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Haiti
Haitians outraged over US 'floating Berlin wall': A "floating
Berlin Wall" of US Coast Guard ships is keeping
Haitians from fleeing violence in their country, and infuriating activists who
may take legal action against what they say is a discriminatory and illegal
blockade. The US Department of Homeland Security, which has set up a special
office in Miami to monitor the Haitian situation, said that the US Coast Guard
had picked up and repatriated 905 Haitians since 21 February, as rebels took
control of much of Haiti in a revolt that began on 5 February. In all of February,
the Coast Guard picked up 704 Haitians at sea, although US authorities insist
a month-long rebellion in Haiti has not provoked a mass migration. The Coast
Guard will not say how many ships and aircraft are patrolling off Haiti, which
is about 966 kilometers from Florida. A US government source in Washington familiar
with the situation said there were at least nine large Coast Guard cutters and
10 patrol boats deployed to keep Haitians from
approaching Florida. "We've sort of got a little floating Berlin Wall going
right now in terms of the Coast Guard cutters," Little said. Human Rights
Watch and other activist groups said that repatriating Haitian asylum seekers
while fighting continues violates international protocols barring the return
of refugees to a place where their lives or freedom are in danger (Reuters,
3/9/04).
Haiti and Africa
Christopher Jones says: "Hypocrisy has always strongly colored US politics
and foreign policy. I really cannot understand what all the fuss over Haiti
is about? For once, the US and France acted in concert instead of bickering
over this and that and bounced Aristide off to exile in the CAR. Good! If they
have any shred of responsibility, they should now go to the UN Security Council
and have Haiti declared a UN mandate and revoke its nominal independence. Ditto
most of Africa, where cleptocrats like Robert Mugabe or Laurent Kabila's son
rule over so called nations that are really only madhouses with one thing in
their Fuzzy Wuzzy heads: to line their pockets with fat contracts with US, French,
British or German commodity companies encouraged by super hypocrites like Bill
Clinton. Kabila Senior was installed after the collapse of the Mobutu regime
to make sure that access to those diamond mines remained secure. When Kabila
tore up the contract (with a US firm), he was dead within weeks. Same story
goes for Angola's Robin Hood, Jonas Savimbi who was pinpointed by US special
forces for ambush and death. What is really sad is Sierra Leone. The poor people,
descended from British ex-slaves, clamored for the return of colonial rule.
Nobody listened.
If the Cubans who are US citizens want to get into politics -- that's fine.
What about the Jews?"
RH: Having traveled through much of Africa before the present "freedom",
I am appalled by the decline of social decency. In the US (and other countries),
if a unit proves incapable of governing itself, it is put under the jurisdiction
of the central government. Something similar must be developed for the world,
global imperialism if you will. Some body, presumably the UN Security Council,
would have to administer it so as to avoid a return to the old imperial rivalries.
The old mandate system is a good idea.
Haiti and Dominican Republic
Randy Black comments on the Dominican-Haitian border: "If you
go to Sosua, on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic, you will find many
Haitians selling fruits to the tourists sunning on one of the finest beaches
in the world or in the roadside stands selling everything else. While the Dominicans
don’t care for Haitians, they tolerate them, since they do much of the
work that even a Dominican won’t do, along the lines of the illegal Mexicans
living in Texas, Arizona, California and Oregon. When is the last time you saw
a Oregon-born person picking fruits and veggies?
Sosua, by the way, was founded by European Jewish refuges that the dictator
Trujillo accepted when the US and Britain would not, in WWII. Many settled in
Sosua where they remain today. There’s even a synagogue there, on the
island that is overwhelmingly Catholic. The little town features a German bakery,
Yiddish is commonly spoken on the streets among the older residents and the
place is a delightful side trip to the Dominican Republic".
RH: I am delighted to have this report on Sosúa, which was much in the
news when Jews were feeling Hitler's Europe. Trujillo extracted tribute from
these unfortunate people. Yiddish is the language of East European, not German
Jews, so I suppose there is a mixture of German and East European Jews. The
former traditionally ,look down on the latter; it would be interesting to see
how they get long in Sosua. My statements about the present conditions along
the Haiti-Dominican border were based on reports and not of course first-hand.
Randy Black discusses an escape route from Haiti to the Dominican Republis:
"The little guard station at the the Massacre (Blood) River that separates
Haiti from the Dominican Republic is not even attended 24 hours a day. Haitians
don't have to get in a boat to get out of Haiti. It's a matter of walking down
a paved road to the border, walking a few hundred meters through the jungle
around the guard station and entering the DR where they can pretty much blend
in, get work, and find relative safety. It might take the average Haitian a
couple of hours and they don't even know how to swim". RH. it is not quite
a simple as that. Since the Haiti coup the border has been virtually closed,
and the Dominican government is charging Haitians $10,000 to helicopter them
to the Dominican Republic There have in the past been mass massacres of Haitians
in the Dominican Republic, where they are not welcome.
Maxine Waters
I asked who is better informed on Haiti than Maxine Waters, who backs Aristide.
Dwight Peterson replies: "I know no one who follows Haiti and who is a
qualified spokesperson for the country. My family owned and operated a business
in South Central Los Angeles from 1946-2003. This area became the heart of the
Black Community of Los Angeles both commercially and residentially. During the
1970's, '80's, and 1990's black politicians emerged like Sen. Diane Watson,
Mayor Tom Bradley, Councilman Nate Holden and others who were eager to help
the community work together to allow it to grow to become a better place to
live and raise a family. These people, or surviving family members, remain friends
even though we seldom agreed on political doctrine. Maxine Waters, on the other
hand, always seemed to use a black racist rhetoric to further her political
career. She was a true demagogue who, in my opinion, appealed to the emotionally
frustrated constituents simply on racial issues rather than economics etc. etc.
so that is why I am so startled that Ms. Waters turns out to be an expert on
Haiti".
RH: I am sure that what Dwight says is correct. Maxine Waters has become an
expert on Haiti by visiting it frequently and getting to know its leaders. There
must be academicians who have a more scholarly knowledge of Haiti, but they
have not emerged as defenders of the new, anti-Aristide regime. If one did,
it would establish balance.
Representative Maxine Waters (D. CA) may well be the American best informed
about Haiti. She is a staunch supporter of Aristide. Inevitably, those who do
not like him will belittle her, but they should produce someone who can debate
with her.
Concerning Congresswoman Maxine Waters /D. CA), a great supporter of Aristide
of Haiti, Cuban exile Alberto Gutiérrez says: "Dwight Peterson [who
have a critical account of her trouble making] is correct. On top of that, Maxine
Waters is very selective on her negritude, like many other prominent US Blacks.
For instance, her husband, the US Ambassador to The Bahamas, never expressed
any sympathy for a few Cubans with dark skin who escaped from the Castro tyranny
and were detained in that country. Castro not only crushes white Cubans, but
lots of "Negros" and mulattoes. That fact is overlooked,ignored, disregarded
or whatever by their US "soul brothers"."
Facts about Haiti
From the CIA World Factbook, Randy Black dug out a lot of information about
Haiti, citing as particularly deplorable these items:
Median age: 17.9 years
Infant mortality rate: 76 deaths per 1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth: 51.61 years
Fertility rate: 4.86 children born per woman (2003 est.)
AIDS rate: 6.1% (est. 2001)
Literacy: 52.9% age 15 and over can read and write
About 80% of the population lives in abject poverty.
RH: While Haiti has the worst record in the Western Hemisphere, that of several African countries is worse.
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