US Repression of Haiti Continues

Response to Censored 2010 Article: US Repression of Haiti Continues

Essential Facts

1. The United States Government as of March 2009 has destroyed 155 buildings in the town of Cite Soleil in Haiti, with numbers rising, to expand the occupying UN force's military base. The contractor for this expansion is the US company DynCorp, a quasi-official arm of the Pentagon and the CIA. This expansion and demolition of mostly homes started without warning to the people living in them.

UN Military Base in Haiti


2. Lawyer Evel Fanfan, the president of the Association of University Graduates Motived for Haiti with Rights (AUMOHD) said "The authorities have not told them what is being done, if they will be relocated, how much they will be compensated or even if they will be compensated. Legally, the Haitian government has not authorized anybody to go anything." "There is no paper, no decree, no order which authorizes it."

3. June 23, 2008 RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights released a report revealing the Bush administration's blocking of "potentially lifesaving" aid to Haiti in order to meddle in the impoverished nation's political affairs.

UPDATES

4. The aid was intended to fund water and sanitation projects to improve "the quality of life - particularly for women and children - and to reduce incidence of disease and child mortality"


5. "Water is the leading cause of infant mortality and illness in children....Haiti now has the highest infant mortality rate in the western hemisphere....[and] more than half of all deaths in Haiti were due to water-borne gastrointestinal diseases."(Washington, DC-based International Action)



6. By blocking crucial aid, The Bush Administration could have potentially caused the deaths of thousands of Haitians, for cynical and self-interested political purposes. Yet, this story wasn't worthy of coverage by the US mainstream media.

7. The report written by the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights sparked Congress to investigate possible wronge doing, but the people of Haiti continue to feel the effects and suffer due to the actions taken by the U.S. There is slow but continuous work being done to improve the water quality in Haiti.

There are organizations out there trying to speed up the process of bringing clean water to Haiti such as Charity: Water



Lexis Nexis Search

When searching on Lexis Nexis I couldn't find one article that directly referenced my story. This was very surprising to me, because although I understand this is a censored story, I thought this book was popular enough to be referenced and talked about. There were a bunch talking about Haiti and the problems they were and are having but I found only one mentioning the United States withholding monetary aid and aiding with the unauthorized expansion of the UN military base.

Article found in Lexis Nexis Search Key terms used: Haiti, US withholding aid -
Rights Groups Assail U.S. for Withholding Aid to Haiti, Citing Political Motives

I feel as though this story is a true "censored story, I couldn't believe the lack of information on Lexis Nexis and the web in general. I spend so much time trying to search, using different keywords and phrases the lack of information was making me think maybe I just wasn't searching properly. Try searching yourself, can you find more information linking the United States and the repression of Haiti?


Outside Research

I did some outside research just to see if I could find any more information that was covered in the Censored Story "US Repression of Haiti Continues".

Websites Found:
This article (Haiti's UN military base expanding: What is Washington up to in Cite Soleil?) I stumbled upon, and then later realized it was one of the articles that was used as a source for the Censored story. There is a second article if you scroll down that is worth reading.

Social Networking Sites

I thought I would try and do some research social networking sites to see if anyone was discussing issues that were brought up in the censored article.

I found four Facebook pages came up when i searched Haiti / Water. All four groups have a total of an extremely low 308 members.

I Found one group on Facebook called The Haiti They Never Showed Us, which has 3,307 members. Under their description it says:
"THIS GROUP IS TO OPEN EVERYBODY'S EYES ON THE SWEET ISLAND OF HAITI. THIS IS AN INSIDE LOOK OF WHAT MY BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY LOOKS LIKE. I WOULD LIKE FOR EVERYONE TO ADD PHOTO'S, VIDEO'S, STORIES WHATEVER RELATES TO HAITI PUT IT ON. THIS GROUP IS FOR US!"

On Twitter I found organizations that are dedicated to making a positive change in Haiti such as:

Yéle Haiti is a grassroots movement inspiring change in Haiti through programs in education, sports, the arts and environment.

FutureHaiti, a Twitter page that updates its followers on news and plans for the future for Haiti.

haitinewsnet Latest news and headlines about Haiti and Haitians from.Haitian radio stations worldwide

and many other pages that are affiliated with Haiti but none that Tweet about US involvement with Haiti.

Just For Fun!
Haitian Kompa Breakdance Popping by Robot Scorpion