Nowadays in Haiti lying has become the trademark of everyone involved in the county’s affairs. The UN Head of the Mission has lied so often that it seems she’s incapable of telling the truth. Anytime she speaks her words are so untruthful it is a good bet to ignore them. Mostly only harm comes from paying attention to the propaganda she utters, starting from when she applauded after gangsters federated themselves in Port-au-Prince into a group, the G9, to today when she’s claiming that the mission she heads has done a good job, and merits to be renewed. More money allocated, a longer “Tourista” styling, the beach house in a secure isolated spot, a fat bank account are the perks associated with the renewal of the BINUH, as this paradise mission in the middle of hell is called. Here you have folks who are government employees assigned to a high level post in Haiti and who lived on a comfortable salary at home, but nothing to boast about. Now these folks find themselves enjoying maids, cooks that serve them meals they wouldn’t dream of enjoying at home on a daily basis, with a variety of fresh fruit and natural juice along with chauffeurs to take them around. They have all kind of security, riding in armor plated cars, like rappers in L.A., and live a life akin to a movie. It is in their interest to lie, cheat and fabricate reality to keep living large. The worse the situation, the more they can continue to enjoy the perks. Lying will keep the harvest growing.
Lying will keep the harvest growing
We Haitians, wether in the country or abroad live our daily lives as if everything is ok at home, even though the opposite is the reality. For example today there is a shortage of gasoline in all towns in Haiti, and drivers, as well as motorcycle taxis are forced to pay twice the regular price on the street, if they’re lucky, while gas stations are all closed. Depending on where you are you pay twice or three times the price set by the government to people on sidewalks or side of the road. This is illegal, according to a recent law, but even police officers buy it from the street. The Minister of Commerce lies by saying gas is available even though all stations are closed. Instead of taking action, any kind of action, drivers and motorcycle taxi drivers meekly pay the ransom to dealers in the street. That kind of gasoline is not always trustworthy, so many have had to do costly repairs from bad gas.
Persons are being killed and kidnapped daily in Haiti, while the Minister of Justice and Public Security lies all the time saying that measures are being put in place to control the territory. In Torcell, in upper Delmas, gangs are terrorizing the population, the same in Pernier, near the Police Academy, yet nothing is being done by the authorities who should be tending their resignation in a normal country. We are allowing persons with no legitimate mandate to drag our country down to a level never seen before. Young persons who are the future of the nation are being killed daily, as joining a gang is the only way they can make a living.
Kidnapping is a business, with politicians working with gangs to fill up their war chests in anticipation of selection/elections that will be held sooner than we think. The population does not need that right now because only harm to the nation will be the result. Crooked persons tied to gangs or drug dealers will be selected in a sham election, while the very few politicians who can be considered honest will mostly abstain, and the few who participate to make a little dough and enhance their resume will lose. They will make the selection legitimate by participating with lies and promises from “friends” who will make them believe they will win. The case of Mirlande Manigat comes to mind when analyzing the emergence of bandi legal Martelly. The former president was a distant 5th in the voting count after the final count. Manigat entered the second round full of lies and promises from core group embassies, only to lose a rigged selection when her own camp curiously ran an inefficient campaign. The UN has lied repeatedly about its role during elections in Haiti, usually providing logistics in order to control how ballots are handled.
Today most of the accords reached the past months are null and void because persons lied about their intentions. It was to be expected since a lot of the persons who signed and represented their groups did not trust each other, and also said all the right things, while not being ready to follow up and fulfill their promises. Most of the participants in the Montana Accord receive advice and funding from members of the Core Group, so the idea that it was a solution that Haitians came up with and would control is at best naive. The only path to survival is reconciling the middle class and the masses in a true mobilization to reclaim our heritage. The majority of the population is poor and most do not trust anyone in the shrinking middle class where most politicians come from. Many militants have had to hide from gangsters sold to the PHTK, so the movement needs help from abroad, as well as inside the country. In a future post I will lay out how trust can be established once again, so we can unite and take action.
Dèyè Mon 