The ‘Bill & Hillary Show”, as the international conference ‘Towards a New Haiti’ at the UN on March 31st was called by a European sour grape diplomat, did deliver: almost 10 billion dollar — double of what had been asked for by the Haitian government.

The EU’s commitment – 1.6 billion dollar – came as a surprise. Spain was the largest donor among the European nations with 356 million dollar. The Europeans have regarded Haiti for a long time as America’s backyard and not directly of their concern. They even outbid the US, although it should be taken into account that the Americans spent already close to a billion on military security and emergency aid right after the quake.

Not only the superpowers were intent on pulling Haiti out of its underdevelopment. Even dirt-poor countries like Mali became a donor. Outlaw Venezuela committed 2 billion in aid. Brazil — a new force in its own right in the international community — will be part as well of a 23- member steering committee, representing donor countries and NGOs, that will coordinate the aid for the next two years. This “Interim Haiti Recovery Commission” will be co-chaired by Bill Clinton, in his function as the UN special envoy and Haiti’s Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.

Can we all sleep better now, dreaming of a new Haiti that will rise from the rubble as a dynamic, modernized country with a future?

You would think: all this money – of the 10 billion, 5.3 billion will be made available for the next two years — should get something done. As a comparison: U.S. Congress appropriated since 2002 over 100 billion as development aid to Iraq and Afghanistan. But Haiti is a much smaller country – smaller than Belgium and with a population of less than 9 million. And the quake did not damage most of the country. But, another comparison: the subway station on my corner of the street on Broadway was recently reopened after a major overhaul. Cost: almost one hundred million dollar. That’s one subway station! Downtown Manhattan — the 9/11 crater — is still largely a building site.

And some prickly questions remain. For starters: will the donors keep their promises? At the Haiti-conference, Ban Ki-moon, UN’s SG, promised careful monitoring of the commitments made that day. But, there are no sanctions when a donor reneges. It wouldn’t be the first time international pledges became a boulevard of broken dreams. After hurricanes hit Haiti hard in 2008, at a similar international conference in April 2009, the international community committed hundreds of millions of dollars. A majority of these pledges have not materialized. And I have not seen that the money that was collected made much of a difference. Gonaives, the sea-town that was damaged most, is still in shambles and the population is wondering where the aid money went.

Next question: who will decide how to spend the money? The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, where all the large donors will be represented, will oversee the spending of the aid. But the World Bank will be the paymaster and controller. It would have instilled more confidence if the multilateral Inter-American Development Bank would have taken on this role. More expertise in house. It was a large IADB staff that straightened the books of the Haitian government in order to get considerable debt relief from international lenders last year. And the IADB is not perceived to the same degree as the World Bank as a U.S. foreign policy instrument.

Then there is the future role of the Haitian government.

Its widely known that Haiti has become a dark hole for quite a lot of development money over the last two decades. Haiti received three times more than for example Guatemala and Nicaragua and almost the same as Colombia, five times its size and a strategic partner of the U.S. Billions gone and nothing to show for it.

The plan for the reconstruction submitted by the Haitian government – it seems to have been inspired to a large extent by economist Jeffrey Sachs — sounds sensible enough: Building the infrastructure that Haiti never had; creating new regional centers — relieving the still overpopulated capital; public education and healthcare accessible to all; boosting the languishing agriculture and supporting the subsistence farmers, etc. As hopeful as these plans are, it makes one realize how little the country had its citizens to offer even before the earthquake.

But as progressive and detailed as this proposal is, it is doubtful that the Haitian government will be allowed to steer its execution. At the Haiti-conference at the UN, all donors paid lip service to leadership by the Haitian government. But the structure that will lead the reconstruction – the international Interim Haiti Recovery Commission and World Bank – is meant to reassure the international community that the Haitian government cannot run with the money. It will leave the Haitians with very little say.

It is clear that the image of graft and corruption that Haitian governments have become associated with is on every-ones mind even today. Not fully justified. It’s true that the present government has not shown a very dynamic leadership –not after or before the earthquake — but political insiders in Haiti don’t call Preval and Bellerive corrupt. Also, there is very little acknowledgement that in the past, Haitian governments always had enablers – the foreign NGOs and foreign governments who had an interest in going along with ‘dead aid’.

The international donors, with the U.S. in the lead, have always circumvented Haitian governments and institutions. Of the official development aid given by the U.S. about 70% was paid to American companies. Less than 10% went to Haitian governmental departments.

The question is if the country can be developed by all these foreign donors if its political institutions aren’t strengthened. The conference slogan “building back better” does not mean only houses and schools but in every-ones vision it’s about restructuring an entire society. It was painful to see at the conference how the request from the Haitian government for some additional and immediate funding (350 million) was ignored. How is a government supposed to govern without money?

The big foreign NGOs are watching from the sideline. They have no intention to cooperate with or to be placed under the direction of a Haitian government. They don’t want to be regulated or taxed. And even in these extraordinary hard times they have not shown an inclination to coordinate their efforts as many are competing with each other.

The first moment at the UN conference of real interest was when president Préval lost his way in the basement and a group of Haitian journalists cornered him. They cannot get to talk with him at home and this was their chance. While Haitians outside the UN were demonstrating because they felt left out of the decision making process, Préval was asked some tough questions about his future role and the political opposition he is facing at home. The fact that a number of parliamentarians have not signed off on the new plans and have demanded full accountability of the money that the Haitian government received after the hurricanes in 2008, Préval dismissed as a minor issue. He pointed out that his party has a solid majority in both chambers and can easily overcome this hurdle. He remained vague about the possibility of elections. Préval, whose current term expires in February 2011, is constitutionally prohibited from seeking a third mandate. He said it was up to the international community to organize these elections before the end of the year and to guarantee an orderly election process.

The issue of presidential elections opens a can of worms. People in Port-au-Prince are expressing their dissatisfaction with this government. Préval is held responsible for the ongoing state of misery and the scarcity of aid three months after the quake. How will this government stay in power without the support of its population while the international community is withholding it funds to govern?

One of the Haitian journalist who fired off questions to Préval commented: “That’s why we have UN and American troops here. We all know they are here to stay!”

The population is not waiting for brilliant futuristic plans (Bill Clinton: ‘Haiti will become the first wireless nation in the Caribbean’) They want a proud, independent political leadership that is committed to relieve their misery and provides shelter, food and the prospect of some work.

In the meantime, the one and only political leader that spoke their language – literally – is quietly making a come back, at least in the people’s minds. It won’t happen – that’s one thing France and the US are in agreement about. But ‘Titid’ – the nickname for ex-president Jean Bertrand Aristide who was forced into exile by American military in 2004 — is written again on every wall that still stands. Haitians will acknowledge that Aristide did not bring much improvement to the country either. But in their desperation, many are rekindling their hopes in him.

If this government cannot establish a better rapport with the population, the attempt to rebuild Port-au-Prince could become engulfed in riots. And whoever marched in the past with angry Haitians in the streets, will wish that the international community has the wisdom to prop up this government – whether it deserves it or not.

Ton Vriens
April 2, 2010

Hoe verder met Haiti? De Groene Amsterdammer (PDF, Dutch)

Dutch journalist and documentary filmmaker Ton Vriens witnessed the catastrophe, traveling from North to South. Back in the States he wonders if the international community has the will to build up this country — so behind in development and corrupt from top to bottom.

(a translation of a piece for Dutch weekly De Groene Amsterdammer, February 10, 2010)

On that Tuesday I was waiting in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince for transportation to the North. The promise of a beautiful evening was in the air – not too hot and the sun is sinking. It is always such a pleasure to return to Port-au-Prince, with its fast-paced, colorful street life, the beautiful friendly people…

I am walking down rue Gerard Théodat when the pavement starts to move as if a giant mole is boring through the earth. A tap-tap bus stops in front of me. The passengers jump out in panic. Some women break down and start crying for God. Then, a three-story building on the corner comes down in jolting spurts. A group of people come running out of its gate. Among them is a young man and woman, barefoot, each carrying a lifeless, bloodied child. They scream for a moto-taxi and jump on the nearest one. No one knows if there are other people in the building. Apparently there had been a large prayer meeting that ended shortly beforehand. The building has not completely collapsed but the cement roof is dangerously leaning forward. Through openings in the rubble, I start calling, hello, hello? A muffled woman’s voice answers but I can’t hear what she says. There is no entrance. Splintered furniture is sticking out from the rubble. Two young guys manage to get inside through the cracks. An eternity later they come back, grey with dust, their arms chafed. A group of men starts to move cement blocks to find a way to enter the building. The sun sinks down further and it becomes dark. The woman does not answer anymore.

Later that night I leave town with a bus of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital. On this exit road some damage to houses and walls can be seen but there is no panic in the streets. We pass St. Marc, a large port, where all is still; nothing seems to have happened here. Upon arrival in Verrettes in the Artibonite Valley, a few ladies of the women’s group our Turtle Tree foundation works with since 2007, are waiting for me. Their town seems to be unscathed, they tell me. They have not heard of any damage and no one got hurt. I wonder if the earthquake will make the news abroad – not knowing that my family in New York had already listed me as missing and would stay up all night with worry.

Only the next morning do we hear on the radio about the scope of the catastrophe. The next few days the women all wait in suspense. Phones don’t work any more and most have relatives in Port-au-Prince. Some wait for hours at the bus stop, waiting for husbands, sons, cousins, and uncles to come back – often after a long separation. The women are glad they are alive but it also puts an extra burden on them. Even worse, the usual remittances that so many receive from family in the US can no longer get through now that the banks are closed.

The schools are closed as well. The women take the children to work – although we don’t really work. We talk and wait and eat a lot. A recurring theme is that this was God’s will and we should thank him for saving us. No one talks openly about that other set of religious beliefs – voodoo – except ten-year-old Love. She whispers in my ear: “The Zombies are very angry at us and it ain’t over yet.”

On Thursday morning at 4 AM, everyone runs out into the street. News of a new quake has reached us. We just stand there singing and talking in the dark. The earth keeps on moving in spurts over the following days and nights. We sleep very lightly.

Tom Braak, an American missionary calls for a meeting with all the authorities in Verrettes. Only a few pastors show up. Braak poses the question: should we start bringing water and food to homeless in the capital or help evacuate them? He wants to set up a refugee camp on the local soccer field, but the idea is turned down. “Already enough strangers in Verrettes.” Acting on my own, I try to buy Betadine and gauze to bring to Port-au-Prince, but the local pharmacist refuses to let me. “We may need it here for ourselves in the near future.”

The next day, I drive with pastor Elvilus Merlorme to the capital with a load of drinking water. The pastor can’t find the church he wants to bring it to and decides to enter a refugee camp. In less than a minute some strong fellows grab the bags of water bottles out of the back of the pickup truck and run away. The people in the camp get very angry, screaming at us: “How can you be so stupid?”

I hear that Hospice St. Joseph, a guesthouse and medical center in the neighborhood Nazon has collapsed. All the people of the neighborhood are camping out on the property – several are wounded. There is no more food or medical supplies in what is left of St. Joseph. I take PharraSolia Hyppolite, who runs St. Joseph, to the UN-compound next to the airport. In a matter of days, a new city has risen here, with air-conditioned trailers for the dozens of UN-subsidiaries and other NGOs. The director of UNDP, UN’s development branch, directs me to Nigel Snoad, a colleague at OCHA, the UN branch that coordinates development aid. But Snoad pleasantly informs us that the UN’s World Health Organization is coordinating medical supplies. “They are working on a distribution list. Unfortunately, for the time being, the medical supplies will stay at the airport.” I argue that a neighborhood medical center like St. Joseph needs first-aid kits right now. Snoad understands, “We are waiting ourselves for the list.” And how does one get on their list? He gives us an email address. St. Joseph does not have power or internet, like almost all institutions in Port-au-Prince. Can Snoad put us on the list? Unfortunately, Snoad is not authorized to do so.

We roam around the labyrinth of the international aid-organizations and are being referred from trailer to trailer. Pharra is getting more and more angry. She thinks the international organizations are blaming the Haitian authorities for the lack of action. “In Nazon at least we had a water truck from the city come by and the garbage trucks have been removing the bodies. The international emergency aid? These guys shit in their pants to come and see us Haitians.”

Finally we find a large tent that is a makeshift hospital. In the corner, they perform surgeries. The Global Institute, a group of doctors affiliated with the University of Miami, set up the hospital the day after the quake. When you see the speed and efficiency of the young medical staff – all volunteers – you understand how they saved thousands of lives. The Global Institute quickly provides us with boxes of medical supplies. They agree to take in one of Pharra’s wounded neighbors who desperately needs medical care.

When the doctors have inspected Madame Lanite’s wounds, Pharra translates the diagnosis to her. Her foot will be amputated but she will live. “Mesi,” mumbles Lanite and tries to smile through her tears. A press photographer jumps in and shoots a few pictures. Madame Lanite is not dressed decently and a nurse berates the photographer. “Imagine that this was your mother. Would you want her like this in the newspaper?” In this disaster, the media don’t have scruples. The victims, death or alive, lost their status as individuals.

Back in Verrettes, I stop by La Plaza for a cold beer – it’s the only place in the village that has a refrigerator. Jean, the owner, a reserved young man, joins me. He listened to President Preval’s first radio speech today, he tells me. Jean is trying to talk about it but he starts to cry. “Not a word, not one word of compassion! My God, what kind of people are they?”

A week later I have to go to Vallee de Jacmel in the South to visit another project of Turtle Tree. On the way we pass the town of Léogâne that was heavily hit. The homeless inhabitants have put up tents on the shoulder of the road. In a field US Marines are standing heavily armed around helicopters and Humvees, ready for the war to come. A passenger in the bus: “The Yankees are back again. Let them stay this time.” But fellow passengers angrily disagree with him. Many homeless shelters have signs up with “Welcome Marines” and “Come and Visit Us – We are Hungry!” The radio reports that so far twelve thousand American troops have landed and several thousands of foreign troops are on their way to strengthen the UN-force of nine thousand blue helmets. But medical help is still sporadic and the distribution of food and water is still minimal. As many commentators on the Haitian radio stations conclude: the aid-machine is scared of the Haitians and the anger and frustration they may encounter.

I leave Haiti with the small plane of a drug dealer that has a drop to make in the DR. Drugs remain the one enterprise that Haitian authorities seem to have a knack for. Back in the US I find in my inbox several outcries about a piece by David Brooks in the NYT. Brooks had the audacity to write: “Haiti, like most of the world’s poorest nations, suffers from a complex web of progress-resistant cultural influences. There is the influence of the voodoo religion, which spreads the message that life is capricious and planning futile. …We’re all supposed to politely respect each other’s cultures. But some cultures are more progress-resistant than others, and a horrible tragedy was just exacerbated by one of them.”

And Brooks concludes: “In this country, we first tried to tackle poverty by throwing money at it, just as we did abroad. Then we tried microcommunity efforts, just as we did abroad. But the programs that really work involve intrusive paternalism.”

Brooks omits our painful record of intrusive paternalism in Haiti. The US Marines’ occupation from 1915 to 1934 not only protected the corporate robbery of Haiti’s last resources like tropical wood but also brought into existence a Haitian army that could be used against its population, laying the foundation for decades of brutal dictatorship. Tocqueville’s overquoted cliché, “people get the government they deserve,” might have been valid for Haiti – the first independent black state that came out of the only successful slave rebellion in colonial history – if the US had not consistently manipulated each and every social and political movement. I was there in 2004 when American secret agents hosted a ragtag army of former officers in Montana with women and champagne and provided them with the means to raise a rebellion against then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Under the pretense of a civil war, Aristide was unceremoniously escorted out of the country. The international community did not protest. After all, Haiti is considered to be part of America’s backyard. And it must be said, the leftist ex-president had not lived up to his promise of developing the poor country.

President René Préval – once Aristide’s right hand – is in much better standing in Washington. The praise for the stability of his regime – not the greatest art with a UN army at his side – has enabled Préval to become as much of an autocrat as his predecessors. The opposition, about fourteen political parties, has been excluded from participating in the coming elections. He had his prime minister, Michèle Pierre-Louis, removed – one of the few in Haiti’s politics with a clean reputation. And he appointed so many of his shady party members to powerful positions that the government of Haiti, from top to bottom, has become more than ever a mafia. The population is distrustful of a political process so blatantly skewed and did not show up for the last elections. Those who travel in the country see very few results from the billions in aid that Haiti received over the last five years.

The catastrophe caused by the earthquake poses a huge demand on the international community. But, how do they build a country that competes with Iraq and Afghanistan in corruption? How to collaborate with an administration that has no authority or respect among its own population? No American or UN official is willing to talk openly about the unreliability of the Haitian government.

In the public discussion in the United States two opposite camps can be discerned. David Brooks belongs to the group of skeptics who believe the US should pass over the Haitian authorities, even if this will irk European partners. More moderate voices hope for a diplomatic solution, that – albeit formally – respects Haitian’s sovereignty, but at the same time allows plenty of control to remain outside on how the aid money is going to be spent.

Tatiana Wah, an American-trained economist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute on loan as a policy advisor to the Haitian government, has formulated a plan for reconstruction. Wah says the Haitian government is behind this plan and that Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive has signed off on it. The proposal emphasizes the need for an overarching National Reconstruction and Development Council (NRDC) and asks the international community urgently to direct all donations, also those of NGOs and private donors, to a Multi-Donor Trust Fund, that will be made available to the NRDC. When asked who will be in control of the funds, Wah believes the Trust Fund could be housed at the Inter-American Development Bank and could be supervised by all donors. “But the (Haitian) government will have to be in the lead of course.”

She knows my doubts about the Préval administration and argues that the international community should learn to accept that this is a democratically elected leadership and that, as in any third world country, you have to work with what is available. Wah sees the emergency aid machine failing because they are not willing to work with the institutions of civil society – neighborhood committees, unions, professional organizations and local governments. “What are they thinking? That this is some kind of jungle and that you can’t work together with any Haitian?”

So far the population of Port-au-Prince has shown remarkable restraint and patience in their day-to-day suffering. But the growing frustration with the aid-machine’s slow and minimal distribution of supplies, the mounting anger with a president and a cabinet that is invisible, the mistrust against the UN and American troops, all this forms an incendiary mix. Many Haitians see themselves badly served by an elitist government that so obviously is protected by the almighty US.

Tatian Wah, reached in Port-au-Prince, hopes that the population will be offered, as soon as possible, a realistic perspective on what is in store for them. An international conference about Haiti is planned for March at the UN in New York. A consensus about plans for reconstruction should be reached by then.

In a panel discussion about Haiti’s future at Columbia University, the disparity in opinion is becoming clear. The US ambassador to the UN and some UN managers are all talking about a Marshall Plan that will not just rebuild but modernize Haiti’s society entirely. This grand plan will of course be under the auspices of the UN. But the UN big wigs offer very few ideas on how to go about this and what the priorities are. How will the Haitian people find work? How will they be able to make a living? The magic word is, of course: foreign investors.

The idea that American and other companies will jumpstart Haiti’s economy reflects the vision of Paul Collier, an Oxford economist who was commissioned by the UN before the earthquake to develop a megaplan on how to pull Haiti out of its state of permanent poverty. When reading Collier’s study, one becomes excited by his broad and optimistic vision for Haiti. But the Achilles’ heel of the plan is the expectation that foreign investors will once again build maquilladores, factories that assemble garments and other products. In other words, sweatshops with low wages – Haiti as a small China in the Western hemisphere. But will Haitian workers accept to work a full day for approximately $2.70? Last year fierce demonstrations were held demanding at least $5 a day – and even that is not enough to feed a family in the capital. Collier estimates that the sweatshops would generate 250,000 jobs and he believes other economic ventures, tourism for example, could turn the tide in Haiti. But tourism is hard to imagine in a country were the sight of heartbreaking poverty even before the catastrophe made one nauseous.

The Clintons – Bill in his role as UN envoy – have both been enthusiastic promoters of the Collier vision for Haiti. Corporations were invited to well-visited business seminars in posh hotels in Miami and Port-au-Prince. Who wouldn’t want to have lunch with charismatic Bill? And the Clinton-friend George Soros, the idealistic tycoon, offered 25 million dollars for an industrial park in the capital. But, at the end of the day, businesses are not ready to invest in a country they pulled out of in the eighties when it became too unstable. As one visitor to a seminar overheard a company representative say: “And so where can my people go for a jog?”

The economist Jeffrey Sachs offers a different perspective. His proposal for Haiti is radical, expensive and credible. The idea that private companies will come to Haiti’s rescue is unrealistic in his opinion. “The rebuilding of Haiti is a public matter that should be directed under public directorship. If we do our job, and are able to construct new infrastructure, private companies will come to Haiti. But keep in mind that it could take ten years.” Sachs believes that modernization of Haiti’s archaic agriculture should be the real jump starter of the economy. The agricultural sector has been consistently neglected, by Haiti’s urban elite as well as by the development agencies. But a majority of Haitians are subsistence farmers and agriculture is the only economic sector that has some viability. The planting season starts in March. Sachs wants containers filled with fertilizer and improved seeds to be sent now. Large biotechnology companies like Monsanto should be pressured to deliver seeds to Haiti.

Building and developing Haiti, including a school system, a basic health care, humanitarian help and a modern infrastructure, will cost about 3.5 billion dollars per year for the next five years. A back-of-the-envelope break-down shows 1.5 billion for humanitarian aid, official development aid and the UN-troops (about 600 million a year) and seven to 12 billion to rebuild Haiti.

Is this politically feasible in view of the general skeptism about development aid and nation building in general? Sachs thinks Obama should ask Congress for an appropriation bill of one billion dollars before all news cameras have left Haiti. But to the disappointment of many – specifically the estimated one million Haitians that live in the US – the US president did not make any financial commitments, not in the State of the Union and not as of yet. And even if the president could get this appropriation bill signed, it would still leave two-thirds of the budget to be paid by the rest of the international community. Sachs knows Obama – that is to say, he is often invited to the White House to give his opinion on economic policy matters. But his plea to set aside a large amount of money for Haiti comes, as we all know, at a difficult time. As disappointing as it is to many in Haiti, who believe strongly that brother Obama has them in mind all the time, there may be other pressing matters on the presidential agenda, even though his wife is raising funds to help Haiti and half of American households gave generously. Professor Tatiana Wah who works closely with Sachs is holding her breath. “We wait and wait because what has been committed is so insufficient.”

I call Evelyne Margron, a friend in Port-au-Prince who was severely wounded and is in a hospital in Santa Domingo. Margron used to work at the Haitian Ministry of Education. She considers the antiquated educational system the largest impediment to any development of the country. Only half of all Haitian children are able to attend school and there are hardly any public schools. Margron has witnessed that each and every NGO and foreign church group wants to come and build schools in Haiti. But who is focusing on modernizing the curriculum? Not the foreigners. And not the Haitian elite – who have always looked the other way when the subject of public education came up. Evelyne Margron: “It seems almost a conspiracy to keep the masses uncritical and deprived of any education.”

Haiti_first_trip-1.pdf

HealthCare Newsletter November 2008

But The Comedians was published in the sixties, when turmoil and instability hit almost overnight in the decolonized nations. One would almost forget thatHaiti is is not exactly a young, emerging nation, inexperienced and giddy with its newfound freedom. Haiti was one of the few colonies that liberated itself at an early stage – the one and only slave revolt in history that actually succeeded. At the time of its independence in 1804, the population did not even share a common language, as they had been shipped to the island from all over Africa. The country’s revolutionary leadership — Toussaint L’Ouverture and others — baffled the Western world with its firm hand in organizing the masses and with its clever foreign politics.

Why Haiti could not remain a beacon for the world of repressed people is a complex question. Let’s just say for now: the West refused to allow the full independence of such a rich colony and continued to suck it empty, aided by the local elite.

By now, many economists and political scientists label Haiti as a ‘failed state’, notwithstanding the reinstatement of democracy in 2005 via a large American invasion and subsequent streams of foreign aid. Of this aid money, little has trickled down. A large majority of the population of 8.5 million still goes hungry and lacks schooling or healthcare. Haiti’s political class, from generation to generation, seems largely desensitized to the hardships of their people. An American military occupation from 1915 –1934, decades of brutal dictatorships and a brain drain of approximately 80 % of the educated class, has left Haiti perennially in the hands of a dysfunctional bunch of greedy politicians. There is no economic activity and no national income, except for foreign aid and the remittances of over one million Haitians in the diaspora. In the meantime, the once idyllic Caribbean island has become an ecological time bomb. Catastrophic deforestation has made deadly mudslides a regular occurrence with each tropical storm and hurricane. Any plan in Haiti to do something about this? Of course not. People dying in environmental disasters is a guarantee that foreign aid will keep flowing. This aid sometimes disappears into deep pockets and is one way in Haiti to get rich quick. But I’m getting ahead of my story about the recent coup.

When a group of eighteen senators voted the Prime Minister, Michele Pierre-Louis, out of office on the night of October 30th, it seemed again a demonstration of scheming politics rather than a noble act in the interest of the country. Before happy hour, President René Préval had already proposed a new candidate for the job. Good teamwork — if not a conspiracy. The senators who voted the PM down were all members of the leading party Espwa (Hope!) – the party of the president. Préval has gotten away with his sly coup d’état. The putschists took advantage of the blighted island’s insignificance to the modern world.

What had Madame Pierre-Louis done wrong?
The accusations of the group of senators that commanded her dismissal were many but none too specific. She was held responsible for the lack of progress in the country. Malfeasance of development monies was also insinuated. This sounds somewhat disingenuous. There has been plenty of criticism – Madame Pierre-Louis is not known to be a charismatic public figure or open to the press. But as a newcomer in Haiti’s politics, she went after corruption in the government with a vengeance whenever she encountered it. And she made many enemies along the way. Obviously she wasn’t capable of cleaning out the Augean Stables of Haiti’s government. Haiti ties with Iraq for being the most corrupt country in the world. But at least she had the guts to try.
On Saturday, November 7, the House of Representatives almost unanimously confirmed the president’s choice: Jean-Max Bellerive, previously the Minister of Planning in the cabinet of the ousted Michele Pierre-Louis. Three more rounds of voting will follow but there is no doubt that he will be confirmed as the new PM. Bellerive (age 51) is known as a veteran and hardy survivor in the country’s politics.

The recent political crisis caused by Pierre-Louis’ ouster alarmed the international community. Just when both of the Clintons pledged to give Haiti a boost, the threat of turmoil is here again. A Brazilian general heading MINUSTAH, the UN force in Haiti, warned that it was going to take a long time before his nine thousand blue helmets could go home: “I don’t see any signs that point to an end to the mission here.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her concerns in a personal phone call to President Préval the day after the silent coup. Her spokesperson further explained to the press that Haiti could not afford any political instability at this critical juncture.
But President Préval ignored Hillary and all other concerned parties abroad and at home. Luckily for him, the press agencies mentioned that the new PM, Bellerive, is an economist who is respected in the international community. It was also said that Bellerive is known as a technocrat — a description we tend to use when someone we consider a good guy is surrounded by shady politicians.

After the coup, I meet up with Evelyne Margron, a longtime friend in Port au Prince who moves in high circles and is generally well informed. Evelyne Margron thinks Bellerive’s epithet of technocrat is ironic. She says she knows Bellerive quite well – he is a childhood friend of her husband, a former ambassador. “A man who managed to be part of the extreme leftist government under president Jean-Paul Aristide as well as the right-wing military junta, is a very opportunistic politician rather than an outsider, as the word technocrat implies.”

Evelyne believes that Madame Pierre-Louis – who she worked for and who she respects — had to be replaced with a prime minister with less scruples. And that is Bellerive. But what motivated the senators to send Pierre-Louis home, right at this time, when an international fundraising campaign has started and the Clintons are bending over backwards to convince everyone that Haiti deserves the money because it finally has a stable, clean and efficient government?

Well, a big chunk of the international aid is already in the Haitian coffers. And under pressure from the U.S. State Department, international lenders forgave Haiti’s debt in an unprecedented move. So Haiti’s powerbrokers gave up their appearances. If the U.S. State Department openly chastises Haiti’s leadership, those who have been lobbying so hard for Haiti – yes, the Clintons for one – would lose face.

Madame Pierre-Louis has been the sixth prime minister in five years. Her predecessor was ousted after the food riots in April 2008. She was not President Preval’s first choice but two other candidates did not make the cut. Pierre-Louis ran into resistance as well. A smear campaign was launched that alleged she was a lesbian. Only after some arm-twisting by the president was Pierre-Louis confirmed. She did well abroad. She came across as a serious, articulate lady and she had a clean record. Pierre-Louis had been the director of Fokal, a Haitian foundation financed by Soros Open Society that establishes public libraries. Her only drawback was her lack of political experience. Her only connection was with the president. At one time they had tried to start a bread factory together. But from her first day in office, it was clear that there would be no cooperation between her and the president. Ignored and isolated by the powerful president, she remained unappreciated in her country.

In a tap-tap bus in the capital (you knock on the roof, tap tap, when you need to get out), with the passengers on two wobbly benches across from each other, I opened the conversation about the recent palace revolt. A nice looking lady sitting next to me is not eager to talk about it. In fluent English: “I’m looking for the good things in life. Politics in Haiti, unfortunately, is not one of these…”

But a gentleman on the other side is too angry to stay quiet. “I don’t know anything about Madame Pierre-Louis. I have no idea if she did something wrong. But one thing is certain: Préval is usurping all the power. He does not consider the people’s interests. He just wants to have a nice retirement, knowing that all his cronies occupy all key positions.”

A young man in a dark grey suit, probably on his way to church, comments that no politician is looking after the poor. “You see how everything is getting more expensive by the day? We have important visitors coming here from abroad (Nota Bene: he was probably referring to the Clintons and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon), but our children still don’t go to school and we have no medical care at all.”

In the so-called News Bar in the posh Montana Hotel – a nostalgic reminder for me of the nineties when the foreign press corps would hang out there — I met Evelyne Margron to hear the rest of the story. I have invited Bob and Carolyn, two American friends who are heading a foundation called Pure Water for the World. They are running several projects in Haiti and they are concerned whether the recent developments may have implications for the security of their staff. Haiti, we all know, is easily incensed.

Evelyne talks with rapidly mounting indignation about the interference in the previous elections by the Americans who decided that there would be no run-off round. She thinks this was unacceptable bulldozing over the Haitian constitution. It was clear that the US State Department had put their bets on Préval, and didn’t want to risk a win by the lesser known candidate, Madame Manigat, the wife of a former president.
Bob and Carolyn remain politely silent throughout this conversation. It is not that they support U.S. meddling in foreign elections. But the unspoken question on their part was probably: how can Haiti exist without U.S. interference?

But even if this president was supported by the U.S. because of his malleability, he clearly navigates by his own compass. In orchestrating the ouster of Pierre-Louis he has managed to consolidate his power in Haiti without jeopardizing the relationships with Haiti’s big sponsors, Canada and the U.S.

Also, admittedly, Préval has accomplished something many of his counterparts in developing nations can only dream about. The responsibility for Haiti’s progress rests more and more on the shoulders of foreign states and foreign NGOs. They are making the plans for Haiti’s development; foreign experts of the Inter-American Development Bank are the ones who straighten the government books and the U.S. State Department with Canada in tow is raising the money. In the last five years, Haiti has received more aid than Honduras, Guatemala, or even Columbia, a country seven times the size of Haiti. However, it must be said, most Haitians are still waiting for the results of all this aid, and with Haiti’s anti-corruption stalwart ousted for good, it may still be a long time coming.

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