(STT/Savon Sanomat/Keskipohjanmaa November 2001 - Juhani Artto) Jean-Bertrand Aristide began his second term as Haitian President on 7 February 2001, exactly ten years after his first term began. Although this term was interrupted after only eight months by a military coup, it continued in 1994-1995 with support from the US military and massive international financial aid.

The expectations on Aristide at the beginning of his terms in 1991 and 2001 were precisely opposed. In 1991 it was generally believed that he was capable of finally putting a stop to poverty, violence, lawlessness and lack of vision in the life of Haitians. This did not happen. Instead in the 1990s Aristide adopted the habits of the tiny Haitian élite. He shunned the defence of poor people’s rights and focused on accumulating personal power and wealth.

When Aristide was re-elected as President a year ago the opposition boycotted the election. Although Aristide received 92 per cent of the votes cast, the overall turnout was only 5 per cent.

After experiencing sustained hardship Haitians are nowadays in an exceptionally difficult situation. "The State is in complete disorder," is how one UN agency expert describes things. The decisions of the judiciary depend on which litigant offers the larger bribe. Moreover corruption is rife among the 5,000-strong police force. These are the views of any Haitian not among those who have been able to participate in dividing the spoils. There is no longer any army in Haiti. Aristide led the process of suppressing the military after martial law came to an end.

Corruption of the judiciary and police force

Drug trafficking offers convincing evidence of the extent of corruption in the country’s administration and judiciary. US experts estimate that Haiti has become the most important transit country on the cocaine trail from Columbia to Southern Florida. This traffic is brisk, and is no secret to Haitians. However, according to Ombudsman Florence Elie, only 20 of the country’s 2,400 prison inmates have been accused or convicted of drug-related offences.

The cocaine couriers do not bother to cover their tracks. One well-known radio journalist – who prefers to remain anonymous – reports that light aircraft loaded with illicit narcotics land at Port-au-Prince airport at night. Bribed officials turn a blind eye to such operations both at airports and harbours.

Many high-ranking persons have bought expensive villas even though their legal incomes are tiny compared to the salaries of officials in industrialised countries. Violence and the threat of reprisals have discouraged local journalists from naming names in their coverage of drug trafficking.

Large revenues from the illicit drugs trade helps to explain why social indicators show progress even though the legal economy has long been a feeble one. According to the World Bank, Haiti’s official GNP per capita decreased by 2.1 per cent a year in the 1980s and by 2.7 per cent a year in the 1990s. In few countries has the downward slide has been so severe and so sustained.

In spite of this, the country’s literacy rate rose from 49 per cent to 60 per cent in the 1990s. Indeed in 1970 it was only 22 per cent. The likelihood of Haitians dying before their 40^th birthdays has decreased since the mid-1980s from 32 per cent to 24 per cent. At the same time the proportion of the population enjoying ready access to potable water improved from 45 per cent to 66 per cent. The weight-to-age ratio of under-5s clearly improved over the period from 1978 to 2000, and the incidence of underweight fell from 37 per cent to 17 per cent.

The UNDP household survey also shows that poverty has decreased both in urban and rural areas.

Money from Haitians living in the US

Together with incomes from illicit narcotics, the remittances sent home to relatives by Haitians living in the USA and Canada help to explain the disparity between economic and social indicators. The officially registered annual remittance rate of USD 600 million corresponds to one-sixth of the nation’s GNP. Philippe Rouzier, a UNDP economist in Haiti, estimates the real figure to be some USD 1,000 million. Distributed equally between all Haitians this would amount to about 10 dollars a month, which would mean a clear boost in living standards for most people.

The downside of this unofficial foreign aid programme provided by expatriate Haitians is the brain drain. Expatriates have a much higher educational level than those who have stayed behind. Haiti suffers from a chronic shortage of skilled labour. Especially in recent years professionals with technical expertise have moved away. Haitian experts also fear that the general slowdown of the US economy will reduce remittances.

A third factor underlying recent social progress is the generous support given to Haiti by the international community after Aristide’s return in 1994. In three years Haiti received about USD 500 million annually in development aid, and in terms of per capita aid revenues Haiti became a favoured recipient country. Although this aid flow remained significant until the end of the 1990s, the irresponsible policy of Haiti’s leadership undermined support for continued aid, and now only NGO projects secure foreign financial assistance.

The end of foreign aid has led to a large deficit in the State budget. This renders unrealistic, for example, the stated goal of the country’s leadership of universal literacy and school attendance by all children aged from 6 to 12 years by 2004. The same government policy has made Haiti unattractive to both domestic and foreign investors. The number of jobs in the textile and garment industry based on foreign direct investment has dropped from 100,000 to 15,000.

Alternative forces are networking

The current situation of Haitians would seem hopeless were the disadvantaged majority not developing an alternative to the present trend, as they have likewise done in the past.

The SOS initiative, a broad coalition, combines the chamber of commerce, churches, association of industrial enterprises and some NGOs. Active Haitian NGOs also have their own umbrella organisation.

In Quanaminthes, a small town in the north-eastern corner of the country, peasant, women’s and human rights activists have created their own local organisations and established connections with similar organisations elsewhere in the country. A decentralised trade union movement is working to build solidarity at weekly meetings. The opposition political parties have set up a common forum, Convergence Democratique, which is finalising an alternative programme.

According to Garaudy Laguerre, the leader of the internationally respected research centre Ispos, a resistance network is under construction but currently still lacks the power to influence the direction of national policy. "As the network gradually strengthens, the risk of key figures defecting to the power élite will grow once again," Laguerre observes.

*Published originally in two Finnish provincial daily newspapers, Keskipohjanmaa and Savon Sanomat