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Sent: From: Friday, December 31, 2004 5:42 PM
To: Bove, Roger Even
Subject: Haiti will be forgotten again
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on Fri, Dec. 31, 2004
HAITIAN BICENTENNIAL
At 200, little to celebrate
Haiti had planned a proud celebration of the 200th independence anniversary of the world's first black republic, but 2004 brought more of Haiti's old
trouble: chaos.
BY CAROL J. WILLIAMS
Los Angeles Times Service
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Across from the National Palace, an unpainted concrete eyesore rises six stories above the Champ de Mars parade grounds like a metaphor for the work in progress that is Haiti.
The Bicentennial Tower was supposed to be the centerpiece of celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of Haiti's independence, in a year intended to inspire a new direction for the world's first black republic after a long history of abject poverty and autocratic rule.
But from the gunfire-marred Jan. 1 ceremonies to the quotidian violence still consuming the capital's slums, 2004 has served only to showcase Haitians'
pain and failures.
This year, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere experienced an armed rebellion that drove President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile and pushed his supporters and opponents into sporadic civil war. Compounding the chaos, Haitians suffered two catastrophic floods that killed at least 5,000 people.
Still, people trying to steer this battered nation toward elections in November contend that the future is not as bleak as the past.
''One way to celebrate the bicentennial was to say we don't want dictatorship in Haiti,'' said Lyonel Trouillot, one of the country's most admired writers, referring to Aristide's ouster.
`GOOD THINGS'
''People don't talk about the good things. Now when you go to the immigration office, you can get a passport. The airport has been renovated. There are all kinds of normal activities in the southern cities,'' Trouillot said. ``It won't be easy, but we started a fight for a more just society, and if we keep on fighting we'll get somewhere.''
Danielle Magloire, a human-rights activist who serves on the seven-member ''council of sages'' that advises the interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, also argues that the bicentennial balance sheet is in the black.
''The most important thing is that we don't have a government that is repressive,'' she said. ``We have a lot of violence, but it's not the work of the government.''
Like most Haitians involved in shaping the post-Aristide transition, Magloire is critical of Latortue, a former U.N. official. She says the prime minister and his Cabinet are moving too slowly to restore order and get business, education and public services working again. But she noted that Haiti's institutions were so corrupt and dysfunctional that it would take decades to achieve the normalcy taken for granted in other countries.
SIGNS OF PROGRESS
Latortue's government has succeeded in controlling inflation and collecting revenues customs that were being siphoned off during Aristide's tenure, economist Kesner Pharel said.
''The government has done some good things,'' he said, ``but the problem is that people can't feel it.''
Poor Haitians such as Natalie Louis, an exhausted convenience store worker in the Cit Soleil slum, say they can't think about the prospects of elections
11 months from now when they can't feed their children today.
''It's in God's hands,'' Louis, a 27-year-old mother of two, said with a dismissive wave at the notion.
Six months into its deployment, the U.N. peacekeeping force is close to its intended strength, but its Brazilian commander, Gen. Augusto Heleno, has said
-- loudly and often -- that disarming the gangs is not part of his mandate.
Establishing some semblance of peace across the nation is a prerequisite to starting the election process, a Herculean undertaking even if the violence ends.
IMMENSE OBSTACLES
The Organization of American States plans to bring in modern equipment to produce photo identification cards for voter registration, yet most roads outside Port-au-Prince are impassible much of the year and electricity is, at best, sporadic. At least 25 percent of Haiti's 8.5 million people have no identifying document. And with more than half the country illiterate, many don't know their age or how to spell their names.
As Latortue's interim mandate nears the halfway mark, the lack of progress toward arranging a vote threatens discord among the political groups waiting to participate in elections.
''When people have no means of conducting political debate, no game to play in, they can resort to violence,'' said Leslie F. Manigat, who served as Haitian president for a few months in 1988 before being ousted by a junta. He is one of the few declared candidates for the next elect...