One For Haiti

Last week the most vulnerable nation in the occidental hemisphere endured a catastrophic earthquake. Its largest city, Port-au-Prince, was the epicenter of this disaster. With an estimated population of nearly 1.1 million inhabitants living in a density of 28,353/km2, Port-au-Prince was prone to a mass casualty. As of January 19th, a week after the quake, 200,000 people are feared dead and more than 1.5 million people have been left homeless. A disaster of this magnitude may leave an ambiguous feeling about the future of this island nation, not knowing how or when they are going to be able to pull themselves out of this disastrous circumstance.

The sad notion is that the amount of casualties could have been fewer. In 2008, Patrick Charles, a professor at the Geological Institute of Havana had predicted this “inevitable” earthquake. He stated that “conditions are ripe for major seismic activity in Port-au-Prince. The inhabitants of the Haitian capital need to prepare themselves for an event which will inevitably occur...” Who can we blame for letting this happen? The people were probably concerned about getting food on the table and the government probably did not have money or resources to take action. I believe that the latter can be on account of Haiti's immense international debt.

Now this is a case where the worse has gotten even worse. According to the U.S. central intelligence agency, before this disaster already 80% of the population lived under the poverty line and 54% lived in abject poverty. Approximately three quarters of the population lived on less than $2 dollars per day, according to the UN News Center. In 2005, the country’s external debt was a high $1.3 Billion dollars; this is $169 per capita. On July of 2009 $1.2 Billion of Haiti’s debt was canceled from international lenders that included the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the U.S. government. This, however, were made into new loans, in which half of this amount would have to be repaid. The money coming from the World Bank and other international lenders to help and rebuild Haiti will again come in forms of loans. Moreover, there are conditions attached that include deals that, for example, assure that aid money will have to be used to pay foreign contractors. Montreal-based SNC Lavalin already has some contracts lined up.

To be Continued...

There is a current movement to clear Haiti’s $1 billion debt, if interested, click here and go to this site.

I just watched this video clip on YouTube and it made me stop and think... Everything this soldier is talking about is totally true. The U.S. government has done a very good job in selling their wars to the United States population and will continue to do so unless this population wakes up. I believe that killing people, other human beings, is extremely barbaric. I don't understand how something like that could be justified. Specially the killing of people that don't want anything to do with war; civilians that include kids, elders, mothers and fathers. All done for the interest of the rich minority in the world...

A new article on BBC World News has impulsed me to begin writing about my topic. Just when we were beginning to see freedom on the horizon, we are begin to feel the plague of Free Market Liberalism take toll on Latin America. Last year we got to see Latin American countries unite in a serious of summits without any United States influence or preconditions, but now the real test begins. The main reason for these summits was to find ways to relieve the Latin American peoples from a serious of economic crisis that have taken a toll not just in Latin America, but the world. We need to hope that the leaders of Latin America take good action and are able to work together to get through this. I have hope in them and their peoples.

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