Before fall of Aristide, Haiti hit by aid cutoff

[seemslikeadream]

By Farah Stockman
and Susan Milligan, Globe Staff, 3/7/2004

WASHINGTON -- For three years, the US government, the European Union, and international banks have blocked $500 million in aid to Haiti's government, ravaging the economy of a nation already twice as poor as any in the Western Hemisphere.

It is important to understand that we need help because we are the poorest country in the hemisphere," said Claude Roumain, a key opposition leader who has called for a special international fund to rebuild Haiti and an audit of the central government. "The main concern is where we stand now. To know exactly and to tell the truth to the people."

Many of Aristide's supporters, in Haiti and abroad, angrily contend that the international community, particularly the United States, abandoned the fledgling democracy when it needed aid the most. Many believe that Aristide himself was the target of the de facto economic sanctions, just as Haiti was beginning to put its finances back in order. "This is a case where the United States turned off the tap," said Jeffrey Sachs, an economist at Columbia University. "I believe they did that deliberately to bring down Aristide."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/03/07/before_fall_of_aristide_haiti_hit_by_aid_cutoff/

[mopinko]

1. what better way

to justify a coup, and to soften up a people, so that the drug traffickers could take over. remember, everyone "when you criminalize drugs, you aid terrorists"

[Tinoire]

2. I don't so much mind them cutting off the aid

because it's often used to shackle countries even more. What I do mind is that they wouldn't release the country from even some of the demands that it had accepted for that aid. And then when Aristide went along, despite the lack of aid, building more hospitals & schools and housing, and showing too much independence they had to go whisk him away.

So the elite & industrialists are back in charge offering the slave labor of darker skinned Haitians to the world.

'You can come and make money, keep home, and they will not come and trouble you like they did last week,'' said Gérard R. Latortue, former Haitian foreign minister and United Nations official who is now a business consultant living in Boca Raton. ``Haiti is a land of opportunity.''

<snip>

But community leaders said the abundant, available labor and low salaries makes Haiti an ideal location for investors, especially in tourism, apparel manufacture and agriculture.


<sbip>

The Haitian Parliament last month passed a new law to encourage foreign investment, with provisions such as a 15-year tax holiday, duty-free imports on equipment and supplies, and no restriction on repatriation of capital.

<snip>

Several big projects are under way, including a tourist development being planned for the island of Gonave and an industrial park being built near Cap Haitien by the Dominican Republics biggest apparel maker Grupo M.

<snip>

''Haiti is a virgin country,'' said Olivier Nadal, president of Haiti Alternative Liberté Travail Espoir (Liberty, Work, Hope).

http://www.newshaiti.com/index.php?mode=single&n=46


:puke:

On edit: And meanwhile... (just found this)

Haiti: 'rebels' used to break union at Grupo M (Levi's) factory

Haiti: 'rebels' used to break union at Grupo M (Levi's) factory
2004-03-06 09:30:21
by Haiti Support Group
The new union of workers at the Grupo M factory at Ouanaminthe on Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic has been violently busted. The Grupo M management has enlisted the support of the armed insurgents, who earlier this week overthrew the Haitian government, to break the union. Please take action now to demand the re-instatement of the sacked union members.

On Monday March 1st, 2004, 34 members of the SOKOWA, the new trade union at the Grupo M-owned free trade zone at Ouanaminthe in north-east Haiti were fired by the management. The next day, as workers at the Codevi Free Trade Zone began to take action in support of the union, members of the so-called ‘rebel’ forces, who last week staged a coup d’etat against the Haitian government, arrived at the factory with guns to rough up the workers. After several workers were handcuffed and others beaten up, the workforce was compelled to resume work. Later, the ‘rebels’ revealed that they had been contacted the previous evening by the Grupo M factory management who had told them that workers were going to “make problems”.

Please take action now in support of the Sendika Ouvriye Kodevi Wanament - SOKOWA (the Ouanaminthe Codevi Workers’ Union) - who have been told to collect their final paychecks on Monday, 8th March. The main contract at the Ouanaminthe Grupo M factory is to assemble jeans for the world-famous Levi Strauss company. To support the new union at the Grupo M factory in Haiti, please write letters and emails demanding the reinstatement of the fired union members immediately.

Send to:

Fernando Capellan, CEO Grupo M SA Caribbean Industrial Park, Matanzas, Santiago, Dominican Republic email: [email protected] cc: [email protected]

Michael Kobori, Director, Global Code of Conduct, Levi Strauss & Co. 1155 Battery St. San Francisco, CA 94111 USA Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] email: [email protected]

cc: Haiti Support Group - email: [email protected] First of May-Batay Ouvriye union federation - email: [email protected]


http://www.newshaiti.com/index.php?mode=single&page=2&n=513