[R-G] Haiti: HOPE: A FALSE HOPE

[Anthony Fenton]

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                              HAITI LIBERTE
                    "Justice. Verite. Independance."

                     * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                         February 20 - 26, 2008
                               Vol. 1, No. 31


HOPE: A FALSE HOPE
by Mona Peralte

It was Dec. 9, 2006, seven months after the inauguration of Rene  
Preval as
Haiti's president under the banner of the Espoir (Hope) coalition. The
United States Congress approved a law that had been submitted by  
George W.
Bush's administration called the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity  
Partnership
Encouragement (HOPE) Act.

By signing this law, the U.S. president exempted from any tariffs all  
the
clothing and textile products manufactured by Haiti's subcontracting
industry, an waiver similar to the one implement for motor vehicle  
parts and
other items some time ago under the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI).

This HOPE legislation is scheduled to last for three years and is  
renewable.
It is also supposed to generate 75,000 jobs in the country, according  
to its
promoters. The law had the backing of Congressman Bill Thomas,  
chairman of
the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and  
his
successor, Congressman Charles Rangel.

Coincidentally or not, the HOPE Act paralleled the rise of Preval's Hope
coalition and the word alone, for its protagonists, contained promise  
and
virtue. Indeed, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Janet Sanderson does not mince
words in expressing her enthusiasm: "The proclamation of President  
Bush,"
she said "announces a new beginning for the Haitian economy and for the
Haitian people. The passage of the HOPE legislation and its gradual
implementation is the result of exemplary cooperation between the  
public and
private sectors. I commend the efforts of all those who have worked  
to make
the HOPE legislation a reality, particularly the Haitian government  
and the
business sector, and I look forward to seeing the result of this
collaboration that will make the difference." Indeed, it is results that
count, especially the extent to which this "hope" improves the lot of  
the
Haitian people, who comprise more than a few dozen people from the  
business
sector.

The Haitian Government, too, through its Minister of Economy and  
Finance,
Daniel Dorsainvil, asserted that "HOPE is very important to us. This  
would
send a positive signal which would mean the return of Haiti in the  
business
world. HOPE's adoption and debt relief will provide Haiti with all the
necessary energy it needs to return to growth." The minister remains  
in the
abstract or conditional, failing to specify how this measure will  
have an
effect, except perhaps to create eventually and theoretically 75,000  
jobs.
And under what conditions?

Where are we today? HOPE, barely born, already raises dissatisfaction  
even
among its main beneficiaries. The subcontracting bourgeoisie and its  
allies
want to see the government change the law, because for them, its  
constraints
do not allow its full exploitation. Their demands are to increase the  
time
limit from three to ten years, but also to extend the coverage of  
this law
to products such as electronics, toys, baseballs, etc..

On Friday, February 8, 2008, at the Karibe Convention Center in  
Petionville,
the government launched a campaign to try to lobby the United States
Congress to pass a new version of the HOPE Act, which would be HOPE II.
Talks are already underway; two members of an evaluation mission for  
HOPE
were in Haiti last week: Nicole Venable, a Congressional business  
specialist
and Adrean Scheid Rothkopf, executive director of the Association of US
Chambers of Commerce in Latin America. Recall that President Preval, in
turn, created, as has become the custom in all things, a committee, the
CMO-HOPE whose role is to ensure the implementation of this law in  
Haiti.
Its president is Ronald Baudin and its members are: Jean-Paul Faubert  
of the
Association of Haitian Industrialists (ADIH), Wilhem Lemcke  
(Association of
Free Trade Zones), Ronald Dessables of the Economy and Finance Ministry,
Paul Loulou Chery of the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH), Bernard
Regis (Trade Union Coordination of Haiti), Yves Heriveaux (Movement of
integrated independent organizations committed unions), Sanite Desir  
of the
Trade and Industry Ministry, Bernard Fils-Aime Haitian American  
Chamber of
Commerce (HAMCHAM) and Mr. Joseph of the Social Affairs Ministry.

During the meeting at the Karibe Center, Ronald Baudin stressed that  
"more
than 3,000 jobs have been created through the HOPE legislation passed in
December 2006. The impact would be even more beneficial if there were  
not
some constraints related to the duration of this law which is limited to
three years and the focus on textiles and the complexity of procedures."
Indeed, between the 75,000 jobs foreseen and the 3,000 declared there  
is a
difference, and it is large to say the least.

His partner, the chairman of the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce,
Bernard Fils-Aime, expounded in the same sense, but with an  
"alternative"
figure of the number of jobs created: "One year after its approval,"  
he said
, "by the American President George W. Bush, the HOPE legislation has
created 5,608 jobs in Haiti," adding that "the number of jobs  
foreseen by
this project runs between 25,000 and 40,000. Now it is appropriate to  
extend
the scope of the law to foreign investors who can provide capital,  
credit,
and materials required by Haitian investors who are greatly under- 
financed."
So everything floats on "hope," and despite all the fuss made about this
matter, potential investors are still at the stage of wishful  
thinking for
something well beyond the horizon.

Speaking of wishful thinking, Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis,  
for his
part, delivered a long speech at the Karibe Center. He was paradoxically
full of despair, almost with tears in his eyes: "The misery caused by  
the
material poverty and under-employment constitutes a danger, an  
enormous risk
of destabilization," he said. "The well-being and safety of families  
are, as
you know, at the center of the government's concerns. And to assure  
them, we
must create the conditions that allow them to work and peacefully  
enjoy the
fruits of their labor. So get involved, ladies and gentlemen, through a
gesture, a simple gesture. You religious people, please contact your
American colleagues and encourage them to lobby the U.S. Congress and  
the
U.S. Government on the desirability and usefulness of adapting the HOPE
legislation to HOPE II for Haiti.

"You others, leaders of American companies operating in Haiti, ask your
parent companies to mobilize their representatives in Washington for  
passage
and an urgent vote of HOPE II legislation. You other officials from  
the US
and regional chambers of commerce and associations of Haiti-US  
business, ask
your partners in the United States to support and educate the American
authorities about the need to pass HOPE II legislation.

"You other leaders of NGOs and opinion groups from the USA, ask your
officials and your partners to enact their network and lobby the  
American
Congress and the American government on the urgent need to pass a  
HOPE Act
II for Haiti. Ladies and gentlemen, Haiti needs all of you.

"The voice, the contribution, and the involvement of all of you  
counts. From
all of you, I beg assistance. I am urging you to give us your support so
that HOPE can fulfill its promises."

In the end, as Prime Minister and Head of Government, does Alexis  
hope that
this project and his prayers and his mantra will be able to convince the
capitalists? Lamentable and pitiful.

Does he see HOPE I or II as a pure gift for the creation of jobs for  
Haiti?

One is justified in wondering, 22 years after the overthrow of the  
Duvalier
dictatorship, how it is that the current government's economic policy is
that of Jean-Claude Duvalier? Here's what the Duvalierist newspaper "Le
Nouveau Monde" wrote in 1984: "All the conditions are right for the  
country
to become a platform for exports to the American market. Haiti has a
workforce that is disciplined and accustomed to hard work since
independence, a young and intelligent force, which provides labor at  
a cost
well below its productivity." After 22 years, Alexis has learned  
nothing or,
rather, does not want to understand.

This policy of the United States, called two decades ago the  
"American Plan"
for Haiti, was in reality emptying the countryside of its people, who
migrate to the capital to form a sub-proletariat, ready to be  
exploited by
the subcontracting bourgeoisie, thus destroying agricultural production.
Indeed, even the few jobs created remains very precarious because they
depend totally on demand in the United States, which, as it so  
happens, is
entering a recession, even if Alexis and his government seem to  
ignore that
or continue to believe that Haiti is on another planet.

Let us note that the population is not very excited about or  
interested in
HOPE. Some criticism, however, have been raised. Camille Chalmers,  
speaking
on Radio Caraibes during the show "Ranmase" of February 9, denounced the
lack of vision of Haitian authorities, who chose to liquidate public
enterprises and lay-off thousands of 'employees. Professor Robert  
Fatton of
the University of Virginia, for his part, said that the priority at this
time should be an agrarian reform to boost investment in rural areas in
order to increase agricultural production and rural incomes.

In fact, for the Preval-Alexis government, "increasing national  
production"
means reviving the assembly industry while agriculture is abandoned,  
even
though famine is already raging in many parts of the country. Can
subcontracting replace an agricultural policy? Obviously not, and  
HOPE 1 and
2 should not be used as a substitute for a development plan and  
development
of the country.