NO...............This is nothing new for history buffs, in fact the information has been around since 1915. Many on this site and most people are not interested in Haiti other then you and trolls like yourself pushing it up our arse. However, Martelly is a new, recently elected public official. And I was only attempting to make a corrolation between the two. In order to do that prior history knowledge is required. I only posted back up information to give validity to my statement, plus it was easier to copy and paste then to write up the whole story from memory.

Most Haitians don't think he is going to mess up, only you knew that. I suggest you get into fortune telling apparently this was nothing new for you. You already knew that Martelly was going to screw things up for Haiti just like Theodore. Perhaps you can make a living at foretelling the future.

Just take off your sneakers so I can hear you coming, that way I can get out of your way and push my back against the wall.

Can't go barefoot! SORRY!

Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille resigns

Garry Conille has only been in the post since October 2011

The prime minister of Haiti, Garry Conille, has resigned after a power struggle within the government.

His resignation is likely to set back efforts to re-build the country after the January 2010 earthquake which devastated the capital Port-au-Prince.

He was President Michel Martelly's third nomination when appointed in October, ending a long stalemate.

For several weeks there have been reports of power struggles that prompted the UN to intervene.

On Thursday Mariano Fernandez, the special representative of the UN secretary general in Haiti, said there were "repeated crises" between the parliament, president and prime minister.

"[These] undermine the proper functioning of the institutions and the democratic process," he said.

So far President Martelly has not announced any replacement or caretaker prime minister.

UN experience

One of the issues causing division was a parliamentary commission investigating the nationality of government ministers.

Many officials in Haiti and elsewhere in the Caribbean spend considerable time overseas.

The commission is investigating whether some senior administration officials have dual citizenship, which is prohibited under the constitution.

Mr Conille originally trained as a doctor and had previously worked with the UN.

He was an aide to former US President Bill Clinton when he was a UN envoy to Haiti.

When Mr Conille took office he pledged to create thousands of jobs by attracting foreign investment to help rebuild the country.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17159167

Haiti As A Hopeless Case

By Howard J. Wiarda


Americans are not used to dealing with, or even thinking about, hopeless cases.

We have always been a hopeful, optimistic, pragmatic, and problem solving people; our forte has been to see a problem, go in, solve it, and get out the quicker, the better.

Think of World Wars I and II, the 1989 capture of Manuel Noriega in Panama, or the first Iraq war. But not imbroglios like Vietnam, Iraq II, Afghanistan, Somalia, or Haiti.

Hopeless cases leave us flummoxed, impatient to leave, and frustrated.

Haiti is one of those hopeless cases.

This is hard for the U.S. government, the many NGO’s working in Haiti (Non- Government Organizations; Haiti is often referred to derisively, as the "Republic of NGOs", and the thousands
of well-meaning religious groups and do-gooders who descend on Haiti with every, recurrent crisis.

I have nothing against NGOs, religious groups, and do-gooders, and, in the right circumstances, are among their staunchest supporters.

All I want is for these groups, and the rest of us, to have realistic expectations of what can, and can’t, be accomplished in Haiti.

Over the last two and a half decades Haiti has become a quasi-permanent ward of the UN, the OAS, and the U.S. Its economy—what there is of one— is a shambles, it has a weak or non-existent civil society, it lacks basic infrastructure, and its institutions such as parliament or the civil service are
either out of commission or do not function as Western institutions should.

On top of these problems came the devastating earthquake of January, 2010, which killed upwards of 200, 000 people, left Haiti even more devastated than it had been previously, and precipitated a new round of foreign interventions and hand-wringing over how to "save" Haiti.

The six month anniversary of the earthquake is a good time to take stock of Haiti’s recovery efforts.

I myself don’t believe we outsiders can save Haiti.

I am happy to contribute in the wake of the earthquake to short-term humanitarian relief efforts, but I don’t think the longer-terms and very expensive (upwards of $100 billion) efforts
to rebuild Haiti can succeed.

For the real problems in Haiti are long-term and cultural, more precisely political-cultural issues which, rather like Iraq, Afghanistan, or Russia for that matter, take a hundred or more years to correct—three or four generations, not three or four years as the aid agencies hope.

Moreover, in Haiti’s case, we are afraid even to talk about political-culture issues because of political correctness fears, most particularly, the fear of being charged with "racism." But if we cannot even talk about the basic issues in Haiti, how can we hope to solve its problems?

This fear of even talking publicly about the key issues even while going ahead with a massive rebuilding project that will not solve any of Haiti’s underlying problem is the major factor
in my pronouncement that Haiti is "hopeless."

Elements of Haitian History I have been traveling to Haiti since 1962. Having written both my MA thesis and PhD dissertation on the next-door Dominican Republic and traveled to Haiti
frequently (and been shot at there; no fun, I’ve decided) I think I know Haiti pretty well. Herewith some interpretive comments.

The island of Hispaniola, once greater wealth was found in Mexico and Peru, was long characterized by colonial neglect.

But at least on the eastern end of the island Spain created some (limited) institutions, fostered the early stirrings of civil society, and Westernized (Hispanic but still Western) the population.

In sharp contrast on the western one third of the island, the French established a rigid, slave-plantation economy.

At one point sugar-producing French Haiti was the richest colonial possession in the world.

But the French never educated the slaves, never built institutions or civil society, and never
Westernized the mass population.

Hence when Haiti’s slave revolt succeeded in 1804 it was left with no institutions, no economy, no civil society, and a complete vacuum of infrastructure.

Haiti was born with its economy in tatters: the plantations had all been burned and its top soil was soon eroded.

There was nothing left on which to build, neither an economy or a functioning country.

Haiti’s nineteenth century leaders compounded the problems by exterminating the remaining whites,
massacring the few educated mulattoes, and repeatedly going to war against the Dominican Republic on the pretext that it was planning to reintroduce slavery.

Haiti was born as a nation with no foreign friends.

As the first "black republic" in a world that still widely practiced slavery, Haiti’s revolution was feared
and reviled by all the colonial powers.

Imagine the reception accorded the first Haitian emissary to Washington in the pre-civil war period.

It is hard to convey to outsiders who did not experience slavery or all this history how powerful is the anti-French and anti-white sentiments in Haiti.

Our missionaries, government officials, and civil society representatives tend to believe that if we just treat Haitians decently and as equals, they will respond and we can create a modern Haiti.

But Haitians, while personable and affable, are very suspicious of whites, suspect their motives (reinforced by well-publicized attempts during the recent crisis to take away their children for adoption), and are often hostile not just toward whites but toward white, Western, civilization.

How can you modernize and develop Haiti if even the basics of Westernism, such as transparency, efficiency, and honesty are rejected?

In the twentieth century we had the American military occupation of Haiti, 1915-33, which failed to develop the economy and similarly failed to develop infrastructure or institutions, with the exception of the Haitian National Guard which served as the stepping stone to power of future Haitian dictators, most notably Francois ("Papa Doc" Duvalier, 1952-71. Duvalier was one of the world’s worst tyrants, whose regime is perhaps best captured in Graham Greene’s The Comedians.

Duvalier was a medical doctor who also practiced spiritualism and voodoo— endearing qualities to lower-class Haitians.

In Haiti voodoo, enriched by both Catholic and ancestral African rites for over three centuries, is both fatalistic and tied to the past .

It is not a belief system that leaves much room for shaping either present or future.

When mixed with the country’s unique historical experience, Haiti’s religious culture takes on a defensive inner-directed character that is far removed from Max Weber’s "Protestant Ethic" of
entrepreneurial risk-taking, hard-working, get-ahead individualism.

Duvalier, a noir in Haitian terms, as opposed to the historically dominant and better educated mulattoes, was also an apostle of Negritude, a philosophy of political racialism that had gained popularity in France, French-Africa, and the U.S in the 1920s and 30s. The Negritude movement, which later evolved into a rationale for black power, involved a commitment to the distinctive
character of Haiti’s African heritage and a rejection of the superiority of European culture.

These attitudes, shaped by past slavery, Haiti’s unique history as an outcast among nations, and racial pride, help explain the country’s August 2010 *Dean Rusk Professor of International Relations, Department of International Affairs, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, (706)542-6705, wiarda at uga.edu; Senior Associate, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington, D.C.; and Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C.
continuing unwillingness to accept outside (i.e., white, Western) advice and ways of doing things.

Former priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide understood—and played upon—Haiti’s racial-cum-class-cum-social tensions better than anyone in recent history.

His "Lavalas" movement, which means "cleansing" or "washing away" (including at times in blood), was heir to Haiti’s slave past, its history, and its aspirations.

His message of liberation "from misery to poverty with dignity" was enormously appealing in Haiti—and still is. Even though Aristide is currently exiled in South Africa there are strong
pressures to bring him back, especially among the American black community and the black caucus in Congress.

But Aristide is not above dipping his hands in the public till, he and his followers have used violence, including necklacing, against political foes, and, as a "Rousseauian democrat" who believes he alone is the embodiment of the Haitian General Will, Aristide has not endeared himself to the American or international policy community.

Aristide’s story is familiar in Haitian history: a brilliant intellectual who is totally inept at governing.

Elements of Haitian Culture and Sociology Haiti has long been deeply divided between its urban elites, who tend to be mulattoes, educated, and globalized, and its rural masses who are mainly
illiterate, parochial, and patrimonial.

Most Americans and NGOs in Haiti deal almost exclusively with the mulatto elite who often speak both French and English, but that excludes 90 % of the Haitian population who are mainly
traditional, nonwestern, and speak only creole.

Georges Fauriol has offered a masterful explanation of Haitian political culture which he sees as a hybrid of four components: West African ethnicity and culture, French colonial and slave society of the eighteenth century, a marginal brand of Catholicism mixed with African beliefs, and a superficial overlay of American ways of operating which began with the occupation of a century ago.

Aristide’s story is familiar in Haitian history: a brilliant intellectual who is totally inept at governing.

Elements of Haitian Culture and Sociology Haiti has long been deeply divided between its urban elites, who tend to be mulattoes, educated, and globalized, and its rural masses who are mainly
illiterate, parochial, and patrimonial.

Most Americans and NGOs in Haiti deal almost exclusively with the mulatto elite who often speak both French and English, but that excludes 90 % of the Haitian population who are mainly
traditional, nonwestern, and speak only creole.

Georges Fauriol has offered a masterful explanation of Haitian political culture which he sees as a hybrid of four components: West African ethnicity and culture, French colonial and slave society of the eighteenth century, a marginal brand of Catholicism mixed with African beliefs, and a superficial overlay of American ways of operating which began with the occupation of a century ago.

What is remarkable says Fauriol, one of the few real experts on Haiti, is that the African and nonwestern features have remained for the most part unaltered for the vast majority of the population since they were first imparted in the eighteenth century.

He goes on to say that the vitality of this traditional, patrimonial, primarily rural and illiterate culture and environment has survived now for over two hundred years in virtually unchanged form, even in the face of continuous economic decline, the total failure of Haiti’s venal political elites
and the mulatto middle class, and repeated foreign interventions of which the current earthquake-inspired NGO and international takeover of Haiti is only the most recent Haiti may be seen as a spiritual heir to the French revolutionary tradition of 1789, but without the resources or institutions to ever live up to that ideal.

Its record of interaction with the outside world is one of rejection and tragedy.

Its history is one of dictatorships alternating with anarchy and repeated forced attempts to establish and consolidate democracy.

Its history leads it to be demoralized, often aimless and fatalistic, without the cement of civil society
or functioning institutions, and divided by an elite that seeks only to advance its own interests and a long-suffering mass whose fury only occasionally rises to the surface.

Entrenched, traditional political culture makes real change all but impossible.

What is to be done?

The weight of history and culture hang heavily over Haiti, more than is the case with other nations.

Here we have a slave-plantation society, perhaps the world’s cruelest, in the eighteenth century; an outcast among nations in the nineteenth century rejected (including in the U.S.) on purely racial grounds; a nation bereft of educated and non-self-serving elites; never really educated or
Westernized; repeatedly intervened and beaten down by outside powers; the poorest (by far) and most miserable nation in the Western Hemisphere; essentially a West African culture and society, never modernized, cast down in the midst of another continent that never wanted or recognized it. Thus seen, the primary problem of Haiti is not bricks, mortar, and rebuilding from the
earthquake, however notable those efforts are, but first and foremost a change in Haiti’s political culture.

Haiti provides a useful case study of the age-old dispute: do you change the culture first in order to change the institutions and thus bring democracy and progress; or is it sufficient to work instead with existing institutions (the Preval government) in the hope that reconstruction and economic stimulation
by themselves will eventually change the culture?

The obvious answer is, in the absence of strong, workable institutions in Haiti, you have to change the culture.

Otherwise, as is already happening, all your assistance efforts will be wasted, frustrations will again rise, and Haiti will be left no better off than before.

Who can change Haitian culture?

Well, Marxism-Leninism, probably can, but both Cuba and Marxism are spent forces, they do not want to take on Haiti and probably could not succeed, and in any case, the U.S. will not permit it to happen.

Forty years of an honest, efficient, strong, government, a la Lee Quan Yew in Singapore, could do it; but recall that Haiti has no topsoil, no industry, and virtually no manufacturing, no port facilities, no
banking, and few educated people.

And certainly with its politically-correct orientation and fear of being labeled "racist" if it dares to tamper with Haiti’s primarily Creole culture, the United State will not solve Haiti’s problems.

And that is why we conclude Haiti is a hopeless case. We can continue to throw money at it and probably that is useful to a certain extent—at a minimum it puts some money into the Haitian economy and makes us feel better.

But to really transform Haiti, it is the political culture that will have to be changed—and that, we know is a very difficult, controversial, and long-term project.

Notes:
Fauriol, "Haiti: The Search for Democratic Governances," in Howard
J. Wiarda and Harvey F. Kline (eds.) Latin American Politics and
Development (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 7th ed., 2010).


The views expressed are those of the author and not the
Department, University, or CSIS.
© 2010 by Howard J. Wiarda

Facinating article by Howard J. Wiarda. If there is anyone who knows what he is talking about it is him. He spoke clearly and freely, "sin pelos en la lengua", but in a still politically correct and civilized manner not to offend the Haitian people.

But "hopeless" is the key word here. However, what he failed to mentioned is that the US in an attempt to make things better, intermingled in Haiti's affairs and made it worse. Although not exactly under the most ideal conditions, the country was however stable while the Duvalier dynasty ruled. Unfortunately, the US decided to get them out and it has been down hill ever since.

I suggest we leave Haiti alone and just let them be to solve their own problems. Is that not what most people want to be left alone? Nevertheless, if we do that either one of two things can happen, Haiti will figure a way out of their mess or self-destruct. This is a socio-political evolutionary process, a matter of survival of the fittest. If Haiti is left to fend for themselves and for better or worse happen to self-destruct, then so be it. We can at least start from a clean slate, begin at square one and build from there.

Let them ask for help and not allow ourselves to head in a mad rush to their rescue as if parents to save children from themselves. In most cases, what usually happens, instead of recovery, in spite of all efforts made, the parent become the enabler that does nothing but further perpetuate and exacerbate exactly what they originally intended to fix. There are too many cooks in the kitchen and when that happens, it usually always spoils the broth. I have always said, only Haiti knows best what it needs for Haiti and not anybody else.

In the construction industry, most times it is best and cheaper to completely demolish the structure and build fresh. It would be to their advantage to commence a new project from start to finish then to fix what is broken. Ask any repair man, how much of a head ache it is to fix and clean up somebody else's mess. In the end, after all is said and done, it is just not worth the trouble.

The bottom line, let us stop spending good money to go after the bad and I believe if we take this approach, Haiti will take another but better direction and I am sure the outcome will be much better then what we got up to now. Nevertheless, anything is better then wat we have now.

Here is an interesting response by Tiba.
____________________________________

Tiba Says...

The metaphoric approach of Foreigners about Haiti is like "putting a crazy person in a straight jacket then dump him in the middle of the ocean and blame him for drowning." Well, people, you cannot have it both ways.

All talk/essays/analysis about Haiti done by foreigners has always been one sided.

This has has been the most well orchestrated conspiracy theory in the history of mankind.

For example, for decades, Haiti has been known as the country with the higest illiteracy in the world of 85% according to US, UN, and others reports.

My friend who was just a boy growing up in Haiti used to hear that report over and over. He is, today, almost in his 60s, that percentage (85%) still remains unchaged even though there have been more and more Haitians graduatiing from college and more Haitians are going to school, and there have been more schools built in Haiti.

And yes, we all agree there could/should/and must be more done to educate the entire Haitian population.

Mr. Wiarda I agree when you said "And certainly with its politically-correct orientation and fear of being labeled "racist" if it dares to tamper with Haiti’s primarily Creole culture, the United State will not solve Haiti’s problems." The United States cannot and will never solve Haiti's problems because the United States is the problem of Haiti.

That is exactly what the United States wanted Haiti to become.

To understand the view, you need to check the fundamental and systematic Thomas Jefferson's policy in Haiti after Haiti has abolished slavery and became the first free slave state in the world. Mr. Wiarda, it wasn't for no reason the United States had refused to acknowledge/accept and recognize Haiti as a country free of slavery for 62 years.

Sometimes, regardless how much it hurst and disturbing it may be, foreigners have got to come to grip with the truth and reality.

Haiti has been punished for abolishing slavery and brinking civilization to the world.

The United States of America holds the eternal grudge against Haiti for abolishing slavery, and therefore, vowed to never allow Haiti amount to anything in the world.

This painful grudge is a profound reflection of US racist foreign policy in Haiti.

The United States creates the political culture that you're referring to in Haiti and the current political crisis is the tangible indication that the United States is completely in charge and has always been.

I do realize you're tiptoeing around foreign interference in Haiti's affairs without giving any specifics.

This is an approcach all foreign experts use to present their case about Haiti because it would be too painful and disturbing to really tell it like it is.

Mr. Wiarda, in August of 1992, the United States of America (George Bush, the Father), without a second thought, collapsed/destroyed completely the Haitian economy in just one month through a naval baricade and then walked away. Since then, I have never heard any foreigners mentioned it at anytime ever. And why is that?

At the time of the earthquake, there wasn't one foreign investment/factory/company/corporation in Haiti and has not been for decades.

Why hasn't anyone mentioned that?

For decades, Haiti has been under ambargoes/economic sanctions by US, UN, etc. etc...

why no one ever talked about that?

Haiti has been in isolation and alienation for decades by US, UN, France, etc...

but no one ever dared mentione any of these barriers that keep a country from making progress, feeding their people, educating their people, and providing services to their citizens.

Foreigners, so-called experts, and so-called historians always look at the symptoms/the fire without paying any attention to the source because they fear to find out that they may be part of the problems and that they, too, are co-conspirators.

I disagree with you, in part, that Haiti is a hopeless case. However, I also agree with you that the salvation of Haiti lies on a political culture change.

In all faireness, in order to reach that goal, however, the United States must realize that the abolition of slavery by the Haitians was 207 years ago and it is now time to let go of the grudges, he hate, and the resentment.

The United States must also realize if we, Americans, really believe that "All Men Are Created Equal" and not a "slogan" as said in the US-constitution then the time has come for US to let Haitians live free as equal, as men, and as human beings.

We all realize and fully aware that Haitians, too, have contributed to their own demise, and therefore, they need to repent and understand the fate of their country lies in their hands and it is time for them to take responsibility of their own country.

Mr.Wiarda, Haitians are skeptic and do not trust whites and foreigners for good reasons and not because they are illiterate.

Trust is earnd.

It is up to the whites and the foreigners to create an atmosphere to earn the Haitian trust.

Mr. Wiarda, I consider myself as educated, and yet, I don't trust whites and foreigners getting into Haitians internal affairs because their interferences in Haiti's affairs always have a negative impact in Haiti and on Haitian life.

If the United States could release Haiti off that chokehold, I promise you that Haiti will finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Helping doesn't necessarily mean you have to be in charge and most importantly no country can progress, feed their people, educate their citizens in charity only.

http://www.prevalhaiti.com/messages.php/25765

excellent william-a good come back to refute Wiarda.

"I suggest we leave Haiti alone and just let them be to solve their own problems. Is that not what most people want to be left alone? Nevertheless, if we do that either one of two things can happen, Haiti will figure a way out of their mess or self-destruct. This is a socio-political evolutionary process, a matter of survival of the fittest. If Haiti is left to fend for themselves and for better or worse happen to self-destruct, then so be it. We can at least start from a clean slate, begin at square one and build from there. "

The problem with letting Haiti fend for itself is that IF in the very real possibility Haiti is unable to self-stabilize its downward peril, guess what other nation is put at risk of total collapse? DR.

Self-destruction will NOT be Haiti failure to take into the ground, but be shared with her Dominican neighbors. People don't just wait out death without resorting to any means to gain salvation. And if you think the million plus of illegals is problematical, wait until 5-8 are desperately trying to cross the border.

And then the problem will be what to do with about 25-30 million Haitians and Dominicans trying desperately to flee the island of Hispaniola. With the Entire Caribbean Basin at risk If you think the recent deaths of 50 or so Dominicans trying to get into PR was awful, the risk are far greater numbers, say 500 or 5000 trying to reach out per attempt in the likely event that Haiti is unable to stabilize herself within its own means.

Just recently and for what the fourth time Martelly needs to get himself another Prime Minister because Garry Conille was forced to resign in February 2012. Haiti lack of elite consensus with the majority of its population is its greatest downfall and it reflects sui genesis basis. If Westerns pulled out things are unlikely to improve, but revert to the old and desperate ways of yore.

I agree that the USA did not help matters when it invaded in the early 1900s. It made things worse. Same with the DR a year after the Haitian occupation. With 10 million people on an ecologically devastated geography, Haiti would be worse off if it tried to go it alone. What nations would give her a loan? Trust that she would pay them back?