much lower than rice import tariffs of all other nations in the Caribbean Community.

The Haitian market is now flooded with US rice imports ("Miami rice") and some have accused the US of dumping its rice in Haiti. The impact of the decline of rice production in Haiti has been devastating to its rural population which is already desperately poor.

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waltky · Mar 9, 2012

Cholera epidemic in Haiti...

Clinton urges officials to stem Haiti cholera outbreak
Fri, Mar 09, 2012 - Former US president Bill Clinton said on Wednesday that a UN peacekeeper was responsible for bringing cholera to Haiti, but that he may not have known that he was doing so and efforts need to focus on stemming the outbreak.

Clinton was asked after a hospital tour if he agreed with a statement by US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice about holding accountable those who brought cholera to Haiti. Studies have suggested that peacekeepers from Nepal likely introduced the disease to Haiti for the first time, months after the January 2010 earthquake. First of all, the United Nations has spent a great deal of money in Haiti, Clinton told reporters. Secondly, I dont know that the person who introduced cholera in Haiti, the UN peacekeeper or soldier from South Asia, was aware that he was carrying the virus. It was the proximate cause of cholera. That is, he was carrying the cholera strain. It came from his waste stream into the waterways of Haiti, into the bodies of Haitians, he said.

However, Clinton added that what really caused the cholera outbreak was the countrys lack of proper sanitation. Unless we know that he knew or that they knew, the people that sent him, that he was carrying that virus and therefore that he could cause the amount of death and misery and sickness, I think its better to focus on fixing it, Clinton said. Clinton, the UN Special Envoy to Haiti, made the remarks after he toured a new public teaching hospital in the Central Plateau that was built by the Boston-based Partners in Health.

Partners in Health co-founder Paul Farmer, a public health expert who serves as Clintons deputy at the UN, hosted Clinton as the two toured the hospital, a fish farm and a smaller hospital. An international panel appointed by the UN produced a report that blamed the outbreak on a confluence of circumstances that included bad sanitation. The cholera outbreak prompted a Haitian law firm to file a complaint against the UN last year on behalf of the victims, which is under review by the world bodys legal office. Cholera has killed more than 7,000 people and sickened more than 526,000 others since 2010.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2012/03/09/2003527379
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RiseAgainst · Mar 9, 2012

It's too bad Putin bought out wikileaks. Looks like now we won't be getting any dirt on ex-kgb operatives.

Wikileaks is no good anymore. Gone the way of RT.

Horhey · Mar 13, 2012

Margot said: ↑

http://www1.american.edu/TED/haitirice.htm
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The Washington Post: Free Market Left Haiti's Rice Growers Behind

The IMF forced Haiti to open its market to imported, highly subsidized U.S. rice at the same time it prohibited Haiti from subsidizing its own farmers . Haitian farmers have been forced off their land to seek work in sweatshops, and people are poorer than ever.

From a grass-roots perspective in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, it seems undeniable that millions of people have been left behind in the rush to globalization. That much is evident from the distended stomachs of children in villages like Pont-Sonde, the throngs of women seeking jobs at 30 cents an hour in sweatshops owned by U.S. clothing manufacturers and the daily street demonstrations through the slums of Port-au-Prince by laid-off government employees.
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President Aristide was overthrown in two US-backed coups because he didnt fully cooperate with the demands of Mafia-Don, the World Bank and the IMF.

Democracy Undone | Back Channels vs. Democracy

The New York Times: Mixed U.S. Signals Helped Tilt Haiti Toward Chaos

After two centuries of foreign occupiers, dictators, generals, a self-appointed president for life and the overthrow of more than 30 governments, Haitians finally had the chance in 1990 to elect the leader they wanted. The people chose Mr. Aristide, a priest who had been expelled from his Roman Catholic order for his fiery orations of liberation theology.

"He was espousing change in Haiti, fundamental populist change," said Robert Maguire, a Haiti scholar who has criticized American policy as insufficiently concerned with Haiti's poor. "Right away, he was viewed as a threat by very powerful forces in Haiti."

President Aristide promised not only to give voice to the poor in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, but also to raise the minimum wage and force businesses to pay taxes. He rallied supporters with heated attacks on the United States, a tacit supporter of past dictatorships and a major influence in Haitian affairs since the Marines occupied the country from 1915 to 1934.

"He wasn't going to be beholden to the United States, and so he was going to be trouble," said Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, a Democratic critic of Bush administration policy on Latin America. "We had interests and ties with some of the very strong financial interests in the country, and Aristide was threatening them." Those interests, mostly in the textile and electronic assembly businesses, sold many of their products cheap to the United States.

The anti-Aristide message had currency around Washington. Mr. Einaudi, the veteran diplomat, recalled attending the I.R.I.'s 2001 fund-raising dinner and being surrounded by a half-dozen Haitian businessmen sounding a common cry: "We were foolish to think that we could do anything with Aristide. That it was impossible to negotiate with him. That it was necessary to get rid of him."

On Feb. 29 Mr. Philippe's birthday the United States flew President Aristide to exile in South Africa. A year later, the I.R.I. created a stir when it issued a press release praising the attempted overthrow of Hugo Chávez, the elected president of Venezuela and a confrontational populist, who, like Mr. Aristide, was seen as a threat by some in Washington.
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henrypanda · Mar 14, 2012

The all frauds evidences is having Wikileaks.

Horhey · Mar 14, 2012

henrypanda said: ↑

The all frauds evidences is having Wikileaks.
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The documents were reviewed by independant sources as shown above and they all confirm their legitimacy.

Horhey · Mar 14, 2012

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs points out how Haiti is essentially a colony of the United States. Washington and US based multinational corporations control the politics of Haiti more than they do any of the 50 states, in fact. They used the typical tactic of threatening the government with Capital Flight should they raise the minimum wage above 31 cents per hour.

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs: WikiLeaks Cables Show Haiti as Pawn in U.S. Foreign Policy

Textiles: U.S. Interference in Wage Laws

In another instance of U.S. interference documented by WikiLeaks, the Obama administration tried to prevent minimum wages in Haiti from rising above 31 cents an hour. In 2009, Port-au-Prince passed a law that raised the minimum wage from an astonishingly low 24 cents to 61 cents an hour.[11] This law would have increased the minimum wage by 150 percent to about USD 5 a day, but, even with this large increase, the new measure would still have fallen short of the estimated USD 12.50 a day needed to provide for a family of four in Haiti.[12]

The proposed wage increase was of course enormously popular with Haitians, who argued that the increase was necessary because of the rising cost of living. However, U.S. textile companies with factories in Haiti, including Fruit of the Loom, Hanes, and Levi Strauss, fought the measure, while the U.S. State Department also exerted pressure on the government of Haiti. David E. Lindwall, a deputy chief of mission, said the minimum wage increase did not take economic reality into account and was a populist measure for the unemployed and underpaid masses.[13]

U.S. plant owners argued that, should the cost of labor rise substantially, these U.S. companies would have to close their factories in Haiti and relocate. Based on the insistence of these U.S. textile companies and the U.S. embassy, the Haitian government agreed to limit the increase to only 7 cents, at 31 cents an hour.[14]

The recent fight over the proposed wage increase is merely the most recent instance where U.S. foreign companies have tried to keep wages low by threatening to close production facilities in the country. The Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development (PAPDA) argues that every time the government of Haiti has proposed a minimum wage increase, lead industries cried wolf and threatened to halt production in all major factories in the nation, further jeopardizing economic stability in the country. However, according to PAPDA, in every case, it was a lie.[15]

PAPDA implies that closing factories is an empty threat made by U.S. businesses to extort low wages. Based on the actual cost of the minimum wage increase relative to overall profits, this is likely the case. According to a U.S. embassy cable, it would cost Hanes USD 1.6 million a year to pay its workers an extra USD 2 a day. This cost is very low compared to the companys registered profits of USD 211 million with sales of USD 4.3 billion.[16]

Furthermore, Haiti already has some of the lowest paid workers in the world, so finding cheaper labor would be unlikely. Yet whether or not U.S. factories would actually pull out of Haiti, the cables are significant in pointing to the weight of U.S. influence in Haiti. The degree of power U.S. businesses exert over the government of Haiti is particularly alarming as it prioritizes U.S. financial gains over fundamental economic improvements for 25,000 poverty-stricken textile workers.
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Continued..

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