Skip to content
May 25, 2022
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn
Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond

Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond

From Venezuela and made by Venezuelan Chavistas

Primary Menu
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Our Sources
    • Venezuelan Sources
    • International Sources
  • About us
    • About us
    • Who we are – Becoming a Volunteer
    • Contact us
    • Editorial guidelines for contributors
  • Categories
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Security and Defense
    • International
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe
      • Oceania
      • US/Canada
    • Latin America and ALBA-TCP
      • South America
      • Central America and the Caribbean (+Mexico)
    • Ideology-Commune-Labor
    • Health-Education-Sport-Culture-Technology
    • Solidarity and Social Movements
    • OT Originals
  • Support us
    • Tax Deductible Donations: AfGJ Fiscal Sponsorship Program
    • PayPal and Credit Cards
    • Patreon (recurrent donations)
Light/Dark Button
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • Earthquake Devastates Haiti, Canada Shouldn’t Make it Worse
  • Central America and the Caribbean (+Mexico)
  • Latin America and ALBA-TCP
  • Opinion

Earthquake Devastates Haiti, Canada Shouldn’t Make it Worse

Yves Engler August 19, 2021 5 min read

FILE PHOTO: A view shows houses destroyed following a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Les Cayes, Haiti August 14, 2021. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES/File Photo

By Yves Engler – Aug 15, 2021

With “friends” like Canada, Haiti is in deep trouble.

Justin Trudeau’s statement that this country was “standing ready” to assist after a massive earthquake rocked the western part of Haiti yesterday is not reassuring. Over the past two decades Canada has done too much to undermine Haitian sovereignty, democracy and living standards to be considered trustworthy amidst this tragedy.

Canada is a country with immense resources to help with a 7.2 magnitude earthquake and it’s not too far geographically from Haiti. Undoubtedly, the Caribbean nation requires international solidarity to assist with an earthquake that’s killed over 700, injured thousands and left many more homeless. But Canada should definitely not deploy troops to the impoverished Caribbean nation and we must be suspicious of NGOs seeking to fundraise off of the tragedy.

Adding to the need for caution are statements from Washington. The head of USAID, Samantha Power, tweeted that she talked to the head of US Southern Command about how the US Department of Defense could assist Haiti.

In a worse humanitarian situation, a decade ago, Ottawa dispatched soldiers to dominate that country. Immediately after a horrific quake hit Port-au-Prince in 2010 decision makers in Ottawa were more concerned with controlling Haiti than assisting victims. To police Haiti’s traumatized and suffering population, 2,050 Canadian troops were deployed alongside 12,000 US soldiers (8,000 UN soldiers were already there). Though Ottawa rapidly deployed 2,050 troops they ignored calls to dispatch this country’s Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) Teams, which are trained to “locate trapped persons in collapsed structures.”

According to internal government documents the Canadian Press examined a year after the disaster, officials in Ottawa feared a post-earthquake power vacuum could lead to a “popular uprising.” One briefing note marked “secret” explained: “Political fragility has increased, the risks of a popular uprising, and has fed the rumour that ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, currently in exile in South Africa, wants to organize a return to power.” Six years earlier the US, France and Canada ousted the elected president.

RELATED CONTENT: Canada: Get Your Colonialist Claws Out of Haiti

Canada and the US’ indifference/contempt towards Haitian sovereignty was also on display in the reconstruction effort. Thirteen days after the quake Canada organized a high profile Ministerial Preparatory Conference on Haiti for major international donors. Two months later Canada co-chaired the New York International Donors’ Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti. At these conferences Haitian officials played a tertiary role in the discussions. Subsequently, the US, France and Canada demanded the Haitian parliament pass an 18-month long state of emergency law that effectively gave up government control over the reconstruction. They held up money to ensure international control of the Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti, authorized to spend billions of dollars in reconstruction money.

Most of the money that was distributed went to foreign aid workers who received relatively extravagant salaries/living costs or to expensive contracts gobbled up by Western/Haitian elite owned companies. According to an Associated Press assessment of the aid the US delivered in the two months after the quake, one cent on the dollar went to the Haitian government (thirty-three cents went to the US military). Canadian aid patterns were similar. Author of The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster Jonathan Katz writes, “Canada disbursed $657 million from the quake to September 2012 ‘for Haiti,’ but only about 2% went to the Haitian government.”

Other investigations found equally startling numbers. Having raised $500 million for Haiti and publicly boasted about its housing efforts, the US Red Cross built only six permanent homes in the country.

RELATED CONTENT: Canada’s Contribution to Political Corruption in Haiti

Not viewing the René Preval government as fully compliant, the US, France and Canada pushed for elections months after the earthquake. (Six weeks before the quake, according to a cable released by Wikileaks, Canadian and EU officials complained that Préval “emasculated” the country’s right-wing. In response, they proposed to “purchase radio airtime for opposition politicians to plug their candidacies” or they may “cease to be much of a meaningful force in the next government.”) With rubble throughout Port au Prince and hundreds of thousands living in camps, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon demanded Préval hold elections by the end of the year. In May 2010 Cannon said, “the international community wants to see a commitment, a solid, serious commitment to have an election by the end of this year.” (With far fewer logistical hurdles, it took two years to hold elections after the 2004 US/France/Canada coup.)

As a result of various obstacles tied to the earthquake and a devastating cholera outbreak introduced to the country by negligent UN troops in October 2010, hundreds of thousands were unable to vote during the first round of the November 28, 2010, election. After the first round of the presidential election the US and Canada forced Préval party’s candidate out of the runoff in favor of third place candidate, Michel Martelly. A supporter of the 1991 and 2004 coups against Aristide, Martelly was a teenaged member of the Duvalier dictatorship’s Ton Ton Macoutes death squad. As president he stole millions of dollars as part of the massive Petrocaribe corruption scandal and imposed as his successor the repressive and corrupt Jovenel Moïse who was recently assassinated. The assassination of president Moïse reflects the disintegration of Haitian politics after a decade of foreign intervention that has strengthened the most regressive and murderous elements of Haitian society.

After the 2010 earthquake there was an outpouring of empathy and solidarity from ordinary Canadians. But officials in Ottawa saw the disaster as a political crisis to manage and an opportunity to expand their economic and political influence over Haiti.

Let’s not allow that to happen again. Unfortunately, when the prime minister says Canada is “standing ready” it sounds more like a threat than an offer of real assistance.

 

 

Featured image: Houses destroyed in Les Cayes, Haiti, as a result of the earthquake. Photo: Reuters/Ralph Tedy Erol

(yvesengler.com)

Want More?

Don't want to be a victim of the Algorithm?

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER WITH ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VENEZUELA

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Yves Engler
Website | + posts

Yves Engler is Montreal-based writer and political activist. In addition to ten published books, Engler's writings have appeared in the alternative press and in mainstream publications such as The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, and Ecologist.

  • Yves Engler
    #molongui-disabled-link
    February 9, 2019
    Corporate Canada Behind Slow Motion Coup Attempt in Venezuela
  • Yves Engler
    #molongui-disabled-link
    February 16, 2019
    ‘Progressive’ Trudeau Government Attacks Venezuela
  • Yves Engler
    #molongui-disabled-link
    February 16, 2019
    Canada backs Haitian government, even as police force kills demonstrators
  • Yves Engler
    #molongui-disabled-link
    February 26, 2019
    Why Canada wants regime change in Venezuela
Tags: Canada earthquake France Haití Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) Jean-Bertrand Aristide Jonathan Katz Jovenel Moise Justin Trudeau Michel Martelly military NGOs Ottawa Samantha Power US Imperialism US Southern Command USAID

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Continue Reading

Previous Previous post:

Cuba, China, Latin America and the World

Next Next post:

In the Tradition of US Puppets: When They Finally Get Kicked Out, They Steal as Much of the Country’s Treasure as They Can

Tax deductible donations

One time donations

Recurrent donations

Calendar

May 2022
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Apr    

NEWS: Most Viewed 72 Hours

Categories

Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter

We keep your data private and share your data only with third parties that make this service possible. Read our Privacy Policy.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

OPINION: Most Viewed 72 hours

We are on Telegram


Receive our news directly in your cellphone or PC, join us on our TELEGRAM channel: https://t.me/OrinocoTribune1

Download TELEGRAM, click the link above and then press the JOIN button.

We are Copyleft not Copyright


Creative Commons License
All Orinoco Tribune's work is free to use and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

We are on Reddit


If you are more into REDDIT, join our Orinoco Tribune Community.
Just click below and then click JOIN
https://www.reddit.com/r/OrinocoTribune/

 

  • News
  • Opinion
  • Our Sources
  • About us
  • Categories
  • Support us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn
Copyleft - No rights reserved. | ChromeNews by AF themes.

Orinoco Tribune needs your help on our 3 ½ year anniversary

Help us reach some small goals by the end of May

* We are currently at 25% on our annual goal. Help us reach at least 30%

*In Patreon we are below $600. Help us reach $660 (only 14 pledges of $5 each will take us there)

HELP US KEEP MAKING A DIFFERENCE PROVIDING GOOD QUALITY ALTERNATIVE INDEPENDENT NEWS FROM THE SOUTH

             

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.