In the wake of his poorly received visit to the Champs de Mars yesterday, René Préval's government faces an ever-increasing vote of no confidence among dispossessed Haitians semi-permanently relocated to Port-au-Prince's largest park in front of the crumbled National Palace. The question appears to be whether it is the Palace alone that lies in ruins or was the government of Préval so fragile as to have been broken by the natural disaster that visited the capital city and southern cities and towns.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military and U.S.A.I.D. continue to put forth the Préval government as the leader in the relief effort. This article in today's Washington Post highlights the disjunct in leadership.
As food distribution improves, Haitians want U.S to 'take over'
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 1, 2010; A01PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- International relief organizations backed by American soldiers delivered hundreds of tons of rice to homeless residents of the Haitian capital Sunday, laboring to ease a food shortage that has left countless thousands struggling to find enough to eat.
But even as food-aid workers enjoyed their most successful day since the Jan. 12 earthquake, the increasingly prominent role of U.S. troops and civilians in the capital is creating high expectations that the Obama administration is struggling to contain.
The needs are extraordinary, and the common refrain is that the Americans will provide.
"I want the Americans to take over the country. The Haitian government can't do anything for us," said Jean-Louis Geffrard, a laborer who lives under a tarp in the crowded square. "When we tell the government we're hungry, the government says, 'We're hungry, too.' "
Yes, and yesterday Préval said, once again, that he lost his house too. These are not words that inspire confidence in leaders. They serve the opposite agenda, that of abdication of responsibility. So what can we and the Haitian people take away, two weeks later, from this meeting?
The WaPo article goes on to say the following,
"The military forces . . . are not here to do any reconstruction. That is not our mission," said Col. Rick Kaiser, a U.S. Army engineer overseeing emergency repairs to the Port-au-Prince docks, the electrical and water systems, and other battered infrastructure in the hemisphere's poorest country.
Administration officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, describe virtually every activity here as "Haiti-led," although the government is barely functioning and its record was checkered even before the earthquake killed more than 110,000 people and leveled an array of government ministries.
Louis Lucke, the senior U.S. Agency for International Development official in Haiti, stood in an American-run medical complex Saturday with President René Préval and told reporters that "the Haitians are leading the process in all the areas that are necessary" -- including food distribution, despite strong evidence to the contrary.
Well, there are some lessons in history, but it is hard to be certain of what they teach. I am sure that these lessons are guiding our Haitian policy and Hillary's and everyone else's insistence that it is the Haitian government leading this effort. The United States Marines occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934. If the Haitians have a different opinion and cultural memory of that occupation today as opposed to when I lived there in the 1970s and 80s, it may well have to do with certain more recent events, from the installation of the democratically elected Aristede to his removal and to our propping of Préval even in the post-cataclysmic meltdown of his leadership and authority. The resentment of the past may have given way to nostalgia, especially now that the road to the north (among three built by the Marines along with the road to the south - now damaged, and the International Road leading to the Dominican Republic) is a prime refugee route to less damaged and untouched areas such as the Artibonite Valley. That is the road you would have taken to visit the Sans Souci Palace of King Henri Christophe in Milot. It is in ruins like the National Palace - an empty shell like the current government.
Well here is a serious (I feel I must tag and warn) question: What does it say about the First Black Republic that after 206 years of independence the people are asking for a return to colonialism?
There is danger in this. Haitians must be careful what they wish for. Certainly our leadership is putting forth a call to Haitian leadership to take charge. But just as certainly, other less scrupulous powers in the region might well desire of take advantage of a power-grabbing opportunity in the face of a vacuum of authority. None other than Hillary Rodham Clinton herself provided the example to the Haitian leaders of the kind of face to show to the people. This was the aggrieved expression we saw the day she returned to the White House following the earthquake. It was clear to me that she took this disaster very much to heart. She looked like she had been crying.
Her pain for Haiti was written all over her face, and we all know that Hillary's face always reflects what is in her heart. She is unable to control that, and we love that about her. So it is a lesson for all, and especially for the Haitian leadership, that when she stepped onto the tarmac at Toussaint L'Ouverture Airport on January 16, this is the face that greeted her embassy personnel, U.S.A.I.D. staff, and the Haitian leadership and people.
No she did not say, "I hurt, too." She came to help. The message was "What can I do for you?" This is a question the Haitian leadership should adopt and repeat often to the people on the Champs de Mars. "Sa'm kapab fé pou nou?" That is what is called public service. The Haitian people deserve no less from the public servants they elected.
I know the name of the President of Haiti is René Préval. I wonder who he is.
*Update*
Well it looks like we are going to give Haiti a President after all. A few hints: His name is Bill, he is enviably close to the Secretary of State, and he loves Haiti as much as she does.
Reuters reports
Read more>>>Bill Clinton to coordinate Haiti relief efforts:
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, currently the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, will be named international coordinator for relief efforts in the earthquake-devastated country, U.N. officials said on Monday.
