On May 9, at a conference in Santo Domingo, Carlos Fuentes, a Mexican writer boldly proposed that Haiti be put under a UN protectorate with the aim of managing the reconstruction project away from “the corrupt local elites”, a clear indication of the widespread negative sentiment toward them. Though Mr. Fuentes’ unsolicited comment was at best idiotic, since Haiti has been effectively a U.N protectorate since March 2004, no one within the political establishment saw fit to denounce Mr. Fuentes’ patronizing statement. As a rule a corrupt political system cannot be peacefully transformed from the outside, especially one that uses intimidation and violence, which is the case in Haiti. Unfortunately for the country, a dearth of stealth reformers has always been the missing link to an eventual eradication of this rotten system that impoverished generations of Haitians and robbed them of their self-respect and sovereignty.
In light of the scientific discovery that Neanderthals interbreed with humans before becoming extinct, Anthropologists should explore whether Homo erectus are still alive in Haiti because that country’s political establishment lacks the most basic of human characteristics: reasoning and introspective capabilities. Aptly, Haiti’s politicians have been referred in U.S policy papers as scoundrels and other pejoratives that conveyed utter disdain and blatant racism. For the last 200 years, a plethora of Haitian leaders not only acted as destroyer of the Haitian dream but also as facilitator of imperial designs of other nations. To that end, they either hijacked the country’s institutions or simply muzzled their opponents with help of their foreign backers. René G. Préval, the current president, is undoubtedly the worst offender. Elected in the 2006 general elections funded and organized by the U.N, which shamelessly endorsed the invasion of Haiti by French and U.S forces in 2004 and mandated the country’s occupation, Préval, as his recent actions indicate, personifies this behavior. Apathetic to the plight of the poor and presumptuous to a fault, the man stated recently “I want to bring stability in this country”, a statement that essentially validated the bogus “instability” premise put forward by the occupiers.
In a move that surprised no one, the Teflon president, citing the impracticality of organizing the general elections scheduled for this fall, peremptorily extended his term, which was to end on February 7th 2011, for three months. Having been appraised the most intelligent of Haitian presidents by Brazil’s ambassador to Haiti, Igor Kipman, Préval is apparently savoring his newfound status at the expense of the country’s welfare. Clearly, Kipman’s statement is a testament of the patronizing attitude of the international community, which has always been wary of any Haitian leader that shows independence, because Préval is, by any measures, pliant, servile and bereft of any political philosophy. Apparently, the disdain shown to Haiti’s political establishment by the international community is being extended to the nation as a whole, because what else would warrant such fallacious statement from el senòr Kipman.
Whatever is in store for Haiti has been in the work since the beginning of the twentieth century because, in the eyes of many, Haiti, poor and overpopulated, stood as an anomaly in the middle of one of the most scenic places in the world. Correcting the anomaly has become an obsession for the powers-that-be, and each incremental step toward accomplishing this imperial goal has been met with indifference and sometimes voluntary participation of the intelligentsia and the political class. Case in point, the truncating of Haitian territory in the 1929 Accord between Borno and Velasquez was illegal, as it occurred while Haiti was under foreign occupation (1915-34), nevertheless, the intelligentsia and the political establishment accepted it as a fait accompli. In 2004, the year of Haiti’s bicentennial, the opportunity to fully implement this imperial dream of remaking Haiti was handed on a platter to the international community by the political and economic elites in a general insurrection against the country’s legitimate government.
Not surprisingly, the politicians who are now appalled at Préval’s dictatorial style never protested Gérard Latortue’s imperious tenure (2004-06), which cemented the international community’s strangled hold on the country. Where were these guardians of constitutional order when thousands of poor Haitians were hunted down and murdered during Gerard Latortue’s reign of terror (2004-06)? Are these politicians lamenting the destruction of the democratic process or simply protesting over being left out of the caravan?
In a twist of irony, the so-called opposition is made up of the same people who sabotaged the bicentennial celebration of Haiti with violent manifestations and other malfeasances on January 1st 2004 and facilitated the occupation. Naturally, they earned themselves a special place in the pantheon of traitors to the nation but also contempt from the beneficiaries of their malevolence. Following the invasion of Haiti on February 29, 2004, many were promptly shunned aside for offences that included corruption and drug smuggling, while the others remained oblivious to their exclusion until Préval’s egregious act.
Being a dysfunctional group of disaffected without a foreign sponsor, a sine qua none condition for political success in present-day Haiti, these opponents of the new order are as irrelevant as the country’s moribund constitution, and Préval, like Gérard Latortue, will implement the designs of his backers with impunity. Moreover, these impenitent collaborators’ protest over Préval’s anti-constitutional action is nothing but crocodiles’ tears masquerading as a genuine concern for constitutional order. Unbeknownst to these unsavory characters and also Préval, the day of reckoning may be closer than they think.
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