As Rising Food Prices Ignite Social Unrest in Haiti ...

Members of Congress, Religious Leaders, Development Advocates Urge Immediate Debt Cancellation

Leading Congressional Haiti Advocates Disappointed by Treasury Department’s Refusal to Support Accelerated Cancellation or Moratorium on Payments for Haiti

WASHINGTON, DC - May 20 - ...

Members of Congress Respond to Treasury’s Letter:
“The people of Haiti are literally starving today. Meanwhile, Haiti is sending approximately $1 million each week in debt service payments to the World Bank and other creditors, money which would be better spent to fight hunger and poverty.

“Together with 53 concerned House colleagues, I wrote to Treasury Secretary Paulson in February, urging him to provide expedited debt cancellation for Haiti, and in the interim, to stop debt payments until such a time as the debts can be cancelled.

“Treasury's response was entirely inadequate. While I appreciate that the international financial institutions and the United States are providing loans and grants, this is simply not enough so long as Haitians continue to starve. I call on Treasury Secretary Paulson to do everything in his power to provide immediate debt cancellation for Haiti. We cannot in good conscience accept payments from Haiti at this time of desperate need.” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) ...

http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0520-19.htm

and turn its back is an adminstration straight from the bowels of hell. We knew that about them BEFORE Haiti's situation got this far beyond tragic.

From the article posted above:

~snip~
“While the global food crisis is devastating the well-being of Haitians, causing riots and acute hunger, the Haitian government must continue to pay more than $1 million a week in debt service when it could be financing a return to local food production, subsidizing basic foodstuffs and investing in health care. I urge the U.S. Treasury to place an immediate moratorium on Haiti's debt service during this crisis so the government can guarantee the right to food for all Haitians.” Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee

“Much of the $1 million a week that Haiti sends to the IDB and World Bank is for loans made to the Duvaliers and other corrupt and brutal Haitian dictators. The Haitian people received little benefit from these loans, but Haiti’s poor are now forced to repay them by eating mud pies, dying of easily treatable diseases and not learning to read.”
Brian Concannon Jr., Director, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti.

“In the past, the Treasury Department has abused its power within the IDB by blocking greatly needed loans for water, health, education and road projects in Haiti, which has had devastating consequences for Haitians' health and well-being. Today, Treasury has an opportunity to use its influence appropriately to improve the human rights situation in Haiti, but is unwilling to do so.”
Monika Kalra Varma, Director, The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights

“Within the context of long-term development, Haiti’s debt must be addressed. The public sector spends only $10 per person on health services per year while servicing millions in debt to international financial institutions. The passing of the Jubilee Act (HR 2634) in the U.S. House of Representatives--which CARE USA supported--sent the right signal to the Haitian Government and the Haitian people in terms of the United States' support to this nation. CARE is urging all members of Congress to support the passing of this bill in the U.S. Senate, with a Haiti amendment similar to the one offered by Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL). Moreover, CARE is asking Congress to provide support to the Haitian Government in the establishment of a transparent, accountable, and effective mechanism to channel the proceeds from debt cancellation toward poverty reduction initiatives that are prioritized by local communities.”
Marlye Gélin-Adams, Regional Advocacy Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, CARE USA

“Thirty years ago, Haiti produced rice, enough to feed its citizens and even export to regional markets. Haiti also was a leader in livestock production. Rice production and much of the agricultural sector was decimated in the 1980s by the structural adjustment programs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Today, Haiti is gripped with a crippling food crisis. Haiti is also forced to service debt to the very institutions that precipitated the problem. These funds siphoned off to international bankers could instead be going to feed the people and rebuild the agricultural sector. Haiti's has repaid its debt many times over. There couldn't be a better case for complete and total debt cancellation.”
Emira Woods, Co-Director, Foreign Policy In Focus, Institute for Policy Studies

These people are betting their whole lives on the thought they will never have to ask anyone for help in their future. They KNOW they have placed themselves beyond forgiveness by now.

What kind of scum would refuse to help Haiti? Republican scum. Their evil acts will come back to do them in, I have no doubt at all.

by the Institute for Policy Studies yesterday. Emira Woods, one of the people quoted in the article, participated in the delegation trip and led the report back event. While Emira definitely knows what's up (you may have seen her occasionally on the BBC as a commentator on African issues) many on the trip have no clue about why Haiti is in such a mess.

The problem is that those that give a damn about Haiti are trying to overlay a capitalist solution. Haiti suffers from a couple of hundred years of capitalist solutions. A revolution was necessary in Cuba and a revolution is needed in Haiti.

Haiti has 15,000 NGO's and you can't get clean water in Haiti. All this aid money is returning back to the countries that contributed it in the first place. US legislation regarding Haiti is to make Haiti more attractive for manufacturers who make a huge profit by paying workers 37 cents an hour.. The elite of Haiti do not pay taxes and do not re-invest in the country -- their money is in offshore holdings. This is all a cruel game and to make Haiti jump through deadly hoops to get a break on debt is inhuman..

Viv Dessalines!