- 'Haitians Disappointed with Preval, Long for Aristide': "[Ms. Danny Dadol]: I'd like for Preval to take care of the country, but the country doesnt want him. They'd rather have Aristide to come and help him out, because Aristide would do a better job." [Audio & Transcript at NPR]
- UN occupation forces use pepper spray on hungry Haitians in aid queue, soldier calls them "animals." [AFP]
- WSWS reports on yesterday's Montreal Conference, '“Reconstructing Haiti” on starvation wages': "Government ministers, international bankers and aid agencies gathered in Montreal Monday to discuss plans for reconstructing earthquake-ravaged Haiti. At the heart of their proposals is the exploitation of Haitian workers at poverty wages. The conference offered nothing concrete in terms of new assistance, instead scheduling a donors meeting at the United Nations in March. Much of the rhetoric coming out of the gathering seemed to bear little relationship to the situation on the ground in Haiti...In reality, Haiti is now being run by the US military, which has deployed over [20,000] troops and unilaterally taken control of the country’s airport and port facilities..." [WSWS]
- Amidst the talking points emerging from the meeting that 'Haiti must lead,' there are already clear indications that the intent is to merely maintain a Haitian facade (as even the Globe and Mail noted in its January 20th editorial, prior to the earthquake "Haiti was already in effect a protectorate"). Speaking with Canada's Business News Network, Carlo Dade of the right-wing, government funded think tank FOCAL, stressed that "A lot has to go into beefing up the Haitian government in terms of their capacity to play a role...We obviously have a functioning government - a President, a Prime Minister, a Parliament, but it's the other resources, parliamentary service to give the parliamentarians the information they need, helping the line ministries, project managers, accountants, engineers, etc." Dade added that "it's capacity behind the scenes that needs to be put in place." Dade also noted that there will be great opportunities for disaster capitalists: "the structures are in place to have people participate in the reconstruction... Beyond that, there's a role for the private sector to really step up...looking to creatively play a role both in the reconstruction but also in terms of other ways." Elsewhere, Hillary Clinton described that, in terms of the "plan" for Haiti, there was an already existing one, crafted largely 'behind the scenes' in conjunction with Haiti's elites: "[My husband, Bill Clinton] had just had a conference with 500 businesspeople. They were signing contracts, they were making investments. Twenty-four hours later, we get this terrible calamity..."So we have a plan," she said. "It was a legitimate plan, it was done in conjunction with other international donors, with the United Nations." [Washington Times]
- 'Protesters watch over Haiti Summit': "A small group of protesters gathered outside a Montreal summit of international players in the rebuilding of Haiti on Monday, hoping to make sure the reconstruction efforts benefit the Haitian people — and not corporations..."In the past, when nations have put together a great deal of money, there are always financial interests behind it," said Montrealer Daphney Laraque." [CBC]
- More on the protests over at The Hour: "The ink on Nydia Dauphin's poster bled as she explained it is up to Haitians abroad to speak out and defend Haiti now. She's a member of Haiti Action Montreal, who have been critical of the early stages of the relieve effort, saying the militarization of the country imperilled Haitians desperate for critical medical and food supplies, not more soldiers. She also argues the media's over-emphasis on looting and violence isn't a fair representation of the actual situation on the ground in Haiti." [The Hour]
- Time Magazine refers to top U.S. general Ken Keen as "the de facto king of Haiti."
- U.S. whines about Al Jazeera's coverage of Haiti: "[State Department spokesperson P.J.] Crowley called reports by Al-Jazeera's English-language channel inflammatory. "It suggested there was a militarization of the effort. It compared military activities at the airport to a little `green zone,'" he said. "We thought that was inappropriate." In the same report, Pentagon officials say they'll be in Haiti three to six months...or longer: ""That three-to-six-month time frame is certainly a good logistics planning window, but the U.S. military is committed to being there as long as we're needed," said John Kirby, spokesman for the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff. " [Washington Post]
- Contrary to the historical record, the Globe and Mail, in arguing for a "central" Canadian role in "building the capacity...of the [Haitian] government," claims "Canada has the advantage of not being unencumbered with a colonial legacy." [Globe & Mail]
- Venezuela forgives Haiti's debt for purchase of fuel; IMF only suspends debt for five years, and has "no plans...to forgive Haiti's nearly $900 million debt." [Telesur, thanks Google-translator]
- 'Understanding Haiti': "Despite the fact that 80 per cent of Haitians lived below the poverty line even before the earthquake, or perhaps because of it, Haiti doesn’t lack an organised civil society - from small-scale farmers’ organisations to neighbourhood committees. We should be ready to stand with them to demand a reconstruction effort that meets the needs of ordinary people, not those of neoliberal dogma." [Red Pepper]
- Seismologists express concerns over "the possibility that the Jan. 12 earthquake could be the beginning of a new sequence occurring over decades, with each successive quake redistributing stresses along the fault." [NYT]
- 'Grappling with what happened in Haiti' Gary Leupp via Dissident Voice]
- Michel Chossudovsky has reposted his prescient article, written on the day of the 2004 cop d'etat (February 29th), with a new preamble: "Under the Washington consensus, the proposed reconstruction will not contribute to mobilizing domestic resources, empowering the Haitian people, while rehabilitating the institutions of the State, including health education an essential public services. Quite the opposite: the process of reconstruction is dominated by Haiti's external creditors. An army "foreign investors" including construction conglomerates, mining interests, security firms and mercenary companies have already positioned themselves. The "reconstruction" of Haiti will be financed by a mounting external debt. Lucrative contracts will be handed out to foreign contractors. In all likelihood the country's infrastructure will be rebuilt and immediately privatised. The entire national economy is slated to be handed over to foreign capital." [Global Research]
- Rare dose of high altitude sanity in mainstream outlet with 'A Legacy of Oppression in Haiti': "The tremendous poverty and vulnerability made starkly clear by this disaster is but a legacy of Haiti's long history of domination by powerful outside interests." [Denver Post]
- An opinion piece from Thailand's The Nation asks, "Can you imagine the horrific chill that the Haitian people must have felt when they learned that the US, France and Canada were controlling the rescue operations?"
- Michael Moore reports on how the executive director of the National Nurses Union was "put off" by the Obama administration after offering to send 12,000 nurses to Haiti. [Democracy Now!]
- Canadian scholar Yasmine Shamsie, who has contributed to the domestic/intellectual justification for Canada's leading role in the coup/consolidation process, writes a whole article about the pros and cons of 'export processing zones' and the rebuilding of Haiti's economy, and doesn't once mention the word "sweatshops." [Ottawa Citizen]
- On the U.S.'s inhumane repatriation of Haitian attempting to leave the island with its flotilla of coast guard cutters, 'U.S. to Haitians: Good Luck, but not here.' [Global Health]; in related news, see 'Nativists stewing over refuge to Haitians' [Hatewatch]