October 3,
2017 will mark the 80th anniversary of the massacre of Haitians on
dominican soil, an event which, to borrow Franklin D. Roosevelt’s expression,
“will ever live in infamy.” We anticipate that the reaction among
our readership will be mixed. Some will consider this article
another case of Dominican bashing. Some will feel that bygone should
be bygone, while another group who live on that part of the island or whose
children attend school there will fear that this new round of discussion of our
troubled relationship with our next door neighbor, may create some hostility
towards them.
I wonder however, if
these same people would raise their voices to object to the fact that we are
perpetually reminded of the Jewish holocaust during World War
II. Would they object to the effort of the Armenian people to force
the Turkish government to recognize that genocide was committed against them in
1915? Finally, would they even empathize with the Native Americans
who have seen a quasi annihilation of their population, in the hands of the
European invaders in less than 100 years?
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One of the 1937 massacre pictures in the border region between
Haiti and Dominican Republic. |
Could it be that these
compatriots have been brainwashed to the point that they value less the life of
a poor black or brown individual than that of a white person? This
reaction is difficult to accept when foreigners seem to be more eager to take
up the cause of the poor Haitians living in the most horrible conditions in the
Bateys. Indeed, numerous movie directors from Canada, France and the
USA have tried to bring the plight of the Haitian workers in Dominican Republic
to the attention of the world. More recently Celine Gauthier a
franco-peruvian photographer has organized an exhibit of pictures taken in the
Bateys. This traveling exhibit entitled “Esclaves au Paradis” or
“Slaves in Paradise” has been shown in Paris and in Montreal. We applaud
all these artists who have decided to transform their indignation into
action. Unfortunately, the silence of our own singers, artists,
movie producers and political activists is deafening.
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| President E. Lescot and Rafael Trujilio |
Worse than silence, we
are more likely to hear condemnation of the Haitians themselves. Why
don’t the Haitian stay home? Why can’t the government provide jobs
to these poor people? This is not an unheard of reaction as pointed
out by Edward W. Said in his book entitled “Blaming the victims”, describing
the anguish and oppression of the Palestinian people. And victims,
the Haitian people are!
This is not meant to be
a puerile lament, but an invitation to look at the root of the problem, to
perform an autopsy of the Haitian problem and as in medicine, learn how to care
better for our economy, our health, our people.
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Haitians were sent per thousand each year in the Dominican
Republic under the regime of Baby Doc. |
First we have to look at
the political context at the end of the XVIII century. The French,
still reeling from having lost their territory in North America to the British
during the Indian War, allied themselves with the American army to defeat the
British. England lost no time in seeking revenge against the French
when those who were to become the Haitians sought to free themselves, causing
France to lose its richest colony. The Haitian independence in 1804
was not well accepted by the Americans for many reasons. First, at
the Treaty of Morfontaine in 1800, Jefferson had agreed to treat St-Domingue as
a French colony and not to assist the leaders of the
Revolution. Second, in 1804, the United States of America still had
an economy based on slavery. The country was going to get seriously
shaken by the bloody revolts of Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey and the US
government was not about to recognize a country created by former slaves.
The USA clearly saw the
Independence of Haiti as a mistake that had to be erased. When Simon
Bolivar who had received far more help from Haiti than from the United States
convened a meeting of all the former Spanish colonies in South America at the
Conference of Panama in June 1826, both Haiti and USA were invited, but the
Americans predicated their participation on the fact that the invitation to
Haiti be rescinded. Bolivar obliged them, albeit with some regrets
The policies of the USA
towards Haiti have therefore been marked by racism and imperialism and from the
fateful date of January 1, 1804, their effort to destroy the only self
proclaimed black nation of the Americas has been relentless. Haiti
was a country of former slaves and was to remain in that capacity. They
imposed as a condition for Haiti to be recognized that a massive indemnity be
paid to France, mortgaging the future existence of the young republic, while it
was still in its infancy.
The attitude of the
North American and European powers toward the small Caribbean country can be
gleaned from various texts written by the most influential decision makers of
the world. Suffices it to give in example the declaration of one
Winston Churchill in the prelude to the Spanish American War.
“ A great danger
represents itself. Two-fifths of the (Cuban) insurgents in the field
are Negroes. These men… would in the event of success, demand a
predominant share in the government of the country… the results being after
years of fighting, another black republic.”
The other black republic
of course was Haiti and this error could not be repeated.
The other driver of
American policies is their long-standing imperialist ambition. The
following statement in 1897 by Senator Beveridge of Indiana can best summarize
this ambition:
“American factories are
making more than the American people can use; American soil is producing more
than they can consume. Fate has written our policy for us, the trade
of the world must and shall be ours.”
Markets of foreign
consumption had to be created everywhere, even if it implied the unscrupulous
destruction of existing economies or imposition by force of trade agreements,
the so-called gunboat diplomacy.
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| Photo of one Haitian in Dominican batey. |
In the latter half of
the XIX century, Haitian sovereignty was violated countless times by the
Germans and the Americans, the latter trying their hardest to get control of
the Haitian economy. At the occasion of the riots of July 1915, the
Marines landed in Port-au-Prince. The main candidate to the
presidency was Dr. Rosalvo Bobo. He was bought on board of a Navy
ship and asked if he would officially endorse the occupation of Haiti by the US
forces. When he replied “Never,” he was sent to exile and Sudre
Dartiguenave who had already given his agreement was chosen to be the new
president of Haiti. At that time, the Americans occupied both sides
of the island. They heavily invested in the sugar factories of the
Dominican Republic, but not in Haiti. Instead, they considered the
“former slaves” to be good labor force for the sugar plantations, creating the
first massive influx of Haitian peasants across the
border. Subsequent Wall Street fluctuations led to economic upheaval
and eventually to the massacre, Trujillo’s solution to the “Haitian problem.”
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President Vincent is a luncheon guest of president Roosevelt
Delanoe at the White House in December 1942 |
Six years later in 1943,
the Japanese had seized control of South-East Asia, depriving the United Sates
of one of the most important item necessary to its industrial machine:
rubber. Scrambling to maintain the production of rubber, the US
government inked a deal with then President Lescot to grow in the north of the
country at a large scale a vine called Cryptostegia that grew fast and could
produce rubber. Completely ignorant of the nature of the plant, but
oh so gullible! Lescot agreed to have thousands of acres of fruit trees, such
as mangoes and breadfruit destroyed and planted with Cryptostegia, forcing
previously independent small farmers to work for the Americans at the rate of
30 cents per day. When the results proved to be well below their
expectations, the project was simply abandoned. Thousands and
thousands of peasants had lost their livelihood and had to seek work wherever
they could find it, even if it meant going back where their brothers and sisters
had been murdered without mercy. Since then, each government,
including those that professed the most to defend the masses, in exchange for
monetary remuneration, have sent Haitian peasants across the border to harvest
sugar cane.
The other page of this
saga is the long adversarial relationship between Haiti and the International Monetary Fund. This organization is well known all over the world
for its modus operandi, which is first to lend money to third world countries
at high interest rates, even when they are politically unstable. The
money is most often dilapidated. Nevertheless, the subsequent
governments pay back several times over the amount of the debt, without ever
being able to fully erase it. When they can no longer pay, the IMF
institutes strong measures to control the economy of the debtor
country. They start then by eliminating all kinds of social
programs, particularly free education and health care. One of the most
recent examples was Argentina, where the measures were so harsh that they
trigger massive riots. In Haiti, they did not trigger any rioting
because the people were kept in the dark, but it was just as
efficient.
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| HASCO in 1974 |
Among others, the production of sugar was eliminated. For
years, Haiti, thanks to its factories of Welch in the North, HASCO in the West,
Centrale Dessalines in the South, had not only been able to satisfy its
internal consumption of sugar, but also was deriving significant income from
the exportation of sugar. In 1977, for the first time in its history,
the sugar production had dwindled so low that Haiti had to import sugar for
local consumption. Eventually all those mills ceased to function,
resulting not only in a loss of jobs, but also in a loss of revenue for the
local farmers and a loss of currency for the country since the sugar has to be
imported.
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President Clinton has completely destroyed
the structure of Haitian
agriculture in 1995
, by forcing the
nation to drop tariffs on rice
imported from America. |
Closer to us, during their supposed campaign to restore democracy, the United States government demanded that Haiti reduces the tariff on American rice from 35 % to 5 %, flooding the Haitian market with cheap rice, which many busunessmen and members of the government were happy to sell to the public, because it meant large profit for them. In addition, a contract with the Haitian government stipulated that any funds provided by the US could not be used to buy fertilizers for the farmers or to offer low interest loans to them. This spelled disaster for the rice farmers of the Artibonite department, who had to give up farming and either migrate to the urban slums of Port-au-Prince, venture on the high seas towards Florida or cross the border to look for work in the sugar fields
The last chapters of
this sad story were written when J. B. Aristide acquiesced to provide land
along the border, between Maribaroux and Ouanaminthe to Dominican financiers in
order to establish a frank zone. This land had been known to be rich
and to produce excellent crops of cocoa and coffee. The peasants were
forcibly removed from their land, where factories were built. These
factories on Haitian soil are guarded by Dominican guards. The
management is almost exclusively Dominican. The local inhabitants are paid
less than minimum wage. A recent visitor told me that the Haitians
have to eat their lunch outside, because they are banned from the cafeterias
exclusively reserved to the Dominican workers.
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President Aristide (L) at the White House in 1994
seeking US intervention in Haiti. |
Finally, under pressure
from the neo-liberals in Washington, Aristide and now his successor Preval have
agreed to privatize many of our state owned institutions. “La
Minoterie d’Haiti,” our only flourmill and “Le Ciment d’Haiti,” our only cement
manufacturer have been sold to private consortia.
All these measures,
while perhaps profitable selfishly to some corrupt members of our government,
lead to further deterioration of the equilibrium between the two
countries. First, by providing cheap labor to the Dominican
Republic, we are in a way undermining our own production of
goods. The production costs over there are reduced and we find
ourselves unable to compete with such inexpensive items. Thus, Haiti
has become the third most important importer of Dominican goods, with a net
increase of 19 %. A close scrutiny of the data reveals that the
sales have increased the most for flour and cement, two products that not too
long ago we were producing.
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| Bill Clinton and Rene Preval on road trip |
Trade between nations
follows the principle of communicating vessels. If a vessel is
positioned lower than the other, the liquid flows in one direction and one
direction only and soon the most disadvantaged vessel finds itself
empty. With little or no agricultural or industrial production,
Haiti is condemned to live from subsidies from the United States, Canada and
other donor countries. Popular wisdom tells us that the hand that
gives is always on top of the hand that receives. For example, I was
recently told that the Minister of Health in Haiti controls only 2% of his
department’s budget, the rest being administered by various NGO and foreign
agencies. Knowing the history between the USA and Haiti, between
France and Haiti, can they be trusted to do the right thing for our
people? On the other hand, knowing the problem of corruption that has
never been tackled by the interim or the current government, I am sad to say:
“can the government be trusted?”
Being a physician with a
keen interest in history and not an economist, I confess that I may lack the
technical capacity to provide a solution to these problems. However,
it would seem to me that it is high time that all Haitians understand the dire
character of the situation. The present state of affairs can serve
only one purpose: to maintain us in a state of subordination to the Great
Powers and their proxies, so that all the media can continue to repeat that
Haiti is the poorest country of the western hemisphere.
It is imperative to
establish strict control of our finances. Important sources of
revenue for the government cannot be “given” to “loyal” political
allies. I am talking for example of airport taxes, burial fees in
the cemeteries etc… Tolls must be established on the National Roads,
to provide maintenance services. Proper tariff must be imposed on
imported goods, to stimulate the local industry. We must pay back or
seek relief from the international lenders and free ourselves from the control
of the IMF, like Jamaica and Venezuela have done recently. Policies
good for the G-8 group are usually not necessarily good for third world
countries.
We must reinvest in our
agriculture, restore our autonomy in the production of rice and
sugar. We must support our farmers by providing them with expert
recommendation for fertilizers or more modern techniques of agriculture.
Thirdly, we must
reestablish the rule of law. There can be no excuse for
criminality. We have to respect ourselves and each
other. This is our only chance to woo the thousands and
thousands of baby boomers who have recently retired or are about to
retire. They have been moving to Florida, Georgia, Arizona and even…
Dominican Republic. With a favorable and more stable political, many
a retiree would instead choose to return to Haiti Cherie, bringing with them
their retirement nest eggs.
Finally rather than
ceding our land to the Dominicans or to Cruise companies, we should invest in
tourism. Haiti with its rich history has the possibility to become
the greatest tourist destination for people of African ancestry all over the
world (and all other interested groups). Haiti can be a true Mecca
of African History in the Americas. The list of important sites
includes the Citadelle Laferriere, the Sans-Souci Palace, the site of the Vertieres
Battle, Gonaives, birthplace of our flag, Port-au-Prince and the Museum of the
National Pantheon, the Jacques and Alexandre Forts, etc… Other important
tourist destinations would include Le Centre d’Art and many large professional
art galleries, the Parc de la Canne a Sucre and its highly professional
performances by singers and dancers. At last, but not least, our
natural resources are unique and beautiful and are just awaiting the visitors:
Saut d’Eau, Voute a Minguette, with its impressive columns of stalactites and
stalagmites, Bassin Zim, Saut du Baril, the pink sand of Chouchou Bay Beach,
for me the best in the world, the incredible landscape of Azuei Lake, the
beautiful beach of Cyvadier etc.
It is high time that
members of our government play their role of guardian of our people and our
territory, like proud and stern bull dogs, and not like hungry, lap dogs ready
to trample everyone in order to jump at any crumb falling from the tables of
the rich and powerful. The future of our nation depends on it. Our
dignity depends on it.
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