The history that “binds” the US and Haiti

[Hannah Bell]

In his statement on the Haitian earthquake Wednesday, President Barack Obama referred to the “long history that binds us together.” Neither he nor the US media, however, have shown any inclination to probe the history of US-Haiti relations and its bearing on present catastrophe...

Rather, the backwardness and poverty that have played a substantial role in driving the death toll into the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands are presented as a natural state of affairs, if not the fault of the Haitians themselves. The United States is portrayed as a selfless benefactor...

What is deliberately obscured... is the real relationship...between “wealth generation” in the United States and poverty in Haiti...

If the Obama administration and the Pentagon carry through with reported plans to deploy a Marine expeditionary force in Haiti, it will mark the fourth time in the past 95 years that the US armed forces have occupied the impoverished Caribbean nation. This time, as in the past, rather than aiding the Haitian people, the essential purpose of such a military action will be to defend US interests...

From the dawn of the 20th century, Haiti fell under the domination of Washington and the US banks, whose interests were defended by sending Marines to carry out an occupation that continued for nearly 20 years, maintained through the bloody suppression of Haitian resistance.

The Marines left only after carrying out the “Haitianization”—as the New York Times referred to it at the time—of the war against the Haitian people by building an army dedicated to internal repression...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/pers-j15.shtml


The Haitian American Sugar Company (HASCO) was an American business venture which sought to produce and sell sugar and other goods in Haiti and the United States. The company was registered with a capital of five million dollars on 5 August 1912 in Wilmington, Delaware, by Charles Steinheim, John A. Christie, and Franck Corpay.

HASCO's operation was threatened by political turmoil in Haiti in the years leading up to 1915. The danger to HASCO and other American business interests in Haiti was allegedly one of the factors which led to the U.S. Marine invasion of the country in 1915 and the continued U.S. occupation until 1934. This company still exists but mostly imports and distributes foreign sugar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_American_Sugar_Company


"The Banque Nationale de la Republique d' Haiti (National Treasury and bank of issue) is owned by the National City Co. of New York"

(aka National City Bank, aka Citibank, aka one of the Rockefeller franchises). i.e. The rockefellers controlled the haitian treasury & currency.

http://books.google.com/books?id=FQAqUATfizYC&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=haiti+sugar+american+capital&source=bl&ots=iZakDOs6P9&sig=e0_4Zq0JigL3bBxaV7nzbu_KjX8&hl=en&ei=c_RPS7v2K5KcswOTk6H7Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CBUQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=haiti%20sugar%20american%20capital&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=NwMCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA607&lpg=PA607&dq=%22national+city+co%22+%22new+york%22+rockefeller&source=bl&ots=ogY0pqLCfl&sig=K31Ud7kVjjafB4CvIMZYBD-uSpU&hl=en&ei=xvVPS5n5LJLIsAPTpqX9Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CAkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22national%20city%20co%22%20%22new%20york%22%20rockefeller&f=false


In 1910, National City bought a significant share of Haiti's National Bank (Banque de la Republique d'Haiti), which functioned as the country's treasury and had a monopoly on note issue.<5> After the American invasion of Haiti, it bought all of the capital stock of the Banque de la Republique. The bank became the target of criticism for what were considered to be monopolistic and unfair banking practices. It initially did not pay the Haitian government interest on surplus money that it deposited in the treasury, which was loaned out by City Bank in New York. After 1922, it began paying interest, but only at a rate of 2% compared to the 3.5% that it paid to similar depositors. Economist and Senator Paul Douglas estimated that this amounted to US$1 million in lost interest at a time when Haiti's government revenues were less than US$7 million.<6>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citibank


How the poor get poorer & the rich get richer.

[sabrina 1]

1. 'Our role in Haiti's Plight'

If we are serious about assisting this devastated land, we must stop trying to control and exploit it.

http://wadnerpierre.blogspot.com/http://www.guardian.co.uk/

What is already all too clear, however, is the fact that this impact will be the result of an even longer-term history of deliberate impoverishment and disempowerment. Haiti is routinely described as the "poorest country in the western hemisphere". This poverty is the direct legacy of perhaps the most brutal system of colonial exploitation in world history, compounded by decades of systematic postcolonial oppression.

The noble "international community" which is currently scrambling to send its "humanitarian aid" to Haiti is largely responsible for the extent of the suffering it now aims to reduce. Ever since the US invaded and occupied the country in 1915, every serious political attempt to allow Haiti's people to move (in former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's phrase) "from absolute misery to a dignified poverty" has been violently and deliberately blocked by the US government and some of its allies.

Aristide's own government (elected by some 75% of the electorate) was the latest victim of such interference, when it was overthrown by an internationally sponsored coup in 2004 that killed several thousand people and left much of the population smouldering in resentment.

> snip

..... Along with sending emergency relief, we should ask what we can do to facilitate the self-empowerment of Haiti's people and public institutions. If we are serious about helping we need to stop trying to control Haiti's government, to pacify its citizens, and to exploit its economy. And then we need to start paying for at least some of the damage we've already done.

Neoliberalism, the article says, has reduced Haiti to the state it is in. Suffering through a long history of brutal dictatorships, many of them fully supported by people like Bush Sr. when they finally rebelled and elected a president of their choice, once again, the west interfered. When Clinton restored Aristedes, Bush Jr backed a coup to remove him once again, leaving the country devastated once again as the new puppet government cracked down on Aristede's supporters murdering and imprisoning thousands of them.

Our media insists on lying about Aristede, claiming the people rose up and threw him out. Those 'people' were financed, some of the country's worst thugs from previous dictatorships, they caused unrest and then according to eyewitnesses and Aristedes himself, he was kidnapped by 'Americans' and taken out of the country. The official lie, still being repeated, is that he was ousted by the people.

I hope this time, we do not forget about this country once again. Last year there were food riots in the country as people were reduced to eating dirt, mud pies. It's hard to keep Haiti in the news for some reason. So, I won't be surprised if after a week or so, we don't hear too much more about it.

I also hope that Naomi Klein's prediction about these disasters doesn't happen again and that this administration will take a new path in helping the country help itself and not impose even more debt on it.

The west owes Haiti, every penny that is donated by governments who played a role in its oppression and are now helping out, hopefully will see their donations as payment for the harm they helped cause. I hope it will not be viewed as more debt that Haiti will be expected to repay.