Haiti grapples with aid issues (Aug. 20, 2021)

The 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday has, perversely, provided a respite for Haiti's tenuously positioned caretaker government, according to Foreign Policy. The tragedy has provided distraction from the country's acute political crisis, but instead put a harsh spotlight on Haiti's long-term problems. "The earthquake victims, not to mention the rest of the Haitian majority, are left basically on their own. Haitian communities have an incredible capacity for self-reliance—one forged out of necessity in the face of repeated abandonment."

Official efforts to aid victims of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck southwest Haiti on Saturday have been patchy and limited. This hasn't surprised local communities, which have little faith in the government, reports the New York Times. Instead people have been forced to manage their own crisis, reports the Washington Post.

Many small Haitian communities affected by last weekend's earthquake have given up hope that the government will come to their assistance, reports the Miami Herald. "Many people in the isolated villages say it’s as if they’ve been forgotten." 

Nonetheless, tensions over lack of assistance are growing, reports the Associated Press. Haitian authorities said at least 600,000 people were in need of humanitarian assistance and 135,000 families displaced, reports Reuters.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry said his administration will try not to “repeat history on the mismanagement and coordination of aid,” a reference to the chaos after the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake, when the government and international partners struggled to channel help to the needy amid the widespread destruction and misery.

Humanitarian groups are adamant that immediate and long-term help must be implemented differently this time, compared with the aftermath of a devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in 2016, reports the Miami Herald. "Many in the humanitarian sector say they are committed to improving coordination across an array of non-governmental organizations to meet" victims' needs.

Activists have urged the public to avoid large international organizations, and instead donate and provide resources to local organizations and groups directly connected to people in the country rather than give to large, disconnected organizations, reports NBC.

Haitians were marginalized in 2010, and many emergency interventions caused long-term harm in Haiti. "We again have the chance to create sustainable improvements by maximizing Haitians’ role in all aspects of disaster response," argue Brian Concannon and Kathleen Bergin in The Hill. 

"We need a truly Haitian Solution, once and for all… Haitians have the capacity and expertise, even if Haiti doesn’t have enough financial resources to address the multiple crises," said the Haitian Studies Association in a statement. (Repeating Islands)

"Democratic institutions are vital for strengthening Haiti’s ability to respond to crises," argue Sophonie Milande Joseph and François Pierre-Lois at In These Times. Haiti's political crisis is a result of the undermining of the country's democracy by domestic elites and foreign meddling, they write.

In a similar vein, Jonathan Katz rejects narratives that call Haiti "unlucky": "Haitians’ constant suffering is the result of very intentional decisions (about who gets money, who avoids accountability, and construction codes, among other things) made in foreign capitals and Port-au-Prince—not random chance." (Slate)

The international community must assist with Haiti's political crisis, but not interfere, writes Harvard lecturer Christopher Rhodes in Al Jazeera. "The country’s long-term political stability depends on outside forces taking a back seat to a Haitian-driven rebuilding process."

And, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley called for a “global reckoning in which we must all come together and truly participate to give Haiti and the Haitian people their rightful chance for stability and prosperity ... And it starts with working to create a floor in our Caribbean — to create a standard below which no one must fall, to guarantee access to the basics needed." (Caribbean News Roundup)

Climate Justice and Energy

• ExxonMobil’s huge new Guyana project faces charges of a disregard for safety from experts who claim the company has failed to adequately prepare for possible disaster, according to an investigation by the Guardian and Floodlight. "Experts claim that Exxon in Guyana appears to be taking advantage of an unprepared government ... allowing the company to skirt necessary oversight. Worse, they also believe the company’s safety plans are inadequate and dangerous." The investigation quoted industry analysts at IHS Markit who said the Guyanese government was receiving a below-average return on ExxonMobil’s projects.
• Guyana aims to increase its oil royalties and revamp other contract terms as part of a new profit-sharing agreement for future crude and gas projects now in its draft stage, said vice president Bharrat Jagdeo. "We have made it clear that in any new PSA we negotiate for those blocks, the conditions will be very, very different than the ones from the Stabroek block," Jagdeo said, including higher royalties and mechanisms for deducting costs from investment. (Reuters)

• Trinidad and Tobago environmental activists documented the Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited's half-hearted attempts to clean up an oil spill. The region’s oil industry has come under increasing fire as the Gulf of Paria has been plagued by spills over the past few years, reports the Guardian.

• Dominica is among the countries most vulnerable to natural disasters and climate change, according to an IMF report. During 1997-2017, it was the country with highest GDP losses to climate-related natural disasters and ranked in the top 10 percent among 182 countries for climate-related fatalities.

• Adaptation is more relevant for Caribbean countries grappling with climate change than mitigation, which is why Trinidadian lawyer Michelle Scobie, an expert in environmental governance, says it's important to get "home-grown understandings of the ways in which we can overcome disasters [in the] medium and long-term." (World Wise)

• The quality of one of Jamaica's major water resources, the Rio Cobre, has also been severely compromised by a recent spill of caustic effluent from the nearby bauxite plant, reports Emma Lewis in Global Voices.
  

Democratic Governance

• The Puerto Rican Partido Nacional Progresista's quest to make the territory into a U.S. State is quixotic, unlikely to succeed or be discarded, according to Pedro Cabán at Latin American Perspectives. But statehood does not solve the economic inequality and insecurity, and widening impoverishment of the population that threaten Puerto Ricans' human rights, he argues.

• Two bills in the U.S. Congress aimed at resolving Puerto Rico's territorial status -- one granting statehood and another offering Puerto Ricans the chance to decide regarding statehood -- are deadlocked in Congress. Instead legal experts Rafael Cox-Alomar and Christina D. Ponsa-Kraus say lawmakers should combine both. "The key is to recognize that it is up to the people of Puerto Rico to choose their future, but it is up to Congress to offer them a choice— and the information they need to make it," they write in the Miami Herald.

Regional Relations

• A lack of coordinated policy and over-reliance on a one-size-fits-all trade structure have long hindered the development of the maritime transport infrastructure that Caribbean small island developing states need. The region’s current infrastructure, which carries more than 90 percent of its goods, is vulnerable to disruptions and inefficiencies, writes Ryan Sullivan at the Aula Blog.

Corruption

• The new Saint Lucia Labour Party government intends to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate corruption under the former United Workers Party administration. (St. Lucia Times)
  

Covid-19 Impact

• Confrontations over vaccine mandates in Guyana are, at heart, about a broader lack of trust and fairness. Both the mini-bus sector, nurses and teachers’ opposition to vaccination is influenced by unresolved non-COVID 19 grievances, without this being explicitly acknowledged, according to the Guyana Human Rights Association.

• The Executive Council of the House of Rastafari Inter-Mansion Collective, in the Bahamas, issued a statement claiming religious exemption from mandatory vaccination. (Eyewitness News)
  

Human Rights

• The Guyanese National Assembly has passed a bill that formally repeals the ban on cross-dressing that was struck down as unconstitutional by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in 2018. (76 Crimes)
  

History

• Researchers have traced the origins of the Zoutsteeg Three, 17th century skeletons found on Saint Martin, to at least two distinct linguistic groups in West Africa. "The study paints a fuller picture of the African populations that were subjected to the transatlantic slave trade and suggests that DNA may help scientists reconstruct the life histories and ancestry of enslaved individuals," reports Black Wall Street Media.

• Raymond Ramcharitar’s A History of Creole Trinidad, 1956-2010 offers a history of post-Independence Trinidad and Tobago and critically analyses the popular conception of creolization as the driving force in the country. (Repeating Islands)
  

Culture

• Astrid Roemer, the Surinamese winner of the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren, came under fire after showing support for former president Dési Bouterse, who was convicted of murder, reports the Guardian.

Olympics

• A 1996 rule bars dependent territories from forming National Olympics Committees, leaving many Caribbean countries unable to participate, though six Caribbean countries were grandfathered in. (Caribbean and Co) 

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