Log in to get full access to stabroeknews. com. You can also post comments and manage your subscription email.
Editor’s Note: Last week, former U. S. President Bill Clinton traveled to Guyana to participate in talks on how to make an investment in the region at the United Caribbean Forum, hosted through the local Dominican Republic Chamber of Commerce. It will have to be like the other peoples of the region, especially when it comes to acting in solidarity with the other Haitian peoples, whose historic aspirations for self-determination have been violently and violently undermined and betrayed through Bill Clinton and various governments in the country. . The Haiti Support Group refused to let this scale go unnoticed and held a solidarity picket for Haiti last Tuesday in front of the Arthur Chung Convention Center in Lillendaal, Guyana, where discussions were taking place, once back no doubt at the expense of the other Haitian. friends. This week’s column reproduces the press release issued through the Haiti Support Group, which reminds us of the issues at stake and unmasks the naked force of smiles. Beware of snake oil sellers.
Although Haiti, with a population of more than twelve million people, is the most populous country in the Caribbean and the first free black republic in the Western Hemisphere, it has been the victim of blatant racism, exploitation, and foreign tension for decades. .
The Dominican Republic (DR), organizer of the United Caribbean Forum and Haiti’s neighbor, has been systematically discriminating against Haitians for decades. The Dominican Republic has followed and maintained a policy of denying the right to nationality to persons of Haitian descent, with the aim of intimidating and expelling Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent. Tens of thousands of young people born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents have been denied their citizenship rights and rendered stateless while the Dominican Republic government has cancelled their birth certificates and identity documents. This discriminatory action has been denounced as a violation of human rights by Amnesty International and a blatant example of structural racism.
Many CARICOM nation-states, including Guyana, have also failed to protect the human rights of the Haitian people, and in particular those related to freedom of movement within the Caribbean, as set out in the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. Under the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, Haitian citizens, as CARICOM citizens, are entitled to hassle-free access and an automatic six-month stay upon entering a CARICOM member state. However, in 2021, President Irfaan Ali rescinded the 2019 immigration order, excluding Haitians from the list. of Caricom nationals who can simply enter Guyana without a visa and enjoy an automatic six-month period remain. This revocation of entry permits only applies to Haitian immigrants and is notoriously discriminatory. Several other CARICOM states have also arbitrarily denied Haitian immigrants this right, exposing them to serious violations of their human rights. Obviously, there is no such thing as a true United Caribbean, at least not for Haitians.
We also do not like the participation of former US President Bill Clinton in this forum. While president of the United States, Clinton forced Haiti to reduce price lists for imported American rice, giving farmers in his home state of Arkansas a lucrative market for their crops while destroying the local Haitian rice development sector. Haiti is now a major importer of American rice, which contains high levels of arsenic and cadmium, heavy metals that can lead to cancer and central disease dangers, according to a recent University of Michigan study. This destruction of a key component of Haiti’s agricultural sector and the loss of the Haitian country’s ability to be self-sufficient and feed its citizens, in addition to providing the Haitian people with a staple food full of poisonous chemicals, remains an extremely reprehensible an act that no apology can ever forgive or repair. This shows that commercial, friendly and family policy obviously prioritizes respect for the sovereignty of a country and the lives of its citizens; This is not something we desire or want more here in Guyana.
Clinton has continued to demonstrate her continued disrespect for the sovereignty and lives of Haitians and her prioritization of profit over others in her role as chair of the Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti (IHRC), created after the devastating 2010 earthquake to provide aid and assistance to the country. Other Haitian peoples. Less than 1% of the billions of dollars raised through the IHRC went to Haitian corporations and non-governmental organizations; Most of the money went to foreign aid agencies, foreign NGOs, and for-profit corporations. Less than 10% of the budget went to the Haitian government. The Clinton Foundation has also been accused of widespread corruption and disempowerment of the Haitian people for its role in projects such as the Caracol Industrial Park that displaced more than 300 Haitian families and prioritized profits and reasonable hard work for multinational companies rather than providing good enough jobs and a living wage for Haitian workers.
We will continue to express our solidarity with the Haitian people, as their struggle for self-determination and the popularity of their rights resonates with us as indigenous people and descendants of former slaves and indentured servants. We oppose industrial and economic policies that prioritize profit. about other people, rights and justice, especially when they are defended through other people and establishments that defend racist ideology and human rights. We need a united Caribbean where our Haitian cousins can enjoy free movement throughout the region, without worrying about discrimination and persecution. or forced deportation, where their rights are also respectable, their lives and livelihoods safeguarded, and their national sovereignty respectable through foreign forces.
A FREE roundup of the most sensible news from Guyana that you might otherwise miss. Delivered every morning.