{"id":72094,"date":"2016-04-18T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=72094"},"modified":"2016-04-16T18:24:39","modified_gmt":"2016-04-16T17:24:39","slug":"hillary-clinton-and-haiti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/04\/hillary-clinton-and-haiti\/","title":{"rendered":"Hillary Clinton and Haiti"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hillary<\/a><\/p>\n

11 Apr 2016 – <\/em>The Clintons\u2019 high-profile interest in Haiti dates back almost all the way to their wedding in 1975. Shortly after their honeymoon in Acapulco, Bill and Hillary Clinton received an invitation from David Edwards \u2014 a friend and Citibank executive \u2014 to accompany him to Haiti.<\/p>\n

Edwards\u2019s motivation in getting the Clintons closer to Haiti was neither cultural nor humanitarian. The reason was Citibank\u2019s long-standing financial interests in the country, which now go back over a century.<\/p>\n

In 1909, the National City Bank of New York \u2014 Citibank \u2014 acquired a majority stake in the National Bank of Haiti,\u00a0\u00a0an institution that had been under French control and which, since 1880, held the power to issue paper money and to serve as central bank for the Haitian treasury. In 1914, Roger Leslie Farnham \u2014 in charge of the Caribbean region at Citibank \u2014 pressed Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan for Washington to militarily intervene in Haiti in order to protect U.S. interests. One year later, 19 years of occupation would begin for the country.<\/p>\n

It was only the beginning of U.S. meddling in the affairs of its poorer neighbor.<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

In April 2009, the State Department, under the leadership of Hillary Clinton, decided to completely change the nature of U.S. cooperation with Haiti.<\/p>\n

Apparently tired with the lack of concrete results of U.S. aid, Hillary decided to align the policies of the State Department with the \u201csmart power\u201d doctrine proposed by the Clinton Foundation. From that moment on, following trends in philanthropy, the solutions of US assistance would be based solely on \u201cevidence.\u201d The idea,\u00a0according to Cheryl Mills, Clinton\u2019s chief of staff, \u201cwas that if we\u2019re putting in the assistance, we need to know what the outcomes are going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The January 2010 earthquake was the long awaited opportunity to test this new policy.<\/p>\n

Mills was no development expert, but her connection to the Clintons ran deep. A graduate of Stanford Law School, Mills had been the unofficial manager of Hillary\u2019s 2008 presidential campaign and Bill\u2019s defense lawyer during his impeachment. Despite having no training or experience in development economics,\u00a0Rolling Stone\u00a0<\/em>reported<\/a>\u00a0a few years back, Mills \u201cwas determined to figure out a new way of doing things that would be more effective, both for the U.S. and for Haiti.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea was to transform Haiti into a Taiwan of the Caribbean, with\u00a0maquiladoras<\/em>, an apparel industry, tourism, and call centers. These would be the niche sectors that would guide the new cooperation framework.<\/p>\n

In this plan, the particularities of Haiti itself didn\u2019t matter much.<\/p>\n

Yet more than hope, there was\u00a0certainty<\/em>\u00a0that the country would eventually conform to the plans being imposed by the Harvard Business School technocrats. Haiti was to fit within the parameters of capitalist efficiency: \u201cIs this going to be hard? Yes,\u201d Hillary Clinton\u00a0tearfully<\/a>\u00a0told\u00a0The Miami Herald<\/em>. \u201cDo I think we can do it? Absolutely, I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The volunteering amateurism of the Clintons was so far gone that Bill publicly declared in a speech in Port-au-Prince that he would make Haiti the first fully\u00a0Wi-Fi<\/em>-connected country on the planet.<\/p>\n

For the desired policy changes to work within a diplomatic framework, the veneer of \u201cdemocracy\u201d needed to be maintained. Ergo, Clinton and Mills played a heavy role in Haiti\u2019s contested 2010 elections.<\/p>\n

\"BOID\u2013the<\/a>

BOID\u2013the new Tonton Macoute<\/p><\/div>\n

I was present at a December 2010 meeting where the so-called \u201cCore Group\u201d of (initially the U.S., Canada, and France, but Brazil got a spot because of its role in the UN mission) plotted a coup against Haitian President Ren\u00e9 Pr\u00e9val, until then-Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive unexpectedly showed up. I intervened, citing the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter.<\/p>\n

Legality and common sense had prevailed. But until when? My hopes were still alive and I did not notice that a common international front had formed; one that would decide Haiti\u2019s electoral path.<\/p>\n

After this failed attempt, the Core Group quickly came to realize the absurdity of attempting to depose Pr\u00e9val. Rewriting history, in the following days, several ambassadors, when asked about the topic, would shamelessly lie, denying its existence.<\/p>\n

Finally, on Sunday, January 30, 2011, the unavoidable foreign actor in the recurring Haitian political crisis decided to put an end to the dispute. Hillary Clinton had arrived in Port-au-Prince.<\/p>\n

The secretary of state had taken care to invite her colleagues, the foreign ministers from the other member-states of the Core Group, to accompany her in a delicate mission to Port-au-Prince. They all declined the gesture, alleging it would be impossible for them to fit the event in their agendas. However, this was not the reason for their refusal. Since the Haitian crisis had been detonated by the United States, even on the night of the election, it was Washington\u2019s responsibility to resolve it.<\/p>\n

After talking to several public figures, both Haitian and foreign, the head of the State Department knew that the last meeting before returning to Washington would be decisive. Pr\u00e9val awaited her in his simple office next to the ruins of the National Palace.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/a>

Former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide campaigns alongside Dr. Maryse Narcisse. (Daniel Morel)<\/p><\/div>\n

Bellerive and Cheryl Mills were also present during the meeting in question \u2013 images of which are presented in Raoul Peck\u2019s documentary Fatal Assistance.<\/p>\n

Hillary Clinton began the meeting saying she was not interested in who would, or would not go on to the second round. What brought her to Haiti and to Pr\u00e9val was to try to offer him her advice and hear the allegations of his old friend of many battles. What mattered to her was to see that Pr\u00e9val emerged exalted from the crisis. Nothing else. She claimed she had made no commitments to the other actors involved in the crisis or even with the three presidential candidates, only to Pr\u00e9val and his future. He had been a constant and loyal ally. Now he was in a delicate situation, for they were accusing him of acting as a petty dictator, imposing an unknown candidate who had no representation and was manipulable.<\/p>\n

For the woman in charge of US diplomacy, it must have been during those moments of uncertainty and difficulties that true friends were found. It was for this reason that Hillary was there, as a friend of Pr\u00e9val and of Haiti, as she always had been.<\/p>\n

Towards the end of the meeting, she asked Pr\u00e9val to make a last gesture in favor of harmony and understanding. It was to be a gesture that would lead him, once and for all, to a special place in the pantheon of Haiti\u2019s history and the struggle for democracy in the continent. Pr\u00e9val replied with an emotive, albeit enigmatic smile. It was only him who knew that the crisis had reached its epilogue at that moment.<\/p>\n

As she was leaving the house, Hillary invited Bellerive to accompany her. The prime minister asked Pr\u00e9val for authorization to do so and placed himself between the two women inside the armored truck that left in a convoy to the airport. Confident that she had obtained what she wanted, Hillary was concerned now with the result of the second round. Bellerive removed all traces of apprehension when he informed her that Michel Martelly was going to win easily. And so he did.<\/p>\n

As she was heading toward the plane, Hillary made a comment to Bellerive about his family relationship with Martelly. He confirmed that they were distant cousins. Since they were both educated individuals and the game was already over, the secretary of state allowed herself to make a joke and asked: \u201cYou are relatives, but you don\u2019t sing?\u201d Bellerive replied, humorously: \u201cNeither does he.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hillary confessed having heard Martelly sing some songs and could not agree more with Bellerive. Then, smiling, she left Haiti.<\/p>\n

_________________________________<\/p>\n

This is an extract from Seitenfus\u2019 book, published in Portuguese, Spanish and French. The latter version\u00a0<\/em>l\u2019\u00c9chec de l\u2019aide int\u00e9rnationale \u00e0 Ha\u00efti: Dilemmes et \u00e9garements,\u00a0was published in 2015 from the \u00c9ditions de l\u2019Universit\u00e9 d\u2019Etat d\u2019Ha\u00efti. Seitenfus is working on publishing the English edition.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Ricardo Seitenfus\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>is a professor at the Law School at the Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil. He was also the OAS Special Representative to Haiti from 2009 to 2011.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 counterpunch.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Clintons\u2019 high-profile interest in Haiti dates back to their wedding in 1975. Shortly after their honeymoon in Acapulco, Bill and Hillary Clinton received an invitation from David Edwards \u2014 a friend and Citibank executive \u2014 to accompany him to Haiti. Edwards\u2019s motivation was neither cultural nor humanitarian. The reason was Citibank\u2019s long-standing financial interests in the country, which now go back over a century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latin-america-and-the-caribbean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72094\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}