Dying in Haiti

Posts from Pestel

2012-01-17T07:51:00.001-08:00

Please see these posts from the Peoria Journal Star website and Crof's blog H5N1.

Where did the Aid Go?

2012-01-11T16:10:00.000-08:00

Read this article from Salon.

Haiti Outrage

2012-01-09T18:01:00.001-08:00

Read this article.

Frederick Douglass

2012-01-07T15:15:00.001-08:00

As Frederick Douglass noted, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

Hope this Article is Wrong

2012-01-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

I hope this article is wrong.

Haitians Flee to Brazil Looking for Work and Life

2012-01-07T07:18:00.000-08:00

See this article in the Times.

Homicide Rate in Haiti Less than Peoria

2012-01-05T11:44:00.000-08:00

Photo by John Carroll

See this article from CHAN website---

Homicide Rate Study Challenges Mainstream Portrait of a ‘Violent’ Haiti

By Roger Annis

Published in Haiti Liberte, Jan 4, 2012

The 2011 Global Study on Homicide by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODP) has published its world survey for 2011. Its published figures on homicide rates place Haiti very low in comparison to the other countries of the Caribbean and Latin America.

According to the study, Haiti's homicide rate in 2010 was 6.9 per 100,000 population. That compares to Jamaica(highest rate in the Caribbean) at 52, Trinidad at 35, the Bahamas at 28 and neighbouring Dominican Republic at 24. The rate for the U.S. colonies of Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands (2007 statistics) is 26 and 39, respectively.

The highest murder rates in the world are in Honduras (82), El Salvador (66), Belize (42) and Guatemala (41), all of which are U.S. client states. (By comparison, Nicaragua's rate is 13, Mexico's is 20 and Brazil's is 23 (2009 figures)). Haiti's rate is only marginally higher than the U.S., which is 5.

The UN report does not contain figures for Haiti for the two years of illegal, foreign-appointed government in 2004 and 2005. But during the four years of elected government from 2000 to 2004, the annual rate was high, between 15 and 20. These were the violent years in which paramilitary forces assaulted ordinary Haitians and governing institutions in the destabilizing prelude to the overthrow of the government of Jean Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.

The Global Study on Homicide brings together global, regional, national and sub-national homicide data in one publication. While not necessarily indicative of overall, relative crime figures in each country, it is perhaps the closest that is readily available. Homicide is a very specific, illegal act, the "crime of crimes" that is easily quantified. Other violent crime statistics compiled by the UNODP have two great disadvantages. One, the reporting from countries by the organization is incomplete. Two, definitions and measurements of the different categories of violent crime vary from country to country, as does the capacity to record them.

'Violence' as justification for military occupation

The foreign military intervention that facilitated the overthrow of Aristide in 2004 and became institutionalized through the UN Security Council military force called MINUSTAH has always justified its actions by saying that foreign soldiers are needed to save Haitians from themselves. Officials of the United Nations in Haiti as well as the embassies of the U.S., Canada and Europe never cease to claim that Haiti is permanently threatened with descent into chaos and violence.

International media typically chimes in with its own versions of this fable. Yet, the homicide figures for Haiti fly completely in the face of these claims.

This double speak deliberately confuses and conflates the so-called violence of legitimate protest demanding social and political rights, including measures of self-defence, with the violence of the wealthy elite of Haiti and its backers in the U.S., Canada and Europe as they conspire to keep Haiti poor and keep poor Haitians marginalized in their own country. Thus was the ‘violence’ of the 2000-2004 destabilization period and coup d’etat presented.

Since the earthquake, reporting of popular protests against the ongoing military occupation of MINUSTAH or the slow pace of earthquake aid and reconstruction often suggests, subtly or more brazenly, that descent into chaos constantly looms.

Contemporary media presentations of Haiti sometimes remind the reader of Haitian history of news reporting in the 19th century or early 20^th century when naked colonialism still ruled in the colonies or ‘spheres of influence’ of the U.S. and Europe. Newspapers of that era regularly warned of inevitable violence and pillaging by Black people against any and all social order should they succeed in attaining their freedom.

The reported homicide rate for Haiti raises an obvious question: If the rates of crime and violence in Haiti are exponentially lower than neighbouring countries, why, exactly, is a seemingly permanent UN military occupation force of 13,000 foreign soldiers and police in the country in the first place?

Where did the Money Go?

2012-01-04T06:20:00.000-08:00

Photo by John Carroll
Cite Soleil

Great article in Counterpunch by Bill Quigley.

Haiti--The Aftershocks of History

2011-12-30T05:44:00.000-08:00

(Photo by John Carroll)

Last month this little man was my patient in a pathetic cholera tent in Robillard, Haiti.

Like most elderly Haitians when I asked him his age he could not give a definite answer. He did say that he was born during the United States Occupation of Haiti. So that means he was born somewhere between 1915--1934. So he is between 77 and 96 years old. My guess is that he is 93 years old, give or take a couple of years.

He was never married and has no children. He lives in a little ti kay in Robillard and is assisted as necessary by an elderly niece.

He was a farmer most of his life. And he sold livestock and produce.

When he was admitted to the tent, he was quite ill--dehydrated with vomiting and diarrhea. He was very weak and spent most of his day on the wooden cot with his niece attending to him. He would look around, but that is about all he did.

So we tanked him up with IV fluids and held our breath. Cholera is hard on old people.

As they days went by, he became stronger and began to stand at his cot side. And even though he was very hard of hearing, he wanted to be heard. So he would give little speeches in the tent to the amusement of the other cholera patients and families.

One day I asked him what he thought of the Americans occupying his country many decades ago. He said it was good because "if it weren't for Americans, we (Haitians) would not have clothes on our backs".

His philosophy is somewhat different than the article below which describes Haiti's painful history.

(We discharged this man from the tent after his vomiting and diarrhea stopped and he was eating and drinking. He left the tent with his little tree-branch-cane, happily talking, with his niece at his side.)

jc

Haiti--The Aftershocks of History
by Adam Hochschild

As a French possession, it was once the most lucrative colony on earth, producing nearly one-third of the world’s sugar and more than half its coffee. All, of course, with the labor of slaves. And slavery in the Caribbean was particularly harsh: tropical diseases were rife, there was no winter respite from 12-hour workdays under the broiling sun, and the planters preferred to replenish their labor force by working their slaves to death over a decade or two and then buying new ones.

In 1791, what today is Haiti became the scene of the largest slave revolt in history. Over the next 13 years, the rebels fought off three successive attempts to re-enslave them. The first was by local planters and French soldiers, aided by arms from the United States, whose president and secretary of state, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were both slave owners horrified by the uprising. The second was by the British, at war with France and eager for fertile sugar land and slaves to work it. And finally, after he took power, Napoleon tried to recapture the territory as a French colony and restore slavery.

Ill-armed, barefoot and hungry, the rebels fought against huge odds: Britain dispatched an armada of 218 ships to the Caribbean, and its troops battled for five years before withdrawing; Napoleon sent the largest force that had ever set sail from France, losing more than 50,000 soldiers and 18 generals to combat and disease.

The former slaves lost even more lives defeating these invasions, and no country came to their aid. This blood-soaked period also included a horrific civil war, periods of near famine, and the massacre or flight into exile of most educated people and skilled workers of any color. By the time Haiti declared independence in 1804, many of its fields, towns and sugar mills were in ruins and its population shrunken by more than half. The Haitian Revolution, as it is known today, was a great inspiration to slaves still in bondage throughout the Americas, but it was devastating to the country itself.

For a gripping narrative of that period, there are few better places to turn than “Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution,” by Laurent Dubois, a Duke University scholar of the French Caribbean. Now Dubois has brought Haiti’s story up to the present in an equally well-written new book, “Haiti: The Aftershocks of History,” which is enriched by his careful attention to what Haitian intellectuals have had to say about their country over the last two centuries.

The history is a tale of much misery, shot through with flashes of hope and bravery. Both the United States and the colonial powers in Europe were profoundly threatened by the specter of slaves who had successfully battled for their freedom; the United States didn’t even recognize Haiti for over 50 years. Still worse, France in 1825 insisted that Haiti pay compensation for the plantations taken from French owners. In case the Haitians did not agree, French warships lay offshore. The sum the French demanded was so big that a dozen years later, paying off this exorbitant ransom, and paying the interest on loans taken out for that purpose, was consuming 30 percent of Haiti’s national budget. The ruinous cycle of debt continued into the next century.

Seldom, however, can outsiders be blamed for all a country’s troubles. More disastrous than foreign interference was that Haiti’s birth was such a violent one. Democracy is a fragile, slow-growing plant to begin with, and the early Haitians had experienced none of it, not as subjects of the African kingdoms where many of them were born, not as slaves and not as soldiers under draconian military discipline for over a decade of desperate war. In Haiti’s succession of constitutions over its first hundred years, the president sometimes held his post for life, and it’s no surprise that one leader began calling himself king and another emperor. Furthermore, the revolution itself had seemed to show that any change in government could take place only through military force. As Dubois sums it up: “The only way for an outsider to take power — one that would be used again and again over the course of the 19th century — was to raise an army and march on the capital.”

Brute force still ruled in the next century, climaxing in the three-decade reign of the Duvaliers, father and son. Their militia, the dreaded Tontons Macoute, spread terror on a scale exceeding anything before, murdering as many as 60,000 people. François (Papa Doc) Duvalier banned any civic organization that could threaten his control, even the Boy Scouts.

The family’s close ties with the United States were immortalized by a famous photograph of Papa Doc and the presidential envoy Nelson Rockefeller waving from the balcony of Haiti’s National Palace. During the cold war, a strongman like Duvalier, no matter how brutal, could usually count on American support as long as he was vocally anti-Communist. Father and son understood this well and shrewdly used that knowledge to retain power, as did petty tyrants across Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Deep American meddling in Haiti did not end with the cold war. Dubois, however, devotes only a few pages to the quarter-century since Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier was overthrown, and doesn’t really tell us what he thinks about the controversial progressive Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the degree to which the United States played a role in his ouster as Haiti’s president in 2004. In an otherwise authoritative history, this is a disappointing omission.

Part of this book does feel chillingly up to date, however: its account of the United States Marine occupation of Haiti for some two decades starting in 1915. The occupation was accompanied by high-flown declarations of benevolence, but the real motive was to solidify American control of the economy and to replace a constitution that prevented foreigners from owning land. The Marines’ near-total ignorance of local languages and culture sounds all too much like more recent expeditions. American officials declared, accurately enough, that the Haitian government was in bad shape and needed reform.

But as the troops on the ground discovered, like their counterparts in Iraq and Afghanistan, no one likes to be reformed at the point of a foreigner’s gun. “We were not welcome,” wrote one private Dubois quotes. “We could feel it as distinctly as we could smell the rot along the gutters.” The Americans soon found themselves fighting off waves of rebellion against their rule. United States troops burned entire villages accused of sheltering insurgents and ruthlessly executed captured rebels or — does this sound familiar? — men who might have been rebels; often there was no way to distinguish them from local farmers.

When they finally pulled out, the Marines did leave some roads, clinics and schools behind them. But the occupation’s death toll, humiliation and theft of resources, Dubois makes clear, loom far larger in Haitian memory. Even with the best of intentions, which the Marines certainly didn’t have in 1915, nation-building is no easy job. Administered less arrogantly and in cooperation with Haitians themselves, aid from abroad can sometimes help, as with the work of the estimable, Creole-speaking Dr. Paul Farmer and his Partners in Health program, which brings health care to the poorest rural areas and helps train Haitian medical workers. But the real freeing of Haiti from the burdens of its past — a task now made immeasurably greater by the catastrophic earthquake of 2010 — can be done only by Haitians themselves.

(Photo by John Carroll)

Adam Hochschild is the author of seven books, most recently “To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918.”

Rural Haiti and Road to Recovery

2011-12-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

(Photo by John Carroll)

A Quake-Scarred Nation Tries a Rural Road to Recovery

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
New York Times, Dec 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/world/americas/in-countryside-stricken-haiti-seeks-both-food-and-rebirth.html?_r=1&ref=randalcarchibold

(Please note the comment appended to this article that I reproduce from the Corbett mail list.--RA)

(This article was posted by Roger Annis of CHAN.)

PAPAYE, Haiti — For months after the earthquake that struck the capital, Manel Laurore pulled shattered bodies from his neighbors’ homes, hunkered in fetid refugee camps and scrounged for food and water. Today, his main worries are when his bean, corn and plantain crops will come in.

“I will never go back to Port-au-Prince,” said Mr. Laurore, 32, a former shopkeeper who was sifting soil to plant a tomato garden, referring to the capital. “It left a strong pain inside. Here the work is hard, but you live in total peace.”

His work, on a 15-acre cooperative farm in Papaye, represents a small but promising success for an ambitious program being promoted by aid workers, government officials and international donors: saving the country by developing the countryside.

When the earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12, 2010, planners and visionaries here and abroad looked past the rubble and saw an opportunity to fix the structural problems that have kept Haiti stuck in poverty and instability. An idea that won early support was to shrink the overcrowded, underemployed, violence-ridden capital and revive the desiccated, disused farmland that had long been unable to feed the country.

“Decentralization is a critical cornerstone supporting my vision for a new Haiti,” President Michel Martelly told potential investors last month. “We want to strengthen and empower our rural communities and create new ones.” But the vision has run up against Haitian reality: myriad economic and infrastructure deficiencies, the lack of credible opportunity in rural areas and the fading of international interest and funds.

Reviving rural Haiti would wean the country off an overreliance on imported food while creating jobs in the countryside, helping to discourage mass migration to urban sinkholes like Port-au-Prince. Before the quake, nearly a quarter of the population lived in the capital, where two-thirds of the labor force had no formal jobs and overcrowding was considered a major contributor to the quake’s estimated death toll of 300,000.

Tens of thousands of people fled Port-au-Prince for rural areas immediately after the quake, but most have since returned, American and Haitian government officials said, finding little opportunity and food to be scarce. “We need to reverse the trend of people in rural areas moving to the city,” said Ari Toubo Ibrahim, the Haiti representative for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The organization says it believes that, with enough training and support, about a tenth of the 600,000 people still in earthquake camps could ultimately move to the countryside.

New factories are also part of the plan. A South Korean-run industrial park in the north, partly financed by the United States, is expected to open next year, providing at least 20,000 jobs. But experts say agriculture is the nation’s biggest need.

Farming has declined to 25 percent of the economy today from 40 percent a decade ago, making Haiti more dependent on imported food. Today, the government says, 52 percent of the food Haitians eat comes from abroad, compared with 20 percent a few decades ago. The decline in farming dates primarily to the mid-1980s, when the government encouraged urbanization, and it worsened under a trade embargo during political turmoil in the 1990s. When trade restrictions loosened, the market was flooded with cheap, foreign staples like American rice, Dominican poultry and milk, in powdered form, from as far away as Europe.

A series of storms in 2008 further wiped out farms, and riots over the soaring cost of food, owing to fluctuations in the world market, led lawmakers to oust the prime minister.

Recently, though, there have been signs of a potential turnaround. This month, the World Bank approved $50 million for agriculture projects. “When agriculture grows, gross domestic product grows,” said Diego Arias, an agriculture economist who analyzes Haiti at the World Bank.

Signature Haitian products like mangoes, coffee and cocoa are getting a burst of overseas attention, and BioTek, a Florida company, is awaiting approval from the new government on a long-awaited public-private plan to revive Haiti’s last remaining sugar mill, in Léogâne, one of the areas hit hardest by the quake.

Haitian specialty coffee is in demand in restaurants in New York, Miami and other American cities, and the Inter-American Development Bank, Nestlé and Colombia’s National Federation of Coffee Growers have announced a $3 million effort to help 10,000 coffee farmers replant trees on denuded hills and increase production for both home consumption and export.

The American grocery chain Whole Foods has been selling a variety of mango indigenous to Haiti, and Lèt Agogo, a Haitian organization whose Haitian Creole name means Milk Aplenty, has stepped up a program to give cows and training to farmers and to process the milk into a sweetened drink that Haitian schoolchildren commonly consume.

Taiwanese agronomists have expanded a program to help rice farmers increase their yields, though imported rice, much of it from the United States, is still far cheaper in markets than Haitian-grown rice.

But the challenges are staggering, and most concern money. Irrigation is lacking, and poorly constructed ports and roads disrupt the delivery of produce to domestic and international markets. Government efforts ground to a virtual halt for months last year after a political crisis swirled around a botched election.

Foreign aid has slowed to a trickle. Only 43 percent of the $4.59 billion promised has been received and disbursed, according to the United Nations. The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, the body created to coordinate and prioritize aid, closed in October when its mandate expired, with little sign that it will be renewed. The panel, led by former President Bill Clinton, was set up to provide some assurance to international donors, wary of channeling aid to a historically corrupt Haitian government, that their money would be well spent. Its departure raises questions about whether the remaining pledges will ever be fulfilled.

Haiti’s five-year agriculture plan developed after the quake has received only about half of its nearly $800 million budget. Haitian officials say the government actually needs $1 billion to $2 billion to carry out the plan. The new agriculture minister, Hébert Docteur, said he hoped to carry out the program with whatever resources he had to help struggling farmers. “Too often they are trying with hand tools to get something from the land, but it is not nearly enough,” he said.

The United States has opened several training centers that aim to instruct hundreds of farmers in rudimentary practices often taken for granted in other countries.

Wansy Jean Poix, 36, a sorghum and corn farmer in La Tramblay, near Port-au-Prince, said he was accustomed to planting by simply tossing seeds on a large patch of ground. Now he plants in rows, to maximize the use of the land. “We increased production so there is more for ourselves and to sell on market,” he said.

The experimental farm in Papaye, three hours from the capital, at once demonstrates the promise and the pitfalls that face the effort to expand farming beyond the hardiest takers. The village was created last summer by Mouvman Peyizan Papay, one of the country’s largest peasant organizations, working with the Presbyterian and Unitarian Universalist Churches in the United States and other organizations. Together, they plan to build four more such farms in the central region.

The 10 families here grow their own food and have begun planting crops like corn and plantains to sell. Though the houses lack electricity, they are roomier than those many of them left in Port-au-Prince. But the project has relied on substantial help to get off the ground. The total cost for the five villages will be $1.6 million, almost all of it from churches and nongovernmental organizations.

The United Nations is studying the project, but it is unclear how well it could be duplicated. Similar villages have been proposed elsewhere, but beyond the money, city dwellers have to believe that it is worth the effort to move their families to spend hours in the hot sun, hoeing and planting. “If they have water, technical assistance and credit they can survive,” said Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, executive director of Mouvman Peyizan Papay.

Emmanuel Jean Pierre, 30, already has found that subsistence farming is not enough for him and has set up a small side business charging cellphones in the village using a solar battery he acquired in Port-au-Prince. He complains of the back-breaking work and misses the energy of the city, the parties, the friends. But with work scarce there and his small grocery business destroyed in the quake, for now, he said, he will stick it out here.

“If I saw a big change in economic opportunity in Port-au-Prince I would probably go back,” he said. “But I would rather stay here all my life.”

(Photo above by John Carroll)

Comment from the Corbett mail list, Dec 29:I thought this was a very good article. But I would like to know why reporters and also the State Dept. keep on saying that there is a shortage of food!! What they really mean is that there is a shortage of MONEY TO BUY THE FOOD. But that is not the same as a shortage of food. Everywhere you go, marchands are on the street selling fruit and vegetables.

It gives a very bad idea of how Haiti is. I'm particularly incensed when I read the State Dept. saying there's a serious shortage of food and water!!! Who writes this stuff? They've obviously not been in Haiti!! We're never going to get visitors coming in if they think they're going to starve!!

The Haitian Woman---Central Pillar of Haitian Society

2011-12-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

Photo by John Carroll
December, 2011

Haitian Peasant Women as 'Poto Mitan'--Central Pillar: An Interview With Idèrle Brénus Gerbier

Interview by Alexis Erkert, Other Worlds, Dec 20, 2011

Idèrle Brénus Gerbier has worked with many peasant organizations in support of women rights’ and food sovereignty. She is a member of the Haitian National Network for Food Security and Sovereignty (RENHASSA), campaign coordinator for Food Sovereignty in Haiti, advisor of the National Confederation of Peasant Women (KONAFAP), and organizer for the Haitian Social Forum for Food Sovereignty.

In Haiti, peasant women play a special role in the home and in agriculture. We consider peasant women as the poto mitan, central pillar, of economic activities.

When neoliberal structural adjustment programs are imposed on the Haitian government, like they have been for 20 years, they affect our peasant women. They require that the state implement fundamentally anti-peasant programs that threaten to destroy the whole peasant sector. They mean the Haitian government doesn’t adequately fund our agriculture and has left the small farmers unable to compete [with cheaper imported goods] in the local market. Many farmers are forced to abandon agriculture to go work in factories or other activities, in the cities or in the Dominican Republic. And when a man leaves the rural community, the whole responsibility falls on the back of his wife.

The Haitian society is essentially macho, and the Haitian politicians and international interests oppress Haiti’s own children. Farmers become victims again and again and women are always held back. But these women continue to support their country.

Our goal is to achieve respect for the rights of Haitian women. Despite their position as poto mitan, as the main carriers of the national economy, rural Haitian women always suffer in our society. Most of these women have no direct access to agricultural lands and income is strictly controlled by men, despite their role in agriculture.

Many rural residents are forced to give away the children they love because they don’t have the financial capacity to keep their children at home and send them to school. The majority of these children become the slaves of women living in Port-au-Prince and in other cities. If women farmers could earn income from their hard work, they’d be able to keep their children at home.

The majority of the women working in the informal economy in the city come from the countryside. Many rural residents lost their lives because they were at the heart of the earthquake looking for employment in Port-au-Prince, working for pennies at a factory or selling bottled water in the streets. The earthquake increased the responsibilities that were already too heavy for these poor women.

I’ll repeat over and over that these women who lost their lives, their children, their husbands, and other loved ones in Port-au-Prince, lost them mainly because of lack of infrastructure resulting from the neoliberal policies in the country. But they’ll never be discouraged. They’ll always be involved in all kinds of constructive activities and keep supporting their country. After the earthquake, they went to Port-au-Prince searching for their children and ended up offering help to others who were in need. In the cities and in the countryside, these women work without rest.

We need to advance the struggle of women by redefining the concept of feminism in Haiti. To do this we have to reshuffle the cards and reduce the differences between our urban and peasant women. Right now there are two kinds of women: women with a capital W and women with a small w. Even within the women’s struggle, there are a lot of contemptible practices that have yet to be overcome. Most of the urban well-off women look down upon the poor countryside women, calling them tèt mare, wrapped head, because of the kerchiefs rural women often wear on their heads. The rich and educated town women forget that the poor peasant women make up the core of the rural communities that constitute the greatest part of the country. It’s not fair that a small minority have the privilege of monopolizing almost all of the society’s resources and wealth.

Peasant women are always present in all activities to win human rights, respect for life, and food sovereignty. October 15 was declared “Day of the Haitian Peasant Woman,” but unfortunately this day has never been commemorated. We have to recognize and appreciate women farmers for their significant socio-economic worth. We have to give them the compensation they deserve and support their efforts. We need to increase their visibility in efforts to build food sovereignty in the country. Rural women and those struggling with them, here in Haiti or overseas, need to shore up their strength. We must advocate for the rights of women.

Many thanks to Joseph Pierre for translating.

Father Andre in Robillard

2011-12-18T04:35:00.000-08:00

Robillard Cholera Treatment Unit
December, 2011
Photo by John Carroll

Father Andre from Robillard sent me an e mail last night.

See this post from Crof's blog.

Father describes a situation in his village which is probably going on in many places...too many cholera patients in "underserved" areas.

I will post his e mail to a couple of websites that address Haiti's cholera epidemic and see if there is an answer.

There are so many people of good will with public health backgrounds trying to slow the morbidity and mortality from cholera in Haiti. There has to be an answer.

Robillard

2011-12-14T20:06:00.000-08:00

See this post from Crof's blog.

Photo by John Carroll
December, 2011

Cholera Legal Row in Haiti

2011-12-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

Cholera Treatment Unit, Robillard
December, 2011

Photo by John Carroll

See this article.

(Thanks, Crof.)

MINUSTAH by Numbers

2011-12-13T17:53:00.000-08:00

Photo by John Carroll

See this post.

Condemned Buildings in Port-au-Prince

2011-12-08T20:09:00.000-08:00

See this video.

We Have Deported 250 Haitians This Year

2011-12-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

See this article.

Cholera in Rural Haiti: Interview with Father Andre Sylvestre

2011-12-07T11:35:00.000-08:00

See this article from CHAN.

Don't Restore Haitian Army

2011-12-05T19:36:00.001-08:00

Good article in the Washington Post.

Dispatches from Haiti

2011-11-29T17:01:00.000-08:00

The Peoria Journal Star has been kind enough to continue my posts from Haiti.

Haitian Kids in the Dominican Republic for Heart Surgery (Updated November 29, 2011)

2011-11-15T07:05:00.000-08:00

This is Charles.

And this is Naika.

I examined both of them at Hopital Lumiere in Bon Fin, Haiti in 2010.

Both are having surgery this week in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Thank you, Chadasha.

(Photos provided by Chadasha.)

Update November 16, 2011:

Last night Naika was operated for her patent ductus arteriosus. She did not need to go on bypass. The operative procedure was done through an intercostal incision and her ductus was successfully tied off. She is doing well.

Update November 29, 2011:

Charles did well also. Thank you everyone.

John

No Haitian Army, Please

2011-11-14T18:51:00.000-08:00

Photo by John Carroll

Posted on Mon, Nov. 14, 2011
No new army for Haiti

The Miami Herald Editorial
HeraldEd@MiamiHerald.com

The list of urgent needs in Haiti is extensive, from housing to a thorough clean-up of its streets and refugee camps to better sanitation and medical treatment. Not on this list: a new army.
Yet even so, President Michel Martelly has told supporters he is going to announce some kind of “public security force” later this week, thus fulfilling a promise to some of his most ardent backers in the campaign that brought him to the presidency earlier this year. If Mr. Martelly had bothered to consult the Haitian people, it’s doubtful they would have endorsed this wrong-headed action.

Mr. Martelly reportedly justifies his actions by summoning the brave role played by the indigenous fighting force that led the successful war of independence from France. The historical reference may be good politics in the narrowest sense. Haiti’s people are justly proud of becoming the first black republic to declare independence back in 1804 under the heroic banner of Toussaint L’Ouverture.

But playing the patriot card in order to reward former army members in his retinue and bringing back the very institution that trampled on the human and political rights of Haitians before and after the coup that brought down the dreaded Duvalier regime is an insult to the people of that nation. They’ve had enough of military strongmen and their abuses over the last few decades to justify their fears for a better future if Mr. Martelly goes through with this plan.

This is both dangerous and reckless, particularly in light of the desperate situation that faces most of Haiti’s people every day. Squalid camps dotting the capital and its environs still house more than 500,000. Conditions are miserable and most people have become disconsolate because they see no progress. Electricity remains a sometime thing, cholera still rages throughout the country and the educational system is rudimentary, at best.

Knowing that the international community, without whose support Haiti would collapse entirely, is opposed to his action, Mr. Martelly says he will raise about $95 million to support the army from donors other than Haiti’s institutional supporters. Even if he succeeds, which is doubtful, his priorities are completely misplaced.

How about an army of street-sweepers to remove the remaining debris and give the capital and other earthquake-ravaged cities a cleaner look and, not incidentally, improve santitation? As a writer on the facing page recently suggested, a brigade of construction workers would do far more good than bringing back the army that was disbanded by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide 16 years ago.

Someday, the international security force guarding Haiti will be disbanded and leave the country, but there is no need for an army to replace it. The U.N.’s MINUSTAH peacekeeping mission has worked with international donors and others to build up the police force. That is where Mr. Martelly should focus his efforts if security is his genuine concern.

By and large, the international community has been reluctant to play the heavy in obliging the Haitian government to do its will. The cooperative approach remains the best way. But given that external aid remains a vital lifeline for Haiti, its friends must exert leverage on Mr. Martelly to persuade him to put his energies elsewhere.

This may cause hard feelings between donors and Haiti’s proud president, but the desperate needs of the Haitian people should be placed above any individual’s political interests.

Father Andre Pleading for an "Abandoned Population"

2011-11-10T19:55:00.000-08:00

Photo by John Carroll

Here are two more posts tonight (November 10, 2011) from Father Andre Sylvestre who is pastor of a Catholic church in Robillard, Haiti.

Post Number One:

Hi, all!

I had short meeting with my medical staff this morning. They shared their concerns with me. They reported that they realized that several of the family members of the cholera inpatients of the CTC of Robillard have TB symptoms. My staff is worried for themselves and for all the people who are in CTC of Robillard.

The situation of Robilllard is definitely becoming chaotic. I called someone from the Mininstry of Health in Cap Haitian to talk about the new development in the CTC of Robillard. I do not know yet what they are going to do and the situation is urgent. We
cannot expose an entire population to some TB people.

Please be the voices of the people of Robillard. Please share this email with those who can help. I am tired to have to share all the bad news with you, but I have no choice. The population of Robillard is like an abandoned population.

------------

Post Number 2:

Hi, all!

There is one year since the cholera disease was brought to Haiti in Haiti. I had a stressful experience about its consequence in Robillard last Sunday.

I had to celebrate two masses last Sunday. I was on my way to celebrate the first one when one of our nurses said to me that there was no enough IV fluid for the day. It was 7: 50 when she told me that. She even said that there was enough for half day. Imagine that there were 22 patients at the CTC. I know that all those cholera inpatients would die without IV fluid. I called someone from Cap Health and someone from Ministry of Health in Cap Haitien. Fortunately, they both were ready to help us get some IV. Thanks to a parishioner who is a driver, we were able to pick IV and other supplies from Cap Haitien and save the life of 22 people. We were fortunate that the driver showed up at mass that Sunday, because most of the people cannot drive (they do not have a car).

The municipality of Plaine du Nord and Grison-Garde, La Bruyere and La Souffriere (the areas of the municipality of Acul du Nord) continue to send cholera patients to the CTC of Robillard. I do not see anything done yet to improve the situation of Robillard that is becoming chaotic. I do not want to have to experience such a stressful experience like the one of last Sunday. Cholera is an issue of public health. I do not understand the reason why the cholera patients of the CTC of Robillard are treated the way they are treated. Who has the financial means to help the cholera patients in Haiti? Can you help me know who received financial assistance to help them? Forgive my complaints, because I am tired to have to carry the burden of the cholera patients while the are people who have the responsibility to do that. I have to reapeat that the situation of Robilard is urgent. Those who have to improve that situation, what are they waiting for? Are they waiting for an human disaster to move quickly? I would appreciate that all of those who receive the current email become the voices of the people of Robillard. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Father Andre Sylvestre
Pastor the Parish of Robillard

Damages Sought for Haitian Cholera Victims

2011-11-10T07:24:00.001-08:00

Posted on Wed, Nov. 09, 2011
Damages sought from the UN for Haitian cholera victims

By MIMI WHITEFIELD
mwhitefield@MiamiHerald.com

More than 5,000 victims of Haiti’s deadly cholera outbreak or relatives of those who died have submitted claims to the United Nations for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages related to the introduction of the disease into Haiti a year ago.
A study published in a journal of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control last summer “strongly suggests’’ that a U.N. peacekeeping mission brought the cholera strain to Haiti, but the U.N. has never admitted its peacekeepers were responsible for the ongoing epidemic. To date, it has killed more than 6,600 Haitians and sickened in excess of 475,000 people.

Attorneys delivered the petitions for damages Thursday to both the United Nations and the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti, which is known as MINUSTAH.

“I cannot comment more on the petition as, of course, the mission must study it in detail,’’ Kieran Dwyer, a spokesman for the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said Tuesday.

Ira Kurzban, a Miami lawyer who is working on the case, said attorneys are seeking damages of $50,000 per victim and $100,000 for each family of a Haitian who died from cholera — a water-borne disease.

When peacekeepers enter a country they sign a special-forces agreement that grants immunity for most contingencies, Kurzban said. But he added: “It doesn’t grant immunity for introduction of a disease into a country.’’

In addition to damages, lawyers for the victims want a public apology from the United Nations and a nationwide response that includes medical treatment for current and future victims and a program to provide clean water and sanitation.

“Ultimately, the sewage at the peacekeepers’ camp overflowed into a tributary of the major river in Haiti and that is why the cholera spread so quickly,’’ Kurzban said.

The study by an independent team of epidemiologists and physicians that was published in the CDC journal found an exact correlation in time and place between the arrival of a battalion of peacekeepers from Nepal in the remote Artibonite region of Haiti last October and the first cases of cholera along the Meille River a few days later. The same cholera strain was present in the peacekeepers’ South Asian homeland.

“The Secretary General has taken this matter very seriously,” said Dwyer. An independent scientific panel appointed in January by the United Nations, he said, reported in May “that it was not possible to be conclusive about how cholera was introduced into Haiti. We do not know that it was U.N. peacekeepers who brought cholera to Haiti.’’

Kurzban said the U.N. entities are liable because they failed to adequately screen and rescreen peacekeepers coming from a country experiencing a cholera outbreak, dumped waste into a tributary of Haiti’s most important river and failed to respond adequately to the outbreak.

Also working on the case are the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti and the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, a group of human rights lawyers in Haiti.

“This is an opportunity for the United Nations to demonstrate that its stated ideals of eliminating disease and encouraging respect for rights are not just empty promises,” said Mario Joseph, managing attorney for the bureau.

Kurzban said the lawyers hope to negotiate with the U.N. entities to reach a satisfactory solution.

Special correspondent Stewart Stogel at the United Nations contributed to this report

Questions in Haitian Cholera Campaign

2011-11-09T06:21:00.000-08:00

See this article regarding the fight against cholera in Haiti.

There are pro-cholera vaccine people and anti-cholera vaccine people. And they both have their reasons.

I don't think it is an either/or proposition. Vaccines should be given and water sanitation should be improved to prevent cholera in Haiti. That only makes sense.

According to this article it would cost 40 million dollars to vaccinate everyone in Haiti against cholera. That seems like a good deal. We need to remember that the UN costs 60 million dollars per MONTH to keep them in Haiti. Which do you think is more important?

Cuban Doctors Fight Haitian Cholera

2011-11-08T18:33:00.001-08:00

Photo by John Carroll
Cholera Treatment Unit
Port-au-Prince

Great article in the Times.

Our Neighbor is Sick

2011-11-08T08:05:00.000-08:00

See my post in the Peoria Journal Star.

Mobility in Society

2011-11-08T05:57:00.000-08:00

Time magazine (November 14, 2011) has a good article on social mobility in society. They site education, technology, health care, and the market as some of the factors playing important roles.

Time concludes:

"A large body of academic research shows that inequality and lack of social mobility hurt not just those at the bottom, they hurt everyone. Unequal societies have lower levels of trust, higher levels of anxiety and more illness. They have arguably less stable economies: International Monetary Fund research shows that countries like the U.S. and the U.K. are more prone to boom-and-bust cycles. And they are ultimately at risk for social instability."

Oligargchy

2011-11-05T05:38:00.000-07:00

A decade ago I started thinking that OSF in Peoria had lost its way.

I thought that money had become more important to the hospital than patients.

I was afraid that they would let my Haitian patients die, and they have. And I thought that the ambulance monopoly in Peoria served the high end CEO's, not the people of central Illinois.

Leslie Moore of Metamora, Illinois wrote this in the Forum of the Peoria Journal Star on November 5, 2011:

"Early criticism of the corporate business structure have been offered by prominent persons this way: Peorian Robert Ingersoll said, "Every man is dishonest who lives upon the labor of others, no matter if he occupies a throne." "

Today's New York Times columnist David Krugman writes on the difference between those who have and those who don't in our society. Krugman feels that this difference is very dangerous to our society.

Please see the following few paragraphs from Krugman:

The budget office report tells us that essentially all of the upward redistribution of income away from the bottom 80 percent has gone to the highest-income 1 percent of Americans. That is, the protesters who portray themselves as representing the interests of the 99 percent have it basically right, and the pundits solemnly assuring them that it’s really about education, not the gains of a small elite, have it completely wrong.

If anything, the protesters are setting the cutoff too low. The recent budget office report doesn’t look inside the top 1 percent, but an earlier report, which only went up to 2005, found that almost two-thirds of the rising share of the top percentile in income actually went to the top 0.1 percent — the richest thousandth of Americans, who saw their real incomes rise more than 400 percent over the period from 1979 to 2005.

Who’s in that top 0.1 percent? Are they heroic entrepreneurs creating jobs? No, for the most part, they’re corporate executives. Recent research shows that around 60 percent of the top 0.1 percent either are executives in nonfinancial companies or make their money in finance, i.e., Wall Street broadly defined. Add in lawyers and people in real estate, and we’re talking about more than 70 percent of the lucky one-thousandth.

But why does this growing concentration of income and wealth in a few hands matter? Part of the answer is that rising inequality has meant a nation in which most families don’t share fully in economic growth. Another part of the answer is that once you realize just how much richer the rich have become, the argument that higher taxes on high incomes should be part of any long-run budget deal becomes a lot more compelling.

The larger answer, however, is that extreme concentration of income is incompatible with real democracy. Can anyone seriously deny that our political system is being warped by the influence of big money, and that the warping is getting worse as the wealth of a few grows ever larger?

Some pundits are still trying to dismiss concerns about rising inequality as somehow foolish. But the truth is that the whole nature of our society is at stake.

Two More Haitian Hearts Patients to the Dominican Republic

2011-11-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

Last year, while working at Hopital Lumiere in Bon Fin, I examined a number of patients with heart problems.

One of the heart patients was three year old Charles. He had a loud systolic murmur over his upper left sternal border and he was anemic.

I sent Charles and his mother to Port-au-Prince with a check from Haitian Hearts to obtain a formal echocardiogram.

Charles echo showed that he has severe pulmonary stenosis with a gradient across the valve of 80 mm Hg. This was putting to much pressure on the right side of his heart. This valve could be opened in the cath lab with a balloon or, if necessary, by an open surgical procedure to expand the valve area.

The second patient was seven year old Naika. She weighed 33 pounds.

Naika had a loud "wash machine" type murmur all over her chest. Her chest x-ray revealed a large heart due to too much blood circulating through a large congenital heart defect called "patent ductus arteriosus".

Haitian Hearts sent Naika to the capital too and her echocardiogram confirmed this diagnosis. Her lesion could possibly be closed in the cath lab as well, or she could have an open procedure without needing bypass. But she definitely needed a procedure because she is in volume overloaded heart failure.

So now what was I supposed to do?

Both of these kids are good surgical candidates and both deserve surgery. But they live deep in rural Haiti, have no money, and OSF administration in Peoria definitely will not accept these kids from Haitian Hearts. Charles and Naika are not covered by OSF's Catholic Mission Philosophy which states that OSF will turn no one away regardless of race, religion, or ability to pay. (Haitian Hearts would pay $10,000 for each child.)

So I wrote their names down on my Haitian Hearts "master list", brought their echocardiograms and chest x-rays back to Peoria with me, and kept my eyes and ears open for any medical centers that would accept these kids.

Amazingly, this spring, Chadasha Foundation contacted Haitian Hearts and asked if we had any Haitian kids that needed heart surgery! We always have a "bunch" of babies, toddlers, kids, teenagers, and young adults who need surgery.

Well, Charles and Naika, are on their way this week to the Dominican Republic for heart surgery.

Many thanks to Angela, Chris, Clint, Judy, Gettie, and Miss Beth for helping make this happen.

Exterior Authority

2011-11-02T07:42:00.000-07:00

"From the day when the first members of councils placed exterior authority higher than interior, that is to say, recognized the decisions of men united in councils as more important and more sacred than reason and conscience; on that day began lies that caused the loss of millions of human beings and which continue their unhappy work to the present day."

Leo Tolstoy

Sobering Statistics

2011-10-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll

Haiti: A History of Poverty and Poor Health

Haiti has extremely poor health indices. The life expectancy at birth is 61 years (9), and the estimated IMR (Infant Mortality Rate) is 64 per 1,000 live births, the highest in the Western Hemisphere. An estimated 87 of every 1,000 children born die by the age of 5 years (9), and >25% of surviving children experience chronic undernutrition or stunted growth (10). Maternal mortality rate is 630 per 100,000 live births (10).

Haitians are at risk of spreading vaccine-preventable diseases, such as polio and measles, because childhood vaccination coverage is low (59%) for polio, measles-rubella, and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccines (9). Prevalence of adult HIV infection (1.9%) and tuberculosis (312 cases per 100,000 population) in the Western Hemisphere is also highest in Haiti (11,12), and Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, is the only Caribbean island where malaria remains endemic (13).

Only half of the Haitian population has access to health care because of poverty and a shortage of health care professionals (1 physician and 1.8 nurses per 10,000 population), and only one fourth of seriously ill persons are taken to a health facility (14). Before the earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010, only 63% of Haiti’s population had access to an improved drinking water source (e.g., water from a well or pipe), and only 17% had access to a latrine (15).

Emerging Infectious Diseases

Huddled Masses

2011-10-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

See this article from the Times.

Malaria Vaccine

2011-10-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll

October 23, 2011
New York Times

Two Cheers for the Malaria Vaccine

A vaccine to protect children against malaria has been shown moderately effective in a large clinical trial — an achievement that could save millions of lives. The vaccine, known as RTS,S and made by GlaxoSmithKline, is the first ever to be shown effective against a human disease caused by parasites. When tested in 6,000 infants ages 5 to 17 months in seven sub-Saharan nations, it reduced the risk of infection with severe malaria by 47 percent during the year after the shots, far less than the 90 percent efficacy rate typically sought for other vaccines. And there are other big hurdles still to surmount. There are hints that the protection may wane over time and results from administering a booster shot won’t be known until 2014. Side effects could pose a problem; seizures and fevers were higher among children given the vaccine.

If final results of this ongoing study, which involves more than 15,000 children in all, show that the vaccine is safe and effective, the goal is to deploy it in 2015.

Glaxo has pledged to sell the vaccine at its manufacturing cost plus 5 percent that will be spent on research on malaria and neglected diseases. The company has not set a price, and, once it does, international donors and African health systems will have to find the resources to buy and administer it at a time of global recession.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation deserves major credit. Glaxo spent $300 million over 25 years to develop the vaccine for military personnel and travelers but was unwilling to pay for pediatric trials for impoverished nations without a partner. The Gates Foundation donated $200 million to drive the research to completion, and Glaxo expects to add another $100 million of its own.

The fight against malaria has made gains thanks to effective drug treatments, insecticide-treated bed nets and programs to spray the interior walls of houses. With the vaccine, health experts are talking with renewed optimism about eradicating malaria entirely (some countries already have). But it will take vigilance and money to stay ahead of resistant mosquitoes and parasites.

Cholera Vaccinations to Start

2011-10-19T19:27:00.001-07:00

Photo by John Carroll
Cholera Treatment Center
Haiti

Haiti turns to vaccinations a year after cholera struck

Jacqueline Charles
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com

In a dramatic policy shift, Haiti has agreed to support a massive vaccination program to slow a cholera outbreak that has claimed more than 6,000 lives and sickened almost a half-million people.

Beginning in January, Boston-based Partners in Health will provide two dosages of the oral vaccine Shanchol to 100,000 Haitians living in two vulnerable communities: a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, where potable water and latrines are luxuries, and to an isolated rural village in the lower Artibonite Valley region. The disease outbreak was first detected in the region a year ago this moth.

“We need to bring every resource available to stop the epidemic,’’ said Dr. Paul Farmer, a Harvard University professor who co-founded Partners In Health and serves as deputy U.N. Special Envoy for Haiti.

On the eve of last year’s presidential election, former President René Préval declined to launch a similar vaccination program, fearing social unrest. Government health officials said the program was not adopted because there weren’t sufficent vaccines for everyone.

President Michel Martelly, who was elected in March, and Prime Minister Garry Conille have voiced support for the new vaccination campaign.

“President Martelly is definitely behind the vaccine and so encouraged his ministry of health,’’ said Dr. Louise Ivers, senior policy adviser for Partners In Health. She believes continued deaths and advocacy from health groups helped shape the new policy.

The group is launching the program with Haiti’s health ministry and the GHESKIO Center, a well-respected Haitian aid group known for its groundbreaking work with HIV/AIDS patients in Haiti.

Partners In Health, which spends about $500,000 a month to treat cholera patients, says Haiti’s epidemic is the world’s largest. The decision to vaccinate Haitians comes as the country struggles to bring cholera under control, access to portable water and latrines in the country’s post-earthquake camps sharply decline and as international aid dollars wither.

“There is a steady erosion of support of people coming and leaving,’’ said Farmer, who calls it the “Attention Deficit Disorder” of humanitarian work. “Wavering attention, short cycle of interest.”

Still, getting the international community to pay for the vaccine, which costs $185 per dose, remains a challenge. The United Nations has struggled to raise $300 million for cholera outreach in recent months. At the same time, those opposed to vaccinations, are concerned that it will detract from public campaigns for better sanitary measures in Haiti, and from the need to promote potable water and improved sanitary conditions in a country were many people lack both.

A recent a survey of 626 camps with 502,000 homeless quake victims by water and sanitation experts, showed that access to potable water had gone from 48 percent in March to 7 percent in August. Meanwhile, the percentage of camps with available hand washing stations went from, 20 percent to 12 percent during the same period.

Conille, a medical doctor, said tackling cholera is among his top priorities. He wants to launch an army of young Haitians — one for every 200 households — to educate communities about prevention and treatment of waterborne disease.

“I see this, despite the fact that it has had a devastating effect, as an opportunity for us to quickly strengthen our system and address other big public health issues,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, those supporting the use of vaccines dismiss arguments that it will take away from public education campaigns promoting better hygiene among Haitians.

“I have access to potable water. That is not the case of the majority of the people who don’t have enough water to dink much less to wash their hands,’’ said Bill Pape, director of the GHESKIO Center.

Across from the clinic are two well known slum communities, the City of God and Eternal, constructed below sea level.

“If you start to dig for latrines you hit water,” Pape said.

Pape said the best solution to solving cholera in Haiti is improving water and sanitation in the country, which has some of the worst conditions in the world. But that cannot be done overnight, he said. The benefits of the chosen vaccine, which provides 70 percent effectiveness, last for about two years and the impact on the community is “enormous,” Pape said.

By vaccinating about 50 percent of a population, the immunity could spread to the entire community, experts say.

“I don’t see why you don’t provide it. It’s like going to war, using the artillery and not the aviation,’’ Pape said. “We need to give everything that is available. The disease is going to be here for a long time.’’

Still, introducing the disease has been controversial. Last year, as some pushed for vaccination, Haitian government health officials rejected the idea. They were concerned about social unrest because there were only 200,000 doses available.

Some officials also feared usage could divert attention from public prevention campaigns pushing potable water and sanitary measures. The Pan-American Health Organization was also reluctant to introduce a limited supply of vaccines early in the outbreak. The group “strongly recommended” after a meeting last December with cholera, immunization and disease control experts that a stockpile of vaccines should exists before vaccinations begin.

Jon Andrus, deputy director of PAHO, said the multiple doses that must be ingested could pose a problem.

“The more doses of vaccines makes it more difficult, particularly in Haiti,’’ Andrus said. “If there was to be developed a single-dose vaccine, particularly for children, that would be marvelous. Trying to get a second dose in a person in a refugee emergency, new settlements (and) migrating earthquake population is going to be tough.”

Dr. Arthur Fournier, co-founder of University of Miami’s Project Medishare, which operates three cholera treatment centers in Haiti’s central plateau, said the cholera epidemic has not received the attention it deserves.

“I am OK with doing a cholera vaccination program as long as we do all we can in terms of community education,’’ he said.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/19/v-print/2462505/haiti-turns-to-vaccinations-a.html#ixzz1bHjYQUs3

Suppression of Democracy in Haiti

2011-10-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

See this article.

Haiti's First Cholera Anniversary

2011-10-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll
Cholera Treatment Unit
Port-au-Prince

In October 2010 cholera started started infecting and killing Haitians.

It has been one year now and conservative numbers say that cholera has infected 500,000 Haitians and killed 6,500 of them. This is more than any place in the world. Including India, Africa, Anywhere....

And these numbers are the "documented" cases. The sick little old man who couldn't make it across the swollen creek yesterday in Haiti's mountains is left out of these statistics.

Dirty water is to blame. And Haiti's water was deplorable long before the earthquake in 2010. It was deemed worst in the world in 2002....

That is one of the reasons I named this blog Dying in Haiti six years ago. Dirty water....

Below is an article by Trenton Daniel that summarizes the cholera situation in Haiti very well.

AP Interview: Expert says Haiti has worst cholera
Associated Press

PUBLISHED TUESDAY, OCT. 18, 2011

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Haiti has the highest rate of cholera in the world a mere year after the disease first arrived in the Caribbean nation, a leading health expert said Tuesday.

Dr. Paul Farmer, one of the founders of the medical group Partners in Health and U.N. deputy special envoy to Haiti, said cholera has sickened more than 450,000 people in a nation of 10 million, or nearly 5 percent of the population, and killed more than 6,000.

Farmer told The Associated Press on the anniversary of cholera's arrival in Haiti that it's also on the verge of becoming the leading cause of death by infectious disease in the Caribbean nation.

"It's freakin' incredible," Farmer said by telephone. "In 365 days, you go from no cases to the largest number in the world."

That's significantly more than the 100,000 to 300,000 cases documented annually in Bangladesh, Farmer said. The Democratic Republic of Congo sees 13,000 to 30,000 cases a year.

He also said that cholera is likely to become endemic in Haiti, meaning it will become "native" to the country.

"It's going to be with us for a long time," he said.

Farmer attributes the spread of the disease to what he describes as Haiti's status as the "most water insecure" country in the world, which means many people have insufficient access to clean water.

Cholera is caused by a bacteria found in contaminated water or food. It spreads quickly in unhygienic environments and can quickly kill people through complete dehydration, but is easily treatable if caught in time.

Haiti has long suffered from improper sanitation because of its poverty but sanitation conditions in the capital and other urban areas became much worse after last year's earthquake forced thousands of people to set up makeshift shelters in public plazas, soccer fields and other open areas.

Evidence suggests that the disease inadvertently arrived in Haiti by U.N. peacekeeping troops from Nepal. Cholera then spread through Haiti's biggest river because a Haitian contractor failed to ensure proper sanitation at the U.N. base.

There were no documented cholera cases in Haiti prior to the start of the outbreak a year ago this month.

The epidemic threatens to worsen before it abates as the year's second rainy season causes the disease to spread.

The foreign aid group Doctors Without Borders said in a statement Tuesday that it continues to see "dangerous and unpredictable fluctuations" in the number of cholera cases.

For example, the group said it treated 281 patients for cholera in the Haitian capital in the last week of August. That number jumped to 840 per week a month later.

Aggravating the situation will be the withdrawal of humanitarian workers who leave because of a lack of funding, the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Tuesday.

That means fewer drainage services and less maintenance on the latrines aid workers set up in the settlement camps.

Out of 12,000 latrines needed, only about a third were reported to be working in August, down from more than 5,800 the month before, OCHA said. Meanwhile, the number of nonfunctional latrines more than doubled, from about 1,300 in July to about 2,600 in August.

Also, more than 1,000 latrines have been abandoned, leading to outdoor defecation, which heightens the risk of contamination for people living in the camps.

The United Nations Office for Project Services and the government's water and sanitation agency halted the cleaning of latrines at the end of August because of lack of funding, OCHA said.

Despite the spread of cholera, Farmer said it was possible to wipe out the disease by improving Haiti's water system and sanitation. The use of education and oral vaccines is also important, he added.

"To eradicate cholera we're going to have to vaccinate huge numbers of people," Farmer said. "It's going to require a massive campaign like polio."

Nou Bouke (We're Tired)

2011-10-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll

Please open this link.

Haiti Does Not Need An Army

2011-10-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post

A new army is not what Haiti needs

By Editorial, Sunday, October 16, 6:29 PM

HAITI’S CATALOGUE of critical needs seems endless, all the more so since the crippling earthquake in January last year. But one item nowhere near the top of Haiti’s list of priorities, nor even remotely advisable, is reconstituting a national army. Unfortunately, President Michel Martelly wants to do just that.

Haiti’s army was disbanded in 1995 by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and with good reason. Four years earlier, Mr. Aristide was just the latest of many Haitian leaders whose tenures were violently cut short by army officers or enlisted men; he abolished the army after being restored to power by the United States.

Whatever Mr. Aristide’s other merits or flaws, getting rid of the army counts as a signal achievement. For years, the army, in the absence of real external threats, had been primarily an instrument of repression and blood-curdling human rights abuses.

Mr. Martelly, a political novice who took office this year, has argued that a new Haitian army would bear no resemblance to the bad old one. He says a reconstituted force would be used mainly to respond to natural disasters and emergencies or to interdict contraband and drug transshipments.

It would be nice to believe that; it would also be naive. Mr. Martelly has extensive ties with right-wing groups, including allies of former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, whose regime carried out atrocious abuses. With little support in parliament or from any organized political party, he finds himself perched perilously atop a political system that he has been unable to bend to his will. The temptation must be strong to follow the example of so many former Haitian leaders who found it convenient to fashion a band of loyalists into an armed force beholden to the president and hostile to his rivals — a far cry from what Haiti needs.

The start-up costs of establishing an army are estimated at $95 million — a huge sum in a country whose annual budget barely exceeds $1 billion. It’s not clear where the funds would come from; under no circumstances should the United States or other donor countries contribute.

That money could be put to much better use: fighting a cholera epidemic that has killed or sickened hundreds of thousands; removing rubble that still clogs entire neighborhoods; resettling thousands who remain without permanent homes; and rebuilding government ministries in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Haiti does have a crime problem; its 8,400-man police force is inadequate in a country of 9 million. It makes more sense for Mr. Martelly to beef up and professionalize the police than to revive an institution so closely identified with the violence, terror and repression that have plagued Haiti for years.

Haiti's Stalled Recovery

2011-10-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll)

Editorial, Toronto Star, October 7, 2011
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/1066878

“As school goes, so goes the nation.”

That’s how Josué Mérilien, a Haitian teacher and union leader, sees it. And the schools aren’t going well. Teachers make as little as $100 a month, fees are high, and there’s a “terrible problem” of kids showing up faint with hunger.

“What we have is an absurd imitation of a school that isn’t conducive to thinking,” he recently told Le Nouvelliste newspaper.

It’s a depressing sign of the times nearly two years after the earthquake that shattered Haiti, leaving 220,000 of its 10 million people dead and cities in ruins. Today, 600,000 still live in sketchy, cholera-threatened camps, their lives on hold. Like Haiti’s promised rebirth.

After presiding over a half-year of political wrangling, Haitian President Michel Martelly finally obtained parliament’s approval this past week for a prime minister. Garry Conille will preside over a cabinet with the daunting task of rebuilding the country. “My greatest fear is that if we don’t buy time, this country will explode in a few weeks, a few months,” Conille told the Miami Herald. Sadly, others don’t seem to share that sense of urgency.

Although Canada is a key donor, pledging $1 billion in help, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird did not mention Haiti’s needs in his Sept. 26 speech to the United Nations General Assembly. That’s how little attention Haiti is getting these days. The world is distracted by the Arab Spring, famine in Africa and Europe’s economic woes.

Of the $5 billion promised for reconstruction, Haiti has seen just $2 billion so far. Of that, less than $300 million has gone through the Haitian government, sapping its credibility. And incredibly, United Nations relief chief Valerie Amos says Haiti has yet to see $160 million of the $380 million in urgent humanitarian relief that was promised. The camps are short on food, drinking water and toilets.

As Martelly pointed out in his own UN address, the world’s grand promises are fast becoming “dead letters.” That neglect, coupled with the regime’s precariousness, could prove explosive.

Martelly won power in a deeply flawed presidential election earlier this year. Chillingly, his supporters welcomed the return of past dictator Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier with open arms. And Martelly has been criticized for wanting to build up the army (as the Duvalier family had) rather than the police.

None of this is reassuring. But Haitians have made their choices, and the world must honour its promises to help them rebuild. That means delivering the remaining $3 billion in help promised for this year, channelling more of it through Haiti’s government to strengthen its credibility and capacity, and keeping a sufficiently robust UN peacekeeping force in place until the growing police service can take over.

It also means making sure kids don’t faint from hunger in school.

Aristide and Baby Doc

2011-10-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll

See this interview with Patrick Elie.

Cholera Treatment Center

2011-10-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll

Read this on cholera by Christopher Hamlin.

An Old Story on Baby Doc

2011-10-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll

Monday, Feb. 10, 1986

Haiti Bad Times for Baby Doc
By John Moody.;Dean Brelis/Port-au-Prince and Bernard Diederich/Miami

Like a hurricane born in the Caribbean and gathering momentum as it pushes northward, word spread last week that Jean-Claude Duvalier, 34, Haiti's President-for-Life, had fled his country. The reports said that Duvalier, who is known as "Baby Doc," and members of his family had gone into exile rather than face vengeance at the hands of a burgeoning populist movement against him. On Friday, in response to growing unrest throughout Haiti, Duvalier imposed a state of siege. Hours later White House Spokesman Larry Speakes made the dramatic announcement to reporters traveling with President Reagan aboard Air Force One that the Haitian government had fallen and Duvalier had left Haiti.

Yet within hours, to the vast embarrassment of the Reagan Administration, the pudgy dictator appeared in the capital, Port-au-Prince, like a spirit conjured up by practitioners of voodoo, Haiti's folk religion. Baby Doc cruised through the streets in a BMW, surrounded by a bevy of armed outriders. In a radio broadcast to the country, he used an old Creole saying to brag, "I am here, strong and firm as a monkey's tail."

Haiti's crisis last week centered on a family that has used terror and corruption for 28 years to grow wealthy by imposing its will on the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. For the first time in Baby Doc's reign, spontaneous demonstrations throughout the country brought misery-ridden Haiti close to open revolt. Rioters controlled many parts of the countryside, and the government was firmly in control of only the capital.

The demonstrations against Jean-Claude Duvalier stood in stark contrast to the events of Jan. 22, 1971, when then President-for-Life Francois ("Papa Doc") Duvalier decreed that his 19-year-old son, quickly nicknamed Baby Doc, would succeed him. The elder Duvalier died three months later, leaving a legacy of brutality and fear on which he had built a dictatorship after his election in 1957.

At first it appeared that Jean-Claude might be a more enlightened despot. He promised an end to repression and an economic revolution. But he actually made few real improvements. True, political opponents were no longer executed as often as they had been under Papa Doc, but the son imitated the father in using the army and the secret police, the dreaded Tonton Macoute (a term for bogeyman in Haiti's Creole dialect) to brutalize the population.

The second-generation Duvalier flaunted an opulent life-style in the midst of incredible poverty. The President, who is fond of yachts and sports cars, did not forgo either pleasure when a critical shortage of foreign currency last year left the country almost without fuel. His most costly indulgence may have been his 1980 marriage to Michele Bennett, 34, a Haitian divorcee who once worked in New York City as a secretary. Their wedding was Haiti's social event of the decade. The price tag: $3 million. Fireworks alone cost $100,000.

Michele Duvalier at first endeared herself to the population by distributing clothes and food to the needy and opening several medical clinics, but her avarice quickly outpaced her husband's. Today she is one of the world's richest women. On shopping sprees to the U.S. and Europe, she has acquired an array of furs hardly appropriate to Haiti's steamy climate. Late last year, in the middle of an economic crisis, she flew to Paris to buy designer clothes, jewelry and works of art.

Government officials fear the First Lady because her power rivals, or perhaps exceeds, her husband's. While Jean-Claude sometimes dozes through Cabinet meetings, his wife scolds ministers. The birth of her son, Francois Nicolas, in 1983 provided an heir apparent to the Duvalier fiefdom.

At the same time that the Duvaliers have been salting away millions of dollars in foreign banks and squandering millions more, the vast majority of Haitians live in deep poverty. Eight out of ten people are illiterate. Most earn less than $150 a year, although the official per capita figure is about $280. The tropical farmland produces coffee and mangoes for export, but the country is plagued by widespread hunger. Its once thriving hardwood forests have been chopped down for fuel.

Given that yawning gap between haves and have-nots, political ferment was inevitable. The U.S., which provided $54 million in aid to Haiti in 1985, warned Duvalier that future payments would be jeopardized unless he improved the country's human rights record.

The regime's reply was a nationwide referendum last July 22. Truckloads of illiterate Haitians were driven from one polling place to another to vote oui a dozen times or more. The official results: 99.98% reaffirmed Baby Doc as President-for-Life.

Young opponents of the regime, outraged by the sham referendum, started organizing nonviolent protests that tapped a wellspring of discontent. When three students were killed on Nov. 28 during an antigovernment protest in Gonaives, demonstrations followed in a dozen cities and towns. Last month an army captain and two members of the Tonton Macoute were charged with the murders.

The government in recent months has tried to intimidate the Roman Catholic Church, which has become a center of dissent. Some 80% of Haitians are nominally Catholic, and the clergy has spoken out more since the 1983 visit of Pope John Paul II, who criticized the Duvalier regime and assured the downtrodden population "I am with you." One day after the July referendum, a 78-year-old Belgian-born priest was beaten to death by thugs. Three other priests, including the director of the Catholic-run radio station Radio Soleil, were expelled from the country in July.

Last week's unrest began in church. Sunday's evening Mass at the old Cathedral of Cap Haitien had just concluded when a lone voice in the congregation bellowed out, "Abas (Down with) Duvalier!" With startling vigor, the cry was taken up by other worshipers, and the chanting demand for Duvalier's ouster quickly became the catalyst for a short-lived demonstration on the steps of the church.

Within minutes, army troops from a nearby barracks descended on the crowd. The soldiers fired rifles into the air, rained down blows with hardwood clubs, and barged into the cathedral in search of the instigators. As word of the brutal military response spread, thousands of demonstrators roamed through the historic town. The following day the Tonton Macoute showed it had learned nothing from the November killing of the Gonaives students. At a demonstration by several thousand people outside the Cap Haitien Cathedral, militiamen fired wildly into the crowd, killing three people and wounding 30.

On Wednesday the Cap Haitien warehouse of CARE, the U.S.-based relief organization, was stormed and looted by slum dwellers. They trampled three people to death, then fought over canisters of cooking oil and 100-lb. sacks of grain.

Almost hour by hour, the swells of revolt kept growing. Nearly half the 60,000 inhabitants of Cap Haitien marched peacefully through the streets Wednesday afternoon, calling on the army to stage a coup d'etat and take power. There were also appeals for a general strike to begin Feb. 12. Such a sustained work stoppage would probably cripple the moribund Haitian economy, which gets much of its foreign currency from tourism.

By Thursday the chant "Down with Duvalier!" was echoing across the country. Said one resident of Cap Haitien: "No one is afraid anymore. Duvalier must go." In Gonaives, thousands of protesters blocked the streets with barricades and burning tires. When the local army headquarters was overrun by anti-Duvalier marchers, agents of the Tonton Macoute tried to open fire, but they were disarmed by an army tactical battalion. Terrified, the agents ripped off their trademark blue denim uniforms and tried to escape the mob's wrath. More crowds demanded that the military overthrow the dictatorship, and rumors started that Baby Doc, his wife and an entourage of 100 had already fled to France.

Even after Duvalier had declared a 30-day state of siege and the armed forces put on a heavy display of power, the riots continued. At an early Mass at the St. Jean Bosco church in a poor district of the capital, a soldier shot and wounded the priest for no apparent reason. An enraged congregation spilled into the street and set off more protests. In other parts of town, militiamen fired into the crowds, while rioters smashed car and store windows, looted shops, and constructed roadblocks from tires and burning garbage. By week's end an estimated 26 people had been killed. Although none of the 14,000 U.S. citizens in Haiti were reported injured, the State Department advised Americans not to travel there.

On Saturday, the capital was tense but calm. There were reports of demonstrations in Cap Haitien, the second largest city, and the Dominican Republic, which lies east of Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, was nervously monitoring the volatile situation. While Duvalier was still in Haiti, there were serious questions about whether the President-for-Life would be President for long.

The protests that lured thousands of Haitians into the streets last week to denounce the government probably represent a point of no return for the country. Even if Duvalier's reign has not yet ended and he somehow manages to cling to power for a while, his viselike grip on Haiti has been irrevocably shattered.

Roger Annis

2011-10-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll

Letter to the editor, Ottawa Citizen:
Foreign powers are the principal beneficiaries of impunity for human rights crimes in Haiti

Vancouver BC
October 2, 2011

To: Mr. Gerry Nott, Publisher and Editor in Chief, Ottawa Citizen
Mr. Peter Robb, Deputy Editor, News, Ottawa Citizen

Dear Mr. Nott, Mr. Robb,

The call by Amnesty International Canada's Alex Neve and co-author Andrew Thompson for prosecution of former Haitian tyrant Jean-Claude Duvalier in your edition of September 26 (reproduced below) is timely and welcome. We would like to add here a few critical thoughts and observations on the Canadian government’s role and responsibilities in Haiti that will help to set a fuller context.

Mr. Neve and Mr. Thompson write that Canada should press the current president Michel Martelly to "get down to the business of justice" by ending the standoff between himself and the country’s other elected institutions and proceeding with a prosecution of Mr. Duvalier. A little explanation is in order.

Martelly's constitutional role is to facilitate the formation of a government by nominating a prime minister. The nominee must be acceptable to Haiti's elected House of Representatives (Chambre des députés) and Senate, so a degree of tact and compromise on the part of the president is required. It is the successful nominee for prime minister who then forms a government.

The current standoff results from Martelly’s wish to have a fellow, right-wing ideologue accepted as prime minister. Thankfully, the House and Senate have refused to rubber stamp his first two nominations—businessman Daniel Gerard Rouzier and disgraced former chief cop of Haiti under the illegal coup d’etat regime of 2004-06, Bernard Gousse.[1]

Neve and Thompson write that Canada should pressure Martelly to get on with the nomination process. They are correct in so urging. But words of caution are called for.

Canada, the U.S. and Europe are part of the problem here because they bankrolled the exclusionary election process that brought Martelly to power six months ago. It is not surprising that Martelly would show no interest in the Duvalier prosecution because he is an associate of those with close ties to the former tyrant’s regime. He has surrounded himself with advisers who were ministers or other functionaries in and around the regime. Martelly was a vigorous supporter of the overthrow of elected government in 2004.[2]

What’s more, Canada has already refused an explicit call to assist the Haitian judicial system to prosecute Duvalier. It came in the form of a presentation to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development of the Canadian Parliament in early March 2011 by René Magloire, special advisor on legal issues to then-President René Préval.[3]

It now appears that the U.S., at least, is smarting under the international condemnation of the dysfunction of the Martelly presidency that is has so vigorously supported. Earlier this month, it stepped in to impose the nomination for prime minister of a Haitian-born but foreign-residing assistant to Bill Clinton named Garry Conille.[4] The House has accepted the new nominee in a unanimous vote; a vote in the Senate is still pending.

In arguing that Canada should step in and push Martelly in a certain political direction, Neve and Thompson pen an unfortunate and prejudicial choice of words. They write, “For too long, including during the terrifying Duvalier years, Haiti has suffered from a culture of impunity.”

Of which “Haiti” are they writing? Yes, the “Haiti” of the country’s economic elite has long enjoyed impunity in imposing extreme poverty and gross violations of human rights on their countrymen and countrywomen. Its ruthless rule has long enjoyed the backing or the acquiescence of the so-called democracies of the hemisphere and Europe.

The “Haiti” of the country’s poor majority, on the other hand, has always been deeply committed to democracy, the rule of law and accountability of political leaders. This Haiti rose up in 1986 in its millions to oust the Duvalier tyranny. Ever since, it has fought against great odds to move the country forward along a path of democracy, social justice and respect for human dignity.

Alas, that valiant struggle has been frustrated and betrayed every step of the way by the big countries that hypocritically claim to stand for human rights. In 2004, Canada, the U.S. and Europe joined in the overthrow of Haiti’s then elected and socially progressive government.

The overriding problem with human rights impunity in Haiti resides not within Haiti’s borders but within those countries that sponsor and organize coups, aid embargos and all kinds of other destructive intervention in Haiti’s internal affairs.

In Canada, members of Parliament and the Senate, all the major media outlets and an important part of the country’s international development community turn a blind eye to so much of what has gone wrong in Haiti. So who are the real perpetrators and beneficiaries of impunity in Haiti?

It is good that Amnesty International Canada is speaking out for democracy and human rights in Haiti. We hope to see more in the coming months. We urge it to direct more of its concerns towards ending the foreign intervention that is the fundamental reason for Haiti’s poverty and social underdevelopment. We urge it to join with us in seeing vocal and active advocates for social justice for Haiti among members of the Canadian Parliament and Senate.

Haiti is being run into the ground by an international intervention regime enjoying virtual impunity, for example in the case of the catastrophic introduction of cholera into the country by the Nepalese contingent of MINUSTAH. It now faces a new, grave threat in the form of a plan by Michel Martelly, apparently with the backing of the United States (and Canada?),[5] to revive a Haitian armed forces that was dissolved in 1995 by then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to the immense satisfaction of most Haitian people. The country needs all the genuine international assistance it can get.

Sincerely,
Roger Annis
Canada Haiti Action Network
778 858 5179

Empathy

2011-09-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll

New York Times
David Brooks
September 30, 2011

"Nobody is against empathy. Nonetheless, it’s insufficient. These days empathy has become a shortcut. It has become a way to experience delicious moral emotions without confronting the weaknesses in our nature that prevent us from actually acting upon them. It has become a way to experience the illusion of moral progress without having to do the nasty work of making moral judgments. In a culture that is inarticulate about moral categories and touchy about giving offense, teaching empathy is a safe way for schools and other institutions to seem virtuous without risking controversy or hurting anybody’s feelings."

President Martelly wants a Haitian Army

2011-09-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll)

Why would Haiti really need an army?

I have no idea.

Isn't my cholera patient slumped against the tree docile enough? He doesn't appear too threatening, does he?

Please read this article from the Miami Herald.

President Martelly spoke to an almost empty room at the UN.

Too bad for Haiti.

Poverty in Peoria

2011-09-27T07:31:00.001-07:00

Photo by John Carroll

From the Peoria Journal Star, September 2011--

About 19,000 Peorians, or 18 percent of the city's population, live below the poverty line, according to statistics released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

That includes about 11,000 blacks, or 38 percent of the city's black population, and nearly 1,500 Latinos, or about 25 percent.

Almost 24 percent of all children in the city live in poverty.

Here are some other statistics for the city:

- 27 percent of families received some type of public assistance last year.

- 21 percent of families with children are in poverty.

- 44 percent of unmarried women who live alone with children fall under the poverty line.

While the statistics are alarming, they also come with a high margin of error because of the sample size and the way the Census Bureau conducted its survey last year. However, the numbers still fall in line with national averages.

"Even with the margin of error, Peoria still has a high number of people who live in poverty. This year's data looks to be that one in five people in Peoria are living in poverty," said Amy Rynell, the director of Heartland Alliance's Social IMPACT Research Center, a private Chicago-based think tank that studies social issues. "Not only is there is a large number of people living in poverty but there is a growing number of people who are living at half poverty rate."

Meg Newell, a spokeswoman for the South Side Mission, sees it every day.

"The human side, for us, that people who never thought that they would be in that position are now in that position. People who five years ago were supporting our food pantry, who were buying extra at the grocery store to donate, are now our customers," Newell said.

She points to the 10 percent increase in food baskets distributed by the mission this year. In 2011 so far, the mission has passed out 4,918 baskets, compared to the 4,433 baskets during the same time period in 2010.

The numbers come from the annual American Community Survey, which is the Census Bureau's effort to keep track of yearly trends by surveying only about 2 percent of the population and then extrapolating estimates from there.

As such, the bureau only provides detailed information for cities and counties with populations of more than 65,000, meaning areas like Woodford County, East Peoria or Pekin would not have any detailed information.

The numbers released Thursday also state the obvious: Those who have less education and poor work history tend to fall below the poverty line.

Pain for Gain

2011-09-27T06:31:00.000-07:00

Central Illinois Gym--Peoria
(Photo by John Carroll)

Ten Reasons Why MINUSTAH Should Leave Haiti

2011-09-27T06:17:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
September, 2011

Several weeks ago I posted here why MINUSTAH should STAY in Haiti.

I think MINUSTAH should stay in Haiti to dig wells and sanitize the water. Maybe that would save a few lives during the next spike in cholera.

And MINUSTAH shouldn't shoot civilians. That makes sense doesn't it?

This is an article regarding my interview in 2007 of a lady in Cite Soleil who told me her three daughters were shot by a MINUSTAH helicopter hovering above her shack. I examined all three daughters, and all had bullet wounds. And I saw the holes in the corrugated metal roof above me. MINUSTAH denied shooting down from their helicopter.

The Nation reports 10 reasons here why MINUSTAH should LEAVE Haiti.

Greg Grandin and Keane Bhatt | September 26, 2011

An explosive cell phone video [1] released earlier this month documents the alleged sexual assault of an 18-year-old Haitian man at the hands of five Uruguayan troops belonging to a contingent of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti located in the southern town of Port-Salut. As the story spreads internationally, MINUSTAH—the UN Stabilization Mission is known by its French acronym—has become the target of demonstrations in Port-Salut [2], in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince [3] and in front of the Uruguayan Ministry of Defense in Montevideo [4]. Defense Minister Eleuterio Fernández Huidobro ordered the immediate repatriation of the soldiers shown in the video, who now await further legal action in jail.

Earlier, as unconfirmed reports of misconduct began to multiply, Defense Minister Huidobro stated [5] that “among such a large number of people, there will always be someone who behaves wrongly.” Two weeks after the cell phone video was released, MINUSTAH chief Mariano Fernández argued [6] that “acts of a few should not also tarnish [the image] of thousands of military, police, and civilian personal serving MINUSTAH and Haiti impeccably since 2004.”

However, this is not a case of a few bad apples. MINUSTAH has had a consistently disastrous record of malfeasance in its seven-year military presence—much of it the result of institutional design. Although Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim—charged with the largest contingent of UN soldiers in Haiti—recently discussed [7] a gradual reduction in troops, he also admitted that no timetable has been drawn up for their eventual withdrawal.

Here are ten reasons why a timetable for a speedy withdrawal of all UN soldiers from Haiti is necessary:

1. Haiti has not experienced an armed conflict, nor has it been a party to an enforceable peace agreement, the criteria for legitimately stationing UN peacekeeping troops. The UN states in its charter [8] that it shall not “intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state,” unless they present a threat to peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression. MINUSTAH arrived in Haiti using this justification, which has also allowed it to remain without the consent of the Haitian government. It would now be difficult to reasonably invoke this claim, seven years after MINUSTAH’s arrival and seemingly indefinite presence.

2. UN troops are granted broad [9] immunity [9] for crimes committed in Haiti, and are subject to prosecution only in their home countries. Among the different governments participating in MINUSTAH, there are major discrepancies between their domestic laws and their willingness to investigate crimes. Even if prosecutions of peacekeeping troops do take place, it would be difficult to obtain witnesses and dependable evidence from Haiti. Haitians themselves rarely hear about successful punishment abroad, heightening the perception of impunity. As long as this legal structure that fosters a lack of accountability persists, a full withdrawal is the only definite way to prevent future abuse.

3. Just four years ago, over 100 Sri Lankan [10] MINUSTAH troops—more than 10 percent of the entire brigade—were repatriated to their home country due to allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse [11], involving underage girls. The UN’s investigative arm found [12] that “in exchange for sex, the children received small amounts of money, food, and sometimes mobile phones.” Acts of sexual exploitation and abuse were frequent occurrences [13] at “virtually every location where the contingent personnel were deployed.” There is no evidence [14] Sri Lankan troops were ever prosecuted [9]. Recent news reports corroborate fresh allegations that Uruguayan soldiers impregnated [15] local women in Port-Salut, including a 17-year-old girl [16].

4. MINUSTAH is implicated in last year’s suspicious “suicide” of a Haitian teenager named Gérard Jean-Gilles, who was found hanging inside a UN base in Cap Haitien. Haiti Liberté [17] reported that former head of MINUSTAH Edmond Mulet obstructed an investigation carried out by Haitian authorities, invoking immunity to prevent the Haitian judiciary from summonsing a Haitian witness in the case.

5. UN peacekeeping troops from Nepal were responsible [18] for introducing cholera into Haiti in late 2010, most likely by contaminating rivers [19] with improperly treated human waste. Cholera [20] proceeded to kill more than 6,200 [21] and infect 440,000 Haitians in just ten months. New scientific research shows that MINUSTAH’s gross negligence most likely caused the lethal epidemic, but Edmond Mulet still refused to admit the possibility of UN culpability. Despite public appeals [22] by leading cholera and health experts, the United Nations, World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control and Prevention claimed [23] that an investigation into how the disease arrived in Haiti was not necessary, and could be harmful.

MINUSTAH’s denials further enraged Haitians, whose dramatic anti-UN demonstrations led to protesters being shot dead [24] by UN troops. Despite this history, the Uruguayan contingent in Port-Sault is still accused [25] of improperly disposing trash and waste water.

6. The arrival of UN troops to Haiti in 2004 had dubious legitimacy at best, and the banner of a UN coalition is just a less controversial facade for the pursuit of US interests in Haiti. MINUSTAH was created at the behest of the United States, after the Bush administration orchestrated [26] a coup d’état against Haiti’s democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide—a long-held aim [27]. WikiLeaks revealed [28] that in 2008 former US Ambassador to Haiti Janet Sanderson considered MINUSTAH “an indispensable tool in realizing core [US government] policy interests in Haiti,” especially in “the current context of our military commitments elsewhere.” The “regionally-coordinated Latin American commitment to Haiti would not be possible without the UN umbrella,” which “helps other major donors—led by Canada and followed up by the EU, France, Spain, Japan and others—justify their bilateral assistance domestically.” Sanderson concludes: “Without a UN-sanctioned peacekeeping and stabilization force, we would be getting far less help from our hemispheric and European partners in managing Haiti.”

7. MINUSTAH is a highly partisan political force in a sovereign country and actively meddles in Haiti’s domestic affairs. For example, a cable [29] from 2006 demonstrates that Edmond Mulet, then head of MINUSTAH, “urged US legal action against [forcibly exiled president] Aristide to prevent [him] from gaining more traction with the Haitian population and returning to Haiti.”

8. MINUSTAH’s mandate prioritizes security and military issues, contributing little to social and economic development. In 2010, the UN Security Council apportioned a whopping $850 million [30] annual budget for MINUSTAH—nine times what it raised to fight the cholera that MINUSTAH had inadvertently introduced. Similarly, in the wake of the devastating earthquake of February 26, 2010, Reuters reported [31] that MINUSTAH put more emphasis on “handling security and looking for looters” than relief work and humanitarian assistance. Further compounding this problem, MINUSTAH soldiers cannot even communicate with most Haitians, who speak Creole, and are not typically accompanied by translators.

9. MINUSTAH has a record of spectacular failure in achieving its stated goal of providing stability. The distinguished medical journal The Lancet [32] showed that 8,000 people—many of whom were supporters of deposed president Aristide—were murdered or disappeared in Port-au-Prince alone during a time when MINUSTAH was solely responsible for maintaining security. A 2005 Harvard Law School report [33] found that MINUSTAH “effectively provided cover for the police to wage a campaign of terror in Port-au-Prince’s slums.” US priorities—hence, MINUSTAH’s priorities—were clear after the 2004 coup, according to a leaked cable [34] from March 2005. James Foley, the top-ranking US diplomat in Haiti at the time, pushed for MINUSTAH “to take decisive action against the both armed rebels and pro-Aristide gangs, particularly in Port-au-Prince, for all the obvious reasons, but also to protect itself from charges of bias.” Considering that Aristide enjoyed broad support, particularly among the poor (he was elected with over 90 percent [27] of the vote in 2000), Foley’s recommendation had wide-ranging consequences

10. MINUSTAH has generated violence through repeated, indiscriminate use of force in densely populated urban areas, killing dozens of innocent civilians in raids. On July 6, 2005 [35], MINUSTAH troops fired 22,000 rounds of ammunition [36] into the Port-au-Prince slum of Cité Soleil in just seven hours, leading a Doctors Without Borders medic to report [37] that “we treated twenty-seven people for gunshot wounds. Of them, around twenty were women under the age of 18.” A mechanic whose intestines were ripped apart by gunfire claimed that UN troops shot him in the back while he was walking down the main avenue. “Every day the Minustah is shooting people,” he explained. “They shoot in any direction and at any person, even babies, it doesn’t matter.”

Despite such carnage, a State Department cable [38] from June 1, 2006, shows that wealthy Haitian elites pressured the US and UN to continue military sweeps in poor neighborhoods. Timothy Carney, then the top US diplomat in Haiti, acknowledged that “such an operation would inevitably cause unintended civilian casualties given the crowded conditions and flimsy construction of tightly packed housing in Cité Soleil.” But instead of advocating an end to the bloody maneuvers, Carney proposed enlisting “private sector associations” to “quickly assist in the aftermath of such an operation, including providing financial support to families of potential victims.”

MINUSTAH continued its ruthless policy of incursions: half a year later, another raid left at least nine dead [39]. Slum inhabitant Rose Martel remarked, “They came here to terrorize the population; I don’t think they really killed the bandits, unless they consider all of us as bandits.”

No member of the UN has faced criminal penalties for these actions.

Countries such as Brazil, Nepal, Jordan, Uruguay, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Chile are engaged in a deeply resented military occupation. No amount of tinkering or symbolic reductions in size will address the gravity of the indictments against MINUSTAH. The troops should not be in the country in the first place, and have only added to the disasters the Haitian people confront.

The UN needs to end its occupation of Haiti.

Haiti's Cholera Rampage

2011-09-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll)

Halting cholera’s rampage in Haiti

The Washington Post

By Editorial, Published: September 22

THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC in Haiti, which began 11 months ago and quickly became the worst such outbreak in modern history, has exacted a jaw-dropping human toll. So far it is reported to have killed nearly 6,500 people and sickened almost a half-million — 5 percent of the country’s population. And public health experts believe those official figures badly undercount the number of victims.

Here’s another number to consider: $20 million. That’s about what it would cost to vaccinate every person in Haiti against the disease.

To date, almost no one in Haiti has received the vaccine. Sensibly, public health workers have scrambled to identify and treat cholera victims, saving many thousands of lives in the process. At the same time, the country has struggled, in the wake of last year’s devastating earthquake, to improve access to decent sanitation and clean water, shortages of which provided ideal conditions for cholera to spread.

Cholera vaccines are not a magic bullet and are not available in adequate numbers at the moment. The global stockpile is estimated as sufficient for only 200,000 people. Even if manufacturers ramped up production to full capacity, it would take several years to make enough for everyone in Haiti — and doing so would mean neglecting cholera outbreaks elsewhere in the world.

In addition, the vaccine, although relatively effective, hardly ensures immunity, and it generally lasts just two years, after which a booster dose would be required. Some health workers also worry that administering the vaccine, which involves two doses taken at least a week apart, would be difficult.

Still, there are compelling reasons to add vaccinations to the arsenal of public health weapons that has been deployed against cholera in Haiti. After a severe spike in infections during this summer’s rainy season, transmission of the disease has tapered off somewhat, but cholera is still killing Haitians at a rate of at least 10 a day and sickening tens of thousands more each month. Experts believe that cholera, which had never been documented in Haiti, is now endemic there; tragically, it is likely to be a fact of Haitian life for years.

The country’s emphasis must remain on infrastructure and public education, so that more Haitians have access to clean water and understand the critical importance of basic sanitation and cleanliness. There can be no letup in the efforts that have been made to treat cholera victims in slums and rural areas with oral rehydration salts and other interventions that are highly effective in saving lives.

But those efforts should be supplemented with an ambitious vaccination program starting as soon as practicable. A recent study showed that if only 5 percent of the population in the most vulnerable areas were vaccinated, it would cut the number of cholera cases by 11 percent, and if 30 percent of Haitians got the vaccine, it would reduce infections by 55 percent and save 3,320 lives. Surely that would be a worthwhile return on a very modest investment.

© The Washington Post Company

The Long Defeat

2011-09-21T05:20:00.000-07:00

I posted this and this on the Peoria Journal Star website.

Best Interview on Haitian Cholera

2011-09-20T19:57:00.001-07:00

See this article from the Axis of Logic.

MINUSTAH's Filthy Record in Haiti

2011-09-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

(Cholera patient, Artibonite. June 2011. Photo by John Carroll)

See this article from The Guardian.

Tuberculosis

2011-09-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll, September 2011)

See this from Crofs Blog:

Fuelled by the HIV pandemic and the spread of drug-resistant strains, tuberculosis (TB) has re-emerged as a major threat to global health. TB is a curable disease that continues to affect millions of people globally each year, and is a leading cause of death in HIV positive people.

According to the 2009 WHO Report on Global TB Control, there were 9.4 million new TB cases in 2008, out of which 1.4 million (14%) were HIV positive (78% of them were in Africa and 13% in Southeast Asia). Mortality from TB was 1.7 million, and about 0.5 million of these deaths were in People Living with HIV (PLHIV), who are at a much increased risk of contracting TB.

In high burden HIV settings (like the sub Saharan region) more than 70% of TB patients are living with HIV. So, universal access to HIV care cannot be achieved without addressing TB.

To make matters worse, over the last decade, 5 million people developed drug-resistant TB, but less than 1% had access to appropriate treatment, and 1.5 million died. Only 7% of the estimated 440,000 MDR-TB cases in 2008 were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), and only about 1% of the patients were enrolled under programs to provide internationally quality assured treatment. India is home to 2.5 million people living with HIV and bears one fourth of the estimated global burden of MDR-TB.

Infection with HIV further complicates management of MDR TB, and data from many settings suggest that mortality from MDR TB in HIV infected patients is very high. So MDR TB/HIV is the Perfect Storm and we cannot wait any more to let it pass.
In resource limited settings, which carry most of the burden of MDR TB and co infection with HIV, there is insufficient access to quality assured diagnostic capacity, which results in delays of diagnosis and probably in deaths, especially among the PLHIV.
HIV infected patients often have sputum negative and extra pulmonary TB which further complicates diagnosis. Limited quality assured drug access, drug-drug interactions, side effects, pill burden, and long treatment duration add to the problem of treatment adherence.

These issues were raised at the recently concluded 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (10th ICAAP). One of the meetings, organized by Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), focused on the challenges in scaling up Diagnosis and Treatment of Drug Resistant TB in PLHIV. Results of a case study from MSF HIV project in Mumbai, India, treating MDRTB/HIV co-infections were also shared.

This study is among the first cohorts of HIV/MDR-TB co-infected patients in India. It was a highly resistant cohort with previous exposure to second line TB drugs, mainly in the private health sector. To date, a cohort of 71 HIV infected patients have been diagnosed with MDR TB, 56 cases were confirmed and 15 were suspected. 59 patients were started on treatment. One of these with susceptible TB was excluded from analysis.

Out of the 12 who did not begin treatment, 7 died. Final outcomes (in the 2007 to 2011 cohorts, n=58) were as follows:--13 (22%) were successfully treated, 13 (22%) died, 7 (12%) defaulted, 2 (3%) failed treatment and 23 (40%) are alive in treatment. Thus, overall 20 of the 71 patients died, including the 7 who were not initiated on treatment. All the patients demonstrated significant immunological improvement (increased CD4 counts).

The Truth Hurts

2011-09-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll, September 2011)

In 2007, residents of Cite Soleil told me that UN helicopters were shooting down on them in late December, 2006.

MINUSTAH denied this. Would the UN lie about this?

See this article from Ansel Herz.

Haiti's Needless Cholera Deaths

2011-09-06T07:37:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll--September 6, 2011--"MINUSTAH and cholera are twins" on the billboard)

"Haiti’s Needless Cholera Deaths"
Published: September 6, 2011
The New York Times
Editorial

A cholera outbreak has killed more than 6,000 people in Haiti since October and is far from under control. More than 420,000 people have been sickened since the disease emerged in a rural area north of Port-au-Prince, apparently after sewage from an encampment of United Nations peacekeepers contaminated the Artibonite River.

Cholera is preventable and easily treated, but containment has been stymied by the chronic deficiency — or utter absence — of clean water and sanitation systems in Haiti, particularly in the countryside, where cholera hit first and hardest. The cholera mortality rate in Haiti’s vulnerable Southeast region was 5.3 percent in July. Access to proper treatment could keep that rate below 1 percent.

The United Nations’s Pan-American Health Organization, the United States and the rest of the international community should be working with the Haitian Health Ministry to wage a more aggressive and effective effort, which should include not only clean water and sanitation systems but more antibiotics and cholera vaccinations. A cheap, effective cholera vaccine is available, but there are currently fewer than 400,000 doses worldwide. Ramping up manufacturing to make more vaccine could be readily done and would have global benefits.

Cholera victims are among the many casualties of the unfinished rebuilding of Haiti, still choked by rubble and political paralysis. Haiti’s new president, Michel Martelly, a political novice, has been unable to form a government. Donations have lagged, construction plans are stuck on drawing boards and hundreds of thousands are in displaced-persons camps, hot spots of disease and suffering.

A United Nations report in August warned that money and manpower are running short. Staff members assigned to cholera treatment centers was decreasing, it said, as “humanitarian partners are gradually reducing their operations.” In many areas, nongovernmental health organizations are handing treatment facilities over to the Health Ministry, which lacks capacity to support them.

The ministry, like practically every government agency, was flattened in the quake and has barely benefited from the flow of aid. Controlling this epidemic requires building up the public sector — which is the only hope for Haitians after charitable aid dries up.

Jenny Still Survives

2011-09-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll--September 5, 2011)

Jenny had heart surgery at OSF-SFMC in Peoria in 1999. At nineteen years of age she looked like a victim from Auschwitz before her heart surgery.

I have been treating her in Haiti for over a decade since her surgery in Peoria. Haitian Hearts has provided her with medication, echocardiograms, and money in Haiti.

Jenny needs more heart surgery, but OSF-SFMC won't take her back. I gave OSF-Children's Hospital of Illinois a check for $23,000 dollars before her surgery in 1999. (All the physicians did pro-bono work.)

Other medical centers believe she is OSF's medical and ethical responsibility. And she is.

Jenny has survived tropical storms, hurricanes, kidnappings, heart failure, a biblical earthquake (she was living in a car), and poverty.

However, I don't think she will survive the greed and power of our Catholic hospital in Peoria.

Labor Day is Every Day in Haiti's Tent Cities

2011-09-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll--September 5, 2011)

Cholera is Embarrassing for Haitians

2011-08-31T17:58:00.000-07:00

(Eighty-four year old man admitted today with cholera. Photo by John Carroll, August 31, 2011)

To have cholera is embarrassing for Haitians. And it shouldn't be.

I think Haitian nurses and doctors don't even like to talk about it or admit it is in their area.

It is not the poor Haitian's fault of course. But they are still blamed for not washing their hands and contaminating themselves.

If Haitians could protect themselves from Vibrio cholera, I am sure they would.

What Have We Come Too?

2011-08-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll, August 30, 2011)

This lady was begging for powdered milk for her baby this afternoon.

She has chronic deforming leprosy.

How can she cuddle her baby?

Born in a Tent

2011-08-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll)

Many babies have been born in deplorable tent cities in P-a-P since the earthquake.

See this article.

The USNS Comfort

2011-08-30T04:42:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll)

Please go to the Peoria Journal Star website here to read about our experiences working with the USNS Comfort in Port-au-Prnce.

Haiti Needs a Government

2011-08-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll
August 26, 2011

Great article by the Montreal Gazette.

Advice: Don't be a Sick Baby in Haiti

2011-08-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll
August 24, 2011

Pediatric Genocide in Haiti (UPDATE)

2011-08-25T06:39:00.001-07:00

Photo by John Carroll
August 24, 2011

What should be more important than a baby?

Should my laptop be more important? Should my car? Should my easy life be more important?

This baby in the picture was my first patient in pediatric clinic yesterday in Soleil.

His name is Aristide.

Aristide is eight months old and had been sick for 6 days with fever, diarrhea, and a cough. His mother stated that he is not eating or drinking much.

The baby was hot to touch and he did not respond normally to stimuli. He was breathing over 80 times per minute. I did a quick exam and quickly wrote a referral note to a nearby hospital and asked them to admit Aristide for sepsis.

Aristide's situation is obviously critical but since he is a baby he is trying to hold on.

And Soleil is full of babies like this.

His mother is young, but a "good mom" in my opinion. She just doesn't have many health care options for baby Aristide. She doesn't have Caterpillar insurance. She doesn't really have anything except her darling Aristide.

Mom did hurry to the hospital and he was admitted and started on IV ampicillin and gentamycin.

I will check on him to day and let you know if he survived.

President Martelly and the Haitian government need to get their act together and put babies, and clean water, and basics first. What can be more basic than good care of babies?

Bottom line: Aristide shouldn't have got this sick in the first place. But when babies are disposable objects here in Haiti, this is what happens.
-------

Update August 25, 2011: I checked on Aristide in the hospital this afternoon. He looks better.

Barefoot Haitian Women

2011-08-25T05:26:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll--August 24, 2011)

I was at a Haitian hospital yesterday and watched a lady walk by me.

She was walking slowly.

I noticed that blood was oozing from the back of her right hand where an IV had just been removed. Cotton balls had been placed on the area with no tape to hold them or tamponade the IV site. And the cotton was soaked with blood.

The back of the woman's night gown was stained with bright red blood.

And she was barefoot.

The woman had just delivered a stillborn.

This poor young woman headed out the gate of the hospital onto the filthy rotten asphalt street in front of the hospital. She was headed "home" with little support of any kind after her loss.

No smiley faces, balloons, or courteous hospital attendants pushing her stuff on a cart.

She had no stuff, no newborn.

Not even shoes.

Read this article from CHAN.

Lost an Arm, Saved Two Lives

2011-08-23T18:52:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll--August 23, 2011, Cite Soleil)

The lady in this photo brought her todder to the clinic today. Her 20 month boy had diarrhea and was moderately dehydrated.

I asked the mother if she lost her arm in the earthquake and she nodded yes. And when I looked at the boy's dossier, I saw that he was born on January 12, 2010.

Mother told me that she was in a hospital in Port-au-Prince and gave birth to her son seconds before the earthquake occurred. After delivering she was told to run as the hospital started to shake and then collapse.

She lost her left arm but got the baby out intact.

Mom is expecting.

Women Leaving Haiti to Give Birth

2011-08-23T06:06:00.000-07:00

See this article in the Washington Post.

Tent Cities Struggling

2011-08-22T16:44:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll-- August 22, 2011)

My 22 year old nephew and I walked through a small tent city a couple of days ago near the Haitian Coast Guard in Carrefour.

Several hundred people have been there since the earthquake.

No one was complaining. They just kept working.

These makeshift homes were tiny....maybe 15 feet by 15 feet? And small charcoal fires sit right outide the front door serving as a hazard for toddlers playing close by.

It was terrible.

Here is an article from The Guardian.

USNS Comfort in Haiti

2011-08-21T07:46:00.001-07:00

USNS Comfort
Bay of Port-au-Prince
August 19, 2011
Photo by John Carroll

Haitian Hearts had the opportunity to work with the USNS Comfort in Haiti. So here we are...

However, Tropical Storm Irene had other ideas.

Please see Crof's post.

Also, please see Maria's posts at www.livefromhaiti.blogspot.com.

Haitian Cholera Epidemic Shouldn't Be This Bad

2011-08-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll
August 18, 2011

Thousands of Lives Could Be Saved, and Haiti’s Cholera Epidemic Managed, With Greater Treatment and Prevention Efforts, CEPR Paper Finds

Recent Cholera Spike Was “Entirely Predictable,” Yet Treatment Efforts Fell Off

For Immediate Release: August 18, 2011

Washington, D.C.- A new paper from the Center for Economic and Policy Research argues that cholera treatment and prevention efforts in Haiti have fallen woefully behind, leading to thousands of preventable deaths, even though the dramatic rise in new cases this spring and summer was entirely predictable. The paper, “ Not Doing Enough: Unnecessary Sickness and Death from Cholera in Haiti”, by researchers Jake Johnston and Keane Bhatt, argues that it is not too late to bring the 10-month old cholera epidemic under control and save thousands of lives by ramping up treatment and prevention efforts.

“Haiti’s cholera epidemic has been much worse than it could have been, and thousands more people have died, due to an inadequate response from the international community, going back to when the outbreak began,” CEPR Co-Director Mark Weisbrot said. “It’s time to reverse course and get serious about controlling and eventually eliminating cholera from Haiti.”

“In July 2011, one person was infected with cholera almost every minute, and at least 375 died over the course of the month due to an easily preventable and curable illness,” the paper notes. A March 2011 article in the medical journal The Lancet predicted that cholera infections would spike with the onset of the rainy season following a drop-off during the drier months of late 2010 and early 2011. Yet overall cholera efforts were scaled back just as infections were increasing: only 48 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were addressing cholera in July, down from 128 in January.

As predicted, new cholera infections increased with the onset of the rainy season this year, reaching an average of 1800 new infections per day in June – almost twice as many as in May and three times as many as in March and April, the paper notes.

The paper also notes that NGO’s and international agencies have targeted urban centers over rural areas, despite the anticipated spread of the disease to all corners of Haiti, and significantly higher case fatality rates in some rural areas. The department of Sud Est, for example, currently has the highest fatality rate, at 5.4%, but no Cholera Treatment Centers.

The authors recommend several ways in which the cholera epidemic could be brought under control -- and thousands of lives saved -- including expanding the reach of inpatient facilities in the hardest-hit areas, scaling up antibiotic and supplement treatment efforts, prevention and care through education campaigns, and a vaccination strategy. International donors also have fallen far behind on their pledges for cholera assistance.

The paper outlines a number of other factors that contributed to the severity of the epidemic, one of the most important being the relative scarcity of potable water in Haiti. The authors describe various ways in which public water systems have been under-funded and implementation delayed by the international community, while some donors have pushed instead for “cost recovery” water systems in camps for internally displaced persons (IDP’s) and elsewhere. These would require residents to pay for potable water, and likely lead to an increase in cholera infections as potable water would be put out of reach of IDP's and other low-income Haitians.

“Safe, clean drinking water for all Haitians should be a top priority for international donors,” Weisbrot said. “And if it had not been so neglected years ago, when loans for this purpose were blocked by the United States, the severity of this outbreak might have been drastically reduced.”

The paper’s lead author, Jake Johnston, added: “The money is there: the U.S. Congress appropriated $1.14 billion for Haiti a year ago, and most of that money has not been spent; and a lot of the $1.4 billion that Americans gave to private charities after the earthquake – including the biggest organizations such as the American Red Cross -- also remains unspent. And there are also hundreds of millions of dollars of international aid that were pledged by governments but not yet delivered. These funds can be used to expand treatment and prevention of cholera in Haiti, and to build the necessary water infrastructure.”

WikiLeaks and Haiti

2011-08-15T06:42:00.001-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll)

If you don't read anything else on this subject, please read this written by Kevin Edmonds posted on CHAN.

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

July 27, 2011

http://www.coha.org/wikileaks-cables-show-haiti-as-pawn-in-u-s-foreign-policy/

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Katie Solts

The U.S. tried to undermine Haiti’s oil deal with Venezuela in order to protect the vested interests of U.S. oil corporations.
Under the Obama administration, the U.S. embassy worked with major textile companies to cap the minimum wage in Haiti at 31 cents per hour.
Election monitors from the U.S. and the international community knowingly supported elections that did not remotely follow accepted democratic standards of procedure.
When WikiLeaks announced its plan to release tens of thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables to the public, the U.S. government feared a massive international backlash and threat to national security. Although WikiLeaks’ impact on Latin America does not severely jeopardize U.S. security, the diplomatic cables could nevertheless cause irreparable harm to U.S. relations with several Latin American nations. Information released by WikiLeaks points to a continuation of U.S. dominance and the application of “neo-imperialist” diplomacy in Latin America, and the cables regarding Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, exemplify the persistence of U.S. interference.

Haiti’s history is one of brutal colonial exploitation followed by systematic neocolonial intervention, and today the country faces extreme poverty and political turmoil. According to the UN Development Program, 78 percent of Haitians live on less than USD 2 per day and 54 percent of the population, or around four and a half million people, currently live on less than USD 1 per day.[1] In light of the problems facing this troubled nation, the new information revealed by WikiLeaks concerning U.S. involvement in Haiti is particularly disconcerting. Janet Sanderson, the previous U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, once dubbed the U.S. “Haiti’s most important and reliable bi-lateral partner,” but the cables released by WikiLeaks show a much more one-sided relationship.[2] Instead of helping Haiti develop economically and politically, Washington’s foreign policy seems completely dominated by influential and well-connected U.S. economic interests.

Petrocaribe: Haiti and Venezuela

René Préval became president of Haiti in 2006 and immediately attempted to improve U.S.-Haiti relations. U.S. Ambassador Sanderson reported in a cable that Préval “wants to bury once and for all the suspicion in Haiti that the United States is wary of him. He is seeking to enhance his status domestically and internationally with a successful visit to the United States.”[3] Yet despite his desire to improve relations, newly elected President Préval unintentionally began alienating the United States on the very day of his inauguration. On this day, Préval signed a deal with Venezuela to join the Caribbean oil alliance, Petrocaribe, which allowed Haiti to buy subsidized oil from Venezuela. The government of Haiti would pay only 60 percent up front and then pay the rest at 1 percent interest over the next 25 years.[4] This payment schedule would save the Haitian government USD 100 million per year, with which the government planned to supply basic needs and services to 10 million Haitians and increase investment in social projects like hospitals and schools.[5] Additionally, the Petrocaribe deal would help lower and stabilize the cost of oil in Haiti after several years of high prices.

However, the new Haiti-Venezuela alliance unnerved Washington, and Ambassador Sanderson abetted U.S. interests in Haiti. Apparently determined to hold a tough stance against the oil deal, she wrote in a cable on April 19, 2006, that “Post [the Embassy] will continue to pressure Préval against joining Petrocaribe.”[6] For two years, the U.S. government worked with ExxonMobil and Chevron, the two U.S. oil companies operating in Haiti, to undermine the new deal between Petrocaribe and Venezuela. The U.S. oil companies feared that they would have to buy their oil directly from the government of Haiti and would lose their profit margins as a result. As Thomas C. Tighe, a U.S. official in Haiti, wrote in a cable, “Chevron country manager Patryck Peru Dumesnil confirmed his company’s anti-Petrocaribe position and said that ExxonMobil, the only other U.S. oil company operating in Haiti, has told the Government of Haiti that it will not import Petrocaribe products.”[7] Because Chevron and ExxonMobil controlled shipping and distribution channels, these two companies were able to prevent the Petrocaribe deal for two years simply by refusing to transport Petrocaribe oil and blocking their shipments. Throughout this time, Tighe said the Haitian government was “enraged that ‘an oil company which controls only 30% of Haiti’s petroleum products’ would have the audacity to try and elude an agreement that would benefit the Haitian population.”[8] Chevron eventually signed the agreement in 2008, but the two-year fight against the deal exemplifies Washington’s willingness to disregard Haiti’s interests for its own economic and political agenda.

The real problem for the United States in this arrangement appears to be not just the challenge to U.S. economic interests but also the development of a lasting Haiti-Venezuela relationship. The U.S. is inevitably skeptical of Haiti’s ties with Venezuela, a nation whose leader fiercely opposes the United States. Préval continued to develop Haiti’s relationship with Venezuela, first with the proposed Petrocaribe deal in 2006 and, subsequently, with Préval’s attendance of the ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas) summit in Venezuela in 2007. At the summit, Préval received a deal for an energy aid package from Cuba and Venezuela. Yet despite the proposed benefits for the Haitian people with both the Petrocaribe agreement and the later energy package, U.S. officials fought against the deals because they did not trust Haiti’s possible close relationship with these two demonstrably anti-American governments.

However, the United States’ determination to undercut these agreements seems unwarranted. Although Venezuela and Cuba are outspoken in their opposition to the United States, Haiti does not participate in their leftist, anti-American rhetoric. In fact, Washington was cognizant of the fact that Haiti’s participation in these agreements did not reflect an alliance against the United States. Sanderson reported in one cable that “at no time has Préval given any indication that he is interested in associating Haiti with Chávez’s broader ‘revolutionary agenda.’”[9] Instead, Préval’s relations with these other governments stemmed from his desire for socioeconomic improvement. The U.S. government acknowledged this, as seen by Sanderson’s report that Préval “will manage relations with Cuba and Venezuela solely for the benefit of the Haitian people, and not based on any ideological affinity toward those governments.”[10] Despite this recognition, the U.S. government fought strongly against these agreements, evidencing the true priorities of U.S. policies towards Haiti. The U.S. earlier stated that it is “Haiti’s most important and reliable bi-lateral partner,” but these cables show the limits of Washington’s commitment to aid Haiti. Rather than supporting Haitian attempts at development, the U.S. was willing to undermine beneficial agreements in order to continue its anti-Chávez policies and to protect the interests of big oil companies.

Textiles: U.S. Interference in Wage Laws

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

The proposed wage increase was of course enormously popular with Haitians, who argued that the increase was necessary because of the rising cost of living. However, U.S. textile companies with factories in Haiti, including Fruit of the Loom, Hanes, and Levi Strauss, fought the measure, while the U.S. State Department also exerted pressure on the government of Haiti. David E. Lindwall, a deputy chief of mission, said the minimum wage increase “did not take economic reality into account” and was a populist measure for “the unemployed and underpaid masses.”[13] U.S. plant owners argued that, should the cost of labor rise substantially, these U.S. companies would have to close their factories in Haiti and relocate. Based on the insistence of these U.S. textile companies and the U.S. embassy, the Haitian government agreed to limit the increase to only 7 cents, at 31 cents an hour.[14]

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

PAPDA implies that closing factories is an empty threat made by U.S. businesses to extort low wages. Based on the actual cost of the minimum wage increase relative to overall profits, this is likely the case. According to a U.S. embassy cable, it would cost Hanes USD 1.6 million a year to pay its workers an extra USD 2 a day. This cost is very low compared to the company’s registered profits of USD 211 million with sales of USD 4.3 billion.[16] Furthermore, Haiti already has some of the lowest paid workers in the world, so finding cheaper labor would be unlikely. Yet whether or not U.S. factories would actually pull out of Haiti, the cables are significant in pointing to the weight of U.S. influence in Haiti. The degree of power U.S. businesses exert over the government of Haiti is particularly alarming as it prioritizes U.S. financial gains over fundamental economic improvements for 25,000 poverty-stricken textile workers.

Elections: International Support for Non-Democratic Process

Leaked cables also provide further information about the international community’s support for Haiti’s 2009 elections. International election donors, including ambassadors, members of NGOs, and leaders from the UN, were charged with monitoring the election procedures and reporting instances of electoral fraud. Yet these donors ignored their responsibility to uphold democratic standards, as they supported these elections despite unfair electoral procedures.

Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), which was appointed by then-President Préval, decided to exclude the political party Fanmi Lavalas (FL) under the guise of not having proper documentation. FL, the party of exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is a leftist political party that is also very popular among the poor. However, its influence has waned since Aristide was overthrown in 2004 and exiled in a U.S.-supported coup. Since Aristide’s removal from office, Préval’s party has worked to curtail the FL’s influence and popularity, and the party has been excluded in several elections.

The FL’s exclusion caused concern among international donors charged with overseeing the electoral process. Canadian Ambassador Gilles Rivard questioned the impact that this exclusion would have on the elections: “If this is the kind of partnership we have with the CEP going into the elections, what kind of transparency can we expect from them as the process unfolds?”[17] Furthermore, leaked U.S. cables said the decision of the electoral council was “almost certainly in conjunction with President Préval,” as an attempt to rig the outcome of the election.[18] International donors recognized the dangers of supporting the elections: they would not only be undermining democratic procedures but also would be seen as supporting Préval.

Despite these initial concerns, the international community decided to support the elections. A cable sent by U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten recorded the views of a European Union representative, who said, “the international community has too much invested in Haiti’s democracy to walk away from the upcoming elections, despite its imperfections.”[19] Furthermore, Merten argued that the elections should proceed because “without donor support, the electoral timetable risks slipping dangerously, threatening a timely presidential succession.”[20] In total, international donors gave an estimated USD 12.5 million to finance the election—about 72 percent of the total cost—even though they knew that the election was not free or fair.[21]

The Organization of American States adjudicated the disputed first round results and decided that the run-off candidates would be Michel Martelly and Mirlande Manigat. Martelly proceeded to win the election, but, notably, only 23 percent of Haitians participated. This marks the lowest participation rate in the entire hemisphere since 1945. The lack of voter participation has been attributed to disappointment about the exclusion of the FL and dislike of the two candidates.[22]

The circumstances of the election reflect a difficult situation for the international community’s involvement in Haiti. Its disregard for standard democratic procedures, with open and fair elections, undermines a commitment to democratic ideals. On the other hand, if they had refused to support the elections, Haiti could once again fall into political turmoil. Such chaos would plague other international investments in the nation, while potentially further stalling the realization of stability and development in Haiti.

Conclusion

The repercussions of the WikiLeaks Haiti cables are a far cry from the massive national security breaches that the U.S. government originally feared. The cables detailing U.S. relations with Haiti do not contain the same devastating potential as other cables might have, and the information leaked here will not jeopardize national security. Whether or not WikiLeaks was justified in releasing this classified information, these cables shed valuable light on the hypocritical nature of U.S. foreign policy in one of the world’s most troubled nations. Based on these cables, we see a disturbing image where U.S. foreign policy is shaped by the interests of the rich and is geared toward underhanded interference in the affairs of other nations.

Haiti on the Brink....by Crof

2011-08-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

Read this post by Crof.

Very scary.

Looks Like the Experts May Be Right

2011-08-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

See this article summary from the Lancet regarding the spread of cholera in Haiti in 2011.

Simple interventions could avert thousands of cholera deaths in Haiti.

March 21, 2011

ST LOUIS (MD Consult) - Some simple interventions, such as provision of clean drinking water and expanded access to antibiotics, could prevent nearly a third of the 11,100 cholera deaths that are likely to occur in Haiti this year, new data suggest.

Investigators created mathematical models of cholera transmission on the basis of existing models and fitted the models to incidences for each Haitian province from October 31, 2010, to January 24, 2011.

Using simulations, they assessed trajectories of cholera epidemics during a future 8-month period (March 1 to November 30, 2011) to estimate the effect of interventions entailing provision of clean drinking water, vaccinations, and expanded antibiotic access.

Study results, reported online first in The Lancet, suggested there will be 779,000 cases of cholera in Haiti and 11,100 deaths during the 8-month period, estimates sharply higher than those projected by the United Nations.

The simulations indicated that a 1%-per-week reduction in consumption of contaminated water would avert 13% of the cases of cholera and 14% of the deaths. Vaccination of just 10% of the population would avert 8% of the cholera cases and 8% of the deaths. Finally, expanding antibiotic distribution to all severely dehydrated individuals and half of moderately dehydrated individuals would avert 1% of the cholera cases and 12% of the deaths.

Collectively, the three interventions would avert 22% of the cholera cases and 31% of the associated deaths.

Results further suggested that given present conditions, a decline in the prevalence of cholera in early 2011 was due to natural factors and not to successful interventions.

"The modelling of cholera transmission is challenging and relatively primitive compared with the modelling of many other infectious diseases … [but] the alternative available to Haiti is a best guess … and might underestimate the resources needed to avert future cases and deaths," the investigators write.

"Substantially more cases of cholera are expected than official estimates used for resource allocation," they conclude. "Combined, clean water provision, vaccination, and expanded access to antibiotics might avert thousands of deaths."

"I hope that cholera will be under control in Haiti within a year," writes the author of an accompanying comment. "The more realistic expectation is for endemic cholera to continue for many years, as it has in sub-Saharan Africa since 1970, unless a coordinated effort is mounted with all available resources, including improved water and sanitation, improved case management with appropriate antibiotics, and the use of oral vaccines."

Lancet. 2011.

History Tends to Repeat Itself

2011-08-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

(Photo by Frandy DeJean)

This is Haiti's National Palace shortly after the earthquake. Directly in front of the crumbled National Palace is a tent city in Champ de Mars with 20,000 people. They are living in horrid conditions and the mayor of Port-au-Prince wants the tent city cleared of people, tents, and garbage.

This scenario in Haiti's capital reminds me of Washington DC four decades ago.

In May of 1968, one month after Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated, the Poor People’s Army converged on Washington DC. They camped out on the Mall and the encampment was called Resurrection City.

More than two thousand people of all colors and backgrounds came from different parts of the United States.

Ralph Abernathy, Jesse Jackson, and Andrew Young were in charge.

This city was meant to be a deliberate eye sore to force the US government to pay attention to the problem of systemic poverty. Some of the objectives of the Poor People’s Army was to end hunger in America and to rebuild the nation’s worst inner-city ghettos.

However, by the second week, things in Resurrection City began to unravel. The leaders started to bicker. Teenage gang members harassed and beat up reporters. The rains came for two weeks leaving people living in brown slush. Worried health department officials warned that outbreaks of dysentery and typhoid may occur.

And the Poor People’s Army had run out of steam and cash.

Ramsey Clark, perhaps alone among high-ranking Lyndon Johnson administration officials, responded to the problems in the Mall:

“Lincoln smiled kindly, but the American people saw too much of the truth. For poverty is miserable. It is ugly, disorganized, rowdy, sick, uneducated, violent, afflicted with crime. Poverty demeans human dignity. The demanding tone, the inarticulateness, the implied violence deeply offended us. We didn’t want to see it on our sacred monumental grounds. We wanted it out of sight and out of mind.”

Sounds like Port-au-Prince today.

See the article below.

By TRENTON DANIEL
Miami Herald, August 10, 2011
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/10/2353828/haiti-mayor-says-he-plans-to-clear.html

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Thousands of Haitians living in one of the biggest tent camps created after last year's earthquake could soon have a new home: the mountains north of Port-au-Prince.

City officials plan to relocate the almost 20,000 people living on the 42-acre (17-hectare) Champs de Mars plaza across the street from the crumbled National Palace if the central government approves, Port-au-Prince Mayor Jean Yves Jason said Wednesday. Patrick Rouzier, a housing and reconstruction adviser for the government, acknowledged the plan in a text message. He said Jason wants to move the families to Morne Cabrit, a mountain north of the capital, and house them in temporary shelters.

The government has reservations about the approach, Rouzier added, but he did not elaborate. He said he was traveling with President Michel Martelly.

Jason cited an "act of banditry" in the public square as a reason for officials wanting to clear away the camp, which has become a shantytown complete with barber shops, boutiques and restaurants and is a symbol of Haiti's post-quake misery. "We are going to respond next week," Jason told The Associated Press.

About 20 students have been burning tires at the plaza in recent days in a call for justice after a fellow student was shot and wounded during a robbery for his laptop computer. Jason said officials are figuring out a plan to compensate the camp residents but didn't answer questions asking how much they would get.

The planned closure comes as Haitian authorities have been criticized for not doing enough to provide housing as they try to move the homeless out of public and private spaces. Last week, about 60 to 80 demonstrators shut down traffic on a busy thoroughfare to protest efforts to relocate them from a private lot. They said the $125 that authorities offered to families was insufficient to secure housing.

Martelly said last month that he opposes forced removals.

More than 630,000 people still don't have shelter 19 months after the January 2010 quake, the International Organization for Migration says. The relief group released a report last week saying that 94 percent of camp residents would leave if they had alternative housing. Most of those surveyed said they wouldn't be able to pay for rent or house repairs if they had to leave immediately.

The Martelly administration wants to close camps in six public places and move the residents into 16 redeveloped neighborhoods, a project the international community supports. The World Bank-run Haitian Reconstruction Fund agreed last month to set aside $30 million for the project pending the submission of a complete proposal.

WikiLeaks Reveals More in Haiti

2011-08-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

See Jeb Sprague's post about the Haitian National Police, the UN and the US.

Internally Displaced Haitians Can't Win

2011-08-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll)

See this article in the Huffington Post.

How the World Failed Haiti

2011-08-05T09:28:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll)

Read this article from the Rolling Stones.

Starving to Death in 2011

2011-08-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

Read this post from the NewStatesman.

Crof's Blog

2011-08-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

Crof's Blog has been kind enough to put this post on his site.

Crof reports daily on public health issues from all over the world. His blog flows nicely and is easy to read.

The reader can stay up to date regarding diverse problems ranging from dengue fever to radiation exposure.

I highly recommend this site.

This Makes Sense to Me

2011-08-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll. Malnutrition Annex, Hopital Albert Schweitzer.)

Eighteen months after "bagay la" ("the thing") brought Haiti to its knees, Haiti is still on its knees.

Sorry, but it is.

Big timers and little timers have tried to help Haiti and many have done some good.

But Haiti needs a government. And after Haiti has a government, it needs a government that is decentralized.

And Haiti needs the post earthquake 10 billion dollars pledged from the international community to help Haitians that need the most help.

Michele Montas-Dominique, in Paul Farmer's book "Haiti--After the Earthquake", quoted a Haitian farmer:

"Why can't the donors buy food from us and distribute that food to the affected regions?"

That sure makes sense to me.

Just think if a Haitian farmer was given 100 dollars from international funds for a certain amount of rice and beans. And that rice and beans was then given to people who are starving in Haiti...and I have seen many kids starving in Haiti during the last 18 months.

If this happened, the farmer could use the 100 dollars to support his family, and grow more food. And the kids would eat rice and beans bought for them by funds from the international community. And the kids hunger pains would be much less and their mothers would be much happier. And maybe the kids could even go to school and stay awake and learn something valuable that day.

And this little example that I give could and should be extended to many other jobs for Haitians in Haiti.

There is much work to be done in Haiti and there are many Haitians to do the work. They need to be paid fairly for their work so they can feed their families.

This can't be so hard.

This is Not Good

2011-07-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll)

WikiLeaked Cables Reveal Obsessive, Far-Reaching U.S. Campaign to Get Aristide Out of Haiti and Keep Him There

By Ansel Herz & Kim Ives
"This Week in Haiti", Haiti Liberte, July 27 - August 2, 2011, Vol. 5, No. 2 http://www.haitiliberte.com

Konplo Aristid la (The plot against Aristide)/ Li soti Washington (It came out of Washington)/ Li pase Vatikan (It passed through the Vatican)/ Se Bondye ki voye-l (It was sent by God)--singer Manno Charlemagne

On Jul. 15, 2011, former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide turned 58. His birthday was marked in Haiti and its diaspora by scattered celebrations of militants and sympathizers of the Lavalas Family (Fanmi Lavalas), the party he founded in 1996.

During the seven years he spent exiled in South Africa after the 2004 coup d'etat against him, Aristide's birthday was commemorated by large demonstrations in the streets of Port-au-Prince calling for his return. Over the past 25 years, first as a liberation theology-inspired Salesian priest in the 1980s and then as Haiti's twice elected (1990, 2000), twice deposed (1991, 2004) president, Aristide has become a symbol of the Haitian people's demands for justice, democracy and sovereignty. He received a spontaneous hero's welcome from thousands when he finally returned to Haiti on March 18 aboard a private South African jet. Much to the dismay of the Haitian elite and foreign powers which overthrew him, he remained then, and remains now, enduringly popular.

But Aristide is now also under the threat of imminent attack. Since returning, he has ventured out from his home in Tabarre only once, due to security concerns.

Newly installed right-wing president Michel Martelly has, in the past, made no secret of his antipathy for Aristide. He recently cut back Aristide's security detail and took back the government vehicle which former President Rene Préval had provided Aristide on his return.

In a falsely magnanimous gesture, Martelly recently suggested he would grant Aristide an "amnesty" (which he proposed also for recently returned former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier), although Aristide has never been charged, much less convicted, of any crimes whatsoever.

That may soon change. Right-wing mouthpieces like former International Republican Institute (IRI) agent Stanley Lucas, pro-coup historian Michel Soukar, and former anti-Aristide opposition spokesman Sauveur Pierre Etienne have all recently taken to the airwaves in Haiti and its diaspora to call for Aristide's prosecution with lurid and far-fetched charges of corruption and political murder.

Haiti Liberté has also learned from protected sources that a U.S. government team is investigating Aristide (not for the first time) to see if it can concoct a credible human-rights case against him.

This comes as no surprise. In reviewing some 1,918 secret Embassy cables from April 2003 to February 2010 procured by the media organization WikiLeaks, Haiti Liberté unearthed a behind-the-scenes look at how the U.S. State Department was pushing for Aristide's removal from power in February 2004 and strongly opposed his eventual return in March 2011.

But Washington feigns neutrality. A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Haiti told Haiti Liberté after a press briefing last Nov. 23 that Washington had no position on Aristide's return to his country. "Aristide's return? That's a Haitian question, that's a Haitian decision," said Jon Piechowski.

"So the U.S. would have no say in that…?"

"No," Piechowski responded, "I think whether Aristide stays where he is or comes back to Haiti, that's between him and the people of Haiti."

The secret U.S. diplomatic cables show those statements are unequivocally false. The cables not only bolster existing evidence of U.S. involvement in the 2004 coup, but portray a sophisticated, globe-spanning campaign afterwards to marginalize Aristide and imprison him in exile.

When Aristide himself or officials from Caribbean nations like the Bahamas talked of his rights, the United States flexed its diplomatic muscles to oppose them. On one occasion, a U.S. ambassador went so far as to angrily "pull aside" and scold the Dominican Republic's President.

The cables show how Washington actively colluded with the United Nations leadership, France, and Canada to discourage or physically prevent Aristide's return to Haiti. The Vatican was a reliable partner, blessing the coup and assisting in prolonging Aristide's exile.

The cables also show continuity between the policies of the Bush and Obama administrations toward Aristide. Under Bush in 2004, a U.S. Navy SEAL team escorted Aristide onto a jet and into exile in what Aristide called a "a modern-day kidnapping." Six years later, when Aristide announced his desire to return and help after the devastating 2010 earthquake, Obama's diplomatic corps mobilized to block him. Obama himself called South Africa's President in a desperate, failed attempt to keep Aristide off the jet that finally flew him home.

More than two decades after Aristide first became president, Washington's campaign against him continues. Its last big victory was the 2004 coup d'etat, where we begin with the intimately detailed information contained in the WikiLeaks cables.

Bahamas shows "sympathy" and complains
U.S. is "hard-minded" The trove of Embassy communications obtained by WikiLeaks unfortunately does not include many cables from the Port-au-Prince embassy until March 2005. However, secret cables from the neighboring archipelago nation of the Bahamas during 2003 and 2004 clearly show Washington's hostility toward Aristide.

The very first cable of those which WikiLeaks provided to Haiti Liberté is one from the U.S. Embassy in Nassau on Apr. 17, 2003. In it, U.S. Ambassador J. Richard Blankenship reports about a meeting where Bahamian Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell "described the U.S. position on Haiti as 'hard-minded', and called for continued dialogue."

Washington, at the time, had sought to invoke a clause of the Organization of American States' interventionist "Inter-American Democratic Charter" in an attempt to find some pseudo-legal leverage to remove Aristide. But, "Mitchell was dismissive of the possibility of invoking the democracy provisions of the OAS Charter, saying that although 'Some people argue that's the case in Haiti ... I think that is taking it a little bit too far,'" the cable said.

Washington was aware that the government of Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie was working to shore up the besieged Aristide government, and Blankenship sarcastically concluded his message: "While The Bahamas will remain engaged on Haiti, the Christie government will resist any effort to put real teeth into any diplomatic effort to pressure President Aristide, preferring (endless) conversation and dialogue to the alternative."

There is another cable from the Nassau Embassy's Charge d'Affaires Robert M. Witajewski dated Feb. 23, 2004, about a year later and one week before the coup. At a Feb. 19 event, "Prime Minister Christie twice came to the Charge's table to request an 'urgent' meeting," Witajewski wrote. After the meeting which was held the next day, Witajewski notes that the Bahamian Prime Minister "sympathizes with Aristide's concerns."

Christie reviewed with Witajewski how at the United Nations days before Foreign Minister Mitchell "called for the international community to 'provide immediate security assistance to bring stability to Haiti, including helping the legitimate authority of Haiti to restore law and order and disarm the elements that now seek to violently overthrow the government, and who have interrupted humanitarian assistance," the Charge wrote, "Mitchell continued using -- for him -- unusually strong language: 'Those armed gangs who seek now to overthrow the constitutional order should be urged to lay down their arms and if not they should be disarmed.'"

Christie pleaded that Washington "reconsider its position against supplying the Haitian police with lethal weapons, and at a minimum do more to support the Haitian police with non-lethal support," the cable notes. The Bahamian "indicated some sympathy for Aristide's claimed plight, telling Charge that 'there is simply no way that a demoralized police force of less than 5,000 can maintain law in order in a country of more than 7 million.'"

Unfortunately, it seems that Christie was also hopelessly clueless about the international forces backing the soon-to-be accomplished coup, because in daily phone calls with President Aristide, the cable says, "he had stressed the importance of Aristide appealing directly to the U.S., France, or Canada for assistance in re-equipping Haitian police so that law and order could be restored," that is to the very countries which were backing the coup.

Christie was apparently so unaware of the U.S. hand in the unfolding coup that "he had been in contact with members of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus to allay their 'deep concerns' about the 'good faith' of the U.S. and others in seeking a resolution to Haiti's crisis," concerns that proved to be completely justified.

In perhaps his most naive assessment, Christie urged that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega, one of Aristide's most bitter critics in the U.S. government, come to the embattled president's rescue in the face of calls for Aristide's overthrow from the IRI-concocted "Group of 184" front, headed by sweatshop magnate Andy Apaid. "Christie said that he was confident that A/S Noriega 'had the clout' to bring Haitian Opposition leader Apaid around, and that once Apaid signed on to an agreement, the rest of the Opposition 'would follow' in permitting President Aristide to serve his term out since they couldn't organize themselves to win an election now," Witajewski wrote.

Perhaps Christie was deluded into thinking that the U.S. would recognize Aristide's popularity. Christie had witnessed it first hand as one of the few heads of government to attend Haiti's Jan. 1, 2004 bicentennial celebrations, to which tens of thousands turned out despite an opposition and international boycott.

Christie "made clear his position that President Aristide is Haiti's legitimately elected constitutional leader," Witajewski wrote, and also provided "an evaluation of the state of the Haitian opposition from his position as a practicing politician. 'Even with a year to organize,' he said, 'the opposition will not match Aristide's level of support, and would lose if Aristide decided to run again, which he will not.'"

In a cable the very next day, Feb. 24, 2004, Witajewski reported that "The Bahamas seeks the active support of the U.S. as the 'most important' member of the Security Council as it engages on a full scale diplomatic press to achieve peace in Haiti" and had "concluded that a peaceful outcome without international intervention is increasingly unlikely."

In short, despite Christie's sympathy for Aristide's situation, he "defers to [the] U.S. as 'Top Dog'," the Feb. 23 cable concluded.

Encouraging "asylum"
The U.S. also asked the former Haitian Ambassador to the Dominican Republic if he wanted political asylum after he resigned his post on Dec. 18, 2003. In a Dec. 23, 2003 cable, U.S. Ambassador Hans Hertell reported about his meeting with Ambassador Guy Alexandre who resigned "due to what he described as 'incompatible principles' with Aristide's government" following the Dec. 5, 2003 confrontation at the University of Haiti where "[a]ccording to Alexandre, police officers broke both knees of one of his friends, a vice-rector at a university." (In fact, it was the university's rector, Pierre Marie Paquiot, whose legs were injured - not broken - under murky circumstances during a melee between anti-coup popular organizations and pro-coup university students, while the vice-rector, Wilson Laleau, suffered head injuries.)

Prompted by Hertell, Alexandre said he would "not flee to the United States" and "has no plans to seek asylum in the United States for now" but rather "plans to reside in the Dominican Republic" and "get involved in academia."

"Requesting asylum, [Alexandre] explained, would 'further complicate Dominican-Haitian bilateral relations' and would not be in his nor Haiti's best interests," Hertell reported.

Had Alexandre requested U.S. asylum, it would have helped Washington's project of painting Aristide as a political ogre. Instead, Alexandre "criticized opposition groups' preoccupation with forcing Aristide's departure without considering the consequences" and "emphasized that Aristide's exit will not solve Haiti's socio-economic problems," Hertell wrote.

Alexandre also criticized the anti-Aristide opposition "for their focus on grabbing power rather than tackling the difficult problems of health, education and infrastructure," the cable said.

Vatican: "no regret" about coup
However, U.S. diplomats found much more sympathetic ears at the Vatican. In November 2003, a U.S. political officer from the U.S. Embassy there met with the Vatican's Caribbean Affairs Office Director Giorgio Lingua, who said that "the Vatican had noticed signs of increased discontent within the Lavalas party" which he felt could best be fanned by "further international pressure, especially from the United States, for increased democratic expression within the country - without directly challenging Aristide's legitimacy," wrote U.S. Charge d'Affaires Brent Hardt in a Nov. 14, 2003 cable.

"Increased democratic expression" was code for increased attacks on Aristide's constitutional government, which never once limited the "democratic expression" of organizations or media openly calling for its overthrow.

As this and later cables make clear, "challenging Aristide's legitimacy" and regime change in Haiti were, in fact, the Vatican's goals. Lingua told the Embassy officer that "effecting change in Haiti should be easier than in Cuba," wrote Hardt. "Unlike Castro, Lingua observed, Aristide is not ideologically motivated. 'This is one person - not a system,' he added."

But despite U.S. prodding, the Vatican wanted to cloak its collusion. "When asked if the October 16 incident [when anti-coup demonstrators protested at a mass] might prompt the Holy See to raise its voice more forcefully against Aristide's abuses, Lingua was noncommittal," Hardt wrote, "saying the Vatican needed to balance pressure on Aristide against a delicate security situation on the ground." Lingua said "the Haitian bishops needed to tread lightly" because of "Aristide's unpredictable nature," according to Hardt.

But the real reason the Church hierarchy had to "balance' and "tread lightly," the cable makes clear, is because Haiti's Catholic Church was "divided" between priests supporting Aristide and a hierarchy which did not. (One exception was newly appointed Archbishop Serge Miot, who Washington worried "was too close to the Aristide camp.") The result was "many people leaving the Church due to disillusionment with its handling of the Aristide crisis," the cable says.

Progressive liberation theologians, like Father Gerard Jean-Juste, were effectively denouncing Washington's growing destabilization campaign against Aristide, and the Vatican's supportive role, and "[a]ccording to Lingua, Aristide's exploitation of some clergy members for propaganda purposes was taking its toll," Hardt wrote. "Lingua said Haitians see 'a Church divided,' with some clergy supporting the Lavalas party and others against it. Lingua claimed this lack of solidarity fostered disillusionment to the point where people were leaving the Church in increasing numbers."

The problem was, in Lingua's own words, "the presence - in fact the omnipresence - of Aristide," the cable said.

The Vatican came out of the shadows shortly after the coup was finally consummated on Feb. 29, 2004. On Mar. 5, 2004, U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican James Nicholson wrote a cable reporting that the Holy See had "no regret at Aristide's departure, noting that the former priest had been an active proponent of voodoo."

Nicholson learned this from Embassy personnel who met with the Vatican's Deputy Foreign Minister Pietro Parolin, although "since February 29, the Vatican has had no official public comment on Aristide's resignation."

Nonetheless, "even before Aristide's departure, Pope John Paul II had appealed to Haitians 'to make the courageous decisions their country required,' and had urged the international community and aid organizations to do what they could to avert a greater crisis," Nicholson wrote. "This was seen as a veiled reference to Aristide's leaving power."

At that time, Lingua also told the Embassy that the Vatican "saw no other way out of the crisis and thought the former priest had to go."

The Vatican understood it had an important role to play in consolidating the coup, saying it was "ready to work with a new transitional Haitian administration to ensure a peaceful restoration of order," Nicholson wrote. Rome told its bishops "to exert a calming influence on the populace," which was outraged by the coup. But the Pope also understood that his missionaries needed some steel behind their gold crosses so called for "an international force [to] quickly restore order in Haiti."

Managing the backlash
In the days even before the coup was consummated, the governments which backed it - the U.S., France and Canada - began to insert "an international force" of several thousand soldiers. They militarily occupied Haiti for the three months from March 1 until May 31, 2004. On June 1, the 9,000-strong Brazilian-led United Nations Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH) took over "restoration of order."

But there was a backlash of indignation against the coup and occupation from many Latin American and Caribbean nations. CARICOM issued a statement March 3 which expressed "dismay and alarm" about the coup, noting the "public assertions made by President Aristide that he had not demitted office voluntarily" and demanding "an investigation under the auspices of the United Nations to clarify the circumstances leading to his relinquishing the Presidency." CARICOM, which had proposed an international force to protect Aristide's government from "rebels" and "restore order," refused to take part in the post-coup Multilateral Interim Force and called for Aristide's "immediate return."

CARICOM also "questioned the legality of the American-backed move to install Mr [Boniface] Alexandre as president," reported The Economist on March 4. CARICOM Chairman and Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said that the coup "sets a dangerous precedent for democratically elected governments anywhere and everywhere, as it promotes the removal of duly elected persons from office by the power of rebel forces."

A March 9 cable by Nassau's Charge d'Affaires Witajewski provides a glimpse of the damage control that Washington carried out in the face of such outrage. Witajewski reports on a March 8 meeting that he and his Political Officer had with Dr. Eugene Newry, the Bahamian Ambassador to Haiti.

Contrary to Prime Minister Christie and Foreign Minister Mitchell, Ambassador Newry was favorably disposed toward the coup. Perhaps due to his many "contacts with the opposition," Newry was "pleasantly surprised with the transition now occurring" in Haiti and thought "it was a good sign that the Haitian people overall had focused their mistrust and dislike on the ex-President," although he did "fear [...] that Aristide's support network would re-group in time for the next set of elections while the Opposition coalition would fall apart fall once the 'negative force,' i.e., Aristide, disappeared from the scene as an effective player," wrote Witajewski. (Newry also "did not think that Aristide's attempts to regain support via press encounters in the Central African Republic [where he was exiled at the time] would impact on future Haiti developments.")

Accordingly, Newry "downplayed incendiary phrases in Caricom's statement on Haiti such as expressing 'alarm and dismay' as matter-of-fact descriptions of members' disappointment" and "claimed that Caricom is not 'angry' with the U.S. involvement in the departure of Aristide, but rather was 'surprised' by the abrupt decision-making, and Caricom's lack of involvement," the cable said.

Newry also predicted "that Caricom will be satisfied as long as their 10-point action plan remains the basis for post-Aristide Haiti." (Washington set up a "Tripartite Commission" and a "Council of Wise Persons" as earlier proposed by CARICOM.) Newry "concluded [that] Caricom needs to get over its pique because 'like a river, things must move on', and he understood that Haiti cannot advance without the help that only the United States with the ancillary support of other 'major powers' such as Canada and France could deliver," the cable said.

Newry told the Embassy what it wanted to hear, but Witajewski, in his comments, also was aware that the Bahamian "was perhaps overreaching in trying to put a positive spin on Caricom's March 3 statement on Haiti and reflecting more of the real politik position that The Bahamas takes regarding Haitian migration than the more ideological position of some of the other, less affected, Caricom members."

CARICOM gets real
The Christie government's "realism," as Witajewski called it in this cable, was apparent in another from April 6, 2004, when the Ambassador reported on Foreign Minister Mitchell's backpedaling during a March 29 lunch meeting.

Mitchell "pursued his agenda of downplaying the consequences of a division between Caricom and the United States on Haiti," Witajewski wrote. "Underlying many of Mitchell's arguments was the premise that Caricom/The Bahamas as small countries take (and are entitled to take) principled stands while the United States necessarily engages in real politik."

Mitchell said that northern Caribbean nations like the Bahamas are "cognizant of the importance of their relations with the United States and thus are more careful in balancing their interests with Caricom and the U.S." while southern Caribbean nations "are guided by political agendas."

Sensing he had his guest on the defensive, Witajewski asked Mitchell "to clarify Caricom's call for an investigation into the circumstances of Aristide's resignation, [and] Mitchell sought to downplay its significance," the cable said. Mitchell "said that he personally envisioned the 'investigation' as equivalent to resolution of a 'routine credentials challenge' to a government such as occurs at the UNGA [U.N. General Assembly] or another committee."

However, Mitchell did have the temerity to say "that the United States overreacted to Jamaica's offer to let ex-President Aristide reside in the country and to Caricom's declarations," Witajewski wrote. "He appeared to be arguing that Caricom was entitled to express its views and not necessarily be held accountable for them. Mitchell also claimed that despite Caricom's verbal shots at the United States over recent events in Haiti, there would be little net impact on overall U.S.-Caricom relations... as long as the United States didn't 'overreact.'"

Mitchell upped the ante when he "insisted that the United States should not be concerned with, or opposed to, Aristide's presence in the Caribbean," a reference to Bush administration officials' remarks that Aristide should get out of Jamaica and the hemisphere. Mitchell "argued that a perceived 'Banishing Policy' has racial and historical overtones in the Caribbean that reminds inhabitants of the region of slavery and past abuse."

Unfazed, Witajewski "inquired on what would happen if Aristide were to meddle with Haitian internal affairs and give his supporters the impression that he is still a player in the future of Haiti," which he had every right to do. But Mitchell immediately became defensive and "was emphatic that Jamaica will not allow Aristide to play such an intrusive role and would 'deal' with Aristide if such a situation were to arise," the cable said.

Keeping the pressure on
Perhaps also afflicted with the "realism" that governed Bahamian policy, other countries offered their support to the U.S. campaign against Aristide. For example, in a Nov. 22, 2004 cable, Guatemala's acting Foreign Minister Marta Altolaguirre told the Embassy there that she "agreed wholeheartedly with [the] U.S. assessment" of Haiti and "volunteered that her personal view was that Aristide had been a 'disaster' and could play no useful role in Haiti's future."

Nigeria, after "consultations" with Washington, also "offered Haitian ex-president Aristide refuge in Nigeria for a few weeks before moving on to another destination," a March 23, 2004 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Abuja explains. The cable notes that Nigeria "has a history of offering asylum to fleeing leaders" from collapsed African dictatorships (like Liberia's fallen strongman Charles Taylor). This was a transparent attempt to associate Aristide with such leaders.

After Aristide left Jamaica for exile in South Africa on May 30, 2004, the U.S. government worked overtime to keep him out of Haiti and even the hemisphere, rendering him a virtual prisoner-in-exile, even though the Haitian Constitution and international law stipulate that every Haitian citizen has the right to be in his homeland.

When Dominican President Lionel Fernandez suggested in a statement at a hemispheric conference nine months after the coup that Aristide should return and play a role in Haiti's democracy, the United States reacted angrily, saying in a cable that Fernandez had "put a big front wrong in advocating the inclusion in the process of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide."

The U.S. Ambassador to the DR "admonished" Fernandez "in a pull-aside at a social event."

"Aristide had led a violent gang involved in narcotics trafficking and had squandered any credibility he formerly may have had," U.S. Ambassador Hertell told him, according to a Nov. 16, 2004 cable.

"Nobody has given me any information about that," Fernandez replied.

No charges were ever filed against Aristide for drug trafficking, although his lawyer Ira Kurzban asserts Washington has tried. "The United States government has spent, literally, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars trying to pin something, anything on President Aristide," Kurzban told Pacifica's Flashpoints Radio earlier this month. "They've had an ATF investigation, a tax investigation, a drug investigation, and now apparently some kind of corruption investigation. The reality is they've come up with nothing because there is nothing."

Under the heading "Aristide Movement Must Be Stopped" in an August 2006 cable, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Janet Sanderson described how former Guatemalan diplomat Edmond Mulet, MINUSTAH's head, "urged U.S. legal action against Aristide to prevent the former president from gaining more traction with the Haitian population and returning to Haiti."

At Mulet's request, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged South Africa's President "to ensure that Aristide remained in South Africa," where Aristide and his family were living under an arrangement with the government there.

In 2005, the Lavalas Family planned large demonstrations to mark Aristide's birthday. The U.S. Ambassador to France met with the French diplomatic official Gilles Bienvenu in Paris to discuss the possibility of Aristide's return.

"Bienvenu stated that the GOF [Government of France] shared our analysis of the implications of an Aristide return to Haiti, terming the likely repercussions 'catastrophic'," wrote U.S. ambassador Craig Stapleton. "Initially expressing caution when asked about France demarching the SARG [conveying the message to the South African government], Bienvenu noted that Aristide was not a prisoner in South Africa and that such an action could 'create difficulties.'"

Stapleton swiftly overcame Bienvenu's reluctance. Bienvenu agreed to relay U.S. and French "shared concerns" to the South African government, under the "pretext" (i.e. veiled threat) that "as a country desiring to secure a seat on the UN Security Council, South Africa could not afford to be involved in any way with the destabilization of another country."

The Frenchman went even further, according to the July 1, 2005 cable: "Bienvenu speculated on exactly how Aristide might return, seeing a possible opportunity to hinder him in the logistics of reaching Haiti," Stapleton wrote. "If Aristide traveled commercially, Bienvenu reasoned, he would likely need to transit certain countries in order to reach Haiti. Bienvenu suggested a demarche to CARICOM [Caribbean Community] countries by the U.S. and EU to warn them against facilitating any travel or other plans Aristide might have. He specifically recommended speaking to the Dominican Republic, which could be directly implicated in a return attempt."

Five days later in Ottawa, two Canadian diplomatic officials met with the U.S. Embassy personnel. "'We are on the same sheet' with regards to Aristide," one Canadian affirmed, according to the July 6, cable. "Even before these recent rumors, she said, Canada had a clear position in opposition to the return of Aristide."

Canada shared the message with "all parties... especially the CARICOM countries," as well with South Africa.

But "the South Africans reportedly questioned whether it is fair to encourage Lavalas to participate in the elections without their most important leader being on the ground," the cable said. "They are not convinced of the good will of those who would exclude him being there."

Aristide's exclusion from Haiti during post-coup elections was essential, because Washington was fully aware of his continuing popularity. U.S. Ambassador James Foley admitted in a confidential Mar. 22, 2005 cable that an August 2004 poll "showed that Aristide was still the only figure in Haiti with a favorability rating above 50%" and thus "Aristide's shadow continues to hang over the movement."

So the Embassy's dilemma was how to keep Aristide in exile but still mobilize the Lavalas base because, as Foley noted, the "degree to which the Lavalas constituency participates in the election will be a large factor in the legitimacy of the elections, and we are therefore following developments inside the movement closely." They found an answer to their dilemma in the man once considered Aristide's "twin," René Préval.

Préval remains bitter
The de facto post-coup Haitian government that followed Aristide and persecuted his supporters resolutely opposed his return. Then René Préval, formerly Prime Minister in 1991 under Aristide, emerged as the frontrunner to become president (for the second time) in Haiti's 2006 election. U.S. Ambassador Sanderson was reassured that "In all his private dealings, Préval has consistently rejected any further association with Aristide and Lavalas, and bitterly denounced Aristide in conversations with the Charge and other Embassy officers."

In her December 2005 profile of Préval, she commented "We see no credible evidence that Préval is prepared to reconcile with Aristide or Lavalas leaders."

Publicly, Préval maintained that Aristide was free to exercise his constitutional right to return to Haiti. Lavalas supporters voted for him in droves, expecting he would facilitate Aristide's homecoming. He did not.

The next year, Préval began to worry that Lavalas would dominate the next legislative election, take control of the government, and pave the way for Aristide's return. He met with Marc Bazin, a former World Bank economist, presidential candidate, and long-time reliable partner of the U.S. Embassy, who relayed the conversation to the U.S. Ambassador.

"Préval seemed preoccupied with Aristide, asking Bazin for his advice," Sanderson wrote in a September 2006 cable. "(Bazin suggested that Préval travel to South Africa to tell Aristide personally that the political situation was too delicate for his return. Préval responded that 'the foreigners' would never stand for his visiting Aristide. This was, we trust, Préval's way of discounting a monumentally bad piece of advice from Bazin.)"

When rumors swirled that Aristide would relocate to Venezuela, Préval told the Ambassador "that he did not want Aristide 'anywhere in the hemisphere,'" Sanderson noted in an October 2008 cable. The U.S. was concerned but did not believe the rumors to be credible.

There was no change in Washington's policy of blocking Aristide's return with the Obama administration's arrival. Aristide himself held a press conference the day after the January 12, 2010 earthquake saying he wanted to return to help with Haiti's recovery. "As far as we are concerned, we are ready to leave today, tomorrow, at any time to join the people of Haiti, share in their suffering, help rebuild the country, moving from misery to poverty with dignity," he said, close to tears.

Vatican joins the fight
The U.S. Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) met with his counterpart at the Vatican to discuss the earthquake and relief efforts days later. A Jan. 20, 2010 cable reports, "In discussions with DCM over the past few days, senior Vatican officials said they were dismayed about media reports that deposed Haitian leader -- and former priest -- Jean Bertrand Aristide wished to return to Haiti... The Vatican's Assesor (deputy chief of staff equivalent), Msgr. Peter Wells, said Aristide's presence would distract from the relief efforts and could become destabilizing."

Wells called Archbishop Bernardito Auza in Haiti, who "agreed emphatically that Aristide's return would be a disaster." The Vatican "then conveyed Auza's views to Archbishop Greene in South Africa, and asked him also to look for ways to get this message convincingly to Aristide. DCM suggested that Greene also convey this message to the SAG [South African government]."

U.S. efforts to block Aristide from returning to Haiti continued up until the day he was heading to the jet that would fly him back to Port-au-Prince. UN Secretary Ban-Ki Moon and President Obama both phoned South African President Jacob Zuma asking that he stop Aristide from leaving South Africa before the March 20 run-off election, according to the Miami Herald.

"Former President Aristide has chosen to remain outside of Haiti for seven years," State Department spokesperson Mark Toner told reporters days before Aristide boarded his plane, echoing the Bush administration's claim that Aristide had "chosen" to leave Haiti in the first place.

"To return this week could only be seen as a conscious choice to impact Haiti's elections," Toner said, as if Aristide did not have the right to do so while the U.S., which virtually dictated the results, did. "We would urge former President Aristide to delay his return until after the electoral process has concluded, to permit the Haitian people to cast their ballots in a peaceful atmosphere. Return prior to the election may potentially be destabilizing to the political process."

A hero's welcome
Aristide's return on March 18 did nothing of the sort. "The problem is exclusion, the solution is inclusion," Aristide said during a brief return speech at the airport after landing. And then he made his only reference, however oblique, to the election from which his party was barred: "The exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas is the exclusion of the majority."

Two days later the second round of Haiti's election went off without a hitch, but with record low participation by Haitians. Some polling stations in Port-au-Prince were empty, with stacks of ballot sheets sitting around, hours before they closed. Less than 24% of registered voters went to their polls.

As the tropical sun came out the morning of Aristide's return in Port-au-Prince, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. A 42-year-old mechanic, Toussaint Jean, had come from the opposite end of the city with a few friends to stand outside the airport's chain-link fence.

"The masses of people haven't really mobilized," he said, "because for three days they've been saying he's coming, but the Americans are putting pressure, and we think he can't return soon. Today you don't see very many people. The people are doubting - is he coming, is he not coming?"

Nonetheless, by the time Aristide had touched down and finished his speech, perhaps 10,000 people (estimates vary) had gathered outside the airport in an exuberant demonstration. They jogged alongside his motorcade waving Haitian flags and placards bearing Aristide's visage, then scaled the wall surrounding Aristide's home and poured into its grounds until there was no room left to move. The crowd even climbed the house's walls and covered the roof.

Sitting in an SUV just 20 feet from the door to his hastily repaired but mostly empty house ("rebels" had ransacked it after the coup), Aristide and his family waited until a crew of Haitian policeman managed to clear what resembled a pathway through the crowd. First his wife and two daughters emerged from the car and dashed inside the home.

Finally Aristide, diminutive in a sharp blue suit, stood up in the car doorway and waved. The crowd roared in excitement and surged around him. The path to the door vanished. His security grabbed him and shouldered their way through the sea of humanity until they got him to the house's door, through which he popped like a cork, clutching his glasses in his hands.

After a coup, kidnapping, exile, diplomatic intrigue, and his rapturous welcome, Aristide was finally back home.

(Please consider making a contribution to Haiti Liberté, which is in financial straits due, in part, to expenses incurred in obtaining the WikiLeaks cables. You can donate on our website www.haitiliberte.com or click on the link http://goo.gl/oY7ct .)

All articles copyrighted Haiti Liberté. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED. Please credit Haiti Liberté.

The Stigma of Cholera

2011-07-22T18:57:00.001-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll)

In Haiti’s rural mountain communities, the stigma and fear surrounding cholera can be as life altering – and at times as life threatening – as the disease itself. The physical suffering of uncontrollable diarrhea and vomiting is often accompanied by severe social isolation, rejection by family and friends and job loss.

Partners in Health

Second Wave of Cholera

2011-07-22T17:19:00.000-07:00

(Photo by John Carroll--July, 2011)

Sent from Roger Annis--

Three articles/comments to follow:

Haiti “overwhelmed” by second wave of cholera

By Dr. Lousie Ivers, July 19, 2011

Dr. Louise Ivers is PIH's Senior Health and Policy Advisor. She has been an integral part of Partners In Health and Zanmi Lasante's leadership team in Haiti for nearly a decade. From a PIH news release (reproduced below): "In April, the cholera clinics we support treated 3,932 patients. In June, these same clinics treated 14,425 patients."

Early one morning in October 2010, the senior Zanmi Lasante team met in Mirebalais. Ophelia Dahl, our executive director, traveled from Boston to convene a meeting and everyone was there. Things felt like they had begun to stabilize since our lives had been turned upside down by the earthquake the previous January. So much of the first half of the year had been spent responding to the crisis while trying to keep our usual activities in Haiti going – the team was tired, but mostly there was a feeling that we had achieved our new rhythm of work. With new activities in Port-au-Prince, plans for a rehabilitation center and a residency program in St Marc, mental health care activities scaling up, and a training hospital under construction in Mirebalais, the new ZL pace was hectic but everyone’s spirits were optimistic.

I received a call from one of our colleagues to say that he would be late to the meeting – 100 people suffering from diarrhea arrived at St Marc Hospital overnight, and he was going there first to investigate. Arriving an hour into the meeting, he passed a note to ZL’s medical director and me expressing his concern. We feared what would soon be confirmed: cholera had arrived in Haiti.

From that moment – and for the next three months – we returned to crisis mode, with the often-overwhelming task of trying to provide excellent care for the patients arriving at our facilities and in the surrounding communities. Once again, the PIH/ZL teams kicked into overdrive with teams working night and day. Alerts came through by email, text message and phone from all over the Central and Artibonite departments asking for help. Our medical teams walked upwards of six hours at times to set up oral rehydration posts in distant villages, only to hear that cholera had spread another three-hour walk farther up the mountain.

PIH/ZL currently operates 8 cholera treatment centers, 7 treatment units, and 3 oral rehydration posts.

One saving grace in the early phases of the cholera outbreak in Haiti was that there were many partners to work with and PIH/ZL relied heavily on partnerships wherever we could – with other international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the Ministry of Health, whose work we support on a daily basis. Working with other organizations can be challenging and this crisis was no exception, but there was no doubt that we needed this level of support and collaboration. Health coordination meetings at that time were chaotic as many partners cramped into an overcrowded room in St Marc to yell out what they would do or were doing.

A striking difference now as the epidemic has once again spiked is that many of these partners are no longer working in the Central or Artibonite departments. Citing lack of funds for cholera activities, they have downsized, disappeared, or retreated, handing off their activities ‘to the government.’ In these departments, where the health budget is miniscule, this largely means handing off activities to Zanmi Lasante. This has made the second peak of the epidemic all the more challenging and stressful on our staff and our resources.

The Mirebalais cholera treatment center saw five times as many patients in June as in May (an increase from 3,932 to 14,425 patients--ed.). Alerts are the norm again – with emails and text messages reporting areas with minimal access to services suffering from high numbers of cases. Zanmi Lasante’s community teams are on high alert – spending hours on foot to reach difficult, isolated places, providing oral rehydration solution, training community health workers, distributing water purification tablets, disinfecting houses – but it is never enough. The cholera treatment centers were overwhelmed last month and although staff are dedicated, hardworking and committed, it is never enough. Once again, Zanmi Lasante is back in crisis mode, doing whatever we can to address the issues at hand, but it is never enough.

Since last year, we’ve been advocating to use all of the possible tools against cholera in a complementary and comprehensive way to reduce deaths and to minimize the impact of the disease. In places where the water and sanitation situation is dire, where plans to provide a safe public water system do not exist, it’s hard to imagine that cholera will ‘burn out’ in Haiti soon.

We are delighted that our proposal, in collaboration with GHESKIO (a Haitian, Port-au-Prince based NGO), to pilot the use of cholera vaccine in Haiti was supported last week by the Pan American Health Organization. Now we have to set about securing doses of the vaccine and implementing the project with the Haitian government. We hope that, while focusing still on the fundamental cause of the cholera epidemic, which is lack of clean water and sanitation, we can make some progress and save some lives with the complementary use of another tool in the armamentarium.

Visit PIH's Haiti cholera update page: http://www.pih.org/pages/cholera

From Molly Howard, on the comments section of the PIH website: "If I wasn't on the PIH listserve, I wouldn't know about this. I'm astounded that this isn't being reported in the global media. This is why I support PIH - because they never overlook Haiti."

From Jeffrey Gill: "Having been in Cange this past January, seeing first hand the work that ZL/PIH does in Haiti, I have become even more convinced that they are the NGO of choice when it comes to supporting health issues in Haiti, Rwanda, or any of the places they operate. I, too, will post this on FB. Had not heard about this new outbreak in any of the other news media."

From Ken Berv: "Still hard to understand that after all the private, NGO, and foreign government aid after the earthquake that sanitation and water were not implemented in anticipation of the epidemic. Since it began, it appears that little progress has been made. Why is this? As wonderful as PIH is, how can it put out a roaring blaze which is overwhelming, using a garden hose to extinguish a conflagration, when imperative preventive public health and infrastructure seem lagging far far behind? What is happening in that arena? Not much, apparently, and why not?

Cholera update from Port au Prince:

July 19, 2011--Several days ago, I spoke by phone to the director of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for Haiti, Sylvain Groulx. He said that during the month of June, cholera cases have been in decline in Carrefour, a large district of Port au Prince with a population of more than 500,000. This followed a big upsurge in cases in April-May. On June 28 in Carrefour, an MSF doctor also told me th at cases have been in decline during June. However, both he and Mr. Groulx stressed that there is no reason whatsoever to think that cases could remain on the decline. There are simply not adequate potable water systems, a vaccination program and other preventive measures to provide confidence that cholera will be brought under control in the immediate term.

There are three cholera treatment centers in Carrefour, including one operated by MSF. A fourth center, operated by the Canadian Red Cross, was closed in April after four months of operation. There is no general hospital or medical center in Carrefour. Patients who fall seriously ill must be referred to underfunded facilities elsewhere in Port au Prince.

A very informative blog on cholera and health care in Haiti is written by Dr. John Carroll of Peoria, Illinois for the Peoria daily newspaper, http://blogs.pjstar.com/haiti/author/jcarroll/. He serves at the cholera treatment facility at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in the Artibonite River valley in central Haiti. His personal blog has even more entries, http://www.dyinginhaiti.blogspot.com/. He reported to me today that while cholera cases have been declining recently at Albert Schweitzer, this is not the case for the PIH-operated clinics located in the same region of Haiti.

Roger Annis
Vancouver BC

Cholera Triples in Haiti: An Urgent Message from Partners In Health

(This item was previously posted to the CHAN mail list)
July 19, 2011--As you may be aware, a second wave of cholera is battering Haiti. What you may not know is just how severe it is. The numbers are dramatic:
* In April, the cholera clinics we support treated 3,932 patients.
* In June, these same clinics treated 14,425 patients.

The reason for this spike is simple. Flash floods—a side effect of the rainy season, deforestation, and decades of ineffective foreign aid—have spread the disease among water sources. In the absence of water and sanitation systems, or in many cases even basic latrines, cholera runs unchecked.

Faced with a crisis that strains their capacity to the breaking point, the staff of Zanmi Lasante, Partners In Health’s Haitian sister organization, continue to demonstrate astounding stamina and strength. In a recent message posted on the PIH blog Dr. Louise Ivers, who has long helped lead our efforts in Haiti, underscored the urgency:
“The Mirebalais cholera treatment center saw five times as many patients in June as in May. Alerts are the norm again—with emails and text messages reporting areas with minimal access to services suffering from high numbers of cases. Zanmi Lasante’s community teams are on high alert—spending hours on foot to reach difficult, isolated places, providing oral rehydration solution, training community health workers, distributing water purification tablets, disinfecting houses—but it is never enough. The cholera treatment centers were overwhelmed last month and although staff are dedicated, hardworking and committed, it is never enough. Once again, Zanmi Lasante is back in crisis mode, doing whatever we can to address the issues at hand, but it is never enough.

Since last year, we’ve been advocating to use all of the possible tools against cholera in a complementary and comprehensive way to reduce deaths and to minimize the impact of the disease…We are delighted that our proposal, in collaboration with GHESKIO (a Haitian, Port-au-Prince based NGO), to pilot the use of cholera vaccine in Haiti was supported last week by the Pan American Health Organization. Now we have to set about securing doses of the vaccine and implementing the project with the Haitian government.” Today, I’m writing to ask for your help in raising public awareness of this crisis."
PIH/ZL cannot end the cholera epidemic alone. But with your help we can ensure that Haiti stays in the hearts and minds of the United Nations officials, international donors, and the millions of Americans who donated following the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Learn more about cholera in Haiti and how it can be stopped: http://act.pih.org/choleraupdate

Sincerely,
Andrew Marx
Director of Communications Partners In Health

(Photo by John Carroll)

***
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the CHAN email list, just go to: http://lists.cupe.ca/mailman/listinfo/chan

WikiLeaks and Father Gerry Jean-Juste

2011-07-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

Father Gerry Jean-Juste, a Haitian priest, was a friend of Maria's and mine.

We went to Mass at his church--St. Clare's in Ti Kazo.

Father fed many kids in St. Clare's neighborhood and during his homilies he begged for St. Jude's intercession for long-suffering Haiti.

He was a totally courageous man and was thrown in jail in Haiti on trumped up charges.

Maria and I visited him in prison in Port-au-Prince in December, 2005. Father was a sick man and his labs looked too good--like they were fabricated--when I reviewed them. He told us that his Haitian doctor told him there was nothing wrong with him.

For those who follow Haitian politics, the rest of the Father Gerry story is known except....WikiLeaks now reveals how the Haitian Interim Government and the US Embassy were very involved with the fate of Father Gerry.

See below:

id: 50935
date: 1/27/2006 15:53
refid: 06PORTOFSPAIN137
origin: Embassy Port Of Spain
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination: 06PORTAUPRINCE185
header:
VZCZCXYZ0031
OO RUEHWEB
DE RUEHSP #0137/01 0271553
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 271553Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6340
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
----------------- header ends ----------------
C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT OF SPAIN 000137

SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR WHA/CAR
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2016
TAGS: PREL, KDEM, HA, TD
SUBJECT: T&T PM MANNING SUPPORTIVE OF HAITI IN CARICOM;
HAITIAN PM PRESSING FOR JEAN-JUSTE RESOLUTION

REF: PORT AU PRINCE 00185
Classified By: DCM, Eugene P. Sweeney for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
1. (C) SUMMARY: Ambassador Austin met Interim Haitian Prime
Minister Latortue and informed him of the desirability of
immediately releasing Father Jean-Juste from prison.
Ambassador also asked about the outcome of Latortue's meeting
with Prime Minister Manning. Latortue stated that he would
call Port au Prince immediately upon arrival in Miami to seek
immediate resolution of the Jean-Juste case. Latortue also
reported that Manning was supportive of Haiti and wants to
help, but Manning's hands are tied by CARICOM recalcitrance.
Latortue floated the idea of stationing a U.S. naval vessel
near Haiti in the run up to the election to provide a
psychological counterweight to the drug and arms runners who
are likely to intimidate the population away from the ballot
box on February 7. END SUMMARY.

2. (SBU) Ambassador Austin met with Interim Haitian Prime
Minister Gerard Latortue (with Poloff as note taker) on
January 26 and urged him to seek immediate release of Father Jean-Juste's release in light of his rapidly deteriorating
medical condition. Ambassador also sought to determine the
outcome of Latortue's meeting with Trinidad's Prime Minister
Manning. Latortue responded that he would call Port au
Prince immediately upon arrival in Miami (his next
destination) to urge Jean-Juste's immediate release, but
noted that the case was now in the Judiciary, where he had no
control over it. Latortue also reported that his meeting
with PM Manning was productive, with Manning expressing
support to bring Haiti back into the CARICOM fold. Latortue
made no mention of CARICOM election observers, but did report
that CARICOM Foreign Ministers might make a trip to Haiti on
February 1, after their January 30-31 meeting in Jamaica.

3. (C) On the Jean-Juste case, Latortue reiterated the
information contained reftel, that the Judiciary was ready to
bring Jean-Juste to trial and to conclude the trial within a
day. If found guilty and sentenced to the minimum six
months, Jean-Juste has already served the time. If sentenced
to longer, the government has amnesty papers ready to ensure
that Jean-Juste receives medical treatment immediately in the
United States. Latortue expressed his frustration with
Jean-Juste and his lawyers, calling them political activists
who are doing all within their power to embarrass the interim
government. He claims that they are dealing in bad faith,
and that Jean-Juste would prefer to die in prison rather than
give the government the chance to do the right thing. "We
fight to do the right thing," said Latortue, "but we're made
to look like the devil."

4. (C) Latortue stated that his meeting with PM Manning was
a success, with Manning expressing strong support to bring
Haiti back into the CARICOM fold. Latortue also stated that
he will invite a CARICOM delegation to visit Haiti in the
near future to set the stage for Haiti to rejoin CARICOM as
early as July. He mentioned the upcoming CARICOM Foreign
Ministers' meeting in Jamaica, and said that there is a
possibility for the ministers to travel immediately from
Kingston to Port au Prince to see for themselves Haiti's
progress. Manning himself is committed to helping Haiti, but
has difficulty mobilizing CARICOM due to the opposition of
St. Lucia and St. Vincent.

5. (C) Manning and Latortue also discussed the possibility
of bringing T&T private investment to Haiti. Specifically,
they discussed involvement in the cement sector. T&T has
already expressed interest in this sector, but lost a bid
previously because their company would not pay bribes.
Latortue reaffirmed that the only way to improve the quality
of life in Haiti was through private sector involvement; an
area that he intends to remain active in after the permanent,
elected government is sworn in.

6. (C) Turning to what the U.S. could do to help, Latortue
reiterated his idea for "psychological support" in the form
of a naval vessel to be stationed near Haiti in the days
before the election, with helicopters flying overhead to emphasize U.S. support (reftel). Latortue believes this is
necessary because the drug and weapons runners have the
population running scared; a U.S. presence would serve to
reassure the population and encourage them to vote on
February 7. Ambassador likened Latortue's recommendation to
the British colonial strategy of having naval vessels cruise
within sight of citizens of countries that may have been
contemplating insurrection. He advised that while the
strategy may be effective, it may also backfire because some
observers may interpret it as U.S. interference intended to
influence the outcome of the election.
AUSTIN
=======================CABLE ENDS============================

Still in Shock

2011-07-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

(This photo is of a Haitian man who came into the Cholera Treatment Center at Hopital Albert Schweitzer a couple of weeks ago. He was very weak from vomiting and diarrhea. I had just put a rubber glove on his right wrist to act as a tourniquet so I could insert an angiocath and give him IV fluids. All of a sudden he fell off the chair vomiting in front of me. This was not unusual in the admission room. jc)

From Crof's Blog:

Tracking all this misery has taught me something about how the world reacts: The darker the victims, the shorter the attention span of the white world. Problems like HIV, dengue, malaria, and cholera afflict untold millions of brown and black people. But let a few hundred Europeans suffer a violent E. coli infection, and the (white) industrial nations fly into a panic. Once they've blown a few hundred million euros in wasted cucumbers, they regain their composure.

Meanwhile, millions of brown and black children and adults die unnoticed in squalor and the smell of shit. As La Rochefoucauld cynically said, "We always find the strength to bear the misfortunes of others." And that ensures that the misfortunes will continue.

--Crawford Killian

Christine

2011-07-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

Christine is a Haitian Hearts patient who lives in Les Cayes.

She had a VSD repair when she was a baby.

She is pictured here holding a picture of my brother and his kids when they hosted Christine in their home many years ago.

Luckner Accepted for Heart Surgery!

2011-07-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

See this post from the Peoria Journal Star website.

Haitian Hearts Patient Operated in the Dominican Republic

2011-07-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

This is Kewine.

I examined Kewine for the first time in June, 2010.

Kewine was living in a tent in Carrefour, just outside of Port-au-Prince.

She was born with a Ventricular Septal Defect. This is a hole between the lower chambers of the heart that allows blood to go in the wrong direction.

Kewine was operated in the Dominican Republic in June, the hole in her heart was patched, and she is now back in Haiti.

Her mother is very happy with the results.

And so are we.

Thank you to EVERYONE involved in Kewine's care.

Maria's Post on Cholera

2011-07-16T06:21:00.001-07:00

Here is an article Maria posted on some of my "thoughts-on-site" (for what they are worth) regarding cholera.

(Photo by John Carroll)

Cholera Surges, Aid Withers

2011-07-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

This article from NPR hits it on the head.

(Photo by John Carroll, July 2011)

Cholera in Haiti---Many Questions with a Few Answers

2011-07-15T07:03:00.000-07:00

See this post in the Peoria Journal Star regarding questions and answers concerning cholera in Haiti.

Becoming American

2011-07-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

This is a guest post from my wife, Maria. On this Independence Day, her article reflects on three lives and what they teach us about being American.

Young La first experienced America on the receiving end of a bomb. He was seven-years-old, and he and his family huddled in a cave near their home in Cambodia. In 1970, the Vietnam War expanded to Cambodia as President Nixon ordered airborne attacks to try to root out the Vietnamese soldiers who were taking refuge in this neutral country. Bombs exploded for five hours as two planes dove and dropped their deadly cargo around Young’s family. "But the soldiers were in the jungles, not the towns," explained Young. The bombs killed villagers and animals, turning the water of their ponds black. During a break, Young and his family ran out into the country where his father had a threshing machine. As they were running, another menacing plane approached. "Keep running!" urged Young's mother. "Don't look back!”

They spent most of the next decade dodging bombs, bullets, and the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge. They farmed, made wine, and worked on a bicycle assembly line to survive. They moved from Cambodia to the border area of Vietnam and back again to avoid the violence, as both countries warred with themselves. “I spent most of my early life in Cambodia,” said Young. “All of it was war.”

Young La’s family chose him to try to get to the United States, as improbable as that journey seemed. They paid a man several ounces of gold to lead Young through the jungles to a UN refuge camp in Thailand. And, here, Young’s luck began to change. He spent only seven months in the camp, unlike his cousin, who spent seven years there, before he got on a Pan Am flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong to Seattle and onto the Midwest. The country that inflicted chaos and destruction on Young’s family and nation would become his new home.

A friend of my mine has a philosophy about being American. He says if you believe in the American idea, than you are an American, no matter where you live. The fundamental American idea is expressed with power and economy in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” This truth doesn’t only apply to people who live within our borders. Maybe realizing that should be part of being American.

* * * * * * *

Joe Billy McDade is a federal judge, senior status, in Peoria on the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. McDade was born in Texas in 1937, but he didn’t have access to his full rights as an American for another three decades.

McDade’s parents died when he was a young boy, and he and his sister were raised by his paternal grandmother. He experienced one of those life-defining moments when he was ten. “My grandmother was only two generations out of slavery and she was subservient to whites,” recalled McDade. “In those days, we had peddlers who would go from house to house selling things. A white peddler came to our door peddling brooms. My grandma bought a broom. I said, ‘Mama J, we can't afford to buy a broom.' We needed that money for our rent. I thought, 'When I grow up, I'm going to be an attorney so that I don't have to buy a broom.' In my mind, lawyers were the epitome of justice."

McDade attended Jack Yates High School, one of three black high schools in Houston, and graduated in 1955, a year after the Brown decision, desegregating schools. Upon the recommendation of a teacher, he applied to and was accepted at Bradley University in Peoria.

McDade played basketball at Bradley and earned a bachelor's in economics and a master's in psychology. He attended law school at the University of Michigan. After he graduated in 1963, he interviewed with some of the top national law firms. None of them offered him a job. He then interviewed with Peoria law firms. "They took me out to lunch and told me no. That was the difference between them and the national firms; they took me to lunch to tell me no." Later on, when McDade returned to Peoria, he was still well known for his success on the hardwood at Bradley. "One man was happy to have my autograph, but then told me, 'No, I won't rent to you.' It was painful."

As late as 1964, the law in the United States did not reflect the core American ideal of equality. The Civil Rights Act redressed this inequity by preventing baseless discrimination and promoting fairness and equality of opportunity. All are created equal was a long time in coming.

* * * * * * * *

In 2005, my husband, Dr. John Carroll, was making rounds at Grace Children’s Hospital in the Delmas section of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. For almost 30 years, John has spent several months a year working in this medically understaffed county. He went to a baby bed and put his arms out to the toddler sitting there. There was no interest; however, the child in the next bed observing this interaction, pulled himself to his feet and put his arms up. It was the moment upon which our son’s fate turned.

John lifted the boy out of the bed. As he carried him around the ward, he thought, “This child doesn’t really look sick.” He approached the nurse’s station and as if reading his mind the nurse said to him, “Abandone.” A couple months later, we would begin the lengthy, complex American and Haitian processes of international adoption.

We moved the boy we were calling Luke from the hospital to an orphanage. We visited him every couple of months on our regular trips to Haiti, as the paperwork wound its way through the system. He loved playing with my watch, staring at the words in a textbook as if he knew how to read, and gobbling down the protein bars we brought him.

For a poor, parentless boy in a poor country, adoption was a miracle route to U.S. citizenship. Since 1989, around 300,000 children from outside the United States have been adopted by American citizens. This may sound like a lot until you consider that UNICEF estimates that there are 163 million orphans worldwide. Luke’s citizenship wasn’t an accident of birth; it was an accident of circumstance.

* * * * * * * *

After McDade couldn't get a job in Peoria, he was hired in Chicago by the U.S. Department of Justice anti-trust division. He worked there for 18 months and returned to Peoria, having been offered a job in the executive training program at First Federated Savings and Loan. He later went on to work at the Greater Peoria Legal Society, which provided legal services to the poor. Under his leadership, the office expanded from one attorney to four attorneys. He worked in private practice from 1977 to 1982, when he was appointed associate judge in the 10th Circuit District. In 1988, he ran as a Republican for resident judge of the 10th District. He received more votes for this position than anyone running from either party had ever received before. So, though he may not have been able to get a job at one of the law firms in town, "it appeared that I was popular among my customers," said McDade.

Reflecting on the journey that took him from his hardscrabble roots in Texas to his position as a judge, McDade said, "In my life, I've been given opportunities. I was born in such poverty and had restrictions on my freedom, and now to be a U.S. Federal judge. . . it's an example of what can happen under our system. My appointment as a federal judge--you don't get this just because of merit. A lot of people are capable and there is a lot of luck involved."

* * * * * * *

Luke is eight now and no longer the 25 pound 3-year-old with the orange-tinged hair whom we brought home from Haiti. He is a third grader who does well in his school work and received an award for demonstrating Christian leadership. He loves to wrestle with his dad and play soccer. He was born a go getter and now lives in a place that channels and rewards that quality. He wouldn’t mind being president, but we will have to expand our idea of who is eligible for this position and then write it into the Constitution for that to happen. It’s not an impossibility.

When we landed with Luke at the Miami International Airport on February 19, 2007, he automatically became an American. A couple weeks later, Luke received a letter from President George W. Bush, congratulating him on his citizenship. The letter contained these words:

“Americans are united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals. The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, and that no insignificant person was ever born. Our country has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by principles that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests, and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every citizen must uphold these principles. And every new citizen, by embracing these ideas. makes our country, more, not less, American.”

* * * * * * * *

Young La was resettled by Catholic Charities in West Peoria, Illinois. For awhile, he lived in their residential facility, Tha Huong, which in Vietnamese means home away from home. Young would ride his bike in the neighborhood and one day, he met my mother-in-law, Mary. She was interested in Young and offered to tutor him in English. They became friends and some years later when Young needed a place to live, she told him he could stay with her so he could save some money. Mary helped find him a good job, too, constructing meat smokers. In turn, he could fix anything in the house, cooked delicious meals, and became like a loyal son to her.

Young graduated from Illinois Central College with an associate’s degree in electronics. He became an American citizen in 1992 and several years later returned to Cambodia where he married a lovely, smart, young woman, Chhoung Tang. He returned to Peoria and began the arduous visa process to bring Chhoung to the United States. After a three-year wait, the visa was granted and Young brought his wife to her new home. They now have two darling daughters. They own their home in West Peoria.

A couple of years ago, Young’s wife Chhoung, took her oath of citizenship in Judge McDade’s courtroom, like Young did 17 years earlier. As the judge entered the courtroom, all stood. "Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes! God save the United States and God save this honorable court," cried the clerk.

A statement was read by an immigration official that the gathered individuals had passed an interview and an exam and should be admitted to citizenship upon taking the following oath of allegiance.

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

After the oath, McDade had everyone rise and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we broke out into song. Judge McDade told us that he would sing the first verse of "America the Beautiful” and for us all to join in if we wanted to. We sang it and it went so well, McDade said, "That was really nice. Let's sing it again." So we did.

"I just love that song," said McDade. "It hits me where it's good to be hit once in awhile."

Next, we heard from dignitaries who assembled to address the new citizens. There were representatives from Rep. Aaron Schock's office, Sen. Roland Burris's office, the Social Security Dept., the Daughters of the American Revolution, the American Legion, Post #2, and the League of Women Voters. All offered their welcome and words of advice to the new citizens.

At the end of the ceremony, Judge McDade made some remarks.

"I get a little sentimental on these occasions," he said. "As a judge, I am usually doing things that are injurious to people, like sending them to jail. I don't like to do this, but it's necessary."

"We just want you to know that we're glad you're here. I appreciate that this has been a tough road. You did it the right way. To a certain extent, I wish that all Americans could go through this process. Some of us who are native born don't fully appreciate the benefits of citizenship like you do."

Nodding at the dignitaries, McDade encouraged the new citizens to get involved. These volunteer organizations are "the essence of participatory democracy. Join them because that's how things get done in this country. You will bring something very unique to these groups. Your involvement is a great opportunity for this country to learn from you."

"This is one of the most important tasks I have,” said McDade. “I'm helping this country grow by helping with the naturalization process." Because all Americans, “with the exception of two groups, are ancestors of immigrants or immigrants: the American Indian and Black Americans who were brought here in chains. Some of you came from countries where freedom is not complete. . . yet."

The judge then read through a list of all the countries represented by the new citizens and asked them to stand as he read their country's name. "I want to get a good look at you:

"Bolivia, Cambodia, Canada, People's Republic of China, El Salvador, India, Korea, Macedonia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, the UK, Sudan, France, and Vietnam."

One by one, or in the case of China several at once, all rose as their country of origin was called.

"Now turn around and look at each other," said McDade. "Go ahead. Do it. Look at each other. You're beautiful. This is America. You see how different you are. You are all equal as Americans. You've got a lot of other countries and everyone looks alike: their skin color, languages, customs, religion are all alike. In this country, that is not true. Almost everyone is different."

My husband John, along with other friends and relatives of the new citizens, was up with the new citizens, taking pictures. I was back in the visitors’ gallery with Young and his daughter Annie, who had fallen asleep in her father's lap.

Judge McDade continued his remarks: "In America, we believe strongly that freedom and liberty are precious things. With freedom, you can do good things or bad things. But you have the opportunity to create your own life here, the way you want to. Everyone has this opportunity. I grew up without any parents, picking cotton in the South. I was subjected to discrimination, some of it legal. Now, I'm one of 1,000 federal judges. One of your descendents will hold important positions in the government--perhaps even president."

"Now, I'm going to be the one to tell you this, because you'd find out eventually. Some people don't want you here. They don't want me here. They want people who only look like them and think like them. This country is big enough for all of us. We need you to make America better. I'm glad you're here. I expect a lot out of you. I expect you to make this country better than you found it."

And with that citizenship certificates were handed out and Judge McDade was the first person to shake the new Americans' hands. He told them he would stay in the court room for pictures as long as they wanted.

America for all, and all for America.

Up-to-Date Cholera Statistics in Haiti

2011-06-25T04:49:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll
Hopital Albert Schweitzer

Please go to this post from Crofs Blog.

Blogging from Haiti

2011-06-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

I appreciate the Peoria Journal Star allowing me to blog from Haiti on their website.

Haitians Don't Deserve This

2011-06-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

A very sick 15 year old girl with cholera produced this stool this morning.

The Ascaris parasite nestled in the bucket was passed at the same time.

Something is wrong here.

Willie

2011-06-21T13:53:00.000-07:00

This is Willie.

Willie is 23 years old now.

OSF denied Willie a new pacemaker when the pacemaker that was put in at OSF was failing a few years ago. When I examined Willie in Haiti, he had no get up and go due to the weak pacemaker. He would die unless we did something.

Haitian Hearts offered OSF full charges for a new pacemaker, but that didn't help. OSF still refused to care for Willie.

Haitian Hearts paid another well known children's hospital $5,000 and they gave Willie a new pacemaker right after their pediatric cardiologist examined him.

Willie is doing well.

Political Stalemate in Haiti

2011-06-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

This article is worth reading.

WikiLeaks and Haitian Earthquake

2011-06-15T18:42:00.000-07:00

Photo by John Carroll
Port-au-Prince

Published on The Nation (http://www.thenation.com)
WikiLeaks Haiti: Embassy Warned of Earthquake Vulnerability

Dan Coughlin | June 15, 2011

US officials in Haiti warned that the Haitian government would be unable to handle a major earthquake, five years before a devastating tremor destroyed large swaths of the capital and surrounding towns, killing tens of thousands of people, according to a secret US cable made available by the media organization WikiLeaks.

"The last thing Haiti needs now is an earthquake," said a May 25, 2005, cable, written two weeks after a 4.3 magnitude tremor shook Port-au-Prince. No injuries were reported, and damage was minor. But the cable warned that "a more severe earthquake would be catastrophic, as the government of Haiti is unprepared to handle a natural disaster of any magnitude," adding that such an event would compound problems of political instability, poverty and environmental degradation.

The earthquake warning was in a trove of 1,918 cables that WikiLeaks made available to Haïti Liberté, which is collaborating with The Nation on a series of reports on US and UN policy toward the country.

The cable concluded that a team from USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance "will come to Port-au-Prince in June [2005] to help the embassy coordinate its disaster preparations, and to try to jump-start [Government of Haiti] and donor coordination and planning."

Yet the January 12, 2010, earthquake appeared to catch unprepared the Haitian government, international NGOs and a 9,000-strong UN military force that had occupied Haiti since the 2004 overthrow of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Relief and reconstruction efforts were—and continue to be—slow and chaotic, marred by a lack of coordination and open competition between various governments and international agencies.

"I do not understand it," exclaimed ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer the week after the earthquake, questioning the sluggish US response. "Six days and they are only ninety minutes away from Miami." "With every day that passes in the mud and rubble of Haiti, the failures of the relief effort are heartbreaking," read a New York Times editorial two months later.

Today, seventeen months after the quake, a raging cholera epidemic has claimed more than 5,330 lives, a figure that is expected to climb. A USAID-commissioned report released in May, titled “Building Assessments and Rubble Removal in Quake-Affected Neighborhoods in Haiti,” estimates that between 141,000 and 375,000 people remain without homes. Meanwhile, only about 37 percent of the $4.6 billion in support pledges has been disbursed, an alarming figure, given how much Haiti relies on the international community. Some 65 percent of the Haitian government budget and most, if not all, of its infrastructure spending comes from international sources. Almost half the population receives at least some health services financed by the US government, according to the US Embassy.

Haiti lies between two major fault lines that traverse the country, one under the capital and one beneath the second-largest city, Cap Haïtien, in the north. Seismologists consider both "quite dangerous," according to the cable, which warns, "The northern fault, in particular, has not released significant energy in over 800 years."

"According to experts, approximately 4 to 8 meters of left lateral slippage has already accumulated and should it be released, could register 8.0 or higher on the Richter scale, with no forewarning," the cable warns. "The soil conditions in Haiti are such that an earthquake anywhere in the country could cause severe liquefaction, whereby soil is turned to a quicksand type liquid, which is a considerable threat to infrastructure such as buildings, dams, bridges and highways."

Source URL: http://www.thenation.com/article/161470/wikileaks-haiti-embassy-warned-earthquake-vulnerability

Whitewashed in Haiti

2011-06-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

See this article from the Huffington Post.