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| News and opinions on situation in Haiti | |
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| 02/06/04 | Open letter open to the Haitian State and the international community “GUILTY!” of complicity in murder… by Ernst Weche* |
Once again, again once too often, Haiti cries and buries its dead. The calls for aid multiply; the generosity of one and all is evident. This is all very well, but is the world condemned to rewind and replay the 'Haiti catastrophe cassette'? Let's call these events by their real names: murder, assassinations, homicides, etc… In the dock, successive governments over at least the last decades, as well as their assistants, the great international institutions. There is ample, abundant evidence. It's often said, “One who does not say a word, agrees”, but also “One who does nothing, admits one's guilt”. In fact, informed voices have never stopped – unsuccessfully – alerting national and international authorities to the consequences for the population of, on the one hand, accelerated deforestation (this since the 1920s), and, on the other, unregulated construction on damaged hillsides and dried-up riverbeds. The documents, files, studies, and plans, have piled up on the desks of the government ministries concerned, while in the embassies and the offices of international organisations, their drawers are already overflowing. Let's cite, for example, the “Damien state of emergency document” (1988), “Haïti dans le dernier carré” (1997), and the Environmental Action Plan (1999). All these productions, which absorbed millions of dollars of international aid, consisted of clear suggestions to the authorities of the country for the prevention and control of natural catastrophes and disasters. Will the dance continue still longer? It's all the more worrying that several national signatories to the quoted documents thereafter occupied ministerial posts. Beginning with the colonial period, there has been no respite in the merciless assault on Haiti's forests. From more than 60% forest cover in the 1920s, down to approximately 1.5% of the national territory today. In full view of one and all, the history of the poorest country in the Americas is marked by the slow death (euthanasia) of the population. Today it's the irresponsibility of Haitian State and the international community that must be highlighted, and not the natural fury against a people labelled unlucky. Everything occurs as if it was a planned genocide. Admittedly, Haiti's bio-geographic conditions don't contribute to peace of mind – indeed the island of Hispaniola is always prone to natural catastrophes. However, one is forced to admit that the responsible management of natural resources, and a concern with safeguarding lives, can attenuate the misdeeds of Nature. One doesn't need to be a specialist to understand that a stripped surface poses no obstacle to the torrents of rainwater. In other words, a landscape not protected by trees is quite simply a bed over which water can easily flow. Unfortunately, the current catastrophe is likely to reoccur many times if measures are not taken to reforest this country. It is abnormal and unacceptable that each rainy season brings its batch of corpses and massive damage to property. Can the authorities of the country break with the irresponsibility of the past by finally controlling (because to control is to plan ahead) and sensibly using the aid allocated by the international community? Can't they see the evidence of the emergency and take into account the destiny of this country that was alreadyin colonial times accorded the enviable nickname “Pearl of the Antilles”? After 200 years of non-existence, we really need the birth of a responsible State with a mission to be responsible for the population, in particular by education in the matter of the environment, while facilitating access to alternative sources of energy and to economic alternatives! Can the generosity of one and all exceed the framework of emergency intervention to support, in the long term, community reforestation projects! This is perhaps the only chance that we have got left…to break the cycle of fatal catastrophes. Even the disinherited have the right to life. *Agronomist – contact: eweche@yahoo.fr Originally “COUPABLES!”, pour complicité de meurtre…translated from French by Charles Arthur for the Haiti Support Group ______________________________________________ This email is forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group. See the Haiti Support Group web site: www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org Solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for justice, participatory democracy and equitable development, since 1992. |
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