[R-G] Haiti's wealthy prosper while the poor decline

[Anthony Fenton]

Haiti's wealthy prosper while the poor decline
http://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/1_29_8/1_29_8.html

HIP - Port au Prince, Haiti — Cite Soleil, a seaside shantytown of  
more than 300.000 people residing in homes made of cinder blocks with  
tin roofs, has been described as poorer than India's infamous slums  
of Calcutta. On any given day it teems with the life's blood of  
Haiti's poorest citizens.

Despite the twists and turns of what residents describe as several  
foreign interventions, members of the community still recount with  
pride how they served as a launching site for former president Jean- 
Bertrand Aristide's first election campaign in 1990.

Yannick Jean, a frail 70 year-old woman whose longevity is a  
testament of hope, spoke in hushed tones as she washed her clothes in  
a ditch of dirty water, "We were the ones who presented Aristide to  
Haiti when he ran for president. He was our greatest hope. I am  
waiting for him again."

A controversial figure, Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a former Catholic  
priest who was overthrown twice in Haiti's turbulent political  
history. His first ouster was at the hands of Haiti's former brutal  
military with the support of the traditional economic elite who live  
fabulously wealthy lives as compared to Haiti's average citizens.

Where Yannick Jean washes her clothes probably speaks more to Haiti's  
current reality and the contradictions of the current United Nation's  
mission than any expert on development possibly could. Rising above  
her and creating shadows over her dirty laundry is a huge edifice of  
new construction that bears the mark GB. It is a new building that  
covers several acres and is home to the business of Haiti's  
wealthiest man, Gilbert Bigio.

While the surrounding residents of Cite Soleil are forced to  
literally eat dirt to stave off hunger, Bigio is a billionaire whose  
family supported the first coup against Aristide and reportedly  
helped to back the movement that forced his second ouster in 2004.

One need not look very far to see where Gilbert Bigio's interests lie  
in relation to Cite Soleil. According to his own company's web site  
his family maintains controlling interests in 16 of Haiti's largest  
companies. They are also the largest Haitian partner in the wireless  
communications giant Digicel, a mammoth company based in Ireland that  
has nearly cornered the cellular market in the Caribbean. Bigio's  
family is not merely wealthy amidst a sea of poverty stricken  
residents in Haiti, his family represents the uber-wealthy who have  
benefited most since Aristide's second ouster in 2004.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US government blocked all  
of the Bigio family's holdings in US banks following the brutal  
military against Aristide in 1991. Since Aristide's second ousting in  
2004, the financial wealth of the Bigio family along with those of  
other well off Haitian clans such as the Mevs, Brandts, Acras and  
Madsens have nearly doubled.

Not to be forgotten is the fact that Aristide's forced departure in  
2004 was legitimized and enforced by a UN authorized mission during  
the term of former Secretary General Kofi Annan. The fact that a few  
families of Haiti's traditional elite continue to exact exorbitant  
profits, while residents of Cite Soleil are forced to eat and bathe  
in ditches, has shaken confidence in the non-governmental sector  
working with the poor in Haiti.

A young woman who began her NGO career to end poverty in Cite Soleil  
shakes her head in disbelief as she watches throngs wash their  
clothes and bathe next to Bigio's glistening plant. There are  
security towers protecting every corner of the property with armed  
guards while UN forces in large armored personnel vehicles patrol the  
outer perimeter. She asks not to be identified and comments, "I  
bought into the development model the UN used to encourage us to come  
here and invest in Cite Soleil. The US government funds our  
organization through USAID and I came here to make a difference in  
these people’s lives. I am now faced with the reality of a  
humanitarian crisis we cannot be expected to solve. The UN's main  
thrust seems to be security at any cost. This can only result in the  
loss of another generation of Haitians in this community being lost  
to poverty and misery. I am ready to quit unless something changes  
soon."

In another corner of this community and trying not to draw attention  
amidst the children with bloated bellies and flow of the poverty, is  
a representative of Aristide's Lavalas movement. Mr. Jean- Marie  
Samedi was brutally beaten and tortured after Aristide's ouster in  
2004. He is the leader of a movement called the Base of Lavalas  
Reflection and gave another view to the already disfigured politics  
of suffering in this community.

Mr. Samedi commented, "At least the people they called bandits and  
gangsters shared what they had with the community when they were  
here. People could eat. They had food and had running water. They  
didn't have to eat dirt to live or have to wash their clothes and  
their bodies in ditches of dirty running water."

Several children run by with almost blondish hair, a clear sign of  
malnutrition amongst blacks, to punctuate Mr. Samedi's point. He  
continued, "They told us that everything would change after they got  
rid of the bandits and yet people cannot feed their children. You see  
them forced to wash in this dirty water. What did the promise of the  
Bush administration and the UN really mean to the people of Cite  
Soleil? They have merely continued politics as usual in Haiti. The  
rich get richer while the majorities are forced to continue to suffer  
in poverty. I challenge anyone to show me the difference they have  
made for the majority of the poor in Haiti." Growing visibly angry  
and bitter Mr. Samedi concluded, "The UN came in here and slaughtered  
residents who supported Lavalas on July 6, 2005 and again on December  
22, 2006. And for what have to ask? So that Bigio and the Haitian  
Chamber of Commerce could force us back into accepting this level of  
poverty? Nothing has changed for the poor in Haiti."

photos: ©2007 Randall White

The Haiti Information Project (HIP) is a non-profit alternative news  
service providing coverage and analysis of breaking developments in  
Haiti. Winner of the CENSORED 2008 REAL NEWS AWARD for Outstanding  
Investigative Journalism