“Haiti’s Intervention Maelstrom”
By Myriam J. A. Chancy, PhD
Source: Operation Uphold Democracy
Haiti and its people have been held in a state of isolation, containment, even deprivation, for decades. It is a pattern as old as Haiti that we would do well to remember, as international actors appear to be poised to intervene on Haitian soil again, at the call of the de facto President, Ariel Henry. Henry assumed the position in Summer 2021, after a murky PM appointment process soon followed by the assassination of then president, Jovenel Moïse.
For over a year, Haitians have demanded Henry’s resignation, as they did Moïse’s for two years prior to his assassination. From 2018 onwards, Haitians demonstrated to protest the embezzlement of the Venezuelan-sponsored PetroCaribe funds, which would have provided health and educational programs. At no time during these protests did the US government or an internationally led coalition seek to support the Haitian populations’ calls for redress. When Haitians, in the immediate wake of the devastating 2010 earthquake which killed upwards of 300,000 people and left 1.7 home and food insecure, called for relief from the US administration, even, in some cases, appealing for something like protectorate status, they were ignored. Instead, a US-led commission was instituted through which billions of dollars passed, very little of which had any direct impact on the embattled population. Today, not only are the cries of demonstrators being ignored but also highly organized responses to the crisis, such as the Montana Accord.
The Accord, entered into August 2021 by civil society and political leaders, backed by more than 650 Haitian organizations and their representatives, presents a feasible, coordinated and collaborative plan for moving the country towards a stability desired by most parties. Stalling to support the Accord has resulted in more and more Haitians migrating out of Haiti. Those who can afford to fly out have already joined family in the US and Canada. Others gather just enough food and funds to walk across the border to the DR where the current president, Luis Abinader has declared as of October 10th that “the [Dominican] nation will not admit refugees from Haiti,” leading to a wave of deportations in the first weeks of November. It seems that international allies are preparing not to assist a political transition towards democracy but for an immigrant crisis resembling that of fall 2021 which culminated in thousands of Haitians at the Del Rio border. Thousands of Haitian migrants, including non-Haitian nationals were deported back to Haiti over the course of the last year.
Foreign interventions in Haiti have failed because the bases for these interventions have had little to do with supporting Haiti’s sovereignty, the rights of its people, or alleviating its financial burdens. What country, other than Haiti, has had to pay an indemnity to the losers of a war so expensive (the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804, waged against France, which Haiti won) that it had to empty its coffers to the tune of 80% on a yearly basis into the twentieth century, thereby increasing its debt and decreasing revenue available for internal needs such as governance, health, and education? What other country in this hemisphere has had its gold and banking system seized by a foreign power, as the US did in 1914, one year before beginning its nearly twenty-year military occupation, so that it could not access nor disburse its own wealth, including the wealth of its natural resources? During the US Occupation, 30% of Haiti’s forests were deforested by the occupants for fuel needs, forests that had already been heavily harvested during colonial times.
From 1919-1920, local resistors were put down by the US military with 2,000 rebels killed. During this time, the US installed the Haitian president, oversaw all Haitian finances and disbursement of taxes – towards a newly created US debt – and implemented government oversight by which the Haitian government could not implement changes to its own laws without US Embassy approval. Today, the Haitian government is still subject to US approval. Such interference has resulted in marred election results, especially since 2004, and succeeded in keeping the Haitian wage at rock bottom levels to benefit foreign factories (what is considered Haiti’s “comparable advantage” in the world market).
It seems logical that a nation and people in distress, suffering from acute deprivation and insecurity, should be “rescued.” But should the “rescue” come from the same hands that created the discord? Rebuilding and buttressing Haiti’s political and civil infrastructures requires partnership with the Haitian people, their elected representatives and civil society: it would require a south-to-south alliance, rather than a top-down, North/South imposition only certain to repeat the past.
To read Part 1 of this conversation, click on the link below:
“Why Haitians Don’t Want Another Intervention” By Myriam J. A. Chancy, PhD
About the author:
Myriam J. A. Chancy, Ph. D., is the author of What Storm, What Thunder
(Tin House 2021), a novel on the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
Haiti Then and Now (HTN) 