Neo-liberal privatization of Haiti under Preval et al

[Hannah Bell]

Selling privatization and continued occupation

“This Week in Haiti,” Haiti Progrès, 27 December 1995–2 January 1996.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with the apparent involvement of the World Bank and the approval of the Haitian government, signed an $800,000 contract with a Canadian public relations firm to hype privatization...

Still, the Lavalas government will have a problem. There remains intense and widespread opposition to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) which has been designed for Haiti, one of the most radical programs being implemented anywhere in the world. The SAP has already led to the complete elimination, in some cases, of export duties and the sharp reduction of most import tariffs. That means trouble for most of Haiti's population, which lives in the countryside. Foreign goods are already flooding into the country, threatening the ability of farmers to sell their produce. To be sure, peasants growing corn, Haiti's largest crop, with only a hoe and a machete cannot hope to compete with the massive combine harvesters of Bob Dole's Kansas.

The SAP also aims to slash Haiti's civil service and further reduce the role of the Haitian state, which has already practically abdicated all responsibility to provide the Haitian people any basic services like health-care or education. At the same time, the SAP aims to steal Haiti's nine most valuable state-owned industries, including the flour mill and cement factories, which have both received bids. The real prizes, though, are the telephone and electric companies. The telephone company generates huge profits and largely sustained President Aristide's government in exile for three years. With a planned expansion from the existing 66,000 lines to a reported 750,000 lines, the profits will be enormous, given all the international phone calls to and from the Haitian diaspora.

The electric company, EDH, also can generate substantial profits. But its main importance, from Washington's perspective, lies in powering Haiti's assembly industries. Presently, most factories have their own costly power generation systems. But if Haiti is to “take advantage” of its exceedingly low wages, other production costs also must be “competitive” so that investors can profit even more enormously. That necessitates a relatively low cost and reliable supply of electricity. Ironically, most of the Haitian and foreign capitalists who today would like to buy EDH each owe the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in electric bills dating back for years...



Preval Opts for Structural Adjustment

By Ives Marie Chanel, IPS, 1 February 1996.

The question of an economic structural programme (SAP) for Haiti and the privatisation of state companies are back on the front burner as the country's new president Rene Preval prepares to assume office...


Feeding Dependency, Starving Democracy: USAID Policies in Haiti

From Grassroots International, 6 March 1997.

In 1996 Grassroots International began a 6-month research project in order to understand how programs funded by the U.S. government are affecting food security in Haiti. This is a summary of findings and recommendations...


The new “American Plan” for Haiti

Haiti Progress, “This Week in Haiti,” 10—16 June 1998.

“Governance” is the latest code word which the U.S. government and multinational banks are using. It means: bypass a nation's central government, violate its sovereignty, and pump funds directly to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), local officials, and private groups...

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/index-bbab.html

[leftstreet]

1. 'Governance' now means rule without the consent of the governed

And IMF's SAP is nothing short of evil!

K&R

[niyad]

2. k and r