Haiti's cholera epidemic is the worst in the world

Just checking… is the UN still denying responsibility for bringing cholera to Haiti? It's been long observed that Haiti was a "totally naive environment" before the UN Nepalese troops arrived to occupy Haiti's breadbasket, the Artibonite. There is abundant "Confirmation of the Origin of the Haiti Cholera Disaster: UN Nepalese Troops."

Haiti's cholera epidemic is now the worst in the world, having claimed over $7,040 victims and infecting over 523,000 more.

Even U.N. Special Envoy Bill Clinton has said the U.N. brought cholera to Haiti, but the UN is denying its role in the devastating cholera outbreak.

Until now, the UN has not officially replied to the complaint, saying it is still “being studied,” and continues to deny responsibility. Just last week, the UN Secretary General’s spokesman said that “it was not possible to be conclusive about how cholera was introduced into Haiti.”
— Haïti Liberté, Vol. 5, No. 39, 4/11/2012

What a conundrum! How does the UN explain that a "UN Panel was able to quickly use the simpler MLVA method in their analysis of the 2009 specimen, occurring a year earlier in Nepal than the epidemic in Haiti. Of this laboratory work they wrote, "a careful analysis of the MLVA results and the ctxB gene indicated that the strains isolated in Haiti (during 2010) and Nepal during 2009 were a perfect match ^(1)."

If the cholera lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice and Democracy (IJDH) ever gets assessed in a courtroom, it should be a slam dunk, right? Here's the thing that is puzzling about this lawsuit; that have skeptics asking: are they for real?

How can the very same people who are closely associated with the U.N. claim to be representing the U.N.'s Haitian victims? The IJDH is represented by Dr. Evan Lyon who works for Partners in Health in Haiti, which was founded by U.N. Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti Paul Farmer. Attorney Brian Concannon, the IJDH Director, would theoretically be the one who put Paul Farmer on the Board of Directors of the IJDH, where Paul Farmer still serves.

Meanwhile, it's clear from this July 14, 2011 interview on Democracy Now! that Paul Farmer is a U.N. employee and represents it's interests. Farmer, has gone on the record to deny U.N. responsibility for bringing cholera to Haiti and blames conditions in Haiti for the pandemic.

AMY GOODMAN: Now, you were one of the first people—you were quoted by AP—saying that the cholera after the earthquake was brought in by the Nepali—the Nepalese peacekeeping force, the U.N. force. How did that happen?

DR. PAUL FARMER: How did it happen that I was rash enough to say that?

AMY GOODMAN: No, how did it happen that they did it?

DR. PAUL FARMER: Well, of course, it was completely unwitting. I mean, no one—no one ever intends to bring a disease into a population that had been free of it. And I really, in a way, wish I hadn’t even gotten involved in the discussion, in a way.

If the attorney(s) claiming to represent cholera victims have Paul Farmer on their Board of Directors, shouldn't they recuse themselves? There is a clear conflict of interest here, which should disqualify them from representing the victims of the cholera epidemic. They should turn over their resources to lawyers who will act as "officers of the court" -- who see their duty as representing "the truth, including avoiding dishonesty or evasion."

It's outrageous that Farmer, a physician, who is sworn to "first do no harm" is also backing a "vaccine" for potential victims. If Farmer really cared about making a positive difference in the lives of Haitians (and no one can deny that Farmer has shown that side of himself in the past), he would still be fighting for a sustainable solution -- clean drinking water and water infrastructure. Cholera is a waterborne disease. The parallel that can be drawn here: it's like administering a vaccine to people in anticipation of an outbreak of salmonella and other foodborne illnesses.

Farmer, is a close associate and friend of U.N. Envoy Bill Clinton, who has been using Haiti as a disaster capitalism hub for himself and his ultra-rich friends -- like Warren Buffet of Clayton Homes and Katrina disaster formaldehyde trailers infamy. Clinton paid Clayton Homes a million dollars for bringing formaldehyde laced trailers to Haiti's school children -- that's something else we can all agree on Esquire Magazine.

The Clinton Global Initiative are co-sponsoring "cholera insurance" for Haiti's market women. What should we term that little enterprise -- windfall or rainfall profits? The Clinton's propensity for being implicated in scandals and corruption is as rampant as it ever was.

Haiti Liberté writes that the IJDH speaks for "The petitioners [who] also call on the UN to take constructive action to prevent cholera’s spread and to formally accept responsibility for importing cholera into Haiti" -- if that is so, then why is the IJDH not filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of all 523,000+ victims of the imported cholera scourge and their families? The IJDH -- the face of the "complainants" -- has instead chosen to represent just 5,000 of the "cholera survivors or close family members of someone killed by the disease."

Ezili Dantò terms the folks behind the cholera lawsuit: "paid to lose tenured progressives" because clearly they are "crisis handling" this "embarrassing" situation for their bosses and close associates at the "United Nations" -- the goal is to make it all go away.

Meanwhile, the U.N. is continuing to cower behind the amoral, unjust and indefensible mantle of "plausible deniability."

With these kinds of friends... Haiti does not need enemies.

It was the Bush regime that sponsored the Haiti coup in 2004 that brought in the U.S. puppet Boca Raton regime of Gerard Latortue responsible for these U.N. "peacekeepers" entering Haiti to practice their brutal form of "humanitarianism." The TOURISTAH have been in Haiti for almost eight years now getting their generous "hazard pay" of $6,000 a month -- with a budget of $832 million a year, MINUSTAH is paid well for their rapacious occupation of Haiti.

Bring a class action lawsuit on behalf of all the victims of U.N. cholera against the United States! The U.S. cannot continue to operate with impunity in the world, particularly against small nations, which have no standing army, weapons or means to defend themselves from the most powerful nation(s) of the world.

The U.N. is primarily a military force, which is deployed all over the world to protect and secure the interests of the 1 percent, albeit NATO seems to have taken up a lot of the U.N.'s duties of late. So do take heed closet racists in Brazil, you're mercenary services as head of MINUSTAH may no longer be required. Occupying Haiti at the behest of the U.N.'s "Big Powers" sure hasn't brought Brazil the permanent seat on the Security Council they were seeking -- thus far.

The U.S. is a signatories to international human rights treaties. Due respect to Human Rights Watch for calling out the United States on their continuing hypocrisy -- it's about time:

The failure of the US to join with other nations in taking on international human rights legal obligations has undercut its international leadership on key issues, limiting its influence, its stature, and its credibility in promoting respect for human rights around the world.

_________________
1. Cravioto A. (Chair), Lanata CF, Lantagne DS, Nair GB. Final Report of the Independent Panel of Experts on the Cholera Outbreak in Haiti. United Nations, April, 2011.

Haiti's Calamity Is a Windfall for Everyone, Except Haitians-Part I

Haiti's calamity is a windfall for everyone, except Haitians living in Haiti in the camps.

However, it looks like the sweatshop owners and business class in Haiti don't stand to make anything from the provisions in the deceptive HOPE act for the DR either.
Most Haitians are well aware of the deceptions that are often used to keep aid and funding from getting to the people; this realization has already sparked massive demonstrations against the government of Rene Preval for not only their lack of presence and incompetence during and after the quake, but for the state of emergency that the Parliament declared which gave a commission made up of foreigners and Haitians the power to disburse donor funds.

There are signs that the "International community" is preparing to crush any dissent. They have mobilized several means for militarizing Haiti and the Caribbean by:

1) Withholding funds from the Haitian govt. This is being justified by the Democrat Patrick Leahy as a response to the alleged massacres at Les Cayes prison by Haitian Riot Police. This is in spite of the fact that both the UN and the Haitian gov't are said to have launched investigations.

By the way, the call for investigations is echoed for Jamaican police by the U.S. State Department's tool Human Rights Watch along with other members of the international community.

In 2008 HRW issued a flawed report entitled, "A Decade Under Hugo Chavez" ahead of a constitutional referendum in Venezuela. Read this report which questions HRWs real motives (PDF).

2) There is a ramp up and launch of an "international police" force:
Security Council authorizes extra police for UN force in Haiti

"The deployment of 680 further officers as a result of todays Council resolution will bring the total number of UN Police (UNPOL) serving with the UN mission, which is known as MINUSTAH, to 4,391."

3) Also, Hillary Clinton and a U.S ambassador have announced the launch of a Caribbean security force to protect "our people."

"For all of us, the safety of our people must be our highest priority. That's why today we are committing ourselves to CBSI," the chief US diplomat told the gathering at a beachfront hotel."

The Caribbean is getting harder to handle for the Western Colonial powers. It is unfortunate that peaceful protests, political organizing and calls for human rights and living wages to combat the skyrocketing cost of living in the Caribbean are often met with deadly violence from those who are in power.

It is instructive to know that U.S. foreign policy has spurred some of these developments in the Caribbean. In Jamaica for one, the CIA created the Jamaican Shower Posse which battled with Jamaican police to protect politically connected alleged drug lord, Dudus Coke. In Haiti, of course there were two successive coups, one in 1991 and the other in 2004 which was planned by the U.S., France and Canada, and primarily supported and financed by the U.S.

A change in U.S. foreign policy is necessary to stop the steady progression towards chaos in the Caribbean. The Caribbean is just a tiny microcosm for the same dangerous situations around the world. Just last week a report on Columbian, rated it the most dangerous place in the world for trade union members. Therefore, it was incredible to hear U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton make the following statement about Columbia:

"In her speech Clinton said lessons learned in Colombia, which she visited on Wednesday, as well as in Mexico and Central America are being applied to the Caribbean region."

Is there a disconnect here? No, because everything is going according to plan. This is clear from the op-ed piece, "Rebuilding Haiti," which was posted on March 10 this year at the Huffington Post by one Eric Farnsworth, a former State Department official. Farnsworth, is now the VP of an organization called the "Council of the Americas":

There's really only one way to establish such a framework for action [rebuilding Haiti] : via U.N. mandate. Existing U.N. authorities should be expanded, and Haiti be given special status under international law, a virtual enterprise zone of international governance. Reconstruction requires a unified command with a common vision and mandate, as well as authorities for donor nations to conduct humanitarian and reconstruction efforts without fear of being labeled interventionist or imperialistic, as some have already experienced.

Under such mandate, historically relevant democracies including the United States, France, Canada, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and others will be able to come together with key sectors of Haitian society to build a long-term redevelopment plan for Haiti. Political and economic institutions, physical infrastructure, investment and regulatory matters, the environment and clean energy use, social development, and public health, among other issues, would all be considered."

In other words, the "International Community," which controls virtually all the money and aid projects to Haiti, and has done such bang up job of keeping Haiti underdeveloped and poverty stricken, should continue wielding the real power in Haiti. The State Department was in agreement with Mr. Farnsworth in 2004, when they supported a coup against the democratically elected government. See how that works?

The Haitian people would rather go with the course prescribed by Loune Viaud of Zanmi Lasante and with Monika Kalra Varma, director of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights, who co-authored an Op-Ed in today's Boston Globe. (06.13.10).

The piece describes the need for Haitians to be involved in the decision making process of rebuilding of their country.

"Since January’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, well-meaning experts have proposed an abundance of short-term and long-term recovery solutions. They ask why aid delivery has been so slow, why previous development plans for Haiti have rarely been successful, and why billions of dollars in funding over decades have not improved conditions for the most impoverished people in our hemisphere.

Some blame the government of Haiti, while others, including the organizations we represent, often point fingers at the international community. The simple answer is that those who have the greatest stake in rebuilding Haiti, Haitians themselves, don’t now and never have had a real seat at the table.

While Haitian resilience has been duly recognized around the world, few appear to be interested in talking to Haitians about how to rebuild their communities and how the billions likely to be pledged to their country will be used. And no one is talking about what recourse Haitians will have if promised projects are never completed, or worse, pledged money never arrives. Unfortunately, past failures can be found in every community across Haiti - water projects that were promised but never built, resulting in water-borne illness and death; food aid that was delivered, but spoiled or sold in markets below the prices asked by local farmers; non-government organizations that started educational programs, but then shifted priorities, leaving children without access to schools.

[…] Those who have worked in Haiti and other places around the world and have suffered large-scale death and destruction know that successful long-term recovery needs to be driven by the people most intimately affected. Beyond the enormous funding and international experts needed to rebuild Haiti, it is time to make a new pledge - to heed and support the experts who can truly rebuild Haiti, the Haitian people."

– Give Haiti control over its recovery
By Monika Kalra Varma and Loune Viaud

How to Steal Haiti's Sovereignty and Independence

Left: Sylvester Le Rock - former Warden of Les Cayes Prison where the massacre of at least 10 prisoners occurred. Mr. Le Rock has been promoted and now oversees the National Penitentiary of Port-au-Prince. Right: Jean Roulin Celestin - Haiti's Prison Commissioner explains the apparent promotion of Mr. Le Rock this way: "a prison is a prison."

The Haitian National Police (HNP) are often an instrument of state sponsored terror, violence and oppression. They are used to crush dissent. However, they must be reeling with shock and surprise to find that they are now the subject of an "investigation" by the very entities which to date have been their allies and partners in crime. The New York Times, the UN, USAID, U.S. Embassy, the religious community and most NGOs (one exception: Partner's in Health did one expose on the human rights abuses of the IDB) have stood by and watched the HNP and Haitian justice system operate with impunity in jailing political dissidents, hunting down and killing members of Fanmi Lavalas (President Jean Bertrand Aristides' party and overwhelmingly the most popular Haitian political organization) and a whole barrage of other extra-judicial activities that violate human rights.

It was never a problem up to this point and time that most of Haiti's jails were filled with political dissidents or people who were "detainees," that is, who had never been charged with a crime or seen a judge. In fact, the Global Policy Forum notes that "Since early 2001, Washington had blocked important economic and humanitarian aid to the country. Earlier, it had reneged on police training and on funding for UN human rights and election monitors." Of course, those actions were taken in order to destabilize a Haitian government that the U.S. wanted removed, so they make allowances for the suffering that occurs while enforcing their foreign policy interests.

When will the New York Times investigate MINUSTAH for the massacres in Cite Soley and other violent incursions into the vulnerable shantytowns in Port-au-Prince and other extra-judicial murders they allegedly committed in the process of "securing the peace" and capturing those they term, "gang members" and "Chimeres?" In reality, MINUSTAH's actions were designed for the majority of the time to crush political dissent.

Maurice Geigher -- contractor for USAID. Explains how there were indications that people had been shot in their cells. The families of the dead prisoners were never notified of their death.

This sudden penchant and appetite for investigations into Haiti officials' crimes is surprising, given that the New York Times has refrained up until now from reporting the many acts of brutality committed by the HNP as the UN watched on -- particularly against political dissidents and peaceful protesters. This latest crime investigation follows a story about the disturbing actions of the Mayor of Petionville, Claire Lydie Parent -- who had a cemetery excavated, apparently without notifying the dead's surviving relatives.

It's very interesting that the New York Times, USAID, an American Priest and the UN have now gotten together to condemn the Haitian police and justice system for practicing violence and perpetuating human rights abuses. Do they possibly share culpability for these crimes? Especially those committed during the reign of the puppet regime of Gerard LaTortue?

The timing is questionable. While one can't entirely dismiss the NY Times "concern" for the Haitian populace's human rights, we still have to question their motives because their actions in the past are not matching up with their actions now. Not a peep about human rights violations from most of the U.S. media during the Duvalier dictatorship and the killing of over 50,000 Haitians. The deaths of over 5,000 after the first U.S. sponsored coup in 1991 didn't seem to make much of an impression either. After another U.S. planned, sponsored, financed coup in 2004, the New York Times called its investigation of the international crime that eventually saw over 8,000 dead and 35,000 raped, by the euphemistic title "Mixed U.S. Signals Helped Tilt Haiti Toward Chaos."

Investigative reporter Max Blumenthal recorded his criticism of the New York Times "exposé":

"which claimed to expose how the a taxpayer funded Washington non-profit with close ties to the Bush administration, the International Republican Institute, and its Haiti operative, Stanley Lucas, fomented a coup in Haiti that deposed its democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In fact, the story was remarkably similar to a story I wrote nearly two years ago for Salon.com. On January 3, 2005, a New York Times staffer named Ursula Andrews emailed me, asking for help with research. I was excited that the newspaper of record was finally picking up on the story, and complied with their request. When the Times published its story, it contained no citation of my work."

Is the U.S. government laying the groundwork for direct control of Haiti's institutions? This article by the New York Times could be a first salvo in anticipation of the barrage of criticism to be expected from such a move. They perhaps see the need to establish a chain of evidence to solidify their case. Human rights abuses in Haiti was of no particular concern for the U.S. up until now, particularly when their puppet Gerard LaTortue (unfortunate name) ran the show.

Read and listen to Andrew S. Natsios of Georgetown University and Mark L. Schneider of the International Crisis Group's testimonies to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The statements from Natsios and Schneider were not surprising -- just the usual U.S. propaganda lines about Haiti, with no perspective on how Haiti was brought to this state by the interventions, occupation, trade policies and paternalistic actions of the U.S. government and their active arms in Haiti - USAID, UN and NGOs. No question, they had help from the Morally Repugnant Elite (MRE), but the strategy and planning was evidently done by the internationals. One surprise however, was Sean Penn going so far as saying that Haiti is not ready to be independent. Haiti, said Mr. Penn, should not be "prematurely" independent -- that would be "murder by another name."

In Mr. Natsios' testimony, he makes mention of the ouster of President Aristide, stating that Aristide during his time in office had, "..simply replaced one tyranny with another."

Mr. Natsios, did not however present evidence to back his unsubstantiated claim about President Aristide. He also did not find the U.S. to have any culpability for their sponsorship of the two coups that brought chaos and violence to Haiti.

Natsios does concede that "...US and UN Security Council Sanctions in the 1990s contributed to the end of the hope of industrialization and economic growth." He does however place the blame for Haiti's condition squarely on the shoulders of the governing class, "gang violence" and poverty :

"This tragedy was not simply a natural disaster; it was a man-made disaster stemming from a failed Haitian state characterized by widespread patrimonialism, corruption, and critically ineffective service delivery. Despite $5.3 billion in foreign aid invested by bilateral and multilateral donors from 1990 to 2005 (approximately $1.5 billion of which came from the U.S.), Haiti persists as one of the poorest and worst governed countries in the hemisphere, if not the world.

Much of this US government assistance has been humanitarian rather than nation building assistance, and has kept people alive through repeated political crisis [emphasis added]. The Government of Haiti has been characterized as autocratic and unstable. To ensure loyalty within a society that has been riddled with gang violence and plagued by abject poverty for decades, elites have created patronage networks to employ their supporters, provided selective public services to them, all funded by rent-seeking and limits on the creation of legitimate institutions which might challenge their monopoly control over the society."

All seem to be looking to the newly formed Interim Commission for Haiti Reconstruction to save Haiti from itself. The Commission cedes Haiti's independence and makes the Chair, Bill Clinton, the new Viceroy in charge of dispensing donor funds for Haiti's reconstruction.

Natsios mentions that "The composition of the Action Plan‘s proposed Interim Commission for Haitian Reconstruction has been called into question by Transparency International‘s Senior Consultant Roslyn Hees: ―the majority of the commission would be made up of international agencies and a minority would be made up of Haitian representatives. Even within the Haitian representation, there is no one from civil society, except a representative of Haitian unions, who cover a minuscule proportion of the Haitian workforce since most of the workforce is informal and not unionized."

Natsios dismisses the criticism with double speak: "Although it is essential that the Haitian government assume ownership in the agenda-building process, it is critical that the U.S. contributes only to a long-term development plan that is both inclusive and transformational."



Thank you New York Times for exposing this injustice to the prisoners of Les Cayes. Thoughts and prayers are with the surviving families members of these prisoners, who have suffered this devastating bereavement. Those who perpetuated this crime against humanity at Les Cayes Prison must be brought to justice and held accountable. However, the New York Times should understand the skepticism they incur regarding the intent behind their sudden concern over human rights abuses by officials in Haiti.

See the video at the New York Times website.

UPDATE 05.26.10
The Bellingham Herald reports that "President Rene Preval has asked the United Nations for help in forming an independent commission to investigate allegations that dozens of prisoners were shot by Haitian police during a jail riot in the southern city of Les Cayes a week after the Jan. 12 earthquake."