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By Rupa Chinai
Once the richest colony in the world, Haiti is shockingly poor today. In April Haiti made international headlines for food riots. This two-part travelogue on Haiti looks at how Haiti’s inability to safeguard its local food self-sufficiency has plunged the country into debt and dependence on foreign aid. There are important lessons here for other countries of the South
With blue-green waters lapping its white pebbled shores, the beautiful island nation of Haiti is described as the pearl of the Caribbean. It has a moving history of courage and independence. In 1804 it became the first Black nation inhabited by slaves to achieve independence from French colonial rule without outside help. At that time the island was described as one of the wealthiest nations on the planet. Today it is a nation stamped to the ground and pinned down there by decades of external interference and internal political instability.
In April this year Haiti made international news headlines for its “food riots”. But closer examination of the ground reality, during a week’s visit in June, told a story of deep subtlety. It revealed how Haiti’s inability to safeguard its local food self-sufficiency has plunged the country into debt and dependence on foreign aid. Worse, it is leading to a situation where the nation’s very sovereignty is threatened. Haiti holds important lessons for the countries of the South.
The first impression of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, is that of a war zone, a bombed out city. The drive through the city centre is a culture shock, even for Indians. The grinding poverty, squalor and degradation, the unfinished and decaying streets with no lighting, the grey broken houses, garbage heaps, choked drains and un-cleared rubble are rarely seen on such a gigantic scale in the capital city of any country. The whitewashed presidential palace, a mansion of colonial grandeur, stands out like an oasis of stability amidst a sea of poverty.
But first appearances don’t tell the whole story. We later glimpsed hidden areas of the capital, as dramatic in beauty as San Francisco, in the foothills overlooking the bay area where the elite of Port-au-Prince and the international residents live. Here were restaurants and hotels for fine dining and living, tucked away behind high stone walls and barred iron gates. Meanwhile, 80% of Haitians live on less than US$ 2 a day.
The inequality between rich and poor and the virtual absence of a middle class is searing. Down in the city centre were millions of unemployed youth, sitting and blankly staring. There are no industries or jobs to engage them. Apart from the money-transfer agencies that proliferate there was little by way of established commercial activity. One was hard-pressed to find book, music or departmental stores, cinemas or theatre houses.
The most startling feature of Port-au-Prince is its vibrant street economy. The pavements are lined with people selling head-loads of cheap imported food (packaged stuff like cornflakes and cheese), alcohol in enormous quantities, clothes, plastic and household gadgets. These are bought by government employees and those receiving remittances from relatives working abroad. Others who aspire to them are young men who gamble and buy lottery tickets, as also young girls who indulge in open prostitution with ‘Sugar Daddies’. A culture of saving for the future or investing in education is uncommon.
Imported goods help fill the coffers of Haiti’s elite and also of government by way of taxes and kickbacks, say locals. The common people are proud of Haiti’s freedom struggle, of this “marvellous” country with enormous potential. Its downfall, they say, lay in successive governments that have “failed to act for the country; failed to listen”.
Haiti imports corn, rice, beans, oil, sugar and flour from the US. The only local Haitian product seen in Port-au-Prince are mangoes which were in season and plentiful. Mangoes and coffee are Haiti’s main exports now. The country has the potential to grow vegetables and fruit, coffee, tobacco and cotton, but its production has dwindled in the absence of government support.
Despite reports of food riots, food is not in short supply in Haiti. On the streets of Port-au-Prince one ran into women sweet vendors who sold a delicious mix of healthy jaggery-sesame-seeds-peanuts-puffed-rice, similar to the Indian chikki. One unusual combination of hard toffee embedded with cashew nuts was excellent! Golden corn, steamed or roasted, was another street food that reminded one of home.
Small rural and urban canteens run by locals serve up a fragrant fare of brown rice and kidney beans, a delicate coconut curry with a variety of local vegetables and a meat of choice, served with banana or potato fritters. A delicious pumpkin soup is common in Haitian households for Sunday lunch. The rural beach shacks dish out fish delicacies. Such meals cost less than one Haitian dollar (around US$ 3). But that is still too high a price for most Haitians.
An editor at Le Nouvelliste, a leading daily newspaper, said: “There is no real food crisis here, for food is available. The problem lies in two inter-related factors: The absence of purchasing power amongst 60% of the population because they have no work, and the neglect of agriculture.”
The April 2008 food riots were reported in areas such as the sprawling slum of Site Soley. But interestingly, according to a local journalist, the rioters did not snatch food. Their ire was focused on destroying the property of rich businesses. “If people were really hungry why did they not touch the food when they destroyed the shops? That is why we are sceptical about the food riots,” he said.
Explaining the fear in these labyrinth slums, a Haitian woman working with an international NGO explained that political parties have created their own armies with slum youth using guns to foment political instability and settle personal scores. According to her, these gang members often have the support of highly stressed communities within the slum because they play Robin Hood, robbing visitors to the area and distributing the loot to the needy. Haiti’s poor communities are known to have a strong culture of sharing.
Civil society, however, is losing patience with such mafia gangs whose recent spate of kidnappings and lawlessness has spiralled out of control. One day during our visit, thousands of people came out onto the streets of Port-au-Prince to protest against the kidnappings while demanding strong government action.
Haiti’s present-day problems are rooted in its history. Although Haiti is the world’s first Black slave nation to overthrow its White colonists, the country’s post-Independence history indicates that it continues to pay the price for its defiance.
A small gem of a museum in Port-au-Prince revealed that this Caribbean island was first inhabited by a gentle race of Native Indians who lived peacefully, devoting themselves to hunting, fishing and farming. The arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and occupation of the island by the Spaniards led to the ruthless decimation of the Indian race. Spanish rule saw the import of 30,000 slaves per year from Africa who were made to work as plantation labour. In 1790, the island was “the richest colony of the world,” according to records of that time.
The arrival of the French on the island led to a struggle for control. In 1795, Spain agreed to hand over the western side of the island (Haiti) to the French whilst retaining occupation of Santo Domingo. The museum depicts how the harsh treatment led to slave uprisings in both colonies and the French, in particular, responded with extreme cruelty. A decade of simmering slave rebellion led to subterfuge -- poisoning of the white man’s food, secret meetings and conspiracies, and the development of a language, Creole, that the ‘White masters’ could not understand.
The Blacks rejected the idea of a White god and disassociated themselves from the religion of their oppressors. It was in those years that they developed their own unique music which protested against everything that White society stood for. They also turned to their own religion -- Voodoo -- which came to them through the first African slaves. “Voodoo provided strength to liberate themselves from the domination of White people,” says Laurent Jean Sergo, a voodoo practitioner in Jacmeil.
The outbreak of violence against the Whites -- torching of houses and fields, killings -- finally forced the French to leave. But the island was destroyed. Haiti declared its independence from France in 1804 and the Spanish-dominated side of the island, now known as the Dominican Republic, followed in 1860. France however did not accept its loss over Haiti and held it to be a “rebel colony”.
While one rarely hears of the ‘victor’ paying the ‘loser’, in 1820 France somehow persuaded the Haitian leaders that if their ‘independence’ was to be accepted, and a French embargo lifted, Haiti would have to pay it compensation for losses suffered. And for that the French would give them a loan!
In 1825, Haiti paid $ 150 million in gold to France, according to historical records. Payment of indemnities to foreigners has not stopped since. In 1991, Haiti’s first democratically elected government demanded $ 22 billion restitution from France, but that government was overthrown in a coup and the demand was withdrawn by the one that followed.
Therein lies the root cause of their impoverishment today, say Haitians. Shackled by Western financial institutions that used the leverage of debt to impose economic reforms, Haiti was forced to cut back on spending for social sectors like education, health and agriculture. The neglect of agriculture is leading to a gradual loss of local food self-sufficiency and creating dependence on food aid. It is affecting the livelihood of small farmers and ravaging the environment, as the cash-strapped and unemployed search for food, fodder and fuel.
While Haiti was declared a land of freedom -- all oppressed people were welcome here -- and its revolution exported to Latin America, the Western powers saw it “as a bad example for the region”, said a young Haitian journalist.
After a host of military juntas and dictators -- including the world-famous father-son duo Papa and Baby Doc Duvalier -- Haiti had its first democratic elections in 1991, resulting in two stints by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, interspersed with more coups. One of Aristide’s acts was to demand $ 22 billion restitution from France which was promptly withdrawn by his successor.
The currently elected president, Rene Preval, who took over in February 2006 barely hangs on through the support of a tenuous coalition of bitter enemies and the presence of 9,000 UN peacekeeping troops.
“The Haitians wanted independence but they lost out in the development story,” said the editor at Le Nouvelliste. “Haiti was not a poor country. It became poor because of slavery, because of politics and social inequality. Today, 95% of the wealth is in the hands of 5% of the people.”
Subjected to the economics of “structural violence”, as described by Paul Farmer, an American doctor and author who worked in Haiti, Western financial institutions used the leverage of Haiti’s debt to impose conditions for further aid and force a ‘reform’ plan. This plunged the country further into debt, under-development and inequality.
‘Reform’ for Haiti has meant a devaluation of its currency and elimination of barriers to US trade and investment. Forced to open its markets to US producers, Haiti today has the most open economy in the hemisphere. Such measures have ensured that it cannot reach a situation of self-sufficiency through development of its own policies, the building of trained manpower, or an infrastructure base.
The US, for instance, is Haiti’s biggest donor. Money is poured into Haiti with an eye to protecting and promoting US interests. Money is routed through NGOs rather than to “people who overthrow regimes”. Aid money is then ploughed back into US industry, with Haiti forced to only buy high-priced US-made pharmaceuticals, computers, cars and tractors.
The US has resisted investment in the country’s long-term development -- a punishment for its resistance to US presence on its soil. The Dominican Republic -- which has allowed the US military to set up base -- is a study in contrast. It’s a major US tourism destination, has well-developed infrastructure facilities like in the West and is heavily dependent on US support.
Haiti’s loss of food security goes back to the 1990s international trade liberalisation policies. The country was self-sufficient in rice production but it was forced to export rice, mainly to the US, in order to pay its foreign debt. Western funding institutions then imposed conditions for further aid through their Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). This led to a reduction in rice tariff from 35% to 3% in 1995, thus benefiting US businessmen and denying a means of support to Haitian agriculture.
So began the slow demise of Haitian agriculture. When the US provided direct food aid to supplant local production, this free or heavily-subsidised US rice undersold the local peasantry with grain and a food for work programme. Its arrival during the peak local harvest season, when farmers sold their crops and needed hired help, adversely affected small farmers.
While farmers in the US received the benefit of government subsidies and advanced infrastructure to produce cheap rice, the Haitian farmer who had no such support suffered. Meanwhile, Haiti’s high debt payments and the imposition of SAP ensured that it could not invest in the development of its agriculture and other sectors.
Haiti now depends on foreign rice, importing an estimated 82% of its total consumption. The rise in international food prices forced Haiti to cut back on rice imports leading to domestic shortages, price rises and protests in the streets. Increasingly cash-strapped, Haitians are forced to cut back on domestic spending and ravage the environment for fuel. This has led to the destruction of forests for firewood and charcoal, silting of the topsoil and loss of fertility which, in turn, affects agricultural yields -- a vicious cycle that bodes ill for the survival of Haiti’s poor.
For developing nations, Haiti demonstrates the consequences awaiting countries that lose their food self-sufficiency. It points to the mindlessness of economic policies that promote global food transfers with its huge environmental costs for the poor. Its adverse impact is felt on local productivity and crop diversity. Such policies create aid dependency, increase foreign debt, and undermine national development and self-sufficiency. It promotes a new kind of colonialism that ensures a nation’s enslavement.
Haiti’s current President Rene Preval has tried to resist US and Western economic policies. The emergence of a Southern solidarity against such diktats is seeing a cartel developing between Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti that are all resisting policies such as the conversion of agricultural land for bio-fuel. When the US invoked sanctions preventing oil supply to Haiti, Venezuela promised a hundred years’ supply to its small neighbour.
Haiti is however in no position to lead this unequal fight. Made vulnerable by its own volatile domestic situation -- kidnappings and street fights between the private armies of warring politicians, the ever-looming possibility of a coup, and the common man’s desperate struggle for economic survival -- Haiti remains constantly on the brink.
Also read How food insecurity impacts health in Haiti
(Rupa Chinai is an independent journalist based in Mumbai. Her trip to Haiti was supported by Media 21, a global network of journalists, and Infosud, a Swiss news agency)
InfoChange News & Features, July 2008
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