Politicizing the Chilean Military in Haiti

This is a really scary and bizarre thing to ask of the Chilean military:

Chile's National Assembly will meet in a special session on Tuesday to discuss the warning of the President of the Haitian National Assembly, Simon Dieuseul Desras, of an impending institutional conflict in Haiti and requesting that Chilean soldiers defend the 'people' and defy President Michel Martelly. 

Senate President Simon Desras wrote the letter to his Chilean counterpart, Jorge Pizarro. Chilean newspaper El Mercurio reported that, dated November 4, Desras requested from the Chilean Congress to take "all actions and dissuasive prohibitive measures on their part" so that Chilean troops in Haiti will assume the role of "defending the Haitian people thirsty for democracy against excesses of a totalitarian and arbitrary power", referring to the administration led by President Michel Martelly.

Holy cow. This sounds eerily similar to the Chilean legislature's message (aimed in large part at the Chilean military) just prior to the 1973 coup.

That it is a fact that the current government of the Republic, from the beginning, has sought to conquer absolute power with the obvious purpose of subjecting all citizens to the strictest political and economic control by the state and, in this manner, fulfilling the goal of establishing a totalitarian system: the absolute opposite of the representative democracy established by the Constitution;

It's bad enough for militaries to become politicized in their own countries, much less in others. This can't end well.

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Journalism and Haiti

Spend about 7 minutes to watch Franco Ordoñez from the Charlotte Observer talk about the importance of journalism and how it relates to his experiences in Haiti.  He came and talked to my U.S.-Latin American relations class during the spring semester and students really responded.

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Quote of the day: Haiti

Barr "will be representing" Duvalier "in bringing his message of hope to the world," the former Republican congressman's website says.

This can't be serious, yet it is.  Here is his website if you can stomach it.

h/t Kevin Grier aka Angus

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Earthquakes and politics

Glenn Garvin at The Miami Herald writes a lengthy and very worthwhile article about the 1972 Nicaragua earthquake, raising some points I just made in class last week, including this critical one:

Since the early 1960s, a small band of Marxist college students calling themselves the Sandinista National Liberation Front had been stumbling around in the jungle, continually betrayed by the hostile peasants they hoped to lead in revolution.

But the widespread animosity toward the government following the earthquake provided the Sandinistas with an immediate infusion of money, guns and troops. Within two years, the Sandinistas had brought their war into the cities; within seven, they had toppled Somoza.

There are many differences between Haiti and Nicaragua, but the central point is that the response to natural disasters can have critical long-term consequences.  That seems obvious, but in the immediate term tends to get ignored.  Somoza took economic advantage of the earthquake, and made poor decisions on rebuilding to boot.

When Nicaraguans talk about Haiti, as they often do these days, they feel a little bit like the Ghost of Christmas Future in A Christmas Carol, warning about shadows of things that might be if their warnings aren't heeded. The most important, they all agree, is that corruption is potentially poisonous, coloring every public perception. ``Even a little bit will grow giant in the public eye after a disaster,'' says broadcaster Sacasa.

It would be interesting to see an analysis of the political impact of natural disaster response.  We tend to focus on the negative cases (even Katrina) but in what ways have successful responses bolstered a government or even democracy itself in the longer term?  I think measuring the positive effects would be much more difficult.

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Rebuilding Haiti

Jim Arkedis and Mike Derham at the Progressive Policy Institute offer up some ambitious ideas for rebuilding Haiti.  Some of the ideas are to get U.S. troops out (and shift emphasis to the State Department), get a UN police force in shape, get France to kick in more money, facilitate remittances, ensure access to U.S. markets for Haitian goods, and even consider moving the capital to Cap Haïtien since it emerged in much better shape than Port-au-Prince.

Reconstruction will have to mean thinking big while remaining constantly aware of the distrust that exists on so many levels--both between Haiti and the other countries (most prominently the U.S.) and within the country.  Alone those lines, the NYT also has an interesting article about the problems expatriates have had in contributing to development back home in Haiti because of lack of trust.  It is hard even to wrap your mind around how immense this task is.

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Hait and U.S. policy

The story of Americans taking Haitian children out of the country illegally struck me as a parallel to the worst aspects of U.S. policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean in general (and globally).  We are divinely guided to interfere in other countries, and their laws are irrelevant if we believe the cause is just.  If those in other countries do not understand, that is not our problem because we believe we meant well.

“I can’t at all question where they went and what they did because I’m really convinced it was at God’s direction,” he said. “They were acting in faith. That may sound trivial, but they were acting not only in faith but God’s faith.”

Self-reflection, analysis of consequences, long-term costs, and even the essential question of legality are thus rendered moot.

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TPS for Haitians

The Obama administration announced it was granting temporary protected status to Haitians living illegally in the U.S., just as we've done for Central American countries at various times.  I hope, probably in vain, that this situation would prompt more discussion of how to reform our immigration policy in general.  We allow Cubans who reach the U.S. to stay, but deport Haitians.  Further, we deport people to countries unable to deal with them, which only exacerbates political and social conflict, which in turn leads to more emigration.  And on a practical level, TPS keeps getting extended because the conditions in the home country don't change quickly.

Janet Napolitano also offers up this comment:

"At this moment of tragedy in Haiti, it is tempting for people suffering in the aftermath of the earthquake to seek refuge elsewhere, but attempting to leave Haiti now will only bring more hardship to the Haitian people and nation," Napolitano said.

It is hard to see how leaving a devastated country makes that country worse off, particular when there are currently too few resources to go around.  But the message is clear--don't come to the U.S.  We will help address the current crisis, then we'll ignore you until the next one.

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Quote of the day: Haiti

Most of the time, I poke fun at government spokespeople for the ways in which they manage to say nothing.  So hats off to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, commenting on Pat Robertson:

"It never ceases to amaze, that in times of amazing human suffering, somebody says something that could be so utterly stupid," Mr Gibbs said.

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Haiti's independence

Haiti somehow fought for independence from Napoleon III, who was not yet alive at the time, and the Haitians won only because they made a pact with the devil, which then cursed them forever and is to blame for the earthquake.

As Johnny Carson used to say, I did not know that.

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