USAID is Meant to Cripple & Destroy Countries

The Shelters That Clinton Built: Structurally unsafe and
formaldehyde laced, the "hurricane-proof" classroom trailers
installed by the Clinton Foundation in Haiti came from the
same company being sued for sickening Hurricane Katrina
victims. Warren Buffet's company was paid $1 million;
same amount he donated to HRC's campaign.

"USAID Go Home" is a 1996 article on the Third World Traveler website (still relevant today) and what a number of countries, such as Russia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Eritrea... have said to US spooks masquerading as aid in their country. False aid some folks call it. In Haiti it is a major issue (see here, here and here).

The headlines say its the end of foreign aid as we know it... "President Donald Trump’s vow to put “America first” includes a plan to drastically cut assistance to developing countries and merge the State Department with USAID, according to an internal budget document and sources.

The administration’s March budget proposal vowed to slash aid to developing countries by over one-third..."

This is Orwellian doublespeak of course, because the plan has always been to "put America first."

Donald Trump is reiterating what USAID and Hillary Clinton (see below) have both been caught candidly admitting:

"The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has spent more than $1.5 billion in Haiti, explains its goal as “furthering America’s interests.” In a more candid assessment, contained in a document now over a decade-old and no longer publicly available, USAID explained that “the principal beneficiary of America’s foreign assistance programs has always been the United States.”
"Is USAID Helping Haiti to Recover, or US Contractors to Make Millions?"
by Jake Johnston | The Nation, January 21, 2015

America first is the plan. It's working just as it was designed to. What do you have to add to that Candidate Clinton?

“I believe that together we can make America great again,”
             –William Jefferson Clinton in his 1991 presidential announcement speech.

.. and America is not great. You don't get an "A" for originality, because Ronald Reagan used it as his campaign slogan (perhaps foreshadowing Iran-Contra, Grenada war(!), the delayed AIDS response debacle, scapegoating Black women as welfare moms, tax hikes...).

Evidently, American presidents have a major problem with other countries acting in THEIR national interest though (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Palestine, Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Somalia, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, ... this could go on for a while). One could argue that Saudi Arabia and America have a lot in common, seeing as how they both like a good decapitation strategy.

The Red Cross bought them tainted water during a UN initiated cholera epidemic.

A woman explains that the Red Cross recently visited the
camp to give vaccinations. Al Jazeera video exposing the
Red Cross' real mission in Haiti. It wasn't to help the people
with what they really needed to stay healthy: clean
drinking water. As the UN cholera infestation spread, the Red
Cross delivered unpurified water that made the people sick.

USAID being stripped of funds would be wonderful news for the impoverished global south. It would necessitate the immediate building of sound infrastructure and hopefully speed development; were it true. Alas, this is not the desire of the deep state establishment and Donald Trump has done a number of 180's in his stands so far; no withdrawal from Afghanistan being one. As campaign rhetoric is often just that; this is to be expected. A note to whoever may be planning a "decapitation" (Kathy Griffin, Brad Sherman... ), had you thought maybe President Donald Trump is actually not the right head?

UN/USAID/World Bank are the three-headed hydra monster representing the corporatocracy in Haiti. What a headache to be aided to death by these thieving aid agencies? They do the exact opposite of what they are supposed to do, which is end the need for their services. The old saying goes: "teach a man to fish", but these poverty pimps only take away the ability of a country to produce enough food to feed its people and replace it with a cycle of aid dependency.

When there is an end to this type of headline: "Canada Buys a "Lead" Role On Haiti Recovery Team;" we can look forward to a world where the miserable business of impoverishing a people is not profitable to foreign governments, who come to speculate and bid on men, women and children's sad existence as pawns in a global game of unbridled greed in the name of vulture capitalism.

"Aid is meant to cripple people. Governments in Africa are not allowed to write their own programs." – Isaias Afwerke, Eritrean President

"It's hard enough for today's citizens to figure out what our western governments are really doing in the world, so just imagine being a target of their policies overseas. When programmes branded as "aid" can cause serious harm, and their failures are blamed on the would-be recipients, confusion is sure to ensue... In this light, the aims of Washington or London can be as inscrutable to a vulnerable, crisis-racked country as the intentions of a half-seen cat are to a mouse."
– Disaster aid: how US charity begins at home by Jonathan Katz
On the third anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, it's time to question the US's helping hand

"NGOs who are such a force multiplier for us and such an important part of our combat team." – Colin Luther Powell (former US Secretary of State and War criminal who presented false evidence of WMDs to UN to start Iraq invasion/destruction)/Counterpunch

USAID is a poverty pimping US government secret service operation to uphold corporatist "interests."

"In Latin America, USAID has long earned a reputation of an organization whose offices are, in fact, intelligence centers scheming to undermine legitimate governments in a number of the continent's countries. The truth that USAID hosts CIA and US Defense Intelligence Agency operatives is not deeply hidden, as those seem to have played a role in every Latin American coup, providing financial, technical, and ideological support to respective oppositions. USAID also typically seeks engagement with the local armed forces and law-enforcement agencies, recruiting within them agents ready to lend a hand to the opposition when the opportunity arises." – End to USAID Spying Looms in Latin America by Nil NIKANDROV | 26.09.2012

The goal is for local government to lose control of vital public services, agriculture, electricity, water, construction, manufacturing, telecommunications... anything that will may have the ability to put money into the local economy and empower that country's leadership is sucked away, thus making them dependent on the predator economies of the global north and their pimps.

Chemonics, a leading USAID recipient of multi-million dollar contracts in Haiti. After the Haiti earthquake USAID gave Chemonics the lead role in one example: a "cash for work" program in Fort National. Chemonics (CEPR: Haiti Relief and Reconstruction Watch) they played a large part (as did William Jefferson* Clinton) in Haiti's loss of its food security:

Chemonics is a subsidiary of ERLY Industries, which is also the parent company of American Rice Inc. American Rice was perhaps the largest benefactor of the influx of "Miami rice" in the 80s and 90s in Haiti, wiping out thousands of Haitian farmers who could not compete with the cheaper, subsidized imported rice. American Rice Inc. officials were found to have paid bribes in 1998-1999 to custom officials in order to avoid import tariffs (already by then some of the lowest in the hemisphere due to IMF and World Bank policies). Chemonics has close ties to USAID, and relies on government contracts for over 90% of its revenue.

More on Chemonics at CEPR:
"... But Chemonics, whose contract with USAID explicitly states that decisions about what programs to fund “will be based upon US foreign policy interests in consultation” with the State Department, worked to further USAID’s objectives of “counter[ing] the destabilizing effects” and the “growing discontent” with the pace of reconstruction. They ran PR for the new industrial park, installing benches and flower planters in nearby areas to “project a positive image.” An audit later noted that the flowers soon died “from lack of care,” while the mayor decried the lack of community involvement. But business was good for Chemonics, whose CEO at the time received a $2.5 million bonus."

In Haiti, the US orchestrated two coups against the democratically elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide forcing their neoliberal agenda of privatization of all public industries and services. They bring in their poverty pimps to provide services that the "failed" Haitian government is unable to... no matter that they targeted that government with sanctions, boycotts, opposition groups, thugs, assassins... whatever means necessary to bring about the so-called "failure" of "socialism." Is it socialism, communism or a dictatorship when they destroy a country... they are interchangeable terms used by these fascist; a distraction from their role in destroying a country; bringing war, chaos and death, while promising that capitalist predators, central banks, foreign control will bring back order. Ezili Dantò calls this neoliberal nazi raid and plunder technique "playing arsonist and firemen."

They actually have reached their goal when a country can be declared a "failed state"... if there wasn't anything to fix, there wouldn't be any money to be made and they're influence would be negligible.

"Helpfully, powerful leaders now and again stop to explain their motivations. One such moment came in a speech given in October 2011 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Addressing an audience of wealthy New Yorkers, she laid out a vision of what the US is trying to accomplish in the world; it was

"The question should always be "how will this
affect our economic growth?"

very telling for those trying to understand foreign aid – and its younger, hipper cousin, investment.

Clinton told the audience: "Our problems have never respected dividing lines between global economics and international diplomacy. And neither can our solutions." That is why, she explained, she has put "economic statecraft" at the heart of the US foreign policy agenda. Clinton further defined how the US can use "the forces and tools of global economics" to bolster American "diplomacy and presence" abroad and to strengthen the economy at home. She argued that America should "put economics at the center" of its foreign policy. In foreign relations, the question should always be "how will this affect our economic growth?"

A superpower such as the US would, of course, always consider its domestic interests, especially economic ones, when it acts abroad."
– Disaster aid: how US charity begins at home by Jonathan Katz
On the third anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, it's time to question the US's helping hand

They project their destructive naked greed for power and control on their victims. Venezuela is going through a stage of globalist terror that happened in Haiti in 1990 and again in 2004. Haiti is a proving ground for most terror tactics before they go global south, with the help of the corporatist media and their millionaire news anchor stenographers.

Ezili Dantò: Barack Obama and Bill Clinton did not “build Haiti back
better.” Where did the money go? Haiti recovery was about US land
grabbing, privatization of Haiti assets, militarizing Haiti police,
amending Haiti Constitution to better dominate and tightening
the occupation further with Martelly puppet government

Unfortunately, during these interventions, occupations, US intelligence financed death squad (FRAPH) cleansing of political opposition, bio-terrorism (UN cholera, USAID vaccines/"birth-control"/expired medicines... ); some have even found convincing evidence of weather manipulation and earthquake's from either frakking or HARPP (Venezuela and Russia both say the 2010 Haiti earthquake was man-made).

To make sure their control is not threatened the US has controlled every election since the coups in order to assure that real democracy did not have a ghost of a chance. The Empire's usual storm troopers - the Haitian (drug cartel) army were disbanded by surprise presidential winner Aristide after he was elected by a landslide over the US' (former World Bank executive) candidate – Marc Bazin)

Turns out, Hillary Clinton was a great strategic choice by Barack Obama for his Secretary of State given her experience in rigging elections.

“I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake... and if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win.”
                         – Hillary Rodham Clinton (2006 interview with The Jewish Press)

Obama named Bill Clinton the UN "special envoy" to Haiti in 2009 and and after the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake, Clinton was teamed with George W. Bush to form the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund because of all the special things he'd done for Haiti... i.e. "free trade reforms", destroying rice production to boost subsidized Arkansas rice farmers, mass starvation resulting from Haiti's inability to feed its people... good times.

Nothing much is changing, but if the Trump administration were to actually put an end to USAID's immense reach in countries like Haiti, it could end the unrelenting, cold, and calculated cycle of misery, impoverishment and underdevelopment. Withdrawing aid could impact Haiti in a very positive way and just maybe it could make America seem kinda nice again.

Reactions to the news of defunding of aid:
Chemonics Responds to Devex Article
It looks like the end of foreign aid as we know it is coming

Failed Aid: Poverty Pimps in Haiti Cont. to Play Arsonists & Firemen

By Ezili Dantò | Thu, Dec 13, 2012
ezilidanto.com/zili 

Capitalizing on its imported cholera plague to Haiti, deflecting liability and responsibility for the death of 8,000 Haitians and sickness of over 600,000 in two years, the UN poverty pimps appeal for more misery funds to fill their employee/ subcontractor pockets. UN/PAHO/NGOtocracy in Haiti continues to play arsonist and firemen.

(See denied request to peruse and comment on proposed 10-year plan by PAHO/UN to eradicate cholera in Haiti to be unveiled June 29 at OAS | Response to media time given to latest UN-cover up: The new two strain hypothesis, erzilidanto, 06/22/2012 )

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In this Post

• Audit: USAID Haiti work 'not on track'  — bigstory.ap.org
• Unease over UN bid to eradicate Haiti cholera — blogs.aljazeera.com
• The U.N. has requested $2.2 billion to battle a cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed nearly 8,000 people since 2010 — ibtimes.com

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Audit: USAID Haiti work 'not on track'
By MARTHA MENDOZA— Oct. 1 5:23 PM EDT 

A newly released audit says the largest U.S. contractor working to stabilize Haiti after the 2010 earthquake is "not on track" to complete its assignments on schedule, has a weak monitoring system and is not adequately involving community members.

Washington D.C.-based Chemonics won a $53 million, 18-month contract from USAID in 2011 to help Haiti strengthen its economy and public institutions. USAID's Office of Inspector General released a report Monday that found Chemonics had a series of slips, including using arbitrary ways of evaluating its work, failing to hire local workers, and going ahead with potentially damaging environmental projects before they were approved.

"This report touches on a lot of issues we've seen with the overall reconstruction effort," said Jake Johnston, a researcher at the Washington D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research who studies U.S. spending in Haiti. "There's a lack of transparency and the work is often poorly planned and poorly executed."

Chemonics did not have an immediate comment, but a spokeswoman said it was preparing a response. USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives, which manages the Chemonics contracts, said in a written response to the audit that it agrees with all of the recommendations and that changes are under way to resolve the issues.

"It should be noted that it is challenging to attribute direct results in complex and fluid stabilization environments, and it is often the absence of destabilizing events that demonstrates stability in these historically volatile areas," USAID directors Robert Jenkins and Steve Olive said in a joint response.

This is the second time Chemonics work in Haiti has been found lacking. In 2010, USAID auditors found the firm failed to hire thousands of Haitians as planned under a cash-for-work program, spending the funds on equipment and materials.

Also in 2010, Chemonics was one of five groups criticized for wasting aid in Afghanistan on foreign workers' high salaries, security and living arrangements.

Chemonics, which has worked in 150 countries, counts USAID as its largest client.

In Haiti, Chemonics was awarded a $39.5 million contract after the earthquake for the first phase of reconstruction, involving 301 different small projects including setting up temporary space for parliament and holding Haiti's first- ever presidential debates. Its second $53 million contract, aimed at a second phase of reconstruction, had more than 140 different projects aimed at improving the social and economic situation in Haiti by hosting job fairs, printing training guides to prevent violence against women, establishing a daily radio news program and other projects.

Auditors said the second phase lacks accountability on many levels.

For example, the U.S. is helping construct a major, $224 million industrial park which is projected to employ more than 20,000 people in a small, impoverished northern community. Chemonics set out to beautify nearby towns to project "a positive image of what role the nearby Caracol industrial park and other upcoming economic investments will play in citizens' lives."

It didn't work. The plan was to spruce up the towns by installing benches, upgrading landscaping, and doing some minor masonry work. Auditors found Chemonics purchased and planted some seedlings for the town center, but they died from lack of care, and residents said they didn't see how the activity led to the beautification of the area nor did they associate it with the industrial park.

As a contractor, Chemonics is also responsible for setting up its own system of evaluation. The auditors found some of the ways the firm was measuring accomplishments simply didn't make sense. For example, Chemonics conducted an engineering study to improve one town's roads, and then measured their accomplishment by trying to count how many rebuilt institutions and structures "incorporate principles that support democracy and government legitimacy."

At times the work has also seemed backward. For example, an environmental review required in advance of farming projects was instead signed off on three months after Chemonics had 700,000 flowering tropical jatropha seedlings planted as part of a temporary work program.


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Unease over UN bid to eradicate Haiti cholera
Benedict Moran | Benedict Moran is a producer for Al Jazeera English in New York and at the United Nations.

The UN has launched a new initiative aimed at tackling cholera in Haiti. But the programme falls short of what many had hoped for.

The new programme dedicates $215m from donors along with $23.5m from UN funds towards programmes in public health, capacity building, public education, and clean water systems. It will be part of a larger ten-year $2.2bn programme between Haiti and the neighbouring Dominican Republic to eradicate cholera from the island of Hispaniola.

"We know the elimination of cholera is possible," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at the initiative’s launch on Tuesday. "It has happened in difficult environments around the world. It can and will happen in Haiti."

Cholera was introduced to Haiti in October 2010 and has since killed about 7,750 and infected more than 600,000 people.

"With this new initiative, we will eradicate and remove once and for all the consequences and negatives effects of cholera on the Island of Hispaniola," said Lorenzo Hidalgo, the Minister of Health of the Dominican Republic.

But there are concerns by some diplomats and UN observers that the funds necessary for the programme would not be forthcoming from donors.

"The humanitarian funding is already running out," said Jake Johnston of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. "What's to give anyone faith that these funds will come through?"

Haiti will need $500m over the next two years for its own national cholera plan. The funds allocated in the programme would therefore cover only one year.

UN diplomats told me that the launch of the initiative is meant to reinvigorate the humanitarian effort to tackle cholera, and send a strong signal to donors.

"I'm confident that more resources will come," Nigel Fisher, the deputy head of the UN mission in Haiti, told reporters on Tuesday.

"As we move forward with this, we will indeed see the elimination of cholera."

Additionally, some UN observers fear that the plan will deflect international pressure on the UN to take responsibility for introducing the deadly disease.

Numerous studies - including internal investigations by the UN itself - indicate that cholera was brought in by Nepalese peacekeeping troops. Yet the international body has yet to formally take the blame.

"A just response requires allowing past victims of the UN cholera and their survivors their day in court, to seek justice for their loss of loved ones, income, property and educational opportunities," said Brian Concannon, Director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, which has launched a lawsuit against the UN on behalf of the families of 5,000 cholera
victims.

More than 6,700 people have signed an online petition launched last week by filmmaker Oliver Stone, calling for the UN to take responsibility.


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The U.N. has requested $2.2 billion to battle a cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed nearly 8,000 people since 2010.
By Ryan Villarreal | December 12 2012 4:07 PM

The U.N. has requested $2.2 billion to battle a cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed nearly 8,000 people since 2010.

Working with the Haitian government, the U.N. has outlined a 10-year plan to improve water and sanitation systems and provide treatment to those affected by the life-threatening disease.

“The new initiative will invest in prevention, treatment and education -- it will take a holistic approach to tackling the cholera challenge,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday in a press conference.

“The main focus is on the extension of clean drinking water and sanitation systems -- but we are also determined to save lives now through the use of an oral cholera vaccine.”

Mr. Ban seeks to raise $500 million for the first phase of the plan over the next two years. He said that slightly less than half of that amount had already been raised.

“Today I am pleased to announce that $215 million in existing funds from bilateral and multilateral donors will be used to support the initiative. I thank the donor community for this generous commitment,” Mr. Ban said.

“The United Nations will do its part. We are committing $23.5 million, building on the $118 million the U.N. system has spent on the cholera response to date.”

An additional $1.7 billion will be sought during the next eight years to eliminate the disease.

Haiti was struck by a cholera outbreak that killed roughly 7,000 people several months after a devastating 2010 earthquake killed an estimated 250,000 people.

It has become increasingly evident that the cholera pathogen was introduced to Haiti via U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal, where scientists have identified the original strain.

"We now know that the strain of cholera in Haiti is an exact match for the strain of cholera in Nepal," said Dr. Danielle Lantagne, a cholera expert employed by the U.N., the BBC reported.

In the area surrounding Port-au-Prince, the country's capital and most populous city, underdeveloped water and sanitation systems, many of which were damaged in the earthquake, are believed to have contributed to the spread of the waterborne pathogen.

While the U.N. has acknowledged that scientific evidence supports the idea that its employees may have introduced the cholera bacteria, it has avoided claiming responsibility for the outbreak, saying that it was not the fault of “any group or individual,” according to the Guardian.

A recent spike in cholera-related deaths has put the Haitian government on high alert, particularly in the wake of heavy rains from Hurricane Sandy, which passed through in October.

“This will not be a short-term crisis,” Mr. Ban said. “Eliminating cholera from Haiti will continue to require the full cooperation and support of the international community.”


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Forwarded by Ezili's Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
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Background:

Why is there a UN, Chapter 7 peace enforcement mission in Haiti for 8 years? A country not at war, without a peace agreement to enforce and with less violence than most countries in the Western Hemisphere? (See the UN’s own Global Study on Homicide at page 93 ).

#Haiti - No one knows where $6 billion in earthquake relief funds has gone. What's certain: - it was not spent on Haiti poor 

Reconstruction of Haiti’s schools by the Clinton Foundation and the Interamerican Development Bank is exposed in two articles as a textbook case of the “shock doctrine,” with the U.S. trying to house schoolchildren in substandard formaldehyde-laced Hurricane Katrina trailers. (Shock-Doctrine Schooling of Haitian Children by Clinton and IDB )

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Haiti: November 18 – Disengagement is not an option - http://bit.ly/Uc9a7Q

"Last night, I didn’t catch the Little Girl in the Yellow Sunday Dress hanging by one arm over the side of a crowded, overloaded Haitian boat. Last night it was in 2007 that I Capsized. Before that, I crossed death and Capsized in 1997 too. It’s another November 18th under occupation and I guess you already know what I hide. I write this piece, each year, mostly to find the strength to carry this name until the end. But two decades of documenting, witnessing, giving homage to the fallen and struggling for justice and to prevent the continuous deaths, sufferings and incomprehensible hardships has taken its toll. The struggle is tough. I go back to the ..." ( Haiti: November 18 – Disengagement is not an option  )

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"Obama's appointed Clinton-Bush fund is closes after building their neoDuvalierist kleptocracy in Haiti back better, not democracy, not justice, equality nor the self-employed small Haiti farmers - Haiti's largest employer, biggest business assets. Their support of globalists' privatization combined with extortionist unfair trade rules and unregulated exportation of all capital out of Haiti continues to destroy local Haiti agriculture, local distribution, local manufacturing, local job growth, public accountability, local Haiti unions, civic participation, local Haiti tax base, environment protection, health and local capital circulation/multiplier. The US occupation through UN military proxy, of course, also destroys authentic Haiti government civic and democratic participation.

Haiti needs more local production, more local distribution, more local manufacturing, local jobs, local investment in Haiti infrastructure, local capital that circulates in Haiti, not "aid" that's capital to put into the pockets of selfish foreigners, Monsanto, Paul Farmer's pharmaceutical buddies, World Bank interests or Clinton toxic trailer scams. A greater tax base results from local production, distribution, manufacturing and local jobs, local sales. But that's RATIONAL, sensible and scientific. And the elite ruling nations write rational, sensible treatises but they are mostly too high tech to live love and generosity much less common sense. The NGOtocracy and the ruling nations they represent are too emotionally addicted to white narcissism, black adulation to live their own benevolent edicts. The US would rather disenfranchise all Haitians, all Africans for their land's resources and to preserve the colonial white supremacy narrative than to do the rational and sensible and less bloody alternative, which is don't dilute Diaspora local investments (remittances for instance), don't block participatory governance or initiatives as (socialists?), end the US occupation of Haiti. ALLOW the Haitians and the Haitian diaspora to succeed in investing in Haiti's local production, local agriculture, local job creation, et al.. Still we mustn't give up, or engage their insanity, confusion and murderous rampage across the world.

With broken wings, Haiti must dislodge these insane folks, not integrate with injustice." -- Ezili Danto of HLLN

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Haiti's Gold Rush - an Ecological Crime in the Making
http://bit.ly/V7RZp4

How Haiti Highlights the Failures of U.S. Immigration Policy
http://bit.ly/SBr7gK

Audit: USAID Haiti work 'not on track'
http://bit.ly/SRLfer


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Haiti is open for business
http://bit.ly/iU1xoU

"Homeless quake victims get evicted in the hurricane season while the Bush- Clinton fund builds a new $29 million shelter for Westerners with donation dollars to help quake victims... They’re open for business on top of our decomposed dead bodies, on top of our crushed bones, on top of our intense grief. Open for business on top of our ground water contaminated by their diseased feces. They’ve made so much money...they still haven’t stop counting collected donation profits, anticipating more huge returns. Panting, salivating for more Haiti crisis, more cholera outbreaks, more back-to-back hurricanes, more calculated or imposed Haiti instability, more such business opportunities.

They’ve even calculated how much they’ll make pushing our decomposed dead bodies around to sell the grieving, Clorox hungry, walking dead Haitians – still living under hurricane-soaked tarps – more of their aquatabs, antibiotics, foreign vitamins, bottled water, nitrate-laced fertilizers and Monsanto hybrid seeds. Open for business building an oasis on top of an open grave, investing in remains. Happiness rings loud laughter at the World Bank, totally orgasmic at the IMF. Rwanda-Clinton says Haiti is open for business, now... Duvalier’s Chalan is back to evict the poor quake victims, build an oasis for Westerners in Haiti, like they have in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic."

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Expose the Lies that fragment Haiti opposition to the tyrants, colonial terror and the NGOtocracy - Free Haiti 

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Help Haiti’s Farmers. Demand an end to unfair US trade, end to no Haiti tariffs on subsidized US rice dumped to destroy local Haiti production 

The MSM Continues to Perpetuate Fallacies About Haiti

Haiti experts have repeatedly criticized the US for excluding the Haitian government and Haitian companies from the reconstruction. The FOIA data proves them right: USAID and the State Department gave money to 6 US government entities and 7 UN agencies, but none to the Haitian government. Moreover, no NGOs or contractors listed in the FOIA were Haitian. How the Government Used Our Money in Haiti: Part II

In a Reuters blog article, Where Haiti’s money has gone, Felix Salmon rightly points out that:

"Development is a tricky game, easy to get wrong; as a rule, it only works when the people providing the aid are working at the margin, helping to strengthen existing projects, industries, and institutions, rather than trying to build them all from scratch. Let’s target it where it can be most effective, rather than where there happens to have been a newsworthy natural disaster."

However, the majority of his blog article is full of misconceptions, hearsay and disinformation:

“I’ve had two ministers come up to me this week, personally, and ask what’s in it for them,” says a frustrated IHRC official. “Since money grows on trees in this disaster, the attitude among Haitian officials is: Just call up your buddies in Washington, and they’ll send another check.”

The unanswered question is: what “Haitian officials” approached and wanted to know what was in it for them? Name names. Who? When? What are you, a reporter or a rumor monger? Look at the facts as reported by The Haiti Justice Alliance; they have documented proof gathered through a FOIA request that the U.S. excludes the Haitian government and Haitian companies from the reconstruction. The problem with reporting about Haiti is that even when a truth is conveyed, it is invariably wrapped in a lie or misconception.

"Meanwhile, Haiti’s suffering if anything is getting worse. Not only are new shantytowns springing up in places like Corail, but disease is now spreading disastrously: cholera hadn’t been seen in Haiti for more than 60 years, before the earthquake; it has now infected more than 250,000 Haitians, with no sign that it’s remotely under control."

Haiti has never had an outbreak of cholera.
The misconception is left that cholera was started by the conditions in the camps, but this is a lie. The cholera started in the countryside, in Haiti’s breadbasket. It has been conclusively proven in many scientific investigations that the UN/MINUSTAH brought cholera to Haiti. The latest was a "whole genome study", which "nails Nepal-Haiti cholera link." The cholera was spread because the Nepalese soldiers in Mirebalais dumped their feces into the Meye river, a tributary of the Artibonite river.

"The first thing to note is that most of the money given to Haiti hasn’t even started to be spent yet: a whopping $11 billion was pledged by donor countries and financial institutions in the wake of the earthquake, but if you take the US as a good example, it’s so far managed to spend just $184 million of the $1.14 billion allocated to the country. Even the Red Cross is barely halfway into its $479 million fund — all of which has been earmarked for Haiti, and none of which can be spent elsewhere, no matter how much better it might be put to use in some other context."

Haiti is the scene of an ongoing international crime. It’s to be expected that the worst sort of buzzards would be picking its bones clean. The NGOs supported by USAID are expected to return over 90% of the money spent in Haiti back to Washington.

"It’s worth remembering, too, that there was reason for optimism regarding the rebuilding of Haiti. There was lots of money, and the country’s right on America’s doorstep, which also helps. On top of that, it had the best conceivable international ambassador in Bill Clinton, backed up with the full support of the US government in the form of his wife’s oft-stated commitment to getting Haiti back on its feet.

Haiti is under occupation. Period. There is no freedom, human rights, sovereignty, autonomy or decision making by Haiti’s government. The U.S. and its “partners” are determined to keep real democracy out of the hands of the Haitian people as evidenced by their awareness and endorsement (according to Wikileaks) of the fraudulent nature of he last two major elections in Haiti.

It is a stupid decision on many levels, because every upcoming or anticipated disaster, calamity and mismanagement of resources…etc, is the direct responsibility of those who have imposed detrimental trade policies that have robbed Haiti of the ability to feed its people, that have sponsored coups, fraudulent elections, brought disease, the entire globe’s occupying armies to play their war games, the multinational exploiters of Haiti’s wealth, and others who use Haiti as their piggy bank and dumping ground for all of their toxic hate, greed and depravity… Speaking of depravity: they also share the responsibility for making Haiti the ground zero for sexual predators of every base/perverted sexual nature imaginable.

"What happens when you drop billions of dollars onto a country like Haiti? Immediately after the earthquake happened, in January 2010, I said that “one of the lessons we’ve learned from trying to rebuild failed states elsewhere in the world is that throwing money at the issue is very likely to backfire”. But that’s exactly what we did — with predictable results."

As a commenter said: "...no one has actually thrown money at Haiti! The vast majority of the $11 billion you cite has not been disbursed. It was only pledged– and it was pledged over the medium term."

The reoccurring theme of stories like this seem to assume that Haiti is a "basket case" or "failed state" because of the incompetence and corruption of Haitians themselves. See the quoted remark of "a frustrated IHRC official." Here is what should be part of that calculation, but somehow never is:

"On 12 August a group of Cuban guerrillas and Haitian exiles lands on the southern most tip of the country in another attempt to remove Duvalier. They are defeated by the Haitian Army, with the aid of US marines."

Are Haitians entirely to blame for the existing calamitous conditions that the majority is suffering under? How can that be, when the scoundrels, killers, thugs, dictators, drug dealers... etc. can invariably always count on the backing of the U.S. and its acknowledgedly most globally powerful military apparatus, intelligence agencies, institutional aid agencies, and its embedded allies in the mainstream media?

BACKGROUND:
How The Government Used Our Money In Haiti: Part II

"The only aid mechanism devoted specifically to rebuilding rather than relief is the “Office of Transition Initiatives.” They put Haiti’s future entirely in the hands of two contractors: Chemonics and Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI)[3].

‎"Chemonics raises eyebrows for multiple reasons. First, it’s a subsidiary of ERLY Industries, which also owns American Rice. Since the 1980s, American Rice captured half of the Haitian rice market, a shift that Bill Clinton recently admitted was the reason Haiti can no longer feed itself. Moreover, the agricultural program it runs, which revolves around distributing hybrid Monsanto seed, is likely to jeopardize the future of Haiti’s agricultural system.

DAI, World Vision, and CHF International have also all been the subject of media scrutiny for their activities both in and out of Haiti.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research described DAI as having a “questionable past” of putting political objectives above humanitarian goals. Last year, World Vision came under fire for using “discredited” aid practices by aid critic Bill Easterly. Finally, CHF International’s spending habits were labeled “ostentatious” in a feature that also contained a confession from CHF’s field director that the organization has no experience in the role it’s filling in Haiti."

WIKILEAKS RELEASE: 722 Haiti-US embassy cables

Cable reference ID# 04SANTODOMINGO1361 | SUBJECT: CANARD II: DOMINICAN RIFLES FOR HAITI

"It is true that in early 2003 Foreign Minister Tolentino Dipp asked the Embassy for details about planned military training, and the Embassy furnished this information. This occurred in the context of unfounded press reports alleging that U.S. forces would number in the thousands and that they would be engaged in tasks other than training [emphasis added]."

NOTE: In the above quote from a cable by SouthCom , they are not denying that they provided Special Forces "training" of Haitian "rebels" in the DR in 2003 -- to overthrow of the democratically elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They just deny that the trainers numbered in "thousands."

In another cable (04SANTODOMINGO1515, CANARD II: DOMINICAN RIFLES FOR HAITI), the writer links the "rebels" to the supply of weapons the Dominicans had purchased through "annual licensed imports": "These are not military weapons; they are pistols, revolvers, hunting rifles and shotguns (never rifles) for use by private security services." they state. But, they conclude the cable by making a direct collation: "We understand that the arms used on this movement and in the capture of Gonaives were largely shotguns, hunting rifles, and pistols."

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."

Is Haiti's Micro Credit Industry the Path to a Better Haiti?

A new venture between Fonkoze USA and The Toronto, Canada based MasterCard Foundation aims to eventually benefit 70,000 people by offering micro credit to extremely poor women in rural communities in Haiti by helping them to create new livelihoods. The need for a hand-up is great, because since the Haiti earthquake, nearly 600,000 people have migrated to the countryside, creating huge economic and social pressures on destitute communities there.

Fonkoze USA is Haiti’s largest microfinance provider and the $4.5 million "investment" says MasterCard Foundation, aims to "enable Fonkoze’s long-term recovery "by re-establishing its headquarters and branches destroyed in the earthquake."

Exploring the information available on the MasterCard Foundation and Fonkoze websites, it soon becomes apparent that this partnership is an open relationship.

On the one hand, MasterCard is coupled with MasterCard Worldwide – which bills itself as "The Heart of Commerce." In this relationship, MasterCard Worldwide brings home the bacon, having established the MasterCard Foundation with "a generous gift of shares" at its initial public offering in 2006. No need to worry though, Fonkoze, "The MasterCard Foundation is an independent, private foundation with over $3 billion in assets."

Of course, profit margins are the touchstones of a credit card company such as MasterCard Worldwide, so one shouldn't expect that the MasterCard Foundation is any less concerned with the bottom line. In fact, on its website, the MasterCard Foundation, expresses a belief in "market-driven programs" and features a quote by controversial economist Milton Friedman: "The poor stay poor not because they are lazy, but because they have no access to capital."

Mr. Friedman's methodology was laissez-faire economics, which basically "means allowing industry to be free from state intervention. The French meaning of the term "laissez-faire"¹ literally means "let it be." It's interesting to note that "some of his [Friedman] laissez-faire ideas concerning monetary policy, taxation, privatization and deregulation were used by governments, especially during the 1980s." Deregulation is seen by many economist as a focus of blame for the current global economic crisis.

On the other hand, Fonkoze, which has total revenues of about $1.7 million, has a rather more altruistic motto: "Building the economic foundations for democracy in Haiti."

Fonkoze is involved in several liaisons – to continue with the French theme. Interestingly, they are linked to USAID and their Canadian counterpart CIDA through their close relationship with Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA).

According to the MasterCard Foundation, "[b]oth organizations have worked closely for more than 15 years. MEDA is an investor and a board member of Fonkoze." On the MEDA website they acknowledge unspecified support from the U.S. and Canadian government: "MEDA gratefully acknowledges the support of CIDA and USAID."

What does non-governmental agency (NGO)² mean anyway? Evidently, it's complicated.

MasterCard Foundation's Video tells
"the story of how microfinance will help Haiti rebuild."

MasterCard Foundation's global public relations agency, Weber Shandwick, describes the MasterCard/Fonkoze venture this way:

"[...] about the loans, during the course of this program, 4,000 women in two rural areas - Lower Artibonite and the Central Plateau – will receive initial loans of $20-$25, which carry an interest rate of 89 cents. The repayment period – eight months – is combined with intensive literacy and business skills classes, and counseling on how best to invest the loans. Following repayment, the women are ready to join Fonkoze’s microfinance groups, where first loans start at $75.

Fonkoze will also work with another 1,000 women in those area who, according to their wealth rank score, qualify as extremely poor. Working with these women, Fonkoze will help them to determine which enterprise might work for them and provide a needed asset (livestock). As they are trained and begin their businesses, they will be provided a short-term stipend to cover basic needs. They’ll graduate into the program described above after 18 months.

As for local control - Fonkoze was founded in 1994 and currently serves more than 225,000 clients through 41 branches. Its leadership will manage this program in cooperation with Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), which has operated in Haiti since the early 1980s. So, while the funding for this program was provided by a Toronto-based Foundation, the program will be implemented locally and in accordance with local laws."

They have an interesting way of expressing the interest rate. The interest rate is usually in percentages. Why not express the interest rate in a straightforward manner that everyone can understand? One can only hope they will make their interest rate system clearer for the benefit of their extremely poor and mostly illiterate clients.

"New Interest-Free Microloan Initiative Launched for Haiti"
Additionally, Fonkoze is now part of a new partnership. It is called Zafen. Zafen, an article on HuffPost declares, may just be "the right program" which will benefit everyone. It is "a new interest-free microloan initiative enabling lenders and donors to finance small and medium-sized Haitian businesses."

The four organizations comprising Zafen are:
1) Fonkoze USA – Haiti's alternative bank with 41 branches, 200,000 savings accounts, 47,000 borrowers and 15 years of experience covering rural Haiti;

2) The worldwide Vincentian Family – a network of groups numbering one million strong that derive their inspiration from St. Vincent de Paul;

3) DePaul University – the largest Catholic university in the United States;

4) Haitian Hometown Associations Resource Group (HHTARG) – which enables the Haitian Diaspora to foster economic and social growth to alleviate poverty in their native communities.

A Haitian woman tending her garden is working her way out of extreme poverty with the support of a Fonkoze micro-loan. (Photo: MasterCard Foundation)

Excellent. No interest micro-loans!

In the interest of full disclosure, Fonkoze's altruistic bankers will have to tell their poor illiterate clients about the new Zafen program, since it offers participants these great "new interest-free" micro-loans.

Reportedly, the Vincentian Family Board responsible for Zafen conceived the program in "meetings with Haitians living abroad [when they] generated the idea of creating a website showcasing sustainable and viable projects and enterprises in need of a loan or donation. [...] These lenders and donors fill the void traditional banks have left in many world economies."

A quick check of the Fonkoze website today (04.29.10), shows that they have not yet announced the new Zafen collaboration. However, Fonkoze is announcing the expansion of their "Financial Services":

Fonkoze Financial Services (FFS) is a Haitian commercial microfinance institution that takes profitable branches and well-tested products from Fonkoze and expands them, reaching hundreds of thousands of Haitians, especially those living in the hardest-to-reach rural areas.

Fonkoze is in the process of spinning off its financial services into a high-growth, full service bank with the mission of providing the rural population of Haiti with a full range of financial services designed to generate self-reliance and promote a democratic economy in Haiti. The name of this institution is Bank Fonkoze. S.A. A commercial banking license from the Central Bank is pending. In the interim, Fonkoze Financial Services was incorporated in 2004 and will undertake all of the operations of Bank Fonkoze until a commercial banking license is granted.

The problem is, Haitians will tell you they already use micro credit businesses like banks. A client may take daily loans or overnight loans from a micro credit entity. In a typical scenario, some of the borrowers are meat sellers who will price a cow or a pig, go get the money from a micro credit place, pay for the animal, then go to a restaurant who had a pre-arranged agreement to buy the animal. The micro credit client becomes a middle man and only spends hours with the animal before selling it. The micro credit outfit makes a handsome profit that same day, maybe in a matter of hours.

The microfinance outfit ACME launched its operations in Haiti with a "$350,000 loan capital grant from USAID" and recently "celebrate[d] 10 years of success[ful]" micro-financing in Haiti:

"ACME’s recent 10 year celebration highlights USAID/Haiti’s 10 years of support to Haiti’s microfinance sector. Founded in 1997, ACME has become a leader in the Haitian microfinance sector, with a client base of 20,169, of which 69% are women, and a total portfolio of $23.2 million as of December 2007. Its list of achievements is even more impressive when considered against the background of Haiti’s economic and political instability during this period. ACME is one of Haiti’s leading MFIs as well as a defining example of USAID/Haiti’s role in building Haiti’s robust microfinance sector and in encouraging growth and geographic expansion."

All of this "commercial" growth and the burgeoning of business partnerships in the name of "charity" and "democracy" is coming on the heels of the disastrous earthquake and there is a term for that – disaster capitalism. It was at work before the disastrous earthquake of January 12 and it is expanding exponentially in the wake of the disaster. The capitalists are descending on Haiti full force to take advantage of the horrific situation. Haitians who don't know where their next meal is coming from, nor when they will have a decent roof over their heads are pitifully vulnerable to these micro credit entities.

NGOs are not a "path to a better life" in developing countries. Back in 2003, then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan revealed: "Funds should be moving from developed countries to developing countries, but these numbers [almost $200 billion] tell us the opposite is happening."

In Haiti and the Aid Racket, How NGOs are Profiting Off a Grave Situation, Nikolas Barry-Shaw of Haiti Information Project (HIP) explains the NGO situation in Haiti:

"[...]Agriculture provides a telling example, as Nazaire St. Fort reports: "[M]ore than 800 NGOs work parallel with the agriculture ministry, but most define their own priorities." The Association National des Agro-professionnels Haïtiens (ANDAH) explains that of the "3.4 billion gourdes (91 million dollars) budgeted for public investment in 2006-2007, 3.2 billion (85 million dollars) are managed by NGOs."

[...]The NGO nexus aims to succeed where repressive force has failed, "killing with kindness" in an attempt to suffocate the vibrant grassroots activity that overthrew the Duvalier dictatorship and brought the Lavalas movement to power. As one Haitian peasant told anthropologist Jennie M. Smith, "They call it development, but it is more like envelopment!

[...] The growth of NGOs and the atrophying of the Haitian state are in reality two sides of the same coin; the role of government is reduced to implementing neoliberal policies favorable to foreign capital while managing the haze of NGOs that effectively run the country, with the UN occupation in the background, ready to dish out the necessary repression."

_________________________
¹Laissez-faire economics is the belief that economic imbalances are self-correcting, not requiring intervention by government so long as the equal rights of individuals are respected. The Laissez-faire principle is also referred to as the principle of Spontaneous Order or the Invisible Hand of the Marketplace.

The earliest recorded use of the term "Laissez-faire" in this context may have been by French minister René de Voyer, Marquis d'Argenson, a champion of free trade, in 1736:

"Let it be, such should be the motto of every public power, ever since the world is civilized... A detestable principle that we cannot grow but by the lowering of our neighbors! [emphasis added] There is nothing but mischief and malignity of heart that are satisfied with that principle, and interest is opposed to it. Let it be, damn it! Let it be!!

² A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a legally constituted, non-governmental organization created by natural or legal persons with no participation or representation of any government. In the cases in which NGOs are funded totally or partially by governments, the NGO maintains its non-governmental status by excluding government representatives from membership in the organization. Unlike the term "intergovernmental organization", "non-governmental organization" is a term in general use but is not a legal definition. In many jurisdictions, these types of organization are defined as "civil society organizations" or referred to by other names.

“True charity is the desire to be useful to others without thought of recompense”
– Emanuel Swedenborg

UPDATE 06.02.2010: The Limits of Microcredit— A Bangladesh Case (PDF)

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The Poverty Pimps of Haiti

The Forces aligned against Haiti's political, agricultural and economical sovereignty are The Poverty Pimps:

• 
  
  • The Haitian oligarchy and immoral wealthy business class
  • United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
  • US Embassy cronies, the Breton Woods institutions and their USAID subcontractors
  • Charitable NGOs
  • Security companies: XE (Blackwater), DYNCORPS and Brown & Root.
  
  

The Poverty Pimps are currently being aided and abetted by the new Obama administration and its push for the HOPE act - legislation that will ban trade unions from protecting worker's rights. Activist have maintained that "Enriching the few at [the] expense of the many is not "HOPE" but fueling more despair."
Haitians, represented by the Haitian government do not have a voice or partnership in improving the country in the vital areas that are necessary to pull the general population out of misery; namely:

• food sovereignty (domestic agriculture and food production)
• investment in environmental rehabilitation
• domestic manufacturing and jobs that circulates capital and
  investment IN Haiti.
• Haiti needs a stop to deforestation
• investment in infrastructure, construction of flood-resistant bridges, roads
• investment in such renewable energy as biofuels, wind turbines, solar, water and micro-hydro.

Most importantly - Haiti needs cash crops, food production and alternative energy (see Ezili Danto's post).
The Poverty Pimps in control of Haiti are responsible for many human rights abuses committed during their reign. Namely, the US sponsored coups, interventions, financial criminality by the world banking institutions and other violations of international law that have kept Haiti's infrastructure underdeveloped and primitive, leading to many deaths and the prevalence of preventable diseases among other dire consequences.

THE POVERTY PIMPS OF HAITI
Human Rights Violations Currently Underway:

• MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION via VACCINATION - The UN, the Rwanda Genocide Model and the Vaccination Campaign (see link)
• Food Crisis (see also Mud Cookie Economics in Haiti)
• GENOCIDE: The Gran Ravine & Soccer Massacre and death squads roaming free in UN-occupied Haiti
• MILITARY OCCUPATION: UN repression and militarization is turning Haiti into a penal colony

Proposed comprehensive long term solutions (from Ezili Danto's post):

• Fair trade with Haiti. Trade that does not further degrade the environment, repress worker's rights or contain Haiti in poverty or ignore Haiti's most essential domestic needs for food production.
• Haiti needs food sovereignty
• Haiti needs the cancellation of its debt to the international financial institutions
• The US should grant Haitians TPS (Temporary Protected Status) and equal immigration treatment
• The US needs to support the release of the political prisoners -- justice not impunity
• The UN military occupation of Haiti should end in order for participatory democracy that means inclusion of the masses in the affairs of their own country.
• The Western countries who control the world banking system are not providing Haiti with authentic assistance in poverty reduction that involve domestic agricultural investments and community policing.

Hinche Haiti Sept. 2008 - Food Crisis in Haiti Agravated
by Successive Hurricanes: Gustav, Hanna, Ike and Fay.

Most of all, Haiti needs a US trade, aid and investment culture that is committed to integrating all levels of corporate responsibility – economic, social and environmental including;

• patronizing the informal sector of local service providers
• generally not exporting all profits and capital but committing to paying equitable custom duties
• not dumping assembly goods for export, or dumping subsidized US foods, but investing in mutually beneficial trade, aid and investment
• And they should be investing a reasonable percentage of their Haiti profits put back into Haiti.

HatTip: Ezili Danto's post:
"Obama's offered HOPE is sweatshop slavery"