Haiti Democracy Project

www.haitipolicy.org

June 1, 2001

Economic Asphyxiation + Political Isolation = Increased Suffering for 8 Million People

Article disseminated by Haitian government

Contact: Michelle Karshan, foreign press liaison for President Aristide

Haiti's position as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere is well known. Its rank among the 34 least developed nations of the world, equally known. That today, the country is embroiled in a "complex" political crisis engendered by political adversaries vying for the vote of the population, is the false image that has been allowed to eclipse the reality of the actual state of affairs in Haiti.

It is an insult and an affront to tell the Haitian people - who are committed to the economic and democratic development of their country - that "the solution" lies in giving a tiny political minority what that minority could not rightfully earn at the polls - a share in the political governance of the country. It is immoral and wrong to withhold from the Haitian people access to international financing under the pretext of a "political crisis" which is being manipulated by a political minority and sustained by much stronger allies.

Hidden behind the highly "media-ized" images of the so-called political crisis are the true causes of the suffering of the Haitian people:

· The complete cut-off of international funding to Haiti, while the Haitian Government is forced to maintain an onerous debt repayment schedule to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; and

· An already precarious economic situation exacerbated by this so-called "political crisis."

Today's so-called "political crisis" is deepening an already 3-year old de facto hold on international financial assistance to Haiti. This began in 1998 when the 46th Legislature, dominated by the political party OPL, today the principal spokes party for the 15 party opposition platform called Convergence Democratic, made the calculated decision to block ratification of four critical loan agreements negotiated by the Government of Haiti with the InterAmerican Development Bank ("IDB"):

· A 50 million dollar loan agreement for rural and secondary roads; · A loan agreement to reform the potable water system; · A loan agreement to reform the primary education system; and · A 22.5 million dollar loan agreement to implement Phase I of a reform of the national health care system.

The 3-year history of the blocked 22.5 million dollar health care loan agreement is symptomatic of the true crisis in Haiti.

On July 21, 1998 the Haitian Government and the IDB signed a 22.5 million dollar loan for Phase I of a project to decentralize and reorganize the national health care system. The project called for a 22.5 million dollar loan from the IDB plus a 2.5 million dollar participation from the Government's own funds. The need to reform the health care system then, as now, is urgent:

· 1.6 doctors, 1.3 nurses and .04 dentists per 10,000 Haitians; · 40% of the population with no access to any form of primary health care whatsoever; · a tuberculosis infection rate of 5 per 1,000 Haitians; · and an estimated HIV positive population of 300,000.

The project would among other things:

· permit 80% of the population targeted in Phase I of the project to have access to primary health care through the construction of low cost clinics and local health dispensaries;

· train community health agents; and

· purchase medical equipment and medicines.

This would lead to:

· a drop in the infant mortality rate from 74 per 1,000 births to 50 per 1,000 births;

· a drop in the juvenile mortality rate from 131 deaths per 1,000 to 110 per 1,000;

· a drop in the birth rate from 4.6 to 4; and

· a drop in the general mortality rate attributable to the lack of proper health care from 10.7 per 1,000 to 9.7 per 1,000.

But in order to be implemented by the IDB, the loan agreement had to be ratified by the Haitian parliament. So in October 1998, the Government's Minister of Health presented the project to Haiti's OPL dominated 46th Legislature.

The Ministry waited and waited for ratification of the loan agreement. The Haitian people waited and waited for this first step to improve health care. Where was the debate? Who could oppose a loan so urgently needed when it was clear that national revenues alone would never be sufficient to adequately fund Haiti's health care system? Nothing. Parliament failed to meet and when they did, failed to obtain the necessary quorum. They purposely allowed their terms to expire in January 1999, while stalemating every effort of the Executive to put in place an Electoral Council to organize new elections. The strategy was clear: undermine every effort of the Executive to improve the living conditions of 8 million people by paralyzing the nation.

The four IDB loan agreements - rural and secondary roads, potable water, primary education and health care reform, all totaling nearly 200 million dollars - lay dormant and for all practical purposes were lost.

In October 2000, after the installation of the 47th Legislature, the new parliament voted immediately to ratify the much needed health project along with the three other vital IDB loan agreements. The official decree was published in the Government's official newspaper on January 8, 2001. Immediately the Government and IDB collaborated to update and revise the project. Haitians were heartened when in early March the IDB announced that it fully intended to work with the new Haitian Government and finance projects already in the pipeline.

March 2, 2001 when a new Minister of Health was appointed, he continued to work on this priority project. And shortly thereafter he notified the IDB by formal letter that the 4 conditions required of the Government under the loan agreement had been fulfilled. With these conditions satisfied, such formal notice given to the IDB and Haiti current on its debt payments to the IDB, all the conditions required for the execution of the loan agreement were in place.

But the IDB never responded to the Minister's letter, nor have they begun the execution of a project so urgently needed. Instead in mid-May, amidst rumors that the IDB was shutting down its offices in Haiti, Haiti's IDB offices announced that the country representatives and top staff had been "called into Washington for consultations."

Today in Haiti the needs of 8 million people are being placed on a balance against the political discontent of a tiny minority and the proclaimed adherence to the international community's self-serving principles of multiparty politics and the rule of law. The IDB's failure to sign the loan agreement is an indication that the balance is tipping in favor of the political discontent of that tiny minority - even when under the international community's own rules the facts weighs heavily in favor of the 8 million Haitians being made to suffer:

· First, in direct contradiction to the OAS December 2000 official Electoral Report, the international community has allowed to prevail in the media the false perception that all 7,500 electoral races run on May 21st were defective, and must be re-done, when in fact the OAS only challenged the method used to calculate the vote percentages in 6 to 9 senate races;

· Second, allowing Convergence Democratic to trample unfettered on the rights of the over 60% of the Haitian electorate who voted their leaders freely and fairly without ever mounting a defense to every person's fundamental right to vote seriously calls into question the international community's commitment to the democratic process and the rule of law when it comes to Haitians;

· Third, concrete and public commitments by the Government to re-run the contested senate seats and, if necessary, find the needed consensus to reduce by 2 years the terms of all members of parliament elected on May 21st, and appoint yet another replacement electoral council to organize these elections, have been repeatedly marginalized and indeed ignored each time the representatives of the international community state publicly that "the parties to the political crisis in Haiti are refusing to compromise";

· Fourth, extremist positions taken by Convergence Democratic, including the appointment of "an alternative president" and maintaining their so-called option zero position that all races be re-run have not been met with any forceful public opposition by representatives of the international community never hesitates to label the Government's efforts as "inadequate or insufficient";

· Fifth, the repeated and steadfast refusal of Convergence Democratic to even meet with the Government has not been publicly criticized by representatives of the international community and only labeled as "unfortunate";

· Sixth, the flippant and cavalier comportment of Convergence Democratic in the face of the economic crisis gripping the nation (rejecting the Pantheon Museum as a site for negotiations for fear of the size and quality of chairs on which they will be seated) has never provoked outrage on the part of the international community nor ever caused them to publicly question Convergence's intentions to engage in good faith negotiations that can lead Haiti out of this crisis.