[Marxism] Bolivia and Haiti

["Fred Fuentes" <fred.fuentes@xxxxxxxxx>]

BOLIVIA: What are we doing in Haiti?
Pablo Stefanoni*

Monday, April 21, 2008
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/04/bolivia-what-are-we-doing-in-haiti.html

La Paz - In recent days the Haitians have gone into the streets to
protest against the brutal increase in the cost of food. The response
of the Police — with the support of the United Nations Mission for the
Stabilization of Haiti (MINUSTAH) — was repression that cost the life
of at least five demonstrators and wounded about fifty others.

Haiti is not only the poorest nation in Latin America, it was the
first country in America to declare its independence under the
leadership of a heroic slave rebellion. But its economy was ruthlessly
pillaged by the long-lasting dictatorship of the Duvaliers
(1957-1986), first the father then his son, supported by France and
the United States.

In 1991, the former priest and popular leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide
was elected president. But after an initial overthrow and his return
to power — now much further from his initial progressive positions —
he was overthrown and kidnapped by a military coup supported, once
again, by France and the United States.

Although it is located in the midst of the Caribbean, Haiti is a great
desert, a product of criminal deforestation, and its mass barrios have
become huge garbage dumps. Twenty years ago, according to a report by
Serpaj [an Argentine human rights organization], Haiti was producing
95% of the rice it consumed; today it imports 80% from the US. To this
point, this could be the history of any small impoverished nation
occupied by international peacekeepers, accomplices in the
interventionism of the big powers. However, there is a difference:
this time, the mission is led by a government of the left, Brazil,
with the participation of various other progressive governments —
Uruguay, Argentina, Ecuador... and Bolivia.

Which raises the question: Should our troops be in Haiti shoulder to
shoulder with the occupation armies of the United States and France
firing on mass demonstrations with the excuse that they are just
criminal gangs (which some obviously are)? Shouldn't there be some
other form of support by progressive governments to our fellow peoples
of the continent? Haven't we rightly praised Cuba for sending doctors
to save lives and not soldiers to end them? Finally, is it the role of
the left to "humanize" the international missions devised by the great
powers?

So far the only response to these questions has been silence.

*Former advisor to Bolivian President Evo Morales, currently Director
of Le Monde Diplomatique-Bolivia

Translated from La Razon by Richard Fidler

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