Written by Adam Armstrong
While the U.S. effort to help Haitians was feeble, the effort to make the world think we were helping out was outstanding. Starting on the day of the quake, a long string of press releases told of emergency meetings, plans for relief, and the deep concern of the Obama administration for the people of Haiti. Here’s a sample: The U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, Ken Merten, is quoted at a State Department briefing on February 12, saying “In terms of humanitarian aid delivery…frankly, it’s working really well, and I believe that this will be something that people will be able to look back on in the future as a model for how we’ve been able to sort ourselves out as donors on the ground and responding to an earthquake.”(4)
Haiti has the fifth largest American embassy in the world. (5,6) Why should this poor, small country deserve so much attention? Could it be that Haiti has oil? It’s well known that Cuba has some oil has begun to drill for more in the waters off its coast. (7,8)
According to Ezili Danto, a human rights lawyer, cultural and political activist and the founder and president of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN), there is evidence that the United States found oil in Haiti decades ago and decided to keep the oil in reserve. (9) World Oil Online also states that the Greater Antilles, which include Cuba, Haiti the Dominican Republic and the offshore waters, probably have significant oil resources, quoting a 2000 report by the US Geological Survey(10).
Another part of the story that the major media covered poorly is an explanation of why Haiti is so poor. Often mentioned is the clear cutting of Haiti’s forests, and the consequent soil erosion. But the U.S. bears a large part of the blame. In 1915 the U.S. invaded Haiti and stayed there for 19 years. From then on, the U.S. controlled Haiti indirectly. When the Haitians finally elected a reformer, Aristide, as president in 1990, he was quickly overthrown by a US supported coup. In 1915 most of Haiti’s forests were still intact, and the Haitian constitution barred foreigners from owning land in Haiti. (11) Under U.S. rule, much of the land passed into the hands of foreign corporations that cut down the forests to make room for plantations and mining operations. (12) Globalization has also taken its toll. American farmers have dumped their surplus government subsidized surplus crops on Haiti, putting many small farmers out of business. Before 1915 Haiti was mostly a country of poor farmers, but a country that could feed itself. Now they must import food and export population to survive.(13)
