State of Emergency in Haiti: NO MORE "DEBT" PAYMENTS !

"2nd Floor pancaked on first floor. About 700 kids attend this school every day said the official of Haiti Red cross" (CNN, Nov. 7, 2008)

"Haiti will not receive relief from its international debts despite suffering from two months of deadly storms, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said.
...The bank president told officials in Haiti that despite their request, the World Bank would not forgive its portion of the $1.7 billion Haiti owes foreign creditors.
[HAITI] pays about $1 MILLION a week in foreign debt, the report said. (UPI, Oct. 23, 2008)
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/10/23/World_Bank_wont_forgive_Haiti_debt/UPI-94521224805575/


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


Is there a President in Haiti?


Is there a Parliament in Haiti?

Kote moun yo?

Are there men and women with courage and decency in this country to finally do the right thing:

1) Declare Haiti to be in a state of EMERGENCY - therefore...

2) DEBT payments are to stop immediately

3) Investment in the nation's infrastructure to begin on a priority basis


How can it not be obvious, that Haiti cannot afford to be financing the World Bank and its blood-suckers international associates to the tune of $1 million a week !!!!!

When there is not even one good General Hospital on the 27 750 KM2 of the country

When there is a whole school system to rebuild from scratch

When there is a road network to be build.

When the farmers cannot expect the basics they deserve and need from their State to produce food for the nation.


It is criminal for the Haitian government to be so cowardly in its discussions with the former colonial powers (who now like to be called international community - in order to hide their RESPONSIBILITY in the mess nations like Haiti, the Congo etc... are living today).

We know the French assassinated Thomas Sankara when he stood up and unilaterally declared the obvious - that Africa should not be financing its former torturers - through upside down "debt". The money Duvalier, Bokassa and Mobutu stole was spent in Europe with their sponsors, not by the peoples of Haiti or Africa. They helped finance the electoral campaigns of François Mittterand and others - so stop this non-sense about "debt". Who owes who what?

France has stolen at gunpoint over 40 billion dollars from Haiti from (1825 to 1947) - with U.S. complicity (Go read about the Charles X Ransom) - Who in the so-called "World Bank" is seeking payment of that debt back to Haiti?

President René Préval needs to stop traveling to stupid neocolonial club meetings like the Franco-phony and start standing for the rights of the Haitian people.

We, in the Haitian diaspora need to get our act together and stop being giddy and satisfied with symbolic gestures like the nomination of Michaelle Jean as Governor General of Canada or a brother or a sister getting a good position here or there. It is time we get serious and start advocating for what truly matters at a national scale.

It makes no difference if a thousand of us get "good jobs" and "make it" when we leave our mothers and fathers, our children and our very selves vulnerable to the next rainfall, the next school collapse, the next boat that capsizes or the next malaria outbreak.

The Wretched of the Earth is not our natural destiny.

How many Barack Obamas died in the rubbles of that school in Petion-Ville yesterday?


Hom many Nelson Mandelas? How many Phillip Emeagwalis will never become the scientist, the geniuses they were meant to be.

I am sick and tired of the cowardice displayed by the Haitian leaders. It is not only shameful, it is criminal. 150 million African women and men (including babies killed in their mother's womb) did not die in the middle passage, on the deadly torture fields called plantation, on the battlefield against the bullets of the British, Spanish, French enslavers....so that today we would become stupid adults who are happy to wine and dine in Franco-phony or not-so-CommonWealth orgies - as if valsing on a slave ship while our people's screams continue to fall on death ears. WE ARE GUILTY OF COWARDICE AFRICAN PEOPLE!


The bones of these children shall never rest in peace until we assume the responsibility that is OURS to ensure these tragedies stop to occur.


The so-called "World" bank has nothing to forgive. It is up to us to garner the courage to decide we are no longer throwing our meager resources to imperialist thieves!

Se swa nou aksepte ret ak moun oubyen nou asime dwa granmoun nou!


Jafrikayiti
«Depi nan Ginen bon nèg ap ede nèg!»
(Brotherhood is as ancient as Mother Africa)
(L'entraide fraternelle date du temps où, tous, nous fûmes encore dans les entrailles de l'Afrique-mère)
http://www.jafrikayiti.com
http://www.godisnotwhite.com

Jaf,

Mwen avè w nèt.

Ma p repete sa m te ekri gen kèk tan de sa:

Sujet: Re: World Bank won't forgive Haiti debt Sam 25 Oct - 17:02
Si yo pa vle efase dèt la, se pou Ayiti mande anraje di li pap peye. Kisa yo kapab fè pou mete nou lan pi move sitiyasyon pase kote nou ye jodya? Misye sôt fè yon enspeksyon dezas lan peyi a e limenm li di nou prèt pou tonbe lan twou foban. Se pou nou kenbe di milyon an chak mwa pou nou pa tonbe. Nou lan mal, nou lan mal nèt.

Petet se youn Jaf nou beswen nan peyi dayiti.se menm malonet pou direktè Bank mondyal la di ke li pap anile det la poutan yo fè l pou peyi ki mwen pov ke ayiti.Bagay saa montre kareman ke ayiti genyen youn det ke li ap peye malgre ke esklavajis yo te fè youn hold up sou Boyer. jodya ti neg genyen kouraj yo pral gaspiye resous peyi ya pou yo tande Sakorzy ki ap pale franseuu.Poukisa Sakorsy ak Harper pa mande pou yo anile det saa ke pep la pat goute menm 5 kob nan lajan an .yo tout konnen ki moun ke Duvalier te konn ap peye pou yo pwoteje li se jean Claude Duvalier menm ki di li te konn kotize nan kanpay elektorAL GWO CHABRAK NAN GWO PEYI.

Se pou yo vinn sezi peyi ya na fout fè youn lot 1804 ankor.Si preval pa genyen kouraj poul di non ke nou pa ka peye lajan saa e byen se poul bay demisyon li.Ba moun ki genyen kouraj gouvènay la. nanpren moun ki beswen vinn di oken radot nan forum saa pou jistifye peman det la.Nou di non ayiti pa ka peye menm enterè sou det saa jodya.

Malice,

Ou mal wè pwoblem lan.

Imagine ke yo di nou nou pa bezwen voye 10 millions dola sa yo anko chak mwa.

Kisa nap mete an plas an Ayiti pou anpeche nèg dwèt long yo voye kob 10 million, an plis sa a, sou compte pèsonel yo?

Si nan tout batay pou Ayiti, nou pa mete Konba kont Coripsyon an premie lie, se lave men siye atè.

Radot ou pas, se yon verite ke nap viv. Espri patizan ka anpeche nou di li aklè sa nou wè. Eske objektif la se pran Pozisyon pou yon Pati oubien Pou Ayiti.

Colo

Fok ou pa ekri pou ekri selman. nanpren moun ki ap tolere oken dwet long nan peyi ya. li sa Jaf ,Sassaye, Joel ekri byen pou konpran pwen de vi nou.Wi se vre fok nou koupe dwet neg dwet long ,fok nou mete bon jan goumet nan ponyet yo pou nou avili yo. men tou fok nou konbat sou plisyè fon, Ke se swa bank mondyal, FMI, BID tout moun te konnen kisa lajan ke yo tap prete ayiti ya tap regle.Men paske yo te jwen bon jan koutay nan lajan se pat regade si lajan se an Swiss li tal sere, jodya yo pa ka vle fè pep la rann youn pwa ke li pat manje.

Aba Preval ak tout Michel Duvivier Pierre Louis si yo pa genyen kouraj pou yo di non.Se pou beton an cho menm pou yo ka konprann wol yo.moun fout bouke ak lach ,souflantyou sa yo.

Sasaye a écrit:Jaf,

Mwen avè w nèt.

Ma p repete sa m te ekri gen kèk tan de sa:

Sujet: Re: World Bank won't forgive Haiti debt Sam 25 Oct - 17:02
Si yo pa vle efase dèt la, se pou Ayiti mande anraje di li pap peye. Kisa yo kapab fè pou mete nou lan pi move sitiyasyon pase kote nou ye jodya? Misye sôt fè yon enspeksyon dezas lan peyi a e limenm li di nou prèt pou tonbe lan twou foban. Se pou nou kenbe di milyon an chak mwa pou nou pa tonbe. Nou lan mal, nou lan mal nèt.

SASAYE,PEYI A PA GEN DIREKSYON....ESKE W KONNEN PIFO NAN NEG KI NAN POUVWA SA POUM PA DI TOUT ,TE PATISIPE NAN YON TRIBINAL KI TE FET LIMA EN 1989 POU JIJE DET EXTERNE NAN.KOUNYE A NEG YO PA VLE SOULVE DOSYE POU BLAN AN PA MOVE SOU YO.POU KI SA GOUVENMAN AN AP SENGNEN PEYI A CHAK SEMEN?

Preval pa ka repwoche depite ki ap volo lajan leta di ke yo achte kaoutchouc pou machinn yo li se youn dwet long tou.manno charlemagne te di ke se preval selman ki moun serye pami mesye lavalasyen yo e byen jodya li montre vrè koulè li.Li ap jwe youn jwet lese grennen poul fini manda li ,se grate dom ma grate pa w. se konsa li foure menl nan lajan leta kareman poul achete machinn ba depite poul achte konsyans yo tandis ke dokte ap fè grev nan lopital jeneral paske yo pa ka travay nan kondityon saa ,lopital justinyen o Kap pa genyen limyè pou doktè fè operatyon.

li pa ka di mesye BID< FMI < Bank mondyal ke li pap peye paske li pa vle fè refom ki merite fet yo pou reset leta servi pou ba pep la servis ak byen.Se youn sel bagay ke preval ap defann se manda li ya .Nan eta peyi sa ye jodya se pa youn Presidan kalewes ki ap danse Micky ke nou beswen, nou beswen youn vrè revolutyonè.

Jaf di:

State of Emergency in Haiti: NO MORE "DEBT" PAYMENTS!!!!!

!

Jaf ou pa bezwen fatigue ko wou. An 2009, mesye bankye yo pral fe yon chita rale nan Washington sou zafe det peyi d'Ayiti a. Se possib ke tre byento, yo kap bay Ayiti yon ti souf avek bagay dett sa.

Sepandan, SVP repond kestyon sa yo.

Eske gouvenman Preval la jamb deklare piblikman ke Ayiti pakab peyè det li ?????

Det la lou se vre men Ayiti gen bon repitatyon anve kreyansye'l ranpli devwa li anve'r yo.

Nou pata remen ke Ayiti gen move kredi e vini yon parya sou mache finansye a.
Paske nap toujou bezwen lajan nan men moun sa yo le nou nan gwo bezwen.


Daye, lajan sa ke Ayiti ap peye chak mwa bay la bank yo, memm lajan sa tounnen en Ayiti anko sou fom proje de developman.
ou byen femen je nou pou nou pa we!
Yon bagay ke anpil nan nou pa konnen!!

Fok nou pa kite aktivist liberal pran tet nou ni fe nou di bagay sou le kou de lemotion.

Yap mache di ke pret bank sa yo se yon form dexplwatatyon finansye ki kenbe ti peyi yo dan la povrete!!!

Wi e Non!! Wi tou otan ke lide nou yo koronpi, e inkonpetan e pa itilize lajan sa yo nan bon ti mamit.

Non, se pa Ayiti selman ki anba vant bankye sa yo!

Gen lot ti peyi ki avek disiplin, bon investisman nan edikasyon, sante, e developman agrikol soti anba la mize.
Fok nou gade pwoblem nan de 2 kote avan ke nou pran pozition.

Rod di: Wi se vre fok nou koupe dwet neg dwet long ,fok nou mete bon jan goumet nan ponyet yo pou nou avili yo

.

Rod sa w di la montre klereman ke w pa nan intere pep la ni peyi a!!
Se intere personel w ke w'ap defand.

Sa w di la montre vre vizaj satan bwe sang, koupe dwet e avilisman ke w ta remen we pou sa bandè e satisfe libido w.
Pinityon korporel sa yo pa a la mod anko mon fre!!

Sanble ke w malad nom fre. Take it easy!!

Revelasyon

Eske gouvenman Preval la jamb deklare piblikman ke Ayiti pakab peyè det li ?????

Rod e tout lot kamarad yo kap fe pledwaye an fave Ayiti pou yo sispand peye dett yo, pou bay Ayiti yon souf, e ke gouvenman aktyel la pa manje pwa donk yo pakab fe yo rand pwa!!

Revelasyon

Kidonk se gouvènman wa p tann pou deklare Ayiti pa gen mwayen peye dèt malachong sayo?

Nou deja konnen sa.
Nou vle gouvènman an deklare yo pap peye.

Dapre wou, ki kote w wè Ayiti ap jwenn lajan pou peye milyon ven chak mwa?

Toutmoun responsab wè ke peyi a bezwen rekomanse a zero paske strikti ki la yo pa kapab reponn a bezwen popilasyon an.

Pou wou se pou tout bagay ret kanpe pou nou sa peye move dèt sa yo?

Pou wou, se nômal yo efase dèt yon bann peyi epi Ayiti ke yo di ki pi mizerab pase lôt yo kontinye ap peye?

Se menm refleksyon ou wè Révélasyon fè la a, yon ekip moun san vizyon te fè, lè gouvènman apre gouvènman te pran sa kom "onè" pou yo fèmen lekol riral, koupe forè, vann kafe pou pri piyay, dekwa pou yo peye Lafrans ranson Charles X la.

Plizyè jenerasyon Ayisyen mèt sakrifye, men nan je papa adoptif yo Lafrans, yo gen bon kredi.

Etazini dwe plizyè TRILYON dola li pa peye. Se lè lide yo di yo, yo lage yon dis kob nan koze dèt sa a.

Noumenm peyi nou nan etadijans depi dikdantan. Sof ke moun ki plis sibi konsekans etadijans sa a, lavi yo pa gen valè devan je ti ponyen pouryanis ki te toujou "opouvwa" yo.

sou 27750 kilomèt kare peyi a, pa gen yon tinèl. Jiskaprezan se sou wout chwal ak charyo kolonyal - kèk ladan yo asfalte - n ap sikile. Lèe kamyon chavire 50 moun mouri, nou rele sa "aksidan".

Non sèlman Ayiti pa ka peye dèt tèt anba Bank Mondyal la. AYITI PA GEN OKENN REZON POU LI PEYE KWAKSESWA.

Annou sonje, pandan n ap reflechi la a, ke timoun ki anseveli anba blok ak siman sa yo, se pa LAVALAS, GNBIS, MANIGATIS yo ye, se timoun inosan ki ap sibi konsekans mank vizyon ak mank kouraj yon jenerasyon granmoun devègonde.

Nan kanaval, n a kontinye chante "i don't care". Zosman timoun sa yo gen pou toumante lespri nou jiskaspre nou ranmase responsablite nou - epi okipe n de sa ki vo lapenn.

Jaf

Sasaye di:

Kidonk se gouvènman wa p tann pou deklare Ayiti pa gen mwayen peye dèt malachong sayo?

Se gouvenman ki mandate pou fe yon deklaratyon konsa.
Aktivist liberal kap fe pressyon sou Bank mondyal men yo pakab pran desisyon sa pou Ayiti

Sasaye di :

Nou deja konnen sa.
Nou vle gouvènman an deklare yo pap peye.

Jaf di :

Non sèlman Ayiti pa ka peye dèt tèt anba Bank Mondyal la. AYITI PA GEN OKENN REZON POU LI PEYE KWAKSESWA.

Le Ayiti te bezwen lajan prete, li te bay tout rezon pou sa!!!
Men le pou yo remet lajan w ap mande pou yo fe koken e pran poz moun fou yo!!

A nivo finans, se pa konsa ke yo efasse det. Gen protokol e formalite pou sa.

Si Sasaye ak Jaf te minis, yo tap pedi djob yo la mem si yo ta gen male fe yon deklarasyon konsa.
Nou we sak rive prezidan nan fe deklaratyon enfantiyaj, yo voye'l kanpe louyen.
Nou we moun sa yo an aktion deja, e nap kontinye sou estime yo toujou.

Sasaye di :

Toutmoun responsab wè ke peyi a bezwen rekomanse a zero paske strikti ki la yo pa kapab reponn a bezwen popilasyon an.

Si wou vle ke Ayiti rekonmanse a zero jan wou di a,

Fok yo anile tout dett peyi a, e fok nou sispand prete lajan tou.

Fok nou voye MINUSTAH lakay yo, e monte prop sekirite pa nou.

Answit sispand resevwa tout assistans himanite ikonpri subvansyon de 65% budget national la!!

Si se sa ke wou ta remen we, nou tout ta remen we sa tou mon fre!!
Malerezman, nou pa gen mwayen pou sa.

Men sepandan, le jou ke na sispand mande la charite, jou sa nou pap gen dett ni redevans a pesonn !!

Pou jou sa yo sa reve, fok nou konbat la koripsyon, drug trafiking e pratike bonn gouvenans e jistis sosyal.


Se 3 bagay sa yo selman ke kominote intenasyonal la mande nou pou’m fe avan ke yo anile dette la.

Zafe cyclon, lekol tombe, biskwit labou etc pa fakte determinant pou anile yon det.
Se konpotman peyi preter a ki fakte a.

Nan zafe prete lajan, sansib pa jwe!!

Kom mwen te di deja, premye kwate'r 2009 la, dosye Ayiti a pral nan revizyon nan bank mondyal e an nou souyete ke yo pran ka nou an konsiderasyon.

Revelasyon

Mwen ta renmen li opinyon Marc bazin ou Lesly Pean sou kestyon saa.paske mwen pa ka konprann poukisa yo anile det pou Bolivie epi yo refize anile li pou ayiti.

- Letter to Mr Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank from Ambassador
Reginald Dumas on the cancellation of Haiti's debt

************************************************************


Bacolet Gardens

Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago.

October 28, 2008.


Mr Robert B. Zoellick
President
The World Bank Group
1818 H St.
Washington D.C. 20433
USA.

Dear President Zoellick

I take the liberty of writing you on the subject of Haiti, a country in which I
have had a particular interest since my stint there in 2004 as the Special
Adviser of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

You are quoted as saying on October 22, at the end of your recent visit to
Haiti, that the country could have its World Bank debt cancelled by mid-2009 if
it met certain conditions such as addressing corruption and increasing public
investment.

Assuming you were correctly reported, I am not sure what you meant by
“increasing public investment”. If it was that the government should spend
more on infrastructure and basic social services, I wonder how that would be
possible in the current situation. Already impoverished, Haiti, as you have
seen for yourself, is trying to come to terms with the devastation wrought by
four hurricanes in rapid succession (which caused nearly $1 billion in damage)
as well as having to make annual debt payments of, I am told, over $60 million.
That figure is, as you know, greater than the total amount recently approved by
the Bank for storm and food relief.

The issue of corruption is a crucial one, and Haiti has been placed at no.177
of 180 countries on the 2008 Transparency International (TI) Corruption
Perceptions Index. As the person who several years ago first invited TI to my
country, Trinidad and Tobago, and co-founded the local TI chapter, I well
understand the need for relentless struggle against corrupt activity. But
proper understanding must always reflect reality. In that connection, there are
two relevant issues to consider.

First, corruption in a country as economically disadvantaged as Haiti is as
inevitable as the day follows the night. This does not make it acceptable, of
course – corruption is ethically abhorrent and takes a terrible toll on
socio-economic development. It does however point to the view that attacking
surface corruption per se is by no means enough. One has above all to deal with
the root causes of corruption in tandem with the effects, and this is where the
importance of peacebuilding, as distinct from the traditional UN focus on
peacekeeping, becomes clearly evident.
You already know that the Haitian people have paid a heavy price over the more
than two centuries of their independent existence because of natural disasters,
yes, but principally because of domestic despotism and greed (particularly in
the Duvalier régimes) and of foreign intervention, the two frequently working
together. It is therefore far more beneficial now to all concerned to assist
and support the country in the long and painful task of national construction
than to set conditions it cannot possibly fulfil on its own. A first step on
this issue of corruption might be to have TI visit Haiti for discussions with
government, political parties and civil society.

Second, I have always found it odd that corruption, which exists everywhere, is
so easily ascribed to aid-recipient countries. Bribery and corruption is, after
all, a two-way street: if it is wrong to accept a bribe, it is equally wrong to
offer one, especially when the offeror recognises, and deliberately sets out to
exploit, the venality and/or vulnerability of the offeree. Indeed, that could
be thought even more morally reprehensible than the acceptance of the offer.

And who makes these offers? In general, companies and organisations from
developed countries, which have cynically argued over time that bribes enhance
efficiency because things get done more quickly, and which, having got their
way, then blithely accuse their bribe recipients of corruption. In this
connection, you may recall the terms of the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid
Effectiveness and wish to examine how the signatories to the document, the
World Bank included, have gone about their commitments.

You are also quoted, Mr President, as saying on October 22 that you felt Haiti
was at a “tipping point (and that things) could go either way.” My
understanding of the phrase “tipping point” is that things can go only one
way: over and down. If, as you rightly said on October 22, “we have to deal
with the immediate needs (of Haiti and) the social instability”, then a debt
cancellation by mid-2009 – and it is only a possible debt cancellation –
would clearly be far too late. Haiti by then would in essence have declined to
the point of collapse; the tipping point will have been reached. The
geo-political implications of that decline, taken against the background of the
spreading world recession (which among other factors has already begun
adversely to affect remittances to Haiti from the diaspora, and thus the
Haitian economy), are too disturbing to contemplate.

If I may, Mr President, I should like to contrast your Bank’s attitude
towards Haiti with its behaviour, and that of the Paris Club, towards the South
Asian countries struck by a tsunami in late December 2004. Within four days of
the tsunami, the Bank announced an “initial contribution” of $250 million
for emergency reconstruction; I do not recall any mention of outstanding debt
service payments. For its part, the Paris Club offered a moratorium on such
payments.




Haiti is in much worse socio-economic shape than those Asian countries. I
accept that a number of its deficiencies are of its own making – or, more
precisely, of the making of many of its governments over time. But the
stop-start, uncoordinated, not infrequently meddlesome actions of the
international community throughout the decades have helped aggravate those
deficiencies and create new ones. If the country is to be given “a chance to
build” – your reported words on October 22 – there must be a radically
different approach by Haitians and non-Haitians alike. Another “lessons
learned” report is emphatically not what the country needs.

An excellent start towards rehabilitation and progress would be the urgent
cancellation of the country’s debt. I join others who feel strongly that such
cancellation should be unconditional. You will for instance have recently
received an open letter on this subject from a number of Caribbean
organisations. I support their position.

What is and always must be of the highest priority is the welfare of the
Haitian people. It therefore does no one any good at all if the impression is
given that more emphasis is being placed on strict adherence to
conditionalities than on concern for that welfare, especially when the
country’s current condition is so manifestly desperate. It does no one any
good at all if the plight of the Haitian people – which, on the whole, they
did not create and for which they consequently ought not to be penalised – is
made worse by a sterile insistence on bureaucratic form over the grinding
realities of substance.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Yours sincerely

Reginald Dumas

Famine in Haiti made in the U.S.
By G. Dunkel

Published Nov 16, 2008 7:12 PM
The four hurricanes that hit Haiti in August and September directly caused 800 deaths and massive destruction of its roads and bridges, along with the crops and cropland that feed its people.

Haiti is so poor that it couldn’t recover from this devastation. At the end of October, people in isolated communities started dying from hunger.

In Baie d’Orange, a community of 20,000 associated with the municipality of Belle-Anse in southeast Haiti, 16 children and two adults died from hunger in the last week of October. Pierre Antoine Diléné, a doctor working in Belle-Anse, confirmed the deaths and emphasized that many were also suffering from dysentery, fevers and skin diseases. (AlterPress, Oct. 30)

Le Nouvelliste reports that the road to Belle-Anse, cut by the effects of the hurricanes, was only opened at the end of October. (Nov. 7)

Kim Ives, a Brooklyn-based journalist with the Haitian newspaper Haïti-Liberté, returned from Haiti Nov. 6 and reports that the radio stations, the main source of news for most Haitians, are reporting deaths due to acute malnutrition in southwestern Haiti and in the north around Cap-Haitien.

While the southeast, southwest and north of Haiti contain some of the poorest areas of the country, hunger is generalized. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the average intake in Haiti is 1750 calories a day, about 75 percent of what an adult needs. Note that this figure is an average, which means there are many people getting less. (Haïti-Liberté, Nov. 5)

While the Haitian press, some French television channels and French-language Swiss television channels have covered hunger in Haiti, the English-language press has concentrated on the collapse of the La Promesse school in Petionville, a wealthy suburb of Port-au-Prince. The deaths of 88 children and teachers (as of Nov. 9) in a building collapse provoked by the acts of the school owner are indeed a tragedy. The rapid response of U.S. rescue teams and French teams from Martinique showed these countries can act quickly.

But Robert Zoellick, the president of the World Bank who visited Haiti at the end of October, feels that forgiveness of Haiti’s debt needs to be reviewed. The earliest this process will be completed is the middle of 2009.

Until this happens, Haiti will have to pay a bit more than $1 million a week—enough to guarantee that no Haitian would starve to death—to prove it is fit for “help” from the Multilateral Financial Institutions. Obtained by the Duvaliers and the military juntas that succeeded them, these loans now being repaid were used for their luxurious living and to swell their Swiss bank accounts. (haitiaction.net, “Haiti: Racism and Poverty” Oct. 26)

Zoellick was the deputy U.S. secretary of state who helped negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and then left the position for Goldman Sachs. He was at Goldman Sachs in 2007 when it paid out more than $18 billion in bonuses to its 22,000 traders—more than 50 percent of Haiti’s gross domestic product.

Part of the weakness of the Haitian state is the insistence of the international donor community that all their “aid” flow through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which means a sizable slice goes to overhead—like salaries paid at rates far higher than those prevailing for Haitians. Another sizable slice is directed to companies in the “donor” countries and their profits. Of course, a significant amount of the promised aid never shows up, and the NGOs don’t dare complain.

The reason Haiti is currently starving is simple. Canada, the U.S. and France—the three imperialist powers most involved in exploiting Haiti—colluded in the overthrow of the democratic government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide four years ago. They couldn’t let a poor, small country defy their wishes and elect a president that the people wanted.

For the past 200 years, ever since the enslaved people of Haiti won their freedom and independence by defeating France, England and Spain, the developed nations of North America and Europe have tried to reverse this defeat.

Haiti has resisted and survived, as best it can. Long live Haiti!


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It appears that foreigners are more interested to the well -being of the haitian people than their own government.Reading this letter one should ask why it is a foreigner who is writing this letter to the President of the World bank whereas the President or the Prime Minister of haiti does not think it is necessary to demand the cancellation of a debt that did not in any way ,shape or form benefit the people of haiti.

Are the people of haiti still paying for their independence after the french held them up in the 18th century ?Why the slaves owners descendants are still torturing the people of haiti?Isn't it enough that after the slaves have worked to enrich the french people and all the slaves owners of the world for centuries today these blood suckers are still asking them to pay for a debt they did not use?The international community knows very well who benefited from these loans;it knows where the money is located ;who siphoned it from the treasury of the country with the help of some foreign governments;why don't they ask those who stole it to repay it?

If haiti had a government which really cares about its people not a penny should be repaid to the World bank.

Men blan an reponn kestyon w lan pou w:

For the past 200 years, ever since the enslaved people of Haiti won their freedom and independence by defeating France, England and Spain, the developed nations of North America and Europe have tried to reverse this defeat.

Haiti has resisted and survived, as best it can. Long live Haiti!